Chapter Three

Elliot hated waiting. He always had. He was not supposed to wait around all day. He was supposed to be out on the streets hunting down perps. Hunting down Gitano. He could not. He could not leave Olivia.

Cragen had realized how Elliot felt. He ordered him to stay at the hospital with Olivia. He knew that Elliot would not be able to concentrate until he knew what would be happening with Olivia. He wished Olivia well and really hoped that she would pull through. She was one of his best detectives. He did not know what the unit would do without her. She was important to everyone, Elliot especially. She had to make it.

Elliot saw the surgeons pulling away. He looked down at his watch. They had been in there for at least three hours. He did not know if their pulling away was a good thing or not. He had to be certain. One of the nurses was coming towards him.

"What's it?" he asked. He braced himself for the worst.

"She's fine," the nurse said. "I mean, she will be. The knife scraped against her vocal cords, so it's going to be hard for her to talk for the next couple days. Try to discourage her from talking as much as you can."

Elliot no longer focused on her voice. Olivia was being wheeled out of surgery. Her eyelids were still closed. She was hooked up to an IV machine. She had a thin breathing tube resting in her nose to give her pure oxygen. Supposedly it would help her. The sight of it all just scared Elliot. Olivia was not supposed to be weak. He hated it. He followed the doctors back to her room.

"You did great, Liv," he whispered to her. The doctors settled her down in a private recovery room. They plugged the IV into the wall. They switched her breathing tube from the portable to one that was also connected to the wall. Elliot sat down at a chair right by her side. "I love you," he whispered.

Olivia did not hear him. The doctors said she could be out for the rest of the night. Elliot did not care. He would stay with her for as long as it took. He did love her.

He did not know if he should tell her. On the one hand, he thought she felt the same. He hoped she felt the same way. But what could that do to their partnership? He went back to her. Looking back, he had a good reason to. If he was not there, Olivia could have died.

Still. He chose Olivia over the job. Ryan died as a result of it. If he told Olivia he loved her, would he be able to work with her without getting emotions mixed into it? Would their partnership that was infamous to the Bronx and Brooklyn SVU be able to survive once they started dating? If they dated and had a fight, would that also be the end of their being work partners?

But it was Olivia. She was everything he had wanted since she had started working in SVU. He always wanted to take the leap of faith and hope that it would work out between them. Since he was divorced from Kathy, he could do it. It would make him the happiest man on the planet.

What would Cragen say? Would he split them up if he found out that they were dating?

He saw Olivia starting to stir. At first, she was just moving her arm closer towards her. Then she rolled over. He grabbed her other hand. As her eyes opened, he tightened his grip on her. He had to tell her. He would not be able to forgive himself if he did not.

"Hey, Liv," he whispered as he saw her look at him. "Listen, don't try to talk," he said gently. "It's only going to hurt. I don't want to see you in more pain." He moved over and pulled her into a comforting hug. "It's ok now, Liv," he whispered soothingly. "It's all ok now."

He kissed her hand lightly. First, he would tell her what had happened back with Gitano. Then he would tell her that he loved her.