I'm so sorry for the delay, again! Here's an extra long chapter to make up for it. Thank you for the reviews, it's SO lovely to know that you care and that you want to know what happens next.
Here we go…
She couldn't breathe. Her eyes were closed so tightly that it almost hurt as the gun went off. She bit her lip to stop herself from crying out, every inch of her simply bursting to express her grief. Her heart felt as though it was about to burst. It was a deep, heavy pain that she had never felt before, not even when her mother died. She suddenly lost the urge to fight and went limp, her legs refusing to hold her up any longer as a life without him flashed through her mind. She felt herself being held up by the man who had been holding her in place as the realisation slowly seeped into her veins. She was numb. She struggled to catch her breath, hey eyes still tightly shut. She couldn't open her eyes. She couldn't see him.
As breathing became harder and harder she no longer fought the tears and they simply slipped down her cheeks. He was gone. Phil wasn't going to miss, there was no way that he would have missed. Elliot was dead. A whimper escaped her lips as it hit her. He was dead. Nothing mattered any more, she wouldn't fight her fate, there was nothing left to fight for. He had been her best friend for so long, her only source of comfort without even realising. His children…. His children would be heartbroken, just like she was. As her chest became tighter and tighter the fight for breath became almost impossible. Between the tears and the panic building, almost consuming her, she couldn't help but cling to the bastard who was holding her up, for fear of passing out.
Suddenly, she heard a second gunshot and the place erupted. What had seemed like minutes had been mere seconds. Olivia was suddenly free and had to stop herself from hitting thr floor, her legs still unwilling to hold her up. Her eyes shot open just in time to see the man who had been restraining her falling to the floor. A pair of strong hands grabbed her shoulders and pulled her out of her trance.
"Liv," a frantic voice called, the strong hands now cupping her face, checking for any signs of injury. "Come on! We have to go!" A hand reached for hers and pulled her towards the exit.
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOE
"Come on!"
He followed the other man, ignoring the pain in his left arm and holding onto his partner with the right. Phil, the real Phil, had come back just in the nick of time. As the man who had posed as Phil was prepared to shoot, the real Phil shot instead from a distance. Elliot got caught in the arm, a lucky escape considering the man was ready to blow his head off. As chaos erupted Elliot ran towards Olivia, knocked out the bastard who was holding her, grabbed her and ran.
He had no idea how far they'd ran, how long they'd been running or where they were but he didn't care. Real Phil had shot the man who was pretending to be him, it was so unexpected that it gave Elliot and Olivia a chance to escape as the men who had been intent on harming them ran for cover.
He knew they would follow, and sure enough after a few moments he turned and caught sight of them, they wouldn't rest until they found them and they were miles and miles away from help in an abandoned industrial estate. He still had a tight hold of Olivia's hand, she was running just behind him, tears and blood staining her face. "They're behind us!" Elliot called, watching as Olivia's eyes widened and immediately they were quicker, so fast he wondered if they could ever run like this if they weren't in fear of their lives.
"Here!" The real Phil called, turning a sharp corner and waving his hand for Elliot and Olivia to follow. "Quick!" the younger man was shaking. Elliot and Olivia reached him as he pushed aside a large wooden plank to reveal a door and with a swift kick the door flew open. "Get in!" he grabbed Elliot's shoulder and pulled him in the door, closely followed by Olivia. He quickly placed the plank over the door and closed it.
He turned to Elliot and Olivia placing a finger over his mouth, a signal for them not to make a sound. Mere seconds later Olivia gripped Elliot's hand tightly as they heard footsteps. She closed her eyes, utterly terrified that they would find them. She had barely had a second to accept that Elliot was okay, she couldn't help but shake as she stood next to him, her fingers slid firmly in between his. He was okay. After a few moments the men who had been meters away carried on looking, not noticing the out of place wooden plank in place of the door.
