SSA Scottley - A collection - S.R.

DRSE

Lily swallowed her tears then. She still blamed herself for his death. How couldn't she, anyway? She had been working the case when it happened, after all. Everyone had told her it wasn't her fault. The unsubs picked at random, Oliver had just been at the wrong place at the wrong time, but still... She felt responsible. But hearing Oliver saying he didn't blame her did help easing her guilt a little.

So she smiled, nodding her head as she grabbed Oliver's hand and allowed him to pull her up. Lily was half expecting to feel some sort of unimaginable pain, but when she stood up, she noticed she felt nothing.

"You okay, darling?" Oliver asked, as Lily turned to nod at him, before frowning a little as she looked around.

"Where are we?" She asked, as Oliver chuckled.

"You don't recognize this place?" He asked, as Lily looked around, trying to make any sense of the street she found herself standing in with Oliver. "I guess it does look different with no traffic at all times. But, there... Look over there. Do you recognize that?"

Lily turned to look at where Oliver was pointing and her heart squeezed in her chest when she recognized the place.

"The café." She said, as Oliver smiled.

"That's the one." He said, starting to make his way over as he tugged on Lily's hand so they could walk over together. "Come on, darling, let's go."

Lily allowed him to guide her. She was still confused about this whole thing, but decided not to question it. Oliver did say she was in surgery, so she was probably experiencing some kind of death-related sensory experience - DRSE, they called it -, hallucinating while losing blood in a medical table.

Oliver walked with her to the café. He sat her down at a table and moved around, making himself a cappuccino while preparing a tea for Lily and grabbing them both a piece of chocolate cake. Lily smiled at the familiarity of it all and she almost broke down in tears at the smell of the cake when Oliver placed it in front of her, along with her tea.

"Just the way you like it." He announced, almost proud of himself as he sat down in front of Lily.

"Thank you." Lily whispered, looking down at the tea in front of her before lifting her eyes up to meet Oliver's again. "I've missed this place. I haven't been there since..."

"Maybe you should." Oliver shrugged, blowing at his coffee. "Go back there, I mean."

"Maybe." She nodded. "You did have one of the best cakes I've ever had in my whole life."

"Yeah, they were amazing." Oliver chuckled, offering Lily a fork. "Here, take a bite."

Lily did. She smiled at the taste as soon as she put the piece of cake in her mouth. It still tasted the same. It tasted sweet, familiar... It tasted like home.

"Olly, listen..."

"I know." Oliver nodded. "You want to know what we're doing, right? Want to know why we're here?"

"I just want to understand."

"You always want to understand." Oliver smirked a little as Lily shrugged, almost bashfully. "Well, as I said, you weren't in good shape when they found you. You were unconscious when they took you to the hospital and you're still unconscious now. If I have to guess, you're probably still in surgery, but I'm not sure. In any case... You... I mean, if you're here it means..."

"That I'm dying." Lily said. "If I'm here, it means that I'm dying."

"It means that you're somewhere in between." Oliver corrected. "You can die. But, if you're here, talking to me, it means you can also fight to survive."