Hi everyone!
Here's the chapter of the 'reunion'. I warn you... It's not joyous, but I tried to maintain as much of the characters as I could considering the situation they are both living.
Hope I did well...
Let me know!
Liv's POV
Enjoy
I kept staring out of the window for what seemed like hours.
By the light coming through the window I could see that it was late afternoon and by the traffic on the streets below me I knew that someone would have returned at home late that evening.
It felt surreal knowing that eleven years of my life had been beaten out of my head with the same force of the blow that caused it.
Life continued though, and listening to what Elliot told me, I'd been a part of it since that same morning.
A million of questions kept running in my head making me feel even more confused, causing my already throbbing head to hurt some more but not enough for me to stop thinking about all the things that could have happened in that long period of time.
All I knew so far was that I was still a Detective, and that I'd been injured in the line of duty once again but...
What else did I know?
Was I always the same person or had I changed over the years?
I blinked a few times, clearing my vision from the bright sun light that was coming through the half closed shutters, focusing on nothing in particular but my own hands resting in my lap.
Who am I?
The soft knock on the door passed almost unheard from me as I shifted my gaze again to the traffic that was still packing the streets below, absorbed by thoughts and questions of which I didn't know the answers.
"Come in." I said half absently, loud enough for whomever was on the other side to be able to hear it, but the simple short line echoed in my ears making me wince for the pulse in my head that got worse at the sound of my own voice.
I heard the handle turns and immediately after that, the sound of what I suppose were the click of high heels on the marble floor.
For an imperceptible instant as I blinked, I had a sensation very similar to a deja vu and I thought that I knew that sound, that very particular click, the cadence of the steps and then...
As I closed my eyes to concentrate on those sensations, it was gone.
I let out a defeated sigh slumping back against the pillow as a new feeling of emptiness took residence inside of me.
"Is this a bad time?" My eyes fluttered open hearing a soft tentative voice.
I turned slightly my head and with the corner of my eye, I saw the figure stop a few feet from my bed, and even if my position wasn't good enough for me to see who it was, I recognized the classy black suit, white shirt and the blonde hair that I had saw before when I fist woke up.
I quickly pulled myself up and when I focused on her figure, my head started to spin.
The sudden change of position certainly didn't do any good for my condition but I couldn't help it. I wasn't used to show such vulnerability, especially in front of a complete stranger, and despite my best efforts, a low groan escaped my lips as I slowly leaned back, resting my upper body against the headboard of the bed, closing my eyes to stop the room from spinning around me and hoping that the nausea would have go away.
I didn't hear the steps coming closer, but when a light delicate fragrance reached my nostrils, my eyes fluttered open. My blurred vision took a few short seconds to focus and then I saw the blonde woman at my side, busy on putting another pillow behind my back so I could have been more comfortable.
"Here." She said with a soft comforting voice, a voice that strangely had a soothing effect on me, appreciating that she kept her volume low so my head wouldn't have protested.
When I leaned back again I was very surprised to find out that I had allowed the small kind gesture from this woman, but I couldn't deny that I was feeling much more comfortable and at the same time my head had stopped to spin, and I took the chance to raise my gaze and meet the one of the blonde.
And then I saw them. A pair of baby blue eyes, looking back at me from behind a pair of black rimmed glasses.
Wow.
I knew I saw her before, but the situation was different, I was confused, disoriented, hurt and barely awake, and finding myself in an hospital bed wasn't the ideal occasion for me to focus on details but now...
My vision was no longer blurred, my head wasn't throbbing as much as before and the fact that she was so close to me in that moment gave me the opportunity to capture every detail of the woman standing just a few feet from me.
Long blonde hair falling neatly over her shoulders.
Creamy porcelain skin touched by the light of the sun coming through the half closed window, the small shadows accentuating what I knew was a strong and defined jawline and a long sensual neck.
My eyes landed again on her face, unable to resist, shifting my gaze at the last second to her lips before thinking that that would have been inappropriate and so I found myself drawn into those same impossibly blue eyes.
"Thanks." It came out without thinking, but it didn't mean that I wasn't sincere. My voice sounded particularly low and raspy, feeling my throat suddenly dry even if I had just finished to drink the remaining water that Elliot brought to me earlier.
At the expression of my gratefulness she offered me a small sad smile, diverting her gaze from mine as she instead decided to take a tentative look at the stitched wound at the side of my head.
Maybe it was just my mind playing tricks with me -and given the situation it didn't seem so insane to think that- but I could have swore that I saw her lower lip tremble for a fraction of second before she took it between her teeth.
It lasted a moment, and then her features showed a much more controlled expression, but in the small moment, I could still see a light of concern flash behind those glasses.
"How are you feeling?" Her question made me blink a couple of times to clear my head from my thoughts as I pulled myself up a little more, wincing slightly in the process when I felt my head pulse with pain.
"It's not so bad... Really." I answered at last, exhaling slowly through my nose when another stab of pain reached my head. "I think the worst part is waking up and find out that I'm eleven years older." I concluded with a tired defeated smile, my tone only half humorous.
She diverted her gaze from mine immediately, making for me impossible to see the look that had appeared on her face, partially covered by a cascade of long blonde hair.
Maybe it was just something that I had said, but I could clearly see that the topic upset her.
I knew that I couldn't have changed the subject even if I wanted to, because my condition was the reason why I needed to ask some questions, but I was willing to interrupt the silence that was becoming thick and uncomfortable in the small room.
