As Olivia bit into the roast beef sandwich Munch had picked her up on his way back into the squad room, she picked up the phone on her desk and started dialing. She didn't have much time; as it was, she was eating her dinner at eight o'clock in the evening while sitting at her desk, surrounded by phone records and financial statements. So she had to multitask: unfortunately, the phone call and dinner had to be at the same time. Fin and Munch exchanged a mischievous glance and Munch nodded to his partner, allowing him to have first go. "Yo, Benson," Fin said loudly, "tell your girlfriend we hope she's feeling better."

Olivia rolled her eyes, taking the receiver down and away from her mouth. "I'm not even dignifying that with a response."

"See, the thing about saying that is you had to respond to tell him you weren't giving him a response," Munch pointed out dryly.

"Shut up, John." Olivia focused her attention on her phone call, ignoring the guys' teasing for the time being.

She was getting ready to hang up and try again in a few minutes, but the fourth ring was cut short as Casey picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me. Were you sleeping?"

"No." Casey cleared her throat and Olivia could hear the muffled sounds of the sheets moving as she shifted position in bed. "I forgot where I put the damn phone. I just tried to answer the remote control."

Olivia chuckled; she could envision the look of annoyance that had to have been on Casey's face at the moment. "As long as the remote control doesn't start answering you back, Counselor."

"Funny. So what's up?"

"Nothing much, aside from the fact that I'm never going to see the inside of my apartment again. How are you feeling?"

"Kind of crappy, actually. They took the Demerol down a little, so I'm in a bit of pain. Next time Janice comes in, she's giving me something to help me sleep."

"I thought your nurse's name was Cheryl," Olivia said, confused.

"It is, but Cheryl doesn't work twenty-four-seven, Liv. She's the day nurse. Actually, she worked a shift and a half today and left at seven." There was a pause on the line, and Olivia could hear a slight intake of breath. "Olivia, I need to ask you something."

"Shoot." There was another pause, longer than the one before. Olivia frowned in confusion. "Casey, you still there?"

"Yeah. Listen, this is going to sound insane, okay? Or at the very least like the ramblings of a sick lawyer on narcotics, and maybe it is, but there's something going on with Maddie and I don't know--"

"Whoa, Casey, start at the beginning." Olivia rested her elbows on her desk, holding the receiver tightly against her ear. "Who the hell is Maddie?"

"She's a little girl I met today. Eight years old, having surgery to correct a heart murmur. I was talking with her and she said that no one had been to see her in five days. And it's just weird, you know? I mean, if my eight-year-old were awaiting heart surgery, I'd sure as hell be in that room with her as much as I could."

Olivia was still slightly confused. "I thought you had a question."

Casey groaned in exasperation. Normally, she was so good with her words. She blamed the medication. "Can you check up on her for me? Unofficially? Something isn't sitting right with me and I know I've told you a million times before that you can't just go off half-cocked based on an instinct, but--"

"No, it's fine." Olivia nestled the receiver between her ear and her shoulder and rifled through the paperwork on her desk for a scrap piece of paper. She came across a paper football, rolled her eyes while she unfolded it, and grabbed a pencil. "What's the girl's name?"

"Madelyn Donovan," Casey answered, the relief evident in her voice. "I don't know anything else about her, but how many eight-year-old Madelyn Donovans awaiting heart surgery can there be?"

Smirking, Olivia set the pencil aside. "I'll figure it out. Don't worry."

"Thanks so much." Casey let out a small sigh. "Liv, I have to go. Janice just came in and she's got my medicine ready."

"Okay. Sleep tight, hon."

"Thanks. You too, when you get a chance to conk out for a bit."

"Yeah, in the wee hours," Olivia replied, her tone bitter. "G'night." She waited until Casey hung up, then she set the receiver back down in its cradle and glanced up at Elliot, who was mischievously raising an eyebrow at her. "What?"

"Nothing," he answered, nonchalantly going back to his work. "How is she?"

