Alex leaned back into her chair as she contemplated the words that were floating around her head. They needed to talk about the previous night. They needed to talk at all. Anything would be an improvement over the shallow pleasantries they were exchanging to avoid what was flowing under the surface.

Alex watched Olivia as she stared absently into the plate lying in front of her on the table. Her fork attacked the pile pasta, more moving it around in circles than actually eating it. Alex wanted more than anything to just get into Olivia's head. She wanted to take away some of the weight that she saw behind her brunette eyes and help her carry her load. Looking across the table, she was hesitant to talk—hesitant to break the silence, as she knew that once she brought it up, Olivia's entire mood was apt to change. Olivia looked tired, not distraught like she had the previous night, but she knew what had to be done and she prepared herself with the words.

"We need to talk," echoed through the air.

The words, quietly whispered across the dinner table, stopped the silence and at the same time dropped a bomb on Olivia's sensibilities. Everything about this night had gone as it always had. Their routine was followed exactly, their conversation light and thankfully surface level.

Olivia had known it was coming, knew it was only a matter of time before Alex tried to pin her down to open a dialogue about the one topic she was adamantly opposed to sharing. She knew they had to talk about the night before, but when Alex came home, and didn't immediately address it, she thought perhaps she might get away with never explaining and that would have been fine by her, so the words that formed on Alex's lips were particularly sharp and unwelcome.

"Olivia," Alex whispered again, as Olivia let her eyes fall onto the blonde and focus. Her pulse pounded in her ears as she tried to act nonchalant as she looked back down into her plate searching for words that her mind was denying her.

"Yeah?" She answered, swallowing hard.

"We have to talk about what happened last night." Alex said, reaching her hand across the table to take Olivia's trying not to flinch as her hand pulled away.

Olivia found herself taking a deep breath. "Nothing happened, Alex. It was just a long day." Olivia sighed.

"You said something bad had happened." Alex stated simply.

"Nothing in particular. Just the same old stuff, okay? I was just tired Alex, can we drop it?" She begged, wanting both for the conversation to stop and for her to be able to open up and tell the truth about what was truly bothering her.

"We need, I need for you to talk about it Olivia. You've been acting strange since you came back from Sealview. You're scaring me."

'I'm fine Alex, just drop it."

Olivia felt as though her back was pressed into the wall as Alex looked across the table at her expecting more than the only answer she wanted to give. Expectation crushed down on her. Her breath was starting to come faster, her pulse speeding as she felt the pressure increase. Suddenly she felt the need to escape, as though she were a wild animal caught in a trap.

"Olivia, please."

"Alex, I have to go," she said, pushing back away from the table.

"Olivia , no." Alex said, standing. "We need to talk about this. It's not going to go away."

"I have to go," she said, nearly gasping for air. She needed to get out. She needed to stop the conversation, the pictures flashing in her mind. She needed to stop, she needed everything to stop. Alex simply studied her, her face switching from a calm cool collected look to seeing the wild panic flash in her eyes. "I'll be back," She whispered as she scrambled for the front door.

"Olivia, please," Alex said, a few steps behind, but not fast enough to stop Olivia from grabbing her wallet and keys that were always conveniently left by the door in case she needed them in the middle of the night. The door slammed shut behind her and Alex let her head fall into her hands.

Alex flopped down onto the couch, tears starting to streak down her face, as she stared into the void of the empty TV searching for answers that were not going to come.

Olivia, however, was left searching for oblivion.