Elliot called Olivia five times , but she didn't answer. He tried Fin at least that many times but he didn't answer either. That in and of itself was concerning.
The bare information reported on the radio indicated this was a retaliation shooting. Apparently three cops were clipped outside the 1-6, but there was no word as to who was down. He wanted to throw up. Bell had chased him down in the parking lot, wanting to drive him wherever he needed to go, but he couldn't be with anyone else right now. He didn't want to fake being okay. He couldn't put on a stoic show right now because all he can think of was Olivia in surgery again, and her dying, and him helplessly failing at keeping her safe…again.
He headed for the precinct first. He kept the scanner on but he had no idea where they were being transported. There were still no reports on who was down, how bad it was and what hospital they were being transported to. He hated this. He felt so helpless.
She had to be fine. This couldn't be happening. They just got happy. He shook his head as he thought about all the wasted time. He thought of his decade long absence. Ten years. Ten years without her. Ten years he should have been right in step next to her. Ten wasted years.
He tried to rein in his panic. She probably couldn't answer because she was dealing with a shooting outside her precinct. He knew she wouldn't leave for field work and she almost never left her office for lunch. She was fine. But what if she wasn't .
His stomach churned at the thought. Memories of the doctor telling him that even a minor GSW could become serious with the thinners compromising her ability to clot. He tried not to lose it, but he seemed to lack the ability to think reasonably at the moment.
He pulled up to the precinct, and there were uniforms everywhere . The scene was complete chaos. He pushed through the crowd and he finally spotted one of Liv's detectives. The new girl. Churlish? He hurried over to her.
"Where's Liv," he corrected himself, realizing the nickname wouldn't make sense to her, "Captain Benson?"
The woman looked him over, probably trying to figure out who this lunatic freaking out about her captain was. "Who are you?" She gave him a skeptical look. He didn't have time for this. He looked for someone he wouldn't need to explain himself to.
Luckily, Velasco heard him asking and hurried over to him. "She got clipped."
Elliot felt his world spinning, he needed to ask, how bad? But he saw all the blood on the concrete, and he knew at least some of it had to be Olivia's. His voice didn't want to work so he blinked a few times and tried to focus on the ground beneath him because he was sure he was losing it.
Velasco gripped his shoulder which tempered back the intense spiral he found himself in. "She seemed okay. Flesh wound from what I could see, but she was bleeding a lot."
The overwhelming feeling of nausea was back. He would really hate to puke all over Velasco's shoes so he focused on breathing. There was so much blood on the concrete. "Who else was shot?" He had to ask about the others because he was nearly positive Fin had been with her. He was always with her.
"Fin and Bruno. Fin took one to the shoulder. He was cussing up a storm when they loaded him up, so I'm thinking he'll be fine. Bruno got the worst, there was a lot of blood," Velasco swallowed. Elliot understood how difficult this could be. "Yeah I don't know what's going on there," he cleared his throat, "but they carted them all off to Mercy."
Elliot gave Velasco's shoulder a light slap. "Thanks man." He would have liked to give some more comfort but his mind seemed to only be capable of one thought right now. Find Liv.
He turned and jogged away. It was just a flesh wound. A graze. She was headed to the hospital, and they could stop the bleeding. He tried to breathe, but his mind careened toward the worst case scenario. For once in his life he'd like things to not become the worst case scenario, but that seemed like too much to ask.
-000-
Elliot made it to the hospital in record time. He parked and all but ran to the emergency entrance. He reached the front desk, and realized the same smiley receptionist from the night of the accident manned the desk. He almost bypassed her, hoping he could find her own his own, but he realized talking to the receptionist would be much faster.
He hurried through the explanation, not wanting to be stuck at the desk for forever.
"I'm looking for Captain Benson, and yes I'm on her medical release form, so it would be great if you could just direct me to where she is."
The receptionist smiled, because of course she did. "She's in exam 4." The receptionist pointed to one of the rooms towards the back of the ER.
"Thanks," Elliot rattled off before hurrying to the room. She didn't need surgery. His whole body dropped in relief. Hopefully she could get stitches or whatever and they could avoid any kind of overnight stay. They were both so damn tired of the hospital.
He poked his head in the door to see a nurse holding a thick wad of gauze against Olivia's injury. Her eyes jumped to his. "I'm okay," she started. She winced as the nurse applied heavier pressure. "Damn thing just won't stop bleeding."
He walked straight to the exam table, ignoring the nurse who added yet another piece of gauze to the mounting pile. His hands were on both her cheeks and he kissed her softly. "I thought we talked about staying out of the hospital." His voice trembled.
She let out a breathy chuckle, followed by another wince as the nurse added more gauze. "This was not on me. I was just going to lunch." Her eyes turned dark, suddenly remembering who else meant to join her for lunch. "What's going on with Fin and Bruno?"
"I'm not sure. Velasco said Fin took one to the shoulder, and was cussing his brains out. He'll be fine, but," he hesitated, "no one knows what's going on with Bruno." He watched her begin to shake. "Hey," he soothed as he breathed his fingers against her cheek. "I'll see what I can find out." He cupped her cheek and kissed her lips quickly. "You gonna be okay for a minute?"
