Paranoia - s.reid

68 Grand

Liz dragged him out, ushering him into the spare office that was just the team's topic of conversation. "So this is what you wanted to do? You wanted to become am FBI agent and pretend like what happened didn't happen?" 

"Chip, you know I had no play in what you did. You're lucky nothing was traced back to you. What are you doing here?" Liz seethed.

"That 68 grand was for us!"

"No! That 68 grand was for you and Liza, then it was for you and Violet! It was never for you and me." Chip was taken aback. In the years he had known Liz, she'd never argued back to him. He huffed. "You said you'd wait for me, Lizzy. Are you still waiting for me?"

"No, Chip. I'm not. I'm happy. I'm done waiting for you. I've been done with you since I left."

"You're in a relationship?" Chip questioned, his lips stretched into a thin line as he received silence as his answer. "Which one is it? The really buff one? I didn't think he was your type. The one at the front talking? I thought he'd be too old for you."

"It's me, actually." A new voice had joined the unpleasant conversation. Liz and Chip turned their heads to the door, meeting Spencer's gaze. "Ellie, what the hell is going on?"

"Hey, baby. Why don't you come sit down?" Liz's voice was soft as a small smile graced her features, happy to see her boyfriend. "Never looked at me like that." Chip mumbled gruffly.

"Maybe because we weren't really in love, Chip. Maybe because you pretended to love me while pining for other girls." Liz snapped, her fists clenched.

"Can someone tell me what's going on?" Spencer reminded before Chip could rebut. 

"You're going to want to sit down for this if your girlfriend hasn't told you the story." Chip deadpanned, pulling a seat out and throwing himself into it as Liz took a deep breath. 

"A long time ago."

"Cut the shit, Liz. It was 6 years ago." Chip interrupted.

"I was Chip's 'other woman' 6 years ago when he had a girlfriend." Liz rolled her eyes as Chip began to protest. "You weren't the other woman."

"Yes, I was. You were in a relationship. Now either shut the fuck up or leave. Chip was with this girl named Liza, she was criminally insane. I could tell. It was really weird. I was already in my second year of college at Brown, and my mother was trying to pay for tuition. While Chip claimed to be in love with me,"

"Which I was."

"He stayed with Liza because we were both scared shitless. Then it turns out, Liza had the insane plan for her and Chip to steal 68 thousand dollars. Chip didn't do anything, Liza did all of it. She stole the money, killed the people she stole it from, and then fucking kidnapped a witness. Her name was Violet. Chip abandoned Liza at the house after finding out that she wanted to sell Violet to her brother who had a thing for chopping girls up and stuff. Things we see in cases. He took the car, with Violet in it, and picked me up. Then I had to watch him fall in love with Violet, who he soon let go because he trusted her."

"I wasn't in love with Violet, I was in love with you."

"We stopped at a motel, got ourselves drugged by someone and got the car and money stolen. Keep in mind, I didn't know anything was stolen or kidnapped until after. So without me knowing, Chip stole the motel owner's car saying it was a friend's and drove to this girl who picked a fight with him. She had a whole cult in the house and all. They tied us up and beat Chip, then Liza came to the rescue. She shot everyone and then tried to sell me to her brother, who proceeded to try and bind me to a table but I shot him out of self defense. Chip and I got jobs, used the 68 grand to find an apartment, get me through college and law school, then once I became a lawyer, I-"

"She dumped me." Spencer looked shocked. "They didn't find any evidence tracing any crime back to me, and hers was out of self defense. Look, Liz, all I need is a place to stay."

"No."

"Your sister told me you have a nice apartment, I'll sleep on the sofa and I won't intervene with your work." Chip reasoned.

"No, Chip. I don't really live there anymore. I have someone taking care of it."

"Then where the fuck are you living?"

"She's staying with me. So you're telling me all of that happened and you didn't tell me?" Spencer turned to Liz, a hurt expression on his face. "I didn't think it mattered."

"Didn't think it mattered? That's a big part of your life, Elizabeth!" Spencer was beginning to lose his temper. "It obviously matters if your ex boyfriend somehow manages to burst into your office asking for somewhere to stay!"

"Don't talk to her like that, man. I asked her sister where she was." Chip stood between the couple. "Shut up, Chip. Spencer, I'm sorry, I don't know what else you want me to say!"

"Nothing, just don't say anything." And with that, Spencer grabbed his bag and left the office, Liz leaving shortly after but heading to the briefing room rather than the exit.

-----

Liz entered Spencer's apartment, ignoring his figure on the sofa and immediately heading to the bedroom, collecting some spare clothes. "What are you doing?" She looked up to see Spencer leaning against the door frame.

"I think I'm going to go back home." She replied curtly, shoving a pair of trousers into her small bag. It felt wrong calling her apartment home, even if it was. She always thought home was with Spencer, in his apartment. But she thought wrong.

"Okay." He responded. She desperately wanted him to ask her to stay, she wanted to stay so badly. He wanted her to stay, but he didn't have the gut to tell her that. 

Without a word, she left. Elizabeth Bundy went back to her empty apartment, and curled up into a ball on her cold bed as she sobbed herself into a nightmare plagued sleep.