Maybe it was the fatigue, maybe it was the pain of the wound, but it was as if some other force was controlling her body as she turned and said quietly:

"You know... If you have to come to the room in the night anyway, you can as well sleep here."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When the morning sun hit Olivia's eyes from between the curtains, she knew it wasn't the only thing that had woken her up. The shouts outside got closer and closer, and she turned to see Elliot, but to her surprise he wasn't in bed. Olivia blinked and turned on her back. She couldn't remember the last time she had slept as soundly, and for the first time in many weeks she felt rested. Despite the shouts outside, she wanted to stay floating in a comfortable state, she stretched and yawned, and then her eyes landed on Elliot's pillow. It suddenly seemed to be calling her, and on a whim, she grabbed the pillow and buried her face in it. Elliot's scent was almost intoxicating, and for a moment the rest of the world disappeared around her as she took a deep breath, imagining it wasn't just a pillow…

But then the door slammed open and scared Olivia to her core. She sat up and at the same time the lights came on, and squeezing the pillow in her lap, she looked at Elliot who looked alarmed.

"Wake up! It's Mike!" He exclaimed, his distress causing a bad feeling to spread through Olivia's heart.

"What do you mean?" She asked, realizing she was still clutching Elliot's pillow, and moved it from her lap to the bed, hoping Elliot didn't realize what it was. Her fear was in vain, however, for his gaze was unfocused, he moved uneasily in place and was still squeezing the doorknob with knuckles white. Olivia didn't get an answer, so she stood up, slowly walked over to her former partner and asked again: "What do you mean?"

But it wasn't until she raised her hand to his cheek, that she made Elliot look at her and reply in a stifled voice:

"Mike's missing."

The words got stuck in Olivia's throat, she felt her heart stop, and for a few seconds she was unable to do anything.

No.

Not again.

But then she forced herself to gather herself, she put her hand on Elliot's shoulder, and quietly asked:

"How long?"

"I... I don't know. I was fixing the roof of the warehouse a little further away when someone came to tell me that Hannah couldn't find her son. I came here right away, but I don't think that…"

"Hannah said she wasn't going to let Mike go outside alone," Olivia released her grip on Elliot and started look for her clothes. "So if that's the case, he hasn't been missing for long. We still have time to find him. Go get the car, let's go to the neighbor right away. Because if one of the neighbors is guilty, we might see them on the way."

Elliot nodded, turned on his heels, and soon the front door slammed shut behind him. Olivia pulled off her nightgown, searched for her top in her bag, and the more the seconds ticked by on the digital clock on the bedside table, the tighter the squeezing feeling in her throat became. She knew that Mike was important to Elliot, as he had spent several summers at the farm, and she also knew that his former partner would not forgive himself if they didn't save the boy in time.

She wouldn't forgive herself.

One dead child was already too many, so another…

No.

Finding Mike dead was not an option.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Elliot gave his Jeep no mercy, as he forced it to bounce at speed down a bumpy field road. Olivia's head still didn't appreciate the rapid changes in movement, and the car bouncing back and forth made it throb, but she said nothing. Mike was in danger of life, so her head had no other choice than just enduring the bumpy car ride.

"How far is the second nearest neighbor?" She asked, glancing at Elliot who was fighting the car to keep it on the road.

"About 3 miles, but this route is shorter. We'll be there soon."

Olivia nodded, even though Elliot couldn't see it, and looked out the window at the field again. The farm owners' explanation about the predators began to seem increasingly improbable, as most of the beasts in the area preyed at night.

A panicked and crying Hannah had told them that she had left Mike out of her sight for a minute while she had fetched her water bottle from the barn attic. The boy had stayed standing in front of the barn, and when Hannah had returned, she hadn't found him anywhere. The barn yard had been deserted just then, and no one had seen Mike or the kidnapper.

The neighbors' house came into view almost immediately, and Elliot stopped the car in the yard with sand whirling. They got out of the car, Elliot faster, Olivia slower, because her head was spinning, and she had to take a moment's support from the car door before she dared to trust her balance and start moving. Elliot had already reached the door and was banging it with his fists.

"El, calm down! You're scaring th-…"

But she didn't have time to say more, because the door suddenly opened, and they realized they were staring at the barrel of a rifle. Instinctively they raised their hands, Elliot took a few steps back, and the old lady pointing the rifle at them shouted something.

