Just Out of Reach
By: Liv-x-Lex4Ever & livsgirl
Chapter 7: Point of Exhaustion
Casey grabbed a magazine and absentmindedly flipped through it. She was constantly looking from the magazine to the door waiting on Olivia to arrive. The appointment was in ten minutes and Olivia had promised to be there. She wouldn't blame her if she missed it because the new case they were working on had her tied up. In fact, so tied up to the point that she hadn't been able to make it home the last two days. When she tried to reach her earlier it had gone straight to voicemail. She just hoped she would get her messages in time.
Getting a spare moment in the precinct, Olivia checked her messages. "Damn," she cursed. "I need to go."
"Why?" Cragen asked. "We need you here."
She nodded. "I know, but Casey and I have a doctor's appointment in ten minutes. I promised her I wouldn't miss it."
"I need you to come right back Benson," Cragen said. "We have to break this fool tonight."
She nodded. "Understood." And she raced out and to the doctor's, out of breath when she walked in, leaning against the wall as she looked for Casey.
"Are you looking for Miss Novak ma'am?"
She nodded. "Yes I am. She's still here, isn't she?"
"Yes ma'am, if you will follow me we just took her back," the nurse said as she opened the door and started heading down the hallway stopping in front of exam room 3. "You haven't missed anything if that's what you're worried about."
She nodded. "Yeah, I'm supposed to head right back after this appointment, but just as long as I haven't missed anything here," she said as she walked into the room. "Casey," she said as she walked in and closed the door behind her.
"Honey, didn't you check the messages I left you?" Casey asked happy to see Olivia.
Olivia walked over to sit beside her. "At the first available time I got. Which was...15 minutes ago. And, unfortunately, after this, I've been ordered back." She hugged her tightly and kissed her cheek. "I'm sorry I'm late and look...unpresentable for this, but I kind of had to rush."
"Honey, you didn't listen to all of them then, baby. The last one I left said don't worry about making this appointment. I know this case is rough and hard. If you want to, go back to the station. This is just an eval."
She shook her head. "Opps, sorry, but I'll still stay. I mean as long as I'm here. I didn't want to break this promise."
"I know honey," Casey whispered, motioning for Olivia to come closer. "That's why I love you so much."
Olivia scooted closer, wrapping her arms around her more securely. "You know, the risks will be greater this time around, right?" she whispered, laying her head on Casey's shoulder. "Which is another good reason for me to be here."
"I know baby. I want to try this one last time. If it doesn't happen or we lose it again, then our next appointment will be with an adoption lawyer. Is it a deal?"
"..Or we could try one last time. Third time's the charm, but, if that's what you want to do, okay," she kissed her gently on the lips, fingers stroking her cheek. "I love you."
"Miss Novak, Miss Benson, sorry for the wait. We are running slightly behind today." The doctor said walking into the room. "It says here in your chart that you suffered an ectopic pregnancy almost a year ago. You had some complications with it as well. You hemorrhaged and they had to cauterize the bleed."
Olivia nodded. "Yes, that's right," she said, holding a bit tighter. "But we want to try again."
"I see no reason why you can't. It has been long enough. We will need to perform an exam and an ultrasound. The results of those along with the blood work we need to do will determine if we can try again now."
Olivia nodded. "Where do you want me?"
"You're fine where you're at. I am going to have the nurse come in and draw blood first. From there we will do an ultrasound and then the pelvic exam. It will be about a week though before we can let you know what your chances are of trying again."
Olivia nodded, looking to Casey. "Sounds good to me."
A nurse came in and quickly drew several vials of Casey's blood. Once she was done with that, she performed the ultrasound which showed she had healed nicely and so far everything went well.
The doctor, after conducting the pelvic exam, again confirmed what the nurse had discovered doing the ultrasound. Casey had healed nicely with no apparent long-term damage.
The only thing they were waiting on was the test results. "The blood work will go out today and it should be back in three to four days. Once that returns, we will schedule a return visit and see where we go from there." The doctor said as he filled out the forms they needed to check out. "Do either of you ladies have any other questions?"
