She comes to minutes later and clenches her eyes shut at the blinding sunlight pouring in from their bay window. She cries out when lightning hot pain shoots through her abdomen. "No," she cries "No." My babies, she thinks. She reaches down and touches herself. She pulls back a shaky hand, her fingertips covered in blood. "No," she whimpers and cries out loud when the pain shoots through her again. She gathers up what little strength she has and drags her body across their hard wood floors. She reaches an end table in the living room, out of breath and in more pain than she ever thought possible. She stretches up a shaky hand and feels around until she knocks over the cordless. It falls to the floor and she quickly picks it up and attempts to dial. The numbers swirl in front of her as she feels herself beginning to fade. She manages to dial three little numbers before she gives in and falls into unconsciousness.
xXx
The next time she comes to the light is still blinding, but this time it's a different light, this light is overhead and this time she's moving.
"Ma'am. Ma'am," someone calls loudly.
She groans.
"Ma'am, my name is Jennifer. Can you tell me your name?"
"Olivia," she breathes in to the oxygen mask on her face.
"Olivia what, Ma'am?"
"My husband," she mumbles.
"What?"
"He's a cop. Stabler. Works at the 1-6."
"Your husband is a cop?"
She tries to nod, but realizes that she's been strapped down, her neck and head completely immobilized. "The 1-6. Stabler," she mumbles, and then she's gone.
xXx
"Stabler, what are you doing here? I thought you called out," Munch says when he sees Elliot saunter into the squad room.
"Just when I thought it was going to be a good day," Fin mumbles.
"Haha," Elliot deadpans as he passes Fin's desk. "I know, I did. Traffic out there is a bitch. What are they fixing now?"
"Who knows?" Fin mumbles.
"I'm just picking up some files to do at home. Try to get some work done."
"How's the lovely wife."
He shuffles through the files on his desk and stacks up a few. "She's doing good. I better hurry up and get back to her before she wakes up. Have you seen the Scheffler file?"
"It's a miracle you can find anything in that mess," Fin grumbles.
"I know where everything is."
"Yea, that's why you're asking us," Fin snarks. "Because you know where everything is."
He shifts a few more files around. "Maybe the Captain has it," he heads over to the man's office and knocks on the door before entering. "Hey, Capt. You have the Scheffler file?"
Cragen hangs up the phone and Elliot can tell by the look on his face that something is wrong. "Capt?" Elliot questions.
"It's Olivia."
xXx
Olivia cries out as another contraction rips through her. Nurses and doctors bustle in and out of the trauma room. One sits between her legs, telling another doctor how many centimeters she's dilated. Another attends to the wound above her right eye. Another reads her stats off the many monitors they have on her.
She's scared.
They all talk to her without really telling her anything.
All they tell her is to calm down. That everything will be fine.
She would like nothing more than to believe them, but the pain hasn't subsided since she's gotten here. It's only seemed to intensify, and the urge to push seems to overwhelm her.
But it's too early.
They say twins come early, but thirty-two weeks is still too early.
They're not ready. The room isn't done. The furniture hasn't been assembled and neither has the crib. The bottles haven't been sterilized. They haven't installed the car seats. They haven't even picked out outfits to bring the babies home in.
She is relieved when Dr. Mark Phillips comes in and takes charge. "I need vitals on all three of my patients," he tells them, and they only seem to eye him with contempt. "NOW," he orders.
"Dr. Phillips, we understand your this is your patient, but we're all qualified and working towards the same goal."
"You're right. We are all qualified, but this is my patient. This has been a difficult pregnancy full of complications, none of which any of you know of, and none of which I have the time to explain to you. You want to get into a pissing match, fine. But now is not the time. Now is the time for me to do my job and take care of my patient. So, can I get some vitals, now."
They hand him charts. "We already paged O.B; they should be someone coming down any minute."
"Call them back tell them to send Dr. Stevens. I need a surgeon, not an intern. And when she asks why, tell her her husband is asking for her help."
Olivia lowers her mask, "Mark," she calls.
He takes her hand in his and places the mask back on her face. "Olivia, hey, how're you holding up?"
"Elliot."
"Has someone called her husband?"
"Yes, he's on his way."
"See he's coming."
A contraction tears through her and she clenches the doctor's hand in hers. "I need to push," she pants.
"No, Olivia. Whatever you do. Don't. Push."
