Chapter 3: The Face Behind The Glass
Disclaimer: I do not own them.
A/N: Wow! I feel so appreciated by those of you who reviewed my story. It really means a lot to me. This next chapter is sort of…odd. Please review! Now, read on my fellow SVU fanatics!
"Dammit!" they heard her yell. Fin, Munch, and Elliot ran up the stairs, Elliot in the lead. He burst into the room and looked down at Olivia. She was on her knees trying to pick up the pieces of shattered glass. Her hands were covered in blood and the photo of her and Elliot was lying beside her.
"Jesus Liv!" Elliot exclaimed rushing to her. He helped her off the floor and sat her on the bed. He lifted her chin to face him and saw that her face was covered in tears. Her body was shaking so badly that she couldn't even sit up. She collapsed on the bed, her body racked with sobs. Fin was cleaning up the glass and Munch had left to get bandages and antibiotics.
"Liv! Oh God Liv! What the hell happened?!" Words were rushing out of his mouth before he could stop them. Munch rushed in carrying the bandages. He stopped when he saw Olivia's face.
"Munch!" Elliot shouted holding out his hand for the supplies.
"No, Elliot. She has to clean those up. They look pretty nasty." Munch said.
He helped Elliot stand Olivia up, but she was shaking so violently that she could barely keep her head up, let alone walk. Since she couldn't walk by herself they carried her to the bathroom. They turned on the water and stuck her hands under it. She let out a strangled cry when they rubbed soap on her hands.
"Fin!" Munch yelled. "Get Huang, now!"
"Liv? Liv, baby, look at me. Liv." Elliot implored turning her to face him. "Liv, what's going on?" He had never seen her act like this. It was so un-Liv.
"In….the picture." Her words tumbled out of her. "It's him. He's back. Richard White is back."
Elliot looked at Munch. When they had been called into Cragen's office he had explained to them the situation. Richard White had escaped from prison and there was a good chance he'd come after Olivia. She was not to know, however, about his escape. The case was top priority and top secret.
"Shhhh, Liv, we know. We know." He said as he gently pushed the hair out of her face. Still, she wasn't acting normally. Usually she would have been stubborn. She would insist that everything was fine, but now, now she couldn't even walk.
They carried her back to the bed. Her hands were bandaged and the shaking had subsided a little. Huang arrived a few minutes later. He nodded at Munch and Fin to leave. He then turned to Elliot but Olivia caught the movement.
"No!" she shouted. Then, realizing how loud her voice was, she said quietly, "He stays." She looked at him. "He has to stay." Huang sat down.
"Olivia, what's wrong? Can you tell me what happened?" He looked concerned.
"Last night," Olivia took a deep breath. "Last night I didn't really get any sleep. I was thinking about…" she glanced at Elliot. "I was thinking about things when the phone rang. I figured it wasn't an urgent call or they would have called my cell phone. They didn't leave a message, but called back every 45 minutes. I disconnected my phone but my cell started ringing. I knew it was the same person so I shut it off. By then it was almost time for me to get up anyway so I gave up on sleep. When I opened the door to leave there was a bouquet of flowers on the floor. I opened the card and it said 'No hard feelings.' Then I came here, to work, and was looking at that picture when I noticed something in the background." She pointed to the picture that was still lying on the floor and began crying again. Elliot put his arms around her and rubbed her back in slow circles.
"Elliot." Huang called. "You'll want to look at this."
Elliot got up and after looking at the picture for a moment, gasped. How could he not have seen it before? There, in the background, was a blurry, yet still distinguishable face of Richard White. He was making a gun with his thumb and forefinger. The "gun" was pointing straight at Elliot's head.
"Oh no." he groaned.
"There's more." Olivia said flatly, sitting up in bed. She pointed to a folder that was sitting at the foot of the bed. Elliot picked it up and nearly choked at when he saw what was inside. There were dozens of photos. Some were of Olivia sleeping, but most were of her and Elliot laughing or talking together.
"On the back. Look on the back." Olivia whispered. Elliot turned the folder over and read what was written on the back.
To Olivia. Good day to you, my dear. I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the flowers. I hope you let Detective Stabler read this. I can't wait to see what his reaction is. Will he get angry? Or will he be scared? Maybe sickened? What about you, Sweet Olivia? I hope you haven't forgotten about me. I haven't forgotten you. Hey Olivia, wanna read a poem? It's about Elliot. I think you'll both like it. Enjoy!
A bullet in his stomach,
A bullet in his head,
Try to ignore me
And Elliot's dead.
TBC
What do you think so far? Please R&R.