Phil gently ushered them further and further away from the door, eventually leading them to another door. He walked through first and as Elliot followed he let go of Olivia's hand, embarrassed that he had been holding onto her for so long. Olivia looked up, unable to hide the disappointment. Elliot was already inside. She slowly walked in and looked around. They were in a large room with a bed in the middle, the walls were an exact match to those in the warehouse.
"What is this place?" Elliot asked, ignoring the searing pain in his arm. He glanced at Olivia, worried, she hadn't said a single word.
"I found it when I was looking around," Phil answered, moving around, reaching into a few boxes that lay around. "There's a toilet through there," he pointed to another door. "I'm going to get help," he told them as he handed Olivia bandages. She looked at them, and back up to Phil.
"For Elliot's arm," he answered. She frowned, had Elliot hurt his arm? She had barely had a second to come to terms with the fact that they had escaped, one minutes Elliot was gone, the next he was grabbing her hand and they were running and now they were here.
"How do we know that they don't know about this place? We're what? A few hundred meters away from them?"
"I did a stake out, no one ever came by-"
"But someone made it? How do we know it wasn't Phil…uh…Rogers?" Elliot struggled to remember his first conversation with the real Phil when he had told him about the fake Phil. Jesus, he was getting a headache.
"Yeah, Rogers. I don't think they know it's here. I watched the place for weeks and no one came by, walked right past it." He watched as Olivia simply looked around the room for the tenth time, her hands were still shaking. "You okay?" he asked, not sure of what they had gone through before he got to them. Elliot immediately turned to her. She looked up to see two pairs of worried eyes. She nodded, clearing her throat, hoping something would come out when she tried to speak, anything…
"Yeah…" she nodded, turning to her partner slowly, still in a daze. "El…you're bleeding…" she frowned, turning the attention from her to him, reaching for his arm, stopping short of actually touching him. She hadn't even realised he'd been hit.
"Uh, bullet caught me-" he didn't have a chance to finish as she simply looked up at him, eyes wide.
"They shot you?" her voice shook, her heart dropped as she noticed the blood, and the paleness of his skin. He wasn't okay.
"It's fine, it's a flesh wound-"
"How do you know? We uh, we need to stop the bleeding-" she fumbled with the bandages in her hands. If anything happened to him….
"I'm going to go and get help," Phil announced, walking towards the door.
"What?" Olivia asked, unable to hide the fear in her voice. "You can't leave us here…what if they find us-"
"Olivia, I know…I'm not exactly thrilled about this but someone has to go and get help. Elliot's been shot. I can go, or you can go but one of us has to go to find help, to call reinforcements. We'll never get out of here if all three of us go, you know that. They're too clever." As he finished his sentence both Olivia and Elliot noticed the break in his voice.
"What did they do to you?" she didn't know why she asked. She could see the bruises and knew he'd been through hell but she needed to know what they were capable of.
"I…" the younger man swallowed the lump in his throat and walked towards the door. "If you hear anything at all, hide okay? I'll be back as soon as I can with help-"
"What made you come back?" Elliot asked, remembering how adamant the man was that he wouldn't go back. He watched as Phil stopped, seconds away from leaving.
"I knew what they would do to you, I ran…I don't know how long for and then realised I couldn't leave you both so I ran back," he avoided all eye contact. "Figured you guys wouldn't have left me…"
"We wouldn't," Olivia told him, not an ounce of doubt in her voice. Phil gave her a soft smile and turned, walking out. And with that, he was gone. Olivia stood exactly where she was, closing her eyes for a moment to remind herself that he was okay. Her hands hadn't stopped shaking.
"Liv…" he didn't know what to say, they had just escaped from what was almost certain death. He hadn't even had time to assess her injuries, just to grab her and run. Now he could see clearly. On top of the busted lip and bruises cause by Kieran she had fresh cuts and bruises all over her face, neck and chest. Her lip had fresh blood, from a second punch to the mouth and her wrists were covered in bruises.
