What, two chapters in one day? Who even am I? I actually have time, it's a miracle.

I clearly underestimated, again, how much people care about this little story of mine. So, thank you for caring, and please accept this speedy update and my humble apologies for being such an evil little human!

PART TWO

Olivia tried to pay attention to the medical assistant's questions, but her eyes kept darting back to the closed door that hid Elliot from her sight. She couldn't believe he wasn't out of the woods yet, but she knew that she wouldn't let him face this alone. She had never seen him so scared, and it rattled her. More than she cared to admit.

"Ma'am?" She blinked, and looked back at the red-headed woman. "Your home phone number?"

"Oh," she said, trying to clear her head. "Right." She started to list off the number, but her voice faltered as the door came flying open. Dr. McAllister began barking orders to nurses, and suddenly the office was transformed in a whirlwind of rushing bodies and tense voices. What the hell?

She pushed forward, heart in her throat, and jumped back to avoid a crash cart. And then she saw Elliot. Slumped over in his chair, scarcely breathing, his face utterly lifeless. For a moment she couldn't breathe, couldn't think past the way he looked like death–but an instant later she had sprung forward, her cop instincts taking over. She rushed in, despite the objections of the nurses, and watched as Dr. McAllister ripped open his shirt. Buttons went flying, and he stuck an I.V. into her partner's chest.

"Get me two milligrams of adrenaline," he barked. A nurse stepped forward with the medicine. It went in, and–nothing. Elliot still wasn't moving. She stared at him in disbelief.

"What the hell happened?" She choked out. "He was gone for two minutes–"

Dr. McAllister turned to her, expression stony. She knew that look. She had seen it a million times; hell, she had even used it. But Olivia refused to believe it. There was no way.

"His condition was more serious than any of us realized. If I had known how bad the inflammation was–"

She cut him off with an order. "What happened?"

He met her gaze with a look that made her want to crumble. "He left the hospital against medical advice. He pushed through five days of normal activities in an extremely fragile state. The needle was, to his body, a tiny trauma that just pushed him over the edge. Essentially, his body put him back in a coma to try to protect him from further harm."

Her eyes fell to Elliot. She had never seen him so vulnerable, so frail… "It was just a needle," she whispered in a tinny voice that she didn't recognize. She was forced to step back as the paramedics came in, loading her partner of 12 years onto a stretcher and carting him out. She kept pace with them, Dr. McAllister by her side.

"We're going to do an MRI immediately, but my guess is that the inflammation in his brain has reached dangerous levels. We may need to operate."

"I'll sign whatever you want," she said, eyes desperately following Elliot as they pushed him into the test room, the place she couldn't follow. "Just fix him." She turned to the doctor, eyes beseeching. "You have to fix him."

He put a hand on her arm. "I'll do everything in my power, Sergeant. I promise."

As he walked away, a strange thought distracted her from Elliot for a brief moment. She had never told Dr. McAllister her rank, or even that she was a cop. Olivia bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, wracking her brain for a reasonable explanation, finding that she was unable to dismiss this minor discrepancy. Elliot could have told him. Except Elliot had never met the man before today, and even if he had, he wouldn't have known that she had made sergeant. So had he told the doctor when his blood was being drawn, or was she missing something? The thought shook her to her core. Elliot had been alone with Dr. McAllister for exactly two minutes, and now he was back in a coma. In that moment, Olivia knew that she couldn't let this go. It didn't matter if she was wrong. Her partner was lying helpless in a metal tube, about to have his brain cut open, and she would be damned if she didn't do everything in her power to take fate into her own hands. Turning on her heel, she retraced her steps and stormed back into Dr. McAllister's office, eyes sharp as she sought–she didn't know what, exactly. Someone who knew what the hell was going on.

"Can I help you?" It was the redheaded medical assistant again. Olivia scrutinized her while masking her suspicion with very real grief. It wasn't difficult to play the part of the grieving partner when it was all right under the surface.

"Um," she said, voice wavering. "My partner. The paramedics took him, and I…" She broke off tearfully. She was starting to attract a few stares. "Is he going to be okay?"

The woman's face softened. "Oh, honey. I'm sorry, but I don't know. Dr. McAllister will do everything he can, I do know that." Olivia sniffled, nodding. "Can I get you a water or a coffee or something?" Was she imagining things, or did this woman look desperately guilty?

