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It was Olivia and Laila's first night in Witness Protection in Chicago, Illinois. They were living in a three bedroom home with two bathrooms; one was adjoining the master bedroom.
It was 1:17am and Olivia couldn't sleep. She was sitting on the carpeted floor in the second bedroom, watching her daughter sleep. Laila was curled up on her left side, sucking her thumb.
Olivia was sitting there comtemplating her life; trying to figure out where it all went wrong, when Laila's little whiskey brown eyes fluttered open. Laila saw her mother sitting on the floor by the bed.
"Mommy?" She asked as she got out of bed and walked over to her.
"You ok, baby?" Olivia asked as her daughter sat on her lap.
"No. Go home?" She replied, still half asleep.
Olivia stroked back Laila's soft brown hair. "Sorry, Laila but we can't go home." She whispered.
Laila nodded sadly and buried her head in to her mother's chest.
"Want to come in to Mommy's room and watch a DVD?" She asked softly.
Laila nodded so Olivia lifted her up as she stood and carried the sleepy toddler in to the master bedroom.
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Olivia was woken by someone knocking on the front door. She looked at the clock beside the bed. 6:26am was clearly displayed in red digital numbers.
"Who the hell is knocking at the door this early in the damn morning?" She thought to herself before noticing that Laila had woken.
"Come on, princess." She whispered as she got up before placing Laila on her hip.
Olivia walked up to the front door and looked through the peep hole. She couldn't help but smile when she saw Elliot standing there.
She opened the door. "Hey Elliot." She greeted him.
"Hey Liv. Hi La-La." He greeted them and then hugged them both.
"Hi Uncle El." Laila greeted him back as Olivia let him in.
"How did you find us, El?" Olivia asked as they sat down on the couch.
"I begged them to let me bring you home with me and I'll protect you so they eventually told me where you were." He said as he held Olivia's hand.
She nodded. "We want to go home. Don't we, Laila?" She said as she looked down at her young daughter.
Laila nodded in agreement.
Elliot put his hands out and Laila climbed in to his lap. "Let's help Mommy pack up, huh?" He said as he and Olivia both stood up.
"El, I can pack alone. Can you plase get Laila something small to eat?" She said before walking out of the living room.
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Elliot carried Laila in to the kitchen and opened up the fridge. "Laila?"
"Yes Uncle El?" She asked, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Is Mommy sad?" He asked in a whisper so that Olivia couldn't hear him.
"Mm-hmm." Laila replied and nodded.
"Did Mommy tell you why she is sad?" He asked as he closed the fridge.
Laila shook her little head. "Nope."
Elliot nodded sadly before grabbing a museli bar out of the cupboard for the toddler.
"Sit up here for a second, La-La, while I open this for you." He spoke softly and sat Laila on the counter.
Elliot opened up the chewy museli bar and gave it to Laila before picking her up again.
"Everything alright in here?" Olivia asked from the doorway.
Elliot turned up to face Olivia. "Yep. Ready to go?"
"Almost. Laila, come here, baby." She said with her arms open.
Elliot passed the toddler to her mother.
"I'm just going to change her and make sure she uses the bathroom."
"I'll go put everything in to the car for you then."
Olivia nodded. "Thanks." She replied before walking out with Laila.
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Elliot stopped at a red light and took a quick peek at Laila in the back. She was sound asleep in her car seat, he then looked at Olivia. She was awake now and still leaning her head on the side passenger window.
"Liv?" He questioned before putting his foot on the gas to continued driving since the light turned green again.
"Yeah?" Olivia replied without moving.
"What's wrong?" He asked with sympathy.
"Nothing. I'm fine." She replied emotionlessly, still not looking at him.
"Liv, Laila told me that you were sad and I know for a fact that you won't accuse your own daughter of lying."
Olivia sighed and ran a soft olive toned hand through her soft brown hair. "Just shut the hell up and drive." She replied in a very serious tone before turning around to check on her daughter. Laila was just waking up.
Her little whiskey brown eyes fluttered open and she smiled at her mother. "Mommy?"
"Yes sweetie?"
"Home?" She asked as she hugged her favourite brown teddy bear with a red bow, closer to her chest.
"Soon, baby. Very soon." She replied before turning back to the front again.
"Liv..." Elliot tried again as he pulled in to the street that his apartment was on.
"I mean it, Elliot. Just. Drop. It." She replied. Her anger raising in each word.
Elliot just nodded and pulled up out the front of his apartment building.
"I'll grab your and Laila's bags and you can grab Laila." Elliot said as he and Olivia got out of the car.
As Olivia got Laila out of her car seat and Elliot grabbed the bags, no words were spoken.
The next two hours passed by slowly. Olivia was sitting at the dinner table with Laila sitting on her lap as she coloured in a picture of 'Elmo'.
Elliot walked in. "Liv, can we please talk?" He asked cautiously.
Olivia sighed. "Fine. I'll just set up a DVD for Laila to watch." She replied before getting up with Laila on her hip.
"Which DVD would you like to watch, sweetie?"
"Dorwa." She replied with a smile.
"Dora the Explorer?"
Laila nodded so Olivia sat her on the couch before putting the DVD in to the DVD player.
"Just in the kitchen, Liv so you can still keep an eye on Laila."
Olivia took a deep breath and followed Elliot in to the kitchen.
They both sat at the dinner table but before Elliot could say a word, Olivia did.
"Why aren't you with your wife and children?" She asked as she rested her head on her right fist.
"Kathy filled for divorce. Her and I are over. Things began to crumble months ago." He admitted before taking Olivia's left hand in his right. "What's troubling you, Liv?"
"I don't want to talk about it." She said and snatched back her hand.
Elliot took it back and caressed the top of her hand with his thumb as he looked in to her chocolate brown eyes. "Livvie, please talk to me." He begged.