Liv sank to the floor to get a better view of the gap. There was about two feet of space between the floor of the elevator and ceiling of the office floor. It would be a tight fit, especially for Ezra, but she thought they could both get through it.

"Alright." She stood, a game plan already forming in her head.

"I'll jump first," Ezra said.

He began to unbutton the rest of his shirt. He pulled it off and tossed it on top of his suit jacket. He un-tucked his undershirt and sat down on the elevator floor, letting his legs dangling down.

Liv crouched down again, assessing his best options. Her plan had been to go first and have him help lower her down, but she wasn't going to stop him from going first. "I think the best..."

He held up a hand. "It's just a few feet off the ground. I can manage." He smiled, but there was none of the camaraderie they had shared minutes before.

Liv returned the empty smile. "Sure."

She stood and moved further back, giving him his space. He reached his hands out, feeling along the top of the elevator, searching for something to grab onto. Liv's foot began to tap impatiently, the whole ordeal was so close to being done, but she froze when Ezra shot her a warning look.

She gave a tight smile, about to apologize when he pulled himself forward and disappeared. She rushed to the gap and let out a sigh of relief when she found Ezra standing a few feet below.

"Easy," he boasted. "Now throw everything down."

Liv didn't need telling twice. She quickly grabbed his discarded shirt, jacket, and briefcase. She tossed them down along with her purse and shoes. Then she sat, hanging her legs over the edge like she had seen Ezra do.

Once seated, she froze. From her seated position a thick concrete wall was only inches from her face and was all she could see. While the elevator beneath her felt solid, her feet dangled disconcertingly in mid-air. She swung them around trying to find something to connect to and Ezra shouted.

"Watch it!"

She stopped moving instantly. "Sorry."

"Are you trying to take off my head?"

She bit back a snapping response along with any fear. She would jump off the top of this building if it meant she could finally go home and be done with Ezra. She reached her hands under the concrete wall, searching for the handhold Ezra had used. She found a small lip that wouldn't offer much in leverage. She was going to need Ezra's help.

She let out a sigh of defeat and leaned sideways, trying to get a view of the floor she was jumping to. She found Ezra waiting impatiently for her.

"Can I get some help?"

"Are you going to kick me?" he countered.

"I wasn't trying to kick you."

"You almost took off my head."

"I said I wasn't trying." She almost added that his head was already close to falling off due to his large ego. "Now, can you please help me down so we can get out of here?"

"Fine," he snapped. He moved closer and lifted his arms. "Jump and I'll help you land."

Ezra didn't make Liv's top ten list of people she would willingly jump to, not even her top hundred, but it was either him or taking up residence in the elevator.

"Fine. On three."

She edged closer and was grateful when Ezra lightly touched her ankle. It felt reassuring someone was there and it helped her imagine how far the drop would be.

"One, two, three."

She used the small ledge at the top of the elevator to propel herself forward and jumped down. For a split second, fear seized her as she dropped, but Ezra's hands found her waist and guided her to solid ground.

She landed hard and began to fall sideways, but Ezra kept her upright. She grabbed onto his arms to help steady herself. Once she was sure she wasn't going to fall over she looked up at him. "Thanks," she said, letting go of his arms. He nodded in response as his hands fell away from her waist. They each took a step back and looked around.

The power was still out, but the red glow from the emergency signs gave off enough light for them to make out the basic floor plan. Cubicles filled the center space and the offices ran a border around them.

"Let's find the stairs," Liv said, grabbing her purse. As Ezra collected his things, she pulled out her phone. She tried to make a call, but it failed.

"My phone still isn't working."

Ezra pulled out his phone and tried. "Mine either. But the power is still out."

She shook her head. "The phone network doesn't run through the electrical system." He looked skeptical. "It's true," she said, "but it doesn't matter. We just need to find the stairs."

She looked around, trying to hypothesize where the stairs were. This floor still belonged to Burkstrom and Hale and looked almost identical to the floor they worked on. If this was their floor, Liv's cubicle would be three rows to the right and two forward. She quickly ran through the floor plan in her head, trying to establish where the important parts of the office lay.

"What are you doing?" Ezra asked, startling her.

"Trying to find the stairs."

"But you aren't moving."

Liv pursed her lips, fighting with all her might not to snap back at his condescending tone. "If you would like to wander aimlessly until you find the stairs go ahead." She waved towards the large space.

He hesitated before saying anything as if her response had been a trick. "What are you going to do?"

"This floor looks exactly like our floor above. I'm trying to remember the layout to help figure out where the stairs could be."

"You've never taken the stairs?"

She looked at him like he was an idiot. "We work on the thirty-first floor. Have you taken the stairs?"

"No," he admitted reluctantly.

"In that case, why don't you help me figure out where the stairs could be." He nodded sullenly. Liv pointed out the parts of the office she knew: the records room, the cubicles, bathroom, kitchenette, copy room.

Ezra pitched in his knowledge, filling in the back office space where Liv had never been. After a few minutes, they had two logically deducted ideas of where the stairs could be. They decided to start with the northeast corner.

