Saving Elliot

Chapter 2: Reminders

A/N: I know this chapter is shorter than the first but I'm hoping it is just as, if not more, powerful. I hope you all like it. This chapter is dedicated to all those who reviewed chapter one.

magicaltears: Thanks so much for proving to me that this story was not forgotten. And I want to kill Ricky too but if I did, well there wouldn't have been a "Finding Olivia" sequel.

Rockstargoddess101: Thank you so much.

TV Angel 711: Your reviews always make me smile. E&O for eternity! Ha, I one upped you.

: Sorry it took so long but you're finally getting your wish, a new chapter!

Hkitty9013: I'm sorry it took so long. I really didn't mean to keep you waiting so long but inspiration strikes me in the weirdest ways and at the weirdest times sometimes. I hope you like the chapter.

Elliot and Olivia bid goodnight to Fletcher and climbed the stairs side by side. Olivia's eyes remained intensely focused anyplace but on Elliot. The shame she felt was overwhelming. She knew for certain that she couldn't handle walking into the squad room in the morning. With all those eyes on her, she would feel like they knew, even if they didn't.

At the top of the stairs the two began to go their separate ways but when Olivia reached the door of her darkened bedroom, a chill ran through her. She took several deep breaths but couldn't shake the feeling. She turned around and tip toed to the door of Elliot's room. She knocked tentatively and opened the door.

He was on his knees beside his bed. It was obvious that he was so wrapped up in what he was doing that he hadn't heard her enter. She stood there and watched him for a long time.

"Oh, God," he whispered tearfully "Please, give me the strength to protect her from this," there was a long pause as he struggled for breath "I can't let her get hurt again. I can't."

Olivia was about to step forward into the room. She was about to run to him, wrap her arms around her and cry with him. She needed to let him know that what had happened to her was not his fault. But for some reason, she stayed put, listening to his prayers.

"I love her so much," he sobbed "I can't lose her. God please, please give me the strength to be her strength?"

It was at that point that Olivia did step forward. She moved towards him quickly, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder. She dropped to his side "And please watch over Elliot and protect him for me, because I love him more than he'll ever know," she added her own words to his prayer.

He turned to her, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand as he did so. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him "How long have you been there?" he asked.

"Long enough," she replied, laying her head upon his shoulder "Can I stay in here with you tonight?" she asked, her voice small, pleading.

Elliot pulled away and looked at her "It had been over a month since they had been in the same bed. And then, it had been a hospital bed, doctors and nurses coming at all hours of the night. In that place, Elliot had been the most familiar person to Olivia, and given what she had suffered at the hands of those monsters it made sense that she would want him near her.

But since that night, Olivia had slept by herself. She had claimed to be fine, even though Elliot would find her wandering around the house at odd hours like he had earlier; once he had discovered her, crouched in a corner by the front door, with his gun clenched between her fingers.

He would be lying if he said her request hadn't surprised him. He stared at her for a long time, unintentionally making her squirm under his gaze. His mouth opened slowly and eventually his mind formed the words "Are you sure?"

"Yes," she answered plainly before turning her gaze to her lap "I… I just don't want to be alone right now," she admitted.

Elliot smiled softly, lovingly. How could he refuse her? He stood, taking her with him. He sat on the edge of the bed and held her in his lap, not wanting to let go of her. He eased himself into a lying position under the covers and Olivia adjusted so that she was lying comfortably beside him.

"Comfortable?" he asked with a smile as he kissed the corner of her mouth. She nodded and smiled back at him. He reached up to turn out the light when the sensation of her hand on his arm stopped him.

"Don't," she pled softly. She felt like a silly child, afraid of the dark. She had never been afraid of the dark as a child, well… at least she had never admitted to being afraid of the dark. But now, she just didn't want Elliot to turn out that light, even though he would be right beside her.

Elliot lowered his hand and smiled gently at her. He placed his hand on her cheek "Okay," he whispered with nothing but understanding in his voice.

Olivia nodded her thanks and nuzzled close to him. "You know it wasn't your fault, right?" she asked as she held tight to him.

Elliot didn't have to ask what she was talking about. He'd been beating himself up about what had happened to her for the last month. He should have come looking for her sooner. He should have known something was wrong. He should have been able to stop her from going in the first place. He should have done so many things but in the end, he hadn't. He'd managed to get there in time to save her from being raped but the emotional toll of what she had already been through was horrifying in and of itself. He would never be able to believe, as she did, that he was her savior.

