I own no one but my own people.
A/N I just gotta give a shout out to Kat (LestrangeOne10 on twitter and Messy Little Raindrop on here.) Love you, thanks for the inspiration for this story. This is just a little established EO 3 shot. Hope you enjoy and review :)
December 23rd, 10:47 PM
"You know I never got why Mrs. Cratchet didn't get a job to help out," Olivia mused as she laid on the couch with her feet up munching on a Christmas cookie as she watched one of the numerous versions of 'A Christmas Carol', her hand resting on her bulging stomach that held her and her husband of nearly two year's baby girl that was due in five short days.
"Because then it would take away from the whole 'Bob Cratchet being the sole bread winner and needing more money' thing that makes us all hate Scrooge," Elliot told her as he sat on the chair with a stack of unsigned Christmas cards in front of him.
"Yeah but still she should have canned fruit or worked as a baker or whatever else women did in those days and brought in a little extra cash. Especially around the holidays," she argued as she looked over at him and took another bite of cookie.
Elliot chuckled and shook his head as he signed another card. "You're the only person I know who has anything negative to say about the most well known Christmas book of all time, bible being excluded."
"Yeah but they're both GREAT pieces of fiction," she said with a smirk.
Elliot faked a laugh as he got up from his chair. He walked over to the couch and leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.
"You're so hilarious," he said with another kiss that she eagerly returned. "You wanna know what else is hilarious?"
"What?" she asked as Elliot reached own and kissed her again.
"This," he smirked as he reached over and snatched the half eaten cookie from her hand.
"Stealing a Christmas cookie from your pregnant wife two days before Christmas? Really?" she demanded as he stuffed the rest of the cookie in his mouth as she threw a fierce glare his way that he only laughed at.
He swallowed the remainder of her cookie. "I love you, Liv," he told her with a grin.
"Good because I hate you."
"Will you love me if I go get you another cookie?"
Olivia seemed to be thinking about it before she turned back to him. "Bring me the one with a Hershey's kiss in the center then I'll think about it."
"I'm on it," he told her as he gave her another kiss and hurried into the kitchen. Elliot looked through the large plate of cookies that Kathy had made for the soon to be new parents, groaning loudly when he saw that there wasn't a single cookie with the chocolate candy in the center left.
He dug through nearly all of them and he let out a triumphant 'ah ha!' when he found one buried deep in the bottom of the stack.
He had just grabbed the cookie when a sound from the living room made his heart jump up into his throat.
Olivia screaming his name, her voice full of fear and panic.
Running as fast as he ever had in his life, he sprinted into the living room where Olivia was sitting up against the couch, terror in her eyes.
"What happened?" he demanded as he ran in front of her and kneeled down beside her. "What's wrong?"
All she could do was point to her jeans where clear water like fluid covered her midsection and legs.
"My water broke!" she cried as a sob caught in her throat.
Elliot let out a breath of relief and couldn't help the beaming smile that overtook his smile.
"Why are you happy?" she cried as tears made their way down her face. "She's early! What if something's wrong?"
"She's five days early, Liv, it's completely normal," he told her gently as he reached down and grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips. "She's fine."
Olivia bit her lip as she looked down at her stomach and slowly rubbed small circles on her stomach before she looked back at Elliot, tears flooding her eyes. "No something's wrong! Something's wrong with her, I know it! We have to get to the hospital!"
"Olivia, you need to relax," he told her. "You're not even having contractions yet."
"No! Elliot, something is wrong with her! I… I can just feel it! Please!"
Elliot held back a sigh. He forgot how worrisome first time mothers could be. It was all he could do to convince Kathy that Maureen kicking meant she was healthy. But with Olivia it had been completely different. She had taken in stride everything that had happened to her and had lived much more care free then Kathy had during her first pregnancy. Olivia hadn't panicked over anything. He knew she was just being over protective now that their baby was almost here.
"Olivia-."
"Please!" Olivia screamed desperately as tears coursed down her face. "Something is wrong with my baby!"
Elliot swallowed hard as he stared into her tear filled eyes, wide and full of more fright then he had ever seen in her. She was literally begging him to trust her that she knew what was best for their daughter.
Finally he nodded at her desperate plea. "I'll call 911."
Elliot leaned over and kissed the top of her head before he reached in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.
"Tell them to hurry," begged Olivia as he dialed the short number. "Please."
"911 call center, what is your emergency?" answered the voice.
"My name Elliot Stabler, wife's water broke and something's wrong with the baby," Elliot told them as he reached over and grabbed her hand. "Address is Apartment 4D, Building 2216, 127th Street Manhattan."
"Can you tell me what's wrong?"
