9

Olivia glanced at her wife, who was sound asleep again, as she held her cellphone to her ear and then stepped out of the room and closed the door, eyes still on her through the glass.

The other end of the line picked up and Olivia smiled upon hearing her mother-in-law's voice—this time being a happy reason to call.

"Olivia. Did you find my baby?" Cathy Cabot questioned, her voice a high-pitched whimper.

Olivia nodded, smiling. "Yeah, Cathy. We found her. She's safe here in the hospital."

"Hospital? What happened to her. Did they hurt her, Olivia? Please tell me, Dear. I want to know."

Olivia took a deep breath and let it out quietly. "What we originally thought was a past case turned out to be correct. He had her in his apartment, tied up, and she couldn't move, didn't eat, no water." Olivia swallowed then and closed her eyes. "But…she's resting now, Cathy. She's being hydrated and she's doing as well as she can."

A whimpering on the other end of the phone, the older woman trying to keep it together.

"She's safe, Cathy. We found her. She's out of danger…" Olivia felt her lower lip begin to tremble.

"Thank you, Dear," Cathy said softly. "My beautiful girl is safe and I thank you, Olivia."

Olivia smiled. "She's my wife, Cathy…I had to find her…" The brunette's eyes filled with tears. "I love her more than anything."

Cathy Cabot sniffed and whimpered. "Can Bill and I come out? Maybe in a day or two. Help you take care of things at the house while you help put these people in jail?"

Olivia smiled. "I think that would be great, Cathy. Alex will be coming home tomorrow, Sunday, and you and Bill being here would be really helpful, not only helping with the kids but also helping Alex." The brunette nodded. "That'd be great. How about tomorrow night or Monday morning?"

"Whenever you need us, Dear. We want to be there to take care of the little ones and…" Cathy squeaked, "…our baby girl."

Olivia pursed her lips, fighting her own emotions. "Tomorrow night, Cathy. I think that would be perfect."

"OK then, Dear. I'll tell Billy and we'll pack and plan on staying a little while. OK?"

Olivia nodded. "Sounds great. And Cathy?"

"Yes, Olivia?"

"Thank you…"

"For what, Dear?"

"For your hope and prayers and positivity. It really helps and means a lot in a time like this." Olivia smiled.

"Of course, Olivia. Family is the most important thing in life."

"It is…" Olivia continued to watch her wife through the window, watching as she began to stir from sleep. "I gotta go. Alex is waking up. But we'll see you tomorrow night?" Olivia raised her eyebrows.

"See you tomorrow."

And the call was ended and Olivia tapped on the red "X" and then slipped her phone into her back pocket, moving to the door and opening it.

Olivia watched her wife twitch in her sleep, her mouth open, forehead knitted, and then she gasped and her eyes popped open.

"Where are the kids?" Alex sat up then, panicked, and began touching all of the cords that were attached to her, looking at them as though foreign objects. "What the hell? Where…?" Alex looked at Olivia. "Where are the kids, Liv?"

"Hey, hey, hey…" Olivia soothed, sitting next to her and placing her hands on her upper arms, guiding her wife backward, "…we've talked about this, Al. The kids are OK. They're at home, with Jonathan. They're safe."

Alex closed her eyes and let out a huge sigh of relief. "I just had…" Her eyes opened then and those blue pools looked at her intensely. "I dreamed they never made it home…that they were…" Alex's mouth began to quaver then, her eyes watering, "…missing, too…" she said softly.

Olivia shook her head. "No, Babe. Remember? I told you they made it to Mrs. Ethan's and they were all fine? And I went over there when she called?"

Alex sat up and leaned forward holding her arms out.

Olivia moved into her and wrapped her arms around her wife, closing her eyes. Olivia began rocking her slowly, rubbing her back gently.

"I remember now, Liv," Alex whispered. "I remember now…"

Within a few moments, Olivia felt her wife's body go limp, her arms losing their grip, and the brunette pulled away and gently let gravity return Alex to the inclined bed. The brunette reached out and tucked a stray lock of hair, from her disheveled ponytail, behind her ear and then smiled at her wife's closed eyes, her slightly parted mouth.