"Um, well, kind of. The doctor who treated Casey said that ectopic pregnancies were rare and a reoccurrence is as chanced as any other pregnant woman. He also said there were no determining factors. I understand that, but I guess is there anything we'd have to look out for?"
"Not really. I wish there was a way we could detect it ahead of time, but there's not. It's just going to be a waiting game that pulls at your nerves. That's the best I can tell you."
She nodded. "Okay, thank you." He nodded, leaving the room. "Are you due back at the office?"
"I actually have the rest of the day off. I wasn't sure which way the appointment was going to go. Do you think you will make it home for dinner?" Casey asked as she quickly redressed knowing that Olivia had to get back to the station.
Olivia hopped off the table, wrapping her arms around her from the back and kissing her neck. "I'll try to be. Cragen said we have to get to the bastard tonight, so I'm not sure, but if I don't," she kissed her neck again, "I'll try to let you know. I would love to be home tonight though."
"Be careful baby and hopefully you can come home tonight. If not, you want me to bring you and the guys some dinner and you a change of clothes for tomorrow?"
Olivia turned her around, holding her tight. "That would be wonderful and I promise I'll be careful. Why don't you...say call around 5:30? I'll take orders."
"Deal. Now go get the bastard because I would really like to fall asleep in your arms sometime soon."
Olivia smiled, pulling back and placing a hand on her stomach. "As you wish," she said, before kissing her and running out.
It was closer to six before Casey had a chance to call. She knew that since she had not received a call from Olivia that she was once again stuck for another night. She absolutely loved how well Olivia was at her job that was one of the things that had attracted her to her, but it was times like this that she hated Olivia's job. In truth, it was just her being selfish. Something that every wife of an officer of the NYPD felt at one time or another.
Smiling, Olivia answered. "And what can I do for the ADA this evening?"
"I would say come home, but the scum of New York has other plans on that. So since that isn't possible, what would the fine detectives, one in particular, like for dinner tonight?"
"Uh," she looked around, "hey guys, what do you want for dinner? Casey offered." The guys quoted various things from pizza to sushi, which she repeated before giving her order. "You know, I'd take some pasta from our favorite Italian restaurant, if you can get it. Will the prestigious ADA be dining with us?"
"If it means I can get five stolen minutes with my detective you better believe it. I will there in about an hour. Do the guys need anything else while I'm out?"
She grinned. "Do you really want me to ask that? You know what they're like."
Casey laughed knowing exactly what she was talking about. She remembered asking Fin one time if he needed anything when they were working long hours on another case. He smirked and started to open his mouth when Olivia popped him on the back of the head telling him to keep the thought to himself. "Tell them within reason."
"Is there anything else we need? Like coffee or creamer or sugar? Anything like that?"
Casey could here each guy muttering something on the other end of the line and the sigh she heard from Olivia told her what the responses was even though she was specific."Tell you what baby. I will bring a new container of coffee, creamer, and sugar and a case of cokes along with some snacks you can tell them to code four whatever their responses are at the moment. I will see you as soon as I can get there. I love you."
"I love you too," she said as she closed the phone and set it on her desk with a sigh. "Now where are we at?" she sighed. "So, we've got a serial rapist who targets young teens. The five attacks have all been in lower Manhattan. There's no connection between them-"
"-Besides their age," Elliot said, "his work is sloppy. Represents either a new offender-"
"-or just someone who enjoys reliving his teenage fantasies," Munch said.
"That's encasing many men," Olivia said, "and he only left his DNA in one of them. We know it was the same guy because all the girls picked him from a lineup, but, terrified, how reliable is that really?"
"Depends on the amount of stress they were under and how good of a defense attorney the suspect has," Casey said as she entered the bull pen her hands full of the various orders that were placed. "Not to mention, how long of a look did they get of their attacker?"
Olivia walked over, talking half of the items and placing them on her desk. "All five girls took their time identifying him. They wanted to be sure, no matter how terrified they were, but there's got to be a connection between them. I doubt this guy picked them at random. They were all from well-to-do families, only children, aged 13 to 15. Different hair and eye color and all went to different schools."
"Oh, they got a good look all right. He made sure of it," Elliot said.
"Then the line up should stand in court. What about DNA? Has he submitted?"
