Okay guys, sorry its been so long since I've last posted, but I've had a serious case of writers block. But now the ideas are flowing, so I should be posting sooner.

Thanks for the reviews, you guys rock.

"You know Olivia, you should try coming by when someone hasn't been shot or attacked."

"That bad huh?"

"We'll see in a minute." She delicately pulled off each layer of gauze encompassing Olivia's left shoulder to reveal a small circular hole exposing tender muscle surrounded in black and blue bruised flesh. She cleaned it out and let Olivia get her first look at it.

"Ah! What the hell!"

"She got you pretty good."

"I'd say she got me better than pretty good…How bad is it really Dr. Hanson?"

The use of her surname did not go unnoticed by the doctor. But, she went on like nothing had happened. "I haven't seen anything like this in a while. Not since Al-"She cute herself off and began redressing her patients wound.

"Since Alex." Olivia finished. "Look doctor its okay. It's been almost two years, I've accepted her death."

Dr. Hanson just nodded and busied herself with redressing Olivia's wound. She remained silent until Olivia's shoulder was completely bandaged again. "Okay, looks good."

Olivia shifted her position. "Wish it felt good."

"It will, given time. That's the good thing about this type of gunshot wound. It went straight through without hitting anything major. Clean shots tend to heal faster."

Olivia swallowed hard. "Was Alex's a clean shot?"

"Yes." Dr. Hanson made sure to look Olivia straight in the eyes to make sure that the detective knew she was telling the truth.

Olivia nodded and looked out the door window, willing Mackenzie to come back. She didn't want to spend anymore time alone with this particular doctor than absolutely necessary. But at the same time, she wished that Mackenzie would stay away. One of the reasons the teen was in therapy was because of her first meeting with the 'good' doctor.

"So um, I'll write you a few prescriptions for pain meds and some antibiotics and then get you a sling and some info on treating gunshot wounds and-"

Olivia cut her off. "This isn't the first time I've been shot. I know how to treat gunshot wounds."

"O-kay." Dr. Hanson shook her head. She used to be friends with this detective. She made one mistake and it was all down the drain. "But it's still procedure and I'm required to give it to you."

"Procedure? Is it procedure to have four men hold down a rape victim?"

"Look detective, that was a mistake. It was late and I was in the middle of my second twelve-hour shift after being up all night with a three-month old. I was tired and overworked and I hadn't eaten since that morning. I was running on empty."

"And that's an excuse for screwing up a sixteen-year old's life?" Olivia raised her voice.

"Her life was screwed up before she was put into my care." Both women's voices were now above normal talking level.

"So that made it okay? She was already screwed up, so nothing you could possibly do could make her worse? Stop trying to justify what you did." Olivia couldn't believe it. This woman was trying to justify her treatment of Mackenzie. "Mackenzie hardly trusts anyone now, let alone men. The majority of her therapy sessions that isn't spent discussing the six weeks she spent in that warehouse are spent discussing her first meeting with you."

That hit the doctor hard. The truth was that she was overwhelmed. Overwhelmed, overworked and underpaid. She hadn't wanted another patient. Having eighteen patients in a hospital whose max was twelve patients per doctor, she had just wanted to make her job a little easier. She hadn't meant to harm Mackenzie, she just wanted to make her be quiet. She hadn't even stopped to think about what she was doing and then long term effects of her actions.

She took her gloves off and sat down in one of the chairs next to Olivia's bed. "Listen Olivia, I'm sorry for what I did. You're right, there was no excuse for it and I shouldn't try to justify it. I wish it hadn't happened, but it did and for that I'm truly sorry. I was to treating adults and then they scheduled me in the Pediatric ICU and gave me a sixteen-year old rape victim. I had no idea how to deal with an adult rape victim, never mind a kid. I had no idea what to do, I was way over my head."