"Liv?" Alex managed, even in the midst of falling back to sleep.

"Yeah, Babe?" Olivia leaned closer and placed her left hand next to the blonde's right hip. "What is it, Al?"

"Let's…" Alex's voice was soft, "…let's go home, Liv…"

Olivia smiled and cocked her head to the side, watching as Alex's head sunk further into her pillow, her breathing slowing and becoming heavy. "You got it, Al."

"Tonight?" Alex whispered.

"Not tonight, Al. Tomorrow."

"But…I want to go home tonight, Liv. Please?" A pink hue crept into Alex's cheeks then, her lower lip trembling, eyes remaining closed. "I just want to go home," she whined softly.

"I know you do, Al." Olivia fought her own tears as she swallowed hard. "But we need to make sure everything is OK with you before we go home, my love."

Alex began sobbing then, her body shaking with sorrow, her face wrinkling as she placed both hands over her face.

"Please, Al…" Olivia begged, "…please don't cry, Babe…" Olivia took her wife's hands from her face then, into both of her own, and brought them to her mouth, kissing softly. "Please don't cry."

Alex's eyes opened then and her somberness pierced right into Olivia's soul. "I just want to see my babies, hear them, feel them…" The angst on her face was unbearable. "Please, Olivia. Can I see Theo and Gracie and Iz? If I can't go home tonight, I want to, at least, see them, Babe…please…"

Olivia smiled and nodded. "Of course, Al. You rest and I'll make it happen. OK?"

Alex nodded and closed her eyes once again, turning her face to the right. She took in a deep breath before letting it out slowly, releasing a heavy sigh.

And Olivia watched as she fell asleep once more, knowing what her wife needed now more than anything else.


Olivia looked at the screen of her iPhone—6:37 p.m.—and then set it back on top of the overbed rolling tray table next to her left where she was sitting in a chair next to the bed.

She had spoken with Jonathan a little while prior and he had been more than elated that his sister had been found and was OK. His joy—as equated to Olivia's—was also mixed with anger that this had ever happened in the first place and the two had shared a moment of camaraderie on the phone in the midst of the news and details about her hospital stay and recovery.

He had gotten off of work earlier from the hospital than he had originally planned, wanting to be there for Olivia and the family in any way that he could, and he and Casey were going to take the children—all five of them—out to eat and then drop Casey and Katie and Kimberly off at the town house before Jonathan brought the three Benson-Cabot kids to see their blonde mother, each thinking it best to not overwhelm Alex with even more people, even more children.

A gentle knock was heard on the hospital room door and Olivia looked to her left and slightly behind her to see Jonathan's tall, beefy frame on the other side, hands holding the twins' hands, Theo in front waving at Olivia, a huge smile on his face.

Olivia couldn't help but smile wide upon seeing them and she waved back as she stood immediately and moved to open the door. "Hey, Babies," she cooed softly, bending over and hugging all of them tightly, still in her black jeans and black silk blouse, her hair now in a ponytail, her blazer having been long since removed.

The kids started to rush to their blonde mother, but Olivia stopped them with her arms.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa…wait a minute, my loves. Let me talk to you for a minute. OK?" Olivia squatted and placed her hands on their hips—Theo on the left, Isabel on the right, Grace in the middle.

The kid's eyes were on Olivia as they intermittently glanced at Alex behind her, she could tell by the way their eyes kept shifting.

"We need to be quiet, my loves. Mommy is very tired, OK. And…" Olivia looked up at Jonathan whose eyes were on his sister, his face somber, jaw clenched, his eyes watering profusely, "…and Mommy has some places that she got hurt and you can see them. OK? But I don't want you to be scared. She's fine and she is just gonna be so happy to see you."

"Mommy has ouchies like you had ouchies with that other bad man. Right, Mama?" Theo questioned. "I can see Mommy's," he whispered, eyeing Alex.

Olivia nodded, "That's right, Theo. Like Mama did. But she's OK…" Olivia looked at Grace and Isabel then, rubbing their upper arms, "…OK?"

