Truce
The elevator doors opened, she took a deep breath and stepped out. She crossed the foyer and walked over to the reception desk, the young woman at the desk looked up as she approached.
"Hi, I'd like to see Erin Reagan please." She told her.
"Sure, do you have an appointment?" The woman behind the desk asked her.
"Uh, no, I don't." She admitted.
"I can check and see if she's available." The receptionist offered.
"Great, thanks." She smiled.
"Can I please have a name?" She asked.
"Lizzie Reagan." She watched the receptionist's expression change at hearing her last name. The receptionist quickly recovered and picked up the phone. Lizzie watched as she placed the phone call, after a minute she hung up the phone and turned back to her.
"She can see you. Go on through." The reception told her as she gestured to her right and pointed around the corner.
"Thanks."
Lizzie readied herself as she walked the short distance to Erin office, when she rounded the corner she saw the door was open. She walked up and saw Erin sitting at her desk surrounded by piles of files and papers, she stopped and wrapped her knuckles on the doorframe. Erin looked up at the sound, she nodded and gestured for Lizzie to come in and take a seat.
"Hi." Lizzie greeted her as she took a seat.
"Hi." Erin replied eyeing Lizzie suspiciously, wondering why she had come.
"I was hoping we could talk." Lizzie began.
"Talk?" Erin asked sceptically.
"I know you don't like that Jamie and I are together. I completely understand why. I thought maybe we could talk. You can ask me anything you want to know, maybe if you understand me and my situation a little better you might feel a little less uncomfortable about me and Jamie. We could go and get a coffee or something…my shout." Lizzie offered, willing to do anything to ease the tension between herself and Erin.
"I appreciate you coming here but I'm pretty swamped today. I just got a new case dumped on me and I really need to get up to speed on it." Erin replied clearly not ready to change her mind about Lizzie.
"I understand, maybe some…." Lizzie trailed off as she turned to look out the window of Erin's office. Erin saw her eyes widen and her mouth drop and followed her gaze out the window. She turned to see a man pointing a gun at the receptionist and shouting something she could not decipher.
"Over here." She told Lizzie as she dropped down behind her desk. Lizzie got down and crawled around Erin's desk, as she did she saw Erin pull her phone from her desk and call 911. Erin gave the operator all the details and placed the phone on the floor, she sat with her back against her desk for a few moments before the thought struck her.
"My gun." She remembered.
"Where is it?" Lizzie asked, glad to hear Erin carried one.
"My purse." Erin replied and scanned the room for her bag. Their hearts both sunk as they saw it lying on the couch on the other side of the room.
"I can get it." Erin said as she got ready to crawl across the room. Before she could she felt Lizzie grab her arm hard.
"No." Lizzie warned her and Erin saw Lizzie had her eyes glued on the scene outside the window. Erin looked out to see the terrified receptionist pointing a shaking finger at her office. The gunman started making his way along the corridor to Erin's office, as he turned the corner Erin and Lizzie hid behind the desk and stayed very quiet. They shared a look as they heard sound of a gun being cocked and footsteps coming through the door. As Erin stared straight ahead trying to quiet her breathing, she saw movement out the corner of her eye. She turned, and to her utter astonishment she saw Lizzie, with her hands above her head, slowing standing up.
"She's not here." Lizzie told the gunman, her voice trembling with fear. He trained his gun on her looking surprised.
"You're looking for Erin Reagan right?" Lizzie asked.
"Yeah." The gunman confirmed surprised not expecting the help.
"You just missed her. She went to the bathroom about two minutes before you got here. I'm waiting for her to get back." Lizzie clarified. Erin stared up at Lizzie in amazement unable to believe what she was doing.
"Shit!" He swore and Lizzie flinched.
"Where's the bathroom?" He asked angrily.
"Out by the elevators." She told him, pretty sure she'd seen some on her way in. She watched as the gunman turned and walked out of the office. She stood frozen as she watched through the window as the gunman walked back past the reception desk and over towards the elevators. As he disappeared from view she heard someone yelling for him to drop the gun and get on the ground. Lizzie dropped her hands and let out a sigh of relief as Erin stood up. Erin was about so say something when armed police swarmed the office.
"Everybody okay in here?" An officer asked as he entered the office.
"Yes." Erin confirmed. She then turned her attention to Lizzie.
"Why did you do that?" She asked stunned.
"He was going to kill you, I had to do something." Lizzie told her.
"Thank you." Erin told her gratefully and gave Lizzie a hug.
The two women headed out the office and over to the reception area. As they reached the desk Erin saw the receptionist standing a few feet away with her arms wrapped around herself.
"Ellie, are you alright?" She asked the still shaking woman.
"Yes. I'm sorry, he wanted to know where you were, he had a gun and I…" She trailed off and began to cry
"It's ok, you didn't have a choice. I'm okay." Erin reassured her as she gave her a hug. Moments later she heard her name as both of her brothers and their partners made their way over.
"You okay?" Danny asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. What are you all doing here?" She asked surprised by their fast arrival.
"Eddie and I had to testify today." Jamie told her.
"We were interviewing a witness a couple of blocks away." Danny explaining why he and Baez were also so close. As he did Jamie looked behind Erin and saw Lizzie.
"Lizzie!" He gasped surprised as he went over and pulled her into a tight hug.
"What are you doing here?" He asked as he let her go.
"I came to talk to Erin. I wanted to tried and smooth things over." She told him.
"She saved my life." Erin told him.
"What?" Jamie and Danny asked in unison.
"We were hiding behind my desk when the gunman came in. Lizzie stood up and told him I wasn't there. She told him I was in the bathroom and he believed her. That's why he left." Erin explained and everyone looked at Lizzie stunned.
"What were you thinking, you could have gotten yourself killed." Jamie asked horrified.
"If he had found her, he would have killed her. I couldn't let that happen…she's family." Lizzie told him with a small smile. He stared at her for a moment before hugging her again.
"Thank you." He whispered as they hugged.
"Well, I'm way too wired to go back to work. Do you want go and grab that coffee? My shout." Erin asked Lizzie, smiling.
"I'd love too." Lizzie smiled back.
"I feel sorry for you." Danny told Jamie.
"What? Why?" Jamie asked confused.
"Your sister and your wife are going to go get coffee. What do you think they're going to talk about? The one thing they in common…you." Danny explained.
"Yeah, Erin's going to tell me all sorts of embarrassing stories from when you were a kid." Lizzie teased him.
"You know, I have a lot of stories, maybe we should make it lunch?" Erin suggested grinning.
"Sure." Lizzie agreed and the women laughed at Jamie's worried expression.
"I think I liked it better when you two didn't get along." Jamie sighed and everyone laughed.
Later that night Lizzie answered the door to find a delivery man holding a very large bouquet of flowers.
"Delivery for Lizzie Reagan." He read from the electronic device he was holding.
"That's me." She said.
"Sign here." He told her as he handed her the device and a stylus. She signed it and handed it back.
"Here you go." He said as he handed her the flowers.
"Thanks." She said and headed inside. She closed the door and walked into the kitchen where Jamie was loading the dishwasher.
"Who was it?" He asked with out looking up.
"Delivery guy." She told him as she placed the flowers gently on the counter. Jamie closed the dishwasher and turned around.
"Who are they from?" He asked examining the large bouquet.
"Don't know." She replied as she found the card tucked inside.
"Secret boyfriend?" He joked.
"Probably." She smiled as she opened the envelope and took out the card. Her smile grew as she read the note. She saw Jamie looking at her expectantly and read the card aloud.
"Lizzie, though I can never say enough to thank you, I thought these might be a good start. I will never forget what you did for me. Your sister, Erin."