A/N I'm sorry for being a day too late. I was doing research the other day and I kinda lose myself in reading stuff. Well enjoy reading this chapter. Although joy is maybe not the right word. Poor Liv and Alex...
Chapter 24
For a few seconds it was silent except for the sick laugh from Dr. Brown. Casey looked shocked at Olivia. Olivia was completely frozen for a moment. The disbelieve and shock written all over her face. Alex took a quick look at Olivia before she glares at Dr. Brown.
"What? Why? What the hell did you do?" Olivia asks, nearly growls.
"You're a smart woman, you know how. As for the why. You destroyed our lives when you arrested him. I know that he was convicted and I know that there was evidence. He said he didn't do it. And I believed him. I don't care that the jury found him guilty. So when he escaped I helped him. And we thought it all out. But you were too fast and then so damn stubborn and didn't die. Then luck was on our side. And I quickly did some test and it turned out that you could get pregnant. You destroyed our life, my life. It was time that yours was gonna be destroyed too. What could be a better revenge then having your life and that of your girlfriend being destroyed? Nothing can. I could have killed you but that would be to fast and too easy. I wanted you to suffer and be in pain. Now if you won't die, you still will suffer. The best outcome I can get." Dr. Brown says.
It takes all of Olivia's will power to stay in her bed and not to get out of it and attack the insane woman. No matter what she said, she was insane and Olivia needed her out of her room before she couldn't control herself anymore.
"GET HER OUT OF HERE! GET HER OUT OF MY ROOM NOW!" Olivia screams, shaking from anger and fear.
Casey jumps out of her chair ready to hit the Doctor. But Olivia sees it.
"Freeze Novak. Don't do it. I need you here, not arrested for assault." Olivia says sternly and loud.
"She deserves it. She assaulted YOU." Casey growls.
"And this it not the way to make her pay. I want it too believe me. Nothing more then that. But I won't help myself and you won't help me. I don't want you to throw away your career for this! Now sit down, Counselor!" Olivia barks.
Cragen, Fin and Munch came bursting into the room when the hear Olivia screaming to get the Doctor out of room. They see that Casey is about to attack the Doctor and Fin rushes to Casey and grabs her to stop her.
"Let me go, Detective." Casey growls.
"No way, not gonna happen, Counselor. You need to calm down first." Fin says.
Cragen and Munch grabbed the Doctor, both taking an arm and quickly getting her out of the room. Olivia looks at Casey and turns to Fin.
"Let her go Fin, she won't go after her." Olivia says.
Fin let Casey go.
"Come here, Casey. Sit down. Fin get Cavanaugh here and let her inside alone. Nobody comes inside until she leaves." Olivia says.
"Sure, Liv. Are you alright?" Fin asks.
"No Fin, I'm not alright. Now go." Olivia answers.
"Ok." Fin says.
Fin walks to the door and out of the room. He knows better then asking Olivia what's wrong. Besides the woman has been through enough. And he has a feeling that it isn't over yet. He doesn't know what's wrong with Olivia, Cragen only told them that they needed to go to the hospital because that bitch had switched the scans. He guesses that Olivia will them what is wrong or let them know when she is ready for it. Olivia leans against Alex and lays down her head on the blonde ADA's shoulder. Alex puts her arm around the Detective and softly pulls her closer into herself.
"Now that you know all of this, do you still wanna marry me? Marry this mess that I am?" Olivia whispers.
Alex pushes Olivia softly a little bit away of her and looks at the Detective if she seriously means what she just asked. When she looks in brown orbs she sees that indeed the Detective is serious. Alex is getting angrier and angrier at Dr. Brown. Messing with her woman. But she has to hear Olivia say that she means what she said or asked.
"Do you seriously ask me if I still want to marry you? That you are a mess?" Alex asks.
"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be serious? I take marriage very seriously, I don't joke around about this kind of things, Alex. You should know that." Olivia answers.