Grace's thumb went into her mouth as she looked at her blonde mother behind Olivia, and Isabel's face was frozen, her eyes also fixed on their mother in the hospital bed.

Olivia stood then, looking at her brother-in-law whose face held grief, anger, and empathy, all rolled into one tanned, handsome, dirty blonde-stubbled face. She moved closer to him and they walked into each other, the two embracing fully. Olivia could feel the burly man shaking then, his emotions felt through his hug.

"She's gonna be OK, Jonathan," Olivia said softly.

Jonathan nodded as he pulled away, sniffing and wiping his eyes. "She'd better be," he tried a light laugh. "I don't know what I'd do without her, Olivia."

Olivia squeezed his bicep then. "You and me both, Jonathan."

They both looked at the kids now who were creeping up to the bed carefully, slowly, following their brunette mother's directions to try and remain quiet.

Olivia folded her arms and smiled at them, Grace looking back at her. "Go ahead Babes. She wants to see you. She's only kind of sleeping," Olivia encouraged.

Isabel was the first to approach the bed, ever the bold one. She leaned in close to Alex's ear. "Mommy?" she whispered. She reached out and touched her cheek with her forefinger, gently, before leaning in again. "It's Izzie…"

Olivia covered her mouth with her hand, witnessing the sweetness.

Grace looked at Olivia, her eyes worried. She then looked at Isabel and then Theo and then back at Alex.

"Go closer, Babies," Olivia coaxed.

The kids moved closer in a group then, the hesitancy apparent, their sensitivity to the entire situation almost astounding to the brunette.

"Mommy?" Theo questioned then, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Alex's eyes opened then and she opened her mouth and then closed it, beginning to cry. "My babies," she squeaked, sitting up and holding her arms out.

Within seconds, all three children had climbed on top of her and were piled on, holding her tightly, Alex reciprocating the embrace. She kissed them all over their faces, their heads, their necks and hands, tears streaming down her face.

Olivia brought her lips inward then, able to feel her wife's relief, her satisfaction of knowing that the children were OK. Olivia already explained many times and could have told her five-million times of how they went to Mrs. Ethan's, she brought them home and they slept in the bed with her the previous night, and of how she took care of them after the blonde went missing. But nothing replaced all three little ones being there, Alex able to hold them, smell them, hear them, talk to them.

And Olivia understood this completely.

Olivia felt Jonathan's' arm wrap around her then and she looked up, smiling up at him with tears in her eyes as she wrapped her own arm around the towering man.

"My babies…I missed you so much!" Alex oozed, still holding them tightly.

The kids relaxed into her then—Isabel on her right, Grace on her left, Theo in the middle against her belly—their hug having subsided and the three now comfortably resting against her.

"What's this?" Isabel asked, pointing to the clear tube coming out of the back of Alex's hand.

Alex smiled. "It's water and other important things like vitamins for Mommy's body. It's helping me get better."

"Are you coming home, Mommy?" Grace asked, her head resting against the blonde's chest.

Alex looked at Olivia and smiled. "Tomorrow, my loves. Mommy will be ready to come home tomorrow. OK?" She stroked Theo's hair then, their boy's head on Alex's upper belly.

"And you can keep reading Superfudge and we can practice scales on the piano?" Theo asked, pulling away and looking at her.

Alex smiled. "And I can keep reading Superfudge, my boy, and we can practice your scales on the piano."

Theo placed his head back on Alex's mid-chest and she began stroking his locks, as well, placing a kiss there before she looked up at Olivia and her brother.

"Can I stay here with you tonight, Mommy?" Theo questioned, beginning to play with the plastic, pink bracelet on Isabel's left wrist.

Olivia stepped in. "Theo, you have to stay at home with your sisters and cousins. Uncle Johnny and Aunt Casey will be there and you'll—"

"No!" he yelled, his face wrinkled and reddened. "I want Mommy there and…" he gasped then, his crying intensifying, "…I don't…" he gasped, "…want anyone but…" he gasped again, tears streaming down his face at this point, "…Mommy and…" he gasped, "…Mama!" He buried his face into Alex's upper chest then, continuing to gasp and cry.

