I own no one but my own people
A/N Wow! Like seriously in shock over how many people didn't flame me for not only bringing Elliot in but also making sure you know it's not an EO. Your support seriously means the world to me, you guys. Like not even joking around, it really does. I love that you guys trust me enough to continue reading this. Anyway, sorry for the long update wait but I was stuck HARD on this chapter. And when I mean stuck, I mean freaking wrote like 100 words and then would be like '...well what the hell do I write now?" for like HOURS before my finger touched a key again.
I hate when that happens BUT I promise not to let it happen again. I love you all. Please read, review, and enjoy. But mostly enjoy :-) And little shout out to 'Annie Atom'. I hope you feel better :-)
Amanda had never had to make, return, and receive as many calls as she did that day. From the squad demanding every five minutes as to how Olivia was, Elliot calling her up every six minutes to ask if she was still okay, to Brian's mother, who she had finally found via Olivia's phone contacts after a long phone tag between her and Amaro, calling every minute or so to tell Amanda she was on her way and to tell Brian to hold on.
An hour had passed and Amanda had just gotten off the phone with Fin and Cragen who told her they had no information on where Lewis was hiding and Olivia telling them they had given no further evidence when someone call but crashed through the ER doors and stormed up to nurses station.
"I'm Elliot Stabler, Olivia Benson's emergency contact; how is she?"
Amanda swallowed hard as she got up from her waiting room chair to approach him.
"I'm not sure but I need-."
"So go find out." He waited a moment as the nurse stood there, stunned for a moment at the demands of the random man. "Go. Now!"
He barked the last word at the innocent nurse and slammed his hand down on the desk, frightening the nurse who jumped back and hurried off to find information on Olivia.
Amanda took a deep breath as she cleared her throat. "Mr. Stabler?"
Elliot turned towards her and raised his brow as Amanda almost cowered under his intense gaze. "I'm Detective Rollins, I'm-."
"Are you her partner?" he interrupted bluntly.
"Um, no, that would be Detective Amaro. He's at her apartment right now."
"Why isn't he here?"
"Well... I mean Captain Cragen ordered him to stay."
"Call him. Tell him to get his ass here now. I wanna know why the hell he wasn't looking out for her."
Amanda felt a stab of annoyance. "He did."
Elliot scoffed in disbelief and crossed his arms in front of his well built chest, narrowing his eyes in fury at the blonde. "He's her partner and he let her get attacked. In my book that's not having her back."
"He didn't intentionally let anything happen to her," said Amanda with an edge in her voice. "There was no threat, there was no indication that he was gonna attack her. Yeah he had a hard on for her but that's about seventy five percent of the perps."
"It doesn't matter. He's her partner and he let her get raped." Elliot shook his head and began to pace the hospital floor. "I knew something bad was gonna happen if I left. I knew she couldn't handle herself without me."
"She can handle herself just fine." Amanda was trying to hold back her anger but the more Elliot spoke, the more annoyed she got. How the hell did Olivia put up with him all these years?
"This is the second time someone has gotten the better of her and both times I wasn't there. Do you see the underlying factor or am I going to have to break it down even further for you?"
Amanda scoffed in disbelief. "How the hell did she put up with you for twelve years?"
"I rarely said or did that much stupid shit and she returned the favor."
"Well right now you're being a dick."
"Yeah well, I'm kind of having a bad day here."
"That's my friend in there too so don't act like you have the corner market on bad feelings right now!"
"I was best friends and partners with her for twelve years, you've known her for two... Sorry, doesn't compare."
Sometime during the argument, the nurse he had scared earlier had returned. "Mr. Sta- Stabler?" she stammered.
Both Amanda and Elliot turned towards the nurse who swallowed hard before she spoke. "Ms. Benson-."
"She's a Detective, get it straight," Elliot barked at the older woman.
Amanda glared at the man standing beside her but ultimately kept her mouth shut because he actually happened to be right.
Fear shone in her dark green eyes. "Sorry," the nurse told him with a slight mutter, "the Doctors say operations are gonna be a little while longer. She had a lot of internal bleeding not to mention the 2nd degree burns over her body and the physical abuse she suffered..."
"But she'll survive this?" asked Elliot with a touch of fear in his tone that the nurse would tell him anything but yes, something that didn't go unseen by Amanda.
"As of now yes," the nurse told him much to Amanda and Elliot's relaxation. "Her major issues when she arrived was shock and blood loss. We got both mostly under control so really the only thing left to do is treat the less serious injuries. Burns, sprained wrist, twisted ankle... Those sort of things. She should be awake within two or three hours."