"I know. That's why I asked it. To be sure that you meant what you said." Alex says and pulls Olivia back against her.
"First to answer your question. Yes I 'still' want to marry you. No matter what. No matter what happens or happened. And you are not a mess Olivia Carmen Benson. You are the Queen of my dreams. Or maybe more a King of my dreams. Anyway you are all that I want and need in a person. You are all I have dreamed of and dream about. I know that you think that you are not worthy to me or anyone else but you are wrong about that. You couldn't be more wrong. I love you, I have never loved and will never love anyone more then you. And there is nothing in this world that can change that. I wish I could nail the damn bitch myself, but I can't. But boy do I want too. Don't think that I don't want it and don't think that I don't want to marry for what ever reason you can come up with. If it were possible I would marry you right now, this exact moment, Detective Benson." Alex finishes.
"Really?" Olivia asks, more confident then she was before Alex's answer.
"Yes, really. You're it for me, Olivia. You are MY Detective Badass." Alex answers.
"This exact moment isn't possible. But would half an hour be alright?" Olivia asks.
"What? Yes of course that would be alright. But how much I want that to be, it's not gonna happen. There is no way we can find someone that soon, Liv. Even not with all the people we know with the three of us as we are sitting here right now." Alex answers.
"Actually, it is gonna happen. You see in the ten minutes you left the room, I called with Liz, she is gonna marry us in about half an hour if that's alright with you. If not too bad. Because she is already coming. And she brings a witness with her. That is one of the two we need. And I know who I want to be my best man or best woman as a matter of fact. So what do you say, Alexandra Cabot? Are we gonna get married in half an hour or not?" Olivia asks.
"Yes, we are. Two question for you, Detective. One, who do you want to ask? Two, who is Liz gonna bring with her?" Alex asks.
"You will find that out when Liz is walking in here, who it is." Olivia answers and turns her head in Casey's direction.
"Casey Novak, would you do me the honor and be my best man? I want you to be it. I could ask others but I don't want to ask anyone else. Just like I don't want to marry anyone else. So what do you say? What is your answer?" Olivia asks.
"Yes, of course I will be. I'm the one that is honored, Liv." Casey answers.
Casey looks at Alex.
"Is that alright with you, Alex? I think you are but I want to be sure." Casey asks.
"I know that there are no dumb questions only dumb answers but this not a really smart one, Casey. Of course I'm alright with this. You are our friend. You are going with us to Houston for Heaven's sake. I'm more then alright with this." Alex answers.
"Good that is arranged then. Now Cavanaugh will be here any moment. After she is gone we need to talk about the other part Liz is coming for. I want know certain things before Liz is here or at least before we are talking with her about all of this. But we don't have the time to do that now. And to be honest my head is spinning with everything that happened. And I don't want the guys to know it. Hell I don't know what to do anyway. I don't know what to feel right now. I wish I could wake up and find out that it is a really really bad nightmare. I don't know what to do or not to do, what I want or don't want. I can't think straight. The only thing that I know and I am sure about is marrying you, Lex. That and that I love you. For the rest I'm numb I think. In shock, probably. I don't know what I am or what I should think. I'm trying to hold myself together I think. Turned myself off and switched into cop mode." Olivia says, barely keeping herself together.
"Honey, you don't have to be strong right now. It's ok if you can't hold it together right now. It's ok if I can't. We are only human. And right now our world has been turned upside down. So it's ok to be scared or afraid. I'm scared and afraid. I'm also furious about what she is doing to you, to us. Let it go if you need to. I'm here and I won't go. I won't leave you here alone. We are in this together, sweety. You are not alone anymore. You have me." Alex says softly.
After those words Olivia can't hold it anymore and finally breaks down. After everything she is going trough and everything she heard today she has reached her limits. Holding on Alex if her life depends on it, she cries. All the hurt, all the pain, all the fear she is feeling is coming out. Alex's heart breaks seeing her lover breaking down, being so hurt. Not able to keep it together herself she starts crying too. Not as uncontrollable as her fiancée. But anyone with eyes can she how hurt she is herself.
