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Part 3
"Where are you taking them?" Elliot asked the paramedics as they loaded Alex and Olivia, who were both still unconscious, bundled up, and strapped to gurneys, into separate ambulances.
"Mount Sinai," the medic tending to Alex answered. "If neither of them wakes up before we get there do you have their MPAs?"
Elliot rubbed a meaty palm over his face and nodded. "Yeah, I brought their emergency files with me just-in-case. I have them in the van. I'm Detective Benson's appointed MPA so just do whatever you need to do."
"They'll still need to see the paperwork once we get them to the hospital," he nodded. "How about the blonde?"
Elliot sighed. "I'll call her Uncle and have him meet us at the hospital."
+++/\+++/\+++/\+++
Elliot stared down at the battered blonde, his heart breaking at the sight of her broken and bruised visage.
"Judge Hermann is out of town, but our Chief of Staff knows him so he was able to give us the go ahead over the phone so we're going to need to take her back for an MRI. Her initial x-rays showed a hairline fracture through her Temporal and Zygomatic bones and so I want to make sure that there isn't any intracranial bleeding."
"Just take care of her," Elliot murmured, dropping a quick kiss to the unconscious blonde's forehead before she was wheeled away.
+++/\+++/\+++/\+++
"What can you tell me doc?" Elliot asked the small man in the white coat who just left Alex's bedside. "How is she?"
"Ms. Cabot has a concussion but should be fine in a couple of days provided she doesn't do anything too strenuous. She will experience varying degrees of vertigo for the next few hours, but it should dissipate by the end of the day. Her face will be quite tender for a while due to the fractures but the bruising should start to lessen in a couple of days. Her MRI showed no signs of intracranial bleeding which is very good. She's just going to have a major headache and quite the impressive shiner, but all things considered, she is extremely lucky. We'll keep her here for twenty four hours for observation and I imagine she will be fine to go home sometime tomorrow."
"What about my partner?" Elliot asked.
"The general surgeon is in the theatre now repairing the damage to her shoulder."
"What's the prognosis for her recovery?" Elliot asked, knowing that if it was bad he would need to be prepared to break the news to his partner.
"She'll be out of the field for a couple months for sure. The bullet hit and went cleanly through here," he lifted his own arm and pointed at the patch of flesh where the muscle of his shoulder met the hard bone of his clavicle. "A few inches down and she wouldn't be so lucky. She'll have to do quite a bit of PT to regain full use of the arm, but she should make a full and complete recovery."
"Thank God," Elliot sighed, running a meaty hand over his head. "Where is Alex now?" he asked.
"The Judge demanded she be placed in a private room so she's being moved there now," the doctor explained. "She is still unconscious, but I expect she should be waking up soon. We do have her on a morphine drip to help manage her pain, so the drugs are helping to keep her under at this point."
Elliot groaned as he imagined both women's reaction to finding themselves separated from the other. "Is there any way to get Olivia into a room by Alex?"
Elliot's eyes narrowed as he watched the doctor shift uncomfortably. "As per the Judge's orders, Ms. Cabot is on a private floor – so I don't see how that would be possible."
Elliot grimaced. "God help you all when they wake up and realize that."
+++/\+++/\+++/\+++
The first thing Alex noticed as she once again became aware of herself and her surroundings was the dim light filtering through her eyelids. The second thing she noticed was the hushed one-sided conversation that was happening right next to her.
"They're going to be fine Kathy. … Yeah, I know. I'm just waiting for Liv to get out of surgery and then I'll go down and see her. … Yeah, Cragen, Fin and Munch were all here earlier but they had to get back to the precinct to interrogate the guy. … I know, they're both damned lucky. … I'll probably stay here for a while longer. I don't want to leave them here alone. … I love you too Kath. I'll call you when I'm on my way home. … Yes, I'll be careful. Tell the kids I love them."
"Where's Liv?" Alex croaked. Her head was killing her and she was feeling fuzzy from what she assumed were whatever pain medications they had her on, but the only thing she cared about was Olivia.
"Alex," Elliot leaned in and took a gentle hold of the blonde's hand, doing his best to not show any emotion as he surveyed the damage to her face. Her bruising was growing predictably worse. "How you feeling sweetie?"
"Like I got cold-cocked and knocked out," Alex replied, grimacing as she tried to sit up. "Where's Olivia, El?"
"No, no, Alex, Doc wants you to stay down for a bit. You have a pretty good concussion."
"Feels like it too," Alex turned her head slowly to look at the man beside her. "Where's Liv?" she demanded, her voice growing stronger as her frustration mounted.
"Please, Alex, you need to rest," Elliot stroked the back of her hand softly. "Do you want to know what happened to you?"
