A/N: YOU GUYS, it's been SO long! I'm so sorry to anyone who has been waiting for an update! I haven't given up on this story! I've just been so busy it's unbelievable. In any case, I know how I want this story to end, but we've still got a while before that comes into play. Enjoy this chapter and let me know what you guys think! I love reading everyone's thoughts!

March 20th – 4:45 a.m.

A little more than three months out of the city and Lexi was finding it hard to settle in the small subdivision filled with beautiful homes and lush, landscaped gardens. She wasn't used to the quite early mornings; she found she missed the sounds of the city outside her window the most.

But, she didn't like thinking about that. Not when those early morning city sounds were accompanied by the sounds of her father's drug fueled romps, or loud music and gun shots in the distance. She didn't miss that.

Hell, she didn't even miss her father and what did that say about her?

Lexi sipped from her cup of coffee, enjoying the cool breeze that swept across her from her perch on the roof. The room she took up residence in at her grandmother's house was stationed at the front of the house, giving her the perfect view of the road and any and all cars or people that traveled down it. Personal security had called it quits a month ago, leaving them with a sense of hope that maybe, just maybe, they would be safe after all.

She had to admit, a part of her wanted to stay in the city and fight this thing. Despite her childhood and most of her teen years ruined due to her father, she didn't want to take the easy way out. There was still a voice in her head that urged her to go back and show them she wasn't afraid; she wanted to show them she was a strong, young woman that would take any of their death threats and swallow them whole.

But, she was here, in Connecticut, just an hour outside of Manhattan, stuck in a room all day on a computer, because she was being home schooled now. She was in a location where she couldn't easily be found, just like they wanted her to be and she couldn't show them squat.

Probably the best thing for her. Those pieces of shit thrived on women who fought and, although she had a mouth that could decimate even the wittiest of assholes, she was petite and couldn't fight back when it came to fists.

Lexi rubbed her eyes and looked back in through the open window behind her, seeing Rocco, her grandmother's German Shepard cuddling into her abandoned bed and it brought a smile to her face. Rocco had been a plus to her moving in with her grandmother, along with a few other perks. She always wanted a dog.

The sound of a door closing across the street caught her attention. Like clockwork, it never failed. She wanted to lie when she tried to rationalize why she got up every morning at 5 a.m. and sat on the roof, watching the lights in the surrounding houses turn on when the neighbors started their days. She told herself it was because she'd never really had neighbors like this before.

Hard working people who got up with the sun, drank coffee and ate breakfast and sent their kids off to school as they left for work. Nurses, teachers, business people who drove expensive cars and always wore huge smiles on their faces…

But none of that was true. She didn't care about the neighbors; well, she only truly ever paid attention to one. Across the street, in a house smaller than most of them in the vicinity, was a young man, far too young to own a house, who stood outside while a small dog sniffed around the yard for a spot to relieve itself.

Lexi spotted him one morning after a sleepless night, and something about him caught her attention and had continued to catch her attention every morning for the past month. He was cute, usually bundled up in the same hoodie and pajama pants every morning he let his dog out. He always stood on the porch, though. He never once ventured out into the actual grass. She couldn't blame him for that. It was early March and winter wasn't going to leave any time soon, even if the snow did.

She kept her eyes on him the entire time, watching every little move he made, from the way he swept some loose hair out of his eyes to the small shiver that racked his body from the cold, all the way until he whistled for his cute little dog to go back inside.

She let out a long sigh, her breath curling out into a cloud of cold smoke that dispersed into the air. Not long after, she turned back and headed to her bed, curling up with Rocco and turning on the flat screen television to catch the morning news.

Just like every morning since she discovered the guy next door, he didn't leave her mind until she forced herself to think otherwise. It was annoying, really. For some reason, this mysterious neighbor, who never left his house, seemed to have taken up every available corner of her mind when it was at its emptiest.

She couldn't put her finger on it, nor did she want to, but he was there for a reason and it had something to do with what was happening in Manhattan. Something with Mr. Barba, who's story she followed ever since she was removed from her home. She had little to no contact with the detectives of SVU, other than a check-up call every now and then from Detective Rollins.

Except, that would change today. Her grandmother had hesitantly taken off to California yesterday morning, visiting some of her old friends or whatever, leaving her free to pretty much do whatever. But, what she planned on doing, was heading into the city in just a few hours.

