Didn't think this chapter would end up being this long but here it is. I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I only own my OC.
That Tuesday, the school that Emily worked at was having an activity day. Some of the students and staff were going to go public skating and they were all looking forward to it, Emily included. She always loved bringing the kids skating because it gave her an opportunity to get on the ice. Emily was and had always been a tomboy. She grew up playing any sport that was available to her and felt at home on the ice, on a field or on a court. It bothered Emily that she was a natural at any sport she tried but she dreaded using exercise equipment. She wished that she was thinner than she was but whenever she tried working out at a gym, she'd usually give up only several minutes after starting. Instead she played hockey, basketball, soccer and volleyball in local leagues, which usually kept her busy at least once or twice a week.
It was Oliver's last day working before having four days off. He had just gone through a hard shift change, going from nights to evenings to days in a short time and it was starting to catch up to him. He was worn out and was looking forward to having a few days off to relax and to have his girls over for dinner that Wednesday night.
Oliver and Dov entered the nearby community recreation center regarding a canteen that had been broken into during the night. There had been $100 stolen from the cash along with a few bags of chips and other treats. Oliver thought that it was either a teenager, an employee or maybe a junkie who was responsible.
"Do you have a security camera in the area?" he asked the manager, doubting that there was one.
"Just at the front entrance," the manager informed him.
"Alright then, we should take a look around to see if we can find anything out of order," Dov suggested enthusiastically. Oliver looked over at Dov and gave him an exhausted look, knowing that they weren't going to find anything and that $100 wasn't enough to really get too upset about. The manager appreciated the offer but also knew that they probably weren't going to find anything.
After leaving the managers office, Oliver and Dov made their way towards the front entrance. Oliver's attention was drawn to his left when he saw movement coming from the skating rink. There were kids and adults skating around all with different skill levels. Oliver grinned when he saw a little girl trying to shuffle instead of skate on the ice, which reminded him of when his girls were learning how to skate. The memory brought on a small twinge of pain, since those had been happier times. He took an extra second to look around and was surprised when he spotted Emily on the ice. At least he thought it was her.
"Where are you going?" Dov asked as Oliver took a few steps closer to the glass that looked out onto the rink.
"Just, um, gimme a minute," Oliver said quickly, squinting out onto the ice. It was Emily. He knew it when he saw her smile. She was holding the hand of a little boy, probably around 8 years old and was trying to help him skate. She gave the little boy a high five when he stopped without falling. Oliver smiled when he saw how proud the little boy was of himself for not falling. Another woman then skated up to Emily and pointed towards the other end of the rink. For a second, Oliver feared that they might have spotted him watching. Emily nodded then began to quickly skate around counterclockwise, following the flow of the rest of the skaters, and met up with an older boy, about 12 years old. She passed him and began to skate backwards, making exaggerated turns and flourishes. The boy looked upset at first but began to smile when he saw Emily acting so silly. She moved towards him and put her arm across his shoulder and they skated around together for a lap, talking then both acting silly.
"Oliver, what are you looking at?" Dov asked, getting Oliver's attention.
"What? Nothing. What?" Oliver stuttered, feeling very distracted.
"We should take a look around," Dov went on, noticing that Oliver wasn't looking away from the rink and he had a small smirk on his lips.
"Yeah. Yeah, you're right, let's go," Oliver agreed, finally looking over at Dov.
Emily got off of the ice and began to help the kids take off their skates. She laughed at their red noses and how exhausted they were after skating around for the last hour. She could feel her own legs start to wobble a bit before she took off her own skates. After everyone was back in their shoes, they gathered their belongings and headed into the warmer lobby where the children sat down to wait for the bus that would be picking them up soon. Emily sat down with them and made sure they had everything. One of the boys told her that he had dropped his mitten in the arena so Emily offered to run back and get it for him.
Oliver and Dov walked back through the front doors just then and waved back at the children that sat waving at them with wide eyes and huge smiles. Oliver smiled at how excited the children were to see them. They made their way back to the managers office and informed him that they didn't see anything that would suggest a break in and suggested that he look over the video tape to see if he could spot anyone that looked suspicious. The manager agreed, knowing there wasn't much that could be done, and thanked Oliver and Dov for coming.
They made their way back towards the front entrance where Oliver saw Emily again. She was ushering the children they had seen when they walked in, out the front doors to their bus. He got excited when he saw her but didn't quite know why he was reacting that way. He was smiling as they made their way closer to the doors and Dov noticed the goofy grin on his face. He looked over in the direction that Oliver was looking in and saw Emily.
