Let's address something quickly before we get started: Olivia's abduction was inevitable. I've been building toward it practically since ch1. Having said that, the manpain isn't the impetus of this plot point, it's just the RESULT. One of the results. At this point the fact that she has people in her life who love her and are worried about her shows her growth. I mean, if she'd been kidnapped 3ish years ago, her old boss mighta been like, "Where's Olivia? Oh well. Guess she moved on."
The difference between this and Rita Roosevelt and Tara's deaths is that those (esp Rita's) ONLY existed for the EXPRESS PURPOSE of manpain. It wasn't just a natural side effect: it was the one and only reason those plot points happened. Olivia has to exorcise her old demons, but it's not like Doyle is a pushover. It's not an easy process.
Having said all that, I'll urge you going forward to remember that ever since she walked into an Atlanta ER and took a steak knife to her wrist, Olivia is and ever will be the mistress of her own agency. (even when it might not seem like it, like when idiot bikers cut her fucking hair with a fucking bowie knife—she chose to forgive him, after all, and she sure as hell didn't have to)
Sorry for the really long note here at the beginning, but this's important. :D
on winter trees the fruit of rain
is hanging trembling in the branches
like a thousand diamond buds
and waiting there in every pause
that old familiar fear that claws you
tells you nothing ain't no good
then pulling back you see it all
down here so laughable and small
hardly a quiver in the dirt
this ain't no love that's guiding me
David Gray, "Ain't No Love"
"Ollie," Tig hissed, "wake up. Someone's comin'."
She wasn't sure how she'd managed to doze off anyway, and she hadn't even realized she had until Tig's warning woke her. She sat up straighter and flexed her numb fingers.
"Brought you some buddies," one of the guards said. It was Bonneville guy. He shoved Chibs ahead of him, and Happy walked beside them, trailed by a guard of his own.
"This is your rescue plan?" Tig said.
"Good to see you too, Tiggy," Chibs said as Bonneville guy trussed him to one of the empty poles.
"Dickheads jumped us. Used some girl as bait," Happy said.
"Girl?" said Olivia. "What girl?"
"Blond, shapely," Chibs said.
"You need to shut the fuck up," Bonneville said.
"Sounds like Cindy," Tig remarked.
"Sounds like dead bitch to me," Happy's guard said with an obscene laugh.
Olivia opened her mouth to say something, but at the last minute she closed it again. She wanted to know where Juice was. Had he been with them, or had he gotten away? Who had killed Cindy? Teddy's guys didn't seem too broken up about it.
Bonneville left Chibs and walked to Olivia's pole. She craned her neck to look at him. He reached down and hauled her up by her arm.
"Fuck, ow, easy!" she said.
He smirked and cut the wire ties holding her wrists. Her head fell back in relief, but that only lasted a second. The blood rushing to her hands was exquisitely painful, and she couldn't hide it.
"Shake it out," the other guard said. "You'll live."
"Fuck you," she snarled.
"Hold your hands in front of you," Bonneville said. He held up another set of cuffs.
"Could you—look, just wait a sec, okay? At least let me get the circulation back. I'm not sure Teddy'll love it if my hands fall off."
He and the other guard shared a look. The second one shrugged and turned away to face the guys.
"Nice car you've got," Olivia said to Bonneville. "It yours, or the company's?"
He hitched a shoulder. "Teddy wanted somethin' you'd notice."
"Hum."
"Come on, Stephens," the other one said. "Tie her up and let's go. Teddy won't be happy we kept him waiting."
So. Bonneville guy had a name. Stephens. She lifted a brow at him as he secured the ties around her wrists. He didn't cinch them as tight as they'd been before, and there was something about his face that intrigued her. She'd pegged him as a pro before. Now she wondered a professional what, exactly?
"Where the fuck you takin' her?" Chibs said as they went past.
Stephens kicked him. "Shut the fuck up, Scotty. None of your goddamn business. You better be glad you're still alive to care."
She didn't look at them. She couldn't bear to see Chibs' face right now, or Tig's. She knew Happy's would be blank and steady; she'd never met anyone who could put on a mask as well as that man—though the scary part was she wasn't sure how much of it was a mask at all. She swallowed hard and tried to take note of her surroundings.
Just a warehouse. Empty and generic. There was nothing she could see that would possibly help them. There wasn't even any cover.
