Disclaimer: I don't own Law and Order SVU or the quote.
Note: I'm writing this based on the episode promo for Shattered. I used what I heard in the promo for Sophie's quotes. Pure speculation, but the again isn't that what fan fiction is?
"…we must die to one life before we can enter another.." – Anatole France
The perp was being lead away by an officer. As the officer turned his gun was exposed and Sophie saw an opportunity and literally grabbed it. Guns drawn into their hands swiftly. Her red hair was swinging wildly and Elliot couldn't help but think of how that could be blood pouring out of her skull instead of locks if she wasn't careful. Olivia was trying to bargain. She was closest to where the pistol was aimed at Jo. Let her go and we will get justice for your son, this isn't the way, your son needs you now, not in jail. All promises Olivia had rushed to issue before. All of them weighing on her squared shoulders. She released a calm breath and Elliot let the tension he at first felt slide away.
She was in control. They were in control. Like all the other times they had control, justice would be served, and they would go out later and laugh about this. The twisting of his gut wasn't agreeing however. He prayed to God this would work.
"Put the gun down or she will die!" The mother was screaming with tears in her eyes. The crazed look was there too. Not quite insane but on the edge of a cliff and daring someone to push her off so she could splatter into hard rocks below and never return to the top of the mountain again. Sympathizing was easy for him this time but he wasn't condoning the gun in her hand pointed at Jo.
Elliot experienced many standoffs in his time as a cop. He can only remember one time that scared him more than this.
Olivia is speaking soothingly and he is assessing the situation trying to figure out how to get the others out of the way. Jo looks terrified. Not that he didn't expect it. Somehow he can't help but realize Olivia never looks like this.
Sophie's gun is pointed at his former partner, the new ADA. He ponders the thought of losing another ADA; it seems SVU has only a temporary position filling with temps every other week. With a firm resolve he won't let anything happen to her. Her blonde hair is swinging in her new short bob unlike the long locks she had when he was her trainee. Her hair is dyed and he knows that it is like everything about her changing and never set like her personality.
He sees Olivia's hand quivered and shoots her a questioning glance. Just like that her gun is steady, no weakness. He can see the calculating gaze underneath the stone calm face of hers. They notice Jo is moving, slightly, at a centimeter at a time. Good, at least some of her training was still intact; she'd have room to duck if they had to take a shot. The frenzied woman tears are slowly weaning. Olivia's comforting, commanding phrases were being issued again. He could feel that this was helping. Jo moved too fast this time and Sophie's gun butts her on the face. They all tense but Jo remains standing. Olivia can't help but feel the ADA deserved it and quickly pushes the feeling down. Her annoyance at Jo's questioning her sleeping with Elliot is a can of worms and she isn't going to let the lid be torn off and cause a slimy mess. She won't let another human being be shot because she can't control herself.
Olivia looks at Elliot and then to Jo. She knows he picked up on her plan for he can read her, she also knows by the frustrated look he shoots her. It takes Jo a couple of harsh moments to understand the plan. Words are still pouring out of her mouth and she knows that none of it is helping. The woman is too tense, too emotional to respond to her rational suggestions now. She wonders who will suffer for this.
Nodding her head briefly to Elliot she steps forward. The plan is in action. Jo moves but toward Olivia. It's wrong. The complete wrong thing to do. She is now putting the target on her own back but now the gun is aimed at two targets. Elliot watches the woman's figure tense and he knows this is not going to end well.
"Sophie don't!" He commanded. A last plea, along with a silent prayer.
Not that she listened. He watched her recoil with the shock of actually pulling the trigger. Sophie's bullet cut through the air and was heading directly towards her. Why did Olivia always have to do that? Since the time he can remember he knows she always redirects the pressure, pain, and torments to herself. She is so heroic that he doesn't think he can stand it. Always makes sure the danger looks into her eyes and not the victims.
Jo's survival instincts kick in and she drops to the floor leaving the bullet heading straight for Olivia.
