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Alex fought the darkness that surrounded her, struggling towards the light. She tried to breathe but felt suffocated and there was an annoying beep going on. The blackness had been comforting and there was no pain there. She had heard Stacey talking to her in the blackness, talking about a job as a Ranger. That wasn't right, Stacey was a Security guard.
She had heard the Stacey of old in the blackness, the Stacey that loved her, the Stacey she had loved before everything went crazy, before Brian Standish and all her parents friends on snob hill that got in her ear. It had taken losing her friends and Stacey to wake her up to take stock and by then she was only a shell off herself and she only got worse as she struggled to break free of controlling reigns.
Right now she struggled to breathe around the obstruction in her throat. She could hear a far off voice calling her name and asking her to calm down. The voice sounded soothing and she listened to it. It asked her to cough on the count of three and he would remove the blockage. She heard him count to three and coughed as hard as she could. It hurt her lungs and whatever it was hurt her throat.
She continued to cough and something hissing was placed over her face. Oxygen. She breathed deeply and tried to open her eyes. They felt like they were made of lead but finally she opened them to see a male doctor and several nurses around her. She was in hospital? Oh God what happened?
"Welcome back Miss Cabot" the Doctor smiled "Do you know where you are?"
Alex shook her head. The last thing she remembered was the flight in to New York trying to evade Brian. After that she couldn't remember.
"You're in Androck County Hospital, you've been in a coma for 2 weeks" Oh My God, Alex thought to herself. How? Why? What happened? The doctor could see she was struggling to talk and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder "All in good time" she saw him look at a nurse "Nurse I believe you have a couple of calls to make". The nurses eyes widened comically and she hurried to make the calls.
The doctor smiled back down at her "You have very loyal friends Miss Cabot. If Ranger Reid found out you were awake and we hadn't called we'd all be shot at dawn. Chief Benson and her wife would flay us alive" he smiled. Ranger Reid? He wasn't talking about Stacey was he? Stacey, a Ranger? Maybe, maybe this was why she was up in Androck. Maybe she found where Stacey was after she changed all her numbers, emails and address.
The doctor patted her hand upon seeing her confusion and said kindly "It's Ok Miss Cabot, it will come back. Right now I need to do a few quick painless tests and then you can go back to sleep until your friends get here" She didn't want to go back to sleep, she wanted to know what was going on. Now. Yet she became distracted as the Doctor flashed a light in her eyes nearly blinding her and tapped her arms and legs and other different tests. By the end she was tired and felt the blackness pulling her in again.
Olivia had just finished her dinner when her cell phone rang. She didn't recognise the number but shrugged and quickly answered
"Chief Benson"
"Chief, this is Katie from Androck County ICU" Olivia immediately tensed and sat bolt upright. Jay noticed and looked on in concern as the nurse continued "I thought I would inform you that your friend Miss Cabot has wakened and the doctor is with her now"
"She's awake. Is she OK? Have you rung Reid?" Olivia looked over at Jay as she took her wife's hand and squeezed gently.
"I have left a message on Ranger Reid's cell. I decided to call you then was going to try the Ranger Station"
"No need, Reid is with me, I will pass on the message. Expect us shortly" she advised and the nurse said she would see her then. Olivia hung up and standing pulled Jay into her arms and hugged her tight "Alex is awake"
"Then we better tell Reid" Jay kissed her cheek "Common. I'll start making phone calls to the others while you tell Reid. Once the twins are down I'll follow you in"
Olivia grinned and kissed her wife hard before hurrying inside. She didn't try to be quiet as she approached Maggie and Reid but neither stirred. Olivia squatted down beside them and gently woke Maggie first. She startled a bit but soon appeared awake, and was flushing a bit at having fallen asleep on the couch
"Hey" Olivia said "I just got a call from the hospital. Alex is awake. I'm going to head there via the station to let Elliot know. Can you let Reid know?"
"Sure" Maggie smiled, relieved that Alex had finally woken up. Olivia grinned and stood
"Good, Jay is making calls to the others. I expect we'll have a full house again this weekend as will the Stabler's. Another chance to catch up." She chuckled and with a wink at Maggie headed for the door.
Maggie waited for Olivia to leave then turned her attention to Reid, placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and shook
"Reid, Reid wake up"
"It's too early to go to work" Reid grumbled and Maggie bit her lip to stop from laughing as she tried again
"Reid wake up, the hospital rang"
"Alex!" Reid bolted upright and looked at Maggie "She's awake?" and Maggie nodded. Reid jumped up and looked frantically around for the car keys which luckily Maggie still had.
"Reid calm down. I'm just going to see Jay and ask her to keep Toby for a while then I will take you in, but we're stopping to get something to eat on the way" she held up a hand "No arguments. Now go to the bathroom and freshen yourself up then I will meet you at the truck. I'm driving"
Reid would have argued but it would only slow them down and there was little point. She hurried to the bathroom, went about her toilet, washed her face and finger combed her hair back into place. She then hurried to find Jay, gave her a big hug and grabbing Maggie's hand literally dragged her outside.
She had to clench her teeth in order not to tell Maggie to speed and when they pulled up to the local cafe she grit her teeth in frustration but Maggie hopped out of the car and walked in. She was back 5 minutes later with a bag of food and a couple of drinks and they headed to the hospital.