Stupid idea? Probably. Her curiosity had gotten the best of her the day she purchased her train ticket online and she only planned on being there for a few hours. Just enough to visit SVU and possibly see if she could get a hold of Mr. Barba. She really didn't know why she wanted to, but she just wanted to see him, to see how he was holding up. The thought that she was one of the people who had a hand in him being rescued fueled the idea of getting to meet him while he was healthier and standing on his own.

She was nervous and hopeful and afraid to go alone, but she would get through it. Nothing was going to stop her anymore.

March 20th – 7:25 a.m.

He hadn't been in a suit since he escaped from his imminent death and it felt weird against his skin.

It was a strange feeling for someone who wore suits daily and for extended periods of time for work and professional purposes. Hell, how many times had he fallen asleep at his desk in his full three-piece suit and woken up the next morning, wrinkled and disheveled and opted to jump straight back into work.

Rafael pulled on the sleeve, twisting his arm to somehow adjust the way it rested against his skin. He'd grown so used to lounging around in hoodies and sweat pants that his normal, everyday attire felt foreign. He didn't know how to feel about that.

"If we leave in fifteen minutes we can beat the morning rush down at Carlo's," Liv said over the sound of the news playing on the television in their room. She waltzed out of the bathroom in her bra and slacks, having stopped half way through getting dressed to fix her makeup and hair. She spotted him looking at himself in the full-length mirror, fiddling with his jacket sleeve, and abandoned her routine in favor of relaxing his rigid stance.

"Let me see," she wrapped her arms around him from behind and straightened his tie. She smoothed down his shirt and turned him towards her, resting her hands on his chest as his came to rest on her bare waist.

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," he smiled, feeling the nervous tilting of his stomach again. Maybe he was going to throw up, but hopefully, he could hold it till he got to the court house. He didn't want Liv worrying about him.

"That offer still stands…three more months…," she played with the pointed edge of his tie, knowing he was going to refuse but hoping he would agree, take off his suit and crawl back into bed. She much preferred him resting and enjoying his time off, instead of seeing him under so much stress with deadlines and mountains of paperwork…but he was a stubborn man, intent on moving on with his life and welcoming her and Noah into that mix.

"You know my answer," he smiled and kissed her, pulling her into his embrace. Liv took in the familiar scent of his cologne for just a second as Noah toddled in and joined them in the hug, a huge smile on his face as he asked to be picked up.

"Milk," he demanded, grabbing onto the lapels of his suit as Rafael tucked him into the side of his body. He smiled and kissed his forehead, kissing Liv directly after.

"I'm going to finish getting ready and then we need to leave."

"This early? It's not that far of a walk," he walked down the hall of the apartment and set Noah down on the kitchen tile, going about the familiar pattern of pouring milk into a sippy cup. He'd done this so many times in the past three months, but doing it before going to work…everything about this day was going to be a learning experience, strange as that was.

"Well…," Liv appeared in the kitchen as Noah toddled off, buttoning up her blouse while sipped from his lukewarm coffee. He briefly read the headline flashing across the news, deciding it wasn't worth his attention.

"I wasn't supposed to say anything, but I know you don't like surprises and it's probably not a good idea anyway. The squad wants to welcome you back by surprising you with a gift card and some balloons and a cake. Whatever it is Carisi cooked up, I'm not sure."

He stifled a groan, hating the idea that he was going to have to deal with that on top of the morning meeting scheduled with his boss and the awkward skirting around the elephant in the room he was going to have to do with the colleagues on his floor. But, he would suffer through it, because they'd done so much for him already. He wasn't going to crush their (more like Carisi because he highly doubted Rollins or Fin wanted to intrude on his work space) spirits by refusing to take part.

Liv looked at him expectantly, tucking in the blouse and biting the inside of her cheek. Obviously, she'd been expecting him to huff a bit and roll his eyes.

"Ok. That's fine."

His response was tight-lipped and forced and it amused her more than surprised her.

"Ready?"

She jangled the knob a bit and he heard a thump and a curse from the other side of the door, which brought an amused half-smirk to his face. He hated to admit it, but he appreciated everything they'd done and were still doing to help him assimilate back into their world. No doubt, they knew of the extensive healing process he was still undergoing, and even though he hated surprises, he didn't find that he was faking any reaction when Liv swung the door opened and revealed the detective's standing in the middle of his office.

"Welcome back!"

