Her blinks came in slow motion.

The anxiety within her was winding down, spinning itself into numbness.

She glanced down at her dress, black droplets of makeup that had fallen from her cheeks were stained on her dress.

More than anything, she didn't want to be in the dress anymore. Elliot had managed to get her up to the apartment, away from where any stray employees could see her. As soon as the door had closed behind them, a blanket had been placed over her shoulders and it was still there.

She was still there. Sitting in the dress that she simply wanted to tear off by the seams.

As time passed, she became acutely aware of the beating of her heart. She could hear it in her ears. It was nearly all she could hear.

Except Elliot.

Every few sentences, the fog in her eardrums lifted and she could hear the cadence of his voice. He and Skylar talking in terms she didn't have the mental capacity to even try to understand. She preferred it when she couldn't hear them.

They were talking about security and it sounded uncomfortably familiar to when they got back from Santorini. Similar words thrown around, similar tones of worry and stress.

She could feel the guilt dripping off of Elliot, mostly because she couldn't feel anything within herself. He was angry that he wasn't there, and even more angry that the cameras in the elevator had seemingly been turned off moments after she stepped inside.

Just when the horror of their trip to Greece had started to be set behind them, it had to go and happen again. Only worse this time. This time, Elliot hadn't been there. This time, the circumstances were much more dire.

"Olivia?" Elliot spoke, setting himself down beside her on the couch.

When she looked up to meet his eyes, she realized he had been calling her several times with no answer.

Skylar was gone, presumably dismissed to go do his job and get to the bottom of this. Whatever that would entail, she didn't want to know.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Elliot asked softly.

"I already told you, he cornered me. He grabbed me and told me I was a fool for going after his job." Olivia answered, barely recognizing her own voice given the hoarseness.

Elliot stared at her, sadness in his eyes. "Okay. Now can you tell me the whole story?"

Olivia felt the numbness slip into agitation and fear. She took a sharp inhale, the air striking against her teeth as she did so. "Does it matter?" she asked, beginning to cry again.

"Yes," he said, taking the hand that didn't belong to the bruised wrist. "I have two priorities right now, Liv. Making sure you're safe, and making sure that my staff is safe. I need to know what he said to you."

Olivia mulled over his words, letting the potential ramifications run through her mind. The truth would come out, Tucker just about said so himself. The last thing she wanted to do was to tell Elliot the truth about it all, but she wasn't given much of a choice.

She cleared her throat, staring down into her lap. "Remember... a while back Monique told you I saved her life and you asked me what she meant?"

Elliot nodded, somewhat confused about what this had to do with Tucker.

"Tucker said..." her stomach twisted and she was terrified that she might keel over right there. "I believe his exact words were, 'Stabler has to be either very stupid or very naive to think he should ever put that position into the hands of an attempted murderer.'" She dropped the last two words out with shame and disappointment.

Elliot's brow furrowed, staring at her with even more confusion than before. "What?" He asked, his voice barely above that of a breath.

She finally worked up the courage to look him in the eye.

And as soon as she did, he knew that he hadn't misheard.

"After my mom drank herself to death, I was put into foster care. I met Monique when I was twelve, we bounced around group homes together countless times. We made it known that we were a package deal, and if they didn't believe us, then we proved it. If I was placed and she wasn't, I found a way to keep her around. And vice versa."

Elliot listened intently, never letting go of Olivia's hand as she spoke.

She took a deep breath before continuing. "Eventually, our social workers threw their hands up and tried to keep us together as often as possible. A few months after my 15th birthday, we were placed with what seemed to be a wonderful family willing to take the both of us. They had money, they had great jobs, they seemed perfect."

Olivia turned her head to look at him, "But do you know what the problem is with perfect, Elliot?"

He shook his head, afraid to give a verbal answer.

She leaned closer towards him, heartbroken eyes staring into his as her voice cracked.

"It doesn't exist."

Tears welled up once more, refusing to fall but rather just gathering in the ducts of her eyes.

"Everything seemed wonderful until our foster father started climbing into bed with Monique at night. He told her what they always say, that if she spoke up then she would regret it. That he'd make sure neither her or I would ever have a home again. So she kept quiet because she didn't want me to suffer. Until I caught him one night."

"Oh my god," Elliot whispered, cocking his head to the side as he tried to push away all of the bad thoughts that came with her explanation.

