Amanda returned five minutes later, accompanied by the nurse they were all now familiar with. Both were moving quickly, knowing that they were nearing the end.

"Alright, Olivia. Dr. Dawson is finishing up with another patient right now." The nurse told her. "So she will be here as quickly as she can."

Olivia nodded at her, but was secretly cursing that idea of having to wait any longer. The pain from every contraction and the intense pressure making her feel the need to bare down was slowly breaking her. She had known that labor was painful and long and not considerably easy, but she had no idea how difficult it would be for her to even breathe through it, let alone hold on to any energy.

Within fifteen minutes, Dr. Dawson finally walked through the hospital room door. "Okay, Olivia, let's check you real quick and get going."

While handling a contraction, the doctor made her even more uncomfortable in order to check that she was completely dilated, which of course she was.

But before Dr. Dawson let Olivia start, she had to explain a few things to her patient. "So, Olivia, I need to let you know that there will be a team from the NICU in the room while you deliver, so that they can take the baby once they're born."

"Why? Is something wrong?" Liv asked, scared of what it all meant.

"We don't know that anything is wrong." Dr. Dawson explained. "From watching your monitors and the ultrasound we did earlier, we have not noticed any abnormalities, but there are some things we won't know until after the baby is born."

The conversation ceased for a few moments as Olivia grasped at Cragen's hand, letting out shallow breaths during a contraction.

"So if we don't know that anything is wrong, why do the NICU people need to be in here?" Amanda asked for her sergeant.

"It's precautionary." The doctor said. "At six weeks early it's hard to predict what complications we might come across. If, and we always hope this isn't the case, something more major than we expected arises, then we can be prepared to take immediate action."

Olivia was now joining the conversation again. "What if there is something really wrong?"

Dr. Dawson gently leaned over the side of the hospital bed and looked Liv in the eyes. "Right now, I don't want you to worry about that. Everyone who could possibly help the baby will be in here. Right now we're going to worry about finally meeting this baby."

With those words, the doctor walked away from the bed. She went to wash her hands and then dawned a plastic gown over her scrubs, ready for the delivery.

"We're going to take this at a nice pace, Olivia."

Dr. Dawson was sitting at the end of the bed. The nurse who had come in with Amanda was also standing towards the end of the bed with another nurse. They were both there to help Olivia stay in the best position for her to deliver quickly. Amanda and Cragen were there as well, but both stood near the top of the hospital bed. They both had no desire to be involved in the actual delivery, but they both wanted to be able to encourage Olivia the best they could.

"When you have your next contraction Olivia I need you to give me a nice big push." The doctor said.

With the next half an hour of contractions, Liv pushed with each one, hoping to get closer to being done.

"Another one Olivia." Dr. Dawson encouraged her.

With her chin making contact with her chest and her eyes shut, Olivia pushed as hard as she could.

"Very good, Olivia." The doctor encouraged her. "Now, I need you to just breath through the next contraction, okay?"

"Why?" Liv asked out of breath. As exhausted as she was, she couldn't stop, the pain was too much to handle if she wasn't pushing.

"You're contractions are too close together, which is hard on you and the baby. We need to let your body and the baby recover between pushes now."

However, when the contraction hit, Olivia didn't think she could do it. She gripped the plastic railings of the hospital bed so hard that her fists were white. She clenched her teeth until they hurt and when it was finally over she felt drained of all her strength.

"Good." Dr. Dawson saw her patient weaken. "I need you to push as hard as you can for me now, Olivia."

Cragen quickly slipped his hand into Olivia's and placed his other hand behind her back to support her. When she bore down, Liv held on tightly to the man's hand and used all the strength she could muster.

"Oohhh…" Liv let out an extended moan of pain as she felt like her lower half was ripping into shreds.

"That's it Olivia. The head's out." Dr. Dawson smiled at the brunette, trying to give any form of encouragement she could. "I'm going to let you stop pushing for your next contraction."

But this time Olivia just couldn't do it. She was sweating and panting, completely out of breath. She could feel her body shaking with exhaustion and pain and all she wanted to do was scream when it all heightened as the contraction hit its peak. Her whole body was radiating with more pain than she thought possible. She was done, she needed to be done.

Cragen could barely force himself to watch. He had seen this woman go through hell before, but this was so much worse. And with so many other factors playing into Olivia's pain, both physical and emotional, he felt helpless.

"You're doing so great Olivia." Liv turned her head to look at the older man and he saw the tears in her eyes. "You're almost there, you're so close. Do this for that baby, Liv."

"Alright, push again for me Olivia." Dr. Dawson announced as she saw another contraction quickly approaching.

After the doctor spoke, Amanda quickly followed suit with her former captain. She grabbed Olivia's other hand, allowing her to squeeze it as hard as she needed to.

"That's it, Liv. Keep going." Amanda threw the encouraging words at Olivia hoping they would help in even the littlest way.

"Olivia this is it. One more push."

With all of the energy and strength she could pull from herself, Olivia brought her chin to her chest, Cragen and Amanda helping to support her, and pushed as hard as she possibly could. But she stopped when she finally felt the relief she had been praying for.

From where she lay, Olivia watched as Dr. Dawson gently grabbed the baby, as they finally left their mother's womb and made their way into the world.

"It's a boy, Olivia."

But that was all the new mom heard, as her son was whisked away quickly to where the NICU team waited for him. They began to work and Olivia began to worry.

"Is he okay?" Liv stumbled over her words, a lump forming in her throat.

Dr. Dawson moved to the side of the bed to talk to her patient while the baby was treated. "They're doing what they need to do for him right now."

"Why isn't he crying? What's wrong?" Olivia cried.

"They are doing everything they can. They will figure it out." Dr. Dawson assured her, but knew that it was doing very little to console her.

And then they heard it. It wasn't loud, but it was there. Quiet and small, the newborn let out a tiny cry. It was like music to the mom's ears.

"There we go." Amanda smiled at her commanding officer, who still looked at her with eyes that screamed worry.

Then the doctors and nurses from the NICU started to talk and they were moving around. Olivia watched as they moved her son from where lay, into an enclosed incubator. He had a little oxygen mask placed over his nose and mouth. But he was tiny, so tiny. He had a little bit of dark hair covering his head, but besides that the mom couldn't make out any other distinguishing features of her son.

With her eyes glued to her son, Olivia didn't even notice the NICU doctor walk up to the bed, until he spoke. "Ms. Benson, we're going to take your son down to the neonatal unit. We will have someone keep you updated." That was all he said before he left with the others and the incubator holding the baby.

In the next ten minutes everyone cleared out of the room and it was filled with silence. Amanda and Cragen were still standing at either side of Olivia's bed, but they didn't say anything. They weren't sure what they could say.

"What if he's not okay?" Liv looked from Amanda to Cragen, hoping for an answer.

"You can't think like that Olivia." Amanda said to her. She knew how easily the older woman could bring herself down.

"We have to stay positive. I'm sure he'll be just fine." Cragen would have given anything in that moment to help Olivia and her little boy.

"He has to be okay."

There was nothing else left. She had been violated and then violated again. She had the only man that she had ever really loved taken from her in the blink of an eye. Everything had fallen apart and it just kept crumbling. Her son was the one thing Liv had left and if something happened, if something happened to her baby, she didn't think she could hold on any longer.

* Here it is. Reviews, please! *