A/N This is an SVU episode and the second of a three part crossover that begins with Fire's, "Nobody Touches Anything," continues with SVU's above titled episode and concludes with PD's, "They'll Have to Go Through Me."
Without further ado, please relax and enjoy the read!
~Princess <3
*At the SVU Headquarters In Manhattan, New York*
"Hey, you work with those two when you were in Chicago?" Nick inquired as he passed by Fin and nodded towards Jay who was currently standing in Olivia's Office with both her and Erin. "Is that the guy who hit on Rollins?"
"You heard about that?" The older Detective grinned, following him inside. "Nah. Some other pretty boy."
"Pretty boy in my Dad's unit that isn't Jay Halstead, huh? Must be Adam Ruzek." Ana smirked as she suddenly appeared behind them.
"I was wondering when you were gonna show up." Fin smiled, giving his niece in every way but blood a quick side hug.
The firefighter just rolled her eyes and made her way over to her mother.
"Hey, Mom, sorry I'm late. I just wanted to stop by the apartment and say hi to Noah first." She explained, embracing her quickly.
"Oh, no, Sweetheart, you have nothing to apologize for." Olivia assured, pulling back and turning to address all the other cops in the small room. "I think everybody knows each other. Detectives Lindsay, uh, Jay Halstead, you remember Detective Tutuola?"
"Fin, how are ya?" Erin held out her hand for a shake.
"All right." He nodded, shaking the outstretched limb just Amanda came racing in a little out of breath.
"Hey, I got stuck in the- in the tunnel." She panted out and was ignored for the most part.
"You two caught this in Chicago?" Fin inquired.
"Uh, we did, actually." Ana corrected, gently. "Kelly and I pulled a victim, Andrew Llewellyn, out of a burning house. He had this box in hands and it got knocked to the floor in the course of the rescue which is where those images came from." She swallowed a bit and turned back to her Mom. "I recognized a few of the kids."
"Your father mentioned that, yeah." Olivia nodded, softly.
"All of which are traceable to this franchise." Jay added.
"So then Detective Lindsay also recognized one of the young victims." Amanda spoke up, sending an encouraging look Erin's way.
"Teddy Courtney is my half brother. He ran away ten years ago. And my mom won't tell me how she knows, but she knows he came to New York, so. . ."
"And that's who we've been trying to locate." Fin realized.
"NCMEC ran his face through the system, and they found more images." Olivia revealed, grimly, sitting down at her desk and handing Amanda a file. "And he's connected to a pedophilia ring."
"This pedophilia club is still active, and they've upgraded to live streaming." Nick sighed, unable to hide his disgusted expression.
"Now, and the feds think this club streams from New York?" The blonde inquired.
"They don't know, but as soon as we find Teddy, we're gonna ask him." Olivia assured.
"Assuming he's alive." Nick muttered, receiving several glares and looks of disbelief in return. "Look, I'm- I'm sorry, but a kid goes through something like that-"
"Nick." The Sergeant cut him off with a shake of her head.
"You haven't found him in the system?" Jay wondered.
"Not as an adult." Fin replied.
"We try all akas, misspellings. Check all juvie databases in the tri-state area." Olivia ordered while standing back up. "Run those old photos through age progression."
"And crosscheck with facial recognition against mug shots, DMV." Amanda added in agreement.
"And morgue photos of John Does?" Erin guessed, quietly.
"Yeah. We're gonna need your DNA, too." Olivia nodded with an apologetic look.
*A Little While Later*
Ana had been hanging out with the two men of SVU when they suddenly stumbled across something of importance.
"We may have something." Fin called, making Jay, Erin, and Amanda race over to join them.
"Well, we got some aged-up photos of Teddy. Now, uh, this would be him, about 17." Nick explained. "And check out this mug shot from juvie."
"Arrested under the name Ted Voight five years ago for solicitation." Ana read aloud for them, casting a knowing look in Erin's direction to which she received a half-hearted glare back in return.
