A/N- Thank you for reading. I really like how this story is going and excited to continue it. Of course posting this chapter is very interesting considering that the state I'm in is in a state of emergency. Hope everyone is doing alright and is safe.

The line cut out abruptly before they could say their goodbyes. The silence on the other end was unsettling, eerie. That phone call was the only thing that was keeping him together. Elliot shouted into the phone a couple times before hanging it up and redialing the number and impatiently waiting to hear his wife's voice again. The line went straight to the busy tone, just the continuous loop of beeps. He slammed the phone back on the receiver, then slammed his fists onto the top of the desk. The sheer force let out a disturbance so loud that the entire floor echoed. His burst of rage was followed by a line of curses. There was nothing he could do; he was utterly useless to keep his family safe right now.

The people around turned their heads looking at the detective falling apart. The loud impact broke the hysteria of the room for a moment. No one knew how to react, how to reassure him. What could you say to a man who just lost the only communication in such catastrophic circumstances?

"Hey. Hey, they are going to be okay." Olivia said as she approached him beside the desk after a gap of silence. The first word was to get his attention. Her repeating it was more of an attempt to calm him down.

"You don't know that." He tried to dismiss her attempt to coddle him. He continued to look down at the desk, unable to look up. He just gripped the ledge of the desk, the cool metal as his tool to subdue him.

Elliot didn't make eye contact with anyone in the room. He just kept trying to dial phone numbers he memorized but the phone made the same noise each time. The repetitive dial, hang-up, dial, hang up. Each slamming of the phone was becoming more aggressive. Elliot kept thinking in his head if that was the last time, he would ever hear Kathy's voice, if he was never going to see her again. The pessimistic thought of the situation was brought on from what was ensuing around them. The phone had taken so much abused, it was a miracle that it still was functional. No one dared to stop him. There was too much going on.

"She is strong. They all are." Olivia reassured her partner, even though there was no way she could imagine what he was going through. It must be unbearable. She went to put her hand on his shoulder as some reassurance, but he pulled away harshly. It stunned her. She just stood there as he walked past her towards the locker room.

The radios were going nuts. The static versus the shouts of multiple codes could be heard. They all sat there in silence. There was nothing that they could do. The feeling of dread knowing that the world around them was crumbling and that there was no way to stop it overcame the precinct.

"Everyone, don't look out the windows, close the blinds and someone turn that fucking alarm off." Cragen yelled. Finally breaking the trance of hopelessness. He had to do something to get the remaining people to somehow secure the building. He had to take charge, if not they would just be sitting ducks. If the ship was going down, he was going down with it, fighting.

The people that were left which were about fifteen or so hesitantly did what he ordered. The jolt of the order ending the quiet. The Captain also gave others around him orders. People scattered around to different parts of the precinct in a hurry, everyone careful enough to not be tempted to gaze outside. Some didn't believe the Soon the whole floor was segregated from the outside world. The room only lit by the florescent lights above. When the alarm shut off, it was a huge relief. One less thing they had to worry about.

The uproar from beyond the walls continued. The call lines began to slow down, which only could have meant that the callers themselves were incapacitated or worse.

Lake eyes scanned the precinct. Multiple people were standing or sitting around, not sure what to do next.

The young woman was huddled in the corner a few feet from Field's body was. Through the chaos someone must have covered the more gruesome parts with an old jacket to prevent any more people from the sight. Blood seeped through the fabric still, an oddly oval shaped wet spot on the jacket. Chester had to force himself to not stare at the scene. Yes, he had scene plenty of crime scenes, but this was different. This was on their terf. It felt unnerving, and unsafe.

Her curly long brown hair was dangling in front of her face, but he could see fresh tears mixed with makeup running down her cheeks. She had her knees up to her chest while her face was buried in her hands.

"Hey." He said lightly.

She looked up at him. Dried blood stained on the side of her face and over her purple blouse. He didn't know her too well, but he would smile friendly at her when he walked by her desk almost every morning. She was sweet, innocent, probably in her early twenties. He hated seeing people exposed to these types of things. He wanted to shield the rest of the world from it. To see something like that would leave any person shook. The poor receptionist had the man's blood all over her.

He slid his back down the wall and sat next to her.

"I'm Chester. What's your name?"

"R-R-Rachel." Her voice shaky in between sobs.

"Hi Rachel, I know this all is scary right now. Are you alright?" He asked her.

"It-It was all so fast, why is this happening?" She said in-between sniffles. It was a valid question. Unfortunately, he had no answer. Nothing really made sense right now. He put his hand on her shoulder.

"I promise you, were going to get out of this." He knew he shouldn't make such a promise because he didn't know what was going to happen to them. But he had to provide something to comfort her, sort of hope. The corners of her mouth curved into a small smile. Chester pushed himself up from the wall, standing up. He reached his hand out to her.

