Title: Shaitan

Author: Redwing/CSIphile

Disclaimers ect on the first chapter.

AN1: Thank you guys YET again for all the reviews, I LOVE to read them so keep it up!

Sorry this chapter is late too, man Im getting bad about this, aren't I? RL has just been such an intrusion. No more lateness though…promise.

Chapter 8: Aftershocks

Brooklyn

Olivia and Gibbs were talking when suddenly she held up a hand to shush him and tilted her head. It took Gibbs a moment to realize what was going on, and when he did and tried to concentrate on the words flying through the radio at such a fevered pitch he barely kept up.

"We have a house explosion in College Point….Seventh Avenue….NYPD reported in the home at the time of…."

Olivia nearly swerved off the road as she spoke to him. "What street are they on?"

Gibbs was one step ahead of her, however, and was flipping to the page with Kate and Elliot's addresses on it. Quickly he scanned with his finger, coming to a stop at the last one, "121-11 7th Ave," he said slowly and felt the car accelerate as Olivia turned on the red dash light.

Multi-tasking to the extreme, Olivia turned at the next street and picked up the radio, "Dispatch, this is Detective Olivia Benson with the 1-6 SVU, please confirm the College Point explosion address."

After a few tense moments the voice came back, "Confirm, Benson, the address is 121-11 7th Avenue."

At the same instant both Gibbs' and Olivia's stomachs dropped and not another word was spoken on the way to Queens.

COLLEGE POINT

The first thing she felt upon waking was warmth on her right side, then panic and pain, and finally in the distance she heard sirens. Kate snapped her eyes open and found herself looking up at a tree. She had come to a violent stop on a small patch of grass between the sidewalk and the street. Lying on her back in the soggy grass, she could see their sedan to her left and a large oak tree at her head. Slowly the pieces began fitting back together and she tried to sit up, but was met with a wave of nausea that pushed her back down.

"Elliot," she called out into the darkness instead. "Elliot!" The last she had heard from him was the detective calling his partner's name.

This time Kate rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself up on all fours, tamping down the nausea. The house they had just barely escaped was consumed by flames. Kate had no doubt that they would be dead had Elliot not noticed something was wrong.

Looking up slowly she noticed emergency services barely a block away. When she moved her head, a stab of pain radiated through it. As if of its on volition, her hand made its way to her temple, pressing on the source of pain; she felt the stickiness and could now smell copper. Pulling her hand away, she confirmed her suspicion, it was soaked in red. Blood. Her blood. At least I'm conscious, she thought, which is more than I might be able to say about Elliot.

Inspecting the small front yard of the house, she found him; a body lying prone, curled on his right side, facing her.

"Elliot," she whispered. Now the sirens seemed closer, much closer.

Kate was pulling herself up when a wave of dizziness hit and she started to sink to the ground, stopped only by the arms of a firefighter wrapping around her. Once more she slid into unconsciousness.

When Olivia came to a stop mere inches from another police car, Gibbs honestly thought they were going to crash into the vehicle. Once the car was safely in park they both jumped out, taking in the blaze the firefighters where attempting to contain. They could feel the heat in the street, and they both wondered if their friends were alive to tell the tale. Quickly they each scanned the chaos on the front lawn.

Gibbs found Kate first as she was closer to the street. An EMT was bent over her still body. For a moment panic ran through him. What if she's dead, he wondered. He approached the paramedic, who was opening her eyelids and flashing a light into her eyes. Gibbs took a moment to look at her. The skin over her left temple was torn open with a nearly two-inch gash. There was blood flowing freely from the wound, matting her hair and covering one side of her face with a sickly red tint. Other than that, she appeared to have sustained no other external injuries that he could see.

"Pupils are reactive but not equal, probable concussion," said the EMT to his partner who was squatting across from him.

"How is she?" Gibbs asked and somewhat startled the paramedic.

"And who are you?" he asked.

"Agent Gibbs, NCIS. I'm her boss," he managed to keep his voice steady despite the fear invading his entire body.

"She's stable for now. Concussion for sure, but we won't know what else until we get her to the hospital." He turned to his partner and indicated for a gurney. Quickly, the two paramedics lifted her up and turned her slightly to inspect her back for further injuries. Other than a dirty shirt, she appeared fine. Appeared. Gibbs had seen plenty of agents look fine one second but drop the next with internal damage.

Tentatively, Gibbs reached out and touched her hand, just to confirm to himself that she was indeed warm and alive. She was.

As they headed toward the second ambulance, he noticed Fin and Tony pull up and the first ambulance pull away with Olivia and Elliot in it.

