Daddy's Girl

(Chapter One: Loss)

Elliot was sound asleep alone in his apartment when he received the call from his partner.

"Elliot," Olivia said in a quiet voice.

"Yeah?" He asked rubbing his eyes.

"Cragen just called me. They need us. There was an accident across town. Some big college party and a car accident."

"We're not uniforms, Liv. It's not even daylight. How is this special victims?"

"They don't have the manpower. And several of the kids at that party were underage. Look, I just do what he tells me. He wants us to go and process the scene with the uniforms until they can get some more people in. It shouldn't take long. I can pick you up in a few minutes."

"Sure."

Elliot closed his phone and groaned as he stepped form the bed. He stumbled down the hall to the bathroom and stood under the hot water in his shower for a few minutes. Cragen had some nerve calling them, it had barely been three hours since Elliot and Olivia had finally been allowed to go home for the night.

He climbed from the shower and dressed quickly as he made his way toward the kitchen to start some coffee. Just then he heard the door bell ring.

Elliot turned on the porch light and stared into the tired eyes of his partner as she offered him a Styrofoam cup.

"I brought you breakfast."

He smiled and laughed.

"What?"

"Nothing. I am tired and almost to the point of delirious. When you said a few minutes, I figured you meant like half an hour or forty five minutes. Not twelve. You know for a woman you get ready quickly."

"Well, I hadn't fallen asleep yet."

"No?" He asked taking the cup from her hand and following her to the car. "I was out the moment my head hit the pillow."

"It takes me a little while to unwind. I took a hot bath and settled in for a few chapters of my book. That was when Cragen called me."

"Well, I am really hoping this will be pretty cut and dry. Show up and supervise until help arrives then we are out in time to grab a nap before we have to be back in court in the morning."

"Turn left here," she instructed him.

"I thought it was a few blocks further down."

"It is, but they have the scene blocked off for about three blocks and it will be hard to find a place to park. I figured we could come around from the side. We can park down the block and go in on foot. From what I hear it is pretty bad. Four cars and at least two people are dead. One was a fifty five year old man on his way home from working the night shift at a factory across town. A seventeen year old ran a red light and hit his car."

"A seventeen year old was at this party?"

"No, that accident was unrelated. Just happened to take place in the same area. With the icy roads it slowed his stop time and I am sure the sight of a car flipped upside down in the middle of the road was quite a distraction."

"So our accident had already taken place?"

"That is how the kid tells it. I am sure we will learn more as we process the scene."

"We always do."

Elliot parked the car as it began to sleet once again. He picked up the big flashlight from the back seat and handed Olivia a rain poncho as he closed the car door.

"I see you came prepared."

"It has been doing this crap all night and I didn't know how long we would be working out here in it."

"Good thinking," he laughed as they walked toward the scene.

"What have we got?" Elliot asked the uniformed officer as they flashed their badges.

"The kid in the Blazer was joy riding from what we can tell. He caused the entire thing."

"Was he drinking?"

"Yes. He had a gash on his forehead and started throwing up everywhere. Ambulance left with him about five minutes ago. There are a couple of people over here with bumps and scratches. They lost control trying not to get hit by the kid and slid off the road. Then there are two cars over here that he actually hit," the man said pointing and leading them toward the first car.

Elliot and Olivia helped to work the scene for nearly an hour as the snow and sleet continued to fall covering up their evidence. The spoke to everyone they could as the ambulances hauled off the wounded, then turned to the crowd of onlookers for answers to their questions.

Elliot was talking to a man who saw the entire event as one of the uniformed officers made a discovery.

"Detective," he called to Elliot. "You're going to want to see this," the man shouted as Elliot and Olivia ran to see what the fuss was about. There in the middle of the road was another set of tracks that had been covered by the falling snow.

"There is another car," Olivia said as they followed the tracks to the edge of the road. She looked over the edge and down the embankment where an overturned car laid on it's roof in the snow. "We need a bus over here!" Olivia shouted as she slid her way down the embankment to inspect the scene.

Elliot stood a few steps behind her as they approached the car. Olivia made her way to the drivers side to find a dark haired teenaged girl still in the drivers seat. She brushed the dark hair from the girl's face and felt for a pulse. As she did the girl gasped for air.

"She's still breathing! But the pulse is weak."

Elliot listened to her words as something caught his eye. The passenger side of the car had come to rest against a tree after its roll down the embankment. The glass was busted from the windows and the entire side of the car was pretty much crushed. Elliot tipped his head to notice a young woman's hand reached out from the window and laying lifeless against the snow.

"We have a passenger," he said taking a few steps forward careful not to disturb any evidence.

He knelt to reach for the girl. Her hair blonde was tangled and covering her face and as Elliot moved to check for a pulse he noticed something more. On the girl's right hand ring finger was a small gold ring, a ruby, the birthstone of July. That was when the picture in front of him finally came into focus.

"Oh my God Liv," he gasped as he stumbled backward in the snow and tears filled his eyes.

"Elliot, what's wrong?" She looked up at him white as a ghost and looking as if he would pass out.