The balloons, while a nice touch, didn't say 'welcome back' but rather, 'it's a boy', and Rafael wasn't even sure he wanted an explanation as to why that was. He chuckled as Carisi was clearly the more excited to see him back out of the two, but Fin came up clapped him on the back while Amanda gave him a friendly hug.

Liv stood behind him the entire time Carisi chatted about how hard it was to find 'welcome back' party supplies around the dollar stores and just how delicious the coffee cake he was holding in his hands was. She kept her hand planted firmly on his lower back, feeling the muscles tense every so often, but she was happy to see he was taking everything so well.

Rafael's road to recovery wasn't easy and he still jumped and startled so very easily, she was sure to announce her arrival anytime they were home alone together or when there was a possibility he might not have heard her walking towards him. She was so very worried his first day back was going to be hard on him and his PTSD and general weariness, but he was taking it well and that was all that mattered to him.

She just really, really wanted him to be safe and happy and back to his old self again, and it was looking like there was going to be a real possibility of it.

"…in any case, I had to go with the 'it's a boy' balloons because you are one and, well, the only other one they had available was a cartoon character, and somehow I don't think you would have appreciated that."

"Thanks for the unnecessarily long explanation, Carisi. Five minutes in and I'm ready to go back home."

The joke caused a ripple of hesitant laughter around the room, descending them into an awkward silence right after. Liv tapped him on the back, prompting him to truly say what he had been meaning to all this time. He'd been mulling over the words of appreciation for everything they'd done for him, but every time he came up with a reasonable way to say thank you, he scraped the idea and deemed it not good enough.

But, words were all he had. Words were all he was ever truly good with…so why was it so hard to utilize now?

"Thank you all. I appreciate everything you've done for me when you certainly had no reason to. I know I'm not the easiest or the nicest person to work with…and sometimes I don't know how you put up with me, but I'm grateful that you do."

He refused to look them in the eye, not wanting them to see the emotion gathering there. Those emotions were meant for behind closed doors, where only Liv and Noah could see them freely, openly. Anywhere else was simply unacceptable in his book.

"Barba. You're one of us. There was never any hesitation."

Fin's words eased a yearning inside him, one of several, he'd been longing to ease. He looked over the squad with a tentative gaze before he cleared his throat. Liv stepped forward and pecked him on the cheek, "Alright, let's give him some space. He's got work to do."

As they all filed out, Liv kissed him one last time, straightening his tie and enclosing him in the circle of her arms once again.

"Call me if you need anything. I'm only a few blocks away."

Rafael watched her leave his office and shut the door behind him, leaving him in the room with only the rushing of traffic outside and the pile of nicely stacked case files waiting for his fingers to leaf through. He took a deep breath, shucked off his jacket and sat down, pen wrapped in his hands as he took the first file and opened it up.

March 20th – 8:30 a.m.

She'd only been in the office for a solid twenty minutes before the first intrusion of the day drew her away from the filing cabinet she was looking through with a grimace.

"I hope you have an explanation as to why you've been accessing Barba's case file."

Liv closed her eyes and tried to hold back the exasperated sigh at Chief Dodds' voice barreling into her office. She plucked her glasses off and turned her chair around, avoiding eye contact as she politely greeted him and stood.

He looked at her disapprovingly, hands on hips and eyebrows knit together. She immediately wanted to smack that stern glare off his face and her hand curled into a fist. There was still anger prevalent between them, at least on her side. The press conference left a bad taste in their mouths, simply because it was obvious what the mayor and the D.A. was trying to do. A fucking P.S.A. about gang violence with little to no mention of the missing ADA.

It took all her strength and a few calming words from Rafael not to jump down the man's throat when he stopped by her apartment a month ago, just to check in with the recovering man personally.

"Just checking up on it. Seeing if anything new has come up."

"I thought we made it clear that this case was going to be shelved for now."

Liv crossed her arms over her chest and walked around her desk, leaning back against her desk, "I'm not just going to let this go, Chief."

She wasn't. She was firm in her decision, consequences be damned. Rafael hadn't a clue and she wanted it stay that way. He'd been the one to calm her as soon as she found out 1PP wanted to throw the case away, reassuring her that it was the best thing possible. She didn't believe him, but she did it for him and the belief that it was part of his healing process.