"Baby B, is in distress," one of the doctors call.
"Shit. Let's get her up to the O.R. now!"
"What's going on?" she asks as they begin wheeling her away.
"One of the babies, isn't doing too well. We have to get them out now."
"But, Elliot-"
"I know, but if we don't get these babies out within the next ten minutes, they might die."
xXx
Elliot slams down on his horn. There's some kind of construction going on up ahead and it's caused a gridlock several blocks back. He took one of the sedans, but his siren isn't getting him anywhere in this traffic. His mind is racing a mile a minute. He doesn't know what happened, he doesn't know what's going on. He knew something was wrong when he left that morning, and he left anyway. He slams on the horn one more time, then gives in.
He gets out of the car and he runs.
Runs.
He dodges pedestrians, cars, and street venders his mind focused on reaching his goal.
Faster.
His feet hit the pavement faster than they ever have before. He can feel his breath escape him but his lungs gasp.
Faster.
Harder.
His heart beats harder in his chest, he can hear the pounding in his ears. He can feel the adrenaline course through his veins. He can feel the burning as the lactic acid builds up in the overworked muscles of his theighs.
He must get there.
He has no other choice.
He hears sirens and knows he is nearing the hospital.
He dodges a homeless man, a jogger, a mother walking her baby on this warm April morning, and then he finally sees the building he's been heading towards. Blocks away.
He must get there.
He has no other choice.
xXx
Olivia lays on the operating table as the doctors and nurses rush around her. They're trying to get the babies out as soon as possible. They drape her exposed body with thin blue paper sheets. She can feel the coldness of the iodine as they rub it on her stomach. The anesthesiologist above her head pushes drugs into the IV in her arm and she quickly loses all feeling below her chest.
She's scared, and worst of all: Elliot is not here.
He had been big on being there for every appointment. Every sonogram. Registering for her baby shower. He wanted to be there for everything. He wanted them to do this together, and now he was going to miss the biggest part.
She closes her eyes and finally allows her tears to bleed through.
"Shhh," he says and wipes away her tears. "I'm right here."
"Elliot?" she asks and opens her eyes to see a blurry figure dressed in blue.
"Yea it's me," he says and kisses her temple.
She looks over at him and can see he's dressed in scrubs complete with foam cap and mask. "I didn't think you'd make it."
"Please. How could I miss this?"
"I'm sorry," she sobs.
"Shhh. Don't cry, Liv. You did nothing wrong." A nurse brings over a stool and he sits down beside her.
"Getting started," Mark calls, and they both sit quietly and wait for the cries of their children.
They don't have to wait long.
A soft wail fills the room and Olivia releases tears of joy.
"Elliot, come cut the cord, hurry" Mark tells him. He walks over and is back seconds later.
"It's a boy!" Elliot exclaims, and his eyes are so bright and so happy she can't help but smile.
"Alright Olivia, Baby B is really in there so you're going to feel some pressure."
"Ok," she replies. Elliot stays by her side and she groans when she does feel said pressure.
"You're doing great," Elliot tells her. "Just a few more seconds."
She gasps at the amount of pressure being exerted on her, and she tries her best to hold it together because she knows Elliot is terrified at this point and she doesn't want to scare him more.
"Elliot," Mark calls, and Elliot stands.
She waits with bated breath and then…
Another soft wail fills the room.
"Two boys," he smiles. "Boys!"
"I couldn't wait to see your face."
"You knew?"
"I saw when I had the surgery. I wanted you to be surprised."
"I love you so much," he tells her and kisses her on the lips.
"Me too. Can I see them?"
"Hold on, let me go see."
He walks over and he can tell by the frantic way they're moving that everything is Not Ok. One of them is a deathly shade of blue. "What's going on?" he asks and no one answers him.
"El?" she calls.
"Why's he blue?" he asks them.
"We need to run some tests on your sons," one of the doctors says as the others load them into separate incubators.
"Where are you taking them?"
"The NICU."
"Elliot?" Olivia calls.
He walks over to her. "They're taking them to the NICU."
"I heard you say, say something about being blue?" she stutters.
"They're going to run some tests."
"Go with them," she says as she tries to keep her eyes open. She can feel herself beginning to fade.
"No, I want to stay with you."
"They shouldn't be alone. Go with them."