Casey has troubles to be strong seeing her friends so hurt. All the insane cruelties that has been done to Olivia and in a way to Alex too. How much more do they have to suffer. Haven't they been trough enough already. When does it end. Even before today they have been trough more then people should be. They have had more then enough coming to them. And now when they finally have each other, life is throwing this to them. Well Dr. Brown is, but that doesn't make a difference for them. It's still happening. Casey decides to let them be alone for a while. Fuck the rest of the world. Everyone and everything has to wait. And everyone that is gonna protest will have to deal with her. For the next half an hour nobody is entering the room and disturb them. She softly touches Alex shoulder and whispers in the blonde ADA's ear that she is gonna leave them alone for a while and that is making sure that no one enters their room. Alex nods but doesn't really hear what the redhead says. But she knows that Casey is leaving them alone to be just with the two of them. Casey squeezes Alex and then Olivia softly and leaves the room closing the door behind her and stands in front of it determined to let no one pass her and enter the room behind her. A few minutes later Prof. Cavanaugh arrives and she sees the determined look and body language of the redheaded ADA. Instinctively she knows that something is wrong. Luckily for her Cragen and the other three Detective's are doing their jobs so it's only the ADA and herself.
"Ms Novak, what's wrong?" Cavanaugh asks.
"It's not to me to tell what's wrong, I think. But you can't enter the room for now. They need some time together. Nobody will go in there for at least 20 minutes. After that I will look if more time is needed or not. I'm sorry, Professor, but I can't allow you to enter their room. Do you have been able to study the scans?" Casey asks.
"That bad huh? Well you don't have to be sorry, Counselor. I understand that they need time together. With everything that happens. Yes I have studied the scans. But I think we will wait for Detective Benson and Ms. Cabot, won't we?" Cavanaugh asks.
"Yes, that bad. I'm afraid things are getting worse and worse. And of course we will wait for them. I only asked it because I wanted to know if you were able to study the scans. Your findings shouldn't be discussed between us without Alex and Liv. And please, call me Casey." Casey answers.
"Alright, Casey it is then. You may call me Angie. Without going into details, of course. Is there more that happened? Detective Benson seemed relatively fine given the previous circumstances." Cavanaugh asks.
"That's an other way to describe it. That more has happened, I mean. So the answer is yes. All I can say is that Liv and Alex too are not so fine right now." Casey answers.
"Alright. Well we let them have some time together. Call me if you need me or when they are ready. Alright?" Cavanaugh says.
"Yes. I will let you know when they are ready to see you. Thank you for understanding this." Casey says.
"Your welcome, Counselor. I will see you again later then." Cavanaugh says.
"Yes you will. See you later, Professor." Casey says.
Prof. Cavanaugh nods at Casey and then walks away. Casey is alone again and as soon as she thinks about Dr. Brown has done she is furious again. The shock is still there but anger is winning it from any other emotion right now. Lost in her thoughts Casey doesn't see Liz and Abby walking towards her. When she hears her name being called her head jerks up. And she looks in the eyes of her boss.
"Wow, Counselor, I'm coming here in peace. Who's gonna die? Judging at the look in your eyes someone is." Liz says.
"Brown would, if Olivia would let me." Casey growls.
"Brown? As in Dr. Brown? Why?" Liz asks.
"I can't tell you why. You need to wait for Liv and Alex for that. And yes Dr. Brown. Who else?" Casey answers.
"Alright, let's go inside then. Oh excuse me, where are my manners. Casey Novak, this is Abby Carmichael. Abby, meet Casey Novak. She is one of the two ADA's assigned to SVU. The other one you know of course, Alexandra Cabot. Both are leaving us for I don't know how long and joining Detective Benson to Houston as I told you earlier." Liz introduces both women to each other.