Olivia looked away, unable to stand Elliot's expression any longer. "Monique finally broke down and told me what was happening. I refused to let what happened to my mother happen to my best friend. So, I made a plan. I knew nobody would believe us if we said anything, and reputations get around for foster kids labeled as difficult. So... I heard him go into her room one night and I went in after him... with a baseball bat."

She sniffled, nodding her head at the end of her sentence as if she would do it all over again... she would.

"Yeah, I'm blanking on what your nickname was," she lied, knowing it would get a rise out of Olivia.

"Don't even start with that, Jeffries!" Olivia cracked up, setting her wine glass down so she wouldn't spill it in the laughter.

Monique feigned ignorance, "Batting Cage Benson?"

"Baseball Bat Benson!" Olivia shouted through laughter. "And don't you forget it!"

It had become a joke between just the two of them: a horrible way to cope with the reality of the situation.

"I beat him, Elliot." She sobbed. "I beat him until I saw red and I beat him until Monique pulled me off of him. I was arrested and charged with attempted murder. I took an assault plea deal so they would drop it down to a misdemeanor and in return I served a year in Juvie instead of being charged as an adult with a felony. Monique visited me every single chance she had, she made sure I was okay, she made sure I was alive. Sometimes she'd bring me sketches like what we would draw when we were younger. Sometimes she'd pick up extra shifts after school to have some money to put on my commissary. When I got out, we coasted through the next few months."

Elliot nodded carefully, putting the puzzle pieces together. "So.. after that you worked hard to graduate, got your mother's honorary scholarship to Columbia, and got your degree."

"I had to make a life for myself and Monique where that night never happened. Where that year never happened. The records were sealed, I don't know how he got them. I just wanted a fresh start. Then everything with my mother's estate, like I told you before. It was enough money to start over." She sniffled, bringing her hand to her nose as she fought back the next onslaught of tears.

Elliot moved closer to her, vague and nearly invisible tears welling in his own eyes to match her own. "Liv... why didn't you tell me?" he nearly begged for the answer, and she almost took pity on him for that.

She scuffed out an incredulous laugh. "How? It's not something you just blurt out to someone. Not your boss, not the guy you're with. And... I was afraid." she choked out.

"A-afraid of?" Elliot stammered.

"What you would think of me," she answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "What you would do if you found out. Afraid you'd look at me and no longer see me, but rather see the person I used to be. I was afraid to lose you."

"Olivia," he rested his palm on the back of her head, guiding her forehead against his. "I promise you that won't happen. That none of that will ever happen."

"The last thing I want is for you to look at me and question everything about us. I'm not that person anymore, Elliot. And I haven't been for a very long time."

"I know that," he breathed, nodding against her. "I don't see any of that when I look at you. And I never will." Both of his hands came to her cheeks, still forehead to forehead with her. "What I see is a woman who was once a girl who did what she had to do to save her best friend. A woman who has done nothing but work hard to give herself and others a better life. And I promise you, I'm not the only one who sees that."

"The hell am I gonna do now? Tucker knows, do you think he won't hesitate to use this against me or you? What about your company, Elliot? Your entire life's work?"

"Listen to me," he closed his eyes, holding her close. "Don't you worry about that. Don't worry about Tucker or the business or any of it, alright? That's my job now. I'll do the worrying, okay?"

She hesitated until the nod came involuntarily. They both knew she wouldn't end her worrying then and there, but handing at least some of it over to Elliot was better than nothing. She folded her body into his, sobbing into his chest as he held her tightly against him.

"Mr. Stabler." Skylar's voice interrupted. Elliot looked up, seeing the man holding the iPad display of security footage.

Elliot gave Skylar a quick nod, turning back to Olivia. "Hey, listen to me," he lifted Olivia's head up gently. "I'm gonna talk to Skylar for a moment, why don't you get settled in? You can climb straight into bed if you want or you can take a shower, there should be a clean bathrobe in there. I'll be there in just a little bit, okay?" He leaned forward, pressing a long and comforting kiss against her forehead.

"Okay," Olivia nodded tiredly, wrapping the blanket tighter around herself as she trudged out of the room. In all honesty, a shower had never sounded so alluring.