"She's doing all right. They decreased her pain meds, but they're giving her something to help her sleep through the night." She exhaled softly and ran her fingers through her hair. "She wants us to check up on a little girl for her. Name's Madelyn Donovan, she's on the pediatric unit at Hudson Medical, says she's been alone, save for the nurses, for five days. Casey's a little concerned with why the parents aren't with her."

"Could she just be overreacting?" Elliot asked, taking the paper with Olivia's notes from her hand. "She certainly doesn't have much to go on."

Olivia shrugged. "It's possible that she's overreacting, but I also think it's something worth checking out in case she's not."

Elliot hesitated, trying to determine if Olivia really thought it was something worth checking out or if she just agreed to do it because Casey had wanted her to. He supposed in the end it didn't matter. She was his partner, and partners backed each other. "All right. We'll go in tomorrow, talk to the little girl, see what she says. See if there's something to this and then we'll figure out our move from there."

Olivia smiled her thanks and took another bite of her sandwich.

Fin, who had been listening in on Olivia and Elliot's conversation, eyed Olivia incredulously. "Damn, the girl's got you doing extra work? She's certainly got you wrapped around her little finger."

"She does not," Olivia insisted. "She really sounded concerned by this and she may be onto something."

Munch glanced from Olivia to Fin, who was still staring at her, completely unconvinced. "I have to agree with my partner. You're whipped, Benson," Munch said, giving her a barely noticeable smirk.

Olivia opened her mouth to argue further but stopped herself, realizing they were trying to get her aggravated. Instead, she smiled sweetly as she stood up from her chair, collecting the trash on her desk. "I'll make sure you two are the first to get the wedding invitations."

-----

Elliot slowed the squad car to a stop in front of a red light and glanced over at his partner. The two were on their way to Hudson Medical to question Madelyn Donovan as Casey had asked, though Elliot still wasn't convinced that it was at all necessary. "Do you really think there's reason to be concerned about Madelyn?" he asked, gently breaking the nervous silence in the car.

"I'm not sure," she answered, turning her head to look him in the eye, "but I suppose all that matters is that she is concerned, whether we think she has reason to be or not."

Elliot nodded and turned his attention back to the road just as the light changed to green. As he pressed his foot onto the gas pedal, Olivia's cell phone rang, startling her. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her pull her phone out of her pocket, frown at the caller ID, and flip it open. "Benson," she said, trying to keep the confusion out of her voice.

He kept one eye on the road and one eye on Olivia. Suddenly, the color drained from her face as she listened to whomever was on the other end of the line. "Thank you. We're on our way." She snapped the phone shut and brought her hand to her forehead. "Shit!"

"What is it?" he asked, both worried and confused.

"Casey's fever spiked four degrees overnight … it's up to a hundred and four and rising."

"What? Do they know why?"

"No. Cheryl had just paged the doctor before she called me." Olivia turned her head to look out the window, avoiding her partner's gaze. "Shit. I knew she was sicker than she was letting on. How the hell did her fever get that high?"

"Relax," Elliot said comfortingly. "Don't panic until we know what we've got, all right?"

Olivia took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then nodded as she exhaled. "Yeah, all right. Just get there."

Elliot got to the hospital in record time, so fast that he actually wondered how he didn't break any traffic laws in the process. Olivia jumped out of the car before he had even turned off the engine. "Whoa, Liv, wait up!" He quickly turned off the car and followed her, finally catching up to her at the front door of the hospital.

Hurriedly, Olivia headed to the elevators and pushed the call button. She tapped her foot impatiently while she waited for the elevator car to reach the lobby. Elliot just sighed softly and rested a comforting hand on his partner's shoulder. Olivia managed a small, grateful smile as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. The two of them stepped onto the elevator and Olivia pressed the button for Casey's floor. As the doors closed, Olivia leaned against the wall, her hands behind her back. "I'm scared, Elliot," she spoke up softly, regretting it almost as soon as it was out of her mouth.

"I know," he said quietly. He looked her over; she was staring down at her shoes, kicking her heel against the wall. Gently lifting her chin with his finger, he gave her a small, comforting smile. "I am, too."

