A/N: Hey guys, sorry this took so long! Also, there is some brief strong language used in this chapter (I feel like it's warranted), I don't really want to change the rating to M quite yet but please let me know if you think I should! Things are gonna start to ramp up from here, hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own no recognizable characters/plot lines, obviously.
April 15, 2011 (2 weeks later)...
Alex was now 7 months pregnant with her twins and was moving slower and slower everyday. The type A person in her was exceedingly frustrated with her inability to do much of anything productive. Elliot was being amazing. He was taking care of her and Eli while simultaneously trying to find them a new place to live. On top of everything else, even though he had been "officially" assigned to her protective detail, he was still sometimes working from home in a consulting capacity.
Today, Alex was going to see her OB/GYN Dr. Sloan. An appointment they were running late for because Elliot was once again on the phone with Rollins. When he finally hung up he found Alex lying on the sofa rubbing circles on her belly with her eyes closed.
"Hey Lexy, are you okay?" Elliot asked, as he joined in her belly rubbing.
Alex opened her eyes. "Your son is moving," she replied, "and he's gonna wake up his sister and then they'll both be moving and then I'm going to puke."
Elliot smirked. "Well I guess it's a good thing we're going to see Dr. Sloan then, isn't it? Come on, we're gonna be late." He helped her off the sofa but once he got her on her feet, the color drained from her face.
"Lexy?"
"Oh god..." Alex muttered closing her eyes again. Then she let go of Elliot and sat back down on the sofa before reaching for the trashcan they kept under the coffee table.
Elliot lovingly rubbed her back and held her hair back while she vomited. He smiled to himself, thinking about how beautiful she was even while she was getting sick.
30 minutes later, Alex and Elliot were sitting in an exam room of the maternity ward at Mercy General Hospital. Dr. Sloan was running even later than they were and had yet to appear. Alex was resting her head on Elliot's shoulder and had nearly dozed off when Dr. Sloan finally entered the room.
"Hullo, so sorry I'm late!," she exclaimed, sounding a little out of breath.
Alex gave her a smile. "It's all right," she replied, "busy day?"
"Like you wouldn't believe," Dr. Sloan said over her shoulder as he busied herself setting up the ultrasound machine. "I really shouldn't gossip, but between you and me I've recently been assigned a mum with a set of quints! It's very exciting but very stressful too!"
Elliot, who was helping Alex get situated atop the exam table, suddenly turned his attention to the doctor. "Quints? The mom wouldn't be Casey Lake would she?"
Dr. Sloan turned around holding the transducer and smiled. "Yes she is actually! Do you know her?"
"Yeah, she's a friend," Elliot replied, "hey, how's she doing anyway?"
"Well, about as good as can be expected, what with everything she's going through and the fact she hates this place and everything in it." Dr. Sloan flipped a switch on the machine and started squirting gel over Alex's belly.
Elliot nodded sadly. Olivia had filled him in on the basics of what had happened to Casey. It had made him physically ill to hear, and he felt badly that he hadn't yet been to check on her.
A moment later the melodious sound of his baby's heartbeat jarred him from his thoughts. He looked up at the ultrasound screen just in time to see the outline of the baby's head.
"Hey, is that our little boy?" He asked the doctor.
Dr. Sloan squinted. "Actually, I think that's your daughter, the twins must have flip-flopped."
Alex groaned. "So that's why I've been nauseated all morning."
Dr. Sloan nodded. "Yes, that'll do it. You still getting sick dear?"
"Unfortunately I am," Alex replied, " is it ever going to stop?"
Dr. Sloan chuckled. "Maybe if you can get your babies to stay still. But don't worry too much about it. Just keep taking it easy, the calmer you are, the calmer they'll be."
The rest of the exam went smoothly and as they were leaving Elliot had a thought.
"Hey, do you think we could stop by and see if Casey is up for visitors?" he asked Alex, "I would really like to see how she's doing."
"I was thinking the same thing," Alex replied with a smile, "I would love to talk to her, it seems like we may have a little something in common."
After a short inquiry at the front desk, Alex and Elliot made their way to Casey's room. Elliot knocked gently on the door and after a minute Chester opened it. Elliot introduced him to Alex and then asked if they could see Casey. Chester went back into the room to talk to Casey before letting them in.
Casey was sitting up in bed wearing a small, forced smile. Despite her large baby bump, she looked so small and fragile Elliot had to resist the urge to hug her. Instead, he perched on the end of her bed and gave her ankle a squeeze.
"Hey Case, how are you feeling?" he asked gently.
Casey shrugged. "I'm okay I guess," she said, "It's nice to see you."
"Yeah, I'm sorry we haven't come by until now. You remember Alex, don't you?" he gestured toward Alex who stepped forward and waved.
"Yeah, hi," Casey replied,"Olivia told me that you guys are together now, I'm happy for you."
"Thanks Case, that means a lot," Elliot said.
A brief silence ensued and Alex cleared her throat. "We, um, came in for a doctor's appointment today and found out that you and I have the same one. You're seeing Dr. Sloan now right?"
Casey sat up a little more. "Oh, yeah, it's fairly new. I really like her. I hope you don't mind sharing."
Alex smiled. "Definitely not, she's really great. Do you mind if I sit? These kids weigh a ton."
Alex sat in the chair next to Casey's bed and the two soon-to-be mothers continued chatting.
Elliot motioned for Chester to follow him out of the room. Chester glanced nervously at Casey before going with Elliot.
