Brian was already halfway down the stairs of the apartment when Olivia grabbed her purse and ran after him. She stopped at the immediate reminder that she's an NYPD detective. She quickly ran to her room, clutched her gun and proceeded downstairs in a panic. The thought of being alone even in her own home made her cringe. She rushed to the passengers seat and slammed the door shut. Staring forward with a blank expression, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Brian looked at her.
"You okay?"
"What?" she snapped out of her trance. "Oh, yeah."
"Look, Liv-"
"Everything's going to be okay," she looked at him. "I know."
Brian sighed and started the car.
"I'll call the babysitter and tell her we're on our way. I don't want to be sitting in the car waiting for 20 minutes while she gets the baby's stuff together again," Olivia sighed.
She realized she didn't have her phone on her.
"God damn it, turn around Bri," Olivia said, her head in her hands.
"You leave your phone upstairs?"
"Yeah, I must have left it on the couch after that phone call," she said. "You don't have her number do you?"
"Sorry babe," he shrugged.
"Ugh," Olivia rolled her eyes.
They pulled up to the curb of their building. Olivia hesitated to get out of the car. She looked up and down the sidewalk, hoping Brian wouldn't notice how frightened she was.
Jesus Christ Olivia, you fight crime every day. You can do this. Just GO.
She looked over to Brian and he looked back at her with a confused expression.
"Oh, my phone. Right, sorry."
As she opened her apartment she started having vivid flashbacks.
Welcome home Detective Benson.
She quickly turned around and checked every angle of where she was standing. Hesitant at first, she slowly stepped into her house. Even the sound of her own footsteps frightened her.
I just want to take my time with you.
The words echoed in her mind as she relived the brutal beatings, harsh words and threats.
Fucking bitch.
Olivia grabbed her phone, slipped it in her back pocket and carefully continued downstairs, always aware of her surroundings.
"Olivia," someone called down the hall.
Startled, she pointed her gun at the body down the hallway and the man put his hands up.
"Don't shoot I'm not armed! I'm innocent," called the voice.
The hallway was so long that she still couldn't make out this mans face. As he approached her she realized it's her neighbor. She slowly released grip of her gun and set it back in the holster.
"I'm sorry, I-"
"It's okay," replied her neighbor. "I understand. I just wanted to let you know you dropped your scarf." He picked it up and walked it slowly over to her.
She took it from his hands and stared into his eyes.
"Thank you," she said. "My apologies again."
The man tipped his hat and walked past her, leaving the building.
Her phone started ringing.
No.
She reached for her phone and looked at the caller ID.
"Oh, Brian. I'm coming," she said to herself.
"Coming downstairs now, Bri! You're so impatient, that's not the way I raised you," she said jokingly with a smile on her face. The first smile she's caught in a while.
"Honey do NOT leave that building," Brian replied nervously.
"Why not?" Olivia asked.
There was a long pause.
"Brian what's going on why can't I leave?" she asked again.
"He's here," he whispered. "get in the house. Lock the doors."
"Brian, I-" his phone went dead.
"Brian?" she called. "Brian?!"
* Beep beep beep *
"Shit" she whispered to herself. She ran back to the apartment as fast as possible and locked herself in. She locked every window in the house even though they live on the third floor.
Better safe than sorry.
Once the front door and the windows were locked, she decided to also lock herself in her room again. Her heart was pounding through her chest as she decided to try to call Brian back. Maybe she was just in a bad service area.
Hey this is Brian. Sorry I missed your call but if you leave your name and number I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Have a nice day.
"Now what?" Olivia panicked. "My attacker is standing outside my house and my boyfriend's phone is dead. What else could go wrong?!"
She heard a knock.
No. Oh God, please no.
"Oliviaaaaaa," she heard a voice sing. "I know you're in there. Where else would you be? I know the last thing you want to do at this point is leave your house, am I correct?"
She turned her phone on silent, grabbed her gun out of the holster and dove under her bed.
"I just want to talk, baby," he said.
She cringed.
Why won't you just leave me the fuck alone.