Elliot breathed a sigh of relief and Amanda was shocked at the smile that graced Olivia's old partners face but disappeared as soon as she could confirm Elliot Stabler was actually smiling.
"Thank you," Amanda said with a soft smile. "Has anyone given her a rape kit?"
The nurse nodded. "The surgeon wanted to concentrate on the internal bleeding before we began it but they did do the exam afterwards."
While Amanda thought a 'thank you' was necessary due to the fact the Doctors had actually given enough thought to do a rape kit without being ordered but Elliot threw a glare at the messenger. "But it's all been compromised because of your doctors screwing around down there," he snapped.
"They saved her and we got more then enough evidence," Amanda countered. "They thought enough to do it without someone asking them too, they deserve a thank you."
"They can't do two things at once?"
Amanda rolled her eyes at his obnoxious behavior before she turned back towards the nurse who shifted nervously in her spot. "Do you know anything about the man who was brought in right after her? Brian Cassidy?"
Elliot narrowed his eyes in confusion but remained silent as the nurse shook her head. "I'm not sure but I can find out."
Amanda gave her a brief smile. "That would be very helpful, thank you."
The nurse returned the grin before she turned and walked away."
"Brian Cassidy?" muttered Elliot when the nurse had left. "Who's that? Is he the guy that did it?"
Amanda cast a glance at him. "You... you don't remember him?"
"No. Why?"
"You worked with him...? Fourteen years ago...? They had a one night stand...?"
Realization dawned on his face and his jaw dropped. "Brian Cassidy? THAT Brian Cassidy?"
Amanda nodded and Elliot's brow furrowed in confusion "What the hell does he have to do with anything involving Olivia's attack?"
"They've been dating since September. He was at her apartment when we found her, his head was completely bashed in."
Elliot narrowed his eyes in what could have been anger or confusion and crossed his arms once more. "She's dating?"
"Yeah." Amanda shrugged. "They seem pretty happy together."
"She couldn't stand Cassidy when they slept together. What the hell changed?"
"I don't know but they're happy together."
He scoffed in disbelief earning another glare from Amanda. "I doubt that."
"They love each other."
Elliot's face fell more and Amanda narrowed her eyes in confusion. "She's in a healthy relationship. I thought you'd be happy for her."
Elliot shook his head and began to pace again. "You don't get it."
"Get what?" Amanda snapped.
"She's my... she was my partner."
"And now she's Brian Cassidy's girlfriend."
Elliot rolled her eyes once more. "Goddamn Redneck idiots," he muttered just loud enough for Amanda to hear.
"I'm sorry?" Amanda snapped with a fire in her eyes.
"Look, you just don't get it," Elliot challenged.
Amanda opened her mouth to argue with him when the nurse returned, this time with a man in surgical scrubs looking forlorn. Both Amanda and Elliot turned towards the pair of medical professionals and their faces fell when they saw them. "What?" Amanda demanded. "What happened? Is Brian okay?"
"My name's Dr. Payton, I'm the lead neurosurgeon on Mr. Cassidy," the Doctor introduced himself. "I thought it would be best if you heard the news from me."
"Why? What news, what's wrong?" demanded Amanda, suddenly nervous about the next words that was going to leave the Doctors mouth. "Is Brian okay?"
"He suffered a lot of head trauma in the attack and his brain swelled to a dangerous magnitude We're trying to relieve the swelling but so far no luck."
Amanda's face fell and she felt tears prick at her eyes. "So... so that means that.. that Brian... he's in a coma?"
"We're doing everything we can to try to reduce the swelling in his brain," Payton repeated gently. "But even if we do and he does wake up, which again at this point it's completely up in the air, there's no telling what kind of neurological damage he suffered. He could be perfectly fine, he could by physically damaged, he may be neurologically damaged... we're just not sure at this point."
"So you're failing at getting the swelling down and you're not sure what kind of lasting repercussions this might have... you're just not sure of anything at the moment are you?" Elliot snapped. This time Amanda didn't argue.
"I'm sorry," he told them with as much honesty as he could show. "I'll come out later after we're done with surgery and let you know how it went."
"Okay that rape victim who also came in? That's his girlfriend," Amanda explained. "When she wakes up, you can't tell her what happened to him. She's got enough to deal with already without that. Just tell her he's fine but she can't see him until you get a definite answer."
"She's not my patient."
"Then pass it along to whatever doctor's patient she is," Elliot told him while leaving no room for argument. "She doesn't get told he's in a coma, do you understand?"