She nodded, still biting her lip nervously. She cared deeply about her people , and while Bruno was relatively new, Elliot knew Liv really respected the guy.
He reached for the door handle but the nurse stopped him. "I can get some info for you. I'll probably be able to get more details." She leaned her head towards Olivia's arm, "if you want to keep holding pressure here then I can track down one of the surgeons."
Olivia gave her a thankful smile and Elliot hurried over to start applying pressure. Once the nurse seemed satisfied with his ability to maintain the adequate pressure she slipped out the door.
Elliot watched the gauze slowly soak up the continual bleeding. "What happened?" He asked quietly.
"It happened so fast, and seemed out of nowhere." She winced when he reapplied pressure after adding another piece of gauze to the mounting pile. "We were just going to lunch. I haven't been able to leave my office during the day, you know. No field work." She shrugged, "I needed out and obviously lunch isn't a threatening situation."
"At least it shouldn't be." Elliot added.
"Anyway," she continued, "I'm not sure what kind of idiot shoots cops outside a precinct, but I heard a couple pops and Fin was down. When I turned to see who the hell was shooting, I got clipped," she lifted her arm a little. There was a lot of chaos after that. I knew Bruno got hit too, but I couldn't tell where, and this stupid thing kept bleeding. I heard some unis tackle the shooter, but then we were surrounded by other officers and EMTs and it was all a blur of activity."
"They said it was a retaliation shooting?"
"I honestly have no idea. I have been gone so long, and we haven't had any cases that were particularly controversial or anything."
"Must have been something that happened when you were out."
She winced again, "Making the target Bruno or Fin." She sighed. "I hate this."
He brushed the hair from her face with his free hand, "I know, but let's get you through the day, and hopefully we can get to the bottom of all of this."
She nodded, but still looked deep in thought. He glanced back down to the gunshot wound. His stomach turned. It could have been so much worse. It was inches from being so much worse.
The nurse knocked and popped her head in. "Mind if I come in?"
"Of course," Elliot waved her in.
She held a tablet in her hands. "It looks like Sergeant Tutuola is out of surgery and in recovery. Simple bullet retrieval from the left shoulder." Elliot heard Olivia let out an audible sigh of relief. "Detective Bruno is still in surgery," the nurse glanced up at the pair nervously, "it's serious. He lost a lot of blood at the scene. They transfused him and he's holding stable. The repair is a little more complicated. They said they could get you better information in about an hour." The nurse smiled sadly.
Honestly, it was the best news under the circumstances. He knew Liv was being eaten alive by anxiety, but Bruno was a strong guy, and if he stayed stable this long he was sure to pull through.
The nurse replaced Elliot, and pressed the gauze tightly into Olivia's arm. "This looks like it's slowing."
"Finally," Olivia breathed.
"I told the doctor we were ready. He's finishing up with another patient, but he'll come check you out soon. This will for sure need stitches."
Olivia turned to Elliot, "Will you check on Fin?" He knew she was still worried. He owed a lot to Fin. He had her back after he stupidly disappeared. He owed Fin so much.
"Yeah, I'll see if I can track him down. Want me here while you get those stitches done?" He knew she'd be fine.
"I'm fine, just keep track of what's going on with Fin and Bruno. I can handle a few stitches."
He cupped her cheek and kissed her quickly. "I know you can." One more kiss, "I'll be back in a little bit."
"Okay." She smiled.
-000-
Olivia sat in awkward silence while the nurse continued to hold the gauze.
"Soooo," the nurse started to make conversation, "Is that your husband or boyfriend or…"
She hated labels. Is there an in between husband, and boyfriend? Their level of commitment was pretty high, but there wasn't a good word to adequately describe their relationship. Olivia hesitated before answering, "Does complicated count as a label?"
The nurse laughed, "I think it should. How long have you known each other?"
"Almost 25 years." A quarter of a century. That's a long time to know someone. It's a long time to love someone.
"Woah, seriously? And it's still complicated?" The nurse teased.
"Yeah. It's always been that way with us." Olivia glanced over at the younger woman who looked to be about Lizzie and Dickie's age. "We were partners, you know, on the job." The nurse was well aware that she had been helping NYPD officers.
"Oh? That's probably a good reason to be complicated."
"Yeah," Olivia agreed. "And he was married at the time." Why the hell was she telling this girl all of this? Maybe because she was emotionally totaled for the day. Maybe because confiding in a complete stranger she never had to see again was easier than confiding in her closest friends.
"Ohhhhh," the nurse nodded in understanding. "I'm starting to understand the complicated label."
"Yeah. There's a lot of baggage there, but I think we are finally getting somewhere ."
"That's good," the nurse beamed. "You seem happy, and adorable." She giggled, "I know that's a weird observation, but it was just something I noticed." She eyed Olivia slyly, "that and he seems pretty…intense."
Olivia laughed out loud. That was one of the best descriptions of Elliot Stabler she'd ever heard. Intense was the right word. Intensely temperamental. Intensely overprotective. Intensely loyal. Intensely devoted. Intensely dedicated. He was all of those things, and everything he did in his life was done with that feeling of absolute intensity. Her cheeks flushed a little at her next thought. Elliot was intensely, passionately, in love with her, and she felt incredibly lucky for that privilege.