Disclaimer-Not.Mine.

A/N- Please review! And for a little back story on the fic...there is a "men's shelter" near my house that houses level 3 sex offenders. The idea both disturbed me and inspired me at the same time...

SEPTEMBER 14, 2005

AUGUSTUS ST.GAUDEN'S PLAYGROUND,

20TH STREET AND 2ND AVENUE

3:45 PM

"C'mon, Cadie. Play some more?" Cadence Smith had just flopped on to the park bench, exhausted from playing hide and seek with her little sister, Tonya.

"Sorry, sweetie, I'm dead tired." Tonya made a pouty face. As if on cue, her friend Michelle came in with her mother. "Look, there's Michelle, why don't you go play with her?"

"Okay." Tonya wrapped her arms around Cadence before running off in Michelle's direction. Cadence smiled at the two, wishing she was still that little. Michelle's mother, Mrs.Jordan, came over and sat next to Cadence.

"I would kill to have that kind of energy." She said.

"Yeah, me too. High school is murder after freshman year. I was up until midnight finishing my French project."

"That sounds tough."

"Yeah, it is sometimes."

"How's you mom doing?" Cadence automatically felt uncomfortable. Her mother was not someone she liked to talk about.

"She's...fine. Still having headaches." More like constant hangovers, Cadence thought. "The medicine should start working soon."

"That's good." They paused for a second to watch Tonya and Michelle running around. It was then that Cadence noticed him. Just the way that he was looking at her scared her. Mainly because it looked like he was trying to get a glimpse of what was up her skirt. She clenched her legs together tighter. His gaze shifted from her to the two girls running. He stood up, slowly. It was then that she realized what was about to happen.

"I think I'm gonna get out of here." She said, standing quickly, and grabbing her and her sister's bags.

"Why the rush?" Cadence simply pointed.Mrs.Jordan understood immediately. "Oh God...Michelle!" She yelled. Michelle stopped for a second to see who was calling her. "Michelle, sweetie, its time to go!"

"You too, Tonya." Cadence added. The two girls made pouty faces as they began to walk slowly towards the bench. But the man was faster. In what seemed like one swift moment, he snatched up the two girls.

"NO!" Cadence and Michelle's mother yelled in unison as they ran to stop him. Somebodys mother pulled out a phone and dialed 911.

"I don't think so." The man said pulling out a gun. Cadence froze. "Nobody move, or I will shoot." Someone made a move while his head was turned. His grin became more twisted. "Nice try." He pulled the trigger. A bullet spiraled into a man who lived in Cadence's building. His wife screamed. A group of cadets from the 13th precinct police academy heard the shot, and started running. But the man was faster. He ran out of the gate and towards his car, a silver Chrysler. Mrts.Jordan chased after him. By the time she got there, he was already starting up the car.

"Please! Let them Go!" She banged on the window. He pressed the gas pedal. Mrs.Jordan grabbed the door handle, and was dragged along with the car, screaming. He reached the corner, and turned knocking Mrs.Jordan off. Cadence stood in the park, frozen.

"Tonya..." She whispered, as the world around her went black.

Two hours later the scene was quite different.police and CSU people were still on the scene, and SVU had been called in.

"Any idea when they'll get here?"

"Any minute now. We called about 15 minutes ago."

"I hope so. I'm not getting anything out of that girl over there. You know, the sister." Cadence wasn't speaking to anyone. SVU had been called in because it was a child abduction,and also because of Cadence's silence. Officer Dalman had beenthe first to try and question Cadence. He was a big guy, and intimidated quite a lot of people. They had assumed, by her reaction that she could have been sexually assaulted, and he was giving her flashbacks, so they tried again. This time with Officer Pundik. She was a petite woman, and pretty good with kids. But even with her, Cadence still remained silent, staring at the deli across the street.

"You guys SVU?" Captain Mullen asked the two detectives walking towards him.

"Yeah, I'm Detective Stabler, and this is Detective Benson."

"What exactly happened?" Olivia asked.

"Two children, both female, were abducted by a man who we are assuming is from the men's shelter up by Bellevue."

"When you say men's shelter, you mean homeless shelter?" Elliot interrupted.

"No. The one that houses the sex offenders. Which is why we called you guys in." Olivia felt a stab of anger. No matter how many cases she worked on involving young children getting assaulted, it always angered her. There went another child's innocence. "The girl over there, we think she's the sister of one of the victims. But she is not talking to us. We thought that maybe she was a victim too, when we had Officer Dalman over there," He pointed at the large officer. "interrogate her. So we tried with Officer Pundik here. Still no answer."

"Liv, why don't you try?" Olivia nodded. She headed towards Cadence. She was sitting on the curb, wrapped in a grey blanket.

"Hey there. I'm Detective Benson. What's your name?" Cadence continued staring at the deli. Olivia rubbed her back. "It's okay, I'm here to help." for Cadence and Tonya, help meant nothing. Three ACS workers later, they were still with their parents. But she decided to trust Olivia anyway. She seemed nice enough.

"My name's Cadence Smith."

"We'll find your sister, sweetie. Just tell me what happened."

"She was playing tag with her friend Michelle...And this guy was looking at me. So I looked away and then he was watching Tonya and Michelle like he wanted to...you know...and then he grabbed them and shot that man...And he put them in the car...Mrs.Jordan ran after him...then he drove off and then everything went black..."

"You passed out?" She nodded tearfully.

"Please, Find my sister!" She pleaded.

"We will, honey. Where do you live?"

"16th and 3rd." She sniffled. "Apartment 7C."

"Thank you for helping out. We're gonna take you home, okay? Do your parents know?"

"I didn't call them...Mrs.Jordan might have, though."

"Okay...Can you describe him for us?" Cadence sniffled, holding back the tears that the memory of this man brought. "Take your time." Elliot came over. "Cadence, this is my partner, Detective Stabler." She smiled weakly at him. Elliot sat down on her other side.

"Cadence, did you know this guy?"

"I..." She thought about it. Something about the creep had seemed familiar, like he was a friend of the family or something, but she wasn't quite sure. "Maybe. He seemed a little familiar."

"Can you decribe him for me?"

"He had kind of greasy black hair, pale skin...I think his eyes were grey or blue...they were light..um he was wearing brown shoes, a blue shirt and khaki pants..." the more she described him, the more something told her she knew him from somewhere, that this wasn't just a stroke of bad luck.

"Thnak you, sweetie." Olivia stood up and offered her hand, to help Cadence up. Olivia led her over to the waiting uniform officers. "These people are going to take you home, okay?" Cadence nodded. Olivia pulled her into an embrace. "But I promise, I will be here for you if you need me." She ripped a piece of paper off of the notepad she had written most of the details on, and wrote her number on it.

"Thank you." Cadence got into the car, her eyes never leaving Olivia until they were out of eyeshot.

"You think that this was premeditated?" Olivia was started out of her thoughts by Elliot, who had come up behind her.

"As much as I don't want it to be, I think that there is a very good chance that it was."