Chapter Three:

Olivia looked around groggily, painfully aware of the gunshot wounds to her arms, the bruises and swelling that covered her neck and the growing ache between her legs. She almost wished she was dead, she wouldn't have to live with the knowledge that she was the cause of this man's delusions and Elliot's horrific injuries.

She painfully rolled and turned her head, lying unconscious on the ground, was Elliot. There was marked bruising around his eyes, blood caked on both cheeks, a split lip and his clothing was torn to shreds. Beneath the shreds of clothing, she glimpsed his chest, black and blue bruises in various shapes and sizes covered him.

Olivia felt a lone tear slide down her cheek. This was all her fault, all her damn fault. She should have complied more, she shouldn't have fought him, she shouldn't have screamed, she shouldn't have been so stupid. She scolded herself. It was her fault that Elliot had been injured, and because of that, she wanted to die. Still scolding herself, she fell into a deep slumber.

Hours later, she woke from her scolding slumber, plagued with nightmares. Nightmares which encompassed her main basic fear; that she was unlovable. If she ever got out of here alive, she was sure that Elliot would blame her for his injuries, the unit would blame her for her stupidity and everyone she cared about would hate her.

As much as she thought she deserved it, she couldn't bare the thought. She was going to have to cut herself off from everyone that she loved. But first she was going to make sure that she and Elliot survived. If he didn't, she knew it wouldn't matter that she did.

As she got up from the blanket, a terrible pain shot through her. 'Suck it up' she thought roughly to herself. As she walked across the room to Elliot, her strength left her, and she collapsed, unconscious, by his side.

Elliot came out of his unconscious state, aware that something warm and soft was laying by his side. As he woke up and opened his eyes, he realized that the 'thing' lightly gripping his hand was Olivia. He quickly assessed the injuries. She had an obviously broken wrist, blood matted in her hair, a pair of black eyes, almost swollen shut, blood was caked anywhere that was visible. As he looked at the skin beneath her shredded clothes, he glimpsed skin black and blue from various obvious beatings.

Overcome by a great sadness, he felt tears sting the back of his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. He needed to be strong for her, if she was alright, he might then worry more about himself.

As he dwelled on his thoughts, he felt her stir beside him, her face burrowing deeply in his neck. He gently stroked her back, a loving gesture that overwhelmed Olivia, who began to sob desperately in his arms. Elliot enveloped her in his arms, whispering soothing nothings in her ear. After almost half an hour, Olivia began to calm down.

"Liv," he said gently, quite worried about her. She had never sobbed so much before, "Liv, honey, are you alright?"

He knew that it was a stupid question, but if she answered with her usual "I'm fine", he knew that she would fully recover. Instead of answering Elliot's question how he had expected, Olivia let out a dry sob, shook her head and hugged him tighter, as if trying to loose herself within his strength.

Elliot's concern increased, as she had not yet uttered a single word. He didn't know how, but he knew that if she didn't speak now, she was not going to recover from this brutal assault.

"Come on Liv," he coached gently, "Say 'I'm fine.'"

At the sound of his voice, Olivia pulled herself closer to him, burrowing further into his neck.

"Liv," he stated more firmly, "Come on, baby, say anything. Anything, you can call me a stupid pig, I don't care. But hone, please say something." He started to beg.

Despite the fact the Olivia was obviously not going to speak, Elliot continued to talk to her, Olivia gaining comfort from hearing his voice.

A few hours later, Elliot looked down at Olivia, who was still firmly snuggled again him, and had his hand in a death grip, both arms grasping his sides tightly. Slowly he began to drift off also, hoping he would have more luck with her tomorrow.

All the supplies had been gotten, and were bundled together in one of Casey's old backpacks. As no one had returned to the station they had no idea of the condition either one was in.

Munch and Fin headed out to the warehouse discussing the possible conditions Elliot and Olivia could be in. Both were quite worried about the possibility that neither would ever recover.

As they arrived at the warehouse, they noticed the open slide where the food was supposed to go. They slid the food through the slot, careful to keep an eye out for any camera's. Munch and Fin headed back to the car. When they were a safe distance away, they stopped and rang the number of the phone they had left behind.