They turned down a hall and stopped outside an office door. Stephens knocked and Teddy called for them to come in. The two men pushed her into the room, and she stumbled as she stopped short.
Juice sat at a metal table slumped in a heavy chair. His wrists were shackled to the arms, his feet to the legs. It was obvious someone had been at work on him; blood trickled from a cut on his brow and his lip was swollen and split. When he saw her he sat up straighter, but a tiny widening of her eyes made him sit back and put on an air of nonchalance.
Stephens let her go and Teddy caught her before she fell. "Thank you, gentlemen," he said to the guards. "Wait outside until I need you, please." He gestured for Stephens to cut her bonds again, and he did so without a word. The door closed behind them and she heard the click of a lock.
"Well. It would seem it's just the three of us," he said with false bonhomie. "Let's get to know each other, shall we?"
She rolled her aching shoulders. "I think I know all I need to about you, Teddy."
"Ha! Very true, my little strawberry. But what about our friend here? Mr. Ortiz? Surely we could all learn more about him."
Her eyes flicked to Juice and back to Teddy. "Why would I care? He's just some guy I'm fucking. Not like he's the first."
"Indeed." Teddy straightened his cuffs and circled behind Juice. Rested his hands on his shoulders and leaned down. "And who else is she fucking, Mr. Ortiz? Besides you, I mean."
He bared his teeth in a bloody grin. "Everybody, buddy. We pass her around."
He clicked his tongue and reached down. He gripped one of Juice's fingers and bent it back. Juice let out a hiss of breath and Teddy pressed harder. "Again, Mr. Ortiz. Who else?"
His laugh was rusty and thick. "I've had her the last couple months, but before that it was the Scottish guy with the scars. Then the guy with the curly hair. Before that, the one with the snake tattoo on his head. I told you: everybody."
Teddy glanced up at Olivia, his blue eyes dark with fury. She shrugged despite the pain in her shoulders. "It's true. What can I say? I have a real thing for biker cock."
He growled and broke Juice's finger. Juice let out a short scream before he subsided into hard, pained panting. She kept her face still, her expression blank, even as the rage Tig had talked about boiled up inside her. She was unbound but weaponless. No doubt Teddy was strapped, and besides that there were two heavily armed guards just outside the door.
She would have to be careful. Subtle. Push Teddy too hard and he would kill Juice out of pure spite.
Teddy patted Juice's shoulder and smiled. "There, there, my boy. At least I didn't use the knife."
He managed a grimace. "Must be my lucky day," he said.
Teddy left him and stalked toward Olivia. She lifted her chin and her lips curved. He ran a finger down her jaw. "My darling Audra. It has been far too long." He cast a look over his shoulder. "Well, since you have no special attachment to her I suppose you won't mind if I have a taste."
She had been expecting it, but still she flinched. Juice blinked and turned his head away. Teddy took that as a yes and spun back toward her with a delighted grin that turned savage as he lifted her by the hips and threw her onto the table.
Her head hit the metal hard enough to make her teeth ring, and she couldn't smother her cry of surprise and pain. Teddy grabbed her by the throat, and just before his fingers closed around her Juice caught a flash of her face: terrified, furious, deadly. The expression was gone so fast he could almost believe he imagined it, except he knew her well enough to know he hadn't. She had a plan. Maybe not a good one, but a plan.
Teddy wore a huge ring on his right hand, maybe a college ring, heavy and gold with a large onyx stone. He paused a moment to twist it off and set it on the table beside her before he pulled his arm back and backhanded her. Her hair hid her face. She shook it back and smiled at him around a bleeding lip. She ran her tongue over it and spat red.
"Shoulda kept the ring on, Teddy," she said. "A broken cheekbone might've gotten my attention."
"Stupid slut," he rasped. He flipped her onto her stomach and fumbled for his buckle.
She raised herself on her hands and met Juice's eyes for a moment. I've got this, her look said. Trust me.
He jerked his head in a quick nod before he looked away again.
"Slut, Teddy?" she said. "Is that really the best you've got? Come on. Yeah, I've fucked an entire motorcycle club, but really."
He had his fly open and she could sense movement behind her. She peeked over her shoulder and burst out laughing. "What's the matter, baby?" she cooed. "Forget your blue pill this morning?"
"Shut up, you little whore. I'm gonna show you who you belong to!"
