Influenza

Chapter Thirty

Disclaimer: Not my show, and not my characters.

Authors Note: I know, I can't believe it's over either! But, keep in mind, when I began this story I was thinking ten chapters, fifteen at the most, not double that! I am extremely proud at where it went, so much so that I'm thinking about a possible sequel. It's nothing definite yet, only a possibility, and if I do it won't be near as long as this... but I've got ideas turning in my head!

Thank you to all my reviewers, whether you've been with me from day one, or just found the story. You guys totally rock.

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As soon as the words left his mouth, and registered in her mind, she was out of the bed, searching for her clothes, just as he had done. He began to protest, almost telling her to get back in bed and sleep some more, but he knew better than to try and boss her around– she had just as much of a stubborn streak as he did. Instead he waited for her to dress, and then they left the apartment in silence.

There was little talking on the drive to the hospital that Maureen and Kathleen were at, either. Instead, Olivia simply took his hand in hers, and held on tightly. He squeezed it reassuringly, although they both knew that the contact was for his benefit, and she returned the favor. "They'll be fine," she stated simply, and other than that, the ride was silent.

He sat in the car for a few minutes after turning it off, staring at the entrance to the ER, seemingly frozen in his seat. She pulled her hand out of his, brushing the tips of her fingers along his jaw, "They need you, Elliot..." she whispered. "Sitting out here in the parking lot won't change what happened."

He let out a deep, ragged breath, and pulled the keys from the ignition. It was taking him all he had to keep from breaking down, she could see it, and it was tearing her apart. As he opened the door to the car, she did the same, walking faster than usual in order to fall in step beside him. He snaked his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him, his hand resting on her hip.

The woman at the front desk looked as tired as she felt, her eyes were heavy, dark from lack of sleep, and she looked up at them with a noticeably forced smile. Then again, Olivia herself was never in a cheerful mood whilst working at four in the morning. Elliot explained the situation to her, his voice strained and thick with hidden emotion, and the woman looked up the information.

"Your daughter has already been moved to a room," she informed him. "It says here 356."

"Daughter?" he said, picking up on the singular use of the word. "I was under the impression both were injured."

"I have a Kathleen Stabler in room 356," she told him with a sympathetic look. "That's all that I know. Perhaps your other daughter wasn't hurt, and is with her sister."

That seemed to take a load off of his shoulders, he nodded at the woman, thanked her for her help, and then took off with Olivia for the elevator. Luckily they were in the right wing of the hospital, so they didn't have to travel far to find the room. Big, black numbers, arranged in the order of three hundred and fifty six, stood out against the wooden door, telling them that they had found where they needed to be.

Taking another deep breath, he grabbed the knob of the door, twisting it and pushing on the door. It opened quietly, like he had wanted it to, and the two of them entered the dark room. Although the last thing he wanted to do was wake his daughter after she had been injured, he flipped on the light switch and watched as the room went from pitch black to the dingy yellow of florescent lights.

Maureen, sitting in a chair scooted up to the bed, her head resting by her sisters knee, was the first to notice the change in lighting. She looked up, her eyes barely open at first, then wide and somewhat excited when seeing who had entered. "Daddy!" she almost yelled, but thought better of it, since Kathleen had only just fallen asleep. Her voice came out as a whisper, but a relieved one at that.

She was out of the chair instantly, launching herself into her fathers arms, holding on as if her life depended on the contact. Like maybe, if she let go, reality would set in, and things would have been much worse. "I was so afraid!" she told him, as she pulled out of the embrace slightly, enough to where she could face him. "I'm sorry, daddy! It wasn't my fault..."

"I never said it was, sweetheart," he reassured her. "Why don't we go out into the hallway and you can tell me about it– so your sister can sleep some more?"

The twenty year old nodded, holding onto her father as they left the room, much like a child would after seeing a monster in their closet. Although the situation was terrible, Olivia was thrilled to see this side of him– the protecting father. Oh sure, she had seen him around his kids hundreds of times, but never in such a situation, where they thrived for his attention and affection. At that moment in time, Elliot was the only thing that could comfort Maureen, and it was a beautiful, albeit it terrifying, thing.

