A/N: Merry Christmas everyone! I'm so, so, so sorry for this late and short update. Things have gotten very complicated the pat couple of weeks. I was happy to get the chance to write a little today so I thought I'd update this story! A new chapter for Here We Go Again will hopefully be up this week. Enjoy!

Elliot sat in waiting room, tapping his foot on the ground continuously. The doctor came by to check on Kathleen so he patiently waited outside until they were done. Elliot continued to tap his foot, making time pass by faster.

"Elliot!" a voice shouted from a distance.

Elliot shot up from his chair and saw Kathy walking in his direction. "Kathy, she's fine."

"Are you sure? I heard she hasn't been taking her medication! Why would she do this knowing the consequences?" Kathy exclaimed.

Elliot grabbed his ex-wife and sat her down in a chair. He took the one next to her and sighed. "Everything will be fine. The doctor is in with her now. They put her back on her medication and she has been asleep for a while."

"Okay…" she responded quietly.

"Mr. Stabler?" Dr. Lennon said as he walked out the room. His guys grew wide when he saw Kathy sitting next to Elliot. "Hi, Kathy."

"Hi, Ron. How is she?" Kathy asked as she and Elliot stood up from their seats.

"She is looking a little better now that she is on her medication again. She is still a little tired though. The medication kind of hit her hard, but she is doing perfectly fine."

"That's good to hear." Elliot said with relief.

"You can see her now if you wish." Dr. Lennon smiled and continued his rounds in the hospital.

Kathy began walking, but Elliot grabbed her arm and stopped her. "Before we go in, we need to talk about where we stand."

"What are you talking about, Elliot? I am perfectly fine. I mean, my ex-husband is now with some home wrecker. What's there to talk about?"

"You know damn well that our marriage was over a long time ago, Kath."

"Your point is?" Kathy asked. She crossed her arms and glared at Elliot.

"You can't blame Liv for this. You can't hate her because I chose to give my Marine medal to her. You can't hate her because she's the woman I love now."

"And why is that, Elliot? Yes, I admit that our marriage fell apart long ago. And yes, I admit to being in denial about it. But damn it, I hate that she won!"

"Won? What are you talking about?" Elliot asked.

"Ever since she came into our lives I knew things would change. You guys always had a different relationship. You understood each other, and you were able to sense what the other person was feeling. The way you looked at her, Elliot. I could see that you really loved her. I just didn't want to believe it."

"Kathy…"

"I wanted to believe that things with us would stay the same, but that obviously didn't work out. I believed you when you said nothing was going on with her, but it didn't stop me from feeling hurt. The connection you two have… we used to have that, but we fell out of love and lost that connection as time passed. All I can do now is accept the fact that we are officially over and we have to move on with our lives."

Elliot pulled Kathy close and gave her a tight, meaningful hug. She was shocked at first, but returned the gesture. Elliot pulled away and kissed her forehead. "You know that I will always love you, Kathy. You gave me five beautiful children. We had many fond memories over the last twenty years. I will always love you for that."

"I know…" Kathy said with a small cough. "It sucks though, you know? We haven't dated since high school."

"Trust me, I know." Elliot laughed. "You will find someone that will love you unconditionally, Kathy. You will find someone that will bring you nothing but happiness every single day."

"I know I will. I just hope that I find someone special to share that connection you have with Olivia." Kathy smiled. "And I'm just going to apologize in advance."

"For what?" Elliot narrowed his eyes towards Kathy.

"I might have said some hurtful things to Olivia back at the precinct. It's only because I was hurting. It will still take some time to accept everything, but eventually I will be okay."

"Why don't you go in and say hi to Kathleen?" Elliot smiled. Kathy turned around and walked into the hospital room.

"Did we miss something?" Casey asked as she and Olivia finally arrived.

Elliot turned around and smiled. "Nah. Just making amends, I guess."

"Is everything okay, El?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah."

"How is Kathleen?" Casey asked next.

"She's doing better. The doctor said the medication made her very tired, but she is doing a lot better now."

"I'm going to head in and talk to her." Casey passed by Elliot and walked into the hospital room.

"How is Kathy?" Olivia asked quietly.

"She's uh… she will be fine. Time will heal her. She is sorry for whatever happened at the precinct, though. Now what exactly happened there? Did she threaten you?" Elliot asked quickly.

"No, El. We just said some hurtful stuff to each other. I'm fine though. It's not like I wasn't expecting it." Olivia shrugged her shoulders.

"Are you sure, Liv?"

"Yes I am positive." Olivia smiled. She glanced at the door and saw Kathy walk out. She passed by and patted Elliot's shoulder lightly. She gave Olivia a sheepish smile and left.

"Let's head in." Elliot grabbed Olivia's hand and walked into Kathleen's room.

"Hi daddy, hi Liv." Kathleen said quietly.

"Hi sweetie, how are you feeling?" Olivia asked.

"Definitely better. I kind of wish I was home. How's Michelle?"

"She's doing well herself. She was just discharged a while ago." Olivia responded.

"And hopefully you'll be able to leave tomorrow morning." Elliot added.

"Great. So where do I stand against this whole assault charge?" Kathleen asked Casey.

"We still have to figure out a plea with the guy and his lawyer. But you should be okay though. No need to arrest you, as long as you agree with the plea."

"Which consist of?"

"Going to a rehab center for a few weeks. Just to keep an eye on you. We want to make sure that this little episode doesn't come back around for a third time."

"I think I can live with that." Kathleen replied.

"That's nice to hear. I'll stay in contact with you and your dad with any updates. Feel better, Kathleen." Casey said with a smile. She walked up to Olivia and pulled her aside. "Are you staying?"

"Yeah, head back. I'll be fine." Olivia smiled.

Casey waved goodbye to everyone in the room and left. Elliot sighed as he looked at Olivia, then towards Kathleen.

"Is everything okay, dad?"

"Katie, we have something to tell you…" Elliot said as he sat next to her bed.