The sound of ringing jolted Olivia from her sleep, and instantly expecting it was the Captain or Elliot, calling about a case that had to be attended to immediately, she answered it. And when she heard the voice greet her on the other end, she sat up instantly wide awake as the knots made their way to her stomach.
How did he get her number?
"Hello, Olivia… were you sleeping?" he asked with obvious interest.
"Where are you?" she replied.
"Outside your apartment, are you going to let me in?" he sounded husky. Olivia tried to control her breathing, she could feel the panic rising and she didn't want him to know that he was getting to her.
"Is this what you did to the girls you raped and murdered?" she demanded feeling angry now as she thought about the photos she had seen, it was the work of someone without a conscious. "I'm not afraid of you, Richard, you CAN'T control me. If that's what your intention is then you might as well give up. You won't break me."
"I'm waiting down stairs," he whispered. Then she heard the familiar dial tone – he'd hung up.
Suddenly alert, Olivia jumped out of bed and grabbed her gun, then with caution she slowly headed down stairs, her heart beating with each step she took. It wasn't easy being independent all the time, sometimes, she wished she had someone in the house… a roommate… a boyfriend… a husband. It wasn't easy to be alone. But she had work and she was grateful that she had Elliot, even if sometimes she had to argue about being her own person and looking out for herself, just knowing he was there was enough.
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she aimed the gun in front of her, and pushed open the door, as if she was afraid that White would jump out of the bushes her gun was everywhere at once, pointing in all directions waiting for the moment when he'd come close enough for her to pull the trigger.
No one was there.
With relief, Olivia headed back upstairs, and for only a moment she contemplated calling Elliot, then she thought better of it. he would only worry further, there wasn't much he could do, if anything and she didn't want to wake Kathy and the kids, with a newborn they all needed as much sleep as possible.
She lay alone on her bed, wide awake, afraid to go back to sleep and when morning came she rose, showered and dressed for work. She was drinking her morning OJ when their was a knock on the door, and from lack of sleep she was more edgy than she would have been otherwise, instantly her heart jumped into her throat.
"Who is it?" she asked, her voice shaky.
"It's Elliot," the familiar voice answered through the closed door. She sighed softly and unlocked the door for him.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded in a light tone looking him up and down dressed in a dark suit and grey shirt and tie. She wasn't angry with him, she was far too tired for that.
"I was in the neighborhood, thought I'd give you a lift to work," he smiled. The same line he always used.
"Like you gave me a lift home because you were in the neighborhood," she smiled. Already she felt better just by knowing he was there to protect her if she needed him, the fear from the night before vanished.
"Something like that," he replied. He eyed the glass of juice in her hand.
"I'm not sharing my OJ with you," she said bluntly holding the glass to her chest.
"Fine," he shrugged making his way to her fridge. "I'll get my own." He never had been shy in helping himself and Olivia wasn't at all bothered, as far as she was concerned, being his partner meant her house was his. He helped himself to the Orange Juice and a glass and a moment later he put the empty glass on the breakfast board. "How'd you sleep?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I said good, so I might as well tell you Richard called…" she waited for the anger to come like a title wave, telling her she was stupid and should have asked for protection when she had the chance, the phones to be tapped.
"When?" he choked out a moment later looking deeply worried. He looked at her as if to find some evidence of assault.
"Midnight, maybe one," she replied. She hadn't remembered the time, but it certainly felt that late.
"What did he say?"
"Nothing useful," she said. "He was just trying to get a rise out of me. Said he was waiting downstairs but when I went down, he wasn't there."
"You went down alone?!" he cried. "Why didn't you call me?" he looked furious.
"And wake up Kathy and the kids," she said calm titling her head to smile at him. "Elliot don't be ridiculous."
"Ridiculous?! Olivia, handling this alone and being stubbornly independent, is ridiculous. You don't have to do this by yourself."
"I'm fine," she assured him.
He shook his head. "I don't believe you."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," she said with a warm smile and a little sarcasm, it felt good that someone was looking out for her. "I'm fine, really. Come on, we have another case waiting for us."
"You're a pain in the-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she laughed as she led him out of the apartment and closed the door behind them. And so the day begins!