They didn't stray far, there was a waiting room just down the hall, and that's where they sat. Olivia opted to face the father and daughter, give them some time together, while they learned of what had gone on earlier.

"Kathleen was staying at Sarah's house tonight– at least, that's what she told me. I guess Sarah's older sister, who's in college, was having a party at her dorm, and invited her sister to come along. What this girl was thinking asking a seventeen year old girl to a New Year's party is beyond me, but that's not really the point... At around eleven thirty Kathleen called me on my cell phone. They had only been at the party half an hour and she was starting to feel uncomfortable and wanted me to pick her up.

"I wasn't far away, so I told her to stay on the phone until I got there– and she did. I'm very proud of the way she acted in the situation, even though I'm not condoning her going to this party in the first place. At around fifteen before midnight I got there and we left. We tried to get Sarah to come with us, but Angela, her sister, wouldn't allow it. Oh sure, she can drink all night if she so desires, but when it comes to going home with her best friends sister, that's too dangerous! Come to think of it though, maybe it's good that she didn't.

"We didn't want to miss the ball dropping, so we went to a little café down the street, got some coffee and watched the news for awhile. Left at a little after midnight, got stuck in traffic for over two hours, and finally got started on the way back to my dorm. Kathleen didn't want to go home, and to tell you the truth, I wasn't going to tell about what happened. I was confident that she had learned her lesson, and relieved that she had called me, and I wasn't going to make the situation worse.

"At just a little after 2:15 we were stopped at a red light. It turned green, the car ahead of me took off, and I followed– only to have this drunken grandpa smash into the passengers side of my car! I didn't know what was going on at first, all I heard was screeching tires and scraping metal, then Kathleen screamed and my head hit the steering wheel! My seat-belt broke!

"Next thing I know I wake up to see all these people standing around the car, yelling at each other, call 9-1-1 and all that stuff. I passed out again, and didn't wake up until I was in the ambulance on the way over here. I would have called you earlier but they said they had to check me out before I could contact anybody. I'm fine, I had a minor concussion, and a few bumps and bruises... but Kathleen's broken her arm and bruised three ribs, not to mention shattered her right hand into thousands of pieces. She's going to have to have a lot of surgery, dad... but they said that if I had been even a few inches from the spot I was, they might have been forced to amputate her arm. It was so scary..."

Elliot's arms was wrapped tightly around her, and she was leaning her head on his shoulder, and for a few minutes after that, none of them spoke. But the silence finally gave way, when he asked if she had called their mother.

"Not yet," she admitted. "I wanted you to be here first... she's going to be so upset with me!"

"No she's not baby," he assured her. "She'll just be thankful that you're both alright."

Maureen let out a shuddering breath, and sat up, nodding. "I'll call now... you should go and wake up Kathleen. She was asking for you."

He nodded, kissed her temple, making sure to stay away from the deep purple bruise that was already making its presence known, surrounding a shallow gash, and got up from the uncomfortable chair. Looking at Olivia, he smiled lightly, and with his eyes asked her to stay with Maureen. Already feeling like an intruder in a very private time, she nodded, and moved over to sit next to Maureen.

"Would you like to use my phone?" she asked, as Elliot walked off.

The college student smiled, "Thank you." she said, taking the phone from her. After making her phone call, which was kept brief, probably because Kathy was busy doing the same exact thing Elliot had, she looked over at her and half-smiled. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Olivia replied, having a good idea of what the girl was going to ask.

"You and my father..." she said, trailing off. "I mean, I called his place first, then his phone... and he was over at your house, so–"

"Yes." she stated simply. "The answer to your question is 'yes'..." Thinking it over, she continued, "But just tonight– I mean, we haven't before..." sighing she gave up. "Can we keep this between you and me for a little while?"

Smiling fully now, mostly because she had been right, Maureen replied, "Of course."

