The courtroom had exploded into absolute chaos. Screams and shouting filled the air as the last echoes of gunshots disappear.

Barba doesn't know how they got the weapons passed the security guards, but that was the least of his concerns at the moment.

Olivia.

When the shots rang out she was testifying in the witness box, being questioned by the defence. He can't see her now, but that might be due to his current position on the floor.

He's not even sure the danger is over, but he crawls across the floor in search of the SVU Lieutenant. He needs to make sure she's okay. There's no way she was hit. She can't go out like this.

As he reaches the wood panels encasing the witness box, he vaguely registers someone calling out that the shooters have been apprehended and First Responders would be in momentarily to treat those injured.

"Liv?" he calls out, scrambling to his feet and tripping a little in his haste to find her.

"Uhhhh," she moans in response.

"Olivia!" Barba's voice comes out as a strangled whimper as he falls to his knees next to her prone body.

Blood is steadily flowing from a bullet wound in her upper torso near her right shoulder. Without a conscious thought he strips off his blazer and places it against the wound, applying pressure.

"Ah, fuck that hurts!" She swears, and while he wishes he wasn't causing her pain, he's relieved that she's conscious.

"Sorry, but I need to slow the bleeding," he replies, not realizing he's speaking in Spanish.

"Rafi?" Liv whispers after a pause. She's trying to open her eyes to look at him but can't seem to get her body to respond.

"I'm here, love," he replies, shifting his weight to press against the wound with only one arm. He uses the other hand to brush the hair back from her face, and leans down to place a chaste kiss on her cheek.

Olivia mumbles something unintelligible.

"It's okay, Liv. You're going to be fine," he reassures her. Frantically he looks around the room for paramedics or anyone to help him.

Flagging down a passing officer, it's not long before medics take over and Barba is pushed back. He answers their questions automatically, running along side of the gurney holding her hand.

He's forced to let go so they can load her into the ambulance and for the thirty seconds it takes to get the gurney situated and Rafael himself to climb in the back and take hold of her hand again he feels like she is going to drift away from him.

When his fingers find hers, they both hold tightly. The ride to the hospital is both too long (he's never cursed traffic like this before) and too short (he doesn't want to let go of her hand again).

Barba tries to follow but gets stopped outside the ER and can only watch helplessly as the doctors take her away. He stands in the middle of the hallway staring at the doors separating him from his love.

She's going to be fine. She has to be.


So I have been massively blocked with this, struggling with the ending. I decided to post it, and let you choose your own ending. I'm choosing to believe she will be fine. *runs and hides*