Isabel's eyes were watering and she moved into her brother, hugging him from behind, and Grace reached up to hug Alex's neck before climbing off of the bed and then moving up to Olivia and hugging her hips, her thumb going into her mouth.

This had been an emotional time for all of them and the separation anxiety all three were feeling was justifiable.

Olivia squatted down and wrapped her arm around their brown-eyed daughter, hugging her from the side as she placed her head on the brunette's shoulder. Alex continued to comfort Theo and Isabel as the two continued to hold on to her.

"Guys…" Olivia began, standing then and holding her hand out to Grace.

Their little girl took it and Olivia walked to the bed and sat next to her wife's shins, Grace sitting on the brunette detective's lap.

"…we all agree we missed your Mommy very much. Right?" Olivia looked at all three kids and then Alex.

The kids nodded adamantly, listening carefully.

"And we were all scared and worried about her, right?" Olivia raised her eyebrows.

They nodded again, Isabel and Theo's eyes now wet with tears. Olivia looked down at Grace and saw her thumb in her mouth again, looking at her siblings.

"And now she's here and she's safe and she's gonna get better. Right?" Olivia looked at Alex, whose eyes were emotional as she continued to stroke Theo and Isabel soothingly.

Alex mouthed the words, I love you, and smiled.

Olivia puckered briefly and then mouthed, I love you, too. "And we want Mommy to be better and get well so she can be healthy and do all the things we love to do with her like…go on a walk and play in the courtyard and play soccer and—"

"Play piano with me!" Theo beamed.

"And help me with my drawings!" Grace offered.

"And dance with Mama in the kitchen!" Isabel squeaked.

Olivia smiled, feeling her mouth tremble. "All those things, Babies." She sniffed. "And we want her to be one-hundred percent well so we can do all those things, right?" Olivia raised her eyebrows and looked at all four of the beings, that she loved more than life itself, in front of her.

The kids all nodded, smiling.

"Well, one more night and she'll be back home for good. And we can do all those things again, Babes. What do you think?"

Alex nodded looking at their children before looking at Olivia and winking.

"Yea! We want Mommy to get better so she can have fun with us!" Isabel cheered.

The three kids began their own victory dances and cheering section of sorts then, the brunette having been able to detour the disappointment with hope.

"So that's what we'll do, my loves. Tomorrow morning, your Mommy and I will come home and we'll have a little celebration and we'll spend the rest of the day together and just be happy. How does that sound?" Olivia smiled.

Another round of cheers and agreement was had and Olivia looked at Alex once more, the blonde's eyes filled with tears. One rolled down her cheek and the brunette reached forward and gently wiped it away with her thumb.

She watched as Alex's face contorted with emotion then and she held their children closer, and Olivia could see, just from the intensity of those past few moments, that this would be more than just a simple struggle. Getting her wife healed and better and on the right track to overcoming what had happened to her was going to be a challenge, there was no denying that.

And Olivia knew that she would offer the support, the arms, the shoulder, the ears, and the experience to help her wife get through it as a best friend, as a wife, and in a partnership that would prove to stand tall through whatever life brought them.


Alex lay, wide awake, in the dim room, only the fluorescent, overhead light above the bed on. The night staff had taken shift a few hours ago and the new ensemble was there, already having checked on the blonde numerous times in the past few hours, making sure she was OK, if she wanted anything to eat—of which she had only had applesauce and Jell-O, her stomach not able to handle much more—and now, at 4:34 a.m., the wing of the hospital had an almost tranquility about it.

Aside from her wife's heavy breathing that was.

Alex smiled as she watched the brunette, sitting uncomfortably in the wooden and vinyl contraption next to the bed, upright. Her head was lolled to the right side, light blue blanket covering her and clutched against her neck, right knee up with her foot on the chair she was sitting upon, the other one straight out on the floor.

She looked so uncomfortable yet so adorable. Alex watched as her head began to slowly move from the side around to the back and she caught it quickly, still sleeping, and then returned it to the right. Her breathing would normal out and then once she would slip back into slumber, it would deepen again, her head beginning to roll once more, until the whole process was repeated—over and over again.

