"Law and Order: SVU" belongs to Dick Wolf.
He didn't want to go into the ambulance.
Exhaustion and anxiety were obviously taking their toll on him, yet Elliot kept shaking his head in refusal each time the paramedics tried to get him to sit on a stretcher.
Olivia knew he needed to get away from there, so she asked the paramedics if she could accompany him in the ambulance. Once they agreed, he finally gave in.
She followed them to the ambulance and then stopped.
"I'll be right back," she said, squeezing his wrist comfortingly.
Elliot nodded tiredly, his eyes closing. She headed over to where Cragen stood beside a squad car, talking to two Camden County police officers.
As she approached, her eyes zeroed in on the two men sitting handcuffed in the back. The one who had tried to strangle Elliot turned his head and stared right at her.
She stepped up next to the window. Rage made her hands shake. She had to clench them into fists to resist the temptation to rip open the door and shove the bastard's face right through the glass.
Her eyes glinted murderously and she wished she had the chance to get him alone for a few minutes. She would have loved to choke the asshole the way he'd done to her partner.
He smirked, seeming to know exactly what she was thinking. She grit her teeth and kept walking.
Captain Cragen signaled to the officer that he would finish at a later time, seeing her approaching.
"Olivia-" he began.
But she cut him off, seeming anxious.
"I'm sorry, Captain," she said quickly. "I wasn't purposely trying to go AWOL. "
He tried to speak again and she rushed on before he could.
"He told me not to tell anyone where I was going," she rambled, obviously expecting a rebuke. "I had to go, Captain. He was going to hurt Elliot...I had to go."
In a uncharacteristic show of gentleness, Captain Cragen touched her shoulder to get her to stop talking. Olivia bit her lip, swallowing tearfully.
"I know," he told her calmly. "Olivia, you don't have to explain. You were trying to save your partner's life. Any cop worth his salt would do the exact same thing."
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
"You'll probably have to give a statement to IAB at some point," he went on. "But I, for one, couldn't be more proud of you, Detective. You did your job above and beyond."
She gave him a watery smile and dug her keys out of her pocket.
"I'm going to ride with him," she said. "Would you mind having someone move my car off of the side of the road? I'll get a ride back later to come get it. "
He took the keys. "You'll do no such thing," he admonished lightly. "I'll drive it to you myself if I have to. Go with Elliot. We'll meet you at the hospital once we finish here." He shook his head at her. "Go, Olivia."
She nodded once and turned on her heel. He watched her run back and climb into the back of the ambulance before it began moving.
He seemed disoriented and in slight shock throughout the ambulance ride. Olivia was horrified to hear their assessment as they looked over him.
Aside from obviously painful electric burns all over his groin, torso, and foot, he also had chain link-shaped bruises mottling his neck, a dislocated right shoulder, and three broken fingers on his right hand.
Tears pricked her eyes and she struggled to hold them when she heard him whimper softly while they placed oxygen prongs in his nose.
She really shouldn't have been surprised to see a uniformed New Jersey cop waiting by the doors when she followed his stretcher inside of Cooper University Hospital. She should have respected their initiative and given them professional courtesy.
She did neither.
She had to stop outside of the exam room when a doctor told her curtly that she could go no further after pushing the stretcher inside. She turned to glare at the officer when he approached and when he told her he had been sent to get a statement from Elliot, she practically bit his head off.
"Your superior told you to talk to him while he's lying on an exam table getting his burned skin taken care of?" she snapped. The officer reddened. "Get the hell out of here. I don't want to see you again until I hear him personally ask you to come talk to him."
The officer nodded meekly.
"Yes, Ma'am," he said nervously. "Sorry, Ma'am."
He scurried away fast and she didn't blame him. She pinched the bridge of her nose and leaned back against the wall.
Christ. The guy was so new that he was still addressing ranks above him as "Ma'am" like they were told to during academy training and she had snarled at him like he was the Son of Sam.
She closed her eyes and inhaled shakily.
"Detective Benson?"
Olivia opened her eyes. Standing a few feet away at the nurses' station was a doctor that looked familiar. Her tired brain didn't piece together who he was until he was walking toward her. It was Doctor Montgomery, the trauma physician who had seen Elliot at Elmhurst Hospital a few days earlier.
"Doctor Montgomery," she greeted him once she remembered his name. "You work here, too?"
"Such is the joys of a broad specialty and an understaffed department," he said with a smile. "I get to moonlight as a New Jerseyan two nights a week."
She didn't smile back. As he got closer, he saw how upset she looked and his face morphed into concern.
"Is everything alright?" he asked gently.