"No," he cried shaking his head as tears streamed down his face. "God, no!"

"El?"

"This is Maureen's car," he gasped as the paramedics made their way to Olivia's side of the car.

Liv crawled around to her partner, sliding in the snow and ice.

"Is it her?" She asked as Elliot seemed to completely zone out. "Elliot! Is it Maureen?"

"I don't know…I can't… I can't…."

"Okay," she nodded as tears began to overfill her eyes as well.

Olivia crawled on her hands and knees over to the window of the car. The girl was still held in the car by her seatbelt, the only thing that had kept either of them from being ejected from the car during the roll down the hill. She stared for a moment at the ring on the seemingly lifeless hand of the young woman inside the car.

"God please," she whispered shaking her head as she reached out and brushed back the tangled mess of blood stained hair to look at the girl's face.

Elliot watched the her reaction as his partner tried not to break down crying right there. "I'm sorry, El," she gasped as she slipped her hand around to check for a pulse. "I've got a pulse!" Olivia looked up from the car and motioned for the paramedics to help her free the girl.

"I can't get the lap belt undone," one of the men said as he reached inside the car. "I'll have to go back and get my kit."

Olivia looked over at Elliot and then back to Maureen in the car. "Her pulse is weak. You have to get her out now. If you walk away we could lose her," she whispered trying to keep Elliot from hearing her words.

"I don't have a choice. The car is crushed and she is stuck inside. I got the driver out because I could reach the buckle on her seatbelt. But I can't with this one and there is not enough room to get inside."

Olivia stared at the totaled car in front of her. Her eyes scanned over it from nose to trunk looking for the fastest way in. "I can fit through the back window," she said pulling off her coat and tossing it down in the snow.

"What? Nobody can fit in there, are you crazy? Besides, it isn't safe!" The man grabbed her arm to keep her from entering the car.

"Let go of me!" She growled as she pulled away from him. "Help me or get the hell out of the way! I am doing this with or without your assistance! If she doesn't get help now, she is going to die!" It took a second before she realized she had just yelled everything she had said and Elliot was now staring at her. "I can't just sit here and do nothing."

She tossed her coat down over the broken glass and laid down on her back on it as she began to slide forward working her way in through the back window of the car.

"Maureen," Elliot said crawling forward and taking his daughter's hand in his. "Daddy's here, sweetheart. Just hang on baby. We're gonna get you out of here soon, I promise." He held her hand in his and raised it to meet his lips as he felt her squeeze his hand.

"Daddy," she moaned almost breathlessly, barely producing any sound at all. "It hurts so much," she moaned softly.

"I know honey," Elliot said wiping away the tears from his face so he didn't scare his daughter. He leaned into the window and kissed her cheek. "Liv is going to unbuckle you, then we're gonna get you out of here. Just take it easy, baby. Hold on to my hand, everything is going to be okay baby," Elliot whispered, hoping to God he was right.

"Got it!" Olivia said from inside the car as the paramedic helped her back out.

She and Elliot helped them to carefully move Maureen from the car and onto a stretcher. Elliot kissed his daughter as they loaded her into the back of the ambulance.

"I'm sorry sir," a man said stopping Elliot as he attempted to climb in with his daughter. "Due to the storm all of our teams are tied up. We're going to have to transport the girls together. I'm afraid we are not going to have the room for you to ride along. We're taking them to Mercy, you can meet us there."

"Elliot, come on. I'll drive," Olivia said reaching for his hand.

"Okay." He kissed his daughter again and they closed the doors.

The nine and a half minutes it took them to get across town seemed to take forever. Elliot rushed in to the desk to ask where they had taken Maureen when they brought her in, but no one seemed to be able to help him.

"You'll have to wait in here," the paramedic said showing Elliot and Olivia to the waiting room. "I'm afraid they cant let you see her, just yet."

"What is going on?" Elliot asked.

"She crashed in the ambulance on the way over. We were able to revive her, but the doctors are working with her now. I have to get back on the road, I just got a call about another accident."

Olivia nodded as the man brushed past them.

"I have to call Kathy," Elliot mumbled as he stared at the floor. "How am I going to tell her…. I don't know if I can."

"I could call her, if you'd like," Olivia offered looking up at him feeling so helpless.

"Thanks Liv, but she should hear it from me."

Olivia nodded and dialed the number for him. "I'm gonna go get us some coffee," she said softly excusing herself to give him some privacy.

Elliot took the phone from her hand and watched as she disappeared down the hall. He exhaled feeling a large knot in his throat as he heard Kathy's voice come over the phone.

"Olivia?"

"No, Kathy. It's El. I am on Liv, phone."

"Is everything okay, Elliot? It is past four in the morning."

"No Kathy, it isn't," he said as his voice cracked and he paused to try to compose himself. "There was an accident. Maureen is in the hospital. It's pretty bad, Kath. I'm here at Mercy and the doctors are in with her now."

"Oh, God. I'll call my mother to come sit with the kids. I'm on my way."

Elliot closed the phone and continued to pace the floor of the waiting room, just the way he had eighteen years ago as he did on the morning his daughter came into this world.