Dancing Within the Flames

By: Liv-x-Lex4Ever and E. Scribbles

Chapter 4: Truth to Madness

Olivia was wandering around Casey's apartment, picking things up and smiling at how...'Casey-ish' they were, before putting them back, silently urging Elliott to call her back so she knew whether she could crawl back into Casey's arms and hear her murmur her name, or whether she could wake her up for a slow goodbye kiss. She was standing in the kitchen attempting to make a cup of tea quietly when she heard the scratching noise. She peered into the bedroom, but seeing Casey still fast asleep, she frowned and listened.

The scratching noise started again. Reaching for her gun, she silently cursed herself as she tripped over her shoes before walking quietly towards the front door. The scratching getting louder, as she reached the door, she saw the lock begin to turn. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed it and ripped it open.

She cursed Casey's apartment for not having a front door light as a shadowy figure ran down the hallway away from her.

"Stop! Police!" She was torn between giving chase and staying in case whoever it was doubled back, or-

"What's going on?" Casey walked into the room, hair sticking up at odd angles and a yawn escaping her mouth."

Olivia put a finger to her lips. "Someone was just here."

"Who?" Casey stepped forward but Olivia held her back. "Where did they go?" She squinted into the darkness, one hand clasping the back on Olivia's tank top.

She shook her head. "They ran down the hall."

"Did they leave anything outside the door?" she asked.

"I don't know, but I'll find out. Stay back behind me."

She nodded.

Olivia opened the door, seeing a package wrapped in brown paper. She picked it up, finding it surprisingly light and brought it in. She shook it. "It's light, whatever it is."

"Should we open it? Maybe we should take it to Melinda to check or something. By the way, you know my neighbor is a 90-year-old man with a heart condition. I don't think you should open my door in your undies."

"Well, you've never had any complaints!" she said her hands on her hips before focusing on the matter at hand. Olivia chuckled. "Do you have a needle?" Casey nodded, bringing her one. She poked it and no fumes emitted from it. There was no ticking like a bomb. "Open it."

Casey sat down and began opening the package, the breath drawn from her body when she saw what was in the package. She looked up at Olivia, then down again, before standing. "I'm going back to bed."

"What's wrong? Do you know what it is?" she asked.

"Look for yourself." Casey walked from the room, slamming her bedroom door. Olivia hesitated before peering into the box, then reached inside. There were photos of Casey doing just about everything. Some, when she'd been with Olivia, had Olivia's face scribbled out.

"Why would she be so mad at me?" Olivia asked.

She called Elliot and telling him about the package. He said he'd be over with evidence bags and not to touch anything else. Five minutes later, he was at the apartment. She explained to him that she and Casey's prints would be on the first few, then he resealed the box and took it back to the station.

Tying the robe tighter, she walked to the bedroom door and knocked. "Casey!"

There was no reply, but when she called out again, there was a small noise from inside Olivia turned the knob and looked inside. Casey was curled up tightly under her blankets, a small patch of fiery hair the only part of her showing.

She walked over and sat on her bed. "What's going on, Casey?"

Casey's hand slid out from under the covers and tugged Olivia's, pulling her close until she was lying down with her, face to face in the darkness. "I'm sorry. I should never have got you into this."

Olivia sighed. "No, Casey, no," she said, pulling her closer. "I'll love you no matter what," she said, kissing her lightly. "I'm in this just as much as you are."

"You don't understand. I think...I think this has happened before. And you have enough trouble at work without having to deal with it at home as well." Casey's actions defied her words as she moved closer to Olivia, moving an arm around her and resting her head on her shoulder.

"I'll deal with both," she said, kissing her, "because I love you. You...think it's happened before? When?"

Casey sighed and was silent for a while, her fingers playing with Olivia's, then she offered. "A few years ago. Just after college. Same sort of pictures. I just thought it was someone trying to scare me, and then when I broke up with my boyfriend, the pictures stopped, and I decided it must have been him. He was the macho type. I thought it was his way of trying to get me to love him or something."

She sighed. "What about John? He seemed very defensive before... Is that at all possible?"

Casey was very quiet. Olivia could almost feel her thinking. "He's a family friend. I've known him since we were little. Everyone even thought we were going to get married for years. He wouldn't."

She raised a brow. "Would you object to me checking on that? Just in case?"

"Not in a non-obvious 'I've just spent the night with your ex now tell me everything you bastard' kind of way."

Olivia shook her head. "No, just on this stuff, not that. If he just happened by and helped you, I have no problem. It was just that he was automatically assuming you wanted to be with him without asking."

"Maybe that's just because you're jealous." Casey offered, her smile obvious in the dark as she dropped a kiss to Olivia's collarbone.