He was about to ask her if she was okay when a wave of dizziness spread through him. He swayed slightly, stepping backwards and finding the bed.
"Elliot," Olivia ran forward, placing her hands on his arms and helping him to sit. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. She'd been so busy trying to get her head together that she'd completely forgotten about his arm. "Who shot you?"
"Phil…Rogers," Elliot tensed his jaw as his partner slowly pulled off his jacket, the pain suddenly intensifying as the shock wore off. "It's okay," he grimaced as Olivia paused, biting her lip, knowing she was hurting him.
"Oh God…" As soon as the jacket was off the bleed began to spill. Olivia reached for Elliots free hand and placed it over the wound. "Hold this, tight." She then reached for the buttons on his shirt. "You need to get this off…" she stopped as her shaking hands failed to reach the buttons. "I'm sorry…" she whispered.
"It's okay…just breathe…"
"I need to uh, your arm-" she shook her head, willing her hands to stop shaking.
"Olivia." Elliot finally caught her eye. "Breathe." He watched as she nodded, closing her eyes as she took three deep breaths. He had been waiting, hiding, hearing fake Phil describing what was going to happen to her and he thought his heart was going to explode. He had looked for everything and anything that he could have used as a weapon and it wasn't until he heard her screaming that he had angrily hit out, not knowing what to do, that he saw the box, hiding in the corner. The gun was like a gift from God himself. Then the screaming stopped and so did his heart. He was sure they had killed her.
Now, as he watched her struggling to calm herself he couldn't help but wonder if being attacked two times in less than twenty four hours was going to be too much for even Olivia to take. He wanted to reach out to her, to ask her if she was okay but he suspected she was in shock, just as he was. The sick bastards were ready to blow his head off in front of her just for fun. He had been seconds away from death and God only knew what they would have done to her.
"Okay," she opened her eyes, nodding slowly and unbuttoning his bloody shirt. "I just…need to get this off you then I can look at it…Do you feel like you're going to pass out?" she asked, watching as his face became even paler.
"A little…" he forced out a laugh. "You gonna catch me if I fall?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood. She gave him a short smile before turning her attention back to his arm, stripping him of his shirt. He frowned as he realised she was only using one hand. "Hey, what happened?" he asked, gesturing to her arm.
"Uh, must've twisted something…" she had fought so hard as Kieran held her down, she was sure it was broken. She ignored the pain that was gradually getting worse. She needed to focus on Elliot, he had been shot, he could still die.
"Want me to look at it-"
"Elliot can I just…can we just stop you from bleeding to death first?" she asked, not meaning to sound quite so angry. "I'm sorry…I just…you're bleeding-"
"It's okay, how bout I use my good hand and you use your good hand?" he asked, offering a smile.
EOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOE
Half an hour later they were sat on the floor, Olivia cradling her hand while Elliot simply stared at the bandages running along his arm. The bullet had gone in and out of his arm without hitting any bone, he'd been lucky. Fake Phil had been ready to kill him when real Phil came and shot at him, Elliot was shot out of shock. He hadn't even checked to see where the other man had been shot or if he was dead, all he could think about was Olivia. Now, as they sat on the floor of a building that could have been raided at anytime he couldn't help but worry about his partner. She had barely said a word. They were both probably suffering from shock, having been through a hellish few hours, Olivia even more so. He just wanted to know she was okay.
"How about we look at that arm?" he asked, turning to her, ignoring the searing pain in his own arm. She nodded, turning to face him and slowly bringing her arm towards him, biting her lip as the pain was almost too much. "Jesus, that's broken. Bastard broke your wrist."
"It's okay-"
"It's not okay, and you used everything we need for you on me-"
"Elliot you were shot-"
"And the bastard nearly raped you-" he stopped, watching as her eyes went wide for a second before she looked away. He was angry. Angry that anything had happened to her at all but he knew her and he knew that his anger would only hurt her more. "I…what happened?" he asked. They had been sat in silence for too long, getting over what had happened, trying to understand it. He needed to know why she didn't follow him, why she stayed behind when she promised that she wouldn't.