"Voight?" Jay questioned in a low hiss as he glanced between his boss's biological and foster daughters.
"Yeah, they used to know each other." Erin nodded, quietly. "That's Teddy."
"What was the disposition of his case?" Amanda wondered.
"He was remanded to a youth center." Fin replied.
"There's no subsequent arrests, nothing else in public records." Nick added in a low mutter.
"Why don't I go talk to the people at the center?" Erin offered a little too quickly for everyone's liking.
"Let us take the first meet." The raven haired Detective suggested, nodding at Amanda to follow him as he began walking towards the elevator.
*A Few Hours Later*
Teddy had been found and brought in not too long ago on drug possession. Ana kept stealing glances over at the small cage he was currently locked up in while the rest of the Detectives remained completely oblivious. She eventually took a deep breath to ground herself and walked over.
"Hey, Teddy Bear." The firefighter greeted in a quiet voice so the others wouldn't hear.
His head whipped around to hers and he stood up with wide eyes, shakily clinging onto the bars of his cell.
"Angel Ana." He let out a watery chuckle. "You're just as beautiful as the day I met you."
She laughed at that and quick smothered the rest of the sound, relieved that no one seemed to have taken notice.
"Teddy, do you remember what you made me promise you just before ran away?" The brunette inquired, gently. "You wanted me to find someone who would love me for me and not just my body. To cherish me in a way you never could because you couldn't trust yourself not to hurt me in the process." She smiled when the man nodded, fondly in return. "Well, it's like I told you back then, I keep my promises."
Ana held her right hand up and wiggled her fingers, showing off her ring.
"Good, good. I'm glad you're happy." He sniffed.
The firefighter's expression widened for a fraction of a second before falling completely.
"I know my Mom already told you this but the people who hurt you, they have another kid. He can't be more than 12 years old and, speaking of Mom, she's not gonna stop just because you gave her the cold shoulder. Not when she knows that little boy needs her help." The brunette sighed and glanced at the floor. "She's gonna find something on you, some sort of leverage, and then she'll try to talk to you again. Get you to tell her what she needs to know. When she does, I want you to talk to her. If not yourself, then do it for me." She stepped closer and placed her hand over the one fisted tightly around the metal bar. "Do it for me, Teddy. Do it so I can help this boy in the way that I failed to help you."
"No, no." He shook his head, tears welling up in his eyes. "Out of all the people to blame for what happened to me, you are not one of them. Far from it."
"But I'm the one who told you to go to New York." Ana sniffled, blinking back the tears she could feel burning in her own eyes.
"No, you told me to go to your mother." Teddy corrected, gently, reaching out to wipe away a stray tear when one escaped down her cheek. "I was the stupid little boy who thought I could get by on my own."
The firefighter let another water laugh.
"Please, Teddy. We need to help this kid. I know you believe that you can't be saved anymore but maybe he can. They haven't had him for long. A- A week at best." She reasoned with an urgent tone to her voice.
"O- Okay, I will. When the time comes, I'll talk." He nodded, gently cupping her cheek. "But only for you. . . Angel Ana."
"Thank you, Teddy Bear." The brunette sighed in relief and slowly pulled away. "Till the next time we meet."
"And we say goodbye to all the days that could've been." Teddy smiled, sadly, watching her walk away.
*In Olivia's Office: An Unknown Amount of Time Later*
Ana was sitting next to her mother on her desk when a knock resounded at the door, pulling their attention away from a TV that been broadcasting the pedophilia club's most recent live stream. They turned to see none other than Hank Voight walking in. The older man had flown out upon hearing about Erin getting injured while attempting to chase down a suspect.
"Liv." He nodded, warmly.
"Ah, Hank, please, come in." Olivia smiled, standing up to give him a hug. "It's so nice to see you again."
"Hi, Daddy." The younger woman murmured, giving him a quick embrace of her own.
"Hey, Pumpkin." Her father mumbled in return.