"Nice to meet you Ms. Carmichael." Casey says.
"Nice to meet you too, Ms. Novak." Abby says.
"Alright now that the introductions are over, let's go inside." Liz says.
"No we are not going inside. At least not right now. Alex and Liv needed some time alone, just the two of them, I decided. And I gave them at least half an hour. Which hasn't passed yet. So we are gonna wait here until it does. And then I AM going inside alone and see if they are ready. If not we are gonna wait an other 10 till 15 minutes." Casey says firmly.
"What? What the hell is going on here in this hospital, Novak? I think you know that Olivia is expecting us." Liz asks, raising one eyebrow at Casey.
"Yes I know that. But right now that room is a no go area. Those two have been through enough already before this day turned into hell. And it keeps turning further into hell too. Liv is a very strong woman as is Alex, but they only can take so much. And they have reached their limits. When we are inside and you hear what happened today you will understand it perfectly. " Casey explains.
"I think I understand that look in your eyes when we arrived now. Alright we will wait. Just one question? Do we have it still?" Liz asks.
"Yes we have. Things are just moving in time a bit." Casey answers.
"Will one of you enlighten me and tell me what happened before today?" Abby asks.
Liz and Casey look at each other and Liz nods at Casey, let the redhead tell it.
"One of the men Liv arrested and was convicted escaped from Rikers. Atkins. He, or someone else did it for him, killed a guard and knocked down two others. Then he..." Casey starts but is interrupted by Abby.
"I know that son of bitch. I tried that case. He is one sick bastard. What did he do when he escaped?" Abby asks.
"Well I was gonna tell you that before you interrupted me. But you know everything before he escaped. That's a good thing. Anyway, he or Dr. Brown, I don't know which one right know, bugged Alex's office with a camera and a microphone in her land line. Liv found the camera when she was clearing Alex's office. There was a note for Liv in Alex office. Long story short. He said he had putted evidence about Liv and Alex being in a relationship in Liv's house. They weren't together at that time though. Alex and Liv went with Cragen and Amanda to Liv's apartment. Amanda is Detective Rollins I think you will meet her later. When they got to Liv's apartment she wanted to go inside but somehow she noticed that something was wrong. She looked down and saw that she was standing in a laser line. It turned out to be a bomb. She let Fin and Munch take Alex away there and into a safe house. She managed to get safe after the bomb squad had found out that they couldn't turn it off. She went to the hospital to let her arm checked and it is broken on three places. After that she went to the safe house too. In the middle of the night Atkins managed to take out two cops and to get into the house. He got upstairs where Alex and Liv were and shot Liv twice, Liv shot him back and he was dead. They went to the hospital and Liv made it trough surgery but stayed in a coma for about a week. They got together the evening of the night Liv got shot. That's in big lines what happened until today." Casey explains.
"Damn son of bitch! If he wasn't dead already I would have killed him myself. So what happened today that today turned into a hell for them both? And why do ya all need to go to Houston?" Abby ask angrily.
Liz had told Abby that the three of them are going to Houston but not why, when she asked Abby to come back to SVU.
"That is for Liv and Alex to tell you. But let them tell all of it at their pace. They have been trough enough today and the end of everything is not nearby, not even close. So don't fire all kind of questions at them. Let them do it on their terms." Casey answers.
"Alright, I will do that. It just that... damn it, this ain't fair. They have been trough to much already before this. Apart and together. They deserve to be happy together and not throw into an other hell again by some asshole or who ever did it with him." Abby says, shaking her head sadly.
"I know. And I agree. It isn't fair at all. Well if you will excuse me, I'm gonna look how they are and if they are ready for some company." Casey says.
"Alright. We will wait here." Liz says.
Casey nods and turns around and opens the door a bit, just enough for her to get inside. She closes the door behind her and turns around and look at Alex and Olivia. Both women aren't crying anymore but they don't look alright either.