Liv grabbed her purse and with her shoes in hand, they headed towards the back of the building. They were about to turn down the hallway leading to the offices when Liv thought she heard movement and voices.

She checked her watch. It was almost one in the morning. Someone was burning the midnight oil. Then a loud thud stopped her in her tracks. She reached her arm out to stop Ezra, her hand coming to rest on his chest, her ears perked in the direction of the sound.

He looked down slowly at her hand. He studied it for a moment before he looked back at her, a heavy layer of sympathy coming to rest in his eyes. "Look, tonight has been..."

"Shhh," she hissed, cocking her head to hear better.

"Traumatic," he continued. He placed his own hand over hers and softened his voice, like someone about to land a blow. "But I don't think..."

She gritted her teeth. The noise Ezra was making was interfering with her hearing anything else. She looked at him and for the first time became aware of the placement of her hand. She pulled it free from his grasp and narrowed her eyes.

"Shut. Up." She tried to put as much force and threat into those two words while keeping her voice barely above a whisper.

"No. I'm a straight shooter. We can't avoid..."

Liv froze when she heard file drawers slamming shut just. She turned and put both hands on Ezra's chest. The touch silenced him for a moment and she pushed him against the wall. He opened his mouth but she covered it with her hand. His eyes turned angry at the harsh treatment but she gave him a chilling glare. She felt the tension leave his jaw as his shoulders fell under the look.

"There is someone making a lot of noise in an office down the hall," she whispered.

He remained in his frozen statement for a moment, then he ripped her hand from his mouth. "Great, maybe they know where the stairs are."

"No," she pushed him against the wall again. "I don't think..."

"It's just someone working late."

He tried his own version of a leveling glare but Liv didn't notice, her ears trained back on the movement happening a few hundred feet from them. There were several more loud thuds as if someone was rearranging the furniture, not working on a deposition.

"It's almost one in the morning." She continued to whisper and he copied her without even noticing.

"It's probably just the janitor"

"No, Rob already came through"

"I didn't see him"

She looked at him like that was the dumbest argument. "That means nothing. I saw him cleaning our floor above and he is always done by nine-thirty."

"Maybe he's running late tonight." He pushed her aside and squared his shoulders, preparing to burst in guns ablaze, but when they heard a deep voice, they both froze. It was far away and they couldn't hear what was said, but he looked at her like he had won. "I told you it was just someone working late."

He ate his words just as quickly as he said them when the man spoke again. This time they could hear his voice clearly and he was speaking a different language. The tones were harsh and sharp. A different voice responded, sounding as if came through a speaker. They remained frozen as the two male voices exchanged a quick conversation.

Liv looked at Ezra and could see he had lost some of his confidence. "Do you still think that's someone working late?" she whispered.

She didn't know what was going on, but something felt off

He shrugged definitely. "It's a big firm. I don't know everyone who works here."

But when the voice began to move in their direction and Liv started backing away, he followed her. As the footsteps grew louder, she moved quicker, looking for somewhere to get out of sight. She realized her exhaustion might be making her react in a crazy way, but something in her gut told her to hide.

They passed the doorway into a small kitchen and she slipped inside, pulling Ezra with her. Without an emergency light, the room was completely dark. She held out her hands searching for the wall. She found a space between the fridge and the wall that was out of sight from the doorway and pulled Ezra into it.

Her heart began to race while they waited in silence.

"What are we doing?" Ezra hissed at her.

She didn't know the answer. The footsteps grew louder as they moved in their direction. There was a very high chance that Rob the janitor would pass by the door and Liv would be left looking like a paranoid idiot.

A part of her told her to call off the game of hide-n-seek and try to regain some amount of dignity by walking out of the room to face whoever was nearing. But she also heard her father's voice, telling her to always listen to her gut instincts.

Her father's voice won out in the end and she remained concealed behind the fridge. She figured if it turned out to be nothing, she could blame her behavior on having a cop for a father.

She was oddly relieved when the man finally passed the doorway and all her fears were confirmed. He was a behemoth of a man, standing at least six and a half feet tall, with arms the size of watermelons and dressed in all black.

In the faint light, she could just make out his close-cropped hair and the outline of a large nose. He walked past the kitchen without a second glance and was gone. A few steps past the doorway, the voice came through his radio again. He responded in the foreign language and kept moving.

Liv waited minutes after she had heard even the faintest sounds before she turned to Ezra.

"Do you still think that man works at the firm?"

**********************************************************************

What up wackadoos!

We're back! And when I say we, I mean I have nowhere else to go and my sister won't leave me.

Like I have any choice, we're quarantined and we live in the same room.

Ah! was that why you haven't left? That makes a lot more sense. I thought you just liked me.

Don't flatter yourself. I LOVE YOU!

AWWW I wuv you too!

Now enough with this sister goals stuff, let's find out what everyone is thinking about Ezra and Liv's relationship!

Vote, comment, follow but only if you have a brain.