A/N: Pretty nervous about this, my first publishable fic (I have others in the wings,waiting) so I dunno what you guys will think of it. It's a oneshot at the moment but if you want me to write more I can see what I can do. Please rate and review :) And I tried to research as much of the medical stuff as possible but I guess some artistic licence has to be taken ;)
DISCLAIMER: All SVU characters belong to Dick Wolf
Olivia's dark ponytail swished infront of him as they ran through the corridors of the abandoned hospital. As they turned yet another corner, Nick spotted a number of armed police entering from the opposite end of the corridor, beyond his partner's running form. Suddenly she stopped at the entrance to a ward and stood flush with the wall, gun drawn and making hand gestures to the armed officer opposite her. On the nod of his head she turned into the ward and crept towards a bed at the end of the room. Allowing the officers to enter first, Nick brought up the rear, rechecking the empty bays for their perp. As he turned toward the end of the room, a single gunshot echoed around the corridors and reverberated around the room. Nick heard a thump as a body hit the linoleum floor followed by the ear-shattering clatter as a full magazine clip was released into their perp. He immediately ran towards the bay from which his partner had been flung back from and kneeled beside her as she lay in a growing pool of dark blood, clutching her side and groaning in pain. The armed officers that had entered with them backed away from the pair, one radioing for the ambulance and another disarming the now dead criminal they had spent the last hour chasing across the lower east side.
Everything blurred around him. Paramedics arrived and bandaged a pressure dressing around Olivia's middle before lifting her down to the ambulance. Outside the building, Nick was met by Cragen and the other detectives. Nodding to his Captain, Nick shed his bulletproof vest and jumped into the back of the ambulance which proceeded to speed away, lights and sirens blaring across the wasteland and disappearing back into the city.
Nick was sat across from his partner's pale body as the paramedic tried to stem the flow of blood. All he could do was watch the heart monitor and pray she was as strong as she claimed to be. His own heart stopped as a monotonous beep sounded and the paramedic tore her blue blouse apart to start CPR whilst instructing Nick to keep pressure on her wound. She returned as they screeched to a halt outside the ER. A number of nurses were stood waiting for her arrival but Nick barely heard what anybody was saying as they took her away to an empty bay. Stood at the entrance with Olivia's blood soaked through his shirt he began to shiver. A nurse took his arm and led him to a quiet waiting room. She returned with a hot sweet tea and promised somebody would come over and talk to him as soon as they could. Nick nodded blankly and placed the tea down on the small table infront of him.
The images replayed across his mind as if they were being projected right infront of him and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't forget the amount of blood pouring from the gunshot wound in his partner's side. Leaning forward he let his head fall into his hands and prayed. It was all he could think to do.
Eli's nose had been bleeding for the past hour and Kathy was worried. The doctors were closed so Elliot had been forced to take his son to the ER. Feeling like a fool he stepped up to the desk and explained his situation. Smiling knowingly, the nurse handed over a fresh box of tissues and said a doctor would be with them as soon as possible. It was a quiet night for once so Elliot easily found a seat and settled down with a men's health magazine whilst Eli was content with a Thomas book he had brought from home. After only twenty minutes of waiting, a young doctor came up to the pair and introduced herself as Dr Turnbull. She led Elliot and Eli to a private consultation room where she proceeded to examine Eli's nose.
"It appears a burst blood vessel is what has caused the nose bleed." Dr Turnbull stated. "Not uncommon with children Eli's age, he probably hit his nose whilst playing or something. I'll cauterise the vessel and prescribe some anti-inflammatory cream and he should be fine in a few hours." She smiled. Elliot sighed in relief as the doctor took them to another room.
Elliot was heading toward the entrance to the ER, promising Eli a big tub of chocolate ice-cream and his favourite Thomas DVD for being such a brave boy, when an ambulance pulled up outside and a number of nurses rushed past him with a bed. Deciding to wait until they had brought the patient through instead of pushing past the obviously frantic staff, Elliot pulled Eli onto his hip and allowed him to snuggle into his neck. However, Eli jerked awake as his father almost dropped him as the hospital gurney was rushed past them and Elliot saw who was lying on it. Even with her skin whiter than he had ever seen and her face turned away from him, Elliot couldn't mistake the immobile body of his partner speeding past him and heading into an empty bay. As the medics ran past he heard the end of their commentary:
"Blood type unknown but we need to find out NOW. I don't know how much she lost at the scene but she crashed on me in the bus. The bastard hit a vein so it's slow but steady."
Eli clawed at his father's shirt to get his attention and grumbled as he was placed down again. Elliot looked around frantically for someone he could leave him with. Having no other choice he ran up to the receptionist.