There had been no roll away cots available that evening and the brunette had sworn up and down that she was fine. That this was how she had to sleep many nights in the academy or in a police car and that it was no problem.

Alex watched Olivia's brow furrow then, her head tilting backward, mouth open and then catching it before it snapped back, her mouth moving now to try and rewet her tongue.

The blonde smiled and shook her head, mesmerized, just admiring her. She could watch Olivia all day, all night, if it were a requirement. She had no problem whatsoever just studying the beauty that was her wife.

Alex thought of how the brunette must have been feeling while she was gone, how she must have been a wreck before they found her, still trying to carry on and live life and take care of three small children. She thought of her own experiences when Olivia had been taken by William Lewis and how hopeless she felt and how full of despair she had been and how the thought of living the remainder of her life without ever getting to see her soulmate ever again was debilitating and crushing, to say the least.

She thought about how she thought she would die in that apartment. She thought of how it would feel to have her organs begin to shut down one by one and what it would feel like to slowly die.

She thought about dying without ever being able to tell the kids she loved them and that she knew they would be amazing people when they grew up and to follow their dreams and never quit. She thought of never being able to look into her wife's eyes again and tell her she loved her and make love to her one last time.

She thought of her parents and how her death would kill them, and how a parent should never have to outlive any of their children.

She thought of how precious life is and how those twenty-six hours that weren't her own, the hours that she didn't really belong to herself, the time that was taken from her in that period that she suffered, was going to make her stronger, more aware, more appreciative of every little thing around her.

She thought of how she would never take anything for granted ever again.

How she would love her wife with everything she had and never let a moment go by without Olivia knowing that she was her soulmate, the absolute only one for her, her reason for being. Her reason for existing. The reason for her happiness.

And then, as if by mental telepathy, Olivia's head became upright and she yawned, reaching her arms into the air and stretching, eyes closed tightly. She opened those deep brown, sleepy eyes and her focus went to her.

And Alex only smiled at her, feeling such extreme happiness, that she felt her eyes well with tears.

"Babe?" Olivia's concerned face then. She pushed the blanket off of her and left it on the chair as she stood and moved up to the bed. "What is it, Al? Are you in pain?" She blinked a few times, trying to wake herself up, her eyes sleepy.

Alex said nothing. She only shook her head and then inched her way to the edge of the bed, away from her wife on her back, her IV having been taken out hours ago, her fluids restored, and lifted the sheet and blanket and set them aside.

Olivia smiled then, blinking slowly. The brunette then toed off her boots and then sat on the edge before lifting her feet off of the floor and hiking them onto the bed. She turned and faced the blonde before slipping her legs beneath the covers. Olivia reached up and cupped her wife's face and only looked at her, smiling.

Alex felt a tear roll down her cheek. "This is gonna be hard, isn't it?" She raised her eyebrows.

Olivia studied her then, those warm, chocolate soulful eyes looking back and forth between her own. She then nodded slowly and took a deep breath, her own expression solemn. "Yeah, Al…" she whispered. "I won't lie to you…there will be some rough times, Babe."

Alex nodded, letting her eyes roam over the gorgeous, fatigued face in front of her. "And you'll be with me?" Alex questioned softly.

Olivia swallowed then, her lower lip trembling. "Every single step of the way, Alex."

Alex smiled and nodded, beginning to cry even harder. "Stay with me…here…tonight…"

And no more words were said. Olivia smiled and Alex turned over, placing her back to her wife and inching backward until she could feel her warmth, her body against her own. The brunette wrapped her arm around her and held her tightly. And Alex could feel her warm, gentle breathing against her ear.

This was going to be a challenging ride for both of them. Alex knew the ins and outs and ups and downs of cases like hers. But she knew that she would get through it with the love of everyone around her.

She felt her wife take a deep breath and let it out slowly behind her, tightening her hold on her midsection.

And, at that moment, as the serenity passed through her, that was all she needed.


Thank you for taking the time to read and review. It truly makes a difference.