Olivia sighed. "Only left semen in one victim, but he grabbed the others so hard he left hand impressions. Though how he managed that without breaking bones is beyond me."
"Hand impressions on a body have been inadmissible in court. I can try for a warrant to get a sample of his DNA. If we can't get him for all five, we can definitely get him for the one."
She nodded, walking back and sitting at her desk, gesturing for Casey to join her. "One's better than none in this experience," she said, sorting through the food until she found hers. "So, anyway, how are you?" Olivia asked.
"I'm good," Casey said as she quickly joined Olivia at the table forever grateful for the few minutes they were getting together. She had learned very quickly when she started dating Olivia to never take anything for granted with her. In her line of work, tomorrow was never promised.
Olivia smiled, resting on hand over hers, her mind not at all on the case at the moment as she stabbed her pasta with her fork, her eyes going darker with a lustful desire, but bit into her food again and again before dropping her fork and biting her lip.
"What's wrong?" Casey asked, acutely aware of the change that suddenly came over Olivia.
She attempted to wave it off, yawning. "Nothing, just exhausted," she said, keeping hold of her hand and trying not to smile too widely. "..It sucks. I...miss you," she whispered.
"I miss you too," Casey whispered squeezing her hand tightly.
"So, anything you think we can do about that?" She didn't care who caught the words or who stared. Right now, Casey was the only person she could see. "Where did you park? I could take five minutes."
"In the employee parking lot. You placed your parking sticker on my car remember?"
Olivia stood. "I need some fresh air before I go stir crazy. Back in ten." She walked out, Casey following her.
Casey was eager to get to the car it may be only a few minutes but it would be a few minutes alone without the case hanging over their head. Hell, at this point she would have taken two minutes alone in the stairwell.
Finally reaching the car, the detective opened the back door, letting Casey slide in first before Olivia followed, losing the door. "It doesn't have to be like that, just please come here," she said, locking the door and sitting against it, opening her arms. "Come here, sweetie."
Casey quickly climbed into Olivia's arms and relaxed against her. For the first time in almost a week she was relaxed. She never realized how much she missed having Olivia's arms around her 'til cases like this came up. "God I've missed the feel of your arms holding me." Casey whispered fighting to keep the tears at bay.
Olivia nodded. "I know, I've missed you too, sweetheart. But it's okay. You're shaking, Case. It's okay to let go. I've got you. I promise," she whispered, kissing the top of her head. "I don't know what the future has for us, but I'd hope that no matter how many cases I have like this, you'll never forget how much I love you. I do, Casey, so much. You're my safe place from all this evil."
"I love you too baby," Casey whispered as she turned around and kissed her gently.
Olivia moaned into the kiss, kissing back with a bit more force, wiping the tears from Casey's eyes before hugging her tightly. "Shh, it's okay," she whispered into her lips.
Casey sighed and laid her head against Olivia's chest listening to her heartbeat. She knew this moment could only last another minute or two
Olivia sighed, rubbing her back. "I wonder. How the hell am I going to manage this job, you, and a baby? My hours are horrible. I'd...hate to lose you from it and the baby."
"It's simple baby. You will manage the best you can. There will be times I will have to be both parents because your job will pull you away. You miss some things, but you will be there for the most important things. You will give your all to your family as you do your job. Honey, believe me the only place we will ever be going is to the station to visit Momma. Nowhere else ever."
Olivia nodded, sniffling as a few tears fell down her cheeks. "Thank you. I want to be here for you as much as I can. I'll try. I guess I just worry that, someday, that won't be enough."
"Your love and dedication is more than enough. More than I will ever deserve. Now please relax about that and get your head in the game. As much as I hate for this time to end you need to head back. I can already imagine what the guys are saying, but most importantly, so you can be at home in our bed getting some much-deserved rest."
She nodded, bringing Casey up, kissing her passionately, before swinging her legs over, unlocking the door and walking back into the precinct.
Olivia worked another six hours before she managed to drag her weary body into their apartment, collapsing on the couch.
Author's Note: So what do you think?
Reviews: CaseyBensonNovak, ladybugsmomma & Kikilia14
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Liv-x-Lex4Ever & livsgirl
