"You said you went to my schools. Did you ever see me?" Kate asked Liv once they'd settled in the coffee shop.
"Yeah, a few times. But I only ran into you once, or rather you ran into me. When you were in grade six" Liv smiled at the memory. "I was walking down the hall of Grant Middle School with your Principal when this blur runs into me. It was you. You looked up at me and excused yourself, but I was caught completely off-guard by your eyes. I'd never seen those eyes outside of a mirror. I mumbled an 'excuse me', but you'd already run off. The principal didn't seem to notice and continued on with the tour." Kate smiled at the description and tried to remember the incident.
"Wait…you're a cop…when I was in grade six…a cop found Amy in the bathroom in grade six. Was that you?" Olivia thought back,
"Amy, molested by the science teacher?"
"Yes! That was you? You saved her?"
"Well, I found her crying in the bathroom and got her to open up to me. Not sure about 'saving' per se." Olivia remembered the day clearly.
She'd been washing her hands at the sink when she thought she heard a noise. Shutting off the top she listened closely. There was someone else in the bathroom. Heading to the last stall, she slowly pushed the door open. A girl was curled in the corner, biting her arm to keep quiet. The sadness in her eyes broke Olivia's heart. This wasn't a 'scrape on the knee' problem.
"My name's Olivia. Can I come in?" She said softly. The girl stared at her, but gave a slight nod. Fortunately it was a wheelchair stall, so there was room to sit next to her. It was very quiet in the bathroom. "You can tell me what's wrong, you know. I'm a cop. I can help you." She pulled out her badge. The girl took the badge and studied it. Eventually she took a deep breath and spoke,
"My name's Amy."
"Hi Amy. Why are you sitting on the floor in the bathroom?"
"I don't want to go to class."
"Why not?"
"I don't want to see him."
"Did a boy in class hurt you?"
"No." she sniffed.
"Then what's wrong?" the girl started crying again. Olivia collected her in her arms.
"Don't let him hurt me anymore."
"Sweetheart, he's not going to touch you again."
Based on Amy's statement they quickly investigated and arrested Mr. Burke, The science teacher. She hadn't seen Amy after that.
"Oh man, you have no idea the difference you made in Amy's life. You're her hero. She is going to go ballistic when I tell her I found you." Olivia was beaming too, but she wasn't completely sure why.
"Why? What did I do?"
"That teacher, he was also her uncle. And she lived with him. No idea what happened to her parents. So when you found out what was going on, she was put into foster care. She got placed with this really cool family, with two little boys and tons of animals. Her parents are so cool, and they traveled all over the world. They took me with them a few times too. She's in premed now, at NYU. You made such a difference in her life." Kate ran out of words and just sat grinning at Olivia, who herself couldn't stop smiling. 'And to think,' Liv thought, 'all I wanted to do was check out the facilities.'
That summer:
Liv finished setting up the picnic tables and sat down smiling. Elliot came up behind her,
"What are you grinning about?" He plonked down beside her, kissing her temple.
"I can't believe how well it's all turned out."
"Yeah, it does look pretty good." She swacked his arm.
"Not the picnic." They both laughed and turned their attention to the very silly game of soccer before them.
Olivia's daughter, Kate, had brought her boyfriend Jon. Elliot's kids were all there too, as were Maureen and Kathleen's boyfriends. Their game seemed to involve piggy back rides, two balls, and flags. But they were all happy and laughing, and that's what mattered.
"Come on kids, food's ready!"
The end :)