Groggily, Eliza's eyes fluttered open slowly. Before she could gather her senses, a stabbing pain resonated in her head and she grimaced. After glancing around the room for a moment, she realized that she was back at the hotel- but not in her room.
Slowly but surely, she turned to face the sleeping figure beside her and almost screamed. Luckily, she covered her mouth as she let out a quiet gasp, making sure not to wake him up.
CRAP, what did I do? Eliza thought to herself pensively and slowly slid out of the thick white comforter. Jay didn't budge one bit, letting out quiet snores.
Eliza picked up her clothes from the floor, quickly slipping them on. Every passing moment, flashbacks from the night before flooded into her memory. Between the guilt and her massive hangover, she felt like she dug a hole for herself that she can't get out of.
Once she was dressed, she grabbed her bag and made her way out the hotel room, closing the door gently. It was a good thing Jay was a heavy sleeper, or else things would've got much more awkward.
Eliza walked over to her hotel room, which was right next door. Once she managed to open the door, she plopped herself down on the couch and groaned loudly.
Abruptly breaking her moment of pure regret and nausea, Eliza's cell rang loudly. "Ugh!" She groaned and rolled over to check the caller ID. It was Erin. Great.
"Hey," Eliza tried her best to sound not hungover as she answered the phone.
"Finally, I was starting to get worried. I tried to call you last night but your phone must've been off," Erin said.
"Uh yeah, sorry about that," Eliza muttered, her face flushing bright red.
"You okay? You don't sound well," Erin asked, seeing clearly through her facade.
"Yeah I'm just kinda tired. Had a long night," Eliza responded, saying the first thing that came to mind.
"I get it. So how's the case? Any leads?" she asked.
"Honestly? No. We've got nothing," Eliza sighed, rubbing her eyes in exhaustion.
"Well, you'll find something soon. With your skills, I know you'll be able to find Sarah," Erin said. It was nice to hear her words of support. "So how's Jay?"
And we're back at square one.
"He's uh...he's fine," Eliza said so unconfidently, "Everyone's been pretty nice to him."
"Good to hear. And what about you? How's everything going with you know who?"
"Not good," Eliza frowned, "He's ignoring me."
"Seriously? Well that's childish."
"It's kinda my fault to be honest though," she shrugged, "I knew what I'd be walking into when I came back here."
"Wanna talk about it?"
"Maybe later. I need to clear my head," Eliza said, "I just can't wait to go back to Chicago."
Erin chuckled through the phone, "It might suck now, but I promise you'll remember why you used to love New York so much."
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"So are we going to talk about want happened last night or..." Jay trailed off, sensing Eliza's awkwardness.
Once Jay had woken up, the two walked down to a local cafe together to just clear the air. Eliza sipped her coffee, unsure how to answer. She knew they couldn't just pretend nothing had happened the night before, but she wanted to so bad.
"We were drunk, and made a mistake. I'm really sorry," Eliza apologized.
"You don't need to apologize. Takes two to tango," Jay said, looking down at his fumbling hands nervously, "I just...kinda thought that maybe it wasn't a mistake?"
"What are you saying?" Eliza furrowed her eyebrows.
He scratched the back of his neck nervously, averting her gaze, "I mean, usually when you're drunk, you do the things you've been too scared to do when your sober. I can't be the only one who feels this way, don't you?"
"I-I..." She couldn't find any words.
"Wow, I'm an idiot," he chuckled, hoping that would was the tension, "Sorry I'm probably overthinking this."
"No I'm just kind of in a complicated state of mind right now. It's hard to explain," Eliza finally spoke, "Last night was great, even though I don't remember much. I'm just not sure if I'm ready to rush things, you know? Especially since we're both friends and co-workers."
"I get it," he nodded with a sympathetic smile, though the smile didn't reach his eyes. Jay was a nice guy, and he deserved better, or at least that's what Eliza thought. As much as she wanted to move on and see how things would work out with him, she still couldn't get her mind off Sonny.
"Thanks, really," Eliza patted his arm, "Should we head down to the precinct now?"
"Uh yeah," Jay nodded, "I'll call a cab."
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Once the two detectives got to the precinct, they realized how busy everyone had been. Apparently, there had been a new spark of evidence to where Sarah might've been.
"Cab driver says he heard screaming in the trunk of the SUV in front of him and decided to follow the car. Led him down to Long Island, near the beach. After that, the SUV disappeared with no sign of the girl and that's when the cab driver called," Fin explained, showing the notes scribbled down on the white board ahead.
"So either they transferred cars again or..."Eliza was too afraid to even mention the other option.
"We're heading down to Long Island beach now. Let's pray we don't find her buried there," Olivia said with a grim expression.
YOU ARE READING
Last Defense (Sequel to Drastic Measures)
Fanfiction"Never thought I'd see you again." "Ditto." After leaving Manhattan SVU and joining the Chicago Intelligence Unit, Eliza Chapman is back at her old department again to help out with a new case. Much to her surprise, seeing her old flame, Sonny Caris...