"How's Lindsay?" The SVU Sergeant wondered, moving to close the door for him.
"Feisty." The older man shrugged. "I'm sending her home under protest. Halstead's with her."
Olivia and Hank turned to their daughter to find her staring at them with a wide, yet fond, expression.
"What?" Her mother inquired, softly.
"Nothing, it's just. . . I can't actually remember the last time you two were in the same room together. Let alone all three of us." The firefighter chuckled, warmly.
The two Sergeants looked at each other, realizing she was right, but the little boy on the TV spoke up again before either of them could reply to that.
"Please let me out of here. I need to go." He pleaded.
"Who's that?" Hank wondered, stepping closer.
"Henry Thorne, 12. Pedophile ring's had him for almost a week." Olivia explained with a sigh.
"Please. . . don't hurt me anymore." The boy whimpered.
"He was trafficked from a local youth center. NCMEC just called. This is. . . streaming live." The SVU Sergeant revealed, grimly.
"Be a good boy and look at the camera." An older masculine voice requested, politely.
"I don't want to." Henry sniffled.
"I didn't ask if you wanted to. Now, look at the damn camera." The man snapped, voice instantly becoming much harsher and he stepped into the frame a little right as whoever was working the camera zoomed in on the boy. "I want people to see you, Henry. Because tonight you're gonna be putting on a very special show. Club members, requests for genre activities will be accepted starting now. Usual terms; credit cards or bitcoin."
"My God." Hank muttered in horror.
"Tonight is gonna be a good one-"
"Yeah." Olivia agreed, quietly, as Ana turned off the TV and cut off whatever was going to be said next.
"These the same people who had Teddy?" The older man asked in confirmation and his daughter just nodded silently in response. "You have a suspect here?"
"Yeah. He got hurt during the chase, so he insisted on going to the hospital, but we're bringing him in now for questioning." The SVU Sergeant rolled her eyes.
The firefighter just smirked, knowingly, having a pretty good idea of just how their suspect got hurt in the first place.
*A Few Minutes Later*
The little three piece family was now gazing through the one way mirror that led into SVU's Interrogation Room. Amanda and Nick were inside, interviewing their suspect.
"That's where Henry is now, George. Henry, your friend?" The raven haired Detective closed the laptop that had been playing the live stream and sat down.
"Do you understand how he got there?" The blonde inquired.
"Well, these kids run away." The security guard pointed out.
"Yeah, but you didn't know he'd end up like that, did you?" Nick reasoned, shaking his head. "I mean, that- that. You're a family man. You're a decent guy."
"Yeah, I am." George nodded.
"And you really do like the kids at the center. I mean, that's pretty clear." Amanda shrugged.
"Right, so maybe you thought you were doing them a favor, right, by setting them up with people who can help them?" The raven haired Detective speculated.
"Yeah, but I didn't set anybody up, okay? I- I didn't know anything about that." George insisted, very clearly lying through his teeth.
"You know what, we believe you, George." The blonde assured with a small shrug. "Just- just tell us what you do know."
"You call this an interrogation?" Hank scoffed on the other side of the glass. "Why don't you put on some music and dance with the guy?"
Olivia shot him a glare but the phone on her desk started ringing before she could come up with a reply.
"Benson." The SVU Sergeant answered, putting it on speaker more so for her daughter than the older man.
"Boss, I just talked to a kid at the youth center. He said he saw Henry get into a gray SUV the day he disappeared." Fin explained. "New York plates, but he didn't get the number."
"Gray SUV? Okay. Call DOT. Check traffic cams." Olivia ordered. "Thanks, Fin."
"Done." He replied before ending the call.
"Look, why don't I go in there and help them?" Hank offered, not giving the SVU Sergeant much of a choice as he placed his gun on top of a stack of papers on her desk and walked into the other room.
"He's gonna do something stupid isn't he?" Ana sighed, unable to keep the sliver of fondness from slipping into her voice.
And why would she? This was her father they were talking about after all.
