Fall to Pieces:
Chapter
3
Disclaimer: Must you rub it in my face, they're not mine, they're happy now?
It was almost 3 when she pulled in front of the building he lived in. It was pitch black and she scanned the area for any moving figures, just to be safe. Thankful she had left her gun and badge in the car the day before she grabbed them and turned around in her seat. "Cassie...honey, wake up."
Cassie's eyes opened and she rubbed the sleep out of them, "what is it, momma?"
"Honey, we're at Ellie's apartment, I need you to get your book bag for me, ok? I've gotta carry your sister."
She nodded and fumbled around in the backseat until she had her book bag in her hands. "I got it, mommy."
"Good." She shut the car off and got out, quickly retrieving Becca from the back seat and grabbing the bag that held their clothes. Cassie held on to her book bag like it was the most important thing in the world and crawled over the seat to get out of the door closest to the sidewalk. She grabbed her mothers hand and Olivia shut the car door behind her.
It took a few minutes
of waiting after she pressed the buzzer for Elliot's voice to come
over the intercom. "Who's there?"
"Elliot. It's me.
Let me in."
The door clicked and she opened it and headed for the elevator. Even though he only lived on the 2nd floor she wasn't going to take her chances carrying Becca up the stairs. She didn't even have to knock on his door when she made it to his apartment, he was already there waiting.
Cassie ran up to him, "Ellie!" He picked her up and she hugged him. He carried her inside and Olivia did the same with Becca. She put her into the guestroom and went back into the living room where she found Cassie talking a mile a minute.
"I heard yelling, mommy came into my room and told me to--""Cassie, how about we
get you into bed with your sister, huh? Don't want you to be too
tired tomorrow at school, do we? You have a big math test, don't
you?"
"Yes, mommy."
"No, I don't want it." She said bitterly.
"What happened, Liv?""I'm not even sure. It was just one big blur, one horribly loud blur.""Tell me."
"I fell asleep on the couch watching TV, when he came home the headlights of his car woke me and when he stumbled into the house I knew he was drunk. He was slurring and bumping into things barely keeping his composure. It was pathetic. We yelled at each other for a while, he brought mom up, his favorite insult. I slapped him, he got pissed and punched me--"
"He what?!?" Elliot said, standing up.
"Sit down, I'm not finished." She scolded him, he sat down against his own accord and let her finish. "He went to hit me again and I twisted his arm, trust me I hurt him a lot more than he hurt me. There was more yelling, and I told him that he'd never get the chance to hit me again, I woke the girls up and we left."
"Has he ever hit you before," he asked his eyes burning with anger.
"No, we've fought before, but he never hit me. He was drunk out of his mind, trust me, if he had ever hit me before I would've left him right away.""Where did he hit you?"
"My jaw got the brunt of it. It's a little sore, but I'll be fine."
He got up and sat next to her, examining her face. "Damn it, Olivia, you've already got a bruise. How many times has he come home drunk?"
"A few...I always make him sleep on the couch. He always goes out with the same guy, Jim, they work together. I wonder how his wife reacts."
He pressed lightly on the bruise and she pulled back wincing.
"That bastard."
Elliot said to himself, "you can't let him get away with it
Liv."
"I'm not going to, Elliot. But, you can't take
matters into your own hands, promise me you won't do anything. I'm
going to handle this."
"No. Elliot, he may be an asshole, but his the father of my children. I won't let you hurt him."
"You can't be serious."She snorted, "you think that I don't want you to hurt him because I don't want him hurt? I don't want my children hurt, Elliot. He's still their father, no matter what they're going to love him, they're too young to understand this. If he gets hurt they'll be devastated. If it wasn't for them I would have done a lot more than twist his arm a little. Promise me you won't go after him...not for him, for Becca and Cassie."
He sighed, "alright.
You're pressing charges, right?"
She nodded.
"Let
me bring him in."
She shook her head, "no. That I'm
going to do."
His eyes traveled to
the bruise once more, "does it hurt?"
"Not too bad.
It'll be fine...I've been hurt worse. Thank you for letting me
stay."
"I would never tell you to leave. What are you
going to do about Becca and Cassie? You can't take them to Mary's
house, she'd call Chris."
"What if Chris tries to pick up Cassie from school?"
"I'm going to leave a note in the office telling them not to let her near Cassie. And, hopefully he'll be in jail by the time she gets out. Now I don't expect him to stay long, he's got a great defense attorney, but I'm going to get an order of protection for me and the girls...that way if he tries to come near us he'll go back."
"You going to divorce him?"
She nodded, "I would never stay with somebody who hit me. We've seen to many women like that, the kind that forgive their husbands for hurting them, only to get hurt again. I'm not going to be a battered wife. He knows that I never would be. He made his choice when he hit me."
"You should get some
sleep...you can take my room, I'll sleep on the couch."
"No,
that's alright. I'm going to sleep with the girls."
"Yeah. Goodnight, Elliot. And thank you."
"No problem...you can stay as long as you need to. Goodnight."
They went in separate directions Elliot to his room and Olivia to the guest bed where she crawled in between her two daughters who instantly snuggled up to their mother. She smiled slightly and kissed each of them on the forehead before settling into bed and falling asleep.
a/n: wow, thanks for all the reviews. You guys are great. Don't worry, Chris will get his from Elliot, although it won't be physical! I'm sorry, I just don't want Elliot to get into trouble!! Let me know what you think.