She had been successful in keeping her emotions in check since finding Elliot. But for some reason she couldn't explain, the simple question from a caring stranger made her unravel.
Before she could stop herself, she had burst into tears. Doctor Montgomery kindly stood there and waited while she got herself back under control. She sniffled and swallowed, embarrassed.
"Sorry," she murmured, wiping her face. He held up a hand to indicate he didn't mind. She nodded toward the room beside her. "My partner is in there. He's...hurt pretty badly."
He looked sorrowful. "Oh, no," he said. "I'm sorry to hear that." He sounded so sincere that she had no problem believing him. "Detective Stabler is in good hands, though. This is one of the best ERs in the state."
She gave him a slightly curious look.
"Do you always remember your past patients so well?" she asked. She sounded much calmer. "Most doctors I've seen forget my name before I finish talking to them."
He smiled. "I don't usually get the privilege of seeing many of 'New York's Finest' when they aren't giving me a parking ticket," he joked. "So it tends to stick in my memory."
She was about to say something else when they both suddenly heard Elliot yelling in pain from inside the room next to them. Her face went so white that Doctor Montgomery worried she might pass out.
Arriving to the hospital was a foggy blur in Elliot's memory as he kept fading out of awareness. He began coming around once he was taken to a room and he didn't like it at. At all.
Two nurses were on either side of him, getting him settled, and they were startled when Elliot abruptly jerked upright out of unconsciousness with a yelp of agony. They immediately tried to reassure him and try to keep him still so he wouldn't hurt himself, but he kept resisting, panicked and not sure what was happening.
One of the nurses began preparing an IV and when he saw that, he lost all semblance of rational thinking. Terror and adrenaline surged through him as he used all of his remaining strength to try and push the nurse away from him.
Olivia had stepped outside the room while the nurses wheeled him in, intending to use the opportunity to call Kathy to tell her where Elliot was and then get an update from Cragen.
But before she could finish dialing, a sudden commotion from a inside the room startled her. She shoved the phone back into her pocket and burst through the door.
She was shocked to see her partner jerking back and forth in the bed so hard that rails were shaking as the nurses tried to get an IV into his arm. He wouldn't hold still for them to do it.
"Don't touch me!" he yelling frantically.
She had never heard hysterics in his voice like that before. Dumbfounded, she began making her way carefully around the doctors.
"What's going on?" she asked in alarm.
One of the nurses looked at her.
"We're just trying to start an IV," she said.
"DON'T!"
He screamed, so hysterically and forcefully that it made the hair on her neck stand up. Without a second thought, Olivia quickly stepped right in front of the nurse to block her.
"Stop," she said quickly.
The nurse gaped at her in surprise.
"What the hell do you think you're doing? " she asked furiously, moving the needle quickly before she accidentally stuck Olivia with it. "Get out of my way."
Elliot began speaking over the nurse when he saw his partner. He sounded on the verge of tears and that absolutely gutted her.
"Don't let them do it," he pleaded. "Please, Liv, please!"
Olivia still wasn't completely sure what was going on. But hearing Elliot speak that way drew the line for her instantly. Whatever the problem, it was serious to him. Her partner never begged for anything. She was absolutely not going to stand back and let someone make him beg. No way.
"I'm going to need you to step back," she ordered.
Her tone indicated that she was in no mood to argue.
"I mean it," she stressed. "Leave the room, please."
The nurse narrowed her eyes indignantly.
"I'm not going to leave a patient-" she started to say.
Olivia cut her off, eyes glinted menacingly.
"Yeah," she interrupted. "You are. Both of you. You can come come back in a few minutes." She raised her eyebrows, daring the nurse to challenge her. "Leave. Now. "
The nurse gave her a cross look. Nevertheless, she motioned to her colleague and they both walked out. Olivia turned and watched them go like a guard dog watching someone holding a bone.
When she turned back, she saw Elliot sitting ramrod still, breathing rapidly through clenched teeth. His eyes were squeezed shut and his lips trembling.
He was on the cusp of a breakdown, struggling to maintain composure and losing. She could see it and it broke her heart.
She approached the bed carefully.
"Hey," she said gently. He didn't respond. "They're gone. I'll keep them out as long as you need. Ok?"
She watched him swallow hard, his Adam's apple bobbing. She gently reached over and laid her hand across his, letting him decide if he wanted it there. He gripped it immediately.
She stood silently, letting him squeeze and get control of his emotions. He exhaled shakily.
"It's just-" he finally managed to choke out. "The needle. I can't...I can't-"
He struggled to figure out what to say, horrified when he felt a tear slide down his cheek.
