Chapter 28 – Conversations

Olivia hardly said a word to Elliot on the entire drive home from the jail, the car ride had been about as silent as the drive up there, but her thoughts were in a different place now. She held Elliot's hand tight in her own and just stared out the window, thinking about what Dani had said, the threats she had made and how they could protect themselves against it. Dani was threatening to ruin her with the news about her past and the obvious solution was to just let people know about it before Dani could even tell anyone. Olivia knew that there was only one person that Dani was really targeting with this information and that was Elliot. So, she needed to tell him about her past and where Chloe came from before Dani could even get to him. Olivia was beginning to trust Elliot and she was starting to believe they could make this work, but she simply couldn't put it all into words just yet. Olivia had felt the want to on the car journey home, just to get everything out there before Dani could ruin it. But Olivia found her mouth just wouldn't co-operate.

There was so much Olivia had to think about and she felt the need to talk to someone about it, someone who already knew everything in her past and could tell her what to do next. She knew that person was Alex and she needed to have a big conversation with Alex when they eventually made it home. Olivia felt bad for being so quiet on the ride to and from the prison. Elliot had taken the day off work or at least away from the office to do this with her and yet she'd acted almost like he wasn't there. She didn't mean for it to be like that, she just couldn't talk about it all with him yet. She hoped one day soon they would get to a place where every thought she had, she could share with him, and they would work things out together.

Elliot had kissed her when they arrived to her apartment and he walked her to the door of her building. She didn't invite him up though as she really didn't want him to see her shoebox apartment. In fact, she'd only really let him drop her off like this out of courtesy and because she felt bad for ignoring him so much on the drive back. Olivia had thanked him for coming with her today and told him she'd call him later. She just needed to process the day first and get some advice from Alex about moving forward.

Later that afternoon, when Chloe was down for her nap, Alex knew it would be the best time to approach what had happened at the prison today. When Olivia had arrived home, Chloe had become the centre of her attention and from the way Olivia was holding and attending to that little girl, Alex could tell something had shaken her in this meeting. Alex had honestly thought that it would be good for Elliot to be the one to go with Olivia today, so she wasn't going to be by herself. But something about the way Olivia had been when she came home, told Alex that she'd not spoken with Elliot about anything. Alex really wanted to be there for her friend, but she honestly didn't understand why Olivia was so hesitant to talk to Elliot about her past.

"So, how did it go today?" Alex asked, unsure the best way to start the conversation.
"It was…not the best" Olivia confessed, she couldn't hide anything from Alex, if Alex wanted to know something, Olivia would tell her.
"What happened?" Alex continued to push and Olivia continued on to explain everything in the conversation with Dani. She explained how Dani threatened to take Chloe away from her, about the way that Dani had said that Brian now knew about Chloe and finally, the fact that unless she gave everything up in terms of the charges, Brian would fight for Chloe. That was the last thing Olivia wanted and it was the biggest thing that she was struggling with.
"So, what does that mean you're going to do?' Alex asked, wondering if Olivia had plans for her next steps forward.
"I don't know, I want to pursue this further, I want her to get the justice for the trauma she caused those kids, but I don't want to go to court"
"Have you discussed any of this with Elliot?" Alex asked, wanting to know whether there had been discussions with Elliot about any of this and if so, then what had he suggested they do.
"I could barely form sentences together in the car ride on the way home, let alone tell him in detail what happened" Olivia explained.
"So, he doesn't know any of this?" Alex queried as Olivia just shook her head.
"You've got to tell them, I think now more than ever you've got to put him about not only what Dani has said but also about the past. It will be better coming from you than coming from someone else" Alex explained, she had a point.

"I don't want to lose him, everything between us is new but it feels so right and I don't want to throw that away"
"Olivia, that man gave up his afternoon yesterday and all day today to see you and make sure that you were ok today. Our conversation at the zoo, showed me that whilst everything is new between you two, he's all in and he wants to be there for you. You've just got to trust that he will stand by you in this too, and if he doesn't, then he was never going to be the right man for you" Alex explained. Olivia could hear how straight to the point she was being right now. Olivia knew that she had a point and this conversation did need to be had between her and Elliot, she just wasn't sure the best way to say everything.