'Sounds like another excuse.' Olivia thought. "No one can handle the kids the first time, but most people have the common sense not to surround a rape victim-no, any victim with the thing she's most afraid of. You wouldn't put a child who'd been bitten by a dog in a room full of dogs. You wouldn't put someone who is severely claustrophobic in an elevator. So why the hell did you have four men holding down a girl who had been raped by two men?-A girl who was afraid of men?"

Dr. Hanson stood up and crossed to the other side of the room. She shrugged and opened the door. "I don't know."

"You'll be lucky if I don't report you to the medical review board." The door closed and that was the last Olivia saw of Dr. Janet Hanson. Not that she minded, but she did want an answer to her question. Five minutes after Dr. Hanson left, another doctor came in.

"Hello Detective Benson, I'm Dr. Neal. I'm going to be your physician for the remainder of your stay here."

"And how long will that be?" Olivia asked.

Dr. Neal picked up Olivia's chart and flipped through it. "Well, your previous doctor thinks that because of the amount of blood you lost, we should keep you on a blood drip for another day or so. She also seems to think that you're at risk for infection and has recommended that we keep you here on IV antibiotics for at least forty-eight hours."

"No." Olivia began. "I need to be out sooner than that. I only have ten days left with my daughter and I'm not spending even one more of those days here."

Dr. Neal flipped the papers back and closed the chart. She didn't know what was going on with her patient, but she seemed determined not to stay here any longer. "You do understand that you'd be doing this against medical advice?"

"Yes."

She knew from experience that a determined cop was not someone to argue with. "Okay, I'll just write you a few prescriptions, get you a sling and a packet on GSR's and I'll be right back." She left without another word.

Dr. Hanson was in big trouble. If she wouldn't answer Olivia's question voluntarily, maybe criminal; charges would help.

"Hey Detective." Casey greeted from the doorway.

"Casey, hi. I didn't hear you come in."

"Yeah, you were looking a little spacey for a minute there." She sat down by Olivia's feet. "How are you feeling? And none of that 'I'm fine' tough cop routine. How are you really?"

Olivia shifted herself up. "I'm fine." Casey didn't look like she believed her. "Or I will be. You know, when Alex died I never even thought about the amount of pain she was in. I only focused on the fact that she was gone and I was all alone. But now that I've been shot and have the same type of gunshot would that killer her and in basically the same spot, except on the other side of my body, I'm starting to realize a little of what she went through."

Casey handed her a tissue and gave her a minute. "Wait, if you both had the same type of wound, then why did she die when you're going to be perfectly fine in a few months?"

Ever the quick-thinking detective, Olivia wiped her eyes as an excuse to give herself some time to think up a story. "She just lost too much blood. I tried to stop the bleeding, but I failed. By the time the ambulance came and she was brought to the hospital, it was too late. Her body was too weak before she was shot that she just didn't have it in her to fight."

Casey noticed her mistake right away. Olivia was too vulnerable right now and she never should have asked her anything about Alex. She knew first hand that pain meds are a bitch. One is not him/herself while on the heavy duty pain meds like the ones Olivia was put on.

Olivia composed herself and took a deep, calming breath and then it hit her. Casey was supposed to be with Mackenzie. If she was here, where was Mackenzie? "Where's Mackenzie? She left here to go find you."

"She did find me. She and Serena are just slow eaters…" She jumped before she could finish.

"You okay?" Olivia asked.

"It's my cell, it's on vibrate."

Olivia laughed. "I'll bet."

Casey playfully hit Olivia's knee and opened her phone. "It's Serena."

Olivia smiled and Casey hit her again. "Hey sweetie, what's up?...Yeah, sure…Okay, I'll tell her…You too…Bye." She shut her phone and looked at Olivia, whose smile never left her face. "What?"

"Nothing, I think it's cute."

Casey blushed. "She told me to tell you that Mackenzie was falling asleep, so she's taking her back to the apartment."

"The apartment?" Olivia questioned. "Are you two living together now?"

"Not…technically."

Olivia shook her head. "Gotta love technicalities. Alex and I were never 'technically' living together."