"With whose cock?" she said, still laughing. "Come on, Teddy. You really think it's worth it? God only knows who I've fucked since I shot your baby boy's little prick off. I could have anything!"
"It's true," Juice said. "And we had that nasty Hep B scare a while back. You ever get tested for that?" he asked her.
"I think it slipped my mind," she said with a giggle.
He wrenched her up by the back of the neck and tossed her against the wall. She pushed off it, and after a stunned moment started to laugh again. Above all she had to keep laughing. She could never let him know how much it hurt, or how afraid she was. That's what he wanted.
Teddy drew in a long, hard breath and smoothed a hand over his hair. He carefully tucked himself away and fastened his pants.
"Very well," he said. "I certainly don't want to risk my person on the disease-ridden whore you've become." He smiled, cold and dangerous and terrifying. "I think I'll see if my men wish to have some fun instead. Maybe all your fuck buddies can watch."
"Sounds like my kind of party," she said.
It was, to her, a sign of how desperate he was that he'd resorted to rape threats so early. Normally he would've drawn it out a little. Her act seemed to have worked better than she could've hoped.
Now if she could just get through step two they might all have a chance to get out of this alive and (relatively) intact.
Teddy banged on the door. "Take them back to the warehouse. Secure him, and then use her as you wish. Make sure the others are watching."
Stephens' eyes darted to her for an instant before they landed on Teddy again. "Sure, boss. Where'll you be?"
"I have business elsewhere." He paused. "Take your time, gentlemen. Be extremely thorough." He offered Olivia another chilling little smile before he strode past the guards and disappeared down the hall.
The other guard cut Juice's bonds and pressed a gun to his back. "Come on, mohawk. We got places to be."
Stephens secured Olivia's wrists in front of her and gave her a little shove. "You too, princess. You heard the man."
"Should we go get the other guys?" his buddy said. "Seems a shame we should have all the fun."
Stephens grinned, wide and lascivious. "Sure, O'Rourke. But don't you want first crack at her before we give those assholes a shot?"
Olivia watched Juice's shoulders tense. O'Rourke might've made just the mistake they needed by not binding his wrists—except apparently the guard noticed the same thing, because he pressed his gun in hard enough to make Juice wince.
"Steady, boy-o," he said. "Don't fuck up and make me blow your head off. Don't worry; we're gonna take real good care of her. Aren't we, Stephens?"
"Oh yeah."
They were back in the warehouse by this time. While O'Rourke secured Juice to a pole Stephens used his knife to cut Olivia's wrists free. He glanced up at her, and again she saw something…maybe she was imagining it.
Except then he flipped the blade closed and tucked the knife into her palm. She wrapped her fingers around it and he gave a tiny nod. His eyes were dark blue and steady, calm and reassuring. She felt certain he wouldn't make a move against the other guard—whatever his cover was he had to maintain it—but now he'd given her the means to.
She set her shoulders and spun to face O'Rourke as he came up behind her. "So," she said, "who's first?"
"What the fuck is this?" Tig demanded.
"A free show, boys," Stephens said. "Nothin' you haven't seen before, assuming they're tellin' the truth."
"What truth?" Chibs said.
Juice sighed. "I told 'em, Chibby. They know how we pass her around."
Happy almost choked, but at the last minute he turned it into a cough. "Holy shit, Juicy," he said in a strained voice.
She smiled at O'Rourke. Her hands were loose by her sides, the knife concealed in her curled fingers. "I think you," she said. She crooked a finger at him and he stepped closer.
"We been watchin' you a while," he said. "You and mohawk there get pretty kinky."
She laughed. "Really?" She looked back at Stephens. "You two must have pretty vanilla sex lives, sugar." Her mouth formed a moue of regret. "That's sad."
She could see the guys over O'Rourke's shoulder, but she was careful not to look directly at any of them. She felt a hot, deep flush of shame that they had to watch this, but she shook it off. She was armed. She was ready. And she was nobody's fucking victim.
She leaned closer and brushed her lips against his neck. "Pull your pants down, baby," she murmured in his ear. "Let's see what you've got."
He reached eagerly for his zipper, and a moment later his trousers hit the floor.
She looked down and grinned. "Impressive."
