Disclaimer: I don't own SVU!

AN: Welcome to my new story! I just had this idea pop into my head and it flowed out. I hope you enjoy it!

Unexpected Illness

Sitting at her desk, Olivia was filling out her paperwork from her last few cases that had backed her up. She wondered where her partner was as he was usually here before she was. She couldn't focus on the file in front of her more than five minutes and must've read the same line at least ten times before she had given up. She pulled out her cell phone before he desk phone rang.

"Benson," she answered.

"Detective Benson?" a female's voice said.

"Yes?" Olivia replied.

"Detective, I'm the charge nurse at Mercy General. I have Detective Stabler here and you're listed as his emergency contact," the nurse said, "I need you to come. There's been an accident."

"Okay, I'm on my way," Olivia said. She hung up the phone and headed out the station right as her captain came out of his office.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"It's Elliot. He's at Mercy. I gotta go," Olivia replied as she didn't wait on the elevator and headed down the stairs.

Cragen looked at the other two detectives sitting at their desks and he nodded. They grabbed their things and took off after her.

Olivia broke the speed limit to get to Mercy and raced into the hospital. She ran to the nurse's station and got the attention of the nurse there.

"I'm Detective Benson; I'm here for Detective Stabler. He was in an accident and the charge nurse, uh, I didn't get her name, but she called me. I'm his emergency contact," Olivia said.

The nurse checked her records and shook her head before looking up to Olivia.

"Ma'am, will you please wait over there and I'll have a doctor out to speak to you shortly," she said.

Olivia nodded and walked over to the corner. She couldn't sit down as she was incredibly worried about her partner. She paced and paced until she looked up and saw Fin and Munch walking towards her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Captain told us to check on you and Elliot," Fin said.

"I just got here. The nurse said she'd send the doctor to come and talk to me. I don't understand though," Olivia said.

"What?" Fin asked.

"Why am I his emergency contact and not Kathy?" Olivia asked.

"I don't know, Baby girl," Fin replied, "That's something you'll have to ask him."

Olivia nodded as she looked over to see the doctor heading towards them. She stood up and braced herself for whatever news he had to tell her.

"Which of you is Detective Benson?" he asked.

"I am," Olivia said, stepping up.

"I'm Dr. James," he said, "Detective Stabler was involved in a hit and run. The trauma of the crash left him with a broken arm and several cuts and bruises."

Olivia's eyes widened and gasped.

"That isn't what I'm worried about though," the doctor said, "While running some tests, we found anomalies in his blood and it turns out that he has an aggressive form of bone cancer called Multiple Myeloma. It attacks the bone marrow and destroys the bone from the inside out."

"Oh my God!" Olivia exclaimed.

Fin wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him as the tears started to fall down her face.

"What's going to happen?" Fin asked.

"Well, we're going to start him on chemotherapy and steroids and hopefully that will help, but if not he may need a stem cell transplant of possibly a bone marrow transplant," Dr. James said.

"Can….,"Olivia started, but her voice broke as more tears fell, "What…"

"What happens if that doesn't work?" Fin asked.

"His body will shut down. If the cancer metastasizes, his body will shut down," Dr, James said, "The best thing to do is to go ahead with treatment and hope for the best."

"Can….," Olivia cleared her throat, "Can…I see him?"

"Once we move him into a room, you can," Dr. James replied, "I'll let you know."

"Thank you," Fin said. The doctor walked away and Fin helped Olivia to a chair.

"Liv, you know Elliot is strong. He'll beat this," Fin said. Olivia could only nod as the emotion clogged her throat.

Munch sat on the other side of them and put his hand on Olivia's knee. She picked it up and held it. He squeezed hers reassuringly.

"He'll be fine," Munch said softly. Olivia sniffled.

"I…I just wanna see him," Olivia said.

"You will," Fin said.

Forty-five minutes passed before Dr. James came back out to tell them that they could go see him now. Fin and Munch walked with Olivia between them. The entered the room that Elliot was in to see him hooked up to an IV and his arm in a cast with several scratches on his face and bruises up and down his arms. Olivia moved closer to the bed while Fin and Munch stood at the door to allow her some time alone. She picked up his hand. His eyes fluttered open as soon as her skin touched his. She smiled.

"Hi," Olivia said.

"Hey," Elliot said.

"How are you feeling?" Olivia asked.

"Like I've been hit by a truck," Elliot said.

That was when he noticed that she had been crying. He squeezed her hand.

"I'm going to be fine," he said, "It's just a broken arm and a few scrapes and bruises."

She looked at Fin and Munch and back to him.

"The doctor didn't tell you?" she asked.

"Tell me what?" he replied. She took a deep breath and exhaled.

"El, they took some blood after the accident," Olivia said, "They found some anomalies and it turns out that you have a type of cancer called Multiple Myeloma. I'm so sorry."

Elliot looked at her and then to the guys. He shook his head.

"You're not serious?" He asked.

She looked at him with tear-filled eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

"You are serious," Elliot said, "What are my chances?"

"With chemo and steroids and possibly a stem cell or marrow transplant, you'll be fine," Fin said.

"I feel a 'but' coming on," Elliot said.

"If the cancer has spread, your body will shut down," Munch finished.

Olivia sat down in the chair as she felt like her legs wouldn't hold her anymore. He looked to his partners and friends.

"I could die?" he asked. Olivia let out a sob. Fin looked away and Munch looked at his feet.

"Oh man," Elliot said. Olivia swallowed and looked at him.

"El, why am I your emergency contact?" Olivia asked. It was his turn to look away.

"Kathy left me about two months ago. She filed for divorce last week," he said.