"Alright. I'll be right back."
She nods. "I love you," she calls to his retreating form.
"Love you too," he tells her and follows behind the doctors and nurses as they wheel away their sons.
She watches him go and then finally gives in and lets the darkness consume her.
xXx
Elliot returns only minutes later after finding out that he can't be with their children while they run their tests, but the doctors assure him that they will inform him as soon as they know anything. He re-enters the operating room and stopped in his tracks by the horrible scene before his eyes.
His wife's blood coats the doctors' arms and body. It stains and trails down the blue sheets to pool around the doctors' feet.
"Hang another unit of type A, and page Dr. Marshall, I need another set of hands," the female doctor calls.
"Olivia?"
Mark looks up, "Someone get him out of here!"
"No! I want to know what's going on," Elliot says and shakes off the nurses' hands.
"Elliot, I can't argue with you right now. We're trying to save your wife's life right now, and we can't do that with you in the room, so I need you to go. Now!"
He glances at the doctor and then his wife. He knows he's right. He stares at Olivia, now intubated on the table, one more time and follows the nurse out to the O.R waiting room where he finds Casey waiting. "Cragen called me as soon as you left. What's going on?"
"I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"The babies are in the NICU and Olivia's still in the OR."
"What do you need me to do?"
"Get Kayla, and my kids. Call Kathy. Ask her to pick them up. Get Kayla and keep her for me. You have your key?"
"Yea. Yea. Call me as soon as you know anything?"
"Yea. Yea, I'll do that."
He sits in the waiting room and it's not long before Mark comes out. He quickly stands and meets him. "What's going on?"
Mark shakes his head. "I'm so sorry."
"No," he shakes his head. "No. Don't."
"She's not dead, Elliot, but she's hemorrhaging, and it's bad. We're running out of options. She's losing blood faster than we can put it in."
"I don't understand. It's a C-section. You guys do this all the time."
"Yes, but complications can always arise. We think it has to do with the fall."
"Well, then fix them! Fix it. Fix her. That's what you do. I catch criminals and you save lives. So do your job and save my wife."
Mark stares at him with sincere blue eyes. "Elliot, we both know it's not that simple. We may be able to keep her alive long enough for you to say goodbye."
"No," he says and he does nothing to hide his tears. "Look, I don't like you, and I haven't hesitated to make that known, but she likes you. She trusts you. She believes in your skills. Now I need you to make good on that and do something. Anything. Just don't let her die. Please. Don't let her die."
Mark sighs, knowing that Elliot will not take no for an answer. "I'll do my best," he says and heads on his way.
Elliot takes his seat back in the waiting room area and begins to pray. It's not long before he's met with another doctor. "Mr. Stabler?" she calls.
"Yea?"
"I'm here to talk to you about your son's condition."
"What's wrong?"
"Your son displayed a bluish color. It's from a heart condition known as a Septal defect. Essentially, there's a hole your son's heart. As a result, his blood isn't circulating properly to the rest of his body, hence the blue color. It's also causing his heart to work overtime. We need to perform surgery to correct this immediately."
"But…but he was just born minutes ago. You want him to have open heart surgery?"
"With the other complications… The TTTS, being premature. We're not sure how long he can survive without the surgery."
"Can't the surgery kill him since he's premature?"
"There is that chance yes."
"So he's too weak to live without the surgery, and he may be too weak to live through it."
"I know this isn't easy for you Mr. Stabler."
"Well, I can't make this decision without my wife."
"Sir, your son can't wait," she says and delicately hands him a clip board. "Please, Mr. Stabler," he stares down at the form in front of him and picks up the pen. He signs his name then hands it back to her.
"Thank you, Mr. Stabler. I'll come out and update you periodically."
"Thanks." He watches her enter through the O.R doors and Mark exit. He stands to meet him. "What's wrong?"
"We think we have one more way to try and save your wife."
"What?"
"A hysterectomy. Her uterus isn't clotting, which is causing the hemorrhaging."
"If you perform a hysterectomy, that means…"
"She won't be able to have anymore children."
"I can't. I-I. She'll never forgive me."
"She'll be dead otherwise." A nurse brings over a clipboard. "I need you to sign." He stares down at the paper in front of him. "Elliot, she doesn't have much time."
He quickly signs the paper and hands it to him. "Please. Save my wife."
"I'll do my best."