A/N- This premise came on August 3rd, 2021, from Madds and Monty Jane, "Olivia was shot that day and she's been in a coma ever since and Elliot quit the force and became a member of the FDNY but what about Noah?"
Noah is the real Eli, visiting with his dad Elliot, came my reply.
The Coma.
"See, buddy, this is Olivia. She's sleeping now" he held almost two year-old Eli
"Mama"
"No, mommy is home" Elliot sighed wearily, "She's always home"
As Eli grew, the blonde curls darkened until they were the same shade as Elliot, but there was no hiding those blue Stabler eyes.
"No" Elliot scolded as three year old Eli grabbed for the shiny wires holding the machines to sleeping Olivia "No" when Eli reached for the colored buttons on the machines "No- ahhh" Elliot breathed a sigh of relief when he got the preschooler back to his plastic toys
Time waits for no one.
"When she's going to wake up, Dad?" seven year old Eli asked. He hugged Eddie, his favorite stuffed animal
Elliot couldn't answer his young son.
"Is she gone like mom?" Eli asked
Kathy had died in a car accident
It had shocked the department
The NYFD, Elliot's new work family
"No, she'll wake up " Elliot was firm, "She's just got to "
Noah just stared at the sleeping woman, and then up to his father.
"Let's go home" Elliot slipped an around Eli's shoulder, "it's been a long day. I'll get you dinner on the way "
"I want pizza"
"I know you do." Elliot sighed, "How about a compromise. Vegetable pizza"
"Alright " Eli nodded and hugged stuffed Eddie
And then one day, a miracle happened.
"She's waking up " Elliot nudged sleeping Eli from the chair.
"Call your aunt Casey, uncle Munch and uncle Fin... everyone "
"Can't I just text them?" Eli frowned
Olivia opened her eyes
"Elliot" she whispered, "Noah?" she looked confused
"What's happening?" Olivia looked scared
"Please, she needs rest, everyone " the doctor pushed Casey, Fin, & everyone out
" She's my partner" Elliot pushed back against the doctor
"Then you need to think about what's best for her " she was emphatic, "She's been through a lot"
"Noah?" Olivia looked from Elliot to Eli, to the doctor
"Calm down" the doctor began
Liv frowned, "don't tell me to calm down. That's my son" she stared at Eli, "and that's my-" she hesitated, "my-"
"partner" Elliot finished
"Go on to aunt Casey" Elliot nudged Eli out the door to the waiting group. Everyone was awash with a mix of emotions, excitement, worry, uncertainty
Elliot shut the door, "Liv, I'll began slowly, ok?"
Flashback
"Elliot put his papers in" Captain Cragen sighed, sitting forlornly in the plastic chair while Detective Olivia Benson lay with wires and tubes connecting her to the living, though she slept
"He didn't deserve this" Cragen looked desolate
In the present,
"You- just left" Olivia began slowly, "you were the - most- important" she hesitated, "the most important person in my life, and you just left"
"You left me first" Elliot sniffed back some emotion
"I had a life, Elliot, I had- a family." she stared hard at the hospital wall, not at her former partner
"You still do" he gave a wan smile, he was exhausted from years of worry, "you have all of us" he gestured to the waiting crowd, "we'll get there, slowly?"
Olivia hesitated-
Later, that night, after everyone went home. Olivia lay back in the hospital bed. Doctor's orders; she have to remain there a few days more, for observation She'd had years stolen from her. How could she just pick up and - live again
Flashback
"God, you should've seen it" Richard beamed, "this crazy grandmother kidnapped her own grandson because some lady adopted him" "Not in front of Eli" Elliot frowned, "and god, especially not here" "Fine, you cart his baseball crap yourself then" Richard waved off his father and left the room.