However, she hadn't been able to just let it go as easily as he had. Plus, Rafael didn't work within the precinct and, therefore, had no knowledge of her keeping a close eye on the details of the closed file and, also, using a bit of her free time to keep searching around the city. Apparently, she hadn't been as careful as she planned to be if Dodds was standing in her office, on the brink of a meltdown.

"Liv…you need to understand that shelving this case is in the best interest of the city and the NYPD- "

"And the mayor and the D.A. But let's forget about Barba, who endured five days of torture and lifetime worth of PTSD just so you guys could shove this case in the back of a file cabinet. This isn't something I'm going to ignore."

"Liv. Please. Personal feelings aside," Dodds crossed so he was standing in front of her, arms now crossed over his chest as he looked at her pleadingly, "We can't have detectives knocking down doors all over the city, searching for gang members. If word gets out were doing a deep dive into gang related activities, we could have a serious issue on our hands. These gangsters don't just live in broken down brownstones and the projects."

"Ah," she smiled, eyes lighting up with the tidbit of information the man just let slip through his words, "So you're worried about the ones with money?"

"Lieutenant," he ground out, "Don't make me retaliate. I know…I know you two are together and that was cleared with our offices already…but we cannot spend resources on a case that will fall through in the end. There's too much at risk by bringing this to light…including his life again."

Liv glanced out over his shoulder through her open blinds, watching her team gathered around the white board set up with their latest case, chatting away while they sifted through the evidence gathered. It was their last case with the temp ADA and they were all excited to win it (hopefully) so they could begin working with Rafael again.

"I don't want to do this, Liv. I truly don't. I wish we could solve this. But, we can't. Please…do me a favor and let this go."

The sincerity in his voice was a sharp contrast from the barely concealed rage he was seeping just moments earlier. She sighed, exhaling the mean-spirited retort on the tip of her tongue and, instead, came up with an equally irritating response.

"We'll see."

Dodds pursed his lips and turned on his heel, blowing past Fin, who was just about to step through the door. He watched the retreating back of their irate boss and looked at Liv, who just stared blankly where the man stood before.

"What's his deal?"

Liv didn't respond and just patted him on the shoulder on the way out, drowning out the loud footsteps of the Chief stomping towards the elevator with her own voice. Fin just shook his head and joined them, knowing not to press any further.

March 20th – 9:12 a.m.

Three flower arrangements in and he hadn't even been working for an hour. A few people from the floors below had pitched in on one and Donovan, who worked Homicide, paid extra for a sample box of very expensive chocolates and wished him a speedy recovery and a welcome back.

He'd only gotten back in his office a few minutes ago, after a meeting with his boss. It was an awkward talk about how he felt and if he was feeling well enough to even be back in the work place, but all concerns were put to bed by Rafael within seconds. He was happy to be back, even if it all felt so surreal.

He was just about to send out a picture to Liv, displaying the pile of goods that had, somehow, accumulated without his knowledge. Carmen had been intercepting calls and gifts all morning, for which he was grateful. He looked at the watch on his wrist and hummed.

She wasn't due back in the office for another thirty minutes, having to run to pick up her daughter from her mother's and then to grab a quick bite. She was going to bring him back a latte as well, her treat. Really, he was going to have to get her something special for hanging in there and fielding the outrageous amount of calls he'd been getting over his leave-

There was a soft creak outside of his door, sucking the air entirely out of his lungs. It was a reaction that couldn't be helped when the soft patter of knuckles knocking on wood alerted him to a presence. He didn't turn around.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end when the door to his office opened and shut softly, without Carmen's voice filling the silence. He stood with his back to the door, shuffling through the mounds of files that were put there this morning, much to his utter pleasure. Sifting through paperwork was an activity sorely missed.

He swallowed the lump in his throat when a throat cleared and he only turned his head a little, palms beginning to sweat. In a flash of light, he could see the grainy image of a bat heading towards his face, threatening to bash it in.

It'd been like this all day. Every time the door opened or the floorboards creaked in some random area of the room, he was on the defense and ready to fight for his life. So many times that morning, he had to remind himself he was fine. He had to remind himself that he was safe and that there were guards down on the street below that he wasn't supposed to know about, keeping an eye on him.

"I hope I'm not interrupting," a soft, smooth voice made him turn, eyes widened a bit in shock at who this familiar voice belonged to.

"Alex."

The familiar face, one he hadn't seen since his trail, smiled hesitantly from the doorway, dressed in street clothes and looking much thinner and older than when they last had contact.

