There was a bright light shining in her face.

"It's too bright, she's trying to wake up."

The light went away. Olivia blinked slowly. "Ugh, what happened?"

Fin's face came into focus. "Hey, there you are." He put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't try to move."

"What happened?" Olivia groaned.

"You started bleeding pretty heavily when they got you in the ambulance." Fin explained. "You had to have surgery. One of the stab wounds-the one to your abdomen- hit something, your spleen or something."

Olivia gasped. "Did you get him?"

"We got him." Fin said gently. "I found your phone, we got the recording you made. He's at Bellevue in the prison ward. You got some good shots in, Liv, broke the SOB's nose. But you got him. Even if it goes to trial and he doesn't take a plea he'll probably be convicted. We have the knife he used, we have his DNA, we have his confession. We got him. You got him."

Olivia lay back and closed her eyes with a soft sigh. "Good." She opened her eyes. "Where's Noah?"

"Ed's got him." Fin answered. "He drew you a picture. Noah, not Ed." Fin pointed at the wall where he'd taped the picture.

"Aw." Olivia murmured with a smile. "My boy."

"I'm taking care of things for you down at the squad." Fin added. "You're gonna be in here at least a day or two more, then they want you on sick leave for a while."

There was a knock at the door and a doctor in a white coat came in. "Hi, Olivia? I'm Dr. Grant, how're you feeling?"

"Sore." Olivia answered.

"You will be for a while." Dr. Grant said sympathetically. "I can't tell you how honored I am to be treating a real hero."

Olivia blushed and waved him off. "It's just my job."

"You took a serial killer and rapist off the streets, that's pretty heroic." Dr. Grant disagreed. He perched on the edge of the bed. "Most of your stab wounds were superficial but a couple on your thigh were deep enough that we had to put staples in to repair them. The others we either stitched or put wound glue on them. As for the wounds to your abdomen, well, they were more severe. A couple arteries were mangled and one hit your spleen. We had to to remove it."

"My spleen?" Olivia questioned. She lay back with a groan. "Is that bad?"

"You can live without your spleen." Dr. Grant assured her. "I'll give you some literature on life without it but ultimately you won't notice the difference. You'll recover in about six to eight weeks. I want you homebound for at least a month, and desk duty for another four to six."

"But I'll be alright?" Olivia asked.

"You'll be alright." Dr. Grant said. He smiled. "Alright, any questions just page your nurse." He left them.

"I'm gonna go." Fin said. "Let you get some rest." He gave her a gentle hug. "See you tomorrow."

"Bye." Olivia said. She watched him go and suddenly felt incredibly tired and drifted back into sleep.

When she woke a few hours later Noah and Ed were quietly sitting by her bedside as Ed read Noah a book.

"Hi." She smiled.

"You're awake." Ed remarked. He closed the book. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay." Olivia answered. She smiled at Noah. "Hi, sweet boy. Can mommy have a kiss?"

Ed held Noah over her and Olivia gave him a tiny kiss. "Tell mommy you love her."

"I love you." Noah recited. "Get better. You see my picture? I drawed it for you."

"It's so good." Olivia said. She held her arms out. "I can take him. It won't hurt on this side." She settled Noah against her left side and pressed her face again his sweet-smelling hair. "For a moment there, I didn't think I was gonna get out of there alive."

"I hear you put up a really good fight." Ed said with pride.

"I did what I had to do." Olivia dismissed. She felt woozy. "I'm gonna fall asleep again. I need some medicine, I'm hurting."

"I'll page the nurse, you just rest." Ed said. He smoothed her hair back and gave her a kiss. "I'll be here when you wake up."

Olivia fell asleep with a smile on her face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Spring shone its lovely head over New York and with it took away the icy cold trap winter had left them with.

Elliot emerged from the subway into the sunshine. Across the street children had taken over the park once again and their delightful screaming had filled the streets.

His business having not suffered from the fallout of having a recently convicted rapist and murderer working for him was booming and he had a meeting at a small Lower East Side security firm to talk about buying them.

He stopped at a cart on the corner to buy a bottle of water and a hot dog. A little boy with brown curls was running around on the other side of the wrought iron fence and hid behind a large tree, peering around a grinning.

Olivia jumped out from behind the tree and grabbed him, both of them falling to the ground in a bellow of laughter. Olivia pressed kisses into her son's rosy cheeks, her smile wide. He'd never seen such unfiltered happiness on her face. Even when they were partners her joy was always guarded and muted.

Not anymore.

She had moved on and created a new life for herself, and had gotten everything she wanted. And it was more than she had ever been able to do when he was there. He knew when he left it would be hard for her, and based on the multitude of messages she left him it had been, but in order for his own self to heal and grow he had to make a clean break, and that included her.

As much as it hurt, it included her her.

"Go get Ed, can you get Ed?" Olivia said to her son. She released him and hopped up, smiling after her son. She smoothed the grass off of the back of her and looked up.

They're eyes met and everything that had been there was still there. Between them a shared history passed, all of the best and worst of it. All of the damage they'd caused, all of the hurt. And all of the good, the good moments sandwiched in between.

Olivia's smiled faded slowly and her face became emotionless and impassive, neither angry or happy, sad or joyful. Her eyes moved to her left, where her son was playing and she turned and walked away from him, towards them, her new life.

Elliot realized in that moment that they'd never be able to move on together, and that as much as he wished they could, he didn't want to. Two broken halves can't make a whole, nor can they repair each other. They could only exist in the same space as two broken pieces becoming their own pieces.

He turned and continued up the sidewalk, and continued with his life.

The End.

Thanks everyone who has stuck with this story since the beginning. This one was a pain and pleasure to write. A pleasure because it had been an idea in my mind for so long, but a pain because I knew there wasn't going to be the traditional happy ending. That said, this has been one of my favorites, and I can't wait for everyone to read my next SVU story. Thank You!