"Hi, I'm really sorry but can I leave my son with you? The woman they've just brought in, I know her and I need to see her now." The nurse looked around before nodding. "Thankyou so much." Elliot turned to his son who was looking dubiously at the smiling nurse. "Hey buddy y'see the woman that just went past?" Eli nodded and looked back at his father. "She's an old friend of mine and she really really needs me so can you be a good boy and sit with the nurse while I go help her? I'll be back as soon as I can." Eli looked nervously at the nurse again before turning back to his father's pleading eyes and nodding. "Thanks buddy." Elliot shouted as he followed Olivia's gurney down the corridor. About five bays in he found her bed, surrounded by nurses.
"We need that blood type NOW people. Somebody set up a transfusion with O positive for now. She's still losing." Elliot stepped up to most senior looking nurse.
"Excuse me?" the nurse turned and glared at Elliot, not pleased at being interrupted. Elliot, unfazed, carried on, "I used to work with her, she's A positive and I'm a match." The glare disappeared from the nurse's face and he grabbed Elliot's arm.
"We're taking her straight to the OR, Lisa will fix you up up there." He turned to another nurse, "Lisa! This guy matches. Set him up NOW and start testing." The nurse identified as Lisa nodded and led Elliot further along the corridor and into a small ante room.
"Change into these," she handed him a set of hospital scrubs, "and wash all the way past your elbows on both arms, then come through." She turned and pushed the door of the operating theatre open. After changing and washing his hands and arms, Elliot followed her. Lisa proceeded to take two syringes of blood and carry out a number of tests as she questioned Elliot's medical history. About three quarters of the way through, Olivia was pushed into the room and a number of machines were rigged up. Elliot was relieved to see she had stopped bleeding but under the stark white lights her skin was almost translucent and his heart leapt back into his throat. His bed was pushed closer to hers and a new tube was placed into his arm. On the other end of a complex machine, a matching tube was placed in Olivia's arm.
Throughout the surgery, Elliot watched as his blood left his arm, was processed in the machine and then pumped into Olivia's arm. Her skin was starting to lose its greasy translucent colour when a nurse came back over to him and started removing the tube.
"What's happening? She can't have been given enough blood yet?" Elliot panicked as the last of his blood left the machine and into Olivia's arm.
"I'm sorry sir but you can only donate a certain amount. Mrs Clarke lost a lot of blood and we are going to have to use donated blood from now on." Elliot was stunned and looked over to check he had just donated to the right person but it was no mistaking the strong cheekbones and shiny dark chocolate hair spread across the white pillow, this was Olivia. Swallowing and realising this wasn't the place or person to ask about Olivia's name change, Elliot nodded and moved to get up from the bed. Looking up at the clock, he realised he had been in the room for nearly forty minutes and completely forgotten about Eli. Swearing under his breath he made to leave the room when he heard the lead nurse behind him.
"Sir?" he turned to face her and she continued although he was not really concentrating on what she was saying. He heard snippets as his mind raced with how he was going to explain this all to Kathy. However he suddenly stopped still and stared straight at the nurse who faltered beneath it.
"Say that again." The nurse cleared his throat before repeating his last sentence.
"The surgeon says her left kidney has ruptured beyond repair and her right one is too badly damaged to function properly. You're a blood match so he wanted to know if you would be willing to donate a kidney. We've sent somebody down to the store but there's no guarantee there will be a donation, even for a fast track patient." Elliot didn't even blink before he answered.
"But I need to call my wife. My son is still downstairs and wondering where I am." The nurse nodded before returning to the table and informing the surgeon of Elliot's decision. Elliot meanwhile was out in the corridor ringing Kathy. She picked up on the fourth ring.
"Hey babe what's happened? You've been gone nearly two hours, your tea's gonna be dry by the time you get back-" she was interrupted by Elliot's hurried explanation of what had happened. He was too busy explaining to hear her resigned sigh when he said Olivia's name.
"So basically I need you or Maureen to come and pick up Eli cos I'm about to go back in and donate a kidney-" it was Elliot how was interrupted this time by Kathy's exclamation.
"WHAT?! A kidney? Are you sure Elliot, you haven't seen this woman in what? Two and a half years and suddenly you're dropping everything to give her a kidney?" Elliot sighed,
"Kath it isn't like that." Kathy snorted. "I'm not dropping everything; it was purely by chance that I was here. In fact, as I recall it was you who sent me to the ER with Eli…" he trailed off as he was met by silence on the other end and silently cursed, knowing he had pushed her. Therefore he was surprised and beyond relieved with his wife's reply.
"Okay El, I'll come pick Eli up."
"Thankyou Kathy. I love you, please don't forget that." He heard Kathy sigh.
