Earlier that night – Medford, Oregon

That's it. I'm dead Olivia thought. She couldn't move, she could hardly breath, and she was surrounded with darkness. She was cold. She felt like she was crushed. She could feel cold, hard, sharp fragments digging into her skull. Was she buried alive? She was suffocating. When she tried to breath in, she felt dust filling her lungs and started to cough hard. Suddenly she heard voices.

"I need medics over here! There is someone under the rubble!". Olivia smiled. She was alive. She heard footsteps getting closer and stopping somewhere above her. "Hold on! We're gonna get you out of here!" Olivia whimpered and lost consciousness.

…

…

…

Olivia's head was pounding so hard that she thought it was going to explode. When she opened her eyes, she didn't recognize anything around her. She was in a small dark room with no other furniture than an occupied chair and the bed she was lying in. She tried in vain to get up but her body was hurting so much that she couldn't move an inch. She groaned as she felt a wave of pain running through her body, and the sleeping figure in the chair suddenly woke up. Olivia squinted and recognized Dean Porter as he approached her bed.

"Detective Benson. It's good to see you alive".

"It's good to be alive" Olivia retorted. "What happened? What am I doing here? Where am I?"

"Easy detective. You've been through a lot. Do you mind if I turn on the light?"

"No". At first, Olivia was surprised by that question, but when the light hit her retina, she understood and immediately closed her eyes. The sudden brightness only made her headache ten times worse. Even with her eyes closed, she could see the light through her eyelids. She tried to cover her eyes with her left hand but instead of her palm, she felt something hard hitting her head. She opened her eyes and discovered a cast on her arm.

"What-"

"One thing at a time" Porter cut her off. "What is the last thing you remember?"

"I don't know… It's kind of a blur."

"Do you remember the explosion?"

"What explosion?" Olivia asked, confused. She searched in her memories and suddenly remembered something. "Medtex. The big final. What happened?"

"A lot happened" Porter answered. He looked quite angry. "Something went wrong. The building exploded."

"What? How?" Olivia straightened up, ignoring the pain, and increasing her headache. She was now overwhelmed with flashbacks but nothing consistent enough to form memories.

"You tell me!" Porter snapped.

"You were supposed to arrest them before they blew up the building!" Olivia blamed him as the pieces started to stick up together.

"You didn't give me the signal!" Porter spat. Olivia stared at him with open mouth. Finally, Porter slumped into the chair, defeated. "This operation is a failure..."

"You didn't catch Jeff?" she asked. Don't tell me I endured all this for nothing she thought.

"Yes we did." For a second, Olivia felt relieved. But that was until Porter proceeded. "We caught almost every member of the EDG, but… I'm not sure it was worth it…"

"What do you mean?" Olivia inquired.

Porter sighted and walked next to Olivia. "Look… A lot of people died that night. Twenty nine to be precise. Some of them were members of the EDG, but there were also lab technicians who worked for Medtex, Andrew Harper and… a federal agent. Friend of mine. He was infiltrated in the group like you."

"You had another infiltrated agent in the group?" Porter nodded. "Who?"

"His alias was Mike Foster". Olivia's eyes widened in shock. Mike was a discreet man but he was very engaged with the cause. Always looking forward to the next battle. She would never suspect him to be a fed. "Mike? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Procedure". Olivia rolled her eyes. She knew to many cops who used this line as an easy way out.

"Wait… you said some members of the EDG died. Who?"

"Arthur Spencer, Marc Flint, Abdul Chekif, Marina Lopez, Burt Nozman, Heidi Kampf, and… Hope Abernathy." When Olivia didn't say a word, Porter continued. "Four of them died in the explosion. For some reason, they didn't wait until everybody had left the building… We found the bodies under the rubble. That's where we found you too. The others were shot. Mike was shot too. He was a good man. And a hard worker. He literally gave his life to the bureau."

"I'm sorry about your friend" was all Olivia could say. Her mind and heart were somewhere else. Every piece of information Porter gave her helped her remembering what happened that night. But the more she remembered, the more she wished she didn't. She kept seeing Hope's dead body in her arms.

"You were shot too. You were in a pretty bad shape when we found you. Well… you still are. The bullet broke your ribs. You have a broken arm, and it looks like you've been beaten. Or maybe it was the explosion."

"You don't know what happened?"

"I was hoping you could tell me. We have a general idea of what happened thanks to the evidence we collected but we have no statement. Nobody had talked so far. They're too devoted to Jeff. He lawyered up for all of them and ordered them to remain silent. Even the weakest link in the chain won't talk. I spent the last couple days trying to convince him to denounce Jeff".

Olivia frowned. "Couple days?"

"Yeah… You've been unconscious for 3 days. We have a doctor here checking on you every two hours."

"I'm not in a hospital?"

"No. The living members of EDG think you are dead. We'll keep it this way. We couldn't risk someone to see you in your hospital bed. As far as they're concerned, Persephone James is dead. As soon as we have your statement, you can go back to New York."

Olivia couldn't believe her ears. It was finally over. After everything she had been through, she was free to go home. She could be Olivia Benson again…