"Well, if he does I'll handle him." Olivia winked.
"I know." The firefighter smiled, turning back to the one way mirror and her mother followed suit.
"Hello, George. I'm Sergeant Voight. I'm gonna be assisting these Detectives." Hank introduced himself with a blank expression, his hoarse gravelly tone setting the man on the other end of the table on edge.
"Excuse me-" Nick tried.
"I'm from Chicago. We do things a little differently there." The older man continued on as if he hadn't even spoken.
"Okay, well, I- I- I've just been telling them how this is all a mistake." The Security Guard explained.
"Well, it seems to me, George, you're the one making the mistake pimping children out to rapists." Hank pointed out, dropping all pretenses of a friendly demeanor despite however little they may have been in the first place.
"I didn't pimp any children-"
"And while they're getting beat up and violated, you're sitting here in this nice, comfortable chair." The older man stepped even closer to the suspect and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I didn't do anything wrong! I-"
He was cut off by Hank tossing him out of his seat and pinning him against the wall. On the other end of the mirror next to Ana, Olivia let out a quiet sigh before rushing into the other room. She didn't even bother to close the door this time.
"That's not very cooperative." The Intelligence Sergeant muttered in a dangerous tone, sliding his hand up to the suspect's throat. "Where's the boy?"
"I don't know." George ground out only for the older man to slap him in response.
"Wrong answer." He growled.
"Sergeant Voight." Olivia called in an authoritative manner.
"I got this." Hank assured, barely even sparing her a glance. "You know what it feels like to be raped, George?" He grabbed him by the hair on the back of his head and slammed him down on the table before leaning in real close. "Powerless."
"Sergeant Voight." The SVU Sergeant yelled. "My office now."
The older man slowly looked up at her with a glare and reluctantly let George go before following her back out to where their daughter was silently watching them.
"What are your people doing, rationalize, project, minimize?" Hank looked at Olivia in disbelief. "I read that handbook."
"It works." She hissed.
"So does terrorize when it's called for." The Intelligence Sergeant shot right back.
"Believe me, I understand that one all too well. Elliot worked in almost exactly the same way and look where it got him?" His SVU counterpart pointed out, angrily, oblivious to Ana letting out a shaky breath at her words. "Sometimes it was effective, and sometimes it led to false confessions and overturned convictions. If you align yourself with a perp's world view, you get what you need."
"I get there faster." Hank argued, stepping right up to Olivia.
"Not legally." She ground out.
"What happens in the box, stays in the box." He shook his head.
"Maybe in Chicago, Hank, but you're in New York City now. And let me remind you that you're here as a courtesy. You have no jurisdiction. So despite whatever we may have had in the past or how much you might mean to my daughter, if you pull that crap again, I promise you, I will arrest you." Olivia snarled.
"Our daughter." The older man corrected with a dark glare.
"Please, stop." An uncharacteristically small voice suddenly whimpered out and the two Sergeants turned to see their daughter curled up in a chair with her hands clamped over her ears.
"Oh, Sweetheart-" "Pumpkin I-" There attempts at apologizing and trying to comfort her were silenced as the live stream began playing on the TV once again.
"Hey, folks. Getting lots of requests for our friend, Henry. If you have your own special request, get 'em in now. Just three hours to showtime. Smile for the camera, Henry." The older male voice taunted.
"No." He shook his head frantically.
"You got a better idea how to make progress here, I'm all ears." Hank muttered.
Olivia just let out a sigh and slowly approached Ana before resting a gentle hand on her back.
"Hey, Honey, you already know you're allowed to take as much time as you need but maybe it would be better if you went over to Fin's desk and waited there for him to come back?" She suggested, softly.
The firefighter sniffled and nodded, slowly, making no move to uncover her ears just yet. The SVU Sergeant merely helped her up and guided her over to the door but the older man gently grabbed her arm before she could leave.
"I'm sorry, Pumpkin." Hank murmured, knowing this was one hundred percent his fault.