Olivia was barely aware of the commotion going on around her. She had found Elliot mere seconds after Gibbs noticed Kate and was at his side in a second. Three paramedics surrounded the detective, speaking quickly and in medical jargon that Olivia was only barely aware of.

"How is he?" she asked as the words flew by.

"Unconscious, probable concussion, and a broken left arm."

Olivia looked down and noticed for the first time that his arm was bent at an unnatural angle. She felt the familiar tingling of nausea in her throat. Olivia wasn't a squeamish person, but something about it happening her partner, her friend, made this different.

The EMT speaking snapped her out of the daze, "We are transporting to New York Memorial, Detective."

"I'm coming with you." It was a statement. The paramedic gave her a look, but didn't challenge her command. Within minutes they were in the ambulance and racing down the street.

Tony spoke first as he stared at the still burning hulk of a house, "What happened, boss?"

Gibbs kept one eye on Kate as he spoke; he had already informed the paramedics he would be accompanying them. He'd left little room for debate. "My best guess is a bomb." He pressed the keys to Olivia's department issued sedan into the younger man's hands. "My kit is in the trunk. I don't care what you have to do, or how long you are out here, how many CSUs you call in, or even if you call Quantico for more. I want every last piece of that bomb, every shred of evidence, witness statements, the works and I want answers. Richard Hamilton is now number one on my shit list and I want his head on a platter. Are we clear?"

"Crystal, boss," Tony said. As Gibbs walked away, he heard Tony's voice once more, "How is she?"

"I don't know Tony, I'll call you," his voice was soft.

"Thanks, boss," he said and turned to Fin as the two started to discuss a plan of attack.

The ride to Memorial was the longest of her life, but thankfully, halfway there Elliot had regained consciousness. Since then he had been in and out a few times, each time giving Olivia a small smile. Suddenly, she knew how Elliot must have felt those weeks ago when she was injured. Thankfully, this time it appeared that he would not be as bad off as she was.

She had managed a call to Cragen who promised that he and Munch would be at the hospital as soon as they could. Just then the ambulance slowed and finally came to a stop at the emergency room doors. Several doctors came out and the paramedics helped to push his gurney into a trauma room, she slid in seemingly unnoticed. Olivia watched as medical personnel swarmed around him, moving in perfect rhythm with each other, never getting in each others' way. Medical jargon she didn't understand flew by and she watched in a daze.

After perhaps 20 minutes, one of the doctors stepped away and approached her, putting one hand on her upper arm. She vaguely recognized the woman as one they had encountered on one of their many cases. Olivia's mind tried to recall her name, but failed.

"Detective, I'm Doctor Maxwell, we've met before."

"Yes, of course. I'm sorry," Olivia's eyes danced between the doctor and Elliot, who now had an IV and oxygen mask.

"No apologizes needed, it's understandable," Dr. Maxwell smiled. "Detective Stabler's going to be fine. Concussion, broken left radius, fractured ulna and a little bit of smoke inhalation. He'll be in a cast for a few weeks, but none the worse for wear. We'll have him in a room shortly and, provided all goes well, he'll be discharged in the morning."

Olivia heaved a sigh of relief and shook the woman's hand, "Can I sit with him?"

"Sure, someone will be in soon to set his arm. He'll probably be in and out; he's on pain meds for the arm."

Olivia nodded, "I'm going to see if our captain is here and I'll be right back."

"Of course."

Giving him one last look, Olivia pushed through the double doors.

A few minutes later, she spoke to Cragen, "It was damn close, Captain, they could have died."

"Well, you get back to him. I'll call Kathy and have her and the kids…"

"They're upstate, sir. Visiting her mother."

Cragen nodded, "I'll contact her and at least let her know what happened."

"Thank you, Captain." Olivia looked back at the door leading back to the trauma rooms, "If you don't mind, sir."

Cragen smiled and nodded, "And idea about Kate?"

Olivia suddenly looked guilty, "No, I have no clue. I…I didn't even…"

Cragen put a hand up to stop her, "I'll find out, ok?"

"Thanks, Captain."

"Keep me informed regarding Elliot and I'll call you about Kate. Munch and I will see how Fin and Tony are doing."

"Thanks," she replied, turning back to the doors, slipping through silently.

Gibbs stood on one end of the room, leaning against the wall, as the doctor finished putting butterfly bandages on Kate's head to hold the wound closed. An enormous flood of relief had washed through him when she had woken up 30 minutes ago, shortly after Cragen had come by asking about her. The doctor had determined that, aside from the cut in her head, a concussion and a few bumps and bruises, she was perfectly fine. Gibbs had come dangerously close to losing her again, and he was determined not to let it happen.

