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Chapter 3

Elliot had sat at his desk for more than 30 minutes after Rachael had left. He'd sat there in silence, lost in a million thoughts. All of them about Olivia, the person she'd become. It was Cragen who had finally persuaded him to go home. Elliot had simply agreed, to lost and confused in his head to argue with him.

As he now drove home he was still lost in his thoughts. It was night time and very dark out. The whole city seemed dead, just like how he felt inside. As he drove along the quiet streets the radio played away to itself. He'd forgotten that it was on.

He turned up a street, a usual one that he took on his route home. He was more than pissed when he was stopped thanks to a van that was parked up in the middle of the street, its back doors wide open.

From the way the doors had been left he wondered if someone was about to move something with it, furniture maybe. He looked either side of him. The streets were dead and he could see nothing that would make him suspect someone was about to bring something out to the van. He couldn't help but be a little intrigued.

That was until he saw two men, dragging someone round to the back of the van, clearly having difficulty as the person struggled and tried to kick and hit them. It took him only seconds to realize who the person was. When he did, he jumped straight out of his car like a flash, pulling out his gun as he approached the two men who were oblivious to his presence.

"Freeze!" he yelled at them.

The men did freeze, for all of a second before they dropped Rachael and scattered like rats. Elliot wanted to go after them but instead ran over to Rachael, who was lying on the floor, holding her elbow and cursing in pain.

He quickly made sure she was reasonably okay. He'd just stood up to go pull the men out of the van when it pulled off. The screeching tyres deafening them as it sped off down the street and out of sight, Elliot tried to chase after it but it was gone too quick. He got a few numbers off the plate but not the whole thing.

"Damn-it." he muttered before he turned and walked back over to Rachael.

He knelt down next to her and took hold of her arm, in an effort to help her to her feet, but she yelped in pain and pulled her arm away. "Shit," she muttered, "Did they really have to drop me!? You told them to freeze. Ass-holes!" she whined.

"Can you stand up?" Elliot asked, a little shocked by her aggression. The Liv he knew would have gotten up and acted like nothing was wrong and probably tried to have chased after the van. He guessed Rachael wasn't so tough, or at least didn't care about appearances so much.

"Oh, that's gonna scar." she complained.

"I think you'll live." he said.

"Maybe, but no one wants to be looking at ugly scars whilst they're getting the kicks. Know what I'm sayin?"

Elliot just looked at her, wondering if Olivia actually was in there somewhere.

"You've got worse scars than that will be." he mumbled.

"Ha?" she asked, confused.

"Never mind. Come on." he said, taking hold of her as he began guiding her to his car.

"Where are we goin?" she asked.

"I'm gonna take you back to my place so we can get this sorted out." he said as he led her to the passengers side of the car.

- - - - - -

"That stings." Rachael whined.

"Hold still." Elliot told her, holding a cloth firmly in place on the nasty gash on her elbow. He was using TCP to clean it up, he knew it stung like a bitch but he also knew it was the best thing to use on an open wound like hers. Rachael winced and groaned in discomfort.

She sighed with relief when he finally took the cloth away and began putting a dressing on the wound. She watched as he carefully wrapped up her elbow. She then noticed his eyes, the care and concentration in them but also the hurt that was there. She was totally mesmerized by how blue and entrancing they were. As she looked up she quickly looked away like she had never been looking at them.

"Good as new." he said to her.

She smiled at him, "Not that I'm complaining giving the circumstances, but were you following me?" she asked.

"I was on my way home." he told her.

"Sure." she said, not totally believing him.

"You gonna tell me who those guys were?" he asked her.

"I have no idea. I've never seen them before in my life." she said as she continued holding her elbow up, studying the bruising that was there, thinking about the scar she'd have eventually.

Elliot grabbed her other arm and pushed her sleeve up, revealing an obvious scar that was a couple of inches long. "See, that's worse." he told her.

She snatched her arm back. "Look, if you've finished then I'm going. I'm not playing this game with you, again." she said firmly.

"Then just tell me how you got it?"

She paused, ready to humor him, "I fell off a bike when I was a kid. Happy?"

Elliot just looked at her.

"What, you never fell off a bike?!"

Elliot just shrugged his shoulder before grabbing the TCP soaked cloth and getting up. Rachael watched as he walked past her and into the kitchen. "Look, I appreciate this," she said holding her elbow up, "But I really should be going." she informed him as she stormed over to the door.

"Wait!" Elliot said, stopping her as she got to the front door and before she could open it, "Stay."

Rachael looked at him, a little confused.

"Just stay for the night." he said

"Sweetie, I charge for things like that, and you probably couldn't afford me anyway." Rachael said as she rubbed his shoulder sympathetically.

Elliot just looked down at her hand, feeling like this was all a dream, maybe a joke of some kind. "Excuse me, Julia Roberts, but you got it wrong. You can stay on the couch. I'll be in my bed." he said, "You've obviously pissed someone off, but they're not gonna come looking for you here, are they?"

She looked at him, a little embarrassed. "How's about you let a lady take the bed and you stay on the couch?" she said, putting on her sweetest smile.

Elliot had to smile. He'd seen Olivia smile like that once or twice. "Your choice." he said to her, anything to get her to stay where he knew she was safe.

She nodded, "Okay." she agreed.

"I'll set up the couch." Elliot said as he walked towards the closet, where he kept the spare blankets and things.

"Wait! Do you have something that I could sleep in?" she asked.

Elliot looked at her and thought about it. The thought of Olivia wearing his clothes made shivers go up his spine and thoughts race through his head. He cleared his throat before saying, "I'll take a look."

Rachael watched as he walked away. She was used to staying over at strange men's homes, but for some unknown reason to her, she didn't feel like a stranger to this guy's home. It had an odd feeling of familiarity to it.

She quickly shrugged the feeling off and followed after Elliot.

TBC

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