"It's okay." Ana whispered, nuzzling the hand in a show of forgiveness.
He let the hand fall back to his side as Olivia opened the door and let the younger woman slip through before closing it again. She leant back against it with a sigh and locked eyes with an extremely guilty looking older man. The two Sergeants let the haunting silence wash over them as they tried to come up with their next course of action.
*A Little While Later*
"All right, so TARU still can't trace that feed." Nick tossed something onto his desk before walking over to his teammates and the visiting firefighter. "Neither can NCMEC."
"Showtime in two hours." Fin sighed, leaning back in his chair without moving his hand away from where it was resting gently on top of Ana's.
The brunette was still rattled to say the least, but she was no longer covering her ears and that was a win in his book.
"The youth center is still looking for Henry's parents." Amanda chimed in.
"So they can watch this?" Fin scoffed.
"Don't worry. My parents will get something out of George." The firefighter assured in a low murmur, feeling her uncle give her hand a light squeeze in response.
Ana knew from experience what it was like to been in a room with a furious Olivia Benson or Hank Voight, but put them together in the same room and they were a force to be reckoned with. The poor Security Guard didn't even stand a chance.
*A Few Minutes Later*
"Wait, so let me get this straight. I'm not allowed to bounce the guy around, but you're allowed to threaten that I will?" Hank grinned, slyly, as he slipped his gun back into his holster.
"I'm just using the cards that I'm dealt." Olivia waved him off.
"Mm-hmm." He smirked.
"Did you get anything?" Amanda wondered as she walked over with Teddy behind her.
Ana, who was still on Fin's desk, sat up a little straighter but continued to watch the interaction in silence.
"Not enough." The SVU Sergeant sighed.
"Hey, Teddy." The older man greeted, softly. "Long time."
"Voight." He spat out. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm sorry, okay?" Hank apologized and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I should have kept a better eye on you."
"I wasn't as pretty as Erin or Ana." Teddy retorted, pushing his hand away.
"I didn't know you'd disappear." The older man shook his head.
"Well, Presto, here I am." The younger hissed, sarcastically.
"Hey, guys, there- there's gonna be plenty of time to talk later." Olivia reasoned, walking up to Teddy and showing him an iPad that had the livestream pulled up on it. "Right now, Teddy, we need your help. We need to find this room. Is there anything about it that looks familiar? The color of the walls? This lamp maybe?"
"No." He shook his head, barely even sparing it a glance.
"Are you sure?" Hank prodded, gently. "Come on, just look again."
"I left that a long time ago." Teddy argued.
"Teddy Bear." Ana called, softly and his eyes were on her immediately. "For me?"
Amanda was suddenly very confused while Olivia just assumed it was a nickname from back when they were kids. Hank, on the other hand, stared at the firefighter with a soft knowing gaze. He was probably the only other person in the room who knew the full story and for good reason.
He let out a sigh and held his hand out for the tablet.
"Here have a seat." The SVU Sergeant offered, guiding him over to a nearby chair. "Just think about it and see if anything comes to you?" She let out a small breath before making her way back over to her Intelligence counterpart. "We talked to that girl, Jocelyn, who's been in the room more recently. Maybe she'll remember something."
"So bring her in." Hank suggested.
"We went pretty hard at her. She doesn't want to remember anything. She hates cops. She- she won't come." Amanda insisted.
"Then arrest her." The older man retorted, bluntly.
"For what?" The blonde shrugged, glancing at her boss for help.
"Point taken." Hank nodded, glancing down at the floor but he quickly looked back up a second later as an idea popped into his head. "Liv, you still good at undercover?"
*Later That Night*
Hank and Olivia, posing as 12 year old Henry's parents, were able to persuade Jocelyn into coming in. Her and Teddy's help combined with what little George had given them was finally enough for them to rescue the little boy and shut down the live stream for good. . . or so they thought.
"Three pieces of crap delivered." Fin joked as him, Olivia, Nick, and Hank walked in with their perpetrator Bob Clinton and his two lackeys.