Once out in the hallway, Elliot clapped Chester on the shoulder. "How're you holding up man, really?"
Chester sighed heavily. "I don't know man, it's so hard. Did Liv tell you about-" He stopped, not wanting to tell him if he didn't know.
Elliot,unfortunately, knew exactly what he was talking about. "Yeah she did."
Chester ran a hand over his face started to walk away. Elliot followed him until he stopped halfway down the hall. "Chester, come on man, let it out."
"I wanna kill that fucking sick son-of-a-bitch Elliot. I want to murder him slowly and painfully with my bare hands. I feel like if I ever see him again I will rip his fucking face off!"
"I understand," Elliot said, "I would feel the same way in your place."
Chester continued as if he hadn't heard Elliot. "I want us to focus on our babies, you know, I want it to be about them but...she wakes up crying every single day, and I can't do a damn thing about it. I mean this could not have come up at a worse time, not that there would be a good time, but why now, why now when she is supposed to be happy and excited and...god dammit!"
Chester loudly kicked the side of a nearby trashcan causing multiple people to turn and look in his direction.
"All right, take a breath Chester okay, just breathe a minute," Elliot coaxed, "Have you gotten her to talk to anyone about this, a professional I mean?"
Chester shook his head. "No, she's too mortified to tell anyone else. The people here are so nosy, she's afraid everyone in this hospital will find out, as if they don't spend enough time staring at her!"
"Well she needs to get help sooner or later." Elliot said.
"I know that, I just don't want to force it you know? She's already being forced into so many things she doesn't want to do, I can't be one of the people doing that to her." Chester replied.
Elliot nodded in agreement. "I get it Chester, I really do."
Chester looked back towards Casey's room. "I better go back and see if she needs anything." He started walking towards the room just as Elliot's phone rang. Elliot hung back to answer it, it was Rollins again.
After a short conversation, Elliot hung up and walked back up the hallway to find Chester standing outside Casey's door, staring in through the window.
"She's smiling," Chester said, once Elliot was looking as well, "she hasn't smiled like that all week!"
Casey was indeed smiling almost to the point of laughing, at something Alex was saying; they looked like a couple of old friends.
"Well, I hate to ruin it, "Elliot said, "but Alex and I have to go, they want to talk to us down at the precinct."
Chester looked disappointed. "Really? You have to go right now?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry man, Rollins said its important. We'll come back though, okay? I promise."
Elliot knocked on the door before going in. He told Alex what was going on and she gave Casey a hug and promised to come see her again before following Elliot out.
When Elliot and Alex arrived at the 1-6, Amanda met them at the elevator looking very excited.
"I think we found your stalker," she said bluntly.
Elliot and Alex stared at her and then at each other.
"Are you serious?" Alex asked incredulously.
"Well we're not 100% sure, "Amanda conceded, "but come on let me show you what we found out."
Amanda led them into the media room where all the screens were lit up. One had a series of opened PDF files. Another had a head shot photo of a man, he was white and stocky with closely cropped brown hair and a thick beard.
Amanda started to explain.
"So after Alex and I talked, I started looking into Tim Donovan's close family and friends and I found out he has a brother, Mark. He registered as a P.I. 4 years ago but before that he worked at the FBI, in the surveillance division."
Elliot raised his eyebrows. "FBI surveillance and now he's a P.I.? So basically he stalks people for a living?"
"Exactly," Amanda replied, "and he didn't leave the bureau voluntarily."
She pointed to the screen that contained copies of filed police reports. "They kicked him out after his third misdemeanor collar."
"Three Misdemeanors? Let me guess...menacing, harassment?" Elliot surmised.
"Yup, and one breaking and entering charge that was plead down to unlawful entry. He never got more than probation for any of this."
"So this guy knows exactly how to scare people without going to jail, great. Is he dangerous?"
"I think so," Amanda said, "the harassment claim was filed by a coworker he fueded, the menacing charge came after he threatened his ex-girlfriend with a lighter, he told her he was gonna set her on fire."
"And the burglary?"
"He broke into the house he used to own before he got fired from the Bureau and ransacked the place. The new owners reported $10000 worth of damage."
Amanda brought up the crime scene photos on the third screen. Elliot looked them over and was eerily reminded of what his apartment had suffered.
"Okay so assuming this is our guy, you really think he's after Alex for what happened to Tim?"
"Yeah I do," Amanda answered, "I mean, I'm not sure yet how close he was to his brother but Mark has a bad temper and an obsession with getting even."
Elliot nodded his agreement. "Lexy, what do you think?"
He looked over at his fiancée and saw her standing in front of one of the screens, staring transfixed at the photo of Mark Donovan. Her face was ashen and her arms hugged her belly tightly.
"Lexy, what's the matter?" Elliot asked gently, he took a couple of steps toward her.
Her eyes started to swim. "It's him," she whimpered.
Elliot put an arm around her shoulders. "Are you sure Lexy?"
A memory flashed through Alex's head. He spun her around to face him, he was wearing a black ski mask but his eyes were filled with malice. He shoved her and her back hit the wall hard.
Alex nodded slowly,"Those eyes...its him!"
She suddenly turned and leaned into Elliot's arms, as her tears started to fall.
Elliot hugged her back comfortingly and looked over her shoulder at Rollins.
"Find him."
Thanks for reading and I appreciate any and all feedback! xoxo