His thoughts were broken by the doctor snapping his gloves off and approaching him, "Agent Gibbs, she'll be fine. I want to keep her here the rest of the night for observation due to the concussion, but in the morning, we'll release her. The plastic surgeon will be down shortly to look at the laceration, and suture her up right so she doesn't scar."

Gibbs nodded silently; no one needed extra scars from this case. He watched Kate the whole time because she had closed her eyes again at some point during the procedure.

"She'll be fine, Agent."

Finally Gibbs turned to the man, "Thank you."

He nodded and left the room, leaving Gibbs alone with her. For a moment he just stood in the corner, watching her chest rise and fall slowly. The cut was covered with a bandage and vicious purple and black bruises were starting to form on the entire left side of her face. Damn, she must have hit something hard. I'm going to kill that guy.

Pushing off from the wall, Gibbs walked over, sat on one of the doctor's rolling stools and moved to her side. Once more he reached out tentatively, knowing that he was pushing a line here, but not really caring. Carefully he touched the unmarred side of her face, surprised when her eyes opened and focused on him. Quickly he snapped back his hand and for a moment he swore he saw amusement dancing in her eyes.

"Hey," she said in a surprisingly strong voice.

"Hey. How are you feeling?"

"Like I just got the shit kicked out of me."

He snorted, "Damn close, Kate. Too damn close."

"You know, you and DiNozzo owe me."

He looked at her quizzically, "How's that?"

"That's four bombs for me. Three for you guys."

He smiled at her attempt of humor.

"My head is killing me," she paused. "Oh, God! Elliot…is he okay?"

"Relax; he's fine, broken arm and a concussion. And you took a nasty blow from something, we aren't sure what yet. What do you remember?"

She licked her lips lightly and took a deep breath, closing her eyes on the exhale to remember better, "I remember going into the house. We swept the first floor and started up the stairs. Elliot stopped and told me to run. We did and the next thing I know there was an explosion behind us," she paused to open her eyes and looked at him. He could see her trying to remember something, something locked in her head. "There's something…"

He placed a calming hand on her shoulder, "Okay, Kate. Relax again, start over in your head, visualize. Why did Elliot tell you to run?"

She nodded and closed her eyes again, "I'm not sure. We were just over halfway up the stairs - I was having a bad feeling - when he suddenly stopped, like maybe he heard or saw something and told me to run. I didn't ask. Then the explosion, then nothing…nothing. No!" Again her eyes snapped open, "Before I lost consciousness I remember seeing him. Hamilton. He was there, standing over me, smiling, Gibbs. He said 'Well, hello, Agent'. He knew who we were, who I was. It was him, Gibbs." Her voice was steady, sure of herself.

Gibbs' eyes were wide with shock, "He was watching you. He planted that bomb because he knew we would find him."

She nodded in agreement. Before Gibbs could say anything else, another doctor walked in and announced himself as the plastic surgeon. Gibbs got out of the way and contemplated the new information as the man looked at Kate's laceration. Looking back, he noticed the doctor starting to numb her forehead. Taking the opportunity he slipped out of the room and walked outside into the chill of the air and pulled out his phone, pressing speed dial two.

"DiNozzo," the voice came through strong and Gibbs could still hear sirens in the background.

"It's me, Tony. I have some information for you." Quickly Gibbs relayed what Kate had told him.

"Got it, boss, check near the stair bits for bomb pieces."

"And…?" Gibbs asked.

"And Fin put out a new APB on our man, name included. The airports, train station and Canadian border are all on alert. We've started collecting evidence, there's a lot of bomb pieces here, boss. This could take a while. I think we figured out what happened to Kate though."

"Yeah? What?"

"Based on her original position as you described it, it looks like the force of the blast threw her from some point outside the front door and she came to a stop when she hit the back door of the department sedan. Probably head first based on her injuries."

"Jesus. She could be dead," he practically whispered.

"Easily," Tony's voice was low. "Looks like Detective Stabler took the brunt of the explosion. Seems that he made contact with the oak tree and…well…bounced back. Lucky he isn't dead."

Gibbs shuddered slightly at the mental image that conjured. "Thanks, Tony. Let me know when you're back at SVU."

He prepared to close the phone when Tony's tinny voice came through, "How is she?"

Gibbs sighed slightly and rubbed his hand across his forehead, "She's going to be fine. The plastic surgeon is stitching her up now. She'll be fine….fine."