"She's cute," he offered, watching Emily laugh with the kids.
"Shut up, Epstein," Oliver said defensively, smacking him lightly in the arm. He looked over at Dov and saw him grinning.
"What? She is," Dov answered back, having fun with the fact that he just caught Oliver staring at a woman.
"Let's go, okay?" Oliver said, slapping Dov twice on the shoulder, hoping Dov would drop it.
When they got back to the station, Sam approached Oliver with a relaxed smile.
"They found her," he simply stated. Oliver continued to look at Sam, waiting for him to continue. Finally, he pursed his lips and shrugged.
"Found who?" he asked with raised eyebrows, unsure of who Sam was talking about.
"Sarah King," Sam answered. "The guy she was with was spotted at a convenience store and when an officer approached him he took off on foot. He ran the plates and got the guys address. They went by the house and found her there alone. She's at the hospital now getting checked out, but they said she seems fine," Sam finished explaining and could see the look of relief that washed over Oliver as his shoulders relaxed and he exhaled loudly.
"Thank god," Oliver said and sat down at his desk. Sarah wasn't much older than Izzy and he couldn't imagine how her parents had been dealing with her missing for the last few days.
"Do they have the guy who took her?" Oliver asked.
Sam shook his head. "No, he took off and they couldn't find him. They're still looking him, though." Oliver pictured the guy that Emily had pointed out on the computer and started to get upset when he remembered the stupid look on the guys face.
Oliver then thought of how lucky they were that Emily had spotted them outside of her apartment that night. If it wasn't for her, they wouldn't have known who to look for. He then remembered that he promised to call Emily when they found out any news on Sarah. He took out his notebook and found her number from the day they first spoke to her. Oliver dialed her number and looked at his watch when he heard her answering machine pick up. It was only just after 3:30 so she wouldn't be done work yet. He left her a brief message and found himself getting a little tongue tied as he spoke. He hung up and looked over to see Sam watching him from the corner of his eye and smiling.
"What?" Oliver asked, unsure of why Sam was smiling.
Sam shook his head and stuck out his lower lip. "Nothin'," Sam answered, unconvincingly.
"Drink at the Penny?" Sam asked as they were changing at the end of their shift. The end of Oliver's work week finally arrived and he was anxious to get out of the station.
"Yeah, let's go," Oliver answered then stopped and threw his head back. "Damn! No, I can't. I gotta pick up a few things for dinner tomorrow night," he explained.
"Can't you do it tomrrow?" Sam asked, fixing his collar.
"No, I gotta clean my apartment all day tomorrow. It's not pretty," Oliver answered, screwing up his face.
"Alright, well I'll have one for ya then," Sam teased, slapping Oliver playfully on the back.
Oliver grumbled as he grabbed his bag from his locker. "Nice Sammy. Nice."
They got outside and Oliver made his way to his truck, deciding that he'd treat himself to a burger on the way home after picking up the groceries. There's no way I'm cooking tonight, he thought.
Emily walked into the market and felt the muscles in her legs start to stiffen. She had walked to the store after leaving work to pick up a couple of things she was running low on. She usually picked up a few groceries a couple of times a week because it was easier to walk to her apartment with only one or two bags instead of an entire weeks worth of food. She didn't mind not having a car, expect when it came time to lug home lots of groceries. She got by with taking the bus or accepting rides with friends and coworkers and it made sense for her to not have a car in a big city. She grabbed a small cart and headed for the produce section.
"Okay, what should I make?" Oliver muttered to himself while standing in front of the wide selection of pastas. He decided on linguine and picked up a bottle of simple pasta sauce, figuring he could add some ground beef and a few spices to it to make it more substantial. He made his way back down the aisle towards the meat section and pulled his cart back quickly when someone was rounding the corner.
"Sorry," a man said, as he pulled back to let Oliver go first. Oliver walked ahead and thanked the man on his way to find the ground beef.
Emily tried to visualize what she had in her fridge, feeling stupid for forgetting her list at home. She walked through the produce and bakery section and rounded the corner. Standing in front of the refrigerated meat section was Oliver. She stopped abruptly when she saw him and didn't know what to do. Emily considered whether she should continue walking by him or turn and go the other way. She would have liked to say hello but didn't know if he would be annoyed at seeing her again. She could feel her heart beating faster when she noticed how cute he looked. She found him handsome in his uniform but she thought he looked much better in his regular clothes. He wore dark jeans and a light blue t shirt under a black zipped up hoodie. He looked more relaxed than when she had seen him while he was working and she smiled when she saw that his hair was messed up a little. She looked away quickly when she felt herself start to blush. Stop it, Emily. you don't even know the guy, she said, trying to calm herself. Her nerves finally got the best of her and she turned down the closest aisle, walking away from Oliver.