Elliot pushed himself up off the couch as soon as Olivia was gone, pinching the bridge of his nose as he walked over towards Skylar. "Tell me it's good news."

"I'm afraid not, sir." Skylar turned the screen towards Elliot. "The camera logs show that not only were they shut off, but a 15 minute time span of the memory before and after they were turned off and back on was wiped from the server."

Realization fell over Elliot like a waterfall. "Leaving just enough time for him to slip in and out in time to turn them off and back on without being picked up."

"Another thing, sir." Skylar looked at him nervously. "Only the elevator and surrounding hallway cameras were turned off. The ballroom camera was still recording. Mr. Tucker was still in the ballroom for approximately 10 minutes after the cameras were shut off."

Elliot's jaw fell slightly open as his eyes widened. "Oh, don't tell me—"

"Which leaves no room for Mr. Tucker to have been the one who shut the cameras off in the first place." Skylar added, confirming the unfortunate turn of events that Elliot feared.

"So, he's working with someone." Elliot sighed, pacing in circles away from Skylar. "What about the cameras? By any miracle, were they turned off remotely?"

If they were turned off remotely, he could see how turning off the cameras in the surrounding areas would be a clever move to lead him away.

"No, sir." Skylar shook his head. "Logs show that they were turned off manually from inside from the master terminal."

"The mast- the master terminal? Only security has access to that entire room. Can we trace which badge was scanned to enter?" Elliot asked, wide blue eyes in search of any hope on Skylar's face.

"One step ahead of you. I retrieved all of the security badges and ran their history. None of them were granted access into the room within that time frame. Whoever accessed the room had a clone card."

Elliot felt his blood pressure rise, desperately in need of a drink or four. "Fuck!" He hated to even think this, but he needed Olivia at a time like this. Back in Santorini, she had all of the answers the moment that he needed them. This is what she did best; she problem solved. However, Olivia was as good as a thousand miles away. "Okay, so we have a security breach. All new scannable clearance badges need to be issued, even for all of our lower clearance employees. For the entire system. We need to update all of the passwords and codes throughout the building. Did the master terminal logs give an indication of anything else useful to us?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. Only one other direct order was executed from the system. All elevators except for the one were turned off. Given the circumstances, whoever planned this clearly wanted to make sure that Ms. Benson ended up in the place they wanted her. They were all turned back on at the same time as the cameras." Skylar nodded pensively. "Other than that, there were no other orders executed. No data breaches, no released information, just those few orders: delete the footage fifteen minutes prior, shut the cameras off, shut the main elevators off, and to set everything on a timer to turn back on fifteen minutes after the last order was executed in order to give whomever did this a chance to get out without being seen."

Elliot scrubbed his palms against his face. "Alright. I want a team assembled, priority only. I want files examined to see who in the office has any prior connections with Tucker. Whoever he teamed up with clearly knows the building well enough if they planned to get in and out in such a short period of time. We have to assume the worst, that it's another employee."

"Yes, sir," Skylar began to walk away until he carefully turned on his heel. "One more thing, Mr. Stabler."

Elliot raised an eyebrow at him.

"I know that evidence against Mr. Tucker at this time is minimal. However if Ms. Benson should decide to take action against him, it may be in both hers and your best interest to... document the results of the situation."

Elliot looked at him completely confused. "English, Skylar. What are you saying?"

Skylar gulped and looked down at the floor for a split second. "Her wrist, sir. Ms. Benson has a rather visible bruise forming on her skin where he grabbed her. That very well may be the only evidence she has that goes to her word. If she decides to see this through toward any sort of hearing, you'll need to have photographs and measurements of it."

Elliot's heart fell into his stomach, his eyes closing slowly as the gravity of the situation came down on him even harder. "Uh...thank you, Skylar. I'll speak to her about this immediately. You may go."

As soon as the room was empty, he leaned forward against the back of the couch, clasping his hands together. A loud and exhausted sigh escaped him but he was left to worry more about Olivia than anything else. Sure, his trust in his company was beginning to crumble like a late stage Jenga tower. But that was... well, that was nothing compared to her. Hell, he'd let the entire thing fall for her. The matters of security felt foolish now that he had Olivia in mind.

In the shower that was practically the size of her apartment bedroom, she sat on the cold floor tiles. With her back up against the wall, the water mostly fell against her feet rather than her entire frame. She cradled her aching arm in her other hand, staring blankly out beyond the glass doors.