Alex leveled her 'are you really this fucking stupid?' stare on the worried detective beside her bed. "No. I don't care about me. Where. Is. Liv?"
Elliot closed his eyes and sighed. Somehow he knew Alex would only care about Olivia, he could only hope that the ADA wouldn't rip her own IV out and go storming down to the basement to see for herself that Olivia was going to be okay. He knew for a fact that Olivia would try such a stunt. "She's in surgery. They're just finishing up repairing her shoulder now."
"I need to go see her." Alex tried again to push herself up out of bed and groaned loudly as a disorientating wave of vertigo hit her.
"Alex, you need to stay still. She's still in surgery – there's nothing you can do. Do you have an MD that I don't know about to go with your JD?"
Even doped to the moon and in possession of the world's worst headache Alexandra Cabot was a force to be reckoned with and Stabler cowered under her withering gaze.
"Sorry," he mumbled.
"She'll be okay?" Alex whispered, her voice demanding and her eyes pained and worried.
"She's going to be fine, Alex." Elliot assured her as he gently ran his fingers over the unbruised side of blonde's forehead. "Just rest and I'll let you know when she's out of surgery."
"You swear?" Alex stared him down.
"I double-triple pinky swear, cross my heart and hope to die Counselor," Elliot replied.
"What?"
"My house is practically a freaking Gymboree, give me a break," he grinned.
"Fine," Alex closed her eyes. "That's good enough for now, I guess. Don't make me hold you in contempt Detective."
Elliot just smiled to himself as he watched the blonde ADA close her eyes and succumb to the opiate induced sleep that she'd been fighting off.
+++/\+++/\+++/\+++
Elliot watched the orderlies settle Olivia into the empty bed by the window, struck – as he always was – by the almost fragile beauty of his partner that he only ever saw when she was sleeping. He sat with her for a moment, soaking in the vitality of her presence and allowing himself a few seconds to send a quiet thanks that his prayers had been answered.
"I'm glad you're safe partner," he murmured into the silence. "I'm going to go get Alex and bring her down to see you now."
The elevator he boarded to go up to where Alex was waiting was empty, for which he was thankful. He grabbed a folded up wheelchair as he exited the elevator and pushed it purposefully down the hall toward Alex's room.
"Sir," a redheaded nurse called out to him. "Where are you going with that?"
He looked up and offered what he hoped was an apologetic smile. "I'm going to take Ms. Cabot down to see her friend."
"She's not supposed to be moved tonight," the nurse threw her pen down on her desk and angrily rounded the corner of the nurse's station.
"Look," Elliot told her. "The woman in that room is Alexandra Cabot," he noticed a flash of recognition in the nurse's eyes as he connected the dots for her. "The Alexandra Cabot. Yes, the one whose name is on the plaque outside the entry of emergency room of this hospital. Her friend was shot tonight trying to protect her and I swore to her that I would take her to see Olivia once she was out of surgery."
"She's not supposed to be moved," the nurse argued.
"Look, Nurse Ratchet, I'm taking Alex down to see Olivia. You can fight with me or you can help me, but only God will be able to help you if you refuse that woman the right to see her friend."
"I'll notify her doctor," Nurse Ratchet ground out.
"Excellent," Elliot replied as he turned to enter Alex's room.
He looked down at Alex who was still resting fitfully and felt his heart clench at the sight of her swollen purpling face. The dark bruising stood in stark contrast to the other side of her face which was still beautifully clear and flawless and he silently cursed the bastard that did this to her.
He gently ran the back of his hand over Alex's brow, hating the fact that he was going to wake her up – but knowing that he'd promised and that there would be hell to pay if she awoke to find Olivia was out of surgery and that he hadn't woken her.
"Alex, honey," he murmured, running the back of his hand down the unblemished side of her jaw.
"Huh?" the usually eloquent and loquacious attorney mumbled.
"Alex, Liv's out of surgery." He tried again.
"Liv?" Alex asked sleepily.
"Yeah, they just got her settled. She's still sleepy from the anesthetics but I can help you down to her room if you want to see her."
"I need to see her," Alex whispered and struggled futilely to sit up on her own.
"Let me help you," Elliot offered warmly, carefully slipping an arm behind the blonde's back and helping her sit up.
"Whoa," Alex breathed.
"Dizzy?"
"Yeah," Alex grunted. "I'm fine. I need to see Liv."
Elliot looked around and saw Nurse Ratchet watching him as he helped Alex out of the bed, easily supporting her weight as she leaned heavily against him.
"Elliot," Alex murmured as she scanned her room for the first time. "Where is Olivia?"
"Your Uncle wanted you in a private room, so she's just down a couple floors. I'll push you in the wheelchair."