Oliver finished up with the rest of the groceries he needed and headed towards the cash registers. He picked a line with several people in front of him and looked around while waiting for his turn. He looked over at the shortest line and spotted a woman with her head down. She had the same coloured hair as Emily and he took in a deep breath. A loud noise from the back of the store caused just about everyone in line to turn around and Oliver saw that it was Emily. He smiled when he saw her. Twice in one day, he thought.
Emily had reached the checkout and watched as an older man at the front of the line handed over change one coin at a time to the cashier, and chuckled to herself, thinking it was sweet. She the looked down and fished around in her purse to take out her wallet so she would be ready when it was her turn at the cash. A loud noise from the back of the store caught Emily's attention but when she looked back, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She glanced up to her left and saw Oliver again, standing in line to checkout. This time he was looking back at her and wore a big smile. She smiled back and nervously gave him a small wave. His smile deepened.
There was a moment of awkwardness when both acknowledged each other but weren't sure if they should yell out a hello or just end their interaction with a simple smile. They both stayed in line and looked back towards each other every so often, always ending with a shy smile of recognition.
Emily's turn at cash came first and she was disappointed that her transaction went through so quickly. Part of her really wanted to say hello to Oliver but she knew that by the time she finished, he wouldn't even be up to the cash yet. She payed and slowly gathered her items into her bags.
Oliver noticed that Emily was already through the checkout and he wanted his own line to move quicker. He decided that seeing her would be a good opportunity to tell her about Sarah again in person. He thought she might appreciate the news coming directly from him. He saw Emily walk towards his checkout line on her way out of the store and he was thankful that she looked up and over at him. When she looked right at him, Oliver raised his arm and help up one finger, telling her to hold on a minute.
Emily got shivers when she saw Oliver look at her and give her the "one minute" gesture. Oh, my god, oh, my god, he wants to talk to me, she squealed in her mind. Emily nodded then took a few steps closer to the exit and sat down on the small bench that stood there. Oliver saw her sit down and was glad that she was going to wait for him. Okay, why am I nervous? he asked himself as he looked back over at Emily.
A few minutes later, Oliver finished his turn at the checkout and made his way over to Emily. She stood up and tucked her hair benind her ear.
"Hey," Oliver said when he reached her.
"Hi," she answered back and took a shallow breath when she saw him smile. She hadn't been this nervous and excited about a guy in years and it scared her a little since she hardly knew anything about him.
"Did you get my message?" Oliver asked.
"Uh, no I didn't. What wrong?" Emily asked nervously.
Oliver noticed the change in Emily's demeanour and gave her a reassuring smile. "No, no, it's good news. They found Sarah," he said enthusiastically.
Emily closed her eyes and let out a heavy breath. "Oh, thank god," she said, feeling a huge sense of releif.
Oliver went on to tell her the details that Sam gave him and told her that she should be back home in a day or two.
"That's great news," Emily said, switching one of her bags from one hand to the other. Oliver noticed this and took it as a sign that she probably wanted to get going.
"Well, I should let you get on your way," he said, regretfully. Emily thought he was trying to get on his way and felt a little hurt.
"Okay. Thanks for letting me know," Emily said with her eyebrows pulled together timidly. She knew that since Sarah had been found, there would be no need to see Oliver again. Emily was relieved and thrilled that Sarah had been found and was going to be home safely soon, but she couldn't help but feel disappointed at the idea of not seeing Oliver again. She gave him another small smile and turned to walk out of the market first, feeling her stomach sink.
Oliver followed a few steps behind and watched as she went in the opposite direction when he turned towards his truck. He put his bags in back and looked in Emily's direction, seeing her walk away off of the parking lot and onto the sidewalk. He got into his truck and pulled out of his spot, driving towards her.
Emily started on her way home, fiddling with her bags as they were starting to grow heavy on her. She could hear a vehicle pulling up close behind her and she picked up her pace as it inched closer to her on the side of the road. She cautiously looked over her shoulder and saw a truck driving slowly next to her. Emily felt goosebumps when she saw Oliver in the drivers seat, smiling at her. He rolled down the window closest to her and leaned over into the passengers side seat.
"Need a ride?" he asked eagerly.