"I passed out…" she sighed. "Guess the concussion was worse than we thought…" she didn't want to talk about it, but she knew Elliot too well. She hadn't even realised that her wrist was broken until the initial shock had worn off. For a few second she felt the complete and utter devastation of losing Elliot and she wasn't sure how to snap out of it.
"Jesus, how do you feel now?" he asked. He had been shot, but other than that he was okay, Olivia however looked like she had been three rounds with Tyson.
"Okay…I'm fine…" she offered. Elliot sighed, he had heard it too many times from her when he knew she was anything but.
"Why did you come out?" he asked, needing to know. They had promised that they wouldn't put themselves in harm's way.
"He said he was going to kill you…" she shook her head, she should have checked, there must have been a way that she could have seen but no, she just walked out there, hands in the air. "Not that he wouldn't have killed anyway…They just wanted to see how far we'd go for each other…" Elliot couldn't help the twinge of guilt that pricked him. He had had long chats with who he thought was Phil, admitting that he wasn't sure about his feelings for Olivia, that he would die to save her. He had given them all the ammunition they had needed.
"You should have gone," Olivia told him, looking up at him. "You could be at home by now."
"How can you say that?" he asked, not quite believing what he was hearing.
"You were right by the exit, you could have gone-"
"I would never have left you-" he said simply, hardly a tinge of emotion in his voice. He couldn't look at her. How could she think that he would leave her?
"You nearly died in there, how do you think your kids would've felt-"
"Don't do that…"he mumbled shaking his head. "We said we were getting out of there together, we agreed."
"Elliot, we don't know that they aren't going to burst in here any minute. You could be safe-"
"What about you?" he asked, turning to face her. "Huh? What about you? What? You just sacrifice yourself so I can tuck my kids in? You think that's what I want?" he asked, trying not to be angry. "I don't want to be safe if you aren't – Jesus, we're partners." We're partners, as if that explained everything.
Olivia closed her eyes for a moment, the pain in her wrist becoming almost unbearable. She was so tired. She was exhausted, battered and bruised and she just wanted to go home. He wouldn't understand it, he wouldn't understand why she would happily die if it meant he was safe. He had people waiting for him at home, the only person she had was him. She opened her eyes as Kieran's face taunted her. She had sworn that she would never let this happen again.
"Why…" Elliot stopped, thinking of how to ask his next question. "Why did you stop screaming?" He had thought she was dead, his whole world had collapsed around him in those few seconds. She looked up at him.
"Elliot it was all about getting a reaction out of you, getting you to come out…I gave them the biggest bargaining tool…" she shook her head.
"Did he hurt you?" Elliot asked, his blood boiling at the thought. He hadn't had the chance to truly gage what had happened, it had all happened so quickly. Olivia shook her head, swallowing the lump in her throat. She had thought that Elliot had already gone, she had accepted her fate and stayed quiet just in case he hadn't.
"Did he…did he touch you-"
"Elliot please…" she shook her head. "I don't wanna talk-"
"Did he rape you?" he asked, hating the words that had left his mouth.
"God, Elliot, no…you were there you saw-"
"I wasn't there the first time, if he…" he closed his eyes. The thought of anything happening to her, of anyone hurting her made him want to hit something or scream so loudly that God himself would hear it. He couldn't control the pain in his chest every time he thought about that savage bastard on top of her, of the fear she must have been feeling, of the fact that she stayed quiet for him…
"He didn't-"
"You can tell me…Please tell me…" his voice broke. He swallowed the lump in his throat and turned to his partner, the woman who had been by his side for eleven years. "Just tell me…"
"He didn't, I promise you…" she closed her eyes, trying to get the images of him on top of her out of his head. "But I thought that he was going to…" she whispered, her lip trembling. "And I was just…I thought if I just stayed quiet…They wanted to make you watch and I know that…we would never survive that…" she shook her head. She cleared her throat quickly, embarrassed about how honest she had been. "But it didn't happen," she forced herself to sound almost cheery, "so lets just…lets forget it-"
"Olivia-" he whispered, unable to forget what he has seen. The look of complete and utter fear in her eyes as he'd pulled her up off of the floor. She had screamed, she had cried out, he would never forget her screams… He could try to comfort himself in the fact that the bastard didn't succeed but she was so shaken up, so vulnerable, it made him want to rip the head off of anyone who even looked at her. He would fight to the last breath if he could just be sure that she was okay…
"Please?" she asked, unable to talk or thing about it any longer. "He didn't…do it, you stopped him, please can we just focus on that?" she asked, watching as he nodded, unsure of what to say.
