Law and Order: SVU

I absolutely loved "Paternity." Best episode they've put out in a long time, and that's considering all the great ones we've seen over the years! It was a happy "Fault" in a way. I loved every second of it: the dynamic between Kathy and Olivia, the panic in Elliot's eyes, Cragen's totally invested, fatherly presence as he watched Olivia save Kathy's life, Olivia holding on to Elliot's newborn with wide eyes, and of course, the embrace...

One thing bothers me though: throughout the entire series, Olivia has been indestructible. Just in this season, she walked away when she was supposed to get blown up, got stabbed but that plot line got about two minutes worth of anyone's concern, and came out of a brutal car accident without a scratch. In seasons past, she got cut on the neck, but turns out it wasn't bad, stalked multiple times with no injury, been taken hostage with no injury, poisoned with noxious gas with no injury, bashed in the head with little consequence, had a door fall on her with no injury... it makes me nervous. There has to be a day coming when she isn't invincible anymore.

Munch, Fin, and Stabler have all been shot at one point. Stabler just had his head bashed into a window and was temporarily blinded. Lake got blown up on like his sixth episode or something. What is it? I obviously don't want her to be hurt, but I don't buy that she can continue to avoid injury. And honestly, I want to see what that would do to the squad, particularly Elliot.

Hence, this story was born. What if that driver ran the red-light coming from the other direction?

-rosa

Part 1 of 2

"Liv? Thanks."

"No problem."

Olivia Benson reluctantly hung up with her partner, now forced to endure the awkward silence in the car. The presence of pregnant Kathy Stabler, with whom she'd never been on comfortable terms, unnerved Olivia, stirred up jealousy she'd didn't want to acknowledge. So did the number of times the couple insisted on saying "I love you." Once was enough when on speaker phone, in her humble opinion.

She could think of nothing to say to Kathy. She looked straight ahead, in effort to keep the woman out of her peripheral vision. When the light turned green, she eased out into the intersection, focused on the road ahead, trying not to think about her reasons for volunteering to make this trip.

Olivia caught the movement out of the corner of her eye, felt a burst of pain, heard Kathy scream, then her world crashed to black.

X

Detective Fin Tutuloa's grip on the side of his seat in the police turned his dark knuckles white. When Cragen had called, reported what he'd seen He hated that he had to be the one to tell Elliot about the accident that put Elliot's whole world in jeopardy. Not to mention, he himself was anxious about Olivia's condition. He'd always known the woman to be invulnerable, a consistent rock of safety when the world went to shit. He was reeling from the Captain's description of the car and her injuries. In fact, he didn't plan on telling Elliot that he knew those details. He was just going to say that Olivia and Kathy were in a car accident and that was all he'd heard.

Yes, even Detective Fin Tutuola could be afraid.

When the car screeched to a stop, Fin jumped out of the car. Elliot looked puzzled to see him there.

"What are you doing here?"

"There's been an accident."

Elliot's face paled, and he started to run. "Who?"

"I'll tell you in the car. There's a chopper waiting for us."

A moment, any sort of delay in dropping this bombshell worked for Fin.

X

Kathy blacked out for a second, stunned by the airbag. When she came to, her immediate thought was of her baby. Her hands went to her stomach, her eyes surveyed her side of the car. She seemed to be okay. No pain. Yet. After having four children and being a nurse, she knew enough to realize that trauma like this could very likely send her into premature labor at any minute.

Olivia.

Kathy squirmed, turning to her husband's partner. She gasped. "Olivia!"

The car had caved in around Olivia, pinning her legs. Blood seeped from a gash in her head, running over one side of her face. Her airbag hadn't deployed. Kathy's nursings instincts took over, and she reached over with one hand to check Olivia's pulse. Faint and rapid. Olivia was bent at an odd angle, and metal from the door was cutting into her side. Kathy could make out a vicious compound fracture in Olivia's left arm where her radius had broken through her skin. She was loosing blood fast.

"Olivia, can you hear me? Olivia!"

The detective didn't stir. With her other hand, Kathy wrenched Olivia's radio from her belt and, as she seen Elliot do so many times, radioed for help.

"SVU Portable to Dispatch." As she spoke, she felt the distinctive sensation of her water breaking. She tried to stifle the panic, tried to stay in nurse mode.

"Go ahead, SVU Portable."

"There's been a car accident. The victim is NYPD Detective Benson, critical condition. Compound fracture in the arm, possible spinal injury, head trauma. My name is Kathy Stabler, I'm a nurse, and my husband is her partner. I'm going into labor, and we're stuck in the car. We need an ambulance and the fire department! Please, hurry!"

"Help is on the way."

Kathy's cell had dropped to her feet, and she couldn't reach it. Olivia's phone was crushed. No matter how much she wanted to, she couldn't reach Elliot. Kathy's own door was jammed shut do to the damaged hood of the car. There was nothing she could do until paramedics arrived but try to monitor Olivia's condition and control her breathing. She felt the old, familiar pangs of initial contractions. Olivia's heart rate was dropping.

Sirens were getting closer, and soon, she heard a knock on her window. A black man in a paramedic's uniform was there. Another one, a woman, was on Olivia's side, where the window had shattered. He checked Olivia's pulse again, looking grim.

"She's bleeding out," he yelled to another paramedic. "Bring the hookup of O, stat!" He turned to Kathy. "Ma'am, how are you doing?"

"I'm not hurt, but I'm having contractions."

