Author's comments: Okay, ElektricBlue, you had a good idea and I'm gonna steal—I mean, roll with it. I had forgotten that they have the same blood type—leave it up to us fanatics to know a thing like that, lol.

SVU trivia—how many times has Olivia witnessed someone she cared about die right in front of her? I count six (if you consider Alex, who didn't really die but Liv thought she did), and so now with my last two stories, it makes eight.Name the other six in the comments, if you can (not counting people who were already dead before she got there, like O'halleron).

They also really need to install bullet-proof glass in these interrogation rooms, because this makes the second time someone has gone through one. Anyone else remember that episode? I don't recall the name of it.

I Wanna Dance Without You

Chapter Ten

Part 1.

Paramedics finally arrived as Olivia's face began to pale and her pulse began to slow. The medics tried to push Elliot away, but he refused to leave her side, helping them hoist her onto a gurney. He allowed them full access to her, but he continued to hold her hand all the way to the ambulance.

After they loaded her in the back and gave her oxygen, she started to revive. "Liv," Elliot whispered into her ear, "Can you hear me?"

She didn't open her eyes, but she mumbled, "Elliot."

"Liv, I'm right here," he said. "Stay with me."

"El," she said, "Save him. Save Brian."

Elliot bristled at first, but then he realized that Anna dying in front of her had triggered a disturbing memory in the midst of her delusions. "It's okay, Liv," he said. "Just relax."

He kissed her hand and watched her face, but she didn't make any sounds other than an occasional moan. His chest tightened as he realized how petty their fight had been. Nothing could cause him to love her any less at this moment, and he planned on telling her that as soon as she pulled through—if she pulled through.

The medics said she had lost a lot of blood, and every second could make the difference between her lighting up his life another day and him watching her body as they lowered it into the cold ground. He could only think that if that happened, his life would shatter like the millions of tiny shards of mirror that had rained down upon her.

"Come on, Liv," he said, "You have to make it. Just stay with me."

Once they were in the hospital, medical experts elbowed Elliot away, and he watched them roll her away without him interrogation.

Part 2.

Stars whizzed by her head, and she did not even think twice about it, because the faster the earth spun below her, the deeper the serenity settled in her heart. She closed her eyes and spun with them, allowing the brilliance of their light to wash over her. Everything halted then, and a crass mechanical buzz dropped her into her own body like bricks.

The lights from the stars transformed into a wall of fluorescence flooding her vision. Hidden in the lights were faces, with sterile green masks and stern eyes. "BP is up," someone said. "She's with us."

Confused, she started to move her arms, and a woman in white scrubs smiled. Olivia could tell because crow's feet settled into corners of the woman's eyes. "It's okay, Olivia, just lie still."

Now she could feel her body, heavy and painful, lying on the hard cushion of a hospital bed, and she knew where she was. She tilted her head, using every ounce of energy she had, to see a crimson bag of liquid attached to her arm by a plastic tube. Real-life images of Brian's dying eyes lit up her brain, and she knew she was back to a bad place, although her memories jumbled like jigsaw pieces.

She squeezed her eyes tight, and Anna's frantic face pervaded the darkness behind her closed lids. 'Anna, I'm sorry,' she thought, too tired to cry. Her lungs heaved, and it took every bit of effort to keep them going. She gave in to exhaustion and let the horrors of reality drift away.

Part 3.

A hand enfolded her fingers, and she knew instantly whose it was. Eyes closed, she fondled the fingers, their gentleness sparking her awake. Elliot jolted, and she opened her eyes just before he did. He leaned forward, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "Hey," he said softly. "You with me?"

"Yeah, Elliot," she croaked. "What's going on?"

"You're going to be okay," he said, resting a hand on her hair. "You fell into the glass with Anna and cut your arms."

"Anna," she said, choking up at the thought of her. Tears wetting her cheeks, she said, "She didn't make it, did she?"

He shook his head, saying, "I'm sorry, Liv."

She looked up at the ceiling, biting her lip in an unsuccessful attempt to bite back more tears. Wiping them away, she said, "I screwed up. George warned me, and I wasn't careful enough—"

"Hey," he said, wiping a spot on her cheek that she had missed. "Don't be so hard on yourself. It was a difficult situation all around. You did the best you could."

"Did I?" she murmured. Dizziness filled her head, making it hard to think, but she knew that Elliot had tried to warn her that she was getting too close, and she failed to listen to him. "You had it right, El—I'm still a mess from Lewis, and I wimped out and let my emotions get the best of me. I guess I shouldn't be back at work, after all, and it cost Anna's life for me to figure that out."

"Hey," he said again. "Look at me."

She turned her tearful eyes toward him, and he said, each word deliberate, "You are the strongest person I know." He kept his hand on her face, brushing his fingers lightly over her hairline. "You've been at SVU for over fourteen years. Nobody else—well, except Munch—could see the atrocious acts you witness every single day and keep going back to work the next day. Even after the things Lewis did to you, you made it through and you got better. Anyone else I've known would have lived in a cave for the rest of their life. But you can do it, Olivia, you're the best at what you do."

She shook her head, still unconvinced, and he said, "If you couldn't get through to that girl, nobody else could have. I know that. Because you have a heart of gold." He paused and said, "That's what I love about you."

Tears began to fall again, but not out of guilt this time. She wished sorrow could be swept away with words, but she knew only time would heal. "I don't know, El," she said. "I don't know if I can keep facing the darkness. It seems like people's actions just keeps getting more evil—where does it end?"

He got quiet, but he leaned in and kissed her forehead, and then pulled away, saying, "I don't know. Maybe we have to just find our way through by treasuring the hell out of the good moments."

A voice at the door turned both of their heads, saying, "Olivia, I'm so glad you're okay." She smiled when she saw it was Fin, and he pointed to Elliot and said, "Did you thank this man for saving your life?"

"What do you mean?" she said weakly.

"They needed blood for you, fast," he said, "And Elliot remembered he has your blood type." He turned to Elliot and said, "How does it feel to be a hero?"

Elliot smiled at her and said, "It was nothing. For Liv, I would give a kidney."

Beaming at him now, she said, "Come here. I'm too tired to sit up and give you a hug."