Reunite Her

An Inferior Product

Ana glanced, hesistantly, over at Ayanna who was leaning in the doorway. The shorter woman was debating whether or not to keep up her selective mute act but the second she realized what exactly the girl was holding, a picture of Noah appeared in her mind and the idea was promptly thrown out of a window.

"Is that an elephant?" Ana inquired, crouching down to meet the girls height. "Does he or she have a name?"

Giana didn't reply and just shrugged instead.

"You know what they say about elephants, right? An elephant never forgets. They have the most amazing memories." Olivia explained, gently.

"Do you have a memory like an elephant?" The shorter woman inquired, softly.

"Maybe." The girl squeaked out.

"I bet you do." Ana smiled.

"So, Giana, we need to ask you a couple of questions. Let's see if your memory is like your elephant's." The Captain suggested. "Would that be okay? Yeah?"

The girl nodded and Elliot grabbed a nearby chair, bringing it over for the older woman to sit on.

"Here you go." He offered.

"Now, Giana. Did you see the bad people that came to your apartment earlier?" Ana asked in a sweet voice and the girl nodded once again. "Yeah? Did you see their faces?"

"Uh-uh." She shook her head.

"No? Where were you when you saw them?" Olivia wondered.

"In the bathroom. My uncle told me to wait in there." Giana recalled.

"Your uncle told you to wait in the bathroom? And who's your uncle?" Ana wondered.

"Uncle K. He left to get me a Happy Meal. I wasn't supposed to come out, but I peeked through the door." The girl whimpered.

"Oh, that's okay." Olivia assured. "Did you see, um, did you see their hands? Did you see the color of their skin?"

She rubbed the back of her own for reference and Giana shook her head once again.

"No? What about their clothes, honey? Did you see what they were wearing?" Ana inquired.

"Yes." The girl squeaked out.

"Can you tell us what you saw?" Olivia prodded, gently, and Giana suddenly clammed up, looking down at her toy.

"Hey, sweetheart. We know you're scared. And that's perfectly okay. It's totally normal. But you're being really, really brave right now. And we are so proud of you." The shorter woman cooed, making the girl look back up again.

"Sweetheart, can you tell us what you saw?" The Captain repeated her question from earlier and Giana nodded, pointing at Elliot's hip. "Are you pointing to his badge?"

"Mm-hmm." She hummed in response.

"Police, Giana? The bad people were police?" Olivia asked in confirmation.

"Okay. Great job, sweetheart. You do have a memory like an elephant." Ana winked, making the girl smile a bit.

*A Few Minutes Later*

Everyone was, once again, crowded in the Bullpen.

"Okay, I just checked in with Central and every precinct in Brooklyn. There was no police activity at the victim's Flatbush Avenue apartment today." Detective Freddie Washburn reported.

"No radio runs?" Olivia inquired while Ana shifted, uncomfortably, next to her.

Everyone, other than her sister and Elliot, kept staring or glancing at her and there was no one she could really hide behind right now.