Chapter 4...and yes, there is still more! " ) Bensler

***********

Chapter 4

Lenox Hill Hospital – Tuesday, May 12 – 8:08 p.m.

Sounds of the ER congested the small area and made Olivia uneasy – the crying of the feverish baby; the moaning of a young, black man holding a bloody rag to the back of his head; the constant static of the paging system. If she could just see Elliot, just know he was going to be alright, she could calm down.

Oliva, Munch, Fin, and Cragen were scattered around the waiting room. Munch was talking to the woman at the information center trying to find out Elliot's status; Fin was in a far corner talking heatedly on the phone to someone in central booking; and from across the way, Cragen had his eye on Olivia. She had finally stopped pacing and was now leaning against the edge of a window, staring out onto a multi-level parking garage. He sensed she was close to breaking, but he wasn't sure what to do to help her.

Finally, he turned down the hall to the left of the ER, returning about five minutes later with a steaming cup of tea. She was now sitting in a chair in the far corner, her arms wrapped tightly around her waist, a blank look on her face, staring at nothing. She looks so lost, he thought. And all because of Elliot Stabler. What is she thinking - marrying Rey Curtis? The thought startled him and he closed his eyes and took a deep breath before speaking.

"Olivia," he said her name softly.

There was absolutely no reaction.

"Olivia," he said again a bit louder, leaning down toward her.

This time her eyes drifted slowly toward his voice.

"I brought you some tea," he smiled slightly.

Shifting in the seat, she reached out and took the proffered Styrofoam cup, "Thank you."

"Is there anything can I do?" he asked as he handed her packages of sugar and creamer.

"Find out about Elliot," her eyes seemed almost haunted by the not knowing. By the need to know. "Please."

Cragen sat down beside her, a loud sigh escaping as he patted her knee, "Believe me, I've tried. Even tried using my badge and authority to intimidate them into telling me something…anything. They were unmoved. Said as soon as they stabilize him and the doctor assesses him, someone would come and talk to us."

"Captain, it's been two hours! Two hours and I don't know how he is," her voice was high and tight and he knew she was fighting tears.

"I know. I know," he now squeezed her shoulder.

"If something happens to him…" she trailed off, shaking her head and putting her free hand to her forehead.

Cragen thought back to when he got the call that one of his detectives had been injured in the line of duty. He had no idea which one as he raced to the hospital. Fin and Munch were out on a late afternoon call and Benson and Stabler were on stake-out, so it could have been any of them. The unis did not know the names of the detectives and dispatch asked few questions. He was enroute when he heard from Olivia. Though she was adamant about riding in the ambulance with Elliot, as soon as the EMTs hit the ER, she was separated from him and she had called to let Cragen know what had happened. He could still hear her distraught voice, the shakiness of her words, the deep uneven breaths.

"He'll be fine," he told her though he knew he could not make a promise to that effect.

"You didn't see him. He was beat up so badly…there was blood all over the ground…" her voice trailed off as she spoke seemingly becoming aware of something.

Cragen realized she must have just noticed the blood staining her hands and fingers. Elliot's blood. Around her cuticles and under her nails. She looked at her hands and then slowly ran her right hand over a dried patch of blood on her dark jeans that made them darker and stiffer in that area. She remembered holding him, cradling his head in her lap. Begging him not to leave her. Then she pulled back and looked down her shirt as she pulled it away from her body. It too held streaks of his blood. A light sheen of perspiration covered her face her as it visibly paled.

He didn't know what else to say or do, so he repeated the words, "He'll be fine. I know it."

Olivia simply looked at him, wanting desperately to believe her captain, knowing he was trying to encourage her, realizing it could all be in vain.

Munch wandered over to them, "Well, I found out that Elliot has had x-rays and should be finished soon with the MRI. Hopefully, we will know something shortly."

"How'd you find that out?" Cragen asked.

"Struck up a conversation with the triage nurse about the government conspiracy to take over health care," he grinned. "Like mindedness can go a long way."

Olivia smiled at Munch's explanation but did not say anything. It still did not tell her how he was doing or the extent of his injuries.

Munch leaned against the wall near her chair. He watched her for a moment. "Elliot's probably back there flirting with all the nurses."

"Well, that makes me feel a lot better," Olivia raised an eyebrow.

Fin had joined them and he frowned at her, "Why should you care if he's flirtin'? You gettin' married in three days."

Glancing at Fin, she shrugged and then looked away. Munch shot Fin a look as did Cragen. She ignored them all and made her way to the window again. What was taking so long? Something must be bad wrong for it to take so long to look him over and let them know how he was. Flipping her wrist, she fingered her watch. Eight thirty-eight. Two and half hours. That was long enough. She spun around and practically ran across the room to the information desk.

"I want to know how Detective Stabler is doing?" she told the woman at the desk.

