Long overdue chapter and kind of slow, but here it is. I'm already working on the next and hopefully the story isn't progressing too slowly. I'm toying with the idea of speeding things up and cutting a bunch out, but I'm not quite sure. What do you think?

Oliver came walking back towards Sam from the entrance to the stations parking lot, slightly out of breath. Sam noticed the look of disappointment and confusion when he returned to their car.

"You find her?" Sam asked.

Oliver shook his head, and wiped at his forehead. "No. I don't know where she went," he answered, wondering how she could have disappeared so quickly. After he had wiped the mustard off of his face and turned around to see her again, Emily was gone. He hesitated for a second then ran after her, not quite sure why exactly, but couldn't find her anywhere on the street.

"Come on, let's get inside," Sam suggested, starting his way towards the entrance. Oliver grabbed his duty bag from the trunk and followed after Sam. He was still thinking about where Emily could have gone so quickly and, more importantly, why she had taken off in such a hurry.

They got inside and headed towards the change rooms.

"Hey. Oliver," Oliver heard from behind him. He recognized Noelle's voice and smiled when he turned around and saw her approaching them. She looked like she wanted something.

"Noelle," he greeted her slowly as he adjusted his bag higher on his shoulder.

She caught up to Oliver and Sam and crossed her arms. "Emily Weaver," she started, then noticed Oliver blink quickly. "Is that the Emily you guys were talking about at the Penny?"

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, why?" Oliver answered with a slight stutter. He had no idea how Noelle knew her name or why she was asking about her.

"She came in a little earlier and dropped off a letter for you. Cote has it at the front desk," she answered.

"Oh, okay," he said, then watched as Noelle started to smile at him then at Sam. Oliver looked at her curiously and furrowed his brow. "What?" he finally asked, feeling like he was left out of some inside joke.

Noelle looked at Sam, who was smiling too, then back over at Oliver. "She seems really sweet, Oliver. You should ask her out," she answered with a bright smile, then slowly turned and walked away.

Oliver stood still for a few seconds, watching Noelle walk away, wondering why she seemed to be on his case now too about asking Emily out. He heard Sam trying not to laugh from behind him and turned around. "Alright, I'll ask her out," he conceded in a huff as he walked by Sam, bumping into him on his way to the change rooms.

Emily walked around the schools playground on supervision that Wednesday, making sure that the kids were playing safely and making herself available if anyone of them needed her help. She watched the kids running around, burning off their sugary snacks from their lunches and appreciated that it was a nice day out. Although walking around with a schoolyard full of screaming, giddy children, Emily found herself getting distracted every so often and would feel a punch to her stomach when she thought about Oliver's reaction to Sam's comment about her being a stalker. She really didn't understand how he could think that she was following him around. Sure, she had run into him a few times, but she had never gone out of her way to see him, it had all been coincidental. Perhaps what made her feel worse was that she had gotten the impression that he had liked her. When he had driven her home and even saw him at the coffee shop, Emily noticed the way that he would smile at her and how he looked happy to see her. She couldn't believe she had read him so wrong and she felt stupid for allowing herself to think that something may have happened between them.

The recess bell rang, snapping Emily out of her thoughts and she ushered the children back inside the school.

Chris knocked on Sarah King's door and stepped back to stand next to Oliver. Neither of them had read the letter that Emily wrote to Sarah, but Oliver had a pretty good feeling that it wouldn't be anything negative, so he decided to go ahead and deliver the note to her. Just to be on the safe side, so they wouldn't get upset, he figured that it would be a good idea to let Sarah's parents read the letter first and let them decide if Sarah should read it. Footsteps could be heard approaching the door and a blurry figure appeared behind the decorative glass of the front door. When it swung up, Oliver saw a man, a few years older than himself, looking puzzled at finding them standing at his doorstep. Oliver realized how much he had gone through in the last week and seeing the police at his doorstep was bound to make him worry as well as bring up painful memories. His brown eyes squinted and he opened the door wider.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Hello, Mr. king?" Oliver asked. Sarah's father nodded. "I'm Officer Shaw, this is Officer Diaz," he stopped, noticing the concerned look on Sarah's fathers' face. He felt the need to reassure him. "Sir, there's nothing to worry about," he said with a small smirk. Oliver went on to explain to him why they were there and asked if they could come in and speak to Sarah.