"How's the arm?" he asked, gesturing to her wrist which was swelling more and more.
"It's okay," she lied. "Yours?"
"Okay…" Lie.
"Elliot, what do we do if they find us?"she asked, hating just how vulnerable and scared she sounded but unable to help it. The thought of being found made her more frightened than she ever had been. They were vicious with no reason.
"Then we fight… I uh, I really thought I was a goner…" he admitted, exhaling. He had been terrified but he had remained as strong as he could while she was watching with wide eyes, tears slipping down her cheeks. He had hated seeing her like that, hated that he had had anything to do with making her feel the way that she had. He had been so scared, so scared that he would never see his children and wife again, but in that moment more of what they were going to do to his partner when her was gone. He watched s she visibly stiffened next to him. "You okay?" he asked, simply watching as she nodded, turning away from him. Out of everything that she had witnessed and been through, without a doubt watching as Elliot was forced to his knees with a gun at his head was the one thing that would haunt her forever. The pain that she felt as soon as the bullet sounded was something that she would never be able to forget. As she remembered the crippling pain that had consumed her the fear began to build again. She struggled to catch her breath.
"Liv?" Elliot frowned, watching as she struggled. She pushed herself away from him and up until she was standing. She closed her eyes tightly, desperate to get the fear out of her head. He was okay, he was fine, he was there.
"Olivia?" he pushed himself up off of the ground and grabbed her arm gently turning her until she was facing him. "Liv…" She wouldn't open her eyes. "Jesus Liv would you breathe?" he grasped her face with his good hand. "Breathe…." He whispered, his thumb gently caressing her cheek. He released the breath he hadn't even realised he'd been holding as she let out a breath. "S'good…It's okay," he pulled her into an embrace careful to avoid her wrist. "You're okay…"
"They were going to kill you…" she whispered, still trying to control her breathing, releasing a shaky breath. She hadn't had even two seconds to come to terms with what had nearly happened. "I was…I was so scared that they would…and I heard the…" she closed her eyes again, allowing herself to be held. "I don't know what I'd do…" she couldn't finish her sentence. Even the thought of it made her feel sick.
"I know," he pulled away, placing a soft hand on her cheek. He did know. The thought of anything happening to her killed him. "We're getting out of here…You and me, we're gonna be fine."
"Okay…"
"Look at me," he started, tilting her chin so that she was looking directly into his eyes. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to us, and you're not going to let anything happen to us. We're Benson and Stabler okay…gunshots, broken wrists, that's nothing we can't handle…as long as we're together, as long as we get out of here together…"
"Yeah…" she nodded. She rested her chin on his shoulder as he pulled her towards him again. He pressed his lips against the side of her head, relief that she was okay, that his worst fears hadn't been confirmed. She pulled away slightly, looking up at him as he simply held her and met her stare. "Elliot…" she stopped as he slowly brought his lips towards hers, hesitating slightly, unsure of what the hell he was doing but knowing that he just had to…
For the second time in the space of just a few moments she struggled to catch her breath as he pressed his lips against hers…
Come on it had to happen sooner or later right? Question is, how far should we let this go?
Again, Thank you so much for all of the wonderful reviews so far!
