A/N: OMG! My first SVU fic ever! I'm so excited. This is post Blinded, spoilers, EO, blah, blah, blah, let's get on with the story! Enjoy!

He was her partner. She was just checking on him because he was her partner.

And she wasn't going to admit anything else.

It was about three days since 'the accident'. That's what she had dubbed it. Cragen had given her a day off afterwards, and she had gone home, threw out the top that was covered in her partner's blood, stood under near scalding water for over an hour, and tried not to let the tears fall.

They had almost wet her cheeks in that hospital room.

When Elliot cried out he couldn't see.

When he called for Kathy.

When he clutched her hand like it was the only thing he had left.

He was her partner.

Now, almost two days since then, she was told to go home and get some rest, since she had been at work for over 48 hours. The case could wait a few hours. And she would go home. She just had one more thing to do. For work if anyone asked.

She got off the elevator on Elliot's floor, and passed a number of rooms with sleeping patients. When she got to Elliot's room, she wasn't surprised by what she saw.

Kathy was holding Elliot's hand while she rested her head on the small amount of bare bed beside him. His hand was loosely fit in to hers, and Olivia had a suspicion that, against Elliot's wishes, Kathy had stayed until he fell asleep. Then she had fallen asleep soon after that.

The night nurses must not have had the heart to wake her, because it was nearing 11:00, way past visiting hours, and the only reason Olivia had gotten up here was because the receptionist was asleep at her desk.

Olivia knew what she had to do. She sighed. She walked over to the bed, placed her hand on Kathy's shoulder and gently shook her. She quietly called her name, not sure how deep Elliot was sleeping, and not wanting to wake him. After a few seconds, Kathy's eyes fluttered open, and she looked at Elliot, noticing he didn't wake her, looked up to her left, and Olivia could've sworn she saw a flash of dislike on Kathy's face when she saw who had woken her.

"You should go home and get some rest. Sleeping like that can't be good for you or the baby." Olivia whispered.

"I know," Kathy yawned. "I must've lost track of time. What are you doing here?"

Olivia knew Kathy was going to ask this, but it still caught her off guard. "Oh, um…Cragen wanted me to check in on him," she nodded her head in the direction of Elliot. "I must've lost track of time and fallen asleep at my desk." A lie. "Not one to disobey orders."

Kathy looked at her, clearly wanting to believe that story, but also not able to fully. "Kathy, why don't you call a cab, you're way to tired to drive. I'm no doctor, but I'm sure he'll sleep through the rest of the night."

"I'll call Kathleen, she's probably still up." She paused, seeming to search her brain for something to say. "Thank you."

This defiantly caught Olivia off guard. "For what?"

"All the time you two spend together. If you weren't there, he might…He never talks to me. I don't know what you two talk about, and frankly, I'm not sure I want to know. But all the times I lie awake thinking about who has a gun to his head tonight, what dangerous psycho is he sitting across from, will the next time I see him be on a table covered by a white sheet?"

"Kathy…"

"I want to thank you for always having his back. This injury could've been a lot worse,"

"I did nothing-"

"Just…I don't want to think about where he would be right now if you weren't his partner. So, thank you."

Kathy stroked Elliot's forehead with the back of her hand, and walked out of the room with no further look at Olivia. Olivia stood, rooted to the spot, Kathy's words swimming in her head.

Any other partner would have his back. That's what they would get paid to do. His partner before her probably saved his ass a few times. That blonde he was partnered with when she was undercover, Dani was it? Olivia was sure she had his back. And he had worked cases with Munch and Fin before, and they've saved his ass a couple times too. So why did Kathy think it was all her?

Olivia was across the street when Picard smashed Elliot's head off the window. Whether or not she was his partner she couldn't have done anything. And yes, Kathy was right, it could've been a lot worse. Olivia had feared the worst when she cradled him in her arms, and he wasn't showing any signs of life other than his slow heart beat, which Olivia made sure her hand was over so that she could keep telling herself he would be okay. She had to be strong for him, and the only way that was possible was to convince herself that he would be okay.

She saw him shift in his sleep, and that brought her out of her thoughts.

She wasn't sure what she would say if he woke up to find her there. She knew he would be able to see- well, not really- through her lie about Cragen sending her to check on him. Especially at around midnight.

She slowly walked over to him, careful not to make any noise that might wake him. She sat down in the chair that Kathy had just been sitting in, and went to grab his hand, but stopped.

Partners didn't hold hands.

Couples held hands.

It wasn't her place.

He was he partner.

His eyes scrunched, like he was dreaming of something he didn't like.That's a good sign, she thought. If he's dreaming, his brain is healing. Like she had told Kathy though, she was no doctor. Maybe his pain meds were just wearing off. And if that were true, he could wake up. And if he woke up…

She got up, took a few steps back from the bed. She wanted so much to touch him, hold his hand, place a light kiss on his forehead. But if he woke up to that…

Partners didn't do that.

She looked at him one more time. Lying there, looking so fragile, which was saying something, because Elliot was never one to be classified as anything remotely close to fragile.

She knew he would be alright. The doctor had confirmed that. Back home in a few days, back to work in a week or two. Vision back to normal in about a month.

She turned on her heal, and walked quickly out of the room without looking back. She though she heard him moan, maybe call her name, but then again that had to be wishful thinking. He couldn't see her.

She took that stairs down the opposite end of the hallway, for she knew that Kathy would be waiting for Kathleen the way Olivia had come up. She would take the back way to her car. Kathy would be waiting inside because of the slight chill. They wouldn't cross paths, she was sure of it.

Olivia got to her car, started it up, and drove to her little apartment. She would try to get some sleep, pray that her dreams were filled with something other than what she knew they would be filled with, and then go back into work early, because her job never stopped, whether her partner was there or not.

A/N: So? How was it? I can't believe it's taken me this long to write SVU, lord knows I've watched and read it for long enough. Reviews would be much appreciated. And for those of you who read any of my other stuff, like maybe, oh, What A Day, I'm still working on that too, don't worry, it's just a little, tiny case of writers block. No biggie. Thanks for the read!