Sarah's father nodded again and stepped back from the door, allowing Oliver and Chris to enter. Chris smiled his appreciation and entered the house. After closing the door, they were led into the kitchen, where Sarah and her mother were at the dinner table, picking away at their food.

Sarah's father, Peter, introduced Oliver and Chris to Sarah and his wife, Julie. With the pleasantries over with, Oliver began explaining why they were there.

"Sarah, that night when you met up with those boys, someone in the apartment building you were standing outside of happened to see you. Luckily she noticed that you seemed worried so she called the police and we were eventually able to get an I.D. on one of the guys," Oliver said, noting the look of embarrassment and regret on Sarah's face. He continued. "Her name is Emily, and she wrote you a letter. Now," he paused, taking the note from his vest pocket. He cautiously went on. "I haven't read the note yet so I figured we'd let your mom or dad read it first, so they can decide if you should read it."

Julie stood up slowly just then and looked over at her husband, feeling a little worried about what might be in the letter. Sarah had gone through enough recently and she didn't want her daughter to become any more upset than she already was. Julie looked over to Oliver and smiled, extending her hand out to him for the letter. He handed it over, while still watching Sarah. She kept her head pointed down and her shoulders slumped and looked like she was expecting to get into trouble, making Oliver realize that she was obviously still upset about what happened.

Julie sat down and opened the envelope, taking a deep, nervous breath before reading the letter. Oliver watched as both Sarah and Peter watched Julie's reaction to what Emily had written. Her lips twitched into small smiles every so often and she brought her hand up to her mouth when she got towards the end. She lowered the piece of paper in her hand and looked at Sarah, giving her a small nod and holding out the letter to her. Sarah took it from her mother and adjusted her position on her chair, feeling a little nervous about what she might read. As she began reading, her father distracted her, asking Julie a question.

"What did it say?" Peter whispered.

Oliver was surprised when he heard Sarah start to read the letter out loud to her father, instead of waiting for her mom to answer.

"Dear Sarah,

I know that reading a letter from a complete stranger isn't something that you really want to be doing right now, but please, hear me out.

My name is Emily Weaver, which I know, means nothing to you, but I just wanted the opportunity to let you know how happy I am that you made it home safely to your parents after being gone for a few days. I can't imagine what you and your family went through, but I'm relieved to know that you are finally back together.

You're probably wondering how I know anything about what happened to you. Well, I happened to see you the night that you met up with those guys from the Internet. I was randomly passing by my window and heard you all outside and, at the time, I thought that I was over reacting in calling the police, but I'm so glad at I did. There was something about the way you carried yourself that told me you were scared and didn't want to be with them.

Sarah, I wanted to give you a piece of advice that I truly learned that night and will always remember. Trust your gut. If something doesn't feel right, trust that you're hesitating for a reason, and do something about it. I wasn't sure if I should call the police when I saw you with those men, but I felt deep down that something wasn't quite right and it turns out that it wasn't.

Now, please don't take this as me telling you not to have any fun because that is the last thing I want for you. Growing up is about trying new things and learning about yourself. You're going to make a lot of mistakes in your life, trust me, and that is completely normal and expected. That's how you find out who you are. Just be sure that you learn from those mistakes so you won't end up repeating them. That's the important thing.

I hope you are doing well and that you are surrounding yourself with family and friends. Hold them close because they will get you through anything!

Take care Sarah, and trust yourself!

Emily"

Sarah lowered the letter and gave a small smirk to her mom, then looked back at the letter. Although her parents and family had told her that everything was going to be okay, and that she should be careful about trusting people from now on, Sarah had felt like she really disappointed her family. However, although it was from a complete stranger, Sarah appreciated hearing that it was okay and normal to make mistakes.

