Chapter 9

Hearing the door shut quietly behind him, Olivia closed her eyes, trying to regain the sleep she desperately needed. Waking up wasn't her best idea, for she was beginning to feel the pain of breathing again, despite broken ribs. She knew it wouldn't be too long before he came back in with a doctor, but she used the time to it's fullest potential.

"Well, they weren't kidding when they said you were a 'stubborn woman', Detective Benson."

At this comment, Liv made a sound in annoyance. Her five minutes of much desired sleep were interrupted, but she couldn't help smirking as she wondered who made the comment. Her bet was on either Munch or Fin.

The doctor put the rails of the bed down and leaned into her face with a bright light, which earned him another annoyed sound as Liv closed her eyes against the blinding light for a second before she gave it up, which earned her the worst headache she had ever had.

"Well, you have yourself a quite severe concussion, and your eyes are a bit sensitive from seeing so much light."

No fucking shit! She hadn't seen normal light since she disappeared. If he knew what her reaction would be before the test, what was the point in testing her? Would they leave her alone for a while? Her head was pounding like she had the worst hangover in history, and the lights and noise weren't helping either.

"The people that came in with you were very relieved when they got the news you woke up. None of them have left the building since they brought you in," said the doctor, as he started peeling away at the numerous bandages on Liv's arms (some of which made her wince.) "Especially the young man who has been in here with you the last few days. Now I see what everyone's been talking about. You really do live up to the stories I've heard, Ms. Benson."

Was this doctor seriously blind, or could he not see that Olivia wasn't in the mood for a conversation? Did he really think she was interesting in what went on while she was out? She looked around, a bit surprised that Elliot hadn't come in with the doctor. She guessed that he was the one who told the others she was finally awake.

"They beat you up pretty badly. You're on some pretty heavy antibiotics, but they don't seem to be getting rid of the infection. This may hurt a bit," he said, as he pulled away the last layer of bandage that stuck to her bruised and broken arm.

Liv hissed in obvious pain before turning to see how badly her arm was really broken. She knew it would be bad (well, why wouldn't it, seeing as what she had been through!) It hurt like a mother fucker, but when she actually saw it, it made her stomach turn over. The skin was a sickly purple-gray-yellow-green color with long red lines running up and down the length of her arm, the tell tale sign of a huge and possibly deadly infection. It was also swollen with numerous stitches running up her arm.

She remembered with horror, her captors breaking the bones in her arms one by one the first day. She could only remember up to about the seventh day, when they took a barbed whip to her bare back and cut her arm up like a fillet of fish, but she couldn't remember what the fuck happened to make her arm look the way it did.

"He said he told you how bad it was," said the doctor with an expression of sickening surprise.

"Yeah, he did. I just didn't think it was that bad," she said, realizing that it was stupid to think Elliot was exaggerating.

"We may have to do some more surgery in the next few days to get the infection under control," he continued.

"That's what he was saying."

"He's been worried about you. They all have, for that matter," he said.

"He always worries about me," she said. Was this guy really going to give her a lecture, right now? She's in the middle of recovery for Christ's sake!

"Hearing all the stories, I can see why he's always worried."

She didn't answer him, she just wanted desperately to go back to sleep.

"Is he a boyfriend of yours?"

"No, he's my partner." Did it really matter to this guy what relationship she had with him? Had he not been in uniform, that would be a dead giveaway at how far their relationship had gone. He couldn't be her boyfriend, her husband, or any of that. He was just a good friend and her partner. That would definitely change after she got out of the hospital, however.

"You should be very thankful for him and all of them," said the doctor, smiling, as he applied fresh bandages to her wounds.

"I know. I don-" She broke off when the doctor applied a fresh bandage to her shoulder. The pain in his touch caught her off guard. Who knew such a light touch could send so much blinding pain shooting up her arm, she had to bite down hard on her lip to keep from crying out in agony. She jerked her arm away, only to cause more blinding pain.

She squeezed her eyes tightly shut as her breaths became more and more shallow. It was a damn good thing Elliot hadn't been there to see the sudden burst of pain.

The doctor was amazed at such a strong reaction to such a light touch. When her body didn't seem to want to relax, he gave her another dose of morphine. Such sensitivity to light touches wasn't a good sign.

When, at long last, the doctor finally left an hour later, Elliot resumed his place next to Liv, who, he presumed was sleeping.

"Yes, Liv. What I said was true. All of it," he whispered. When he said this, Liv smiled...