Grief, Grit and Grace

By: El Chacal

Disclaimer: If I owned any of the people and things of the show, then the episode would have ended with O'Halloran surviving, Stuckey would have been beaten to a bloody pulp and then with Olivia and Elliot in a make out session all the way to the hospital. But since I don't own anything except my imagination, all that I can give is this story. Rafael Barbossa is my character. Everything else that is not mine is not mine, capische?

"Hello, Elizabeth."

Looking up at the doorway, she gave a thin grimace as Elizabeth Rodgers and Elizabeth Olivet approached her. "Just because I'm in a hospital bed doesn't mean you get to wave any formalities around me."

By the time the blonde medical examiner and brunette psychiatrist to New York's finest got to the right and left sides of the bed, both women slapped Donnelly upside the back of her head.

"What the hell was that for?" Donnelly exclaimed, rubbing the back of her head gingerly.

"You almost wound up on my autopsy table, Elizabeth, and yet you are still as obstinate as you ever were." Rodgers spoke directly, not trying to soften her words.

"We are your friends and colleagues, Elizabeth. Formalities only apply to when we are on the job. Anywhere else, we are equals. We're not in a courtroom." Olivet always had a way to counter Rodgers' brash words with her calming voice.

"Therefore, we get to call you whatever we want to."

"How did you know to find me here?"

"Detectives Stabler and Benson told us what happened." Rodgers replied. "So that means you can't lie to us about it."

"I did not die. I'm alive. I'm breathing. There's no need to be so concerned. All I need to do is get better and get back to work."

"Even in a hospital bed, dressed in a patient's gown and having recently survived a near death experience, you are still the same stubborn-as-a-mule workaholic that you ever were, Judge Donnelly."

The three women turned to the door to see a smirking Joe Fontana with a bouquet of daisies. The dapper Italian lieutenant from Chicago wore a beige double-breasted suit that appeared to be tailor made, which was only one of the few things that made him both appealing and annoying to Donnelly.

She had seen most detectives wear off-the-rack wardrobe and this one wore Armani every day to work and silk shirts tailored for him directly from Italy.

But the one thing that annoyed and enticed her at the same time was his charm, which could cut through the defenses of most women, even a blonde, tenacious Irish judge.

Walking up to the foot of the bed, Joe patted her foot playfully, smiling when Donnelly tried to kick his hand away.

"Doctors, can you please give us the room for a moment?"

"Of course, lieutenant, we would be happy to oblige." Olivet said, leading Rodgers out with her. "Don't push your luck, Fontana, or I'll end up having to weigh your liver." Rodgers quipped as she left with Olivet.

Once the door closed, Fontana turned to Donnelly, placing the flowers at her feet and his hands on either side of the bed. "Why did you disregard Stabler and Benson's safety detail, Elizabeth? Your life was at risk."

"Joseph, I am a judge. I did not get this job by running away from adversity. I stood up to everyone who said I couldn't do it and everyone who tried to bar me from the bench."

"All those people never tried to stick a hot shot of potassium chloride up your Irish ass. Did it ever occur to you even think for a moment that there are people who have supported you and actually looked up to you?"

"Like who?"

"Alexandra Cabot is one of them. You helped prepare her to understand the hassles and pressures of a court room and how to carry herself as a proper ADA. Even Rafael Barbossa supports you, even though you were the one to cast the deciding vote to throw him out of New York City."

"He supports me? That's a laugh." Donnelly couldn't imagine that the Courtroom Carnie would forget how she practically cast him out of New York City, away from his cousin, ADA Connie Rubirosa, who defended him as he stood before her and the Bar Association.

"That's not all." Fontana said as he walked over to her side, sitting down right next to her so she could look at him closer. "There are those who admire you, even are drawn to you."

"All this time, I thought only the young were sentimental." Donnelly joked.

"I'm only as young as the people around me and you have made me feel very young."

"Joseph, my roaring twenties are long gone."

"I know that. The roaring twenties are long gone for me too, yet being here with you right now makes me feel like a young man again."

The moment Fontana took Donnelly's dainty hand in his larger, calloused hand, her defenses fell before him. With a rasped whimper, she rose up and threw her arms around his neck.

Joe held her tenderly in his arms as she released everything that she was holding back since she came out of the emergency room.

Releasing Joe from her grasp, Donnelly laid herself back down, trying to wipe away the tears from her face with her wrists until Joe stilled them.

Taking a handkerchief from his coat pocket, he gently wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Whatever excuse you have to start working again, cancel them out."

"Why would I do that?"

"There's a reserved table for you at THE BLUE WALL and you have been summoned to accompany one of the partners and owners of said establishment in regards to a quaint dinner for two."

"I…" Joe laid a finger on her lips to quiet her.

"No excuses or refusals will be accepted. Either you arrive willingly on my arm or you will arrive escorted by uniformed officers. The choice is yours."

Donnelly smiled at Fontana's way of taking charge while appearing to be completely professional and charming at the same time.

"I don't know what I'm going to wear and my hair looks like a rat's nest."

"Liz, don't you know me at all? All you have to do is show up and have fun with me."

With a smile, he took the flowers at the end of her bed and placed them on the side table next to her bed. Before leaving, Joe Fontana leaned in and kissed Elizabeth only to have her turn her face so their lips locked together instantly. Pulling back, both of them had toothy grins.

"Joey."

"Liz."

Walking out from Donnelly's room, Fontana smiled as he saw the knowing faces of Elizabeth Rodgers and Elizabeth Olivet.

"Rodgers, you do her hair. Olivet, you do the makeup."

"Why does the shrink get to do the makeup?"

"When did you start putting on lipstick?" Olivet asked, only to get a steely glare from the blonde medical examiner. Usually, Rodgers reserved that glare for Goren, Logan and, more often than not, Captain Ross, but this was the first of several exceptions. "You talked with Lennie Briscoe, didn't you?" Rodgers quipped only to be met by Olivet's mysterious and serene smile. "He didn't tell me anything I already knew at the time, Elizabeth."

"All right, you do the makeup. I'll do the hair."

"Have fun, ladies."

"That's 'doctors' to you, Lieutenant." Both women exclaimed as Fontana took his leave.

A/n: How's that for the first chapter? I thought of this after watching (and thinking about) the episode Zebras. I doubt that there are any stories that are Fontana/Donnelly related. So if this is indeed the first one, then I'm proud to be the first person to write such a story. The head slaps were inspired by Mark Harmon in NCIS. The age banter between Donnelly and Fontana are both references to the late James Cagney in two movies he stared in, 'The Roaring Twenties' and 'Yankee Doodle Dandy'. If this story caught your attention, please leave a review. Thanks.