She tried to shake her head. "Oh, you don't have to, I'm–" She closed her eyes and took a shuddering breath. "I'm fine, really."

The woman shook her head, and brought Olivia over to a chair. "I'll be right back," she promised. "It'll just be a minute."

Left alone, Olivia was free to let her teary eyes wander over the entirety of the office. She realized that an Asian girl was shooting nervous glances at her, and when Olivia caught her eyes, her face turned the color of a tomato. Her whole being seized on this detail, and her mind worked furiously to come up with a way of interrogating her. Olivia watched her walk close out of the corner of her eye, and was just about to pounce when the girl thrust a note into her hands. She didn't meet Olivia's eyes, just kept walking stiffly out the door. She jumped up to chase her, but the medical assistant was back with a steaming cup of coffee.

"Here you go," she said as Olivia hid the paper in her fist and accepted the coffee. She attempted to smile gratefully, and listened to the various platitudes as her mind raced ahead of her. Something was definitely going on here. After a minute, she looked up.

"Could you tell me where the bathroom is?" She asked apologetically, gesturing to her face. "I think I've ruined my makeup. I probably look like a raccoon." Like she gave a damn. But the woman cheerfully accepted this idea, and pointed down the hallway. With a thank you, Olivia was on her way as quickly as she could, slamming the door shut behind her. With hands made clumsy from desperation, she unfolded the note as rapidly as she could:

You should ask for a new doctor.

She sucked in a long breath. Her instincts hadn't been wrong, then. What was this man doing to Elliot? She tore the note into tiny pieces as she considered how best to proceed. If she just confronted him and asked for a new doctor, it was possible he might seriously injure Elliot. If she just took Elliot away from him, pushed him out on a gurney herself, he might die on her untrained hands. No, she couldn't do that. She needed to find the girl who had given her this note and find out what was really going on. She flushed the remnants of the paper down the toilet and turned to the door, before remembering that she was supposed to fix her makeup. She swiped quickly under her eyes with a paper towel and ran out.

Avoiding the woman who had given her coffee, she scanned the office, but didn't see the nurse she was looking for. Trying not to think about what might be happening to Elliot, she rushed out the door and searched the hallways as best she could. Nothing. The hospital was huge, and she was starting to feel helpless, asking random strangers about the nurses in Dr. McAllister's office to no avail. Where would she be? It occurred to Olivia that the nurse was probably hiding from her, worried about the repercussions from her small act of rebellion. So where would she go? On an impulse, she ran to the roof, opening every supply closet and poking her head into various rooms along her way. She took the stairs two at a time, and finally made it to the top of the building. Bitterly cold air blew around her as she squinted through the sunlight, trying to locate the elusive nurse. Her fists curled, eyes crashing closed as she realized that she was alone. Elliot was going to die because she couldn't find the damned nurse.

"Olivia?"

She whirled around, wild-eyed, and the breath went out of her when she saw the nurse. She was young, almost too young to be working, and her dark eyes were pained. "You," Olivia rasped. "Why do I need to ask for a new doctor?"

The girl winced. "I…" Olivia tried to remind herself to be patient. This was probably difficult for the girl, but for God's sakes, she didn't know how long Elliot had.

She stepped forward, closing the distance between them, and looked into her eyes. "Please," Olivia asked quietly. "I need your help. Elliot needs your help."

She blinked, startled. "I guess you've already figured it out, then, haven't you? Dr. McAllister...When your partner came in, Dr. McAllister decided to put him in a medically induced coma to help his brain heal. Only…"

Olivia stared at her, not breathing, so still she probably could have been mistaken for a statue. "Only?" She needed this answer. Needed it so badly it ached with every inch of her heart.

The girl looked down. "When the swelling went down, he didn't ease him off of the medication. He just kept pumping him full of it, for months, and I would ask him why and he would give me some long-winded medical explanation, but I'm in medical school, and what he was saying didn't make any sense, and this went on for years and–" She broke off, taking a break and shaking her head. "Dr. McAllister had a family emergency a few months ago. He had to leave. It was me. I let Elliot wake up, and now Dr. McAllister's going to kill him."

It's up to Olivia to save Elliot now.

Also, SORRY ABOUT THE CLIFFIE. IT'S JUST WHO I AM. Don't hate me? Thanks for reading xx