Chapter Twenty
Inside, Elliot was freaked out. Olivia just told him that something hurts. That could not be good. He knew it was bad. He just did not know how bad it was. Although he was beyond scared, he forced himself to remain calm for Olivia's sake. "What kind of pain?" he asked her as he took her hand.
Before Olivia had a chance to answer, about ten cars honked at them. The light was now green. In New York City, that meant everyone behind the first car has to honk. Elliot groaned as he pulled onto the side street. Luckily for him, the car who hit them followed.
The driver walked out and walked over towards Elliot. Elliot groaned slightly as he unrolled the window. He extended his hand over to Olivia, and she clutched it tightly. From the way she was grabbing it, Elliot could tell she was in pain.
He stopped. He had his hand squeezed like that before. Three times before. "It's seven weeks early," he muttered. He had not intended to say that out loud, but he did. He quickly turned to Olivia to see her response. He could only hope that he did not seriously frighten her.
Olivia groaned as she kept holding her stomach. "It can't be," she argued. "We're not ready. I'm not ready. We don't have things yet. We don't have a changing table. We didn't assemble the crib yet. We didn't--"
"Shh," Elliot soothed her. He rubbed his thumb along her hand. "We're going to be fine." He turned around and focused on the driver. "Listen, I'm a police officer," he said. "We don't have to make this official. Just give me your insurance information and agree to pay for all the damages," he said.
The guy nodded as he started writing his information on the back of a grocery receipt. "I'm really sorry about this," he said as he handed the receipt to Elliot.
"Yeah," Elliot said as he took a look at the receipt. It had the man's name, his phone number, and the name of his insurance company. Elliot decided that was all the information he needed. He then frowned and dialed the number just to make sure he was not given a fake one. The man's cell phone rang. Elliot nodded and hung up.
"Elliot!" Olivia called in a pained voice. Her eyes were still filled with panic. She gestured at the road. "Pain not getting any less here," she pointed out.
Elliot nodded. "Right," he said. "Don't worry," he assured her. "We'll get you to a hospital."
The driver's eyes widened. "H-hospital?" he asked. "Is this because of me?"
"Just go," Elliot commanded him. "I have to get my pregnant wife to the hospital now. I'll call you later," he said as he started rolling up the window. He turned back to Olivia as he placed the receipt in his pocket. "It's going to be ok, Liv," he assured her. He took the car out of park and put it into drive. His right hand remained dropped down by the seat. Olivia was grabbing it and practically cutting off all circulation to it. He tried to ignore that pain as he steered the car with his left hand.
"We're all going to be ok?" Olivia asked fearfully. She wanted to trust Elliot. She should be able to trust Elliot. He had done the labor thing three times before. He had probably heard of every pain in the book. He knew what to expect. But this was scaring her. Seven weeks. Of Elliot's children, Kathleen was born earliest, but she was only one month early. This baby was closer to two.
Elliot nodded absent-mindedly. He honestly did not know what to tell her. "Hospital's ten minutes away," he stated. "How's the pain?"
Olivia winched. "Strong," she answered in a pained tone. "Hurry," she begged.
Elliot nodded again as he pressed his foot harder on the gas petal. "Just hang in there, Liv."
Eight minutes later, Elliot had parked the car. He quickly got out and rushed over to Olivia's side. He opened her door and picked her up in his arms. He kicked her door shut and locked the doors. "It's ok," he said. "We're here now. It's ok," he said soothingly as he carried her into the hospital. Once they were in the ER waiting room, he gently placed her down in one of the chairs. He pressed a kiss on her forehead and walked over to the triage desk. The nurse sitting there looked up at him.
"Hi," Elliot started. "My wife and I got rear-ended. I'm fine, but she's thirty-three weeks pregnant and complaining of pain," he explained. "Judging by how tightly she's grabbing my hand, it feels like more than Braxton Hicks."
The nurse nodded. It was not hard for him to pick out which one was Olivia. But he had to be sure. "She is the one in the wedding dress, right?" he asked.
"Yes. Her name's Olivia Benson," Elliot said. "This is a nice honeymoon place, isn't it?" he asked.
The nurse chuckled slightly. "Well, seeing as it's your wedding night, and there are no incoming or ongoing traumas, I'll get a doctor to see you two right away." With that, he disappeared.
Elliot smiled and thanked him. He then walked back over towards Olivia. "Hey, sweetie," he said as he sat down next to her. He took a napkin out of his pocket and wiped the little bits of sweat off of her forehead. "Don't worry," he said. "They're going to see us right away."
Olivia's eyes widened in horror. "Right away?" she repeated. "It's that bad!"
Elliot mentally scolded and slapped himself. "No," he said. "But there are no traumas, and it's our wedding night."
Two doctors emerged from the ER doors. An older man and a younger woman. The woman had a chart in her hands. "Olivia Benson?" she called.
Elliot stood up first and extended his hand down to Olivia. "Can you walk?" he asked her. "Or do you want me to carry you?"
Olivia was about to tell him that she could walk when pain overcame her again. Her knees buckled, but luckily Elliot caught her. She hated this. She hated feeling so helpless. Mostly, she hated not knowing what was happening to her baby.
"I've got you," Elliot said as he hoisted her up into his arms. He then followed the two doctors back to the examination room. Luckily for them, they were the only patients in it. Elliot kissed Olivia's forehead. "These doctors are good," he assured her. "We're going to be ok."
The examination did not take that long. The doctor was on her way back. Olivia was beyond scared. No one was telling her things. They were just asking her things and writing it down on a clipboard. Worse, she had not felt the baby move since the accident. "Elliot, are you sure we're going to be ok?" she asked. "I don't feel any movement."
"Liv, this baby's a pretty good baby. It's late. The baby normally isn't moving at this time," he said in his best attempt at a calm voice. Despite his feelings, he had to remain calm for Olivia's sake.
The doctor entered the room. Olivia quickly clutched Elliot's hand. "Well, what is it?" she asked fearfully.
"The baby's fine," the doctor said first. She knew how hard it had to be to wait for that news. "Heartbeat's strong."
"So, what was that?" Olivia asked. They had given her something to stop the pain, but they still had not explained it to her. Judging from how they were acting, she could tell that she was not about to give birth. She would not be giving birth that day.
"False labor," the doctor explained. "Like I said, the baby will be fine, but you have got t take it easy," she told Olivia.
Olivia nodded. "Ok," she said. "You mean like total desk duty?"
The doctor shook her head. "No," she said. "Total bedrest."
((Author's Note yet again: I'm done with Drama for a while (we were awesome). However, there are lots more academic-related things that (although they are more boring), they have a higher priority. SATs are this Saturday, and I have AP exams at the beginning of May. Like I said before, I do have everything exactly planned out; it's just a matter of time. Time that unfortunately will be lacking until May 5- the AP History exam. God, I hate that class with a vengeance. So I'll try to have the next chapter up as soon as I can, but don't kill me if "as soon as I can" translates into a couple weeks. I love you all.))