20. Monday's

Mondays.
Elliot hated Mondays. They were in fact, his least favourite of the day of the week.
He particularly hated Mondays due to how busy they always were and the fact that he always had nothing in particularly to look forward to on Mondays. It was the busiest day of his week due to the endless meetings and catching up on anything that he might have missed over the weekend. In fact, today his whole morning had almost been taken up by meetings and none of them had been particularly exciting to attend.

Elliot wanted to go back to this past weekend, where he had completely ignored work or any outside commitments and focused solely on Olivia and the kids, focused on his family.
Olivia.
He wanted to check in with her as soon as he could, to see how her day was going and how she was. Elliot really didn't like how she had been so certain this morning that something bad was going to happen today. He wanted to do anything he could to assure her that it wasn't and he seriously hoped that was still the case.

He called her cell phone as he finished his last morning meeting but it went straight to voicemail. He re-dialled her number and got the exact same response. He knew she must still be teaching and he would send her a text instead. Just thinking about you and wanted to see how you are. Call me when you can. Love you xx Elliot typed before hitting send as he walked into his personal office and over to the desk as he had a mountain of paperwork waiting for him.
"Uh Sir, what school do your children go to?" Ashley asked as she followed Elliot over to his desk.
"Darlington Academy, on the upper west side?" Elliot replied without thinking too much about the question.
"Alright, good to know" Ashley replied and Elliot was curious now as to why she'd even asked.
"Has something happened that I need to know about?" Elliot followed up.
"No no, I'm sure your kids are just fine. There was just...a school shooting today and I wanted to make sure it wasn't the school your kids went to" Ashley tried to explain but Elliot felt his stomach drop to the floor with the thought of a shooting and what school it was at.
"What school?" Elliot asked, focusing now on Ashley rather than his paperwork.
"I think they said North Lincoln Street Elementary School? You don't know anyone who goes there though right? Your kids don't so why would you?" Ashley explained, trying to remember all the details she'd heard from the news. Elliot knew that Olivia worked at North Lincoln Street Elementary School. He had to go. He had to know she was alright.
"I need you to cancel the rest of my day and I'm not available for any calls" Elliot asked as he grabbed his coat and ran out of the office, phone to his ear and silently praying Olivia would pick up. If she picked up then she was alright and nothing had happened. He just had to get to her, he had to know she was alright. Ashley was speechless, she had no idea what was going on with Elliot right now but would simply do as she was told.

Elliot had his phone glued to his ear as he sat in the back of the car, heading for Olivia's school. Every time he called Olivia's number, it went straight to voicemail. He couldn't focus on anything else, he just had to know she was ok. He wouldn't stop till he got on to her. He had to know she was ok.
"Liv, it's me...Pick up please" Elliot left another message, he was sure that her message bank would be full soon but he just had to talk to her. He wouldn't cope if something happened and he lost her.
"Uh Sir, the road is blocked off. I don't think I can get you closer than this?" The driver called from the front. They were near the top of Lincoln Street, around the corner and across a block from where Elliot knew the school was. He would have to run the rest of the way. He thanked his driver and climbed out of the backseat before running down the street. He weaved in and out of people on the sidewalk, trying to get his feet to go faster than ever before. It was a good thing he was in relatively good shape.

As he approached the school, there were police everywhere and the barricades were holding the public back. He could see children everywhere and some other adults he assumed were school teachers or staff from the school. He couldn't see Olivia anywhere. He pushed himself towards the front of the barricade, through the crowd of people trying to get a better view of what was going on. Still, he could not see her anywhere, his heart was in his throat, what if something had happened and she'd been one to get shot? Elliot just had to get to the bottom of this, screw the police rules. He ducked underneath the barrister and attempted to make his way closer to the school. He was almost instantly stopped by two officers and instructed to get back behind the barrister.

"I need to be over there" Elliot refused, trying to push past the officers.
"Do you have a child at the school?" One of the officers asked.
"I know a teacher at the school! I need to be over there!" Elliot tried again but the officers were determined not to let him through.
"Sir, unless you are a parent of a child at school or a staff member here, you need to wait behind the barrister with everyone else"
"I need to see her, I NEED TO SEE OLIVIA BENSON" Elliot cried out as the officers directed him back behind the barrister but they stopped when he mentioned Olivia. Clearly, they knew something and it couldn't be good.
"Sergeant! This man knows..." One of the officers called back to where an older gentleman was standing, clearly he was the one in charge here.
"Take him in!" The man ordered before the two officers directed Elliot over to another area which had been cordoned off from the public.

