Chapter 35: Maureen Knows

With everyone counting down the days to Thanksgivings break the days seemed to fly by. It was now Monday and there was only one more day until they had the rest of the week off. Rae was at her locker talking on the phone with Olivia. They had overslept and had to rush to get out of Rae's apartment this morning, leaving no time to talk. The bell ending second period rang giving her five minutes before she had to finish her call and get to class. Her open locker door blocked her view of Ashley and Maureen approaching.

"No, that's not what I said" Rae said into the phone. She paused for a moment listening to Olivia speak. "You know I do but I just can't tonight." Olivia wanted to go out to dinner but Rae already had other plans. "I can't skip it. I'm working with a group and the project is due tomorrow" Ashley and Maureen stood behind Rae's locker door and listened to Rae on the phone. "No, Liv...Olivia I can't do that. I'll just come to your place after I lea..." Rae's locker door suddenly slammed shut and an angry Maureen stood there staring at her. "Liv, I have to go. I'll call you back later" she said before she quickly hung up the phone. "Maureen..." Rae started to talk but Maureen turned and started to walk away. Rae glared at Ashley who looked dumbfounded before taking off after her down the hall. "Maureen wait!", Rae yelled. Maureen ignored her and continued walking to class. The one minute warning bell rang and Rae groaned in frustration. She turned and headed to class walking past Ashley without saying a word. At lunch, Rae went to find Maureen so they could talk about what she'd overheard. She went to her locker but she wasn't there. After checking her last class, the library and the cafeteria Rae gave up and started walking to her car to go to lunch by herself. Ashley was outside waiting for her.

"What do you want Ashley?" Rae snapped. She was so angry so couldn't even look at her. "Why are you mad at me? I didn't do anything" Ashley said feigning innocence. "Oh please, Ashley. You stood there listening to my conversation. You knew exactly who I was talking to. How about a heads up that Maureen is standing there with you?" Rae yelled. "It's my not my job to help you keep lying to her. I don't understand why you wouldn't just tell her anyway. Do you not trust her not to out you?" Ashley couldn't believe that Rae was blaming her for Maureen overhearing her conversation with Olivia. "If you have such a problem with her knowing about you and Olivia, then maybe you two aren't as good of friends as you think" Ashley said forcefully. Rae leaned against her car and let her head fall back. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "This can't happen" she whispered. She brought her head forward and looked at Ashley. "This just can't happen. Olivia and I are really happy Ashley. If Maureen says anything to her dad it'll ruin everything" Rae said. She sounded extremely desperate for Ashley to give her some idea of what to do. "So talk to her. Tell her how you feel about Olivia and how she feels about you and how well your relationship is going. If Maureen cares about you, which we both know she does, then she won't say anything." Ashley put a reassuring hand on Rae's shoulder. "Just talk to her and everything will be fine" she said. Rae left out a harsh breath and nodded her head. They got in her car and went to get pizza at the pizzeria close to their school. They returned to school and went to the rest of their classes.

At last bell Rae went looking for Maureen but she had already left. She tried calling her several times but she never answered her phone. She thought about just going over to Maureen's house, leaving her with nowhere to run away. Rae really needed to talk to her but she had to meet her science group at the library to work on their physics project. She texted Maureen to please call her so they could talk and then headed to the public library. She was the first one there, so she decided to try calling Olivia.

"Hey, did you change your mind about dinner?" Olivia said greeting her.

"Maureen knows" Rae said simply. She didn't bother to acknowledge Olivia's question.

"What are you talking about?" she asked confused. "Maureen knows...about us. She overheard me talking to you on the phone this morning. She heard me say your name and that I'd be coming to your place tonight. She's furious, Liv. She won't even talk to me" she said. She didn't bother whispering. She had reserved a private room for her group so they could talk freely without worrying about disturbing anyone. "Do you think she'll tell Elliot about us?" Olivia could hear the worry in Rae's voice. She couldn't deny that she was worried too. If Elliot found out about them, she would definitely catch hell from him. "Uh, I don't know. I...I" Olivia couldn't find any words. "This can't be happening" she thought. They'd barely gotten out of the situation with Charles and not without consequences for Rae. "Ummm...just keep trying to call and talk to her. Whatever happens we'll deal with it, ok?" Rae couldn't believe it. Olivia wasn't freaking out. It made her feel better to hear that Olivia wanted to stick with her no matter what. "Ok" she said. "Don't worry. We'll get through this." The confidence in Olivia's voice calmed Rae even more. She nodded her head as if Olivia could see her. "Call me. Let me know if you talk to her." Rae took a deep breath. She looked up and saw her group members approaching through the glass window. "Ok, I will. I have to go. My group is here." They said their goodbyes and hung up the phone.

Once Rae and her group had finished working, she went to her car and got in. She sat in the driver's seat and pulled out her phone, dialing Maureen's number. Again, she didn't answer the phone. Rae had enough and decided to just drive over to Maureen's to talk to her face to face. She parked in the driveway and went up to knock on the door. She took a step back and waited for someone to answer the door. A moment later the door opened and there was Elliot staring back at her. Her breath caught in her throat and her mouth went dry.

"Detective Stabler...hi" she said awkwardly.

"Hi Araeyah. How are you?" he asked smiling.