Oliver noticed how quiet Sarah was and how she seemed to let out a long deep breath after reading the letter. Both of her parents were smiling and Julie reached over and grabbed Peter's hand.

Oliver was touched by Emily's letter and the fact that she had bothered to write it at all. While Sarah read it out loud, he was thinking of his own girls, especially Izzy who was around Sarah's age. He felt a tightness in his chest when he remembered how terrified and angry he had been when she had gotten herself into some trouble a few months earlier with an older boyfriend. He looked at Sarah who wore the same expression that Izzy had worn after the whole ordeal. It was a mixture of sadness and guilt for letting her parents down. Oliver tried to shake off the memory. He was starting to feel himself growing warm with anger as he pictured Izzy's old boyfriend.

Sarah looked over to Oliver and Chris and smiled. "Thank you," she said, lifting up the letter. "Can you tell her thank you for me?" she asked, almost nervously.

Oliver nodded. "Of course," he answered, placing a hand on her shoulder and looked at Peter and Julie. He removed his hand and started to turn towards the hallway leading to the front door. "We'll let you all get back to your dinner. Have a nice evening," he added, then looked at Chris. "Come on," he said quietly, then stepped into the hallway.

Peter stood up quickly and got in line behind them. "I'll see you out," he offered, and followed them toward the front door. When they got to the door, Oliver turned around to find Peter extending his hand to him. Oliver took it and felt Peter's firm handshake. "Thank you," he said sincerely, appreciating that their visit made Sarah feel better. Understanding what Peter was feeling, Oliver didn't answer, but instead nodded with a big smile and brought his left hand up to grasp onto the other side of Peter's hand, gripping tightly.

As Oliver slid behind the wheel of the cruiser, he thought about calling Emily to pass on Sarah's thank you and felt glad that he would have an excuse to talk to her again. He decided to wait until he got back to the station to give her a call and felt both nervous and happy at the same time.

When Emily returned home from work, she unloaded her purse and book bag at the door and made her way into the kitchen to grab a glass of water. She walked over to her phone on the living room table and picked it up, checking for messages. The beeping sound after turning it on told her that she had at least one new message. She entered her password and waited to hear the message. Her chest exploded with chills when she recognized the voice on the first message.

"Hi Emily, it's Oliver ... Officer Shaw calling," he corrected quickly. Emily noticed how he was speaking quite fast and sounded a little nervous. She closed her eyes tightly, feeling a punch to her stomach. She had been trying to forget about him and what she had overheard him and Sam say. "I just delivered your letter to Sarah this afternoon and she wanted me to say thank you for it," he paused for a few seconds and his voice turned more sincere. "I uh ... I really think she appreciated it." Emily smiled, noting the softness in his voice. "Um, anyways, I just wanted to pass along her message and," he seemed to be stuttering. "I wanted to let you know that if there was anything else that you needed or wanted to say or ... if you just felt like calling, my number is, it's ... it's on the card that I gave you. My cell number is on there as well." Emily smiled. "Um, bye. Oh, it was nice seeing you yesterday, briefly. I didn't get a chance to say hello cause you walked away so quickly, but it was nice to see you. Okay, bye," he ended with an embarrassed laugh and hung up. She could tell he had been smiling before hanging up.

Emily stood in her kitchen, leaning up against the counter with her arms crossed against her chest. She had listened to Oliver's message one more time and was more confused than before. Why would he tell me to give him a call? What did he mean by 'if you just felt like calling?' Does he want me to call him? No, he didn't actually give me his number, he just said it was on his card. But why would he say that if he thinks I'm stalking him? And why would he mention anything about seeing me yesterday? And why did he say that it was nice to see me again? Her thoughts became louder and more frantic, causing her to exhale loudly and push herself away from the counter, bringing her hands up to her head. She felt like a teenager again, over thinking everything and reading too much into a simple phone message.

Emily hated that she was confused and conflicted about still liking Oliver. She had promised herself that she would stay away from him, but now she wasn't so sure.