It was the scream that woke Oliva from her slumber. Without missing a beat she threw herself out of the bed, gun in hand, aiming towards the door. When no other noise was heard she blinked rapidly clearing sleep from her eyes. The memories began to flood back. It was only a dream. She had woken herself by screaming again. Putting her gun down on her nightstand and glancing at the clock she noticed it was ten minutes till her alarm would wake her. Sighing inwardly, she resigned herself to the fact there would be no more sleep today. 'Twelve hours', she stated out loud; that was how long of a shift she had ahead of her, if everything was quiet today. Peeling off her sweat soaked pyjamas she headed into the bathroom. 'Breathe in –Breathe out, repeat.' Olivia groaned at herself in the mirror, 'God you look like hell Benson. Get a grip on yourself'. Two years of the same dream and she was still letting it get to her. She sighed and turned on the shower, agitation setting in.
Olivia strode into the precinct, coffees in hand and a grin on her face. Unless someone looked closely and knew her well, the hints of tears etching her face were invisible. Elliot couldn't help but notice. Years of working together had shown him the sensitive side to his strong, stubborn partner.
Pulling her to the side, Elliot whispered in her ear. "Seriously? Again, Liv?"
"When don't I El? It's the same old thing every night, ever since....since that day" she harshly whispered back, wanting him to just leave it.
"You need to talk to Huang. Liv, if it were me you would tell me the same thing."
"Elliot..." Warning him with her tone, she pulled away and went to sit down. Lowering herself into her chair, she looked over at Munch and Fin who were glaring each other down. "Anything new?" At the shake of their heads, she resigned herself to DD5's for the day. 'Great I had a horrid sleep and now nothing interesting to get my mind off it.' She thought. Opening her drawer she reached down to grab yesterday's to-do file. Instead, her hand came in contact with a moss coloured case. Running her fingers down it, she shut her eyes. Not wanting to begin to cry again she pulled her hand back and slammed the drawer, causing her squad mates to all look at her. "Going to see Casey about a file, need anything?" she practically growled.
"Nope, but tell her I say Hi and she still owes me a lunch" said Munch looking up from his conspiracy magazine.
"What did you bet on this time?" Fin sneered from the perp wall.
"Hot dog theory....seems our corner stand guy was part of a ring of food vendors, which our government put..."
"Okay okay...I don't want to know. Fin do not egg him on." Elliot laughed poking fun at Munch's over abundance of theories.
Liv just looked at her friends and shook her head, backing out of the room. Something's would never change. Others would never be the same. Walking out of the precinct, she turned and headed towards Casey's Office.