The surgeon bit his lip to keep from arguing and instead simply gave a curt nod and walked away with the nurse in tow and both Amanda and Elliot staring after them
6 Days Earlier
Olivia saw visions of flames as tall as buildings burning hotter then anything, man made or otherwise, anyone had ever felt surrounding her while she screamed for help that went unanswered.
Olivia spun around frantically, trying to find some exit from the towering inferno but there was no escape and ever so slowly, a face appeared in the hellish vision. William Lewis' face, and he was smiling that sadistic cruel grin at her that made her scream even louder. Slowly the Lewis flames moved in closer and closer until they finally engulfed her entirely and the fire licked every single inch of her now blackened and charred skin...
Olivia awoke with a scream that would have woken the dead. She thrashed wildly as she struggled to untangle herself from her sheets and blanket and fell out of bed, slamming her knee against her bedside drawer for her troubles.
She quickly stood up from the floor, panting and gasping for breath, her entire body trembling and soaked with a cold sweat. She at once felt her skin for any burns or scars but found nothing except the one scar on her upper thigh she was more then used to by now.
Once she was sure that her body hadn't been burnt in the hellish flames her mind had crated she sat down on the bed and wrapped a slightly damp blanket around herself as tears slowly made their way down her face. After she had calmed down some she glanced at her clock and winced. It was only four thirty. She had been asleep for an hour and a half after she had gotten home.
She normally would have slept at the crib if she was allowed less then five hours of sleep per night, as she was in this case, but the thought of sleeping under the same roof as Lewis disgusted her.
The moment her head hit the pillow she was out like a light. But to her dismay her dreams had other plans then a good nights rest.
After her heart had stopped pounding against her chest and she could actually breathe again Olivia slowly stood up and made her way to the bathroom. She splashed some cold water on her face and took several deep breaths as she leaned against the sink. She glanced up at her reflection in the mirror and took a deep breath as she ran a hand through her hair now matted with sweat and the abuse of a long days work.
Olivia took another deep breath as she reached in her medicine cabinet and reached for her bottle of sleeping pills but stopped when her fingers grazed the tiny orange bottle.
Back when she was seeing her psychiatrist for what had happened at Sealview she had given her a prescription for it with 10 refill orders for twenty five pills apiece.
Olivia was on her sixth refill since 2008.
She rarely took them and when she did, it was no more then half a pill or a whole one if it was a serious enough case and she never needed more then one pill for a single case but this guy had gotten to her bad and she hated that.
She didn't want to take the pill. She already had the nightmare and if she took it now she knew she would just end up feeling grouch and sluggish the whole next day because she had to get up in an hour and a half and fight against the effects of the sleeping pills.
With a groan Olivia took her hand away from her sleeping pills and instead chose the over the counter Tylenol for the headache that she knew she'd be having later.
Shew washed it down with a quick cup of water before she headed out into the kitchen and flipped the lights on and immediately headed over to the coffee pot.
After she put in the heavenly smelling grounds and the water into the machine she wasn't able to understand how they functioned in life without, she sat at the table and picked up several brochures she had been looking at several nights before.
Calvin was going to be spending two weeks with her this summer and it would be his first time meeting Brian. She wanted to make it perfect for both of them.
She just had no idea what they were gonna do.
Olivia only got to see him a handful of times each year She would have loved to see more of him and viceaversa but she and Calvin both had to twist their arms and beg and plead for that short amount. But one of the bigger problems was she had no idea what he was into now.
Brian had suggested paint balling and laser tag but that was only two days out of fourteen and she wanted to make every day she had with him a memory so she had reserved a campsite upstate next to a beach for three days, gotten them tickets to the largest outdoor water park in New York, and got them signed up for paint balling and laser tag but other then that she was completely lost.
Olivia searched over the different brochures she had collected from various places for a few more minutes before she came to the same conclusion she came to every time Calvin came up to visit.
She would tell him their options and let him choose.
The detective threw them down with a groan and got back up to pour herself a cup of coffee before she sat back down again.
She slowly sipped on the liquid inside the cup as she read over the brochures again and by the time she was done with her second cup it was finally time for her to start getting ready.
As she set all the brochures down on the table she couldn't help but smile. Even if she didn't have every detail down to the firmest extent and she only got him for two weeks, she knew this was going to be the best summer she was ever gonna have.
I know this chapter was like wicked slow and I was slow to update and I'm sorry but I PROMISE next chapter will be done a lot quicker and will have a lot more oomph. Please Review :-)