Elliot didn't understand what was going on right now, clearly these men didn't know who he was. He was sure if they did then they would not be treating him like this. Right now, all he wanted to do was see Olivia, know where she was and that she was ok. He didn't understand what he had done to be required to be taken away like this and just left in a seated area with armed guards for a moment. It was a short time later that the older man whom had ordered he be taken, joined the two officers and Elliot.
"Where's Olivia?" Elliot asked, unwilling to wait to be told or messed around any longer.
"How do you know Miss Benson?" The older man asked, completing ignoring Elliot's question. Elliot was confused, why did they want to know how he knew Olivia? Was she in some kind of trouble?
"She's my girlfriend" Elliot replied.
"I thought you had a wife? How can you have a wife and a girlfriend? Pretty sure that's not the best image for someone in your position" The man replied again.
"What's your name?" Elliot asked, he was going to find out who this man was and then when they let him go, he would be following up his reprimand for these remarks.
"I ask the questions here! But if you must know, my name is Sergeant Jason Beauman and I am from the Emergency Services Unit. Now, answer me Mr Stabler!" Jason ordered, Elliot still didn't understand why they were here right now. Elliot took a deep breath before answering.
"I don't believe that my personal life is really any of your concern. Olivia Benson is a teacher here on Grade 5 and I am in a romantic relationship with her, I have been for almost a year. Now, I would appreciate it if you would tell me where she is and if she's ok"

"Your wife though, is Kathy Stabler, right?" Jason asked.
"At the moment, she is my wife yes. But we are in the process of getting a divorce, so that will change" Elliot answered honestly.
"How does Kathy feel about Miss Benson?"
"Wha- What does that have to do with anything? I am here to find out about Olivia and you are asking me about what my soon to be ex-wife feels about my girlfriend?"
"Just answer the question"
"I wish Kathy was more accepting of my relationship with Olivia as there have been issues between the two. But Olivia doesn't have any issues with Kathy that I am aware of. I really don't see why you need to know this?"
"Mr Stabler, as you area no doubt aware, there was a school shooting today. Now, we are incredibly fortunate that there were only a couple of casualties as a result of this. But we have been made aware from witness recounts that this shooting was a targeted attack. We have the shooter in custody and are currently interrogating them over this. But from the witness reports we have and the casualties we know of so far, this attack was targeted, and it was targeted at Miss Benson" Jason explained. Elliot felt his stomach drop to the floor. Targeted attack…Miss Benson Elliot couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"So, we have to ask, do you know anything about this?" Jason continued to ask after pausing for a moment to let Elliot process what he had said.
"No? Why would I know anything about this? Am I a suspect? Where is Olivia now?" Elliot asked, pushing back from the table and standing up, wanting to end this discussion.
"Mr Stabler, sit down please. You are not a suspect, but you are apparently in a relationship with the main victim, and it has been public knowledge that she and your wife have had many disagreements" Jason stated. Elliot took a seat but looked down at his hands, trying to process everything he was hearing right now.
"Are you saying, that Kathy hired a shooter to try and kill Olivia? No, there's no way!" Elliot remarked, refusing to believe that the motive behind all of this was Kathy. He knew that she had issues with Olivia, but he really didn't believe that would go that far.
"We don't know that for sure but we suspect that is the case. We are still having discussions with the shooter, but we have been able to come up with this based on what they've told us so far" Jason explained.

"Just…Just tell me, where Olivia is? Was she a fatality?" Elliot asked, nervous for the response he was going to get.
"No. Miss Benson has been taken to Mercer. It was close but we were able to resuscitate her at the scene before transporting her to the hospital. We can give you a ride to the hospital if you wish?" Jason offered, seemingly trying to make things right after so many questions.
"We need to go now!" Elliot ordered, he was done with their questions, Olivia was at the hospital and that was where he needed to be.

There were definite perks to having a police escort to the hospital. Even in Elliot's normal chauffeured car, he never got anywhere in New York quite as quickly as he managed to get to the hospital. It was lights, sirens and speed the entire journey. Elliot's heart was racing with everything that he had been told and everything that had happened. Olivia was alive, but she'd been shot and the way the sergeant had mentioned that they had to resuscitate her, meant Olivia had almost died which really wasn't a pleasant thought.
Elliot refused to believe that Kathy had been behind this, he struggled to see how Kathy would go to the extent to hire a hitman and have them kill Olivia, simply because she wasn't over him and wanted to get them back together? If Kathy was found to be behind all of this, Elliot really didn't know how he would handle that but it certainly wouldn't be good. He just didn't see how Kathy could be so against his happiness with Olivia, that she would plan all of that. It certainly showed she wasn't the woman that he once loved, her time away had changed her in drastic ways.

