Olivia wasn't mentally prepared for what she found when she walked into Casey's hospital room. She knew that Casey was upset, but she never expected to find the ADA curled up on her side in tears. When she had gotten off the phone with her just barely forty-five minutes before, Casey had indeed been upset, but she hadn't sounded close to hysterics. "Casey?"

Casey flinched and tried to stop crying. She only succeeded in making her breath catch in her throat, causing a coughing fit. Cringing as her chest muscles tensed, she wiped her eyes only to have more tears take their place. "Go home, Olivia," she managed to sputter between heavy breaths.

"No way in hell." Olivia rushed to Casey's side and wrapped her arm around the ADA's shoulders, forcing her to sit up. "Come on, sit up. You're going to start wheezing again." Casey did as she was instructed, taking slow, deliberate breaths. Olivia gently brushed Casey's hair out of her face and waited quietly until Casey calmed down enough to be able to talk. "What's the matter?"

Casey shook her head, wriggling out of Olivia's grasp. Her cheeks were flushed, but Olivia couldn't tell if she was embarrassed or if they were red from crying. She pulled Casey closer and dried her cheeks with a couple swipes of her thumb. "Casey, I've never seen you like this. Something had to have happened."

Casey looked over at Olivia, her green eyes searching Olivia's brown ones. "They rushed her into surgery twenty minutes ago."

"What?" Olivia asked, confused. "Why? What happened?"

Casey just shrugged. "I-I don't know. Janice just came in and told me, but she can't tell me the hows or the whys. If she even knows. I don't even know if she knows."

"Did she seem worried?"

"Liv, eight-year-olds aren't rushed into surgery without it being something to be concerned about." She gave a bitter chuckle and sniffled back her tears. "She was just down here. What the hell could have happened?"

"Did she seem all right when she was with you?"

Casey stopped to think, running a shaking hand through her hair. "Yeah. I mean, she was scared about the surgery, but she was fine. She was teaching me a song about lazy pirates."

"Lazy pirates?" Olivia asked, confused.

The ADA nodded. "It's in some cartoon she watches or something. There's a cucumber, I guess, and he sings silly songs, and one of the songs is about the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything."

Olivia raised an eyebrow. "A singing cucumber?"

"Hey, I don't make the show; I just sort of know the song." Casey sighed, pulling out of Olivia's grasp and settling back in bed. She wiped her eyes and swallowed the rest of her tears. "Jesus, I must look awful."

"You look beautiful," Olivia replied softly.

"I'm sure I don't look beautiful," Casey argued. "I'm sick, I've been crying, I haven't washed my own hair in six days, and while Cheryl does a good job, it--" She stopped, suddenly realizing what Olivia had said. "Wait, what?"

"I said you look beautiful," Olivia repeated. She could hardly believe what was coming out of her mouth, and she wasn't sure if she meant it or if she was just saying it to make Casey feel better. "For someone who's sick and has been crying and hasn't washed her own hair in six days ... you look good."

Casey raised an eyebrow and gave Olivia her patented bemused stare. "What are we doing right now?"

"What, I can't pay my friend a compliment?"

"Well, there's paying a friend a compliment and then there's ..." Casey sighed, shaking her head. "Never mind." She fidgeted, suddenly uncomfortable under Olivia's concerned gaze. "I wonder when we're going to hear something about Maddie."

"Not for a while, probably," Olivia answered, as relieved with the subject change as Casey seemed to be. She had no idea why she had said what she did and she wasn't quite sure what she had meant by it. "Were they able to get a hold of Kim, do you know?"

"I don't know," Casey said with a small shrug.

"You know, if they don't, that kind of lets you off the hook a little," the detective said, frowning in thought. "As Maddie's guardian, Kim needs to sign releases, and if they can't find her, the hospital will appoint a guardian for her and then turn the case over to ACS."

"Great," Casey replied sadly. "So my only hope of not being found out as a rat is that her mother deserts her."

Olivia opened her mouth to argue that the situation was not at all Casey's fault, but the pained look on the ADA's face made her rethink her intentions. Casey didn't need reassurance at the moment; she needed some sympathy. "Proverbial rock and a hard place, huh?"

"Yeah, just a little." Casey shook her head, closing her eyes for a quick moment. "Ugh, this is ridiculous. I don't even really know her! Why do I care so much?"

Olivia sighed quietly and gently took Casey's hand in hers. "You care because you're a good person. Why do you think you care so much?"

Gazing down at her hands, anything to keep her eyes from Olivia's, Casey shrugged. "Because she's a sweet little kid who doesn't deserve to be in the situation she's in. She deserves what every child deserves: someone who truly loves her and can be there for her. And she doesn't have it, and that bothers me." At Olivia's knowing smile, Casey frowned. "But the fact that she deserves parental love isn't unique. I don't understand why I connected so much with her. Why did I let myself get involved?"

Olivia tightened her grip on Casey's hand comfortingly. "Honey, listen. You connected with her for a reason. And I gotta tell you, when I mentioned your name when I interviewed her, her eyes positively lit up, so this isn't one-sided. Maybe the two of you can just sense something in the other that you're both looking for."

"Yeah, maybe," Casey mumbled thoughtfully. "I just … wish I could do something that would make everything better for her, you know? I wish I could take all her pain from her so she doesn't have to feel any of it."

"I know exactly what you mean," the detective replied, pushing a wayward lock of Casey's hair out of her eyes.

Casey blushed at the gesture and finally looked up at Olivia, smiling slightly. "You know, I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for me this week."

"When you get out of here, buy me a hot dog and we'll call it even," Olivia replied, smiling back.

Casey chuckled. "Okay, deal." The ADA let out a heavy sigh and leaned her head back against the pillows. "Listen, you don't have to stay with me. I'm not going to be very good company--"

"That doesn't matter to me, Casey, you know that."

"No, I know. But look, you've been in this hospital almost as much as I have and you're exhausted. Go home, get some sleep. There's no need for you to be here, too. I'm fine, and as soon as I hear something about Maddie, I'll be even better."

"Are you kicking me out?" Olivia asked with a teasing pout.

"Yes, I am," she replied, biting back a giggle. "But seriously, Olivia, I'm okay. I promise, all right? If I need you, I'll give you a call."

Olivia gave the ADA a comforting half-smile and ran her finger down Casey's cheek gently. "All right, hon. Take care of yourself."

"I will. You, too."

Olivia headed for the door and looked over her shoulder only once. As hard as it was for her to leave, she knew that Casey was right; it would do no good for her to sit in the hospital and tell Casey that everything would be all right, especially if she had no idea if that was even true. She just had to hope, for Casey's sake, that it was.