Once at the hospital Maggie had to hold Reid's hand to keep her from running off and gave her the food to hold. They entered ICU and were met by the nurse who told them Alex was asleep but could wake if they went in. They hurried into the room to find that the breathing tube had been removed and Alex wore an oxygen mask instead. The sound of the ventilator was now replaced by the sound of Alex's breathing.
Maggie instructed Reid to be quiet as they moved in quietly so not to disturb the sleeping woman and walked over to the windowsill where they unpacked their late lunch. Maggie had bought a couple of fresh chicken and salad rolls and Reid's stomach growled loudly. They looked at each other startled then had to shush each other's giggles as they hoed into the food. Maggie had also bought a couple of bottles of coke and a bag of chips which they didn't dare open yet.
They were sitting patiently waiting for Alex to waken when the Benson's and Stabler's walked in. Maggie shushed them and they made their way over to the window to join in the silent vigil. It was less than 10 minutes later that Alex let out a moan and her eyelashes started to flutter. Reid was off the windowsill and by the bed in seconds. She took Alex's cold frail hand in hers and leant in.
"Alex, babe can you hear me?" she asked quietly and Alex groaned again "Common slim, let me see those Cabot blues" Reid encouraged and watched elated as blue eyes flickered open.
"S'cey?" Alex whispered raggedly and Reid nodded and leant down to press her forehead against Alex's lightly
"Yeah babe, it's me" she sighed "Look a bit different from last time huh" she chuckled and Alex looked into her eyes and tried to drag up a smile
"S'xy" Alex managed to tease and Reid managed a grin and stood up a bit "Hmm, I think the uniform makes me" she chuckled then remembering the others were here she said "Look Alex, you're friends are here, Liv and Jay and Elliot and Kathy" she pointed and Alex slowly turned her head to see them. Olivia dared to approach her good friend, moving to the opposite side of the bed to Reid and gently touched Alex's shoulder. Alex followed her progress with her eyes
"Hey you." She leant in an kissed Alex on the forehead "It's good to see you awake. You scared the hell out of us Lex"
"S'ry" Alex mumbled a tear slipping from her eye which Reid reached for and gently wiped away. Both Reid and Olivia shook their heads
"We'll worry about that later" Olivia told her gently "For now you need to get better, start eating again and get back the Alex we know" she informed "All the guys send their love and will be up to visit in the next couple of weeks" she saw Alex's eyes flicker to where her wife and the Stabler's were waiting with Maggie and motioned them over.
It was a bit emotional watching the strong Elliot trying to hold back his concern as he bent over Alex to buss her on the cheek and advise her 'nice to have you back counsellor'. Kathy offered a gentle hug and a promise to visit often and get well soon. Jay braced herself over Alex and looked her deep in the eye, her look said everything, love, relief and a hint of the anger that would come out later. As for now she leant down and whispered
"Don't ever scare us like that again Alexandra or I'll kick your scrawny ass" to which Alex gave a weak smile before her gaze turned to the last person in the room.
Reid was aware of Maggie standing behind her, a gentle hand on her back offering support and encouragement. When Alex's eyes turned to her friend Reid turned and taking Maggies hand pulled her forward
"Alex this is Maggie, a very good friend, she has helped me through a lot recently" Reid turned back to Alex who wasn't looking at their faces but something further south and looked down at the her hand swallowing Maggies. Oh, so Alex was a little jealous hey. Reid wanted her to sweat, and if Alex had been well she would have made her but Alex wasn't well and Reid didn't have the heart not to reassure her "Now slim, no need to get possessive." She grinned as Alex's eyes flew to hers "Maggie isn't that good a friend. She wishes"
Maggie slapped Reid hard on her shoulder
"Reid! Now is not the time for teasing. I'll get Jett to make you work with Matt for a week" she threatened and Reid groaned and shot Maggie a glare. Those who knew Matt had to chuckle, that was no idle threat.
"You wouldn't dare" Reid looked aghast and Maggie rose a pointed brow and Reid sighed "Ok Ok" she turned back to Alex who was watching curiously "Maggie is with my boss Jett. I set them up"
"You did not" Maggie snorted
"Did too. He kept asking if I was courting you and I told him to pull his head in and hurry up and ask you out and he did didn't he." Maggie nodded "So there you go" Reid grinned and looked at Alex "Just call me matchmaker"
Maggie waited until Alex looked at her and rolled her eyes then used her hands near her face to indicate Reid had a head swell. When Reid looked her way when Alex chuckled she acted innocent. Reid swiped at her "Brat"
"Yeah yeah yeah" Maggie muttered "Heard it all before"
"Watch it Red" Reid mock growled which earned her another hard slap
"Don't call me Red" Maggie growled
The banter continued for another 5 minutes, the others joining in before they saw Alex's eyes starting to flutter and hurriedly made their exits saying they'll see her soon. Maggie told Alex it was nice to meet her and was looking forward to getting to know her. That left Alex with Reid who settled in a chair beside her, took her hand and told her to go back to sleep, she'd be here when she woke. Alex stopped fighting the lull of sleep and slowly drifted off, comforted by her hand in Stacey's.