"I know Elliot, I love you too." She hung up and Elliot ran down the corridor towards the front desk, he didn't know how long he had before they needed him and he knew Eli wouldn't be pleased at being left again. Therefore he was pleasantly surprised to find his son curled up in an armchair fast asleep.
"I can't thank you enough," Elliot told the nurse, "they're taking me into surgery now for an emergency transplant but his Mom should be in in about half an hour to pick him up. She's blonde, about five seven with blue eyes." The nurse nodded.
"Honestly, he's been no problem, slipped off about ten minutes after you left. I'll watch out for his mom." Elliot thanked her again before racing back up the corridor. He missed the man sitting with his head in his hands in a private waiting room but the man didn't miss him.
Nick had been sat for nearly an hour in the same position. The tea had long gone cold and undrunk and still nobody had arrived to tell him what was happening. He heard the man race past on his way to the entrance hall and then, five minutes later, race back up the corridor. He instantly resented this man, who obviously had a purpose, a job to do, while he was sat helpless as his partner bled out on an operating table. He sat up, leant back in the chair and tried to shake such pessimistic thoughts from his head but years in narcotics, being forced to watch innocent victims bleed out on the streets, made it hard for him to think anything but the worst.
He was pleasantly surprised when his Captain appeared at the door and knocked. Not bothering to reply, Cragen proceeded to walk into the empty room and sit next to Nick. He was the first to break the silence.
"The others would have come along but they didn't want to crowd Liv and anyway, somebody's got to hold up the fort." He glanced across at Nick but the detective was fixed on a spot on the wall opposite. "Have you heard anything?" Nick tore his gaze down to the floor and shook his head.
"I saw them wheel her past to the operating theatre about forty minutes ago but that's it." Cragen squeezed Nick's shoulder.
"These things take time son, she'll pull through. She's Olivia." Nick nodded his agreement before returning his gaze to the wall.
It was almost three hours later when the surgeon walked into the room and found the pair in the same positions. One staring at the wall and other leaning back with his eyes closed. Neither noticed her entrance so she coughed slightly to get their attentions.
"Hello, my name is Dr Beadle and I operated on Mrs Clarke. Has anybody been to speak to you yet?" Both men shook their heads. Dr Beadle frowned. "Are either of you family or a spouse?" Again both men shook their heads. "Ah, well there isn't much I can tell you until a member of her family or her spouse arrives I'm afraid." Dr Beadle got up to leave but was stopped by Nick's hold on her lower arm.
"Please? I'm her partner. I was there when she was shot. Just tell me, will she make it?" Dr Beadle looked at his pleading eyes and relented. She had seen the badge on his belt and had already guessed if he wasn't Olivia's husband, he was probably her partner.
"Fortunately we managed to find a live transfusion before reverting to stored blood so most of the blood she lost has now been replaced. We were also very very fortunate to have a willing kidney donor practically walk into my operating theatre. Following a check-up in about half an hour I'll be able to tell you how she is responding to the new organ but as far as I could tell she was doing well. So long as there are no complications and she doesn't reject the new kidney, I expect her to make a full recovery. I'll come and get you in half an hour and if she's awake and willing you can see her." Nick smiled gratefully at the doctor and relaxed back into his chair. Cragen however frowned and stood to follow the doctor out. At the last minute he turned back to Nick,
"Call the others, tell them she'll be fine or they won't get any work done." Nick smiled and took out his cell to call the squad room.
Outside in the corridor, Cragen caught up with Dr Beadle.
"Excuse me, I have a few more questions." Dr Beadle looked apologetically at him.
"I'm sorry sir but I really can't tell you any more until a family member or spouse is present."
"I've know her for more than fifteen years, I'm practically her father, please can you just answer my questions?" Dr Beadle looked into Cragen's eyes before nodding her consent. "Thankyou. I was just wondering who the donor was? It sounds too good to be true?" Beadle laughed.
"I thought it was too good to be true," she paused before deciding to continue, she knew he would want to know this, "we almost lost her in the ambulance and again on the table. For about half an hour the dialysis machine was the only thing keeping her alive while I tried to stitch up the rest of her. Then the man who had given blood agreed to donate a kidney. I know it's unusual and normally I would have had to stitch her up and keep her on dialysis until a transplant came through. But this guy was more than willing and ready to go immediately. I don't believe in God or anything, how could I in this job?" Cragen nodded knowingly, "But he was definitely looking down on Mrs Clarke today when he sent that man into the ER."
"What was he called?" Dr Beadle checked her file.
"Stabler. A Mr Elliot Stabler. He seemed to know quite a bit about her medical history, specifically her blood type, which probably saved her life if I'm honest. If we had had to wait for the stored stuff to be brought up we may well have lost her on the table. Do you know him?" the doctor asked as she took in Cragen's stunned expression.