Kathy reached in the back, grabbing an NYPD sweatshirt Olivia had left there, and draped it over Olivia's face. She covered her own face with her hands, and leaned towards the middle of the car, looking away from the roof. The sound was deafening.

Light poured in as they roof of the car was pulled back. The firemen pried opened Olivia's door first, and paramedics immediately swarmed her, one carefully fitting a neck brace to Olivia, who was still motionless, and another hooking up a line of O blood. As soon as the neck brace was on, the female paramedic rushed to Kathy's side as the firemen pried her own door open. The male medic quickly poured antiseptic on Olivia's arm, then wrapped it with gauze until the protruding bone was hidden. Kathy was watching him splint Olivia's arm when she had to look away; another contraction tore through her, worse this time, and she couldn't help but cry out and let a few tears fall.

"Kathy!"

She turned towards the voice, and caught site of a paler than usual Captain Don Cragen. It was the first time she'd seen him look anything but calm. He was closer to her than the crowd that had gathered, but out of the way of the firemen and paramedics. A second ambulance had pulled up.

"Elliot is on his way to the hospital! He'll be there when you get there!"

A paramedic was helping her out of the car, and immediately assisted her onto a gurney. They popped it up, and pushed her towards one of the ambulances. She cried out as another contraction went through her body. In the corner of her eye, she could see the other medics and firemen working together to slide a backboard under Olivia and lift her out of the car.

"What about Olivia?!" she gasped.

"She's in good hands; you need to get to the hospital now. You're contractions are clocking in at about seven minutes apart, so we have enough time to get you there by car."

"Is she going to make it?"

The paramedic looked away; her lips were set in a grim line. "A chopper is dropping to fly her out to the trauma unit. Try to think of your baby."

Kathy closed her eyes. She could hear the pounding of the helicopter overhead already. She prayed.

XXX

When the Medi-Vac chopper set down, the medics had Olivia strapped in within seconds. Don Cragen set his shoulders, flashed his badge, and pushed his way through the madness to the chopper. When the paramedic lifted his eyebrows, Cragen raised his badge. He had to shout over the slap of the chopper.

"She's my detective! I'm going with her!"

The medic nodded, and waved him in.

In the chopper, Olivia was strapped down, her neck and head were fixed in place, and they'd hooked up another bag of O. Her side was heavily padded with dressing and wrapped tightly, and one medic's job was simply to maintain pressure on her side. Gauze had been tightly wrapped around her head, but blood was soaking through. Her left arm was splinted, but the blood from the compound fracture had saturated the dressing. An oxygen mask over her mouth and nose, but her breathing remained shallow.

"Pushing saline drip, she needs fluids."

She still hadn't woken up. As much as Don was glad she wasn't conscious for the pain, his worry increased with every second her eyes stayed closed.

He could hold her hand, couldn't touch her, could only watch as they worked frantically. His wide eyes, staring intently at his Detective, caught something.

"She's sweating," he said out loud. And her fingertips were tinged blue.

"She's going into shock," one of the medics barked. "Elevate her legs, and grab the blankets!"

They were landing.

"Blood pressure dropping."

"The OR is prepped!"

"Hang on, Olivia!"

XXX

Fin Tutuola considered himself in excellent physical condition. But when the chopper set down, Elliot Stabler waited long enough to get Kathy's room number, then he jumped from the door, and sprinted at top speed for the door. There was no way in hell anyone could keep up with him.

Elliot burst through the door. Munch was there, urgency in his eyes, and tried to slow him down, calm him by holding out his hand and calling his name.

"Elliot!"

Elliot breezed by him into Kathy's room. She was propped up, barely a scratch on her. And in her arms was a quietly sleeping newborn.

"Elliot..." she whispered tiredly. "We're both fine. It's a boy."

Overcome with relief, Elliot took his wife's face in his hands, and their foreheads rested together for a moment, needing the physical contact to reassure him that she was indeed alive.

Even though he and his wife fought constantly, were separated for over two years, almost divorced, and even though he realized his love for her had changed over time, she was still the mother of his children and the woman with whom he'd shared 18 years of his life. He was so relieved she was alright. When he pulled away, he was mesmerized by his new son for a moment. When he could finally look away, he met Kathy's eyes with a proud father's smile.

"How's Olivia? Where is her room? I should probably check in on her too."

Kathy looked almost unharmed by the accident. He naturally assumed...

"They didn't tell you?"

His blood run cold at the soft dread in her voice. "Tell me what?"

"Olivia was rushed from the scene in a helicopter. She's upstairs in the trauma OR. The other car crashed into her side and the airbag didn't go off. She might not... she's in critical condition."

Elliot sank into a chair, lowered his head into his hands, pressing hard against his skull. He willed the room to stop spinning. No. No one had told him that.

Kathy continued to narrate, and Elliot hated her for it. He didn't need details. That one truth was enough to send him crashing.

"Of what I could see, she had a head injury, a compound fracture in her left arm, and maybe a spinal injury. The car pinned her legs, and metal from the door cut into her side."

Elliot shot to his feet, and began to pace. His wife was here, with their newborn son. Both were healthy. His partner was upstairs, possibly dying. Suddenly, he was back in that train station, looking at Olivia lying on the ground gasping, and the little boy, Ryan, staring at him with blank eyes.

He chose her then over an innocent little boy, a victim. This time, it was his wife and newborn son.

But they were fine. Kathy's face was full of color and his baby boy was sleeping peacefully.

"I'll be back," he bit out, his back already to her. He ran.

XXX

Part 1 of 2. Thanks for reading.

-rosa