A/N: I think there will probably be only one or two more chapters after this one. I've put these poor people through enough angst and drama, can't keep it going forever. Hope you enjoy…Pls review, it's always appreciated….

His shoulders dropped. "Why did you ask Olvetti to call me?"

She looked at him one last time before looking down again. "Because I was scared and…and I'm alone and I knew you would come." She said it quietly, as if she was ashamed. "I shouldn't have asked you, I'm sorry. Just go, Stabler. I'll be okay." She closed her eyes and laid back on the bed. She barely heard him when he spoke.

"Maybe it's not just you I'm worried about this time." She heard his footsteps slowly fading away.

Slap Chapter 14

She heard a knock and forced her eyes open again. She saw a face at the window in the door. It was her Captain and an older doctor in a white coat. She tried to smooth down her hair and wiped her eyes one last time. He entered with a doctor.

When Olvetti had left her room, he'd nodded at Elliot, giving him the go ahead to go inside. He'd found his Captain talking to a doctor. The tall man had a dark look on his face. He did NOT want to interrupt that conversation, but felt he had to. He positioned himself where he could catch Captain Wells' eye. He was just out of earshot, but he could tell that the Captain did not like what he was hearing. Finally catching his eye, he waved over the detective. The Captain introduced him to the doctor; he seemed to be in charge of Olivia's care.

"Olvetti, the doctor was just telling me about Benson. Apparently they are worried about some of her blood work. " He gestured to the doctor to explain.

"Ms. Benson took quite a hit to the head. The hematoma is quite impressive, but there wasn't any bleeding or fracture and only minor swelling inside her brain, which is good; we were able to control that with medications. The problem is that the blood work that we sent came back a little bit off." Seeing the look of shock and worry on Olvetti's face, he backed up a little bit. "So the tests we ran were standard tests, the results tell us that Ms. Benson has been fairly undernourished and was quite dehydrated at the time of the incident. Normally in this case, in a healthy adult, we would give her some fluid and tell her to eat better and send her home. In Ms. Benson's case, because of the head injury, we're worried that correcting, or over correcting of the electrolytes would cause additionally swelling, which could then be life threatening. All indications tell us she'll be just fine, but we want to keep her here one more day to monitor closely as we rehydrate her. " The doctor finished up and looked towards the two officers, implying for them to ask questions if they had any.

"So, you're saying she's probably going to be fine, but you have to keep her here one more night because she's a stubborn smart-ass who doesn't take care of herself." Olvetti didn't pull any punches.

"Well," the doctor stalled, "Yeah, I guess that's about right, but I can't call my patient a stubborn smart-ass."

"Even if she is one?" Olvetti asked. Going on, he said "So, who's going to tell her? That person is gonna get their ear chewed off and I don't want it to be me. You're the boss," he looked at Wells. "You do it."

"Wells' brow wrinkled, "Uh, she might take it better coming from you…"

"Uh uh, no way. That's what you get for wanting a promotion…" He'd known Wells for a long time and wasn't going to be bullied by the man who was now his boss.

The doctor spoke up. "I'll tell her, the white coat will keep her from yelling too much, no?" He looked at the two officers, who were both wearing looks that said 'clearly you have never met this woman…you are going to get eaten alive…'

"I'll go with you," Wells said. Better to get this scene over with he thought…

As they headed towards the door, they saw another man leaving Olivia's room, crestfallen, deep lines edged onto his face. He didn't make eye contact as he headed down the hall. Olvetti stood towards the side, loitering. He watched the doctor and his Captain head into the room and his eyes followed Stabler down the hall. 'Come on, man, don't give up,' he urged silently, as the man headed towards the exit. Then he felt a little sense of relief and excitement when he saw the man stop, turn, and head back into the waiting room. 'Attaboy,' he thought.

He heard some raised voices coming from the hospital room, about what he expected, he thought with a smirk. He ambled down the hallway towards the waiting room. He saw Elliot sitting inside, elbows on his knees, face in his hands. Olvetti walked into the room and took a seat opposite him. Elliot was replaying the conversation in his head over and over. 'Can't undue things, gave up things we shouldn't have, shouldn't have called you, don't try to fix me, go. Over. Go. Go.' Somhow he felt that she wasn't talking so much about the hospital as much as she was her life. With that realization, he got angry. Like hell he was going to leave her alone. Ten years. He was an ass, he knew that, but he wasn't giving up ten years of friendship, of a partnership closer than friends, just because he was an ass. He wasn't going to let her do so either. He stood and strode into the hallway. Seeing her door still closed, her turned around and sat back down, a little deflated, but still feeling justly angry.

"You okay, Stabler?" Olvetti asked calmly, he could see the man practically vibrating.