Elliot ran through the halls of the entrance to Mercer hospital and straight to the admission desk. He gave the nurse his name and expressed who he was looking for. The nurse explained that she could see in the system that Olivia was in surgery and that she would make sure the doctor came to him when he could. Elliot may have stretched the truth a bit when the Nurse asked who he was, as he said he was Olivia's fiancé. But Elliot knew that they wouldn't give out information unless he was family which he technically wasn't…yet.
He took a seat in the waiting room as he was instructed, mind racing over what else he really needed to do right now. There was so much to think about right now; Chloe, the twins, Olivia's father. How would he explain what had happened? What about Alex? What about what would happen if Olivia died? How would he explain that to everyone? How would he even cope? It was simple, he wouldn't. Elliot couldn't think about Olivia not making it through this, she had to pull through because he was certain that he wouldn't live without her.

It was over 3 hours before Elliot heard any news in regard to Olivia. Elliot was sure that the nurse at the registration desk wanted to tell him to get lost, from all the times that Elliot had asked if they had an update. She'd simply told him that the doctor would see him when he could. But Elliot was grateful that the nurse had let him stay.
It had taken a while but Elliot had got up the courage to call Alex and explain what had happened, Alex instantly booked herself on a flight to New York, leaving later this afternoon. Alex also expressed that she would tell Don. But both agreed it was highly likely he already knew, as he was Olivia's emergency contact on her medical file. Elliot promised Alex that the minute he heard any news, he would pass it on to her and he wouldn't leave the hospital.

Elliot arranged for his mother to pick up the twins from school today and Lucy would pick up Chloe from daycare. Elliot had expressed that Lucy was more than welcome to take Chloe back to his place to be with everyone, but Lucy wanted to try and keep things more normal for Chloe so they would go to Olivia's, like usual. If they went to Elliot's and Olivia didn't make it, it would be even harder for Chloe to understand as she rarely went to Elliot's without her mother there.

Elliot had been dozing on the waiting room chairs, the exhaustion of everything happening and the adrenaline wearing off, finally catching up with him. He'd been woken by the doctor though as he approached and Elliot sat up straighter in preparation for what he was about to hear. There were only 2 ways which this could go and he hoped that it was good news.
"Mr Stabler?" The doctor asked as he stood near Elliot.
"Yes?"
"Hi, I'm Doctor Ramirez, the nurses informed me that you're here about Miss Olivia Benson? That you're her fiancé?" Doctor Ramirez introduced himself as he took a seat next to Elliot.
"Uh Yes, yes I am…Is she ok?" Elliot asked, taking a deep breath as he prepared himself for the news.
"Well, there was a lot of blood and it was a very difficult surgery due to the injuries Miss Benson has sustained. But thankfully we were able to keep her alive. You have a fighter on your hands with that one. Now unfortunately, due to the severity of the injuries and the trauma that Miss Benson's body sustained, she is currently in an induced coma. We don't know how long it will be till she comes out of it, it depends on lots of different things but we are confident that she will. We also don't know if there will be any further complications from her injuries or the attack at this stage. We are going to keep a very close eye on her though and we have confidence that she will make it through this. However, I am sorry to have to inform you that we couldn't save the foetus. I am so sorry for your loss" Doctor Ramirez explained.
"Foetus?' Elliot queried, unsure if he'd heard the doctor correctly, Olivia was pregnant?
"Yes, Miss Benson was about 3 weeks pregnant but unfortunately the baby could not survive due to the stress and trauma Miss Benson's body endured during the attack. Now, I'm going to assume from your comment that you weren't aware of the pregnancy? It is very possible due to the early stage that Miss Benson wasn't even aware yet. But again, my sincerest apologies for your loss" Doctor Ramirez confirmed.
"Can I see her?" Elliot asked, desperate after all this news to finally be able to see Olivia.
"They are just in the process of getting her set up in a room in the Intensive Care Unit, but I will make sure to have someone come and get you when you can see her. Please don't hesitate to call for me if you have more questions" Doctor Ramirez explained before standing up to leave again.

Elliot's head was spinning, Olivia was alive but she was in a coma and she's lost a baby? He couldn't help but think about that baby and wonder if Olivia even knew. She hadn't told him about it but the doctor had expressed she may not have even known, as she was only 3 weeks along. Elliot's heart ached for Olivia and for their lost baby, even though he hadn't known about the baby. Elliot just really wanted to see Olivia now, he wanted to know that she would make it through this. But first, he needed to give an update to Alex – if he managed to catch her before her flight.

A/N: Do you think that Kathy is behind this? Did Olivia know about the baby? How is Don going to react if he comes to New York?
Olivia's alive! But she's in a coma and if she makes it out of this then are there going to be repercussions? I guess we'll have to see. Leave me a review and let me know your thoughts.
Until Next Time ;)