"Elliot told me you are our ADA." I offered serching her gaze with mine, seeing her finally looking up at me from her position. "He also told me you have been for a really long time and that you helped us to put behind bars every 'scum bag' that we handed to you."
A hint of humor was audible in my voice when I quoted Elliot's words.
At that I saw a blush spreading on her fair porcelain skin and the sight was really entertaining and I wondered how many times I possibly had witnessed this woman as she was doing her job in front of a judge and a jury.
Somehow I could almost picture her in the courtroom, she had that look about her that expressed confidence, it was evident in how nicely she was dressed and how she tried to mantain her composure in that moment, even if I could see how hard it was being for her to do so.
Despite my effort to start a conversation, she remained silent, nervously rubbing one of her hands up to her arm in a sort of self hug.
Maybe this isn't easy for her too.
I started thinking like the Detective that I was, thinking about how close I became with every ADA I met over the years. Abbie was one of them and if this woman had been with us for many years, I was pretty sure that we had occasion to get close and maybe develop some kind of.. friendship.
It must be this way... I thought with conviction. Because if she wasn't a friend, then why was she there with me at my side after I had been injured?
Another defeated sigh left my lips, feeling so very useless and angry for the whole surreal situation, swallowed by the giant black hole in my mind.
"I'm sorry... I don't know if I should apologize or-"
"Please, no. You didn't do anything wrong." My gaze shifted to look at her as she took a seat on the chair next to my bed. Her voice sounded tired, exhausted as much as mine, but when our eyes met for an instant before she diverted her gaze once again, I saw the sincerity lying into them.
"It's not your fault if you don't remember." She concluded, her voice barely audible but her tone held concern and more than a hint of what I wondered if it was indeed hurt.
The blonde beauty in front of me went silent once again and suddenly it occurred to me that I didn't even know how to address to her.
I took a deep breath feeling the injury on my head pulse at the thought of what I needed to ask her.
"I know that this must sounds strange... Elliot told me you are our ADA and a bit more but..."
My voice trailed off for a few seconds before I decided to continue, hoping that my question wasn't going to upset more the woman that was sitting next to me.
"...he forgot to mention your name."
And as I had expected, even if my voice was calm and soft, I saw her flinch at the mention that I didn't know her name.
Hell, if Elliot or Munch would have been in the same situation I think I would have been kind of hurt for them to not remembering me even knowing that that it didn't dipend on them.
And seeing the reaction that I had on the blonde, a great part of me was now sure that we were close.
I was a Detective. But sometimes I just wanted to be able to ignore certain signals. Sometimes ignorance was preferible. It would have caused so much less sorrow.
She bit down on her lower lip and I didn't miss the look that crossed her features as her eyebrow furrowed and her hands started to shake a little in her lap.
She raised her gaze to meet the look of curiosity and sadness that was evident on my face.
"Alex."
It was a light whisper and I pretended to not hear the light tremble in her voice until she cleared her throat softly, and then her full name came out from those rosy lips smoothly and controlled.
"My name is Alexandra Cabot."
I was sure that in the instant her name reached my ears, I felt something pulling me from the back of my mind and I furrowed parting my lips as if I wanted to speak but not knowing what to say.
It echoed an old whisper inside of my head...
A few more seconds passed and to me seemed like a life time as I tried with everything to put into place that sensation, and then...
"Are you alright, Liv?"
Liv?
It wasn't the concern in her voice that made me look up at her with a look of utter confusion, but the fact that she had called me with that nickname.
A nickname that I only let use to a small group of persons, the few friends I had and the close colleagues. That definitely made me realize that my deduction from before wasn't wrong.
We were friends, or very close coworkers.
I didn't know why, but the thought set a warm welcoming feeling inside me that I couldn't quite understand or ignore.
"I..." I looked up at her from where I was staring at my calloused hands.
"I'm fine... It's just... This situation I think." I said offering a small tentative smile. "It makes me feel a bit confused."
She offered a smile of her own, but it wasn't full, I could tell because it didn't reach her baby blue eyes and the only light I saw lying in them, was the one of a deep sadness.
"I think that I should let you rest..." She said before standing from the chair, her legs shaking a bit maybe for the sudden movement and then I realized that I didn't what her to leave.
"W-wait, you don't have to. I'm fine it's just-" But I didn't have the chance to finish because she interrupted me before I could.
"It's okay... You had a really difficult day and I shouldn't." Her eyes looking anywhere but at me and the sight made me feel worse because maybe it was something I had done that made her react like that, but if she really wanted to leave, I wouldn't have kept there if she didn't want to.
The truth was that I was tired beyond any belief, but I would have appreciated some company even in my state.
It would have been better to have someone there when you wake up and find out that the world wasn't the same you remembered.
I smiled sadly at her only to see her gaze dropping on her feet.
"It was nice to meet you, Miss Cabot." I said hoping that my voice would have brought me her attention.
It worked.
And a second later her gaze raised from the floor to meet mine and the light I saw lying into those deep ocean blue eyes started a very strange sensation from the pit of my stomach until it spreaded through my limbs.
"Please, call me Alex." It was the last thing that she offered before she turned on her heels and left the room before I could even recover from that sensation and find the strenght to respond to her.
I just looked as the door closed behind a ghost whose voice kept pulling something from a place so deep inside me that seemed bottomless.
"Alex it is then." I repeated in the now empty room just before I shifted my gaze from the door to look outside of the window where the sky was painted with a familiar deep blue.
