Disclaimer: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit belongs to Dick Wolf.
He sat patiently waiting in his cold metal folding chair, simply watching the scene before him unfold through the glass. People in white lab coats prepared the sterilized area for the procedure. He glanced at his watch. 11:47. This was taking too long. Finally he heard the sound of the door opening. Then the sound of jangling shackles and footsteps. As he watched the guards escort the inmate to his final position, his mind started to wonder to the tragic event that brought him to watch the inmate die.
He and his partner were investigating a rape-homicide of a teenage girl. The perp had left so evidence at the crime scene that it didn't take much to discover his identity. After acquiring an arrest warrant, the two detectives headed out to seize the perp from his residence. They knocked on the door.
"Jeremy Wilder, police," his partner, Olivia, yelled. When there was no answer, she placed her ear to door. "TV's on", she whispers to him.
"Jeremy Wilder, open up," he yelled. Again no answer. Behind the door they heard a swoosh sound that can only belong to opening a window. "Stand back," he instructed her.
With a loud bang, he kicked the door, splitting it at the hinges. They entered guns drawn. Olivia spotted the perp, outside on the fire escape.
"You get the car, I got him."
She dashed to the window, and followed the perp down the fire escape. They hit the ground quickly and he started to run down the alley behind his apartment.
"We're in pursuit of a homicide suspect, heading west on Lexington and Fourth. Reinforcements are needed," she called into her radio.
"Liv, I see him. He's about to turn left. I'll cut him on Fifth."
Olivia turned after the perp, and saw her partner in the car turned in to trap him.
"Stop! Police," she yelled again.
The perp stopped and before she could pull her gun or her partner could get out of the car, the perp reaches into his front pocket. BANG. BANG.
In the blink of an eye, a sharp pain rolls though her stomach. The impact on the bullets causes her to fall to the ground.
He gets out of the car, gun drawn and shoots the perp in the arm. He runs to his partner, and pushes down on the entry wounds, trying to minimize the bleeding. He is so fixated on his partner that he does not even hear the uniformed officers arriving at the scene and arresting the perp.
"Detective, I called for a bus," one of the uniforms informs him. In the distance, he hears one of the officers reporting the incident through the radio. At the end of the message he listens to the dreaded words: Officer Down.
"El," she tries to speak, but it comes out barely a whisper.
"Shh. Liv, it's okay. Stay with me," he pleads.
"I'm sorry," is all she can manage to say.
"No, no, no. Liv, stay with me. Come on, keep your eyes open. Come on Olivia," he pleads. But he just watches as she struggles to hold on.
When the ambulance arrives to take her to the hospital, he follows rides with her, never leaving her side until the stream of doctors and nurses finally pull him away before entering the operating room. He sits in the uncomfortable chairs in the waiting room, just praying for some kind of miracle. Moments later he hears the door open and the rushing of four pairs of feet coming towards him. First Captain Cragen followed by Munch and Fin. Lastly, is their assistant district attorney, Casey Novak.
"Elliot, how is she," Cragen asks. His tone is quiet as if trying to not to further upset the detective.
"Dunno. Doctors haven't said anything."
The group sat in the waiting room for two hours just waiting for any news on Olivia. The little conversation that occurred during the time was about anything but the case; as if they all tried to forget the reason they were here. Finally, one doctor walked towards them. As soon as they saw this, they all got up quickly from their seats and raced to meet the doctor.
"I'm sorry," the doctor started, "but the bullet pierced her heart. There was nothing we could do to save her."
After that was said the doctor drawled on about the procedure and what happened, but he could no longer hear him over the pounding of his heart.
"Elliot," Fin whispered to him, "are you okay?"
As he looked over to Fin, he saw tears wield in the black man's eyes. He then looked to the rest of the group. The captain was trying, unsuccessfully; to choke back his emotions as he listened to the doctor speak. It must have been really hard for the cap, trying to hold back his grief about his squad daughter to try to be the reasonable one. Casey, one the other side, could not hide her grief for her friend even if she tried. She stood, embraced in Munch's arms, balling her eyes out, cheeks red from the tears. He looked up to Munch, trying so hard to comfort the ADA, but not bothering to hide his only tears.
Turning back to Fin, he finally answered, "I just lost my partner, how can I be okay?"
The execution was quicker than he could imagine. Jeremy Wilder was pronounced died at 12:01 with no last words. Elliot looked around the room. He saw the deceased inmate's family distraught over the death of their loved one. The teenage victim's family was not an advocate of the death penalty so no one came to watch the perp die. Looking around he saw Olivia's family. Cragen, Munch, Fin, and even Casey. They all shared the same look of grief.
In the end, he realized that none of them would be as effected as he was. Sure, they lost a sister, a daughter, a girlfriend, a colleague, a friend, and a confidant. But only he lost a partner. The yin to his yang. His counterbalance, and best friend. In the Academy, they say that 'Partners are like blood.' They were right. A part of his soul died with his partner, and there wasn't enough justice in the world to repair it. That night, justice failed him.