From where she sat, she could see the bright red dress folded on the sink countertop. Against her greater instincts, she hadn't torn it off her body. It was an expensive dress - a gift from Elliot. And even though she knew that she could burn it for all he cared, she didn't have the heart to destroy it.

At the beginning of the night, she felt beautiful in that dress. As if she had been representing the fruit of her labors that was Red Light. Now she felt as if Tucker's hurtful words were written across the fabric in black ink.

It was not lost on her how the night could've turned into something much more horrifying. That wasn't to say that it wasn't horrifying already, but given that it ended where it did, she wanted to cry in relief.

The rest of her just wanted to cry.

She heard the careful sound of the bathroom door opening, and the silhouette of Elliot appeared in the glass. She watched as the silhouette unbuttoned its shirt, letting it fall to the ground.

"I'm not in the mood to fuck in the shower, Elliot."

"Neither am I," he answered back with a short chuckle as he rid himself of his pants. "But I'm also not in the mood to get my clothes soaking wet while I sit with you."

The glass door opened but Olivia's eyes stayed glued to wherever the hell they were looking at - even she wasn't sure. Elliot stepped inside, settling down on the wet floor beside her. For a few moments, while the water rained down on them, they sat in silence.

"You know," he spoke first, staring in the same direction as she did. "I think this is the first time we've ever been in the shower together not having sex."

"We deserve an award." she replied, letting out a pathetic puff of a laugh.

"Hey," He turned to look at her, both his eyes and voice softening. "Give me your hand," he whispered, gently taking a hold of the non-injured wrist. He couldn't keep the corners of his mouth from faintly turning upward as he looked at her. He admired her - to put it simply. He admired her so much. Even now, on the floor of a shower with her short brunette hair half wet and half dry. With no energy left in her body whatsoever. He admired her.

He carefully interlaced his fingers with hers, allowing himself to have this raw moment with her. "I will never..." he paused, still searching for all of the right words when there weren't any. "I will never look at you differently, Olivia. And if I do, it will only be a look that grows in amazement. No matter what colors your past is painted with, I will never look at you differently."

Olivia turned to look at him, weepy eyes that weren't so weepy after all given that all of her tears had been cried out. The skin around her eyes had turned red and sore, but he still saw only the sparkle in them. "Why do you put up with me?" she asked, sounding almost in disdain of herself. "The moment I came into your life, everything flipped upside down for you. I disrupted the rhythm of your job. God knows when you'll ever feel safe enough to return to Santorini. And now one of the biggest board members and assets to your company is on the brink of putting you in a scandal so deep you may never recover. All because of me. Why am I still here?"

His eyes were so wide they looked as if they'd fall out at any moment. His jaw was as good as on the floor. "Why?" he asked, staring at her in nothing short of disbelief. "Because I love you, Olivia."

Her stare softened as his words echoed off of the shower walls.

"Yeah, I said it," he nearly laughed. "I love you. You told me not to say it at the heights, so I'm saying here at the depths. The darkest hour, on the fucking shower floor. I love you, Olivia. And nothing you can ever say or do will ever change that."

Her lip quivered as she let his words soak in.

"I have... I have been in love before." He continued. "I have lived many chapters of my life, some good, some bad, some absolutely crazy. Yes, I have been in love before, but not like this." His eyes conveyed all of the seriousness yet certainty that she needed. "Not to the point where love would have me put someone before all else. Not to the point where I have wanted to become a better man, a better father, a bett... just better. I have made my fair share of mistakes, maybe even more than a fair share's worth. But loving and being loved by you will always be one of my greatest accomplishments... and absolute blessings."

"B-but what I did, I —"

"What you did —" he interrupted, holding her hand with both of his "is of no consequence to how much I love you. There has never been a single person who has walked in my life and changed it in all of the ways you have. In ways that are for the better. You hold me accountable, Olivia. You have taught me to look inside of myself and make better decisions. You didn't fix my life, Liv, you taught me how to fix it myself and want to fix it."

She stared at him, doe-eyes filling once again with tears. "Do you mean that?"

He brought her hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to the top of it. "There will never be another quite like you, Olivia. And I don't plan on looking in order to prove that."