Less than half an hour later, Kathy arrived, the twins in tow. Elliot had long since called Maureen and Olivia back into the room, and when they entered, the couple were seated together in one hospital chair, Olivia on his lap, so that Maureen would be able to sit as well. Olivia almost got up from his embrace when they entered, but his arms held tightly onto her, and the woman that she was so jealous of– for having twenty years of life with him– had simply smiled in their direction, before going over to her daughters bedside and making sure she was really okay.

As she watched the two converse a thought crept into her mind, sending chills down her spine. Maybe, just maybe things were going to work out for a change.

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Three and a half months later:

She waited alone at the airport, sighing to herself as it was announced over the intercom that flight 216 from Norwhich, Connecticut would be half an hour late. Flipping open her cell phone, she pressed number one on her speed-dial and was instantly connected with her partner's phone. After two rings he answered, in his usual, gruff tone, stating his last name and waiting for the person at the other end to reply. Although, he knew who it was already, thanks to the miracle of Caller ID.

"Hey," she greeted, still slightly surprised by the cheerful nature of her voice. That was going to take some getting used to. "Their flights been delayed."

"Really?" he asked, sounding as bummed as she felt. "How long?"

"Only half an hour– but that should give you some time to make it up here before it lands... that is, if you don't mind brining Kathleen along with you."

"Not at all, they were going to meet her anyway, right?"

Nodding to herself, she replied, "Right. So, how's her physical therapy going?"

"It's good– the hand's still giving her some trouble, but she'll get it down soon enough." he said something to Kathleen, and then returned to the phone. "So, what are you doing?"

She laughed to herself, "Standing in the middle of the airport, Elliot– what did you think I was doing?"

"I dunno– it's a pretty big airport, you could be doing anything."

"Well, I'm not... just sitting here talking to you."

"Well, there you go," he replied, she could hear him smile through the phone, "that makes me feel special. Out of all the different things you could be doing in the airport– shopping for magazines, getting a drink, fixing your hair– you're talking to me."

"Fixing my hair?"

"It's a possibility," he countered defensively.

"Yeah... sure," she replied with a grin of her own. "You're almost done there, right?"

"Mmhmm... why?"

"Oh," she said, "I just wanted to talk with you about something."

"Yeah?" he questioned. "What's that?"

"Nothing, really..." she said, hardly convincingly. He picked up on the tone and decided to press further.

"Hmm... then it shouldn't really matter if Kathleen and I make a stop at the mall on our way there. Comfort shopping, and all that fun stuff. Her hands been giving her a real hard time, she probably needs a few new outfits..."

"Ooh," she replied, "he threatens!" Her tone was playful, and her voice light, and she suddenly wondered who this person was flirting over the phone, and what had happened to her old self. Not that she wanted that woman back, anyway, this version of herself was a whole lot better.

"Hey, you know what my daughters are like when it comes to shopping..." he reminded her, half-serious, because it was true that his daughters took forever when it came to buying new clothes. "I wouldn't joke if I were you."

"Ah! But you're not me," she inquired, "are you?"

"Well, if I was we wouldn't be having this conversation, would we? Unless, of course, you were insane and had multiple personalities and I was one of them..." He paused for a brief moment, "You're not are you?"

She shook her head silently, sometimes she wondered about his own sanity. "No, El. I'm not crazy."

"Just making sure." he turned the conversation back to its original content, "So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"You remember when you asked when it would be a good time to re-ask me to move in with you?" she probed, sitting back in the uncomfortable, plastic, airport chair.

"Yeah... New Year Eve, right before– you said to wait about a month or so."

"Right," she replied, "you never asked again, you know."

"I didn't think you were ready," he told her. "I sense a point to all of this, somewhere..."

"Well," she stated, "I was just thinking... now is definitely a good time to ask me again."

The End!

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A/N: Okay... so that is it. I know, kind of a cheesy ending, but I'm happy with it, and I hope you are as well. Like I said earlier– I may attempt a sequel to this, but I am not sure. Depends on my schedule and my muse. At the very least, I could possibly be persuaded into writing a short epilogue!I had a great time writing this story, and an even better time reading the reviews! Thanks for all your positive feedback, it really meant a lot to me. I hope you liked my story!