"Errr yeah, he worked with us a few years back but left and we haven't seen him since." Dr Beadle nodded and turned back up the corridor to the ER entrance,
"Well like I said, she was very lucky today." She shouted behind her as Cragen turned back and walked into the waiting room where Nick was finishing explaining what had happened to the rest of the squad. After internally debating, Cragen decided not to tell Nick who Olivia's mystery donor was. He wasn't sure how much Liv had told Nick and therefore how Nick would react to Elliot's sudden reappearance in all their lives. Sinking back into the comfy seat, Cragen sighed heavily in relief before closing his eyes.
The first sense to return to her was the smell of disinfectant. This didn't surprise her as her last conscious, unblurred memory was of falling hard onto the floor as an intense pain shot across her abdomen. Therefore it was a safe assumption she had ended up in hospital. From then on memories swam into one another amid a pain and drug induced haze.
Secondly was the sound of the heart machine next to her bed. She sighed in relief as the constant bleep of her heart beat sounded throughout the room before mentally kicking herself. Of course she was alive otherwise she wouldn't have smelt disinfectant, she would have chosen a much nicer smell to awaken to, such as her mother's lavender shampoo that always sent her to sleep or freshly mown grass that told her summer was just around the corner or the cologne she had bought Elliot one year and he had insisted on wearing every day until it ran out…
The third and fourth senses to return were taste and touch. Although she couldn't taste much, her mouth was dry and her throat ached, the faint tang of iron still sat at the back of her throat and was enough to make her gag slightly. However this caused an intense pain in both her aching throat and all across her stomach as her muscles contracted. She let out a groan of pain and scrunched the tight sheets into her fists as she tried to ride out the pain. By taking shallow breaths she managed to ease the pain away until it was a dull ache beneath the surface rather than a sharp stab that was constantly present.
Finally, after returning her breathing to normal, Olivia decided she might aswell open her eyes. Although she had a pretty good idea of where she would be, having experienced many a hospital room during the course of her job, she might aswell see where she was staying for the foreseeable future. Squinting slightly at the change from relative darkness behind her eyelids to the stark white lights of her room, Olivia blinked a few times before opening her eyes fully and taking in the room around her. It was simply furnished with a sofa and small table beside the window. Turning her head to take in the other side of the room, Olivia gasped as her eyes fell on its other occupant.
Elliot had fallen asleep watching his old partner sleep peacefully. He had only been under a mild anaesthetic during the operation and so had woken long before her and since fallen back to sleep. A loud rustling roused him from his sleep and he opened his eyes to find Olivia's staring right back at him, her mouth a small 'o' in shock.
"Hey partner, I told you I'd give you a kidney." She continued to look at him in shock, not even blinking and he began to worry something had happened to her.
"If I wasn't in excruciating pain and basically bed ridden for the foreseeable future, I would kill you." Elliot laughed and a smirk pulled at Olivia's lips as she closed her eyes and sighed. This could not be happening. He could not be here, he could not have… Her eyes sprang open again and he looked back over to him. "What did you say?" Elliot frowned slightly before looking panicked and turning away. "El?" He turned back to her and gulped.
"How much do you know about what happened Liv?" Despite the seriousness of both their faces and voices, both internally smiled at how easily they had slipped into their nicknames for each other.
"I was shot and brought here…" she trailed away as she saw him sigh. "El? What the hell happened to me?"
"I dunno if I should be telling you Liv, I don't want you to stress or anything while you're supposed to be recovering." Olivia tried to turn her body to face his but found herself unable to due to the huge amount of bandaging around her abdomen and the fact that even the slightest movement caused twinges of pain to race across her middle.
"Stabler, you damn well tell me what has happened or your life won't be worth living when we get out of here." She paused to assess what she had just said. "And what the hell are you even doing here, in a bed? It can't be a coincidence. Remember, there's no such thing as coincidence." He smiled as she remembered the advice someone had given them on one of their first jobs.
"Well it kinda has something to do with what happened to you." Elliot faltered again.
"Please Elliot, just tell me. What's happened?" Elliot looked across at her pleading eyes and took a deep breath.
"I'm not a hundred percent sure what happened at the scene but from what I overheard you were shot in the side and lost quite a bit of blood there. Then you crashed in the bus and again on the table." Elliot paused, knowing the next bit would be the hardest. "The doctor tried but your left kidney was shot to pieces and your right one was barely working due to the damage. I saw them bring you in and said I was a blood match. When they asked if I could donate a kidney well…" she remembered the conversation they had had years ago.
"Not if I gave you mine first." She let her head fall back onto her pillow and smiled as soft tears trailed don her cheeks.