So I know that the last chapter wasn't the best, so I hope this one will be better.
Just as soon as we got to the precinct, Cragen stormed out of his office. "You two. What the hell are you doing back?"
"We finished speaking to the girl," Elliot replied, glancing round at me to see if I knew why Cragen seemed so mad.
I didn't. The older man seemed as if he was going to blow his top. I had only seen him so angry with Elliot or that time I told the reporter about a case. Even thought it didn't terrify me, it did intimidate me, but I don't think that anybody knew that. It was just the fact that Cragen could get really mad and could suspend you or fire you that got to me. If I didn't have my job I didn't have anything.
"Where was she?" Cragen demanded.
"At Scott's house," Elliot replied, squaring his shoulder, drawing himself up to his full height. I didn't even think he realised he was doing it sometimes. I think it was just all the testosterone and the need to defend himself and others around him. It was something I had grown to love. "Why?"
Cragen's face had fallen. That wasn't good.
"Call came in. Hostage situation.Scott's house," he stated, and I gasped. Elliot turned to look at me, and he just shook his head. Neither of us knew what to say. Either the person holding the hostages had been in the house when we were or they'd got in moments after we had left. "Go back. You need to be there ASAP."
We nodded and almost ran back out to the car. My heart was racing. I couldn't believe it. We had either not realised there was an intruder in the house, or we had almost been hostages ourselves. Now that was something that scared me. I didn't get too scared too often, but that... that scared me. Hostage situations really freaked me out. Especially when they involved Elliot.
The drive to Scott's house was silent. We had the police lights on, so it didn't take too long to get to the house. We ran up the path to the door, which was slightly ajar, and listened carefully.
We looked at each other, and I nodded. He motioned to three and pushed the door open, making sure that he didn't shove it to energetically so that it made no noise. I scurried in, holding my gun out in front of me, keeping my eyes peeled for any signs of movement. There were none, just a muffled voice coming from up the stairs.
There was something about this situation - the walking into a house where you knew there was something going on. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and it made shivers go right down my spine.
Elliot started up the stairs, and I followed right behind him. It was something that happened regularly. He would go up first, or in first. It happened a lot. I wasn't sure why. Maybe it was just simply because that was what happened - but then again, maybe it was because he felt for me and wanted to protect me. I wished, anyway...
Up stairs, Elliot and I looked at each other again. Now I was starting to get butterflies. It was a mix of the situation and the fact that he kept looking at me. Lately, he really had been getting to me more than normal. I had been realising my feelings even more lately. It was good that I could realise it, but the fact that it was causing so much inner-turmoil and torture wasn't all that good.
Elliot banged on the door, shouting, "POLICE!! OPEN UP!!"
"You're an idiot if you think I'm going to do this," the guys inside, who sounded Scottish just like Scott, but his voice was even deeper and more gravelly.
"TELL ME YOUR NAME!!" Elliot roared.
"Again, you must be an idiot," the guy gave an incredulous laugh.
"It's my ex's brother, Paul Johnstone!!" Fraser Scott shouted back at us, but then we heard the other guy curse something incoherently and then BANG!! BANG!! we heard two gunshots.
Elliot and I both jumped. No matter how many times you heard that sound, it didn't get any easier to hear, any less scary and it didn't freak you out any less. Elliot slammed his foot into the door and it flew open, bouncing back against the wall as we strode inside, guns aimed at the other Scottish man... Paul Johnstone.
Fraser Scott was lying on his back on the bed, letting out muffled groans of pain, blood pouring from his shoulder, and Emma Collins was leaning over him sobbing. Johnstone was stood in front of the bed, staring at Elliot and I. He was tall, about Elliot's height, with dark grey hair and piercing, baby blue eyes. He quickly moved his gun from Fraser and Emma to us.
"DON'T MOVE, OR I'LL KILL YOU!! I'LL KILL YOU ALL!!" Johnstone yelled at the top of his voice
"You don't want to do that," Elliot shook his head, keeping his voice quiet.
I glanced over at Fraser and Emma. The girl was panicking... they both were. Emma was sobbing her heart out, and Fraser was trying to calm her down and deal with his pain all at the same time. I hated it when people were panicking and I couldn't help them. I moved to help them, but another gun shot rang out, and I jumped, ducking. I looked round to see a small bullet hole in the wall, then glimpsed at Johnstone. He was standing there, hands trembling. I couldn't tell if the shaking was out of fear, nerves or anger. The guy was completely unreadable.
"I TOLD YOU!! DON'T MOVE!!" Johnstone barked.
"She's only trying to help Scott. Think about it," Elliot said, not even looking at me, just knowing straight away what I was heading to do. "If she helps to save him, Paul, you won't be on trial for murder. Think about it."
Johnstone paused for a moment, his piercing blue eyes darting from Elliot, to me, to Fraser and Emma and back to Elliot, then he nodded. "Okay, go help him, but nothing else."
I leaned over Fraser, balled up a shirt that lay on the bed and put pressure on the bullet wound. He let out a yelp of pain, and I whispered softly, "I'm sorry, I know it's painful, but if you want to live you've got to let me do it."
He nodded as best as he could. I saw him glance at Emma, and as it often had done watching these two, my heart broke. I could just tell they were crazy for each other. I could tell that he definitely did love her and wasn't just lying to cover his ass. I knew that he didn't deserve to be locked up for this, even if it was illegal. It was then that I knew what I had to do.
