Hey guys, so sorry to leave you hanging! I was traveling! Also, forgive if there are a lot of typos! I typed this in Evernote on my iPad so you never know what might be hidden! I'll be home tomorrow and back to writing :) Thanks for your patience and as always thank you so much for your reviews :) -M

Ch. 9.

I asked the cab driver could he go faster three times and I apologized three times.

By the time I arrived at St. Luke's I had gone over every scenario that could have possibly happen to her and then prepared myself for the state she was in.

She was fine.

She was tough.

Remarkably tough.

Olivia had a way of being invincible.

Seeming invincible.

I got out of the cab at the doors of the emergency room.

"Nick!" I said seeing him sitting there, his head resting against the wall behind him.

"Alex!" he said surprised to see me. "Did they call you?" he asked confused why I was there.

"Turns out I'm Olivia's emergency contact." I said, honestly as surprised as he was.

"I would have thought I would have seen Cassidy here not you."

"Sorry to disappoint." I said dryly.

"Not disappointed, I'm relieved! I asked Liv if she wanted me to call him, but she just kept mumbling no."

I looked at Nick, not elaborating. If Liv hadn't told Nick that she and Cassidy had broken up, I certainly wasn't going to!

"How is she? Is she ok? The nurse said she was knocked out?" I said changing the subject.

"Yeah… she came to, but she was really disoriented and confused. She has a concussion and they just took her up for an MRI."

"What happened?" I asked wincing.

"We had a warrant to go in to a suspect's apartment. When we got there the place was empty. Next thing I know I heard a crash and it was Liv hitting the floor. She didn't even have time to yell. He just came out of nowhere and hit her as hard as he could."

"Why would he do that? What did he have to gain by knocking her out?"

"I don't know if he thought he would try and escape and Liv was in his path..."

"Did you hit him?" I asked looking down at Nick's red, swollen hand.

Nick held up his right hand inspecting the damage as if he hadn't noticed. "My hand may have accidentally ran in to his face a couple of times after I saw what he did to Olivia."

I gave Nick a smirk in approval.

"I assume he's in lock up?"

"Swollen face and all... Look Alex speaking of a swollen faces, Liv's looked pretty bad. Her face was already being to swell and he gave her a pretty good gash on her cheek."

"He could have broken her jaw! God... he could have killed her!" I said reacting.

"Alex she's fine. Or she'll be fine!" Nick assured.

"Detective Amaro? Detective Benson is back from her MRI."

Nick and I both stood immediately.

"Can we see her?" I asked with my mind made up that I wasn't taking no for an answer.

"Yes, but let me warn you her pain meds have not warn off yet so she's pretty groggy, and still a bit disoriented."

Nick and I both followed the nurse back to Olivia.

The right side of her face was swollen and her cheek was cut and already several shades of black and blue.

I stood beside her taking the sight of her in.

"Alex, she's fine." Nick assured me.

I guess he could see that I was thrown aback by the sight of her.

That it scared me.

Without thinking, without sensoring myself I reached for her hand, squeezing it gently in mine.

Olivia stirred, opening her eyes to me.

"Hi there." I said with a small encouraging smile.

Olivia didn't answer right away though she held my hand a little tighter.

"Hey Liv." Nick said leaning in to her line of vision. "Do you know where you are?"

I watched as Olivia's eyes looked around.

"Hospital." She said finally and much to our relief.

"Do you remember what happened?" I asked.

Olivia looked at us both glassy eyed and confused.

"That's okay Liv it happened really fast." Nick said trying to assure her.

Olivia looked at Nick and then back at me, starring for a moment.

"You were so beautiful in that blue dress."

I was sure my cheeks turned a bright red.

What was she saying?

What made her say that?

I would play it off.

"You looked beautiful too Liv." I said meaning every word.

But I looked to Nick and the puzzled look on his face.

I shrugged at him as to say to him she's talking jibberish... She must be confused.

Olivia had closed her eyes mumbling a bit. Then clear as day she said, "I think Alex loves me."

I didn't say anything. I was panicking!

"I love Alex." She said with a grin.

Oh God Olivia shut the fuck up.

Panic

Sheer panic!

"And I love you too Nick" she said lazily.

Nick looked at me and grinned.

"Love you too Liv." He said humoring her.

The nurse came in just in time before Olivia decided to make any more declarations.

"Does Detective Benson live alone?" The nurse asked.

"Yes." Nick said speaking up.

"Olivia can be released from the hospital, but she will need someone with her for at least the next 24 hours..."

Nick looked at me. "Maybe we should call Cassidy."

"Who is Cassidy?" The nurse asked.

"Her boyfriend."

"Her ex- boyfriend." I said finally. "Nick, they broke up."

"Oh." Nick said, now understanding Olivia's objection to calling Cassidy before.

"I'll stay with her." I volunteered.

She may kill me when she comes down from her high, but her options were limited.

It was me or the hospital and surely she would choose me.

"I'll get Olivia dressed and you can sign her discharge papers at the nurse's station." The Nurse instructed.

I nodded, then I let Olivia know we would be right back as I made my way out the door and Nick followed.

"I'm going to call the Captain, update him, let him know she's being released." Nick said respectfully. "Then I'll help you get her home."

"Thanks Nick." I said with a small appreciative smile.

aoaoaoaaoaoaoaoaoaoaoaoaoaoao

When I came back in Olivia was dressed in her blood stained clothes. She was sitting up in the chair next to the bed, her head resting in to her palm.

"Hey." I said, wondering the state she was in.

"Al."

Her voice sounded more coherent.

"Yeah?"

"Can we get out of here?"

I smiled.

"Yeah we can."

I went to help her out of the chair, holding her steady as she wobbled a bit.

"Al."

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to throw up."

"Ok," I said quickly searching for the trash can while trying to not let go of her.

The moment I held it up to her, she emptied the contents of her stomach in to the trash can.

"It's ok. It's ok."

"I'm sorry." She began apologizing.

"No you're fine, you couldn't help it. It's ok!"

"Can I just go home and lay down in my own bed?"

"We'll get you home soon. I promise."

Olivia stood a little straighter.

"Alex."

"Yes Liv?

"Thanks for coming here tonight..."

"Of course I would!"

"I was just a little surprised to see you after last night. I wasn't sure if you would..."

"Liv you're my best friend and I will always be here when you need me." I said giving Olivia an assuring smile. "Let's get you out of here ok... We'll talk later."

Olivia nodded her head agreeing as she took my arm, holding on tightly.

"You ok?" I asked making sure she wasn't nauseous again.

She shook her head slightly letting me know she was ok.

She was ok.

And for the moment we were ok.

We would talk later.