Ana covered her mouth to stifle a laugh at that.
"Nice work. Who are these other two with Clinton?" Jay, who had returned to SVU once Erin was safely on her way back Chicago, wondered.
"Tech support. They don't know anything." The Intelligence Sergeant muttered as they stopped near the cells.
"You believe 'em?" The former ranger wondered.
"Well, the way they were crying in the car. . ." Nick trailed off, handing the offender he was guiding off to Fin.
"If they had anything to offer, they would have given it up." The SVU Sergeant pointed out with a sigh.
"Guys, we got a problem." Amanda called, urgently, rushing over and placing a laptop down on the table next to everyone else.
Ana too rushed over to see for herself.
"'Tune in tomorrow.'" She read aloud in horror.
On the screen was a photo of another young girl along with the time in which they would be live with her.
"They're still in business." Jay realized.
"From God knows where." Amanda ground out.
"We got that prick, but we still don't have the head of the snake." Hank spat, darkly.
"Okay, okay. Teddy said that there was a guy that everybody was afraid of." Olivia recalled. "Let's see if Clinton will give him up."
*The Next Day*
Clinton was, unsurprisingly, uncooperative so Olivia decided to let him sleep in the tombs for the night in hopes it would get him to change his mind. Ana had been lingering around headquarters, unsure of what to do with herself, when her father walked in.
"Mom." She called, leading him into her Office just as Nick and Fin walked out of it. "Daddy's here."
"Hank." The SVU Sergeant greeted with a nod.
"Halstead's on his way back to Chicago. Liv, I'd like to stick around, see if I can turn Clinton." The older man requested as politely as he could while sitting down across from her.
"The DA will be here in an hour." Olivia replied. "We'll review options."
"I'd like a crack at him first." Hank shrugged.
"Whoa-" Whatever the SVU Sergeant was going to say next got cut off by her desk phone ringing. "Benson. When? Okay." She hung up and turned back her Intelligence counterpart and their daughter. "That was the tombs. Looks like somebody beat you to it."
Ana knew what that look on her mother's face meant and swallowed in a vain attempt to remove the lump in her throat.
*A Little While Later*
"So Lester Davis got one call this morning?" Olivia repeated, trying to reconcile what she just heard.
"Yeah. And an hour later he shanks Clinton." Fin nodded, watching as his boss shook her head.
"Any luck tracing the call?" Hank inquired.
"It's from a throwaway cell." Amanda replied.
"That was TARU, all they could confirm is that it was sold in Chicago." Nick added with a sigh.
"Great. Fantastic." Olivia muttered, sarcastically.
Hank suddenly stepped forwards a bit and pulled out his buzzing phone.
"Voight. You home in bed?" He wondered, revealing to everyone else that it was Erin who was on the other end of the call.
The older man listened for a few seconds before his face suddenly fell into a dark expression and he pulled the phone away from his ear.
"What?" Olivia inquired, quietly.
"What is it, Daddy?" Ana prodded, gently, instinctively taking a step towards him.
"Your victim who had the pictures that started all this-" He glanced at Ana before switching his gaze back to the SVU Sergeant's "-and one of our own. . . murdered."
"That snake head. . ." The firefighter trailed off in realization.
"That's in Chicago." Olivia finished for her in the same tone of voice.
Hank nodded in agreement and slowly brought his phone back up to his ear.
"I'm coming home."
A/N Apologizes for the late update. My internet is still garbage, as per usual.
Now, concerning when the next update will be. . . I literally have no idea. 😂 I'm starting college next week so it's gonna change from Monday and Thursday to whenever the Hell I can really. Just know that this fic is not abandoned or on hiatus nor will it or the main series ever be. I will always return to it if and when I can.
Speaking of the main series, I intend to finish this book first before returning to that and starting on the one that will cover all the newest seasons.
I hope you all understand and enjoyed this chapter. Till whenever I can get the next part out!
~Princess <3