"Hey," he said in a way of greeting. Had this been in another time, place and under a different circumstance, they would have been all smiles and excitement, slapping each other's backs and eager to see what the other had been up to for so long. Hell, they might have even gone to get a bite to eat and reminisced about those long summer days in their childhood.

But, that wasn't going to happen. Alex was in jail, or had gotten out apparently, and he was still recovering from the five day abduction he'd been subjected to just three months prior to this moment. There were harsh feelings between them still…friendship betrayed, lies, anger…

"I thought you were in prison."

"Got out just a few days ago," Alex answered quickly, nodding as he rubbed the back of his neck. He looked nervous as he took a few steps into the office. Rafael just nodded as well, playing with the edge of his suit jacket. He silently willed himself to stop, not wanting to appear anxious or jumpy.

"I…I heard about what happened to you…when I was in there. I just wanted to stop by and see if you were doing ok."

Rafael nodded again, eyeing the bouquet of fresh flowers from earlier still sitting on his desk. He could smell a faint whiff of the fragrance and it helped to ground him, just the slightest bit.

"I'm better. Thank you."

"Good. I'm glad."

An incredibly uncomfortable awkward silence followed his words, plunging them into a stark silence. It was almost suffocating with the weight of their past hanging above their shoulders. Rafael cursed this turn of events, not wanting to deal with something so heavy the first day back. Although, he was interested in what the man had to say, he wasn't in the mood for such an emotionally draining conversation.

Alex swiped at his nose, shoving his hands into his pockets as he rocked back on his heels, "I, uh, also wanted to invite you to lunch? Talk? Things didn't exactly end well between us. Lena suggested dinner at our place, if you'd prefer that?"

Rafael felt a bit of anxiety bubble up in his stomach at the mention of Yelena. While he didn't feel the same feelings of lost love for her anymore, even thinking about the woman (who hurled more than a few hurtful comments at him after Alex's trial) made his heart race. Not necessarily in a good way.

He turned the idea over in his head, weighing the pros and cons quickly in his mind. On one hand, he would love to put that part of his past to bed. The fact that they went way back, that Alex knew things about his childhood and his father that no one else did, would help in accepting that offer. But, the man was different than he was when they were kids and it was hard for him to realize that sometimes. The Alex he knew would have never sacked his morals for money or a pretty face (not to mention the 15-year-old girl he swore he did nothing with) and he couldn't help but wonder what made him do it.

Certainly, Yelena would have shut down his behavior right away had she a clue to what he'd been doing during his mayoral run. Or, perhaps, she was in on it and reaping the benefits. He honestly had no faith in the fact that he knew either one of them anymore and, truth be told, he wasn't sure he wanted to, no matter how tempting Alex's suggestion to bury the hatchet between them was.

"I'll have to think about it. I'm not sure it's the best time, right now, you know."

Alex nodded, looking slightly disappointed by his shaky answer, but he was going to have to deal with it. For now, he just wanted to get back to work and forget about all the negative feelings his old friend's appearance was bringing up.

"Right, right. I just want to mend things between us. I acted a fool and you were doing the right thing. I'm sorry I was too caught up in my arrogance to realize that."

Rafael breathed out, his eyes studying the form of the man before him. Yeah, he looked way older but more cut than he'd ever been. He saw the flash of a gold band on his ring finger, alluding to his marriage still going strong, but of course it would. Those two were made for each other, even if before, in his youth, Rafael refused to see it that way.

"You sound like a changed man."

"You as well."

The small smirk on Alex's lips betrayed the odd, almost malicious, sounding remark and Rafael wasn't quite sure how to take that statement. A shiver ran down his spine, suddenly feeling the air being sucked out of the room. He cleared his throat behind his hand again before realizing his hand had begun to shake. He was starting to get nervous now.

He opened his mouth to speak, to hopefully get Alex out of there and away from him, but was cut off by his office door swinging open. He startled, breath hitching before he realized it was his mother, holding a container and staring down at her phone, not paying much attention to her surroundings.

"Rafi, honey, I brought you some-oh! Alejandro?"

Lucia stopped short when she looked up, staring straight into the eyes of her son's childhood best friend. She was a bit perplexed, knowing the man had been sitting in jail for the past couple of years. The shock on her face didn't deter him from calling out her name excitedly, arms open as he quickly enveloped her into a strong hug.

"Wow. I didn't realize you'd been released."