"Listen," I leaned down, murmuring into his ear. "If you want me to, I'll tesify at your trial. I can see you love Emma."
I leaned back up and looked into his deep brown eyes. The man looked petrified and absolutely baffled.
"Honestly," I nodded, and he let out a shaky sigh.
"Thank you," he closed his eyes, swallowing hard. He grabbed Emma's hand, and they looked at each other, love in their eyes. They knew now that they were going to be alright. That maybe, just maybe, he wasn't going to get so much time in jail, or maybe even get away without going to jail, and that maybe they'd be allowed to live their lifes in peace.
I knew that that was never going to happen. Even if he managed to evade the jail sentence, they'd never be allowed to live in peace. There would always be some people who were going to harass them and try to bring them down, and I knew that eventually, whether it was five months along, or five years along, the jibes and comments would get to them and everything would break down. I knew they'd never live a happy ever after.
"Okay, Paul, listen to me here buddy," I heard Elliot's voice behind me, but I couldn't look round, I was far too busy trying to help Fraser Scott.
"Why should I listen to you?!" Paul Johnstone bellowed.
"Because I can help you," Elliot stated. "Any minute now, there are gonna be swarms of cops outside. Snipers. They're not gonna listen to you. I will. You just tell me why you're here... explain things... I can help."
"I don't want your help," Johnstone shook his head, looking down at the floor. "I'm not going to tell you why I'm here, I won't."
"Okay, well you need to tell me something I can use to help you," Elliot said quietly.
"No. As soon as I tell you you're going to shoot me. There's no point," Johnstone stated, clenching his jaw.
Suddenly, there was another BANG and Emma Collins screamed. I jumped, glancing over my shoulder, to see Elliot falling to the floor. I froze momentarily before drawing my gun and firing a single shot at Johnstone. It hit him right in the middle of his forehead, and he spent a moment on his feet before collapsing in a heap, dead, on the floor.
"Emma, keep the pressure on his shoulder," I ordered and ran to Elliot, kneeling down on the floor.
The bullet had hit him in the chest, just to the right of his heart, and the blood was gushing out of his body. Without thinking I placed my hands over the wound and pressed down as hard as I could. My hands were trembling like I'd never experienced before. I was trying so hard not to cry. Elliot was all I had. I didn't know what I'd do if I lost him.
I know that sounds pathetic, but it's the truth. I loved the man, beyond belief, like I had never known before. I really did not know how I would cope without Elliot. I didn't know how I would cope with another partner. I just didn't know anything right then, except that I had to save Elliot, somehow.
"Liv..." Elliot croaked.
"No, Ell, don't speak," I shook my head, continuing the pressure on his chest. "Don't worry. I'm not going to let you go. It's not your time."
He looked right up into my eyes, and my heart did actually stop for a millisecond. Right then I was his only lifeline, and that just made me panic. We just gazed into each other's eyes, and I shook my head slowly, keeping the pressure on him.
"Elliot..."I breathed, a tear dripping down my cheek.
"Liv, just...let me go," he said, his voice faltering.
"I'll never do that Elliot," I shook my head, removing one hand, trying the best I could to keep the pressure on with my other hand as I pulled out my radio and called for a bus to come as soon as it possibly could. I shoved the black device back into its place and returned my hand to his chest. "You mean too much to too many people. You have your kids, everyone at the precinct, the people you help... you have me..."
"Liv, I..." he paused, his eyes closing for a moment, his jaw clenching. His eyes flickered open again, this time a little clearer. "I...I love you..."
"Oh, god, Elliot..." I gasped, my heart skipping a beat, my stomach doing a million flips. It seemed like forever we gazed into each other's eyes. I couldn't think right. Had he really just said he loved me? Had Elliot Stabler, the man I was crazy about, just said that he loved me? Had he really? "Ell... I... I love you too."
He let out a groan of pain, closing his eyes, grimacing. "Olivia, just... let go."
"No," I shook his head. "It's going to be alright Elliot. I promise you. I'm not going to let you go, I swear."
I could see in his eyes that he was in unimaginable pain, and that he just wanted me to let him go, but I just couldn't I loved him far too much to let him go. I guessed that if I hadn't been so in love with the man, I might have been able to let go, but there was just something telling me, over and over again, 'Don't let go... don't let go...' and I couldn't.
I reached up with one hand, keeping the pressure on, brushing his forehead with the back of my hand. "It's okay Elliot. It's going to be okay."
His eyes closed, and I shook my head. "No, come on, stay with me Ell. Stay with me. Eyes open." He didn't move, and I really started to panic now. "Elliot!! ELLIOT!!"
Suddenly the door burst open and paramedics rushed in. Two went to Fraser, two came to Elliot. Everything seemed a blur to me now. I just seemed to go along with the flow of things. I moved to let the paramedics in, I couldn't think straight. I was distraugh, I was terrified... I didn't know what was happening to me. I just knew that Elliot wasn't doing so good, and that was petrifying me. I couldn't live without him... especially not now that he had told me he loved me. I found myself following the paramedics to a waiting ambulance, and then climbing in the back with Elliot. I kept my gaze locked on him. I didn't want to look away for fear of something happening. This wasn't good. It wasn't often I lost my head, but this was one of those moments when you just can't seem to get your head around anything. I just wanted him to be okay. I just... I needed Elliot.