"Did she really take him away?" Eli looked up at his father, "Grandma would never do that, right?" he meant Bernie "No" Elliot reassured him. Elliot hadn't wanted to handle drop off and pick ups at the hospital, but he practically lived here now, since Kathy's death
Kathy's death had been brutal for everyone "You spend more time with your brain dead partner than with me!" Kathy screamed, "I've had it. I'm going out, and don't bother waiting up for me" she snatched her car keys and was out the door
When she didn't return that night, Elliot took her at her words It was only when the uniforms knocked at his door at five AM, he realized how wrong he'd been to believe her But then, she'd never believed him, even in death
"One minute she was here, and the next, she was gone" Elliot buried his face in his hands, as he sat next to Olivia's bed, whilst she slept "Eli's distraught, he wouldn't leave her grave" Eli had been four, almost five, but he had to grieve, just like everyone else.
Elliot didn't know what to do, whether to take young Eli with the rest of the Stablers to Kathy's funeral. "He has to learn that sometimes, life doesn't always have a happy ending" Bernie had rationalized to her son, "he has to know his Daddy will take care of him" she placed her hand on his.
When Elliot visited the hospital with young Eli the next fall, the kindergartner balked, "I wish Lucy was my mommy" "You're stuck with me, kid" Elliot sighed, "and we're ok, right?" Eli frowned. Elliot pulled him close, "I know it's hard, but I'm your dad, and that won't change"
In the present,
Olivia sat in bed in the darkened hospital room. Memories swirled together
Noah
Cassidy
Tucker
Amaro
"You're my partner, for better or worse"
"I know I wasn't what your old partner was for you"
"No, you weren't"
"That relationship, whatever it was-"
"I'd give you a kidney"
Olivia breathed in. The room was feeling too small
She needed air
She needed her son
She needed Noah
She'd raised him from a baby
She'd-
Outside the room, the nurse shouted, "You can't go in there"
"I'm her son" the male voice shouted back, "see? Benson"
Liv looked up
"Calvin?"
Olivia blinked
She wasn't sure what was real anymore
She remembered Calvin, small, eleven, twelve
"Olivia, don't let them take me!" he'd screamed, "Olivia"
Tonight
"Olivia?" Calvin wasn't twelve anymore
"Are you ok?" he sat in the hard plastic chair
The one that Cragen, Elliot, - the one that countless others had sat in as days turned to months, turned to years
"They told me you were shot, and I couldn't get to you, my grandparents didn't want me to- but, they're dead and - I - I had to know you're ok"
Olivia smiled weakly from tired
Her son was here
Olivia stared at Calvin, and a memory floated to her mind
"whatever it was, didn't allow for anything else. But with you, with your support, I have a family"
She'd told somebody that, hadn't she?
Support
A man who visited her for ten years without fail
A family of friends
Support
There was a knock on the open door
"Your ride is here" the nurse glared, "I think you should go"
"Elliot's going to drop me back at the academy. Can I see you, if that's ok?" Calvin hesitated, "when you're home again"
Olivia nodded blankly
Where was home?
What was home?
"I—uh"
Olivia gripped her discharge papers as the orderly pushed her wheelchair down the hall to the exit
"That was nice of her" Casey walked alongside the wheelchair, "& see, Agent Porter isn't a complete tool"
Olivia glanced down at the paperwork in her other hand
"Sheila Porter, LPC"
The psychologist who worked alongside the hospital had been quite ready to help Olivia transition from her coma induced fantasy to th real world
Being related to Agent Dean Porter was not what Olivia would call fortuitous, but Sheila had known about Olivia's case & wanted to help
The world had known about the case, practically
"Jenna Fox shoots hero cop" the headlines screamed
Elliot had indeed put his papers in after shooting Jenna after she'd shot Liv in the precinct that day
But Olivia Benson lay clinging for life in a coma while that happened
Today, Olivia glanced up from the NYC cab at the apartment complex
It wasn't hers, of course
"I know its not a lot" Casey began, "but maybe it can feel like home?"
Olivia gingerly walked into the apartment
Where could she go from here?
How would she work?
What would she do?
END