But then something happened that Olivia hadn't experienced in a long time. Something, the existence of which she had already managed to forget. Something that the undercover case in Sealview had caused her.

PTSD.

It struck out of nowhere, and all it took was a gun pointed at Elliot. All those sleepless nights, all those nightmares, all those inconsolable days; all those moments when the image of Elliot's "death" had been drawn involuntarily on her retinas, made her breath stop, her heart clench in her chest, and every cell in her body feel like they would have been on fire.

And now that same sight seemed to be before her, alive, real, and suddenly she felt that she could no longer breathe. From somewhere in the distance, she heard Elliot say something to the woman in front of him, but she couldn't do anything. It was as if gravity had shackled her feet to the ground, as if invisible hands around her neck were choking her, as if all the blood had escaped her body, and only tears flowed down her cheeks. In her ears, she could only hear the screams of people, the gun shot, and she flinched, not knowing if it was real or not, and only one thing echoed in her head:

Elliot is dead.

Elliot has been shot.

Elliot is dead.

"Emily?"

Someone shook her shoulders, but she couldn't open her eyes. She couldn't face the sight of Elliot lying dead and bleeding on the steps of the house.

"Emily? Listen to me, you have to breathe! Breathe!"

No.

I don't want to.

But then she felt a breath next to her ear, warm and soothing, and a small voice whispered:

"Liv."

The voice was so familiar, it was like a beautiful song in a dark forest, and it intruded through the terror and panic into her consciousness. She opened her eyes, and realized she was looking directly into Elliot's blue eyes.

Elliot is alive.

But… How?

"Just like that, breathe. Breathe with me, you're doing great."

She took a deep breath, and as the oxygen began to flow into her lungs, she felt the thick fog that had filled her brain in a couple of seconds begin to clear, and gradually she became aware of her surroundings again. The old lady at the door of the house had put down her rifle and was looking at them worriedly, Elliot had his hands on her shoulders, and the more panic loosened its grip, the more violently her body began to tremble, and she was thankful that Elliot didn't let go of her.

"Are you okay?" There was the old lady's voice, and Olivia turned to look at her. "I'm very sorry, but in these times you have to be careful."

"No, it's... It's okay," she said hoarsely and then grimaced: "The past is a bitch, isn't it?"

"Oh, you said it, dear. Why are you here?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The old lady hadn't seen Mike, and it was clear that she was at least as scared as the tourists. She also had no relatives or friends who had visited her recently, and Elliot and Olivia had moved on to another neighbor, where a couple and their children lived. No one had been home, and without a search warrant they hadn't been able to break in, so they had continued on to the rich man's vacation home. He had just arrived and was taking his stuff in from his car, and based on the plane tickets, he could prove that he had just arrived at the house a few minutes ago.

Frustrated, Olivia and Elliot had started driving further away from the rich man's house instead of going back in the direction they had come. Elliot had said that he knew the route would go around back to the farm, and it wouldn't be bad to drive by a different route. Outside, the weather had turned from hot to oppressive, and dark clouds had begun to fill the sky as the Jeep had to do its best to move forward on the challenging field road.

"Are you okay?" Elliot's worried voice broke the silence, and Olivia sighed. She knew this conversation was coming, but she didn't like it at all.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean," he pursed his lips, and Olivia scratched her temple. "What happened earlier?"

"Nothing, she just scared me. That's all."

"Really? Because to me it looked like a panic attack."

Elliot wasn't stupid, Olivia knew that. Everything but that. But for some reason it made her irritation grow, and she crossed her arms.

"Well, I think it's not your business."

"It's not my business?" Elliot huffed and glanced at her. "You know what? I think it is. I am responsible for you, and something is clearly bothering you…"

"You are not responsible for me!" Olivia snapped. "I am responsible for myself! And you don't know me. You may remember me, but you don't remember us, or what has happened to me! So back off!"

Olivia didn't know where all the anger was coming from, but she knew she had gone too far. The words had escaped her mouth before she could stop them, and the hurt look on Elliot's face made her regret her words immediately. She couldn't take them back though, so she closed her mouth and looked out the window.

But because she was looking away, she didn't notice Elliot glancing at his phone. All she noticed was that he suddenly slammed on the brakes, and she turned to look at him in surrender.

"Okay, El, this is stupid. I'm sorry that I…"

But she froze when she saw Elliot's expression. It was no longer hurt, it was scared. And that scared Olivia.

"What?"

"It's… It's a tornado warning."