"Ugh!" Elliot exclaimed, standing up and pacing. "That woman… That woman is infuriating. She's impossible! Good luck with her. Maybe you'll have better luck than I did." He flopped back down in the chair in frustration.

"Hey, 10 years man…You must've had a little bit of luck in there," Olvetti replied. He wasn't a total sadist, but he was kind of getting a kick over how upset these two people were getting over each other, when clearly they cared for one another. He definitely didn't understand how complicated things were. He was a simple guy, simple life; one wife, one house, one job and didn't really understand people who had complicated lives, or complicated emotions. "Tell me it wasn't worth it though, huh?" he said.

"Yeah," Elliot replied after a thought. "It was worth it, worth every infuriating moment. I just wish you and I weren't the only one who could see it."

"She'll come around," Olvetti said encouragingly.

"I dunno, I dunno. Not this time, I'm afraid," Elliot replied.

"Well," Olvetti replied, watching the doctor and Wells leave Olivia's room. Neither of them looked happy, he doubted Olivia did either. "She'll be stuck here for one more day, so at least you'll have a captive audience."

"One more day? They're keeping her? Ohh, is she going to be pissed..." Elliot said. "Why? Is she okay?"

"Yeah, sounds mostly precautionary to me, something about not wanting to cause more swelling as they rehydrated her or something."

"Phew, she is going to hate that," Elliot said with a grimace. His thoughts scattered as they sat and waited. 'What was he doing there? Trying to fix his former partner? Trying to play a role he didn't have any more?' He thought about why she said she had asked for him. She was alone, and she knew he would come. He realized again what a horrible thing he had done to her. He knew he was the only example Olivia had for a male relationship in her life and he had effectively shown her she couldn't rely on him either, leaving her without the friend and partner she had come to rely on. It was as horrible a thing as he had ever done and the realization still killed him inside. She was pushing him away because she felt she could no longer trust him, he wasn't letting her because he couldn't live with the fact that he had let her down in such a significant way.

'Well,' he thought, 'she was still mad, or hurt, enough that she didn't want him there, but he wasn't going along with that.' He could however, do something about her saying she was alone without him. He pulled his phone out and made a couple of calls.

Olvetti was still sitting in the other chair. He pretended to be not very interested in everything Stabler was doing but he couldn't help but be curious about what the guy was going to do. He wondered what they'd talked about this morning.

He stopped daydreaming when Elliot started speaking into the phone. "Hey Casey, it's Elliot. Yeah, yeah, I'm here...Yeah, she's okay. Much better today...No, they're keeping her one more day...Well, I haven't talked to her since they told her, but I am sure she's pissed... Look, can you do me a favor?" He asked her to swing by the hospital and pick up his spare keys to Olivia's apartment (Olvetti couldn't help but think it was interesting that he had a spare key to her place) and pick up some clothes for her so she didn't have to sit in a hospital gown. "I'm going to ask the guys to come by later too and I'm sure she'd rather be dressed...Yeah, okay...I'll be here...Thanks." He hung up and the dialed again.

"Hey Cap. Yeah, later...Yeah, probably not until tomorrow...Casey said the same thing." He went on to tell his boss that Benson was bored, irritated about having to stay and generally looking for any distraction and asked if they would mind stopping by. Olvetti could tell by Elliot's reaction that the response on the other end was positive. "Yeah," Elliot went on. "I think around 11, Novak said she'd be here around then. Okay." He hung up the phone with a snap.

So Elliot was arranging visitors and entertainment, Olvetti thought. I guess the current partner's chopped liver. He did appreciate though how this group of individuals seemed to gather round for their colleague, or rather, former colleague. He was getting the impression that no one at the 1-6 thought of Olivia Benson as a 'former colleague'.

Olvetti stuck his head out the door and saw Wells and the gray-haired doctor talking outside Olivia's room. They both had grim expressions on their faces. Wells said something to the doctor and he smiled. Olvetti went to meet them as they walked down the hallway. "How'd it go?" he asked.

Wells looked at him with a smirk. "How do you think it went, Olvetti? That detective has a well-earned reputation. She threw a huge fit until I told her that if she left this hospital today neither worker's comp or her insurance would cover the medical bills."

Olvetti grinned. "Don't I know it. She up to visitors?" he asked.

The doctor spoke, "I suppose so, although I must say it's at your own risk."

Olvetti grinned again. "Yes, sir." Leaving Elliot to his own devices and brooding, he headed down the hallway to his partner's room.

He knocked on the door and opened the door a crack, peeking his head around. He saw Olivia sitting on the bed, legs crossed, staring at the window. She didn't look like she'd heard his knock, so he'd knocked again.