"Here, Let's get you cleaned up."

Rachel nodded took his hand as they headed to one of the restrooms.

Elliot pushed open the door to the locker room. He looked down the row of gray metal lockers finding that he was alone for the first time. He approached his locker, noting the obvious dents from previous times he came in here to "cool off". The times where he pictured his locker as a perp's face as his fists contacted it. His knuckles being torn up and scabbed. His wife asking what happened and him having to make an excuse, an unbelieving excuse.

When the locker opened, he was met with his reflection from a small mirror that hung on the inside door. It was the first time he realized how much blood he had on him. It was now dry and crusted to his skin. He turned his face in disgust, remembering Rick's eyes and how the life faded from them. The guy was a scumbag, but he didn't deserve to go out like that, especially in such a terrible way. At one time he had fantasized about a gruesome justice to rapists and pedophiles but seeing it in real time was another thing. It made his stomach turn, with the sense of nausea.

Elliot's mind wouldn't stop trying to piece together a way he could have saved him, and Huang. A man he knew for many years, maybe he didn't agree with him all the time, but he considered him a friend. To see his body on the ground like that was a deadly wakeup call. They all could end up like that. He could have easily looked at that window and the reflection to the outside before Huang. Right now, he could have been the one bashing his face into the glass, he could have died. His body could be laid out in the interrogation room, glass embedded with only that blank look.

He looked above the mirror seeing the several pictures he had of his family taped up. The collage had pictures of his kids going from school pictures from the years to any sports that they played to his and Kathy's wedding photo. They were so young then, so in love. He examined the photo almost down to every pixel, fiber, each ruffle on her dress. Gosh they had some crazy styles back then, as he smirked at the eighties style hair. Looking at them just made his heart ache even more.

What was going to happen to them?

What if he couldn't reach them in time?

What if they were already dead?

Olivia approached him breaking him from his thoughts. I only made him angrier. She had that sad look in her eyes and he knew she was trying to see if he was okay.

"Please just stop. I know what you're doing." He turned away from her walking the other direction towards the back wall of lockers. Trying to walk away from her, to get some distance. He didn't need this constant smothering.

"El, I'm just trying to-" Olivia tried to reason with him.

"Exactly, your trying to do that coddling thing you always do. I'm not a child." He stopped in his tracks, turning to face his partner, his blood boiling. He could tell that she really was trying to just be supportive. Elliot was going to regret treating her this way, but he couldn't stop his rage and he had to take it out on the nearest person.

"What are you talking about?" Olivia questioned him, her hands coming out on her hips.

"We have no idea what's happening out there, and you come in here acting like everything is going to be ok, like there isn't a chance that we are all going to die, that Maureen and Kathleen could already be dead."

"You can't think like that." She cut in. So many times, he misdirected his anger onto her. Yes, she knew that the situation looked grim, but shutting her out wasn't the answer.

"And why not? Rick's dead. Huang's dead. All those people outside probably are and I'm in here just waiting." The pessimistic response was unnerving. He slammed the locker door. The noise jolted her. The door swung back hitting it's back against the adjacent locker. The hanging mirror falling from the inside, shattering as it hit the ground. That's seven years of bad luck apparently.

"Elliot. Please, just-" Olivia pleaded.

"You know what, just leave me the hell alone."

"El, don't do this. Don't shut me out." Yelling back at him.

"Hey!" They heard their captain yell. The door to the locker room swinging open. Cragen stormed in. Apparently, they had been louder than they thought.

"Cut it out you two. There's a bunch of people out of this room who are in hysterics, I don't need the two of you fighting right now. Get your heads out of your asses." Cragen yelled. There was no time to deal with this. He couldn't have his two detectives duking it out while all hell broke loose. As captain of this precinct he owed it to them to keep all the people he could safe.

They both looked at him, then immediately looked at each other. There was no point in feuding right now. Both had the same goal in mind. It was almost embarrassing to be scolded at.

"Benson, I need you to see how many people we have here and check for supplies near the basement. I have a feeling that the power will go out any minute. It's going to get dark in a few hours. I don't intend to be waiting around in the pitch black."

He looked at Elliot then to Olivia, seeing the blood still caked on them.

"Both of you get a change of clothes." He noted before leaving them once more in the empty locker room. The red blood stains had them looking more like they were in a horror movie, Carrie perhaps. This whole day had seemed like one big horror movie. They were just waiting for it to be over.

"Sorry." Elliot whispered.

"Yeah, me too."

The lights then started to flicker. They looked up at the same time, the florescent bulbs making a fuzzy sound. They took one last glance at each other before the light gave out, filling the entire room with darkness.

A/N – Thank yewwwwww.