Disclaimer: I do not own Law and Order: SVU. It belongs to a genius named Dick Wolf. No profit is being made from this story.

Olivia, John, and Fin, each coming from a different direction, reached the hospital entrance at the same time, and each one jumped in surprise when they all reached for the door handle simultaneously. Munch would have laughed had the situation been different-three veteran New York police officers not paying attention to their surroundings and bumping into each other. Right now, laughter was the last thing on his mind as he held the door for Olivia and Fin.

"Captain." The breathless voice of Olivia made Don look up, and he was surprised to see the other two with her. He had called Fin only ten minutes ago. Looking past them at the clock on the wall, Cragen grew worried. The doctors had been in there twenty minutes.

"How is he?" Munch's voice brought him back to focus.

He shook his head. "The doctor's are in there now," he said. "They're doing one more test-"

A loud yell came from inside the room, making them all jump and whip around toward the door. They all recognized it. Cragen shoved the door open and charged inside with the other three hot on his heels. The team of doctor's looked at them in surprise and anger. "Hey!" one of them shouted. "You can't just-"

Olivia's eyes zoomed to the other end of the room. Three orderlies and two doctors had Elliot against the wall and were attempting to lift his arms above his head. He was fighting them desperately, screaming as loud as he could. Fury spread through her body.

"What the fuck are you doing?" she screamed, running to them. "Let go of him!"

She shoved one of them away harshly. They dropped their hold and Elliot slid to the floor, shaking.

"We need to get circulation back into his arms in order to do any testing," one of the orderlies said to Cragen quickly. "They need to be elevated. We weren't trying to hurt him."

Olivia crouched down and reached out her hand to her partner's shoulder. "Elliot-" she began.

Elliot startled her by jerking away quickly, scooting up against the corner of the wall quickly. The fear on his face was evident. "Get away from me!" he cried in panic.

Stunned, Olivia backed away slowly, looking to the others in shock.

"What in God's name is going on in here?" The infuriated voice of Dr. Adams came from the doorway. In their panic, Cragen suddenly realized he hadn't seen the doctor in the room.

Fin rounded on the doctor furiously. "What the hell are you guys thinking, restraining him like that!" he snarled angrily.

Dr. Adams shot a dark look to the other medical staff in the room. "I apologize, Detectives," he said. "They weren't aware of what happened." He turned to face his colleagues. "This is my fault. I didn't think to precaution you."

He turned toward the corner of the room, where Elliot was huddled into a tight ball, looking terrified. Olivia was still attempting to coax him out. "Give me a few minutes to get him calmed down," the doctor said softly. "He's still a little delusional from the pain medication. I'll do the test quickly once he's more relaxed."

The other doctors and orderlies left the room, apologizing profusely to the detectives. "Come on, Olivia," Cragen said. "Let's leave them alone."

She shot him a look of disbelief and turned back to her partner again. Her throat closed, and she stood up on shaky legs, numbly allowing them to guide her from the room.

Dr. Adams shut the door quietly behind them and turned around. Elliot was looking at him like a cornered animal, his eyes wild. "It's just you and me now, Elliot," he said in a calming voice. He inched his way over to the wall, careful not to invade his space. "Nobody is going to hurt you." He bent slowly to crouch down, keeping his distance.

"It's Dr. Adams," he continued. "You know me. I promise I'm not going to hurt you." He reached his hand out toward him. Elliot looked at him. The look in his eyes changed from defensive to frightened as he slowly drew away from the wall.

Once outside of the room, Olivia broke away and dashed into the women's room. The three men exchanged worried looks as they sank into chairs near the corridor.

She bolted through the double doors and stumbled into a stall as she began to vomit. Sobs racked her body as she heaved, and she let them out in the privacy of the empty bathroom. She had never, ever seen such a look of fear on a person like that before.

"Why Elliot?" she sobbed aloud, in a rage. "Why, God? He doesn't deserve this! Let me take his place….please God, let me take his place!" She sank to the floor and rested her head against the door of the stall, letting the tears drip into her lap.

"What are we going to do?" The sound of Munch's broken voice broke the intense silence that had settled over the three men, and Cragen tore his gaze away from his lap to look at him. John's eyes were wet with tears. He tried to speak again, but couldn't. He just shook his head.

The captain's mouth was dry. He bit his lip. Olivia returned then, her face showing signs of scrubbing, and dropped silently next to Fin. No one spoke again.

A half-hour later, the doctor came out of Elliot's room and shut the door behind him. "I offer my sincerest apologies again, Detectives," he said, startling them with his presence. "My staff had no idea of his circumstances or else I assure you they would not have done that."

"It's alright, Doctor," Cragen said, standing. "We owe you an apology as well. We're all a little tense right now."

Dr. Adams held up his hands. "I completely understand," he said easily. Olivia was beginning to like this man. "Now, down to business." They all stood in a huddle, surrounding him.

"I gave him a heavy tranquilizer to calm him down and also for any pain he might feel during the testing," he said. "It's very heavily medicated, so he'll be knocked out for a good portion of the day." He shifted his position slightly and continued. "The good news is we were able to stimulate a portion of the nerves, so we won't need to amputate."