Olivia had heard his first knock, but used the spare minute to collect herself before turning when she heard the second knock.

"Feel like company?" her partner asked, walking in the door and closing it softly behind him.

"I am sure that I'm terrible company right now, but be my guest." She gestured towards the chair the hospital provided sitting next to the bed.

"Wells tells me they're keeping you here for one more day?" It was less a question and more him explaining that he knew. "I told you ya shoulda eaten more." She shot him a look so dark he was surprised he was still upright.

"You want me to get you anything while you're here?" he offered.

She shook her head slowly, "Nah, I'll be fine, just need to suffer through it. It's only 24 hours..." She looked down at her hands, sitting in her still crossed legs. He thought she looked...sad. It was a look he'd never seen on her before. He wondered again what she and Stabler had fought about yesterday and then today.

"Okay, well let me know. Anything you want, I'll getcha. Hey, Benson?" He asked quietly.

She looked up at him.

"You okay?" he asked.

He could see her physically pulling herself together, putting her shell back on. She stretched her legs, ran her fingers through her hands and sat up straight. "Yeah, fine Olvetti, considering." Her tone changed, he thought for sure it was for his benefit. "So, are you going to entertain me today or what?"

Sensing that she didn't want to talk about anything serious, like whatever the hell she and Stabler had discussed, he regaled her with tales of old cases, the crazy things cops in New York all had tall tales about. Around 11:15am there was another knock on the door. They looked over and saw Casey Novak's red head sticking in the doorway.

"Up for more company?" her alto voice rang out. "I come bearing gifts." She placed onto the bed a bag that held a couple of changes of clothes and some toiletries from Olivia's apartment. "I got the key from Elliot," she said, answering the question before it was asked. Olivia nodded and looked at the bathroom.

"Are you allowed out of bed?" Casey asked, knowing what her friend was thinking.

"They didn't say no," Olivia replied. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed, slightly self-conscious that she had nothing on under the gown except a pair of underwear. She sat slowly on the side and then stood up. Casey stood next to her, looking like she was prepared to catch her if she fell. "I'm okay, Case, thanks," she said as she lost her balance for a second. Casey grabbed at her keeping her upright. "Yeah, sure. That wall did a number on you, Liv. Are you sure the Cadillac wouldn't have been a better bet?"

"It was a Lincoln," both Olivia and Olvetti replied unanimously.

"Whatever." Casey shook her head as she helped Olivia make her way slowly to the small bathroom.

In her own clothes and having brushed her teeth, she felt like a whole new person. Making her way slowly back to the bed, she sighed as she climbed awkwardly back in. Casey was occupying Olvetti's former seat, looking through some files.

"Gary went to get some lunch," Casey said simply, setting the files aside.

"Casey, I heard...I heard that you told Elliot and Olvetti about Simon Bryce...my mother..." Olivia said.

"Olivia, I'm sorry about that, I know you probably didn't want them to know, but you were so out of it and Olvetti was practically pissing his pants thinking you'd gone off your rocker. I-"

"It's okay, Casey, that's what I was going to say. Olvetti, he won't give me a hard time about it, and Elliot..." she drifted off a little, "Well, it's nothing that's going to change his opinion of me at this point. One more nail in the coffin..."

Casey furrowed her brow. "Olivia, what happened between you and Elliot?"

"Casey..." she rubbed her eyes, not wanting to discuss it.

"Liv, it's not going to get any easier to discuss, now is as good of a time as any."

"I was thinking more along the lines of after a double whiskey or two... I dunno Casey, I think we, I, got too dependent, and we couldn't work like that, not responsibly, and then we had this argument...It's better this way in the long run anyway."

"What's better in the long run?" Casey asked, pushing her friend. "Leaving your friend moping out in the hallway all day instead of letting him actually BE your friend. He's not your partner, but after 10 years Liv, he's got to mean something."

"It's not that he doesn't mean anything, it's more the oppo- Wait, what do you mean in the hallway? He's still here?" she asked, incredulous.

"Yeah, been camped out in the waiting room all morning." Casey was confused as to why she didn't know he was there.

"I told him to leave hours ago," she said.

"Yeah, well, he didn't and you should probably find out why..." the redhead said pointedly as she gathered her things.

"I know why he's still here," Olivia said darkly, "because he's an overbearing ass who thinks he needs to look after me, even though I'm not his responsibility anymore."

Casey sighed, "Olivia, you weren't ever his responsibility. Not even when you were partners, did he think you were his responsibility. He thought you were his friend... I'm due back in court. I'll stop by later tonight." She gathered her things and stepped out into the hallway, shaking her head. Those two were never going to get their heads screwed on straight.