13

Three days had passed. There was still no sign of Nonoka or any of the other children who had allegedly disappeared. Even though the evacuation centre was far from comfortable, Olivia had got somewhat used to it and was starting to sleep a little better. Three whole days of complete rest had done wonders for her foot and she was barely limping as she walked now. The more pressing issue was the intense boredom that had set in. There was absolutely nothing to do. She had tried learning a little more Japanese, watching TV, helping some of the ladies serve food and do other simple chores around the place, but just sitting about waiting for the embassy to finally remove them from the shelter was mind-numbingly tedious. Elliot had joined one of the groups of men who left every morning to go out and help in the search for further victims, although everyone had pretty much accepted that by now the only real purpose was to find bodies. She didn't envy him the task itself, but she could understand just how much of a relief it would be for the families, to actually know for sure what had become of their loved ones, rather than forever wonder.

Much to everyone's relief, someone had got hold of the key to the changing rooms and people could now take showers. There was a complicated rota system in place in the evenings for, as they had quickly discovered, most people here seemed to be quite set on a shower before sleeping. They were happy to discover the showers were much less crowded at other times of the day, specifically at lunch time. There had also been spare clothes provided and although they weren't exactly the height of fashion or perfectly sized, it was a lot better than wearing the same old clothes every day. Now they had a change of clothes they could wash the ones they weren't wearing and in the summer heat, drying them was never a problem. It was good to feel clean again and they realised how much they had taken the simple things for granted until now.

Her boredom at a peak, that morning she had begged to go along with him, but Elliot had been quite adamant that she shouldn't strain her foot, even though she had explained it was much better now. She had ended up reluctantly agreeing, not really wanting to potentially cause any further damage. It made sense to make sure it was completely healed. She definitely didn't want a repeat situation of being a hindrance should they need to move at some point soon. She wished Elliot would stay around though. Since their kiss outside, there hadn't been another occasion to be alone like that and they still hadn't talked. He was obviously cautious to show any affection in front of Lizzie and she was left still unsure if the kiss had really changed anything or not, for they certainly weren't acting like a couple. Maybe she had mistaken it? Maybe it was what it was: just a kiss?

She resigned herself to yet another lonely day whilst Elliot went out and Lizzie hung around with some new friends she had made of a similar age. Not seeing much point to the day, after breakfast she had returned to her futon and lain back down. She was surprised when around ten minutes later Elliot came over and sat down beside her.

"I thought you would have left already," she commented listlessly.

"I'm not going today. They can manage without me." He grinned at her and she dared to believe he was glad to get the chance to stay with her.

"Really?" she tried not to sound quite as enthusiastic as she felt.

"Do you want to get out of here?" he asked. She nodded and he took her hands in his and pulled her to her feet, letting go once she stood up.

"Where shall we go?" she asked curiously.

"I don't know. Just somewhere we can be alone," he smiled back at her. The words sent a tingle of excitement through her that brought her back to her teenage years and memories of her first dates. It was a wonderful sensation to feel like that again.

As soon as they left the gym, he took her hand in his and they walked, wandering away from the school buildings and down the road a little, out of sight of people. There was a small stream with a slightly wooded area running alongside it and Elliot led Olivia into the trees and they found they were now finally completely alone. A little bit further on there were some large rocks. Elliot sat down and pulled her onto his lap. She looked at him questioningly but he didn't allow her time to wonder for without hesitating this time, he took her face in his hands and he kissed her.

She murmured happily as they pressed their lips together. She shifted position, now straddling him and they continued the kiss. A couple of minutes later he pulled away and rested his head against hers, stroking her hair gently.

"I've been waiting to do that," he said.

She slid off his knee and sat next to him, still leaning against him, with him still stroking her hair and her making gentle circles on his thigh.

"What is this Elliot?" she asked nervously. "What are we doing?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked.

She didn't reply. She wasn't entirely sure what she wanted him to say. She supposed she just wanted to confirm that this meant something to him, that it wasn't just a result of their predicament, a need to feel close because of the horror they had witnessed. She felt the steady rise and fall of his chest and took in his scent as she ran her fingers up and down his upper leg and travelling up to his chest, unable to resist touching him, as if she needed to constantly remind herself that he was really here, holding her, touching her.

"Liv…" he said finally. "I'm not very good at this sort of thing. I don't know what to say. I just know that I want to be kissing you and holding you and I want you…" He paused as he realised how that must have sounded. "I mean, I want to be with you," he mumbled awkwardly.

She looked at him and smiled. There was a shine in her eyes that made him want to kiss her again. Before she could say anything he leaned in and brought his lips to hers again. She melted into the kiss.

"Does this mean there's an 'us' now?" she asked hesitantly, as they finally separated.

"It must certainly does!" he said fervently.

…

They had spent the morning kissing, talking and wishing they had the privacy of a room to take things further, yet at the same time the intimacy of the initial kisses, knowing they couldn't go further, (yet anyway), was surprisingly exhilarating. There was something captivating about holding back, building up the anticipation and the expectation. Every kiss seemed to stoke the fire that burned inside her, a fire that until now she had never nurtured but rather tried to control and suppress. As he held her, pressed against her, felt her through her clothes, she shuddered with trepidation.

