His harsh whisper ringing in her ears rasped, "You try that again, and you'll wake up dead."
Her body shook, shutting itself down in the losing battle it was fighting against the drugs. It hurt. Everything in her body hurt as the fluid spread like a virus throughout her vessels. She was escorted onto the plane, and was sitting in her seat when the world left her again.
A voice brought her back to reality. She snapped her head over to look at Elliot, who had noticed her bod shaking before she had.
"You ok?" He asked, gently putting a hand on her shoulder.
She swallowed hard, nodded her head as beads of sweat left droplets of wet in the strands of her hair. He knew she wasn't ok, but he didn't know how to help.
"Flight 472, Mexico City to Atlanta, boarding now."
Cragen stood up, the others following his motion. Elliot swung Olivia's carry-on over his shoulder before following the captain into the line that formed behind the airport worker scanning tickets. They walked through the tunnel, Olivia's heart nearly beating right out of her chest as the terrible thoughts and possibilities came to her head.
You'll be fine, she told herself.
It's over now.
They sat down in first class, two rows of two seats, an aisle separating the two. The police commissioner of the NYPD had quite obviously been informed of the situation and insisted on having the office fund the best treatment possible for the detectives on their way home. Olivia let Elliot slide into the seat first, hesitant to feel trapped between him and the window as she had been with Mike.
"I'd never admit this to any of the guys because I'd never hear the end of it, but I'm terrified of flying."
Elliot leaned over and spoke just above a whisper to Olivia as the plane began to taxi out onto the runway.
She couldn't help but smile and meet his eyes, "Well then we're floating in the same boat."
Even the thought of being helpless in the air made her shiver. When the pilot got the plane going and prepared to take off, Olivia put her hand on top of Elliot's on the middle arm rest.
He smiled over at her, "We're going to be fine."
The two hour flight to Atlanta was spent by Olivia snoozing in her seat, her head lolling to the side and resting comfortably in the crook of Elliot's shoulder. Cragen and Fin both looked through the booklets in the pockets of the seats in front of them before leaning back and taking short naps. Elliot was awake the whole time.
He was overjoyed to feel that his partner was still with him, in any shape - he didn't care. She was alive, that's all he needed to understand for now. He felt her head raise ever so much every time she took a gentle, rhythmic breath into her lungs. He could feel the warmth of her cheek pressed to his shoulder. It all made it that much more terrifying and still affirming to feel her so close.
When the plane shuddered and the captain came on the intercom system, Olivia opened her eyes. She didn't feel she had the energy to lift her head. It comforted her to have the familiarity of her partner to lean on - both physically and emotionally.
"We're descending, about 15 miles from the airport. We've got some pockets of rain scattered around the Atlanta area, but it should be no problem getting down. Please fasten your return to your seats and fasten your seat belts as we prepare to land. Thanks for flying American Airlines. We hope to see you again soon."
Cragen and Fin awoke, looking over with smiles at Elliot and Olivia. She lifted her head as the plane shifted around them again.
"Good morning."
Elliot grinned at her. She smiled back, feeling better than she had before taking off. Her body was recovering. The plane touched down routinely and they exited the plane before arriving at the gate of their connecting flight. Olivia felt the feeling again as they walked through the airport, but it suffocated her less this time.
They boarded their second plane shortly after 2:00 and took off again. Elliot saw Olivia was on edge as the plane flew on. Cragen and Fin were both preoccupied with sleeping again, so he took his chance.
"Liv. Do you want to talk?"
She heard him, hesitating before she answered. It had helped her to get the weight off her chest when she'd been assaulted two years before. She nodded, turning to look at him.
"Yeah. I'll give my statement."
He paused, not expecting those words. He then nodded, reaching for a pencil and paper. She took a shaky breath.
"Anything you say, anything, won't ever make me think of you as any less than you are, Olivia. That's a promise."
She smiled a little, "Thanks."
Clearing her throat, she began at the beginning. She'd arrested many bad men and women, been injured severely, and gone through rough patches with her colleagues, but this - this would be the hardest thing she ever did.
"I was outside the club, heading to my car when I heard a scream. I followed the sound after drawing my gun. When I found the source of the noise I saw a girl being restrained by a man in an alley. Then my lungs were burning. Something was over my mouth, someone was lifting me off the ground. I - I couldn't get away."
Elliot nodded slowly, "Take your time."
Her voice was shaky, but she cleared it and continued. She told him about the house, the tattoo, the makeover, the RFID chip, and the flight to Mexico City. It poured out of her like a river without restraints. She reached the hardest part when she told him bout the first night in the house.
"The men I'd met earlier, Marco, Alexi, and another man came into my room that first night. I told them they couldn't have it and Marco asked me who would stop him from taking it."
She paused, swallowing her tears. Elliot's throat was closing. He hated hearing this.
"He told me to take off my clothes and when I didn't, he ripped my shirt off threw me down, knocking me out."
She took a deep shaky breath.
"When I came to, Alexi, one of the men, was - was on top of me, holding my hands while Marco - raped me. When he finished, Alexi took his turn. I blacked out a couple times, because when I woke up, Marco and the other man were both taking their second turns."
Elliot's heart was beating irregularly, his breath labored as he tried to process. He hated these men even more than he had before.
"I blacked out again and woke up in the middle of the night - they were gone. I ate the bread they threw into my room after I showered."
"We can stop, Liv."
He heard her voice cracking. She shook her head.
"No, I have to finish."
"Ok, what happened then?"
Elliot wanted her to stop only so that he would prevent himself from self-destructing, but if she wanted to continue, he would let her.
"The next morning Mitch, one of the men, took me downstairs to clean up the kitchen. He said it had to be spotless in two hours. I tried to finish it, but when I didn't, a different man whipped me to teach me a lesson about authority."
His heart broke even more. He was in physical pain now.
"I slept throughout the day. That next night, Marco came into my room. I fought him as hard as I could, but he overpowered me. I ran after he was finished, trying to find something to defend myself if he tried again. He beat me unconscious."
They both paused when they noticed Cragen move and look up at them as he awoke. Her eyes were tearless, but the captain knew what they were talking about. Someone had to take her statement; he figured it would be Elliot. He got up, making his way toward the bathroom so as to let her finish.
Elliot turned back to her.
"Now you wanna stop?"
She shook her head, "No - No, I woke up the next morning, washed myself up, and waited. One of the girls came into my room with an ice pack. She told me that we were going to go to America the next day to deliver a big shipment. I asked her how we escaped and she told me we wouldn't."
Elliot nodded, "Do you know how they made the girls carry the drugs?"
Olivia finally felt a tear drop from her right eye and she looked down, nodding her head. That was the one thing she had just began to remember.
"At the house in North Carolina, I remember waking up strapped to a table. Two men were working - between my legs. They put the drugs in - inside me and Marco must have taken them out that first night."
Elliot's heart dropped.
"They wouldn't be detected by airport security scans."
He spoke to himself aloud. Olivia nodded, wanting nothing more than to go back to the way life had been before.
"Alexi was climbing on top of me when you guys raided the house. He was about to shoot me I - I thought it was the end, but-"her breathing was too irregular to continue speaking.
She felt better, but still worse. She knew that telling someone what had happened was the first step towards getting over it - or at least learning to cope.
"It wasn't. You're safe."
She gave a soft smile to the man who had been by her side for twelve years. He returned the gesture, squeezing her hand reassuringly.
"You did a great job, Liv."
Her eyes closed, exhaustion claiming her again. Her head dropped onto his shoulder as her body relaxed.