Title: If a Tree Falls in a Forest
Summary: "I always knew in my heart that he was a time bomb, just waiting to go off, but I never once expected anything like this." Olivia's POV
Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not own SVU...
a/n: This is just a one shot thing. Please let me know what you think!
As I ride the elevator up to the Psychiatric Ward on the fourth floor, I think about the day it happened. The day he just simply stopped. We were having a slow day at work, so Fin suggested that we all go and grab a bite to eat and the diner down the street from the precinct. We had all gotten up to put our coats on, except for him. I told him that if he didn't hurry up, we would leave without him. He just sat there and stared, he didn't even blink. I went up to him and asked him if he was okay. He still didn't respond. Eventually, we had to have someone come and take him away, and they brought him here.
As I exit the elevator, I see him sitting on the same couch as last time. The psych ward looks safe, not for me, but for everyone that's there. Yet they all seem so afraid, especially my El. He looks so empty. The first time I came to see him, I didn't even recognize him. He's like an old container, nothing more than an outside casing. Inside, everything is gone. There is no emotion in his face. I stare into his eyes, and it's like staring into a bottomless pit of nothingness.
The one person that always tried to stay so strong is here, in this place where he seems so vulnerable. Right now, he is a porcelain doll; if you hold him too hard, he gets crushed, but if you hold him too loosely, he falls to the ground and shatters to pieces. The worst part is, is that there is nothing I can do, but watch and wait. It's like he's in a voluntary coma. It seems like he was just hoping that the world would stop turning, and he could get off, but it never did stop, so he stopped. I always knew in my heart that he was a time bomb, just waiting to go off, but I never once expected anything like this.
When we had slow days at work, and we were all tired of reading about Riker's finest, we would often discuss the question "If a tree falls in forest, and nobody's around to hear it, does it make a sound?" Seeing him like this has provided me with and answer that yes, it does make a sound. No one really knows what made him stop, but it's in him somewhere. On the inside, he's screaming at someone to listen, but we just can't hear him. He's the tree that fell, and he's making a sound, even if no one can hear it.