Forever Hold Your Peace

Killing Me

I wake up to the sound of glass hitting glass. All four of us jerk awake only to see Maggie's Dad setting a tray of coffee cups on the table for us.

"You kids look like hell." He says. "Rough night?"

"Just a rough case." Maggie says, sipping her coffee. "Are the kids up?"

"Hank is happily babbling away in his crib, I was just about to get him. And Casey is getting dressed for school." Scott says.

I pull my hair back into a ponytail, running my fingers through it attempting to get some of the tangles out. I feel disgusting. I wanted a shower after we got off the plane yesterday, we didn't mean to fall asleep here .

"I need a shower." Rex says.

"Me too." I groan.

"Meet at the lab in 2 hours?" Maggie asks yawning.

We all nod agreeing to meet then and Rex gives us the keys to his SUV.

"Are you guys okay?" Scott asks, taking a sip of his own coffee. "You look like you've been to hell and back."

Maggie nods her head and I sigh, resting my head on Elliot's chest. Elliot rubs my back lovingly and I smile.

"I know cases like these take a toll." He says, "If any of you need anything, just ask."

"Thanks, Dad." Maggie says.

"I mean it." He says, "All of you, Elliot, Olivia, anything you need."

"Thanks, Scott." I say offering him a smile.

Elliot and I leave, and he drives us back to our hotel. We're both too tired to say much of anything.

Elliot let's me shower first and I stand under the hot water, with my eyes closed, letting it wash over me. I don't remember the last time I was this exhausted.

I wash my hair, standing under the water for a moment longer as I finish. I wrap one of the thick white towels around myself and step out. I look at myself in the mirror, almost amused at how big the bags under my eyes are.

I open the door and Elliot comes in, undressing while I brush my teeth. He gives me a kiss on the cheek before getting into the shower.

I manage to pull on mismatched pajamas before I practically fall into bed. I fall asleep almost immediately, vaguely aware of Elliot climbing in next to me a few minutes later.

I wake up to the sound of our alarms blaring and roll over to turn it off. I pick up my phone and realize we slept through the first ones.

I elbow Elliot and he jerks awake.

"What time is it?" He asks groggily.

"We're already an hour late." I say, pulling on a pair of slacks and rifling through our suitcase to find a blouse.

Elliot gets up and gets dressed and we leave as quickly as we can.

When we finally get to the lab, we pull into the parking lot and see Rex and Maggie getting out of their car.

"Just got call from the sheriff, they found Macey Thompson's body." Rex says. "He didn't even try to bury her this time. They found her sitting on a park bench."

I start to feel a little sick to my stomach. It's been a while since we've worked a case this bad. I think it's starting to get to me.

Two techs roll a body in on a gurney. Two of the interns from Maggie's team unzip the body bag and put her onto one of the light tables. She's so tiny.