"I don't deserve you," she whispered, moving to lean her head on his shoulder. With her now at a different angle, more mist from the running shower sprinkled on her. She simply closed her eyes, allowing the small droplets of water to roll off of her skin.

"I hate to break it to you, but I'm exactly what you deserve." Elliot chuckled, wrapping his arm around her bare shoulder and pulling her in tighter.

"When uh... when we were at the Botanic Gardens," she murmured, feeling shameful for that night already. "When I told you not to tell me how you felt, part of it was because I wanted you to wait until you knew the full story. And I couldn't in all good consciousness say it back to you if I knew that I was holding back pivotal parts of myself that could influence the way you feel. But now..."

"But now?" he parroted with bated breath.

"I promised you I would say it back."

"Liv, you've had a tough night. If you're not rea—"

"I love you, Elliot." she exhaled, as if the words escaping were carrying along a thousand pounds of weight along with them. Her eyes closed as she listened to the dripping of the water and the beating of his heart.

She loved him. He loved her. It was fairly simple despite all of the complications their lives had thrown at them.

Even though she didn't want it to, the sun had risen the next morning. Orange beams of morning light shone through the windows of Elliot's apartment. Olivia sat on the terrace, bundled up in Elliot's comfiest sweats while cradling a mug of hot coffee in her hand. She watched the city begin its morning, the never ending life force that was the streets. People walking down the sidewalks like blood through veins.

Through the glass guard railing, she could see it all. As if there was no limit to how far the city stretched out. It struck her as odd that in a city this big, it seemed as if there wasn't a single hiding spot in sight. That's what she really wanted, she wanted to hide.

A loose strand of brunette hair had fallen out of the small pony tail that held her hair back. It hadn't even crossed her mind that she probably looked like a mess. Not that she cared either. Not really, not now.

She hadn't slept much, and she was sure that Elliot hadn't either. At any given point in the night, they had both been awake, staring at the ceiling in silence. She inevitably had so much to come from this. She'd have to tell Monique - given that Monique had urged her to tell Elliot the truth in the first place. Casey would probably ask her why every single employee was issued a new security badge and she'd have to lie and say she had no clue. Elliot would probably spend a hell of a lot of time consumed with fruitless plots to get Tucker the hell out of the business.

They were in a world of hurt.

"Hey, honey." Elliot greeted her quietly from behind, leaning down to press a kiss against the top of her head before sitting in the chair beside her. He was holding his own mug of coffee, taking a careful sip once he was fully seated.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked.

"Nope. You?" he answered, sounding almost serene in his response despite how tired it was.

"Nope."

"You know, Liv..." he stopped, debating on whether or not it was even a time to bring this up. "Before everything happened, I had a plan to share some news with you."

She furrowed her brows in confusion.

"A job opened up on the same floor we already work on," he continued, carefully eyeing her reaction. "A management level job. Not too many changes to your current job but a title or two higher. I had spoken to the staffing department and given how hard you worked on Red Light, they agreed to let me offer you the position."

Olivia blinked several times, trying to process what he was saying. "But... but Casey is higher than me. Shouldn't the job go to her first?"

Elliot smirked. "Already ahead of you. I knew you'd say that which is actually why I offered the job to Casey first. She turned it down, said she liked where she was at and that I should ask you instead."

"El, I... I'm so grateful but is now really a good time for that?" she winced. God knows she wanted nothing more than to keep climbing but after Tucker had accused her of 'fucking her way up the foodchain' she felt deterred from the idea.

He nodded empathetically, turning to look out over the skyline. "I know. Bad timing. But, I just wanted you to know that the offer is there. If you don't want it, that's completely understandable, and I don't need an answer any time soon. But if you do want it, it's all yours. And like I said, it's pretty similar to what you're doing now. You'll just be more of a manager over everyone rather than just an assistant."

Olivia exhaled, cracking a small smile. "Does that mean some new assistant will come take my old position?"

Elliot let out a deep laugh as he set his coffee mug aside. "No," he said through his chuckles. "No, in fact, having two might be too much. You'd pretty much continue the same job, but whatever overlap there would be would just go to Casey, stuff she probably already does."

"You know," she glanced down at her lap. "A while back, Freddie in the design department told me I should take on that job full time. Being down in the studio, working on Red Light and what not. For a while I actually wondered if he was right, if I should've done that."