Juice made a low noise and twisted his head away. He knew this was part of her plan—whatever the fuck her plan was—but he wanted to rip their fucking heads off. Chibs cut him a look, and his eyes told Juice to stay calm. He clenched his jaw so hard his teeth creaked. His head pounded where Teddy's guy had hit him. There was a cut on the inside of his lip. He rolled his tongue against it, and the sharp pain helped steady him out. His finger he tried to ignore the best he could; that was sickening, not steadying.
Meanwhile Olivia had dropped to her knees in front of O'Rourke. The gun hung slack in one hand as he seized her hair with the other. She winced. "Whoa, sugar, no need to get grabby. You're gonna get what you want."
He eased his grip a little. She ran her knuckles up the inside of his leg, barely brushing his skin, and his head fell back in anticipation. But instead of the warm, soft heat of her mouth, he felt something cold and metal press against his scrotum.
"Drop the gun," she whispered, "or the future of any little O'Rourkes will be in serious jeopardy."
He stared down at her, wide-eyed.
"Whoa, O'Rourke, she hasn't even started yet!" Stephens said with a laugh.
She lifted a brow at him and he offered Stephens a shaky smile. "She's real fuckin' good," he said.
"Smart," she murmured. She slid her free hand up his ankle until she found what she was looking for. "Also smart," she said as she freed the gun from its holster.
She kept the knife pressed against his balls and pivoted on her heels to point the gun at Stephens. "Both of you drop your fucking weapons. I am not bluffing."
Stephens was a good actor, she had to give him that. He took a step closer and she squeezed the trigger. The shot went well wide, as she'd meant it to, but he froze. Gingerly he set his weapon on the ground and lifted his hands. She tilted her head back to look at O'Rourke.
"You got the most to lose, baby. I suggest you listen."
He was pale-faced and shaking, but somehow he managed to put the gun down and kick it toward the guys. Tig caught it with his foot.
Olivia bit her lip. She had a problem. She knew Stephens wouldn't attack her, not really, but she didn't want to blow his cover any more than he wanted it blown. She was stuck on the floor with a knife pressed against a man's dangly bits. If she let up, he'd come after her. If she took the gun off Stephens, he'd have no choice but to try to disarm her or be exposed.
She sighed. "Sorry, O'Rourke." She spun the knife in her hand and thrust it hard into the meatiest part of his thigh. He let out a strangled cry and crumpled. She yanked his handgun out of the belt holster and scrambled to her feet.
"Don't pull that out unless you want to bleed to death," she told him. She jerked her head at Stephens. "Apply a tourniquet and tie him to one of these poles."
He nodded and hurried forward. He jerked the knife from O'Rourke's thigh, and both of them yelped in protest. "What the fuck did I just say?!" she said.
Stephens dragged O'Rourke's head back by the hair and sliced his throat in one smooth motion. O'Rourke let out a gurgle and slumped forward.
Olivia faltered. The guns almost slipped out of her suddenly numb fingers. "What the fuck?" she croaked. "Who the fuck are you?"
"I'm a Fed," he said. "And you, I'm guessing, are Lincoln Potter's confidential informant."
"A Fed?" Chibs cried. "You cut his fuckin' throat! What kind of Fed does shit like that?"
"One who's gotta keep his cover." He wiped the bloody blade on O'Rourke's shirt and used it to cut the guys free.
He closed it and handed it to Chibs. "You gotta knock me out and tie me up. Make it look good."
"Won't they wonder why I didn't just slit your fuckin' throat, too?" Olivia said, still furious. Yeah, O'Rourke had been about to rape her, but…
But what? O'Rourke had been about to rape her. End of story.
"Like I said," Stephens said, wearily, "make it look good."
"You want the honors?" Chibs asked Juice.
He held up his right hand. It was swollen and purple, and the finger was canted at a grotesque angle. "Not really in the mood," he said.
"I got this," said Tig with a feral sort of glee.
"Wait!" Olivia said. She grabbed Tig's arm as he pulled it back to punch. "We need information. How many men are here? Where? What sort of 'business' did Teddy have?"
"Four," he said with an impatient sigh. "Two at the front, two at the back."
"That's it?" Happy said, doubtfully. He had stripped Stephens' belt holster and was checking the clip. Chibs was doing the same on the two bigger automatics that she'd had them throw away.
"He's kinda cocky, in case you didn't realize it," Stephens said. He stared hard at Olivia. "He's been after you a long time, kiddo."
Her lip curled in disgust. "No shit. Why do you think I need to know where to find him?"
"I can't let you go kill him, Audra."