"Hey. "
Olivia rubbed her thumb over his fingers, trying to convey that he didn't need to put on a brave face around her. He was out of sorts and traumatized, as he should have been. He had been through hell. She didn't think any less of him for it.
"It's ok," she said gently. "I'm here for you, El."
He couldn't speak for a long moment. Finally, he swallowed and tried to speak.
"He injected me with something," he said, voice choked. "I don't know what it was but-"
He shook his head and stared at her. The horror in his eyes took her breath away.
"I couldn't move. Whatever was in that needle locked my muscles up. There was a...a gag in my mouth the entire time and I thought I was going to choke to death because my throat kept closing up. I could barely even move my eyes and even they were blindfolded."
Elliot ducked his head, refusing to look at her as he said the next words.
"I don't think I've ever been...so fucking scared before, Liv. I thought he paralyzed me."
He spoke so softly that she barely heard him.
Olivia's eyes stung with hurt for him. She could only imagine how he must have been feeling to say something like that out loud. Unable to stand it, she reached over and slipped her hand behind his neck, right where the tension built up the most, and squeezed gently. She would have done anything to take that expression off of his face.
The touch made a lump swell in his throat. He breathed deeply and pushed the rest of the tears back. When he could trust himself to speak, he looked at her with a desperate expression.
"Who was he, Olivia?" he asked despondently. "He acted like he knew me. He kept telling me to 'admit what I did' and was furious when I said I didn't know." He shook his head hopelessly.
She had no idea idea either, but he didn't need to worry about it. She was going to make sure he wouldn't.
"I don't know," she said apologetically. She withdrew her hand from his neck and placed it on his arm. "He's being booked as we speak, so try not to think about it too much right now. You're safe here. I can promise you that. "
He was obviously trying to hide it, but she could tell by his strained features that Elliot was starting to feel pain in earnest. He had been unconscious while they worked on him in the ER and now that the adrenaline was fading, his body was protesting in a big way.
She bit her lip. "You probably won't be able to get any pain relief without an IV," she said. He couldn't stop the dread from crossing his face and she winced. "I'm sorry...I'm not sure if there's any other option, though. I hate seeing you in pain, Elliot."
"Forgive me for interrupting," a voice said from the doorway. "But I think I might be able to help you with that, Detective. "
They both looked over. She couldn't keep from huffing out a laugh at the look of disbelief Elliot gave when he saw the doctor.
"Seriously?" he said. He looked accusingly at Olivia. "You made me go back to the place that almost killed me last time?"
Doctor Montgomery laughed as she rolled her eyes.
"Don't be too mad at her, Detective Stabler," he said teasingly. "I'm an overachiever...I can't stick to just one hospital, I try to get to them all."
He smiled as he thumbed through Elliot's chart.
"The nurses indicated you weren't comfortable getting an IV placed," he surmised, looking up.
Olivia watched her partner blush in embarrassment. "I need to apologize to them," he said. "I didn't mean to freak out."
Doctor Montgomery shook his head.
"No need," he said immediately. " We truly understand. We want to do whatever makes you most comfortable. You look like you could use some pain medication, though. It's up to you. You're in charge. "
Elliot looked torn. He clearly was in pain but also not ready to let himself relax. Seeing his hesitation, Doctor Montgomery tried to clarify further.
"I was going to suggest what's called a 'saline lock,' he went on. "It goes in the back of your hand, not in your arm, and it allows access to IV medication without needing to have a constant flow into your veins."
He looked at Elliot kindly.
"You'll be able to see exactly what we give you and how much because everything is in a measured bag that won't be opened until it is attached to the intravenous line. I'll do it myself if you'd like, so both of you can see that nothing can be tampered with. "
Relief came over Elliot's face as he agreed instantly. Olivia had to fight to keep from grinning broadly.
The man was amazing. He'd somehow managed to know exactly what Elliot was too nervous to admit and solve the problem brilliantly.
"I'll go get that for you right now," he said, nodding.
Elliot thanked him. In a matter of minutes, he was sailing on a cloud of relaxed bliss after successfully being given medication. It worked immediately.
Olivia chuckled at his dopey expression.
"I'm going to go update the captain," she said, eyes twinkling. He nodded lazily, inhaling in satisfaction. "Get some rest, Elliot. I'll be here."
"Liv?"
He called out to her as she was leaving. She turned back.
"Yeah?" she asked.
He smiled at her.
"You came."
His voice was slightly slurred as he looked at her so trustingly that it made her chest ache. He was clearly losing his inhibitions.
"You came," he said again. "For me."
She grinned and nodded.
"You better believe it, Partner," she replied. She winked. "I always will."
THE END