Olivia let out a huge breath, visibly sagging in relief. Munch and Fin exchanged relieved looks. But the captain was still looking at the doctor warily. "What's the bad news?" he asked hesitantly.

The doctor sighed and shook his head. "Stimulation of the nerves is an involuntary reaction," he said. "The damage to his limbs has inhibited the connection to the cerebral cortex portion of his brain, which gives him the ability to move and react, and caused a break."

He saw the looks of confusion on their faces and hastened to explain. "Each of us has a command center in our brain that automatically makes our bodies move without us having to stimulate it. In Elliot's case, the command center has been disconnected. He has control over his legs and upper torso, but the upper body and arm region can't respond to his brain's commands to move."

They were silent for a long time. Munch was the first to find his voice. "How long will it last?"

"To be honest…." The doctor sighed again. "It could clear up in a day, or it could last for the rest of his life. All we can do is monitor and endure physical therapy until we see a change."

Cragen felt like the room was spinning. This wasn't happening. He was having a horrible dream. This couldn't be happening to one of his detectives, and certainly not to Elliot Stabler.

Dr. Adams cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I realize this is quite upsetting," he said, uneasily. "But I feel I must inform you that there is another aspect of this that you are going to need to prepare yourselves to face."

Munch felt like puking. Another aspect? Elliot had been kidnapped, tortured, and potentially handicapped for life. There couldn't be anything worse than this…

Fin was having trouble filling his lungs with air. The thought of Elliot being paralyzed in his arms was so frightening that he couldn't even seem to process it. This can't be happening, he thought in panic. Not to us. Not to him…

Olivia's face had turned deadly white. She wanted to beat the living shit out of something. Anything. The intense anguish she felt was eating her alive and she just wanted to be with her best friend.

The doctor gestured to the chairs. "Why don't we have a seat," he suggested.

They moved stiffly and dropped into chairs.

"I'm as concerned about his mental well-being as I am about the physical," he said. He looked directly at Cragen when he spoke, sensing that this man would be the one to have the most control. "How long was he held captive?"

Cragen scrunched his face up in thought. "We found the kidnapper's note….last Tuesday. Assuming that was the day he was taken, I'd say at least a week from then until we found him."

Dr. Adams nodded. "A person can have their entire psyche flipped around after three days if the influence is strong enough. Elliot was restrained and systematically tortured, mentally and physically, for at least seven days. Judging from the reactions we've gotten so far, his kidnapper must have used intense fear-inducing tactics to manipulate him."

Olivia's mind flew back to the day that the squad had received the cassette tape from the kidnapper. The sound of Elliot's terrified screams still hadn't evaporated from her memory, tormenting her at night.

"His kidnapper called himself "The Butcher"," Munch murmured. "Fear was probably his main objective."

"We're going to keep him here for at least one more day to monitor his recovery from the surgeries," Adams said. "But his emotional state could take much longer to recover. Now, I'm assuming from what I've seen that you four are close to him." He left the statement open.

Cragen nodded. "We might as well be blood," he said simply.

"He is going to need constant support for a long time. This kind of trauma can take years to bounce back from," Adams said. "We have an excellent psychology department here in the hospital. I can certainly refer you if you'd like some names."

The four of them looked at each other, trying to hold a conversation with their eyes.

"Can we have a minute, Doc?" Munch asked.

"Oh, of course," Dr. Adams said. "My shift ends in about five minutes. Take the rest of the day to consider the options. I will talk with you again tomorrow."

They all shook hands with him again and he disappeared down the hall.

Cragen sighed heavily as he sat down. "I can't do this, you guys," he said tiredly. He sighed and scrubbed at his eyes. "I can't just turn him over to some shrink." He bit his lip and looked at the other three, his eyes glassy. "You didn't see him last night…" His voice broke at the end and he cleared his throat.

"Captain." Olivia took a deep breath. "I want him to stay with me at my apartment. I need to be with him….please. I want to be with him."

Her statement didn't surprise him. Olivia and Elliot had been partners longer than any other detectives in SVU, and their relationship was envied. Some partners work together for years and never truly bond, but those two had clicked from the beginning. Their love for each other was something truly beautiful to witness simply because it wasn't obvious.

It was sharing a sandwich at lunchtime. It was automatically reaching across the desk to grab the other's empty coffee mug every time one went to get coffee. It was private jokes that made them crack up at random times when everyone around was working. It was putting one's career on the line to protect the reputation of the other. It was a stranger saying, "You two would make a perfect couple" and both of them almost gagging at the thought because it seemed like committing incest.

The ironic part was that Olivia and Elliot were renowned for having some of the worst knock-down-drag-out fights between them…..but if someone else attacked one of them verbally, the other would jump in like a mother lion defending a cub. No one messed with Olivia when Elliot was around, and no one messed with Elliot when Olivia was around.

Still, Cragen wasn't sure if they were ready for this. The past week had wreaked havoc on everyone, emotionally and physically- more than they had ever experienced before. This would be a life-changing adjustment for all of them, regardless of how it turned out in the end, and he knew that they had to seriously weigh the options before committing to a decision. The future of the Special Victims Unit was now in their hands.