In some ways it was like they were entering forbidden territory, exploring a place that was completely taboo. The old rules and constraints of their partnership were difficult to just put aside. It was such a change to be with him like this. She imagined how Fin or Munch or even the Captain would react to their newly developing relationship and she couldn't help but feel nervous about what was to come even though she craved more intimacy. The feeling they were breaking the old rules a little added to the thrill and desire and kissing him was positively intoxicating. She wondered at how they had never done this before. No-one had ever kissed her like this and stirred such emotions within her. Aware that it sounded dramatic even to her, she knew that she never wanted to kiss anyone else again.

They reluctantly wandered back to the gym in time for lunch, knowing that Lizzie would be expecting to see them. It was just another day waiting around and so they weren't expecting anything to have happened, but a crowd had formed and the atmosphere suggested that in fact something had.

"What's going on?" Elliot asked Hiroshi as soon as they managed to pick him out of the crowd. Minami was at his side.

"Aika, one of the little girls who disappeared has returned!" he said.

"Really? Where was she?" Elliot asked, immediately wondering if this would lead to them discovering the whereabouts of little Nonoka.

"She said she was wandering around outside when a nice lady came up to her and offered to give her some toys to take back for the children to play with. This lady told her they would have to walk back to her house though and so Aika followed her, not suspecting the lady was anything but genuine."

Elliot's expression hardened as Hiroshi continued. This was starting to sound like an all too familiar story and he began to put up the emotional walls that he instinctively suspected he would need to hear the rest of this story. The cases involving children had always hit him the hardest. He felt his fists clenching slightly as his past experiences told him to prepare to hear the worst. Then he felt Olivia's hand rest on his arm and he took a deep breath. Her touch had an instant calming effect on him.

"They apparently walked for ages," Hiroshi continued. "They're trying to get her to draw a map right now, but she's only six and so we're not sure how much information she will remember. Anyway she was taken to a large house and once inside she was locked in a room with other children."

"Was Nonoka there?" Elliot asked quickly, as Hiroshi paused for breath.

"Yes. She said Nonoka was brought there a couple of days after she got there. She also said the lady told them they would be given new mummies and daddies and that they should forget about their old ones. Aika was scared and didn't want a new family so she managed to escape by jumping out of a window and hiding in some bushes in the garden. She waited until dark and then managed to crawl through the bushes and escape into the street, from where she wandered until she met some people who brought her here. We suspect this is the work of the local mafia exploiting the earthquake to find children for underground adoption. The authorities have been so inefficient in keeping records that in most cases an orphaned child disappearing wouldn't raise any alarms. It would be assumed they had just run away to another centre or been killed in the earthquake or something."

"Geez!" said Elliot heavily. "You mean there could be any number of children who have been taken like this and nobody is even aware? We need to talk to the police."

"I'm not sure what good it would do? The police are stretched to their limits helping with the rescue, the clean up and policing the government buildings that have survived the quake. There are even some people who believe these children are better off being sold into adoption, for life in an institution is not ideal.

"But it's wrong. They are children, not commodities to be sold," Olivia piped up. She kind of agreed with the fact that an adoption would be better than a children's home, but there had to be better and legal ways to go about it.

"I agree," said Hiroshi. "I'm going to talk to the police and see if they will help."

"Those poor children must be terrified!" Olivia said sadly.

…

Hiroshi returned from his chat with the police frustrated. He had wandered down the road to where they had stationed themselves and explained the situation, but they had just instructed him to forget about it, as there was nothing they could do given the extent of the disaster and the fact that their resources were so stretched.

"The police won't do a thing!" he said bitterly once he returned to the gym. "In fact it wouldn't surprise me if they were in the Mafia's pockets anyway. They just told me to leave the issue alone and not get involved."

"Maybe I should try talking to the American Embassy?" suggested Elliot. "Maybe they can put pressure on the police or something?"

"I guess it's worth a shot," agreed Hiroshi, although he didn't look too hopeful.

"I think we should make sure the remaining children here are supervised at all times," suggested Olivia.

"Yes, I think that would be sensible," Hiroshi agreed.

…

The rest of the day went slowly with their frustration at the situation only growing. Elliot had called the embassy but they had told them they couldn't get involved in internal Japanese affairs. They had decided the only thing they could really do was to attempt to mount a rescue themselves, but they had no weapons, no equipment and aside from Olivia and Elliot, none of the others in the group who volunteered to help had any military or police training. They were dealing with the local mafia, not amateurs and Elliot and Olivia knew they needed to plan this carefully. Luckily Aika had provided them with reasonable directions and they had a fairly good idea of where the children were being held. The initial plan was that the following morning a small group of them would head out and try to locate the building without drawing attention to themselves, with the goal of finding out exactly what they were dealing with to help them formulate a rescue plan.

…

That night Elliot laid down on his futon next to Olivia, wishing that he could wrap his arms around her. It was impossible being so close to her yet unable to touch her. He wondered if maybe he should consider talking to Lizzie in the morning and tell her about them, so that he wouldn't have to keep everything quite so hidden. He knew Lizzie liked Olivia and she was an adult now, but he was still nervous. It was a big step. He wanted all of his children to be on board and accept her happily.

Unable to resist he reached out and placed his hand in hers. She squeezed him back, telling him that she too was still awake. He couldn't wait for the opportunity to finally be with her, feel himself inside her, to finally get the release he was so desperate for. She was so beautiful and she was his – almost.