"I'm so sorry, Elliot," Olivia said. Elliot shrugged his good shoulder.

"Our marriage was falling apart anyway. We were constantly fighting," Elliot said.

"Do you want me to call her?" Olivia asked, "Or the kids?"

"No, they don't need to know," Elliot said.

"They should know that their father is sick," Olivia said.

"I said no!" Elliot snapped.

"Okay," Olivia said, "I'm sorry."

"Please leave," Elliot said, "I want to be alone."

Olivia nodded and got up.

"We're here when you need us," Olivia said. Elliot nodded and looked away.

Olivia walked to Fin and Munch and they walked out. They didn't get very far before Olivia almost collapsed on the floor in tears; Fin caught her and Munch helped him pull her to a chair near them. They stayed with her until she stopped sobbing and sniffled.

"He…he…can't…get…a…break," she said gasping.

"He'll be fine," Fin said, "He just needs to process everything."

"Yeah, he'll call when he's ready to talk," Munch said. She nodded.

"I wanna go home," Olivia said.

"Okay, I'll take you," Fin said.

They got up and Fin took Olivia home. He walked her to the door of her apartment. She turned and looked at him.

"Thank you," she said.

"Any time, Baby girl," Fin said, "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah," she replied, "I'm tired. I'm going to go to bed."

"Okay, see you tomorrow," Fin said unsure about leaving her alone.

"Okay," she said as she unlocked her door and walked inside, closing it behind her.

She checked the peephole to make sure Fin left and when he did she collapsed against her door in tears. She cried for about an hour before she dragged herself to shower and collapsed on her bed, asleep.

She woke the next morning to her phone ringing. She groaned as she rolled over and grabbed the receiver.

"Hello," she said.

"Hey," said Elliot's voice. He sounded as if he's been crying.

"Elliot, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Can you come?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'll be there in fifteen," she said.

"Okay," he said and they disconnected the call.

She grabbed a pair of jeans and a purple sweater to throw on. She put her coat on and headed out the door. She hailed a cab and headed straight to the hospital. She raced inside and got to Elliot's room. She looked in and found that he was getting into a wheelchair.

"Hey," Elliot said as he saw her.

"Hey, what's going on?" she asked.

"They're taking me to run a few more tests," he said.

"What kind of tests?" she asked.

"An MRI and a CAT scan," Elliot said, "They want to know if it's spread."

"How long will that take?" she asked.

"An hour or so," the nurse replied, "You're welcome to come along and watch from observation."

Olivia looked at Elliot. He looked up at her with the question in his eyes. She nodded and they made their way down to the labs.

A couple of hours later, Olivia pushed Elliot in the wheelchair back to the room. After she helped him into bed, she returned the wheelchair and entered the room to sit in the chair beside his bed. Elliot closed his eyes a moment and opened them to look over at Olivia.

"Liv, can I ask you something?" Elliot asked.

"Sure," Olivia said. Elliot took a deep breath.

"If I die-," Elliot started and Olivia interrupted him, "You're not going to die! You're going to be fine! You'll beat this and everything will go back to the way it was."

"Liv," he said. She nodded, blinking back tears.

"If I die, will you promise me that you'll be okay and that you'll look after my kids?" he asked.

"I can't make that promise, El. I would, but I can't. I have to believe that you'll be fine," she replied.

"Please, Liv, please promise me," he begged as his blue eyes filled with tears.

"I promise," she whispered as the tears fell down her face.

"Thank you," he said. She nodded.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked. He nodded.

"Why did Kathy leave?" she asked, "I thought you guys were working things out."

"At first, we were. After that, we just started arguing over everything. She'd accuse me of a lot of things and I'd accuse her back," he replied.

"I'm sorry it didn't work out for you two," she said.

"To be honest, I think we were just staying together for the kids' sakes," he said.

"Do you want me to call and tell them what's going on?" she asked. He shook his head.

"I don't want them to see me like this. If you call, they'll want to come to see me," he said, "I can't handle that right now. Thank you for asking though."

She nodded and sighed. She looked at her partner and he seemed to have aged before her. He looked tired. His eyes had dark circles around them, looking as though he hadn't slept in a while. He had frown lines around his mouth. He looked pale. She was sure he was in pain, but he wouldn't admit to it or allow them to give him something for it. He looked at her and she gave him a small smile.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

She leaned on her elbows that were on her knees and put her hands together. She looked at them and sighed. Tears came to her eyes and she didn't know if she could answer his question without her voice breaking. She cleared her throat and looked at him.

"I…I don't know if I could handle losing you," she said softly, "I was terrified when they called and told me that you were in an accident. I didn't know if you were dead or alive."

"I'm alive, Liv," he said.

"Yeah, but….," she said, not completing her thought as she was afraid of his reaction.

He looked over contemplating his impending doom. He knew that there was always a chance that he could take a turn for the worst. He sighed and looked back at her.

"Liv, as long as you're here, I'm going to be fine," he said. She gave him another small smile.

"I'm scared, El," she said.

"I am, too," he said, "I'll get through this. I'm too stubborn to stay down. You know that."

They chuckled. Elliot yawned.

"I guess I should go," Olivia said.

"No, don't. Stay with me, please?" he asked. She nodded.

"Thank you," he said, "And thanks for sticking with me."

"You're my partner and my best friend," she said as if that explained everything. He smiled and nodded.

She leaned back in the chair and shuffled to find a comfortable position. Truth be told, most cops have trained themselves to fall asleep when they can, where they can and Olivia was no different. She finally found her a comfortable position and drifted off to a fitful sleep.

AN: Please let me know how you liked it!