I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!
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Partner. Her partner. His partner.
A thing she had only fully understood the value of after she had lost it.
Lost him.
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Desperate calls were echoing through the night as every man and woman was looking for the missing Oliver in every possible place. The night seemed to be darker than ever before, not even the moon illuminated the surroundings as it was hidden behind the clouds. The wind rustled the vegetation and played as if mockingly in Olivia's hair as she and Elliot walked towards the nearest neighbor's house.
Olivia, used to the hustle and bustle of the city, clutched the flashlight in her hand more tightly than was necessary, and looked around in its light. She wasn't usually afraid of the dark, it was even calming in her opinion. It hid what the merciless daylight revealed, it forgave and was gentle. But here, far from the city, it suddenly felt ominous. It also felt like it was hiding the things you wouldn't want to hide, it was endless and oppressive, and she instinctively moved closer to Elliot. From somewhere in the distance, a wolf howl was heard, and she shuddered.
"I thought wolves howl only at the moon," she grimaced and Elliot glanced at her.
"Scared?"
"You wish."
"If you say so."
Then they fell silent again, lighting their path and surroundings as they walked. But then Elliot broke the silence:
"Thank you, by the way."
"For what?" Olivia frowned.
"For telling me who I am. You can't even imagine how much that means to me."
Oh, yeah.
I told him.
She shouldn't have told him. A few hours earlier, she had sworn not to tell. But then the situation had taken over, she had lost control of herself, and the words had escaped her mouth. She couldn't take them back anymore, and she could only hope that Elliot wouldn't abandon his "job".
Abandon her.
"Oh, that. Listen…"
But then Elliot stopped and grabbed her arm. The sudden touch made Olivia's heart jump.
"Liv, I understand why you didn't want to tell. The situation is… Strange to say the least," he grimaced. "However, I'm not going to take the first flight to New York, because I need to be here. I need to help you to save these kids. And besides…" He swallowed. "... I may have kids, I may have a home. But I don't remember them."
"Not yet," Olivia added, but Elliot shook his head and lifted his hand. Olivia felt her pulse quicken, as he reached out his hand and gently moved the hair from her face.
"I want to remember them, I really do. And I will," he added, his thumb touching her cheek. Olivia felt like her heart was about to jump out of her chest, and her brain was telling her to run, but something deeper, something more primal had frozen her in place, and she couldn't even turn her gaze away from Elliot's eyes. "But I remember you, Liv. You're the only thing I remember from my past, the first thing I remember in two years. I don't want to leave you, I can't leave you."
Olivia seemed to have lost her ability to speak, but she forced the words out of her mouth: "That's... I'm glad to hear that. I…" However, the words got stuck in her throat again when Elliot's hand moved to her neck, and he moved her hair away.
"A new memory came back to me on the dance floor," he said quietly, and his index finger slid lightly along the skin of her neck, right where the scar reminded her of one of the many times she had been close to not being here anymore. "This scar..."
"You remember Gitano?" She asked in a stifled voice, but Elliot shook his head slightly.
"I don't remember him, but I remember what happened. I almost lost you."
"Yeah, well, it wasn't the first time," Olivia tried to lighten the atmosphere, but the effort was weak, and the air around them only seemed to thicken when Elliot moved closer to her. He cupped her cheek, and she felt like she didn't even dare to breathe. Elliot's voice was low and quiet, but there was something so deep in it, that Olivia had never heard it before.
"I may not remember much, but I do know one thing. I can't lose you, Liv."
Hearing this, Olivia's eyes filled with tears, and she had to close them. The pain of losing Elliot cut through her heart like a knife.
"I did lose you," her whisper was barely audible, and Elliot pressed his forehead against hers.
"I know," his voice had lowered to a whisper too, and she could feel his breath on her face. She didn't open her eyes, but her lips parted lightly as if by themselves, ready for what she had dreamed of so long and so often, that she didn't want to admit it even to herself. She took a deep breath and…
A sudden crackle by the side of the road made them flinch and jump further apart from each other. They pointed their flashlights in the direction of the sound, and for a moment Olivia's heart skipped a beat as a pair of glowing eyes shone in the darkness. She instinctively grabbed Elliot's arm and backed up a couple of steps, but then the animal started bouncing, and they let the air out of their lungs.
"Damn it, rabbit, you almost gave me a heart attack," Elliot snorted, and Olivia took a deep breath. Then she realized she was still holding onto his arm, and she let go, happy that the darkness covered her blush.
What the hell am I doing?!