Elliot swallowed hard and looked over at Olivia who still had a fear panicked look in her eyes, silently pleading for him to get the ambulance there as fast as he could. "I don't… I don't know, she says there's something wrong with the baby."
"Can you be any more specific?"
Elliot ran his hand through his brutally short hair. "No but I know my wife wouldn't panic unless she knew there was something wrong. Can you please send an ambulance as fast as you can?"
"Sir, there's a huge pile up on the George Washington bridge, we have nearly all ambulatory services there. I'm afraid that your wife thinking that something is wrong with the baby isn't enough to warrant a speedy ambulance. We can maybe get you one in an hour at the earliest."
"My wife's in labor," Elliot explained, feeling half bad that he was lying to the call center in order to get an ambulance here faster when probably nothing was wrong with the baby.
"Is she having contractions?"
"No but-."
"If she starts having contractions less than twenty minutes apart call back but for now the most I can do is an hour. Have your wife try to relax, take deep breaths, get her to calm down and not panic."
"Look, my wife-."
"Good bye, Sir."
Without another word the woman hung up the phone.
Elliot lowered his phones and looked over at Olivia. "What's going on?" she asked as tears flooded her eyes. "When is the ambulance getting here?"
Elliot bit his lip as he stood up and grabbed her hand and helped her up from the couch. "I'll be faster if we drive. Come on."
Wordlessly Elliot wrapped his arm around her waist and they walked to the door, slipped on their coats, and walked out.
Twenty minutes later, with sirens as demanded by Olivia, they arrived at the hospital.
Elliot quickly found a parking space and helped her out of the car, silent tears coursing down her face. During the short ride there her panic had mounted to an even higher degree.
They hurried into the hospital while the bitter white snow whipped unfeeling around them. They walked in and Elliot led Olivia towards the check in counter which was festively decorated for the upcoming Holiday.
"My wife's water broke," Elliot explained. "She thinks' there's something wrong with the baby."
"I KNOW there's something wrong," Olivia corrected with tears heavy in her voice.
The nurse looked at her with a raised brow.
"Name?"
"Olivia Stabler," answered Olivia.
"When did you water break?"
"About twenty minutes ago."
"Any contractions?"
Olivia shook her head as more tears fell down her face.
"Any bleeding or heavy cramps?"
Once again a shake of the head was her answer. The nurse sighed and looked at her with a 'are you kidding me right now' look.
"Is this your first child?"
"Yes but I-!"
"Look, I know you're probably nervous but what you should do is go sit down, relax, and take some nice deep breaths-."
"I'm not imagining things!" Olivia cried. "Something is wrong with my baby! I need to see a doctor now!"
"Well we're very busy right now, so go have a seat and wait."
Olivia let out a sob as she turned to Elliot for help as her hand caressed her stomach. "Please," she pleaded her voice not above a whisper. "Elliot, do something."
Elliot bit his lip as he looked from the nurse back to Olivia.
"Look, Liv, why don't we just sit and wait for a doctor?" Elliot suggested softly.
Even more tears fell from her eyes. "Elliot, you don't-!"
"Yes I do," he told her. "It's your first child and you're scared. It happens to everybody. And look, as soon as-."
"Elliot, you don't understand!" Olivia interrupted; her tone desperate. "This isn't me psyching myself out or being paranoid! Something is wrong with our child!"
"The doctor is available he is going to examine you and tell you there's nothing wrong with her," Elliot continued as she hadn't of spoken.
"Please!"
Elliot sighed as he turned back to the nurse. "Weill you please get us when the first doctor is available?"
"Oh you'll be first on my list," she said dryly, eyeing Olivia like she had grown three heads.
"No!" Olivia cried. "Something is wrong with her!"
"Liv, come on," Elliot muttered, starting to let a bit of his annoyance shine though. "Let's just go sit down."
Olivia turned towards her husband and narrowed her eyes dangerously at him. "Something is wrong with our child and you're acting like I'm making it up."
"No I just know that nothing is wrong with her and you're just being paranoid because your water broke five days early. Now let's go sit down and relax alright?"
He reached out to wrap his arm around her waist but she slapped his hand away. Glaring crossly at him she stormed towards the waiting room chairs and sat down, her hand gently rubbing circles over her stomach a bit more frantically then she had ever done before.
"A hell of a winner you picked there," the nurse mumbled just loud enough for Elliot to hear.
Elliot turned towards her and narrowed his eyes angrily. "Yeah I did actually and if you insult my wife again we're gonna have trouble."
Shaking his head he turned and walked over to Olivia.
"If Kathy had said something was wrong when she was pregnant I bet you would have listened to her," Olivia muttered as Elliot sat down beside her.
Elliot rolled his eyes but decided not to say anything against her. He reached over and tried to grab her hand and she grudgingly allowed him to hold her hand.
