The bullet comes out of nowhere and hits him right in the chest. At first he doesn't register the pain, but then he sees the stricken look on her face and he knows. Time slows down, and his knees buckle. He falls to the ground and lands on his back. Her footsteps cause the ground to vibrate under him and he feels her hands roaming his chest for the wound. She finds it and the pressure she applies hurts. He tries to tell her so. "Liv, it hurts." But he knows nothing comes out. By the look on her face, he supposes he doesn't have much time. He tries to say her name. "Liv" But, again, he knows nothing comes out. And suddenly, the edges of his vision go dark and blurry. She must notice a change in his eyes because she says,

"El, stay with me. Please, stay with me." He wants to stay with her, he really does, but it's getting harder. The blackness is creeping in and her voice gets wavery, he doesn't know if it's because of him or her. The pain has spread, now his whole chest feels like it's on fire.

"God Dammit, Elliot. Stay with me! Where the hell is the bus?" She shouts and he is pulled back by her tone. But only for a moment. Plain floods his senses again and he blacks out.

Olivia Benson lets a little scream loose from the back of her throat when his eyes close. She keeps pushing on the bullet hole, which is still sending blood through her fingers. Again she shouts, "Where the hell is that bus?" But there is no one around to answer her. The other cops have all congregated around one of the cars. She can see several cell phones and hopes to God that one of them called 911. She can still feel his heart beating under her bloodstained fingers and the feel of it keeps her from losing her mind. She adds more pressure just as she hears the wailing of an ambulance. She brushes her eye on the shoulder of her leather jacket and is not surprised to see that there is a tiny wet spot left behind. The EMT's come running up to her and she is pushed back. She barely has time to say, "Save him, please" before Elliot is hauled into the ambulance and she is left kneeling on the sidewalk with blood on her hands.

The hospital smells like antiseptic and Olivia decides she hates this smell. This exact smell, the way the waiting room in Lenox Hill Hospital smells, is her least favorite smell in the world. She's been waiting for hours, and at the same time it feels like days. Days since he got shot. Days since the ambulance took him. Days since she saw a doctor who could update her on his condition. Fin and Munch had been in to check up on her, Fin had left behind a coffee she couldn't really taste. The Captain had stopped by to get a report and had left after a few minutes. She was the only one who had remained here the whole time. She was angry that no one had bothered to stay and at the same time she knew she was being irrational. Because they all had their own case loads and didn't need to be around just waiting. The OR doors swung open and her head shot up, hoping to see the doctor that had spoken to her before. No, this doctor was a woman. Olivia looked back down at her hands and tried to rub away some of the residual blood. It wasn't coming off and Olivia gave up after a few minutes. She was going to have to find the bathroom. Olivia brushed her bangs out of her eyes and sighed. When was this doctor going to come out and tell her Elliot was alive? She couldn't take waiting anymore and stood up to pace. Several other people waiting turned to look at her, but she didn't care. All she needed was Elliot to be okay. The familiar sound of doors swinging open started Olivia and she almost cried again when the doctor coming out was Elliot's.

"Dr. Collins, is he alright? Please tell me he's alright." Olivia ran up to the man and burst out with her question. The doctor nodded and Olivia almost collapsed to the floor in relief.

"Detective Stabler is stable. He lost a lot of blood and we had to fix up several veins and arteries. An inch to the left and the bullet would've gone straight through his heart, wouldn't have had a chance. He will be staying here for a few weeks, while we make sure everything is alright." Olivia sighed.

"Thank you Doctor. Can I see him?" She looked over his shoulder and was bouncing on the balls of her feet. Olivia figured she would go and see Elliot even if the doctor said no. Dr. Collins nodded,

"You can see him, but he won't be able to talk to you. He is still under some very string anesthesia and won't be awake for several hours. His room is just down the hall." He pointed and Olivia barely waited for the words to be out of his mouth before she was running down the hallway.

Elliot Stabler was in pain. Hell, it felt like his body was being roasted over and open fire and then getting slat poured over the open burns. He couldn't open his eyes or move his arms or legs, but he was alive, or that's what he thought anyway. There was a vague beeping in the back of his mind. Elliot could hear some fuzzy noises, but he was trying to pick out a specific voice, Olivia's. He wanted to hear Olivia's voice; he needed to hear Olivia's voice. There was a bang and he found her voice.

"Oh God, El. I was so worried." Her voice was closer towards the end of her sentence. He wanted to see her face, just to make sure he was alive. He wanted to talk to her, to reassure her that he was fine.

"Elliot, I am so sorry that I let you get shot. I wasn't watching. This is my entire fault. Can you ever forgive me?" She sounded like she was going to cry, and that worried Elliot. He needed to make sure she knew this wasn't her fault, to make sure she knew that it was no one's fault.

"Elliot, please just come back to me. I need you to be okay. I don't want to break in a new partner." She laughed a little bit and Elliot wished he could laugh with her. He knew she was trying to make herself feel better with her attempt at humor.

"Elliot, I have to go now. The nurses are telling me to leave. I'll be back tomorrow though. I love you." Elliot felt a slight pressure on his forehead and knew she had kissed him there.

The next morning, Olivia was at Lenox Hill the second visiting hours started. Dr. Collins met her outside Elliot's room.

"Detective Benson, Detective Stabler did well overnight. The anesthesia wore off sometime in the middle of the night. He is in severe pain and has a dose of pain pills in him. He may be asleep and if he is awake, he may not be able to focus. I have to ask that you don't stay for very long. Detective Stabler needs to rest and having too much excitement will not be good." Olivia nodded and thanked the doctor. She pushed to door to Elliot's room open and found him sitting up in bed. She could see to pain in his blue eyes from the door. He smiled as she walked closer.

"El, how are you? I'm so glad you're okay." She takes a seat in the hard chair next to his bed. He nods.

"I'll be fine Liv. Are you okay?" He tries to shift closer to her, but pulls at the wound and winces. She stands up and is ready to push him back into place before she realizes that would only hurt him more.

"I'm fine, now that you're okay. I just want you to get better. I thought I lost you El. It was terrifying." She reaches over to take his hand.

"Don't worry Liv. I'm just fine. I'll be as good as new in a couple of weeks and we'll be back on the beat just like always." Elliot likes the feel of her hand wrapped around his and he squeezes her hand. She looks down at their intertwined hands and smiles.

"El, I'm glad you're okay." She looks into his blue eyes as she says it and hopes he can read the meaning behind her words.

"Me too Liv, me too." He can.

A/N: Hi everybody, this is my first SVU fanfic and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I hope everyone likes it and check out my other stories