Have you lost your mind, Benson?!
"We should get going," she stated and started walking forward. Silence surrounded them again, but Olivia's heart was still beating wildly for a long time.
But it didn't beat furiously because she would be scared or in danger.
It felt like it was about to explode with happiness.
And even though Olivia's heart wasn't scared, she was terrified. Her whole body was disagreeing with her heart, trying to calm it down.
But it didn't care because it had finally broken free from the cage it had been chained in for over a decade. And its voice drowned out everything else her body was trying to tell her.
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The neighbor's house appeared out of the darkness in front of them as if out of nowhere. The house was white, like the house of the farm owners, but clearly in poorer condition, and would have needed at least an exterior renovation. The paint had begun to peel off the wall, revealing the brown planking, and the gutters, loose from the screws, were creaking as the wind moved them. Even though there was nothing special about the house itself, it sent chills down Olivia's spine.
"Tell me again, who lives here?" She quietly asked Elliot, who was lighting the yard with his flashlight.
"Mr. Murdoch is a little older, a little eccentric, but a nice and harmless man. He lives alone in this house because his wife died of a heart attack a few years ago. He is usually comfortable on his own, sometimes he comes to help at the farm and have coffee with the owners."
"And... Is he home now?" Olivia stood on her toes to look in the window.
"I don't know, I haven't seen him for a while. His brother lives in Dallas, and he visits there from time to time."
Olivia nodded and knocked on the door as Elliot went around to the other side of the house. It was clear that the house had not been lived in for a while, because the grass around the house had grown long, and twigs and branches that had fallen from the trees had piled up in front of the door.
I wonder if he's even alive.
The thought crossed her mind, because it was not at all uncommon for a person living alone and without a family to die in his home without anyone knowing. Especially if the person mostly liked being alone. She stepped aside from the door and pointed the flashlight at the window, trying to see inside. The light from the flashlight hit the leather couch and the grandfather clock, which still seemed to be ticking.
"Do you see any ghosts?"
A sudden sound beside her made her heart almost stop, and she flinched violently.
"Oh God, El, you scared the hell out of me," she pressed her hand on her chest. "Don't ever do that again if you don't want me to have the same fate as Mr. Murdoch's wife."
"Noted," Elliot grinned and raised his hands in surrender, but the mischievous twinkle in his eyes revealed that he was more amused by the situation than he let her know. "You scared of ghosts?"
"What? No! I just…"
"Ha! You are," Elliot chuckled and dodged Olivia's hand, which waved the flashlight towards him. "New York's finest detect..."
"Shut up, I'm not scared! You just scared m… Okay," she snorted and crossed her arms as she looked at Elliot, whose grin was so wide that it could be seen even in the darkness. "Was there anything in the backyard?"
"No, just a shed with a wheelbarrow. And of course the possessed doll that will appear next night on your bed…"
"Yeah, okay. We won't find anything here because the door was also locked. I don't know about you, but I… Wait." The light from her flashlight hit something white next to the wall, and she bent down to pick it up.
I'm in Dallas – Gilbert.
"Who's Gilbert?"
"It's his first name," Elliot took the paper from her hand. "The note must have been on the door, but it has come off."
"At least we can rule out one suspect," Olivia raised her eyebrows meaningfully and started walking back towards the farm. Elliot reattached the note to the door and jogged after her.
They had walked in silence about half of the way when Elliot suddenly stopped.
"Wait…"
Olivia turned to look at him bored and sighed. "C'mon, El, how long do you…"
"No, look," he pointed with his flashlight to the right from the road and narrowed his eyes. "What's over there?"
Olivia felt her body tense up, and she moved closer to Elliot so she could see better where he was pointing. And he was right, there was a dark lump further in the field.
"Oh God…" She gasped and started running towards the lump. Her every step felt heavier the closer she got, and her blood froze in her veins, and her breath got blocked when she got to the lump and realized what it was.
It was Oliver.
Covered in blood, eyes open, lifeless.
Deep lacerations on his small body.
"Shit…" There was a stifled voice beside her, and tears clouded her eyes. A sob escaped her lips, and her legs suddenly felt numb.
But then she felt Elliot's arm around her, reassuring, strong. It pulled her against him, and Olivia could no longer hold back the sobbing that erupted from inside of her like a tidal wave. And there they stood, Elliot's arms tightly around Olivia, her face against his chest, his chin against her head.
And only the wind around them sang its sorrowful song, caressing the little boy's soft hair, where life had flowed strong just little while ago.