"I'm, sorry, Ma'am, but you will have to wait for a doctor or nurse to come out and…"

Olivia glared at her. "I've been waiting for two and half hours! He's my partner and I want to know how he is!" she seethed as she turned and pushed through the double doors marked 'Authorized Personnel Only'.

The woman jumped up from the desk and ran around to try to stop her. But Olivia was gone. Cragen, Munch and Fin were at the doorway in no time.

"Ma'am! Please! You aren't supposed to be…" a page over the intercom had the woman trying to decide what to do. She finally decided Olivia was a lost cause and looked at the three men as she went to answer the page. "Can't you do something about her?"

They all stood there mutely staring at her and then each other. What a laugh. Stop Olivia Benson when she was trying to see about her injured partner? Oh, yea. Sure. Uh-huh. Consider it done. No problem. Right.

As she strode down the hallway, glancing into each room, several nurses asked her what she was doing and she told them she was looking for Elliot Stabler. A male technician tried to stop her, taking her by the arm, but she flashed her badge.

"Get your hands off me before I arrest you for assaulting an officer," she barely kept herself from throwing him up against the wall.

"Yes, officer. I'm sorry," he released her, "but you are not authorized to be back here."

"Detective Stabler is my partner and this badge is the only authorization I need," she snapped, nearly shoving the shining shield into his face.

A doctor finally heard the commotion and came out of a nearby room, "Lee, it's fine. I'll take care of her."

Olivia glared at the doctor, "I'm not going anywhere until I see my partner."

Smiling kindly, he took her by the elbow, "You must be Liv."

Bewildered, she stopped, her narrowed eyes drilling into his as she turned to him, "I didn't give anyone my name."

Laughing quietly, the amused doctor started down the hall again pulling her along, "Your partner has been mumbling your name for the last fifteen minutes."

"What?! Why didn't you come for me?" she demanded to know.

"He's still not fully conscious, and we just got the results of the MRI. I was reading them when I heard you. I would have come to talk with you after I finished," he smiled at her again.

Then he was stopping at a door and nodding for her to enter. As she did, her breath caught at the sight of Elliot semi-reclined on a bed with blue sheets. She glanced back at the doctor and he smiled, so she slowly made her way to the side of her partner. Her best friend. The man she loved more than she had loved anyone in her entire life.

A stark white bandage, approximately two by three inches, covered the gash on his forehead she had seen earlier. The right corner of his lip was split and three sterile strips held it together. Both cheeks had several abrasions and there were purple stains on his left jaw and right temple. The pinkie, ring, and middle finger on his right hand had splints and were taped together. The index finger with the oxygen monitor glowed red. His shirt and wife beater were gone; replaced by bandages across his midsection. Oxygen tubing ran from his nose to the machine at the head of the bed; the steady beep of the heart monitor told her his heartbeat was strong and regular.

The constriction of her throat caught her off guard. She wanted to cry. But she wouldn't. Not now. Not in front of the doctor. Or Elliot. Even if he was unconscious.

The doctor finished looking over the MRI results, snapped off the light on the x-ray panel and placed the sheets of film into a large envelope.

"He has three fractured ribs on the right side…fortunately, no collapsed lung…and three broken fingers on the right hand. The right forehead took five stitches…too deep to use derma-bond. We did glue the split at the lip but the strips need to stay for 3-5 days. And of course, the blow to the head rendered him unconscious resulting in a concussion, but the MRI is clean for bleeding in the brain or a cracked skull. He'll have a headache for a few days, and some possible memory loss, confusion, but overall, Detective Stabler is a very lucky man. This was a rather severe beating and someone who was not in the same excellent physical condition would have fared much worse," the doctor spoke quietly watching as Olivia picked up Elliot's left hand in both of hers and slowly brought it to her chest holding it close to her.

The tears were piling up and she knew she would not be able to hold them back much longer. She bit her lip hoping to keep them a bay a little longer.

Partners, eh? He smiled and thought to himself once again, yes, Detective Stabler is a very lucky man, indeed. "Do you have any questions, uh…Ms…uh…"

"Detective Benson. Olivia Benson." She turned to face the doctor and extended her hand, "I'm sorry for earlier…I was just…so…so worried about…Elli…uh…Detective Stabler."

"Not a problem, Detective Benson," he smiled again.

"Liv. Call me Liv," she smiled.

"Liv," he returned the smile as he tipped his head toward Elliot. "He should wake up soon."

"When can he go home?" she turned back to Elliot, lightly stroking his arm.

"I want him to stay overnight," he said as Olivia's head snapped up to look at him. "Just as a precaution… he lost consciousness and is still pretty much out of it. Should be released by noon tomorrow."

"Okay," she whispered.

"If there are no questions, I need to see the other patients."

She shook her head, "Thank you, doctor."

Curtis Residence – Tuesday, May 12 – 8:30 p.m.