"It's Olivia," Juice said through gritted teeth. "Her goddamn name is Olivia."
"Olivia," Stephens said. "Sorry. The point stands: we're in the middle of an on-going investigation. We've almost got enough to put this shit stain away for life. You kill him now, it'll all be for nothing."
She surged forward and shoved the gun under his chin. "Tell me something, Agent Stephens. Your boys have Teddy bugged, yeah?"
"Uh huh," he said, nervously. "Not, uh. Not in here, though. Too big. His car, the interrogation room where he had you and your boyfriend. A few other places."
"Right. Of course they fucking do."
She chuckled, dry and hard and humorless. "That means they knew he was planning this. They knew he tried to rape me in that room. They knew you were about to stand by and watch while his guards gang raped me, and they knew he was planning to kill these men and, eventually, kill me." She took a step back and spread her arms. "So where are they, Dudley Do-Right?"
"I told you," he said. He was sweating, and when he spoke again he stumbled over his words. "This is an on-going investigation. Thousands of man hours have been spent—we couldn't just throw all that away—some losses are expected—"
"Oh, Agent Stephens," she said, her voice soft and sweet, "that was the wrong answer."
"Whoa, whoa," Chibs said and closed his fingers around her wrist. "You can't kill a Fed, Ollie."
"Why not?" she demanded, her eyes flaring. "His fellow agents were gonna sit by and listen while his buddies in black raped me. They were gonna throw back some popcorn while y'all were executed. They were gonna crack a few beers while Teddy tortured me and then put a fucking bullet in my head."
Chibs made a low noise and eased his grip on her arm.
"She makes a real good case," Happy said.
"I'm kinda convinced," said Tig.
"Hey!" he said. "I gave you that knife! What would you've done without it? You'd be choking on O'Rourke's dick by now."
"First of all," she said, "I have never in my life choked on a dick, and I wasn't about to start now. Secondly, what the fuck do you think teeth are for?"
All the men quailed at that, and Stephens raised his hands in desperation. "Audra—Olivia, I mean—I know you don't want to kill me. You killed TJ because of what he did to you, but you're no murderer. I'm a Federal Agent, for fuck's sake."
"Move," said Juice in a voice like iron.
They all stepped aside. Stephens begged and blubbered, but Juice didn't even blink. He had to use his left hand, and the first shot caught Stephens in the shoulder. The next one hit his throat, and his life gushed out in a red river.
Juice and Olivia locked eyes. His were hot and dry, hers cold and bright. He nodded once, and she tilted her head in acknowledgement.
"We need to move," Happy said. "We're gonna have company any second. This place is big, but that just means sound echoes like a son of a bitch."
Chibs went to put a hand on the small of Olivia's back, but she flinched away. "Please don't," she murmured. "Not right now."
He said nothing, but his face told the story of his fury. He let her be and joined Tig and Happy in their huddle. The three of them led the way, and after a moment Juice fell back to walk next to her. They were quiet, but she let the back of her hand brush his. He ran his thumb over her knuckles.
"Were you really gonna cut his balls off?" he muttered under his breath, too low for the others to hear.
"I was hoping to avoid it," she whispered back.
"Were you really gonna bite his balls off?"
"Let's just say I'm glad Stephens slipped me that knife," she said after a moment's hesitation.
"If Stephens hadn't done it I would've killed him."
"I know."
He paused to look at her. Her mouth curved up at the corners, but her eyes were vulnerable. "You still gonna marry me, Ortiz?"
"Yep. You?"
"I guess it takes more than a little murder to scare me off these days."
"Good," he said, his expression serious. "Then let's go find Teddy and make it a little more."
okay. *deep breath* I struggled a LOT writing this, and I knew how it was going to end.
To kind of extend what I said at the beginning, if you guys ever want to discuss/question a specific plot point or decision with me, feel free to send me a PM. Or, if you want to be anon, you can send me an anon ask on my tumblr, halinacrown. I've made storytelling decisions with this one I never really thought I'd make? And I'm happy to talk them out or explain them at any time.
The good thing about fanfic is that it's an interactive experience. Unlike when you pick up a book in the bookstore and maybe one day you decide to email the author and you have no idea if they'll ever even see it, I'm right here. *waves* And you guys reading this are a big part of why I've gotten through 51 chapters of something I basically expected to be MAYBE 20k words of unrequited longing followed by dirty smut.