Chapter 2
Roosevelt Memorial Hospital
Waiting Room
November 12, 2005
1:00 AM
He sat in the waiting room, waiting for her doctor to come out and tell him… Cragen was there, sitting next to him. They couldn't get a hold of Munch, or Fin. The two men both held untouched cups of cold coffee in their hands. Cragen tapped the side of his cup, watching the ripples form, and then die away. A man covered in bloody surgical scrubs walked over, glanced around, and then spoke.
"Gentlemen?"
Elliot and Cragen both sprang up.
"I'm Dr. Michaels, Detective Benson's surgeon. You must be Detective Stabler, and Captain Cragen."
They nodded.
"Is she ok? Is she…" Elliot couldn't say the word, as if saying it would make it true.
"She made it through surgery, with some complications. One bullet grazed her arm, nothing a couple of stitches didn't fix. However, the other bullet punctured her right lung, and caused massive internal bleeding and hemorrhaging. We were able to patch most of it up but…." Dr Michaels trailed off, unsure of how to continue.
"But…what?" Elliot asked
"Her heart is beating erratically, fast one second, slowing down the next. It's not good, her heart will eventually get too tired to keep working. Her breathing is also unsteady. She's also in a coma, which she could very well come out of, but the next 24 hours are crucial." he finished.
Elliot looked down at the floor, and then back up at the doctor.
"Can I see her?" he asked.
"Yes, room 222. Down the hall to your right."
Elliot started off, and Cragen and Dr. Michaels followed a couple minutes later.
November 12, 2005
2:00 AM
Roosevelt Memorial Hospital
Hallway
Captain Cragen and Dr. Michaels stood outside Olivia's hospital door, watching as Elliot sat by her bed.
"Does she have any family?" the doctor asked.
"No," the captain replied, "He's the only thing she's got." He watched his two best detectives, one lying ghostly pale on the bed, the other right next to her.
November 12, 2005
2:00 AM
Roosevelt Memorial Hospital
Room 222
As he entered her room, he drew a sharp intake of breath. She was lying there on the bed, ghostly pale, her eyes closed. The unsteady beeping of the heart monitor was unsettling. Erratic beating, the doctor said, very bad for her heart. He crossed the room, sat in the chair by her bedside, and put his head in his hands. As the events of the evening passed through his mind, he reached for her hand. It was cold and lifeless. Suddenly the heart monitor changed, taking up a different pace….
November 12, 2005
2:00 AM
Roosevelt Memorial Hospital
Room 222
The beating slowed, taking up a more steady pace. Her breathing slowed too, becoming less raspy, more regulated. The doctor, waiting outside with Cragen, starred wide-eyed through the glass wall at the machines.
"That's impossible. The minute he touched her, everything is normal again." he said, disbelievingly. "Impossible. There's no way she could consciously know he's there. She's in coma."
Cragen couldn't help but grin, "They're two of my best detectives, and they have an amazing connection with one another. They finish each other's sentences, it's almost like they can read each other's minds. They can have conversations without words."
"But there's no possible way, consciously, that she could know-"
"Their connection has always been subconscious, spiritual even."
The doctor stared in disbelief, then went inside the room to examine his patient.
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