Rey was beside himself with worry, tinged with anger. Yes, he knew Olivia was on a stake-out, but he had not heard from her since early afternoon. The dinner plans he had planned for them were shot and the least she could do is call and let him know that she was held up. Her lack of consideration made him mad. Of course, being a detective he was also just a bit concerned that something had gone wrong and she was hurt or in danger and had no way of letting him know.

He drank the rest of the soda in his hand and crumpled the can before tossing it toward the trash can. The sound of it clanking on the tile floor filled the apartment. Glancing at it, he saw a few drops of the cola drip to the floor. He didn't care. Closing his eyes he lay on the sofa and tried calling her again. Once again, he got that message that the customer was unavailable. The phone must be turned off.

At that precise moment, the cell rang and he quickly opened it, "Curtis."

"Rey. How ya doin'?" a familiar voice asked.

"Good. Who is this?"

"Cordoff. Listen, one of my unis said he heard there was a stake-out gone wrong. The one-six. Isn't that your girlfriend's precinct?"

Bill Cordoff was the desk sergeant at the two-seven.

"That's it…and she was on a stake-out all day. You know anything else, yeah?" Rey was already up and looking for his shoes.

"Nothing…no details, but thought I'd give you a heads up just in case," Cordoff explained.

"Okay, thanks, Bill," closing the phone he snapped it back on his belt and headed out.

Lenox Hill Hospital – Elliot Stabler's Room – Tuesday, May 12 – 8:50 p.m.

Elliot had been mumbling and he definitely called for Olivia, and her heart nearly leaped out of her body each time, but he had yet to open his eyes. She had been sitting in a chair next to the bed or standing beside him since the doctor led her to him. He had just been put into a private room for overnight observation and they were finally settled. She was unwilling to leave his side because she wanted to be there when he woke up. She had called Maureen and she was going to get in touch with the others and be there soon. Olivia had wanted to wait until he awoke to let the kids know what had happened, but since it was taking so long she thought it best to notify them. She expected them to be there any minute.

Thinking about Elliot's kids caused her to think about Rey's three daughters. She had been around them a fair amount, and they all got along well, but she still didn't feel she knew them as well as she should to be marrying their father in a couple of days. Ironically, the oldest daughter was named Olivia, but Rey called her Livvie. She was twenty and attended Boston College. Next was eighteen year old Serena. Olivia could not believe that Rey had a daughter with the same name as Olivia's mother. Either this relationship was truly meant to be or it was doomed from the beginning, she thought.

Serena, or Rena, as she was known, graduated early and had taken so many AP courses in high school she already had a year and half of college credits. She was finishing up her second year at New York College in just a few weeks, then transferring to Bryn Mawr in the fall. The youngest of the girls was Isabel, or Belle as Rey called her. She would be a senior in high school next year and though technically she lived with Rey, in actuality she spent much more time at her maternal grandparents' home due to Rey's job. All the girls were sweet and they treated Olivia with kindness and respect.

"Liv?" a voice quietly called out.

Breaking her reverie, Olivia's eyes shifted to see Maureen standing at the doorway with Kathleen, Dickie and Lizzie standing behind her. Eli was the only Stabler child not there and that was only because he was too young.

Quickly she was on her feet and went to them to envelope them in a group hug, "Hey, guys."

"What happened?" Dickie wanted to know. "Maur told us some of it."

Olivia brushed his bangs from his face and smiled. Then she began to explain about the stake-out, what had happened, Elliot's injuries and how he was doing. When she finished, all the kids began talking at once, asking her a million questions. Perhaps it was all those familiar voices or maybe it was just the increased noise level, but Elliot began to stir and mumble. This silenced all of them and they slowly made their way to his bedside. Olivia hung back giving his kids their rightful place by their father.

Caught up watching the Stabler children, she did not hear the door open again and was brought out of her thoughts by her name being called from behind.

"Liv?"

She turned and saw Rey, concern written on his face. After her initial thought to call him not long after arriving at the ER, she had completely forgotten about him. No doubt he would be upset about that oversight, but perhaps when he knew the whole story he would be forgiving.

"Rey," she smiled as she went to him. "I meant to call, I'm sorry…but things have been wild."

Kissing her lightly on the lips, he hugged her and then pulled back to look over at Elliot, "He okay?"

Turning to face Elliot and his kids, Olivia nodded, "The doctor says so even though he has yet to wake up from the blow to his head."

"That's good. Those all his kids?"

"Except for the youngest," she smiled. "Let's go out to talk."

They walked about thirty feet down to a small alcove at the end of the hall that had a couple of vending machines and a small sitting area. Olivia scrounged a dollar bill from her jeans and bought a bottle of orange juice. The slaw dog she had eaten six hours ago having long worn off, she suddenly found herself starving. Until she knew Elliot was going to be okay, food or drink never even occurred to her.