"Are you telling me or convincing yourself, boss? I know you're worried about her."

Gibbs startled at Tony's astute observation, "Doesn't matter. Get back to work, Tony. I want to know where he got those parts from. We need to find him."

He snapped the phone shut and sighed loudly, the younger man's comment had shook something in him. He was worried about Kate, and while his brain was telling him it was purely from the angle that he was her boss, his heart was screaming to get his attention. For the moment Gibbs was ignoring the sound, not sure he wanted to face the reality of exactly what Kate meant to him right that second. It's not allowed, for either of them.

Pursing his lips he looked up at the night sky which was quickly being overrun with dark storm clouds. It seemed to be a theme for the investigation, a seemingly never ending dark cloud over his life.

Olivia started at the sound of thunder, followed shortly thereafter by a lightening bolt flashing across the sky. She could hear the rain start to fall lightly. Not even twenty minutes ago a doctor had come in and started setting Elliot's cast. Elliot, however, hadn't woken up since the ER doctor left. Olivia had been warned it would happen, but it didn't make her feel better. She would have preferred if Elliot was awake, talking to her. If nothing else so she could look into his deep blue eyes.

She watched his chest rise and fall with every breath, even if he wasn't awake it was a sign he was here with her. Olivia observed as the doctor carefully wrapped his arm, smoothing the dampened bandage to avoid air bubbles. The methodic movements started to lull her slightly and she stared transfixed at the forming cast.

A warm, familiar hand touched her face, snapping her back. She turned her head toward Elliot, thrilled to see those eyes staring at her. Smiling she took his hand in hers and squeezed, "El…"

"Hey, Liv," his voice was raspy from the smoke but she was happy to hear it regardless.

For a moment silence hung between them, neither taking their eyes off the other. Both relieved to even see each other again.

"All set," the forgotten doctor's voice rang across the bed.

Olivia broke eye contact to acknowledge the man who had finished the cast. Without speaking another word he got up, pulling off plaster covered gloves and throwing them away. Then he turned back to them, speaking.

"Detective Stabler, you'll need to keep that arm still for a bit and allow the plaster to harden. We'll be keeping you overnight because of that concussion of yours. If you have any questions, just ask for me. Doctor Fisher."

"Thanks," he croaked out.

The doctor turned away and left, leaving them finally alone. Silence reigned as they each debated what to say. A particularly loud thunder clap caused Olivia to jump slightly and they both laughed lightly.

"You ok?" he asked.

She raised her eyebrow at him, "Me? I'm not the one that was just almost blown to pieces." She pursed her lips, attempting to keep the tears at bay. Olivia was not a crier and she didn't want to start now, but he could be dead right now…

"Hey, it's ok…," he reached out and wiped away the one tear that had managed to escape. "I'm fine, broken arm and all."

"You could be dead, El. Dead. Your kids could be fatherless, I could be alone," her voice cracked slightly. "I can't lose you after I finally got you."

He smiled slightly and cleared his dry throat, "But I'm not, Liv."

She nodded slightly and blinked away unfallen tears.

"Man, I'm tired," he stated.

"It's the medication, get some rest."

"You won't leave right?" he asked while fighting to keep his eyes open.

"I'm not going anywhere," she reached out and touched his cheek, which satisfied him and his eyes slipped closed into a deep sleep. Olivia sighed in relief and leaned over, lying her head down on the mattress next to his hip, her hand covering his lightly. Before too long she had followed him into sleep.

Returning to Kate's room, Gibbs found himself seated for the second time, at her side while she slept. He had checked with the nurse, and found that if Kate made it another hour with no problems, she would be released into his care. With the strict instruction that once they returned to the hotel to let her sleep, but wake her every few hours, and if he had trouble to bring her back immediately.

While he watched her chest rise and fall with every breath, his mind floated back to the conversation he'd had with Cragen.

"Any idea why this guy blew up his own house?" Cragen asked. His tone suggested that he already knew the answer, but was hoping Gibbs would tell him something different, because the truth was too awful to consider.

"Yeah, he knew we would find him. Knew we would get there eventually. It was a trap."

Cragen had looked down at the floor, "Yeah, kinda figured that. Dammit!"

The captain's outburst wasn't too much of a surprise to Gibbs; he'd had nearly the same reaction when he realized the truth. Gibbs has his own suspicions about their target's motivation, but for the moment he kept it silent. Because Gibbs suspected that Hamilton wouldn't go down without taking some of them with him.

tbc…………..