The door flew open with a single violet kick. The barrel of the glock stared up at the fleeing perpetrator, then back down to the ground as the detective holding it made her way up the stairs. Her partner had already gone around the back, of the house.
The suspect stifled a cry of terror as he found the door he had planned on escaping through was locked. Eyes wild with desperation, he came face to face with the gun. He whimpered pathetically, staring from Olivia back down to the lethal weapon.
"Turn around," She hissed, peering over the top of her eight millimeter. The man trembled, terrified.
"I said, turn around, hands on the wall!" She flipped the gun into one hand, and reached to grab his shoulder with the other.
Ramon Bailey, the prime suspect in a rape, let out a strangled cry. Frantically, he threw his arms at Olivia, knocking the gun away from her. He grabbled with her limbs, and Olivia, taken by surprise, stumbled backwards. Ramon violently shoved her backwards.
Olivia screamed out, before her back slammed into a step. Her breath was stolen away from her. She quickly reached her arms in front of her face, in an attempt to spare her head from slamming into anything. Her breathing was ragged, as she was hardly able to suck in air before another collision with the stairs beat it out of her. Once, she reached out her hand to try and break her fall. However, she only succeeded in twisting her wrist painfully.
Finally, she tumbled down to the bottom. Her eyes scarcely fluttered open, and she stared, dizzy, up at the sallow ceiling. She tried to gulp in air, but the wind was completely knocked out of her. When she finally regained her movement, she tried to reach around for her radio. A sharp pang of pain assaulted her sides, and she let out a gasp in surprise.
Feebly, she tried to reach for Ramon as he fled down the stairs and simply stepped over her on his way out the door.
"Freeze, hands on your head." Elliot barked. Ramon threw his hands in the air, lip quivering.
"It was an accident!" He wailed, falling to his knees and clenching his scalp with dirtied hands. Quickly, Elliot tucked the gun away into his holster, and replaced it with a pair of hand cuffs. He slapped the bracelets onto Ramon's wrists.
"Ramon Bailey, you're under arrest for the rape of Samantha Graham and assaulting a police officer. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?"
"Y-yes!" Ramon stammered.
"Get up, you scumbag." Elliot kneed him in the back, and twisted his head around to his partner. Immediately, concern wracked his body as she staggered onto her feet. "You okay?"
"Yeah, yeah," She panted, on her knees, then onto her feet. Limping heavily, she hobbled towards the pair of men. "Just glad you - caught the son of a bitch."
"You need to go to the hospital." Elliot remarked as he roughly pushed Ramon in front of him.
"I'm fine." Gingerly, she pressed her fingers to her side. Elliot noticed her wince.
"Fine my ass. We'll take Bailey in, then I'm running you to the hospital."
"Relax - it's not like - I got shot - or anything." Olivia struggled for each breath she took, and held her side. "I just got the wind knocked out of me—that's all."
"You got pushed down the stairs." Elliot lifted an eyebrow at her. He shoved a now sobbing Bailey into the car as he did so. "You can hardly breathe."
"Well, yeah—" Olivia sighed. She knew full well it was pointless to try and argue. Elliot, now on the other side of the car, smiled weakly at her. She reflected his expression, and fell into her seat.
"You've got, a fractured rib right here. I could hardly see it, because it's such a new break. Not only that, it's not a bad one." The doctor slid the x-ray images against the bright screen, and pointed out a small break in the middle ribs of her cage. "And then bruises all along your side, obviously. You also mildly sprained you right wrist."
"How long do you think I'll be off the job?"
"Oh Olivia, always so eager to get back on the job that causes you to come in here. What is this, your second job related injury this month? Your partner was just in here a few weeks ago, too. How's his recovery coming along?"
Olivia smiled politely.
"Elliot's fine. How much longer, Dr. DeWitt?"
He grinned at her. "Take a couple of weeks off work entirely. Tell your captain to put you on a desk for the next three weeks after that, minimum. Your average Tylenol should work for now, as well as a good icing and rest, but if the pain gets worse, please contact me."
Olivia waved a hand indifferently at the older man. "Trust me; I don't think I'll be trying anything stronger than mild ibuprofen. I've had enough issues with powerful drugs for now."
DeWitt laughed, knowing she was referring to her encounter with African mushrooms.
"Well Ms. Benson, I think you're ready to go."
"Thank you, doctor."
"Don't push yourself, Olivia."
Olivia didn't bother to turn around once she had started out the door.
"You going to be okay by yourself?" Elliot said softly to her, blue eyes filled with concern. Olivia reached into his car and pulled her coat out.
"I'm fine. I should be asking you the same question."
Elliot glanced quickly at his shoulder, then back at her. "I'm fine. Liv, just call me if you need anything."
"El, I'm not crippled."
"Eh, I don't want you pushing yourself too hard."
She rolled her eyes good-heartedly at him. "If you want to do me a favor, could you pick Calvin up from school for me? He's staying after for some extra help."
"When?"
"4:30."
"Gotcha. See you later."
Olivia closed the door, and made her way up the apartment stairs. When she met the door, she thrust the key into the lock and twisted it. The door gave way, and Oliva let out a long sigh, Olivia dragged herself inside. She almost forgot to close the door. Idly, she shed her coat and tossed it onto the arm of her couch. She quietly made her way to her room, where she plucked a hair tie off the top of her dresser. Sloppily, she pushed her hair into a crude ponytail. Another sigh escaped her. Planting each hand on a hip, she strode out of the living room, and screwed up her face at the pile of spilled cereal on her floor.
She laughed softly to herself, thinking of how Calvin had scrambled out the door to catch the bus, dropping the cereal. Knowing he couldn't be late and already running late herself, she left without even cleaning it up.
The detective ambled over to her closet, and yanked the door open. There, a rather old vacuum greeted her.
"God, when was the last time I used this?" Olivia realized she hardly had to vacuum, seeing as she barely spent time at home. She knew that now that she had a child living with her, she'd have to use it a lot more often.
She plugged it into the wall, and kicked it on with her foot. At first, she only dragged it front and back where she stood in a restricted area where the cereal had spilled, but soon she reached too far.
Pain pinched her side. Olivia kicked the vacuum off and clutched her side. "Damn it." In search of relief, she rushed over to the cabinet in her kitchen. When she pulled it open, she discovered a bottle of ibuprofen. At first, she thought her pain would be alleviated. However, when she twisted it open, she found it was empty.
Olivia groaned in annoyance.
"You've got to be kidding me." Briefly, she considered calling Elliot, but decided against it. Olivia looked over at the wall. It was 2:30.
Picking up the coat on her coach, she went out the door, closing it behind her. She descended the flight of stairs, and came to the door. Figuring that the store was only down the street, she didn't bother to go to the garage and drive.
Olivia scrunched her face up each time she pressed her hand lightly against her bruises.
The store in sight, Olivia picked up her pace. Suddenly, something struck her, hard, on the back of her head. Olivia choked out a grunt as a response to the ambush, before falling to her knees and to the ground.
Her attacker tucked his hands into her armpits, and lugged her into his car.