"Why didn't you call?" Rey asked as he watched her take a long swallows of the juice.

Pulling the bottle from her mouth, she ran her hand around the top of it as though cleaning it, then replaced the top. "I…it…was…I just was too worried about Elliot…I wasn't thinking very clearly," she shrugged. "I'm sorry."

Nodding slightly, he squinted at her, "Too worried? Didn't you think about how worried I would be about you when you didn't show up, didn't call?"

Looking up at him, she could not hold his gaze. She let out a long breath, "I'm sorry, Rey. I didn't mean for you to worry…you know how this job is and…"

Rey grabbed her arms and jerked her up to him, "Yeah! I know exactly how this job is and exactly what could happen to you out in the field and especially on a stake-out!"

"I told you things were crazy and I was worried about…" she struggled against him.

He cut her off, "About your partner…too worried about Stabler to take a minute to call your fiancé, the man you are marrying in a couple of days! What am I supposed to make of that, Olivia?"

He pulled her closer, his grip tightening, "Tell me."

"I was supposed to have my partner's back and he got the crap beat out of him. I was upset, Rey! I'm still upset!" she pulled away from him and he finally released her.

"Too upset to call me? I had to hear from someone at my precinct that a stake-out involving one-six's SVU had gone bad. And I had no idea what that meant, Olivia!"

"What do you want me to say? I already apologized," she locked eyes with him.

"Olivia?" Lizzie's head leaned out of Elliot's room.

Rey and Olivia stared at each other for a long minute, before Olivia turned and headed toward Lizzie. "What's up, honey?"

"Daddy's asking for you," she told her.

Rey was right behind her as she walked toward the room, "So, your partner calls and you go running. But you don't think to call me. You always have jumped at his every command."

"Not now, Rey. I'm not fighting with you about this," she pushed the door open and went inside.

Rey watched as she went to Elliot's bedside. He saw how he smiled and reached for her. Olivia went into his arms like it was the most natural thing in the world. And Rey Curtis was furious. Hurt. Jealous. But he was not giving up. He gave them a minute and then made his own way to Elliot's side. Olivia looked up in surprise and Elliot, still groggy, just stared at him as they pulled apart.

"Stabler," he nodded and smiled. "Glad to see you are okay."

Rey extended his hand for a shake but Elliot held up his hand with the three broken fingers, shrugged and raised his eyebrows.

"Appreciate that. If Liv hadn't been there to collar the perp, there's no telling where I'd be right now," he spoke slowly, smiling at Olivia as he talked.

"If you had taken a second to let me know what you were doing, all of this might not have happened at all," she corrected him, smiling back.

"I've got a major headache and lots of other aches and pains as a reminder for next time," he shifted slightly, groaning as he did.

"You okay, Daddy?" Maureen stroked his left arm.

"Uh-huh…just…uh…tired. Did they…give me…uh…pain medica…" his voice trailed off as he fell asleep.

"We should let him rest. Liv, we all have finals tomorrow and I hate to ask you but…" Maureen started.

Olivia jumped in, "I'm not going anywhere. I'll be here until he is released tomorrow and see that he gets settled at home."

"You sure?" Maureen asked as her eyes shot toward Rey.

"Positive," she smiled.

Amid whispers of 'I love yous', the kids kissed and hugged Elliot, and then did the same to Olivia before heading out. Rey watched from the side of the room, not knowing quite what to think about the interaction between Olivia and the Stabler kids. He supposed he was astonished that they all still seemed to have such a good relationship. He could not help but wish she knew his daughters better.

When they were all gone, he asked quietly, "Why are you staying?"

Looking at him in disbelief, she frowned, "Because he's my partner. And I don't want him to be alone in the hospital."

"I don't want you to stay. You've already been with him all day and it's going on ten o'clock now," Rey's eyes were dark and angry.

Biting on her bottom lip, she shook her head. "I'm not leaving Elliot, Rey," her eyes burned with determination as she dragged a chair closer to the bed and sat down.

"What about me, Olivia?" he asked quietly.

"You didn't have your head bashed in and get beat half to death," she reminded him.

"That what would take to get you to pay attention to me?"

"Rey, please," she begged.

Getting up, she crossed the room, wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. Despite his anger, his arms went around her and held her close. "Please come home," he pleaded.

She kissed him again before she pulled away. Rey watched her as she walked back to Elliot. She pulled the covers up across his chest, and straightened the various tubings. Then she repositioned the chair closer to the bed and sat down, crossing her legs.

"I'm not leaving, El."

She spoke more to herself than to Rey, and when she looked up he was gone. She picked up Elliot's injured hand, caressing it.

Gently, she lifted his hand to her lips kissing it lightly. She leaned forward and whispered to him, "I'll be right here, El. Right here beside you."

~ ~ ~ eoeoeoeo ~ ~ ~