Olivia: Hey Elliot, it's Alex – Olivia's friend. I'm borrowing her phone as I needed to contact you. I heard how Olivia's barely spoken with you on the car journey's today and I want you to know she had her reasons for that. But I also want you to know that she's ok. Her meeting with Dani today was rough, and there were some rather serious things said. But she promises me, that she'll tell you soon enough. Just know, she's really grateful to you for being there today and, as her best friend, I'm glad you were there too Elliot read the message just as he walked into the apartment after the daily school pick up. Dickie had gone home with another friend, so it was just Elizabeth and him for the afternoon. But Olivia had been on Elliot's mind since he left her place earlier.
Elliot: Hi Alex. Thank you for letting me know that Olivia is ok. I could tell something was on her mind when she came back to the car and on our ride home. I wasn't going to push her to tell me though, I just want her to know that I'm here. She's not in any serious danger though is she? Do I need to be concerned? Thank you for reaching out :) Elliot quickly replied as Elizabeth unpacked her school bag and Bertie brought her an afternoon snack that had already been prepared.

Olivia: She's been a bit shaken from today but no, she's not in any danger. I will say this without going into too much detail though. She's not had an easy past and there are things which she might tell you of this past which can seem intense. However, I ask, if you're serious about her and your feelings about her, you tell that to her when she decides it's the right time to share about her past. You need to show her that it doesn't matter what might have happened in the past, it matters about now and that you're not going anywhere. She's going to be back here any moment and I don't want her to know I'm texting you but…just look after her Alex quickly typed to Elliot and again, he was confused. Alex had insinuated that there was something more that had happened in Olivia's past that related to today, which he'd not known or heard about. What was it that she was seemingly so scared to tell him? Why was she scared? Elliot really didn't want Olivia to ever be afraid to tell him something, he wanted her to be able to confide in him like he felt he could do with her. He would do absolutely anything for her, if he needed to.

Elliot walked into his office the next morning, after the usual school drop off. He saw Olivia in the classroom, and he had to admit he was glad she was there. Olivia had apologised to him for being rather quiet towards him yesterday afternoon, to which he'd said there was no need for apologies, but they would talk more about it later. Elliot placed his briefcase down on his desk and found a yellow envelope there addressed to him. He wasn't expecting any personal mail and this envelope looked a little different to the usual mail he received.
"Ashley, what is this?" Elliot asked, holding the envelope in his hands and walking out to his assistants desk.
"I don't know sir, it arrived by courier this morning and looked fairly urgent, so I put it on your desk" Ashley explained to which Elliot was confused but thanked her and went back into the office.

Elliot took a seat at his desk chair and glanced at the envelope, everything in him wanted to open it. He couldn't help but wonder whether this would be one of those times where there was a bomb waiting inside and everyone was going to die, or if that just happened in movies. Elliot opened the envelop and slid out the contents into his hand. No bomb there Elliot thought to himself as he opened the note. 'You may think you know someone but everyone has their dirty little secrets, have you looked into those of your favourite school teacher? All is not what it seems' Elliot read before looking over the photos that were with the note. There seemed to be a number of a younger looking Olivia, walking out of what appeared to be a court house with some kind of bruising. The bruises looked like the same that Dani had given her but there was no way that was possible. What was going on right now? Who was trying to cause issues with them? Elliot had so many questions now both about this mystery sender and the photos themselves.
Elliot: I think we need to talk Elliot quickly messaged Olivia. He figured that getting to the bottom of this would involve starting at the exact person in the photos. Olivia surely had to know something.

A/N: Well I wonder how this is going to go down? Who's sending Elliot photos of Olivia? What are the trying to do? Will Olivia actually tell Elliot about her past now? Guess you'll have to wait and see. Hopefully i can get the next chapter up soon but Reviews really help me stay motivated so if you leave me one and let me know what you thought of this chapter, that would be fantastic!
Until Next Time :D