She sighed. "Fine. Yes, I was, but...but we'd just had a date a-and you called asking for help. I got there and he was there—"

Casey was in the middle of a sing-song about the fact Olivia had been jealous, making Olivia laugh and trying to stop her by covering her mouth with kisses when a phone rang. There was a scramble to see who's phone it was before bed-headed Olivia stuck her head out from under the covers. "It's mine."

Casey continued her song and dance around the room, trying to distract herself, while Olivia tried to concentrate on what Elliott was saying.

"Okay," Olivia said, closing her phone. She looked at Casey, her face uneasy. "Casey, does John have any brothers or nephews he's really close to?"

Casey's face fell, her hands falling to her side. "He has a brother. A really nice brother. A brother who was like a brother to me. He taught me how to drive. He taught me softball. You're all barking up the wrong tree. If you've told Elliott to check out John and his family then you've got it wrong. They're a nice family. All of them. I think you should leave now."

"Casey, wait, please just hear me out?"

"Why, do you want to accuse my brother as well? Maybe my dad?"

"No, not at all. I'm not saying they're bad people, at all. After you came in here, I called Elliot to come grab the box of photos and check for prints. I only asked about his family beca-beacuse the DNA on them is from a relative Casey. I could be wrong. They could be great people who've gotten drug into a huge mess, it's possible..."

Casey sat on the bed again, trying to think of another explanation, but she came up blank. "Maybe I'll call him. Ask him? He'll tell me. Then we can sort it out."

"We who? Casey, I get that you really, really want this to be a misunderstanding. I would too. I just-I want you to be safe," Olivia said with a sigh. "Will you call him while I'm here with you? Just me. no one else?"

Casey hesitated. "He doesn't seem to like you much..." At the look on Olivia's face however, she conceded. "Maybe in the morning. From my office. "

"I thought you were calling his brother."

"He lives with him. A few blocks up from here. He'll have told him about you."

Olivia nodded. "Oh, okay. Can I ask you something? About him?"

Casey looked at her for a few seconds before slowly edging backwards so they were once more sitting together. Taking Olivia's hand, she stifled a yawn. "Ok."

"I know before you said it was awkward having us in the same room because he had confessed his love for you many times and then I was there, who you actually love, but...why did you look so frightened of him...or why is he an ex might be a better question. Even if it's hard to say, I'd still like to know. Take your time, switch positions in my arms...whatever it takes, okay?"

Casey smiled, her arm rubbing Olivia's. "I've never had someone...get me as much as you do." When Olivia nodded, Casey was silent for a moment, then began to tell her about John. The more she knew, the more she disliked him. "Everyone just thought we should be together, so when he hung out at our house more and more, no one minded, but he just made me feel uneasy. He just..gives me a look that makes me feel scared.

"I can face murderers and rapists and not feel like that, but he has this look that just makes my skin crawl. Then one summer I was sick and stuck in doors all the time, and he was the only one who came to see me. He'd never done anything to hurt me, I thought I owed him a chance. We sort of went out, but it was...different. He was just controlling and didn't like my friends, but I couldn't talk to anyone about it, because they all liked him. Then I got an acceptance letter from college and he ripped it up before I saw it. I only found out about it because they called me. So I went. I never really spoke to him again. I just thought he was immature."

"Why does it sound like you have more of a reason to be afraid of him? And, since you feel that way, why the hell did you even let him in? He could've taken care of it and left. You knew I was on my way, but there is one thing about that I guess I still don't understand: why did the line suddenly go dead?"

Casey thought for a moment. "I don't know. I thought there was a power outage, or the phone lines were down, or you'd just hung up to get here."

She nodded, resting her head on her shoulder. "So do you still want me to leave?"

Casey shook her head, giving another yawn. "If you leave, who will make me coffee in the morning?"

Olivia smiled, scooping her into her lap and toppling backwards onto the bed with laughter. "Well, that would be an utter travesty, wouldn't it? I'd better stay!" she answered, kissing her neck and making her giggle. "My God, Case, your beauty never ceases to amaze me," she said, brushing her hair over her shoulder. "And that cute blush/smile combo, knockout," she said, holding her tightly and snuggling into her.

Casey did that exactly blush/smile and hid her face in Olivia's neck as she giggled once more. "Stop talking, I need to go to sleep."

Olivia just smiled, maneuvering herself to a sitting position with Casey in her arms before lying back in bed. "So you don't want to hear how beautiful I think you are? Again and again and again?" she asked in between planting kisses on her exposed shoulder.

Casey squirmed, her smile almost cracking her face. "Well, maybe just one more time…"

Author's Note: So what do you think?

Thanks to my Beta:Tiger(dot)Lily(dot)Weasley(dot)757

Review thanks to: Delectable Sweetness

Please read & review!

Liv-x-Lex4Ever and E. Scribbles