A/N- Finally updating this one. I am not the fastest writer. Sometimes I have trouble putting my ideas into words. Hope everyone is making it through this pandemic as best as they can. I am currently still recovering from the virus. It sucked. Period. I really enjoy this story because the idea of being isolated from the world is so relatable now more than ever. Stay safe and enjoy.
They were surrounded in darkness. When the room went entirely black, screams were heard from the other rooms, due to the surprise of it. Rachel's screamed echoed along the tiled walls of the bathroom. She grabbed onto Chester, the closest thing to her. He held her as she sobbed into his shoulder. His lower back against the counter of the sink. She her breathing was rapid, almost unable to calm down. The fear of the recent event possibly causing a panic attack. She had been through a traumatic event; Officer Fields's brain matter still spattered on her. She clung to him, like he was her only hope. Chester didn't let go, he understood what she was going through. This was not a normal day at the office, not by a longshot.
"Shhh, it's ok. It's just the lights". Trying to soothe her. The running water from the faucet creating a white noise type of effect. The young woman continued to cry, her tears soaking through his light gray shirt.
"We're going to die. Aren't we?" She said in between her gasps of air. The fear in her voice was unsettling. He didn't have to see her face to know that she was waiting for him to answer.
"Rachel listen to me. I'm gonna to get you out of this." He didn't know if this promise he was making to her was a lie or not. How do you comfort someone when you are just as scared? Scared that they didn't truly know what was happening. Not knowing if their family and friends were safe or not. "Stay strong ok? We will get through this." The reassurance was not just for her but for himself.
Rachel nodded into his shoulder. Her breathing began to slow down. He let her hold onto him until her panic episode subsided. Chester felt along the counter for the knob to the sink with his free arm. After missing it a few times he eventually grasped it, turning the water off. The two of them felt around blindly in the dark feeling out for the door they came through joining the rest of the group.
"Well this is just fantastic." Elliot said sarcastically. Of course the power would cut off in the most inconvenient time. Now they were stuck trying to navigate themselves in the dark. Cragen's orders still needing to be followed. This would just make things much more difficult. Elliot tried to feel around for his locker. It was clear that his frustration was building up again.
"El." Olivia held up her phone in his direction, the home screen providing some light to the dark locker room. It was just a basic flip phone. The number keys lighting up with the screen. It wasn't much, but it would do for now.
"Thanks. I just have to grab my sweats." He sighed. A small relief in the streak of bad luck they were having.
Elliot had a few choices of what to wear. He settled on going for comfort over professionalism at this point. He had kept several changes of dress shirts and slacks. Working in Special victims he had a surprising amount of injuries on the job. Multiple times ruining his clothes.
He squatted down to the bottom of his locker lifting his black gym bag out. He was thankful that his wife had packed extra casual clothes for him. They had a conversation couple weeks ago about how he wanted to go to the gym more, because he thought he was getting unmotivated after not being able to keep up with a suspect attempting to flee. The next day Kathy had packed a set of gym clothes and extra granola bars in his bag with a note written from her. From that day on each day she had left him notes and treats each day. It was the little things that really kept their marriage together. They were so young at first and didn't really know the full reality of marriage. It wasn't the planning of ten years in the future or where they were going to live when their old. It was the small acts and talks that kept them so in sync with each other. They had made it through the separation, even when they didn't think it would be possible. In some way it had made their hearts grow fonder of each other.
Olivia illuminated the area with her phone to make sure he could see what he was pulling out of his bag. As he grabbed the hoodie and sweatpants, a small piece of paper fell to the floor. Elliot knew it was the daily note from his wife. He remembered this morning saying their goodbyes. She was in the kitchen making her usual breakfast for herself. During this trimester of her pregnancy she had been addicted to strawberry jam. He would she her putting it on everything. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches almost every day. He was always running to the store for another jar of the stuff. She was scooping a spoonful of the jelly into her bowl of oatmeal. At first, he was questioning on it but soon it became just a normality of their life.
He picked it up off the floor. That small paper was so valuable at this point. It came from a time before the chaos.
"Think the shower will have to wait, the water could cut off at some point." He mentioned, changing the subject. With the luck they had today, he would be in the middle of showering and that is when the water would shut off, leaving him in a half soap, half blood mess. That thought wasn't appealing to him at all.
"We could probably fill up some storage bins and even empty trash cans to save." Olivia mentioned. It was a good idea. They had no idea how long they would be stuck like this. If the city was in shambles there was a chance that drinking water would soon not be available.
"So, Marine shower it is." Pulling out a pack of wipes from his bag. Elliot cracked a smile for the first times since this whole thing started. A little humor to cut some of the tension that was weighing heavily on them.
