Olivia missing.

And the same distress he had felt then, which had squeezed painfully his every cell, felt more real in the dark night than ever.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Welcome to Texas"

It was sweltering hot in the bus when it finally crossed the border between Mexico and the United States and arrived in the city of Laredo. The money for the bus ticket had only been enough to cross the border, and when the bus stopped at the first station, Elliot jumped out of it. It was also hot outside, but a calming wind blew on his face, and he took a deep breath.

He was now in the United States. But then what? He had no idea where he was supposed to go. He looked around on the crowded street and tried to gather his thoughts.

Lost.

I'm lost.

But then his gaze hit the police station across the road, and he started leaping towards it. Maybe the police could tell what his home address was. If he got home, he would have something, something to hold on to.

There weren't many people inside the police station, and he found the reception. The officer wasn't looking at him, she was focused on reading the paper in front of her, and Elliot cleared his throat.

"Excuse me?"

The officer raised her head looking bored, and Elliot suddenly felt nervous. He shifted his weight from one leg to the other and licked his lips.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry, but... I was in a small accident, and as a result I forgot where I live. Could you please check it?"

The officer looked at him evaluating from under her brows, and Elliot held out his passport.

"Here, this… This is the only thing I have left."

"Okay…" She reached out her hand slowly and opened the passport to compare the picture and the man standing in front of her.

"James Murray?"

"Yeah, that's.. That's me."

Or at least I think so.

Then the officer put the passport back on her desk and started typing information into the computer. The situation lasted for some time, and Elliot's thoughts, which had calmed down already, began to spin around again. He looked at the people sitting on the benches, and suddenly wished he was one of them.

At least they probably remember who they are.

They have a home…

Oh God.

I don't have much money, what if I live on the other side of the US?

"I'm sorry, but..." The officer's voice interrupted his thoughts, and he turned his gaze to her. "You do have a home address, but... The house burned down a year ago."

"What?"

"I can't find any close relatives either."

He felt like the officer would have punched him. No home. No family. Nothing, nobody.

"But…" His voice was stifled as panic started to squeeze his throat. "What do I do? Where do I go then?"

The officer shrugged apologetically and handed the passport back to him.

"I'm sorry, but I can't help you. I hope you'll manage to figure something out."

Elliot grabbed his passport, stuffed it in his pocket, and walked out without saying a word. The ground was spinning under his feet, and he felt as if he couldn't breathe as he stepped through the door back onto the street, which was scorched by the mercilessly blazing sun. The world seemed to have stopped, the people around him continued their journey, passed him, car horns blared, and bicycle bells jingled.

He had nothing.

He was on his own.

Completely alone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The wind had made the environment come alive and make noises when Olivia had walked towards the warehouse. As soon as she had stepped out the door of Elliot's apartment, she had begun to regret her decision, but the voice of guilt within her had torn at her soul and forced her to continue.

She had found the warehouse after a little searching, and to her disappointment, she had noticed that its door was locked. She had circled the building looking for another entrance, but to no avail. Then she had returned to the door, and jerked the door in frustration, at which point the lock had given up, and the door had opened. Surprised, she had stepped in and lightened its walls with her flashlight. By all accounts, the warehouse hadn't been used very much, as there wasn't much stuff in there, and the stuff that was there was dusty and looked like it hadn't been moved in a while.

Partly disappointed and partly relieved, she had sighed and taken a step back, but then a bird had appeared out of the darkness and almost crashed into her. The suddenness of the situation had scared her so hard that she had spun around in the dark warehouse so suddenly, that her forehead had hit something.

The impact had been so had that she had seen stars in her eyes, and she had apparently lost consciousness for a moment, for the next thing she knew she was lying on the warehouse floor. Groaning, she sat up and tried to find her flashlight. However, when it had fallen to the floor, it had turned off and rolled away, and it was so dark in the warehouse that she could no longer find it. At the same time, she felt something warm running down her face, and she touched her forehead with her fingers.

Blood.

Shit.

It was a moment when she would have wanted to slap herself. She was in a dark warehouse a mile away from other people, with no light, a wound on her forehead, in a place where either a serial killer or a bloodthirsty predator killed people.

I should have woken up Elliot.

Commanded by her survival instinct, she stumbled to her feet and had to take support from the wall, because despite the darkness, the world began to spin in her eyes.

This is not good.

Somehow, she managed to stumble out of the warehouse, close the door, set the lock look like it hadn't been opened, and start staggering towards Elliot's apartment. Without light, feeling dizzy, and it felt as if every crackle and every gust of wind was doubled, and tears welled up in her eyes.

And she had no choice but to stumble along the grassy road as fast as she could and pray for her life.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The journey had seemed like a small eternity, but finally the lights of the farm came into view, and with the last of her strength she stumbled over to Elliot's cabin. However, a sudden thought made her stop just before the front door.

I hope he's not awake.

She pressed the door handle gently and silently opened the door. It was dark inside, and just as she could breathe a sigh of relief, a stifled exclamation filled the cabin:

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!"

She spun around, the lights flashed on, and she encountered Elliot's distressed expression. But if he didn't look scared enough yet, a glow of panic filled his eyes when he saw her face.

"WHAT THE HELL HAS HAPPENED TO YOU?!"

Then Olivia remembered that her face was probably covered in blood, and she lifted her hand to touch her face.

Yup, feels sticky.

"It's fine, I… It was my own fault…" She started with a dismissive wave of her hand, but then the world spun in her eyes, and she would have ended up on the floor if Elliot hadn't stepped forward quickly and scooped her up in his arms. His body was so strong, so warm, that tears welled up in her eyes from the mere relief. How much she had wished a moment ago that Elliot was with her.

"Liv? What's wrong? You need to go to the hospital."

But hearing this, she forced herself to break away from him and get back on her feet. She couldn't go to the hospital, not now when she was needed to find a possible murderer and protect the children.

"No, seriously, I'm fine. I... I just need to clean up a little."

"But…"

"Calm down, El. It's just a scratch."

And then she started to stagger to the bathroom, using all her concentration to manage to walk straight.

Okay, maybe it's not just a scratch.

She closed the bathroom door, turned on the lights, and looked at herself in the mirror. She felt her heart almost jump into her throat when she saw her face. The blood had run down it, drawing wide marks that stretched from her forehead to her shirt. The wound itself was near the hairline, and she began to wash her face to see it better under the hair that had stuck to it. The water falling into the sink turned red, and the dizziness got worse all the time.

She looked up, took a closer look at the wound, realized it was still bleeding, and it was deeper than she had expected.

Yeah, it's definitely not just a scratch.

The world began to spin again, she had to take support from the sink, and from somewhere in the distance she heard Elliot knocking on the door.

"Liv?" His voice was desperate, panicked, demanding. "Please let me in, are you okay?"

But Olivia didn't have time to answer as a blinding pain filled her head, and she could no longer fight the unconsciousness that kept waiting around the corner. Her feet collapsed, she hit the cool bathroom floor, and the last thing she heard was the bathroom door being kicked in.

And then everything went dark.