"I shouldn't have let you leave," he said softly, his eyes closed, unable to look at her.

"You were in the hospital;" Olivia reminded him "You couldn't have known."

Elliot bowed his head and placed a gentle kiss to Olivia's forehead "I would give anything to be able to go back and prevent what happened to you."

"I know you would," Olivia replied in a tender voice as she nuzzled into the crook of his neck "Please don't blame yourself for what Derek and Ricky and Jack did?"

Elliot didn't respond. He simply pulled her flush against him and kissed her again "Goodnight," he whispered "I love you."

"I love you too," Olivia replied, not wanting to press the issue tonight. Wrapped up in Elliot's arms, she felt safe, like nothing could hurt her and she was able to drift off.

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She wasn't beside him. Elliot bolted up in bed. The early morning sunlight was peeking through the window. Sometime during the night, the light above the bed had been switched off. He got out of bed and tip toed down the hall to Olivia's room, thinking that perhaps she had retreated during the middle of the night.

He pushed against the closed door without even thinking and it gave way a fraction of an inch. There she was, on the other side of the room, changing. Her back was turned towards him and strangely enough, she hadn't heard him approach.

Elliot stared as she pulled her pajama shirt over her head. Immediately, the dark red whip marks that had been left behind by her ordeal were visible to him. He hadn't seen them before; she had always kept them covered, insisting that they didn't cause her pain.

He withdrew from the doorway, feeling like he had intruded upon a part of her life he had no right to. He returned to his own room and got ready for the day.

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Olivia stood in the living room, staring at the plain cardboard envelope in her hands. Tears welled up in her eyes. She didn't know what she was supposed to do. She slid the disc out and held it in her hand. She didn't need to watch it to remember.

Suddenly and with out warning she snapped the disc in half. It made her feel momentarily better but the reality quickly set in. There were more copies out there, the raw footage was out there and Ricky could make more copies if he wanted. The destruction of one copy was barely a drop in the bucket. She began crying harder.

"He's not gonna get away with this," Elliot told her, coming up behind her and taking the pieces of the broken disc from her. He tossed them in the trashcan and returned to her, wrapping his arms tightly around her "It'll be okay," his words sounded hollow, even in his ears but they were all he could offer.

Olivia let him hold her, desperately wanting to believe him. She needed to believe that everything would be alright. She needed to believe that Fletcher would find all the copies and stop Ricky. She needed to believe that she was safe. But no matter how desperately she grasped for that small hope, it always seemed just out of her reach.

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Olivia had decided to come into the squad room after all. But the second she caught sight of her co-workers, she wished she hadn't. The sympathetic gaze that they all seemed to be affixing her with was too much. She would have attempted to write it off as the general sympathy she'd been getting from them lately, even though these stares seemed more sad than before. She would have tried to write it off if she hadn't seen Fletcher Kline standing in the middle of it all.

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Ricky stepped off the bus followed by his cronies. They had been forced to keep a low profile on their way to New York. He had tried to argue the point with his faceless employer but the voice on the other end of the phone had insisted. In passing, Ricky wondered what the two detectives could have done to piss someone off so badly but he had a job to do and, for the amount of money his employer had promised him, he was going to do it.

He turned to his crew. With Jack and Andy in jail and Derek dead, he had had to find new volunteers. Cullen was a rather unassuming man in appearance, he wouldn't stick out in a crowd; which was quite advantageous to their little operation. Cullen carried with him all the technical equipment but he was more than just a tech. Cullen had been an assassin for the CIA several years ago. The company believed him long dead. Ricky had to admit that if not for Cullen's spook instincts, they would probably have never gotten their little games started.

The other man Kaplan was responsible for all the tools of their trade. He lifted too large duffle bags from the compartment under the bus. In them were whips, chains, cuffs, clamps and other such torture devices. Kaplan was possibly the master torturer among them. Ricky had his moments but it was Kaplan who had elicited the most distressed screams from their victims. Sure Derek had had his moments and had served his purpose but Kaplan was the true king of the agony.

Kaplan's presence had been at the request of Ricky's employer. Ricky had been willing to take on the performing role once again but his employer had insisted that he bring Kaplan with him.

The three men took a back alley route away from the bus station. After about an hour of walking, they arrived at another bus station where they lay in wait for their next transport. None of the men spoke a word to the others. They were professionals; they knew what they were supposed to do and they knew how they were going to go about it. No words were needed.