"I'm good" she said quickly. "Ummm...I'm sorry to just show up. I know it's late but I was hoping I could talk to Maureen" she said explaining her presence.

"Of course, come on in" he said waving her inside. She stepped through the door and saw Maureen's mom sitting on the couch.

"Hi, Mrs. Stabler" she said with a shy wave. "Hi Rae. Maureen's in her room. You can just go on up" she said pointing towards the stairs. "Ok, great. Thank you. I won't be too long" she assured them. "Oh honey, take your time" Kathy said sweetly. Rae just smiled and headed up to Maureen's room. She knocked and waited for an answer. She heard Maureen yell for whoever was there to come in so she opened the door and stepped into the bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

"What are you doing here?" Maureen asked. She sat up on her bed in surprise. She wasn't expecting to see Rae come in her bedroom. She thought she'd made it clear that she didn't want to talk to her. "You wouldn't return my phone calls. I need to talk to you" Rae said stepping further into the room. "What is there to talk about?" Maureen was noticeably upset at Rae but she didn't care. She needed to know what Maureen planned to do. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner. I just...I knew you didn't approve and I really didn't want to hear you putting down our relationship" Rae explained. "You mean your relationship with Olivia, my dad's partner?" Rae shifted uncomfortably hearing Olivia's name said out loud. She didn't know if anyone was outside the bedroom door listening and it made her nervous. "Yes. I know that you think she's too old for me but that's not true. We really like each other. We have a lot of fun together. We're happy Maureen" Rae said smiling. Maureen could see the sparkle in Rae's eyes as she talked about her relationship with Olivia. For some reason, it still didn't sit right with her. "How long has this been going on?" Maureen asked. "Officially a little over two months" Rae said softly. "And unofficially?" Maureen asked angrily. Rae couldn't meet Maureen's eyes, "Since the day we met at the precinct." Maureen scoffed and rolled her eyes, "I can't believe you've been lying to me this whole time. Did Ashley know?" Rae hesitantly nodded her head. "You told me you would let go of pursuing anything with her" Maureen said standing up from her bed. "That's not true. I agreed that it would probably be best that I drop it. I never said I would" Rae corrected. "Oh my god! I can't believe you! How can you think this is ok?!" Maureen asked yelling. "How can you not? I thought you were my friend!" Rae yelled back. "I thought I was your friend too but it turns out you think Ashley is more of a friend than I am!" They were yelling so loud that Maureen's parents had heard them and decided to come up and see what all the fuss was about. "Oh, so this is about Ashley now!? Get over yourself Maureen, you know exactly why I could tell her and not you! You're so jealous all the time! Not to mention your fa..." Just then Maureen's bedroom door swung open and her parents stood there with concerned faces.

"Girls, what is going on here?" Kathy said interrupting their spat. "Oh, nothing. Just finding out that my best friend is a liar!" she yelled looking at Rae. "Well, maybe I wouldn't have to lie if my best friend weren't such a judgemental bi..." Elliot cut Rae off before she could finish her statement. "Alright, that's enough both of you" he said looking back and forth between them. "We could hear you yelling from all the way down stairs. Now does either one of you want to tell us what this is about?" Rae looked at Maureen, her eyes pleading with her not to tell him about what they were fighting about. Time stood still as she waited and waited until Maureen finally spoke. "Nothing." she said softly. Rae released the breath she was holding. "We're just trying to work something out is all. I'm sorry we got so loud." Neither of them looked convinced. Elliot was about to say something else but Kathy stopped him by patting him on the chest before speaking. "Ok, well it's late. Whatever it is, maybe you two should sleep on it and try talking more tomorrow." Maureen and Rae both nodded silently. "Say your goodbyes. It's a school night." Mr. and Mrs. Stabler left, shutting the door to give them some privacy. Rae looked over at Maureen who was now leaning against her dresser. "Thank you" she said quietly. Maureen just nodded, not even looking up at Rae. "Well, I guess I should go. I hope we can talk more about this tomorrow. I don't want this to come between us" she said. She turned and walked to the door, opening it to leave. "Neither, do I" Maureen said softly. Rae stopped for a moment letting Maureen know that she'd heard her, before proceeding down the stairs and out to her car.

She made it to Olivia's around eleven o'clock. She told her how the talk went with Maureen. She was relieved to hear that when Maureen had been given the chance to out them, she hadn't. They changed and got ready for bed. When Olivia was in the bathroom brushing her teeth, Rae's phone started to ring. It was an unknown number so she ignored it. A second later her phone buzzed letting her know she had a voicemail. She hit the button taking her to mailbox and on the other end of the phone she heard Jimmy's voice. He was crying asking her to come pick him up. He gave the same address as he had a few weeks ago. He sounded really messed up and it broke Rae's heart. She had told him that she was done with him until he wanted help, real help from her. She swore that she wasn't going to do anymore late night pick ups and that he better call someone else. "He doesn't have anyone else" she thought sadly. She couldn't just leave him stranded. Jimmy might have been a Charles in the making with his privileged attitude and disregard for others but she still believed that there was a chance to change him; to save him. But she couldn't go through this alone; not again. She got up from the bed and walked over to the bathroom. Olivia had just finished brushing her teeth and turned to see a worried look on her girlfriend's face.

"What's wrong" she said putting her hands on either said of Rae's arms.

"I need your help with something."