"Last week, ma'am. I, uh, heard about Raf in the news and I just wanted to stop by and see how he's feeling."

"Well, that's thoughtful of you. How are the kids?"

Rafael watched the scene, standing closed fist against his desk. He could see the apprehensive stance his mother took up, unsurprised because of her disgusted reaction back when Alex was going through his trial. True, she still adored him like he was one of her own children (because Alex had two shitty parents instead of Rafael's one), but she voiced how sick it made her to see a grown man do such a thing.

They exchanged a few pleasantries, talking about his children and his wife, which he tuned out as a huge, flowery arrangement came through the door. Great, another gift from some ADA on the other side of the building, welcoming him back. He appreciated the gestures, but enough was enough already.

He tipped the kid and placed the flowers on the side of his desk, eyes scanning over the immaculate penmanship that spelled his name on the small envelope amidst the blues and whites. What he was going to do with all those vases, he wasn't sure, and the thought made him stress a little. Maybe his mother would take one, now that she was here.

"I'm not staying long. I have to get back to work. I know how much my Raf likes churros and Mrs. Gomez across the hall made them special for him."

"I'm afraid I have to get going, too. Have some business to attend to. Hey, Raf, call me about that dinner when you're feeling up to it. Mrs. B, take care. Maybe I'll see you around?" Alex nodded at both of them and bid them goodbye, closing the door behind him. They both watched until he disappeared completely and Rafael let go of a breath he'd been holding the entire time. Alex walking back into his life certainly threw his equilibrium off center.

Lucia didn't turn to look back at him and, instead, focused on the eerie gut feeling the sudden reappearance of her son's childhood friend wrought upon her. In the past, the few times she'd seen between Rafi leaving for college until their blow out a few years back, she would wrap her arms around him like he was her own, ask him how he and his family were coming along. Once or twice, she bought him a coffee and sometimes, he treated her back, but none of the past interaction ever left her feeling quite like this.

Something, deep down in her soul, was telling her to watch out for Alejandro Muñoz.

She dropped the grim expression on her face and looked back at her son, a warm smile on her face as he plucked the card from the flower arrangement sitting on the corner of his desk. His eyes traced the unfamiliar handwriting on the small envelope, contemplating opening it.

"Rafi," she said, catching his attention. He turned and looked at her, hand still holding the unopened card. She smiled sadly, seeing the apprehension in his frame still lingering. He was trying and she was happy he was trying, but it still broke her heart to see her son so afraid from such a simple noise. She pushed that down and charged through, hoping what she was going to say next didn't send him two steps backwards, like everything else seemed intent on doing.

"Be careful around him, sweetie."

He nodded, eyes cloudy with confusion, but he took the box from her and promised to call her later. Lucia shut the door behind her, an odd, unsettled feeling in the pit of her stomach as she walked down the halls of the court house, wondering why the sight of Alejandro Muñoz made her uneasy.

Meanwhile, Rafael shook of his mother's words and eerie feeling it left him with. He locked the door up behind her, double checking every corner of the room before he deemed it safe enough to settle back in. He sighed and sat behind his desk, ripping open the small card marked with the florists signature sign on the front.

Just like the rest, he expected a short note welcoming him back and wishing him the best of luck with the rest of his recovery. He had about a dozen of those sitting in his desk drawer now, along with all of the other arrangements sprawled throughout his office.

But, what he received instead was much more sinister and it made his hands tremble, the folded up paper falling away from him as he struggled for air. He stood up, knocking his chair away from his body as the edges of his vision began to fade into black.

He choked on a breath as he reached for the phone in his pocket, having enough sense to speed dial Liv's number without looking. His eyes remained on the paper on his desk, opened and staring back at with bold and scraggly letters written under a picture that was far more personal and private than anyone would have access to.

"Liv," he wheezed as soon as she picked up her phone. Her voice rose in concern immediately, calling to him as he fell silent. His throat felt like it was closing up and his hands began to shake, dropping the paper to the

WE'RE WATCHING, WE'RE WAITING.

The same handwriting. The same short, angry message like so many he received before. It was there. But this time, there was a grainy picture sitting just above it. It was the unmistakable scenery of Liv's bedroom, showcasing an extremely intimate position involving the two of them, magnified heavily and peeking through the open blinds of her bedroom window.

"Raf? Rafael, answer me! What's wrong?"

"Liv. Get over here. Now."