"When did he say that?"

"When uh... when you were gone. You were holed up in Westchester." she clicked her thumbnails against each other nervously, not wanting to take the conversation into the wrong direction. "I only considered it because I was mad at the world. Looking back, moving down there would've felt like giving up."

He shifted his vision over to her, offering a soft smile. "I'm glad you stayed where you were."

The silence came back, but it was peaceful. Neither of them were filled with awkwardness and the urge to disrupt the moment with more conversation. Olivia hadn't asked about Tucker or any of that situation, likely not wanting to even know. Or maybe she wanted to move past it, he wasn't sure.

However, he knew that moving past it was not an option yet. At least not for him. He could do everything in his power to keep her out of the crosshairs from that point forward, but his battle with Tucker was just beginning - and it showed no signs of ending soon.

He sat and wondered how things would be from now on. If she would have a difficult time returning to work. Part of him wanted to rip the entire fucking elevator right out of the building just so she would never have to see it again. He wanted to do even worse things to Tucker.

"Liv, there's something I need to ask you." Elliot sighed, his face dropping into something more solemn and regretful.

Her guard went up, he could see it in the shift of her shoulders.

"Do you want to press charges against Tucker?"

She stared at him for a moment, her eyes unreadable. She knew this question had been coming, she could've seen it from a mile away. "Do you want me to?"

"It's not about what I want. Not at all." He quickly answered back.

"But it's your company, El." she bobbed her head in reiteration. "A potential assault and harassment trial between an assistant and a CFO with the assistant being more than an assistant to the CEO? Who knows what that'll do to Stabler Enterprises? Your shares would plummet, business would be at an all time low, every paper in town would be scouring us for a story. It would be a scandal I'm not sure SE could come back from."

"Liv," he leaned forward. "I don't care what it does to my business. I'm more interested in what you want to do, for you. Not with me in mind, not with anyone in mind but yourself."

She took a long, deep breath and laid back against the chair. She stared up at the sky, watching a big white puffy cloud pass over her. "My gut reaction would be to say no, I don't want to press charges. I don't want to go through all of that just for it to ruin everything. He's not worth it. But if pressing charges against him would somehow help any plan you have, I'd do it."

"Oh trust me, I'm gonna find a way to get him the hell out of here with or without a report from you against him." Elliot huffed in anger, thinking about all of the ways he would take Tucker down. "Don't you worry about that."

"So," she hesitated, trying to find the right words. "You'd be okay with it if we just kept this under wraps?"

Elliot nodded softly, "If that's what you decide, then absolutely. It's entirely up to you."

She hesitated again, dropping her gaze back down into her lap as she nodded.

He turned and looked at her seriously. "Though, I do need to ask a favor, and you can say no. But if you say yes, it could help me with this situation in the long run."

She bit down on her lower lip, tugging down the sweater sleeve to cover the bruise on her wrist.

She knew what he was going to ask.

"Tilt your hand to the left a little bit," Skylar said, holding a camera up to his eye. Bright white flashes of light blinded her each time he snapped a photo. She moved her wrist more towards the ruler set beside her arm.

Elliot stood off to the side, arms crossed over his chest as he watched Skylar gather evidence.

"Now, turn your arm flat on the table."

Olivia complied, not speaking a word since agreeing to do this. Elliot had called Skylar as soon as she agreed, knowing she would change her mind at any moment. They agreed that the photos of the bruise would be locked down in some archive file, far away from where anyone could ever get them. But she also knew that having them on hand would potentially help Elliot's attempts to get rid of Tucker.

She flinched every time the high pitch ring of the flash would sound out.

"Now turn your arm to the right, please."

She was getting antsy and so was Elliot, just wanting this to be over.

The flash beamed out a few more times before Skylar packed the camera back into the bag. "I think I have all I need, thank you Ms. Benson."

"Thank you, Skylar." she mumbled, getting up from the chair at the table. She walked over to Elliot, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips. "I'm gonna go lie down."

"I'll be there soon," Elliot nodded, grazing her cheek with his palm before she walked away.

He and Skylar both waited for her to be out of earshot before Elliot began walking him to the door. "So," Skylar started. "What now?"

Elliot stared at him, his blue eyes as cold as ice. He straightened out his posture, clenching his jaw until his teeth ached.

"We go to war."