Olivia walked a few lockers down to her own. She fiddled with the lock, having to put the combination in a couple of times. The phone light was on the bench between them and she didn't want to hog the entire light. Inside, she grabbed her own spare clothes. Unfortunately, she wasn't as prepared as Elliot and didn't have nearly as much items. God, she wished that she hadn't cleaned out the locker a day ago. Damn her need for clean laundry. She grabbed her yoga pants, that she had never done yoga in and a tank top and light sweater. This would have to do. Currently, they didn't have the luxury to be picky with outfit selection. It was this or wear the remnants of Rick.
"Hey, I'm gonna go on the other side to change." Elliot volunteered. They didn't want to separate completely but he wanted to give her the proper privacy.
He picked up his whole bag walking to the next row of lockers. Elliot undid the rest of his tie, having it fall to the ground. He wasn't going to bother salvaging the material at this point. The stains would never come out. He started at the top buttons of his dress shirt, feeling the crusted dry blood on the small plastic pieces. Once completely unbuttoned, he shed the shirt off having it join with the other dirtied item. The blood had seeped through to his white t-shirt, pulling it off as well he grabbed a single wipe from the pack and roughly tried to clean the dried blood off himself. He had to make several passes to moisten the caked-on substance. Gradually it started to disintegrate off him from the friction. He took a clean wipe to clean his face.
When he was content with the makeshift bath, he grabbed one of the clean shirts that were folded in the bag. They were just plain shirts with either NYPD or USMC logos on them. He had remembered getting them from the kids for Father's Day and his birthday last year. He really didn't buy too many t-shirts and would wear them until they started getting holes in them. He began to undo his belt, sliding it from the loops and placing it on the bench beside him.
"Hey, how you doing over there?" He asked. It had been almost five minutes of silence. At first five minutes doesn't seem like a lot of time, but the few minutes had been painfully long. Neither one knew what to say to each other. In their minds, they were just beginning to process everything that had been going on.
"Eh, wish I'd stockpiled on more stuff. Got any extra wipes I could steal off you?" She expressed. Trying to keep the conversation lighthearted.
"Yeah. Catch." He responded, tossing the package over the divider middle lockers. Giving it enough height so that it wouldn't get stuck.
"Shit." Olivia cursed as the package slipped out of her hands, landing on the floor.
"You can't catch." Elliot chuckled. Hearing the package hit the ground.
"Listen, I'm halfway naked over here." Olivia playfully responded, both acknowledging the friendly nature. She was partly out of her shirt when Elliot had thrown the wipes over. She squatted down to the floor feeling around for the pack. It was awkward enough trying to find it while semi clothed but in the dark she was afraid she was going to trip over the bench divider. The light from her phone was practically useless and every two minutes she had to hit one of the number key to keep it from turning off. She finally found it a couple few away. Grabbing it made a crinkling sound, confirming that she had the right item.
Olivia was mainly blood free from the waist up. Most of the residue was on her hands and at the knees of her pants. She slid off the rest of the soiled linen, trying not to cringe. There was something about have another person's blood on her that made her want to vomit. Blood was a part of person's life source.
The air was cool against her skin. The sure indication of the aftermath of the air conditioner. Soon it would heat up in the brick building. There were many electrical outages in the past. The summer months were especially brutal. The hot humid weather making the precinct muggy. It was going to be unavoidable at this point. If the weather kept at this rate it was going to feel like an oven.
Olivia had to make the decision to wear the same under garments. It was something that just had to be done. She moved past it. At least she wasn't stuck wearing the blood soaked clothes. Minor accomplishments. Small steps.
She didn't know what she should do after she got changed. This was her last chance to calm her nerves for a period of time. Olivia would have to put her emotions on the back burner for now. They had too much crucial things to get done. A breakdown would have to wait.
"You decent?" Oliva called out, still trying to keep it in a relaxing mood. She didn't want to be alone with her thoughts right now.
"Yeah." Elliot took the folded-up paper and put it in his pocket. He wasn't ready to read the note. He was saving it for later, for when he would need it the most. Olivia rounded the corner with the light facing towards him.
"We should probably get going." He spoke while putting the gym bag back into his locker. There was no point in locking it unless he wanted to fiddle with the lock again in the pitch black.
Olivia nodded turning off the light to her phone. Both of the detectives took their bloodied clothing to the trashcan. Then walking out. From this point on they had to be ready for anything.
A/N- Working on Cragen and Fin part as well as the courthouse (Where is Munch during all of this?). Really excited to see how our squad can pull through this. I'm on nightshift again so I'll be posting more frequently.