Olivia smiled back and let out a small sigh. The rest of the trip was made in a nervous silence. As soon as the doors opened on the correct floor, Olivia got off the elevator and swiftly made her way down the hall to Casey's room with Elliot on her heels. When they got to Casey's room, Olivia went in first, gesturing for Elliot to stay back a little. He obliged her, staying in the doorway while she half-disappeared around the curtain. However, when he saw her tense up, he hurried into the room and stood at her side.

When he got there, he saw that Casey was asleep and tossing restlessly, turning her head from side to side and muttering incoherently under her breath. Cheryl was holding a cold compress to her forehead and whispering comfortingly that everything was going to be okay. After standing still for a moment, Olivia stepped forward, settled herself in the visitor's chair, and slipped her hand into Casey's, running her thumb over the back of Casey's hand. "Is she okay?" she whispered to Cheryl.

"The fever's making her delirious," Cheryl answered. "I just gave her a mild sedative to calm her down; it should be taking effect any moment now."

Elliot stepped forward as well, standing behind Olivia. He had only once seen a fever affect someone like that; Maureen had come down with a bad case of the flu when she was five. It scared him then and it was scaring him now. "Is she actually saying anything?"

"It's nonsense," Cheryl replied with a small shake of her head. "I did make out 'I don't want to' a couple of times, but for the most part, it's gibberish."

Olivia glanced back down worriedly at Casey, tightening her grip on the ADA's hand just as Casey started whimpering in her sleep. She pulled her hand out of Olivia's and rested it on the pillow next to her cheek. Olivia once again took her hand and began whispering soothingly in her ear, trying to calm her. After a moment, Casey quieted down; she stopped stirring and muttering, resting her head against the hand that was intertwined with Olivia's. "Looks like you've got the golden touch, Liv," Elliot whispered.

"I'm sure it had more to do with the medicine than with me," she answered quietly. She gave Casey's hand a light squeeze, then slipped her hand free and stood. "Cheryl, what happened?"

Cheryl stepped around the bed and led the two detectives away from Casey a little so as not to disturb her. "I've been watching her fever for a couple of days now because I thought it was unusual that it hadn't broken yet. When I left last night, it was a hundred even. Janice kept her eye on her for me, and when she checked it at four-thirty this morning, it was at a hundred and one, which was fine; her temperature's been fluctuating a degree or two since she's been here. When I got in this morning at seven, she was awake and complaining she was cold. I got her an extra blanket and checked her temperature; it had gone up to a hundred and two. I gave her some Tylenol to help bring the fever down. I checked on her again at nine, found her sweating and mumbling but she wasn't responding when I called her name. I paged the doctor 911 and then I called you."

"Was it a relapse?" Elliot asked, still confused.

Cheryl nodded. "You can just hear the fluid in her lungs when she inhales. Doctor Kohler switched her antibiotic and put her on Tylenol with codeine instead of the Demerol, which should help break the fever."

"But she's going to be okay, right?" Olivia asked, glancing over at Casey worriedly.

"She'll be fine," Cheryl assured her. "She just needs to take it easy for a few more days."

Olivia nodded, her concerned gaze never leaving Casey. "Thanks, Cheryl."

"No problem." Cheryl gave them both a comforting smile, touching Olivia's shoulder gently. "I have to go finish my rounds, but you two are more than welcome to stay with her."

"We actually have business to attend to upstairs," Elliot said, clearing his throat and nudging Olivia's shoulder in an attempt to get her to move, "but we'll be back down in a little while to sit with her." Cheryl gave a quick nod and left the two detectives on their own.

Once she was gone, Elliot nudged Olivia again. "C'mon, we have to go talk to Madelyn." Olivia hesitated a moment, clearly reluctant to leave Casey alone. "Liv, she's going to be out for a while, and we promised her we'd talk to this little girl. Which do you think she'd rather have us do, spend our time sitting here with her while she's sleeping or trying to get to the bottom of Madelyn's case?"

Sighing, Olivia realized that Elliot was indeed correct. She turned around on her heels and headed for the door. "Let's go."