"Hey, how are you two? Liz is here. With Abby Carmichael. She is the new ADA, Liz said. Are you two ready for them to come inside or do you need some more time? Or do you want Ms. Carmichael to wait outside?" Casey asks carefully.
"She accepted Liz's offer? Finally some good news today." Olivia says.
"Wait a second. Abby Carmichael? As in federal prosecutor and our friend Abby Carmichael?" Alex asks surprised.
"Yes, Lex. The one and only." Olivia answers with a small smile on her face.
"Is she gonna be our witness next to Casey?" Alex asks.
"If she said yes, she will be yeah." Olivia answers.
"How do you know her then, since you said she is your friend?" Casey asks.
"She was working for the DA's office and tried some cases for SVU before Lex here was assigned as our permanent ADA. The feds whisked her away. She worked for some time here before she became a federal prosecutor." Olivia answers.
"Ok. So she is the best of the three of us? And do want them to come inside now or not?" Casey asks.
"She is really good, but no one is as good as Lex. You know that Case. But you and her are second best. You both are very good. And get them inside please. I just hope that Tex will stay calm. I really don't feel ready to face the firing squad right now." Olivia answers.
"Yeah, yeah. I know. Alex is the best. Then there comes nothing for a while and then everyone else. At least for you that is. But thank you for thinking of us as second best." Casey says sarcastically and jokingly.
"Don't worry. I already told Liz and her that they don't ask questions. But let you or you both tell them what happened today. I think I made it pretty clear to them." Casey answers.
"Thank you, Casey. I'm glad that you did that. Let them inside then, please." Olivia says.
Casey smiles at Alex and Olivia and then walks to the door and opens it.
"You can come inside. They are ready to see you. But remember what I said. No questions." Casey says.
Casey steps aside and Liz and Abby walk inside the room. Casey closes the door behind them. Liz and Abby walk to Alex and Olivia. Abby walks straight to the Detective and carefully hugs her. Then she walks around the bed and hugs Alex. Casey walked to the chair she was sitting in earlier as Abby hugs both women. Liz gets an other chair and places it at the end of Olivia's bed and sit down. Abby leans against the chair Liz is sitting in.
"We will tell you two what happened today, later. Liz have you asked Abby the question or not? Welcome back Abs. They guys are gonna be thrilled that you're back. After they scolded at or for Lex and Casey here of course." Olivia says.
"I thought after Casey called that I shouldn't ask her. So if it's happening, I think you should ask her. I do have everything with me just so you know." Liz answers.
"Ask me what? Benson what is she talking about. What's gonna happen?" Abby asks.
"I asked Alex to marry me tonight. And she said yes. Now before you start firing questions after you give your answers of course, I will tell you later why we are marrying tonight. After we are married I will tell you everything. But not before. So Abigail Carmichael do you want to do us the honor and be our witness?" Olivia asks.
Abby let out a squeal.
"Way to go Benson. Finally ya found your balls back. Yes, of course I want to be your witness. So Cab, you finally managed to tame the wild horse huh. It was about damn time ya know." Abby says enthusiastically, jumping up to give them both a congratulatory hug.
"Woah, calm down Tex. Easy gal. I'm a little sore so be careful will ya." Olivia says.
Abby carefully hugs Olivia.
"I'm so happy for ya. It was time the both of ya got your heads out of your asses ya know." Abby says softly.
"You are probably right." Olivia says.
Abby let go of the Detective and walks around the bed and grabs Alex in a bone crushing hug.
"Abs, I'm not wounded but I'm not made of steal. Don't break my bones, I'm tough but not unbreakable." Alex says.
"Sorry, I'm just happy that you are finally are together and now getting married. You both deserve it. Deserve each other." Abby says, letting go of the blonde ADA.
"Thanks, Abby. Despite everything that happens and happened, I am ready to marry the love of my life." Alex answers.
"Congratulations, Alexandra and Olivia. So how do you girls want to do this?" Liz asks.