A reimagining of Poisoned Motive.
Disclaimer: Not mine!
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The moment Fin heard the shot, he reacted.
Olivia was closest to him, and he started to reach for her. But then she screamed out. The sound echoed in his ears as he threw himself over her and shielded her body with his, everything else completely forgotten. Olivia was hurt.
There was only a single shot fired. Eventually he heard someone calling for help; he thought it was Rollins, but he couldn't be sure. He lifted himself off of Olivia and gently rolled her onto her back.
Then he saw it.
There, just a few inches from her heart, was a large entrance wound. Chunks of bile rose up in his throat as he yanked his jacket off and folded it up. Then he pressed the material against Olivia's wound.
At the added pressure, Olivia cried out weakly and tossed her head to the side.
"Shh, baby girl," he soothed. He raised his free hand and gently smoothed her dark hair back. "I know it hurts, but I gotta keep the pressure."
Her eyes were wild with pain and fear. "Elliot?"
Rage and helplessness bubbled up in Fin's chest as Olivia passed out after calling for her former partner. If he didn't hate Stabler before, he sure as hell hated him now.
"Hang on, Liv."
Elliot Stabler's footsteps seemed to echo endlessly in his head as he raced through the hospital. When he left SVU, he had never expected to return, especially not in this manner. Cragen had been the one to call him, the call he had never wanted to receive. The call Kathy always expected and dreaded until the day he quit SVU and became a teacher at Quantico. He had been so certain it was the best thing for all involved, and he never even explained himself to Olivia or gave her the courtesy of a goodbye. She had given him twelve years, and he had ended it with nothing.
God, he was a fool.
Skidding around a corner, he came upon a startling scene. Cragen, Fin, Munch and Brian Cassidy were all huddled together. Cassidy was crying and the other three men struggled to look stoic. His heart dropped.
Fin saw him first. Suddenly his feet were almost too heavy to lift. This couldn't be happening. His former captain stepped away from the others and slowly began walking toward him.
"Elliot…"
"No," Elliot heard himself whisper. "Don't say it, Don."
"Elliot, I'm sorry." Cragen reached into his pocket and pulled out a necklace that was all too familiar to Elliot. "She wanted you to have this."
Elliot's fingers slowly closed around the necklace Olivia never took off.
This couldn't be happening.
"Fin was there… She said she loved you." The older man seemed to have aged twenty years.
The words were like a dagger in his heart. He had just assumed there would be time to fix things with Olivia. His knees suddenly buckled and he slid to the floor. How could he have been so stupid? Now she was gone. He was never going to see her again. He would never hear her laugh, never touch her, never love her, all because of his own misplaced sense of duty and loyalty. He could see it now; he had made all the wrong choices and Liv had been the one to pay the price.
He never heard the words of the other men as they gathered around him. He didn't deserve to be comforted. Olivia was gone and she was never coming back.
"I'm so sorry, Olivia," he whispered as he clutched the necklace to his chest.
"So sorry."
Finis.