"Liv!" He screams. Somehow he remains calm enough as he sees everything in rapid fire. He processed Liv going to the floor and two gun shots going off. Red now pours out of the red-heads body for two bullets have penetrated her. Kicking the gun away from her he sprints to his partner's side. It is then he realizes it is his true partner he is running towards. Not Jo, she is in his past and will remain there. He regrets treating his real partner like a third wheel for the past couple of cases.
He reaches her side and tries to figure out where she was hit. Jo is slow to get up but is hovering over the pair now.
"What are you doing Jo? Call a freaking bus already! You can remember how to do that from all your experience as a cop right?"
He knows he is lashing out but this woman is on his last nerve and he feels like an idiot for ever following along with her plans. After all it was her idea to arrest the son's father and anger the woman into confessing. She wasn't a cop anymore and shouldn't act like some snotty, know it all when she knew nothing.
He is putting pressure of Liv's wound. It hit her shoulder and she is still conscious. He is furiously saying words he doesn't know, trying to stop the bleeding. He doesn't know when the paramedics arrive but suddenly he is in the ambulance with her. They are stopping the bleeding and he words are still issuing from his lips. His eyes are racking in every detail of his partner and he prays, prays to a God he almost lost faith in for her savior. He can't tell if the bullet nicked a major artery but it looks like a ton of blood. The red is seeping through their white cloths.
Olivia is taken into surgery and he is left in the waiting room. He is standing; staring at the blood on his hands when he notices Jo is beside him. She is acting like nothing happened, like Olivia wasn't just shot, and that it wasn't her fault. He watches her study her reflection in the mirror she carries in her purse.
"You should get cleaned up." She states coldly.
He loses it. He doesn't care if he causes a scene. While yelling at the top of his lungs he is waving frantically. He will not stand her attitude. He can't believe he put up with it for the whole two years they were partnered up. He knows the first year he followed her around like a puppy, a lost little rookie, trying to be all he could be. She always used that to her advantage and he is sick of it. He is not the person he was fifteen years ago. Olivia changed him for the better. A part of him died today, the part that somehow still held onto his little form of a school boy crush for her along with his personality died. We must die to one life before we can enter another.
"Get out before I shoot you like you should've been today!" He screams, waving his badge to the security. She tries to read his face but realizes that this is not the Elliot she had wrapped around her little finger. This is the new Elliot and she does not know him at all. She turns on her heel, ignoring the killing glare she is receiving from him, and leaves the hospital. She will ask for a transfer in the morning. If Jack has not heard about this incident already she knows he will have by them. Leaving Elliot again will be easy and this time he won't mind at all.
Concerned looks pass between the members of the waiting area. Cragen, Munch, Fin, and Kathy all are sitting staring at the walls, staring at each other, staring at the blood stained man near them.
Kathy tries placing a comforting hand on her husband only for him to flinch and shift away from her. She sighs. She knows he is affected by the shooting of his partner. She can't help it if her thoughts stray back to her own brush with death. Olivia saved her life and she wonders how her husband acted when he found out about the accident. She wonders if he was this torn up. She tries to delude herself with the hope that he did but she knows the truth. Their love has been over for a while even if she wanted it to last forever. And their marriage is dead, has been rotting for quite some time. She is surprised they haven't been arrested for concealing a corpse for they must smell of its stink. He has Olivia and she knows that even if it is not acknowledged that it is still there. She owes Olivia her life. The least she can do is let her have what she has been holding from her this long. For some odd reason she doesn't feel the hate she expected when thinking of Olivia. She only feels remorse for her that she is lying under a surgeon's blade, fighting to live.
It is hours later when they are told that Olivia is still breathing. The hit she had was only a little more than a flesh wound and she will be fine in a few weeks with only a sore shoulder. A collective sigh of relief echoes through out the room. When Cragen takes command of the situation and asks when they can see her they all push Elliot towards to room.
He doesn't even realize he is walking down the hallway. It is a blur because all he can feel is the liberation from worry he felt for Olivia. His pace is quick but it doesn't seem fast enough for just second later he reaches her door. He quietly enters. Inspecting her he sees her smile. His returning smile is bright as he grabs her hand. A new touch, a renewal that sparks life into both their eyes.