A bright light glared into her one eye. She thought that she had gone; that she had gone past the realm of life. She had always thought that she would just die and it would be over; she never really believed in the white light, heaven, god, afterlife, or the whole deal, but here it was the white light. But there was something strange about this white light. It wouldn't stay still. It moved about back and forth, momentarily still, then in a circle, father and closer, and then back and forth. Then as if on queue the noise of seven o'clock rush hour flooded her ears. There was a face above hers. It was warm and friendly, and even though it was frantic, it was comforting like that of an old friend. The eyes of this person were looking back and forth between her own looking for any sort of signal. The face was talking, loudly and quickly, asking for a response. She tried to respond to this face but only a low, raspy grunt came out. Once again she tried to move but nothing would. Then the pain returned, throbbing with even more might then before. Abruptly, the face was more than familiar. It was her neighbor.

She was calling her name, "Christina? Come on Tina. Christina, can you hear me? Talk to me." The voice was frantic. She new the face now but still couldn't come to the name. The face lived in apartment 3B, across the hall from her. The face had fed her cat one time when she went out of town for the weekend to visit her mother. The face was friendly, not very talkative but often held the door for her. Then the face was coming to a name.

"Olivia?" she whispered hoarsely. Her throat raged with pain. She could see the alley spinning again, slowly but picking up pace. But Olivia brought her back.

"Christina, don't fall asleep. Tina, talk to me. Tell me something. The ambulance is almost here. Don't go. Stay with me, hunny." Olivia put her hand in her own. The back of her soft hand brushed her cheek. "Don't fall asleep Tina. I need you to stay with me. I can hear the ambulance now. Christina? CHRISTINA?"

But it was too late. The world spun round fast and then blacked out once more.

Once again a light shined into her eyes. Christina Milo thought this time she had really died. But this time she noticed that the light was dim. Her focus returned and she realized it was a light above her head. Looking around she saw the looks of a hospital room. The swelling on her left eye had gone down so she could see a little. Looking to her right she saw Olivia sleeping in a chair next to her bed. A little resemblance of a smile graced Christina's face.

Olivia stirred and hazily opened her eyes. She looked over at Christina was happy to see her awake. Sitting up she asked, "Hey, how long have you been awake?"

"Not long. How long have you been sitting here?"

"Not too long. Well, okay so I have been with out since about quarter of seven this morning and its five-thirty. So maybe a while." She said with a little laugh.

Christina looked at Olivia and her eyes glazed over, "How come you stayed with me? I mean don't you have to work or have people you should be with?"

Olivia smiled and pulled the chair close to the bedside, "Christina, I got home this morning from a stake-out and found you in the alley by pure chance. I just barley heard you moaning but then it stopped. I was worried so I went to find out. I found you there. And if I had left you wouldn't have anyone here when you woke up. I would have found a relative or friend but you're listed as an only child and both parents deceased. Besides, this kind of is my job."

Christina let a tear slide down her cheek. She really didn't have many friends. Okay so she didn't have any real friends. Every now and then a few people from work would ask her to go out for a drink. But she didn't have a boyfriend, she didn't have a family member near by other than her cousin but she hadn't talked to her in over ten years. All she had was her cat. And apparently now she had her neighbor. "Thank you." She said with a smile and she reached for Olivia's hand. "But what do you mean it's your job?"

"Christina, I'm a detective for Manhattan SVU." Olivia waited to see her reaction.

"Oh…" her voice trailed.

Olivia nodded. "Now that you're awake I have to ask you for you statement though. I need you to tell me everything about everything that happened last night that you can remember."

Christina started trembling, "I can't. I can't." she said shaking her head and tears flowing down her cheeks.

"It's okay, Christina, it's okay." Olivia stroked her arm trying to calm her down. She obviously wasn't getting a statement from her right now. Olivia sighed and thought about how in a little while she ought to call Elliot to see what Crime Scene Unit had found.