"Yeah, court is the only place where technicalities really matter…Well, I should go. Serena said that Elliot was on his was up, so I'll see if I can catch her before she leaves since you'll have someone here with you." She stood up and walked over to the door. "Get some rest."

"I'll try…And Casey."

Casey popped her head back in the room. "Yeah?"

"Treasure the time you have with her. You never know when someone's going to come along and cut forever short. Make sure she knows how you feel before its too late."

Casey nodded. "I will."

Olivia didn't even have two minutes to herself when there was a knock at the door. She loved how everyone was concerned, but truth be told, all she really wanted was some alone time. "Hey Liv, I brought you a coffee."

"Elliot, you are a God send." She took a long sip from the steaming cup. "You know, this kind of puts everything into perspective."

Elliot sat down. "What, the coffee?" Olivia shook her head, Elliot knew what she meant. "Getting shot can do that."

"It's not just getting shot, that is a big part of it, but it's this hospital too…I guess it's just making me think."

"About?"

She let out a long breath. "About life."

"What about it?"

"How much it sucks." Both she and Elliot laughed. "I'm thinking of taking Mackenzie out of the city for a few days, maybe for the rest of her time here."

"Where will you go?"

"The Cabot's have a few beach houses. One up in Maine, one in Massachusetts and one in the Hamptons. Elizabeth has no plans to use any of them anytime soon, so she said we could. Might be nice to get away and get some new perspective."

"I think just being here has done enough of that for you." He gave his partner a serious look. "What's really bothering you?"

Saved by the doctor. Just as Olivia was about to give him some bogus answer, Dr. Neal walked in with four scripts, a sling and a packet about the size of a law book.

"Am I going to have to read that?" Olivia asked.

"I'm supposed to recommend that you do…Just don't tell me if you don't."

Olivia nodded. "Fair enough. What's all that stuff?"

The doctor handed Olivia the scripts. "These are your prescriptions. Two are for antibiotics, one is for antibiotic ointment and the other if for pain meds."

Olivia looked at the scripts and whistled. "Pretty heavy stuff."

"Hey, my sister is a cop. Only the best for the girls in blue." She put the packet down. "Okay Detective, as soon as you get changed, I'll fit the sling and then I'll sign your release papers."

With Elliot's help, and a bag full of clothes Casey had brought over, Olivia was changed out of her hospital gown and into jeans and a t-shirt. "You know, she's lucky that the bullet missed my dress. I'm a cop, blood I can get out. But a bullet hole is pretty noticeable."

"Yeah, leave it to you to worry about a dress when you've got a whole in your shoulder."

-2 Hours Later-

True to her word, as soon as Olivia was changed, Dr. Neal helped her into a sling and then signed her release papers. She recommended that Olivia wear the sling for at least a month, but with Olivia's job, she settled for the detective wearing it as much as possible while her shoulder continued to bother her. While her wound continued to heal, the sling would allow her to rest her shoulder by not having to hold her arm up."

After getting her prescriptions filled, Elliot drove Olivia straight to her apartment and tucked her into bed.

"Now," Elliot handed Olivia two pills and a glass of water. "Take these now and then take these," He put five more pills down by the three pill bottles sitting next to her alarm clock on her night stand. "In five to six hours or if you wake-up later, take them as soon as you wake-up. You're going to have to change the dressing twice a day." He put the ointment, a stack of wrapped sterile gauze, a roll of medical tape and a small pair of scissors next to Olivia's growing collection of medical supplies. "You should avoid taking a shower and getting the wound wet for thirty-six hours and be sure to keep the sling on while you're up, which shouldn't be long. The doctor still wants you to rest for a while so that your body can repair and build up your blood count."

Olivia took the pills and then set her glass down. "El I was there. I was listening to the doctor too."

"Listening and hearing are two different things. I'm just making sure that you're planning on following her directions."

"Geeze, I'm not sure whose worse-you, Alex or Mackenzie."

Elliot laughed. "Well I've known you longer than both of them...combined."