"That's bullshit," Alex growled. "I want to be by Olivia."
"Well," Elliot shrugged. "Now that you're awake you don't need him as your MPA anymore so you are free to rearrange your own accommodations as you see fit."
Alex looked up at him from the chair, one eye hidden behind swollen purpling flesh and the other shockingly clear and determined behind the spare set of frames from her bag. "You sound like you've been thinking about this for a while."
Elliot shrugged. "I knew you weren't going to want to be separated so I asked around to see what you could do about it once you were awake."
Alex offered the detective a genuine smile. "Thank you Elliot."
"It's my honor," he smiled and pulled her IV pump up next to her side. "Think you can hang onto this for the ride? We'll plug it back in once we get down to Liv's room."
"How fast can we get down there?" Alex asked as she grabbed hold of the metal stand to her pump.
Alex held tight to her IV pump as Elliot pushed her slowly down the corridor to Olivia's room. For as much as she wanted him to rush, her head injury caused her to suffer severe motion sickness and they'd had to slow to a crawl after she threw up all over Nurse Ratchet's shoes. She had tried to apologize, but her apology was drowned out by Elliot's boisterous laughter.
"She's right in here," Elliot murmured as he turned the chair into the last room on the left.
Alex gasped as she saw the bulging bandages on Olivia's shoulder, rocked by the sight of the woman she'd always imagined to be ten feet tall and bulletproof laying under thin sheets and an even thinner blanket looking ghostly pale and … weak.
"Oh Liv," she breathed, reaching out to her friend as Elliot angled the chair so that she was parallel to the bed and looking up at the injured brunette. "God Liv I'm so sorry," she murmured as she traced her fingers over the back of Olivia's hand that was resting atop the blankets sporting a taped-up IV port and heart rate monitor at the end of her index finger.
"It's not your fault, you know," Elliot told her.
Alex shook her head to try and clear the tears from her eyes, the unthinking movement causing her vertigo to return and she swayed in her seat.
"Take it easy Counselor," Elliot murmured as he locked the wheels of her chair into place. "You've had quite a night yourself; doc said you need to take it easy too."
"I'm fine," Alex waved him off. "I only got a bump on the head. She…," her voice trailed off as she focused on Olivia's face. "Liv …," she tried again, her words disappearing into a heart-wrenching sob as the severity of the brunette's injury smothered her ability to think.
"She'll be fine Alex," Elliot squatted down in front of her. "Look at me," he demanded gently.
Alex sniffled and lifted her eyes to Elliot's. "What?"
"She'll be fine," he repeated. "It was a through-and-through, nothing major was hit – she'll be fine."
"But what if she's not?" Alex whispered, running a shaking hand through her disheveled hair anxiously as the tears that had pooled in her eyes spilled over and coursed down her cheeks. "What if she isn't and I never told her … I never told her how much I …"
"Spit it out already Counselor," Olivia husked playfully.
"Liv," Alex gasped as she looked up at the brunette over Elliot's shoulder.
"Welcome back to the world partner," Elliot turned and smiled at Olivia.
"This," Olivia tilted her head toward her bandaged shoulder. "Psht. It's nothing."
Stabler chuckled as he squeezed Alex's shoulder gently. "Told ya she'd be fine. Our Liv's a fighter Alex."
"That she is," Alex murmured, blinking rapidly to try and hold her tears at bay.
"How are you?" Olivia looked at Alex, her concern etched into her drowsy drug-addled features.
"I won't be winning any beauty pageants," Alex smiled as she motioned toward her battered face.
"You're still the most beautiful woman on the planet Alex," Olivia murmured.
Elliot heard the blonde's breath hitch in her throat and decided that now would be a good time to leave them alone for a bit. "I'm going to go check in with Liv's doctor," he excused himself. "You two okay in here?"
"We'll be fine," Olivia smiled at her partner. "Thanks buddy."
"You take care of her," he nodded toward Alex.
"I will," both women answered, both too busy staring at the other to pay attention to exactly whom Stabler had been talking to.
"How are you feeling?" Alex whispered as she carefully twined her fingers through Olivia's.
"Like I got shot," Olivia deadpanned. "I'll be fine. I'm more worried about you. How are you feeling?"
"Like I went ten rounds with a prize-fighter and lost. Badly," Alex replied. "God I was so worried about you Olivia," she murmured.
"C'mere," Olivia patted the bed beside her.
Alex stared at the wounded woman. "You honestly think now is the time to ask me to bed?"
Olivia chuckled. "While I have entertained that thought many, many, times – right now I just really want to hold you and know that you're safe. Is that okay?"
Alex bit her lip and nodded. "I'd like nothing more," she murmured.