An hour later a doctor finally walked out to the waiting room. Olivia's tears hadn't stopped falling… "Olivia Stabler?" he called out.
Elliot got up and helped Olivia up from her chair and the two walked over to the doctor who smiled at her. "I'm Doctor Reynolds. How you feeling today, Mrs. Stabler?"
"Something is wrong with my baby," Olivia told him. "Please, you have to help her!"
The doctor nodded and led her into one of the private exam rooms in the maternity ward.
"When did you water break?"he asked as Olivia sat on one of the beds.
"About an hour and a half ago."
"And any contractions so far?"
"No."
"And no bleeding right?"
"No but I know something wrong with her!"
'Okay, okay, just relax alright?" the doctor told her calmly. "If something's wrong I promise to take care of it. Lie down and lift up your shirt please."
Olivia did as he requested and lifted up her shirt until her whole stomach was exposed. Elliot held her hand and watched as the doctor grabbed the bottle of lubricant and squeezed it on her stomach before he grabbed the smaller part of the ultra sound and placed it on her stomach.
"Why isn't she moving?" Olivia demanded as the picture came up on the screen to show the baby inside her completely still. "Why isn't my baby moving?"
"I'm sure she's probably just sleeping," the doctor told her with smile. "Well turn on the audio and you'll hear her heartbeat alright?"
The doctor reached over and flipped on a switch on the monitor portion of the ultra sound and the room was dead silent.
When the machine was silent for several moments with only the sound of low rumblings his smile fell.
"What's wrong?" Olivia asked, her voice getting choked up. "Why can't I hear her heart beat?"
The doctor didn't answer her and instead reached for another instrument and stuck two squares to either side of Olivia's stomach.
He flipped it on and at once the horrifying sound of a flat line echoed in the room.
"What's wrong with her!" Olivia screamed as the doctor ripped off the pads and rushed towards the door.
"I need a surgical team and a gurney in here now!" he shouted out into the hall before rushing back to a sobbing Olivia and a stunned Elliot who could barley comprehend what was happening around him.
Olivia had been right. She had told him something was wrong with their child and he hadn't believed her. He couldn't even begin to think about if their daughter didn't make it and he had insisted for nearly an hour and a half there was nothing wrong with her when something could have been done to save her.
"What's wrong with my baby?" Olivia sobbed, ripping Elliot's thoughts away from him. "What's wrong with her?"
"She'll be fine," Elliot assured her as his own voice cracked. "Just hang on, okay? Hang on, Liv." He leaned down and kissed the top of her head but his words did nothing to console her.
A team of four doctors and two nurses rushed into the room and Reynolds ran to her head. "Hold still okay, Olivia? One, two, three, lift!"
All six people lifted the sheet she was in and plopped her onto the gurney and began to roll her quickly from the room with Elliot at the head holding her hand.
"I can't- I can't lose her!" Olivia sobbed desperately.
"We won't!" Elliot assured her as they rolled her into one of the rooms and up to the bed. They did another count and lifted her onto the bed.
They immediately cut away her jeans and lifted up her shirt and once again fitted the tiny squares on either side of her stomach, the sound of a flat line echoing once more.
Olivia sobbed desperately as Elliot held her hand and stroked the hair from her face. "She'll be fine," he promised her. "Liv she'll be fine, I promise!"
"You didn't believe me!" she cried as they fitted a mask over her face. "Why didn't you believe me!"
"I'm sorry!" Elliot cried as his own tears made their way down his face. "Baby, I'm so sorry!"
With a few unintelligible grumbles her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fell unconscious.
"Olivia!" he shouted his eyes wide and full of panic.
"She's fine, she's just under anastethia," one of the nurses assured him as they removed the mask and fitted it with a breathing mask. "But you're gonna have to get out."
"I'm her husband and the father!" Elliot protested.
"And if it was a normal birth you'd be more than welcome but this is high risk emergency C-Section and you're not allowed to be in here."
Elliot ran a hand through his hair as he looked down at his unconscious wife, his eyes traveling to her swollen stomach.
"Sir, we can't start the surgery until you're out of the room," one of the doctors told him with an air of desperation.
With tears in his eyes Elliot left the room with the door shutting behind him. He only got a quick glance at her before someone shut the blinds. Tears fell from his eyes as he struggled for them to remain silent. He would never forgive himself if their daughter didn't survive this and he knew Olivia would never forgive him either. If he had just believed her when she said something was wrong maybe they could have saved her earlier…
Elliot shook his head as he pushed the thought away. They WERE going to save his daughter. She was going to be fine. He HAD to believe that. He had done too much doubting in the last hour and a half to last him a lifetime…
With a sigh Elliot began the torturous long wait outside the room waiting desperately on news of his daughter…
Please Review