Disclaimer: Nope, I still own nothing.

A\N- Thank you so much for the support. I am so happy that you guys like it.

"Liv, Nick says Noah is perfectly fine and Amanda is going to pick him up to come here when Lucy gets there." Fin told Olivia when he had reached her. Before Olivia could answer, the doctors came out of the emergency surgery room wheeling an unconscious Elliot out of the room.

"About how long until he wakes up?" Olivia asked one of the doctors.

"Well, he sedative will probably take hour or so to wear off, and if you follow me you can come to his room," the doctor stated as he began his way, wheeling Elliot in front of him.

"I'll go wait for Nick and Amanda," Fin said, knowing that they would want an explanation and knowing Olivia, she wouldn't want to leave Stabler's side.

"Okay see you later," Olivia said, fully concentrated on catching up to the doctor.

"When he wakes up he might be a little confused and in pain, but I am guessing you know him well enough to help him remain calm," the doctor stated, after seeing that she had followed him.

"Yes," Olivia answered and her reply sounded a lot more confident than she thought possible. 'Thirteen years' supply of partnership will do that to two people,' she thought.

"Mr. Stabler also has multiple superficial cuts on his face, arms, and chest."

"Okay, here we are, this will be his room," the doctor said smiling. The doctor wheeled Elliot into the private room. "Pleasure talking to you Mrs. Stabler," the doctor said as he left the room and the nurse entered to help adjust Elliot's hospital bed.

Olivia didn't know what to think of about the doctor's implication. Elliot's wife? A couple of minutes ago she was sure that title only belonged to Kathy, but now she wasn't even aware if they had spoken to each other in months. Did she act like his wife? Before today, she hadn't seen him in years, but she did still care for him. As a matter of fact she never stopped caring. But Olivia, his wife, she chuckled. Throughout their partnership, she had been called Elliot's work wife a couple of times, but as a joke.

Olivia sat down in the chair beside Elliot's bed and as soon as she saw him all her thoughts turned to worry. Elliot's face was completely pale, and a large dark purple circle around his eye. He looked older but she guessed that was what happened after going through a hard divorce and custody feuds. He looked totally vulnerable, as if he would break altogether from a single tap on the shoulder. When they were partners she had never once seen him like this, so broken.

Scared to cause him anymore pain, Olivia lightly and softly grabbed his hand and interlocked their fingers, offering all her strength to him, and knowing he would need all of the strength he could get. The small gesture assured Olivia of his presence and that he would be okay, assurance that she knew she needed. She was positive that he would need someone to be there for him, but now was different she couldn't just drop everything she was doing because now she had Noah. Of course though she knew that she would never leave Elliot without anyone so she would somehow figure it out.

Olivia began to stroke the back of Elliot's hand as an act of comfort. Throughout their partnership they had rarely shown any intimate actions. Mostly there were just occasional hand on shoulder and nothing more, but the times when it was a little more like a comfort- filled hug neither of them wanted to ever let go.

All of a sudden, Elliot started rotating relentlessly, and mumbling something incoherent. Olivia got up from her chair and sat on the edge of Elliot's bed and wanting to soothe his pain in any way possible.

"No!" Elliot cried, his voice filled with terror as he shot up straight in the bed despite the pain shooting through his entire body. Olivia could no longer take it, the look of panic in his crystal clear blue eyes as they filled with a pool of wet tears as he looked at her. Olivia, shattering the boundaries that pushed them apart as partners, gingerly put both of her arms around him and carefully cradled the back of his head with her right hand as her left hand tentatively stroked his back. Elliot noticeably accepted his former partner's open comfort and wrapped his arms around her as far as the wires around him would let him and timidly whimpered.

"Shhh, it's okay El, you're not there anymore you're safe here with me," Olivia said, allowing all the anger she had felt toward him only hours ago to dissolve at least for the time being. Hearing the strong, hot-headed Elliot Stabler cry made her want to just cry herself to sleep, beat the living hell out of the person responsible, and hold him all at the same time. Then she felt his warm tears reach the left shoulder of her shirt as he stifled a breakdown. "Elliot, you have to calm down before the doctors come in and sedate you again since you still have a ventilator on," she told him softly, wanting to just hold him but not wanting Elliot to harm himself. Knowing he was safe with Olivia, he settled down a bit, although fear was still evident in his eyes.

She felt Elliot nod and alert of his chest condition, Olivia cautiously rested him back down out of her loving embrace. Olivia kept her spot at the side of his bed, and took his tough hand into her protective one, smiling down warmly at him, assuring him that he was okay. He had just accepted her shoulder to cry on after nearly three years of not seeing her. Just the fact that he had cried and accepted her hold on him, told her that he must have gone through and just how broken he actually could be, remembering how he hated showing any weakness.

Looking into her openly affectionate brown eyes, Elliot nearly began crying from the guilt he felt for leaving her, his partner of almost fifteen years, his best friend, and the best thing that ever happened to him. He knew that there was no way he deserved her for even after the way he had left her, the way he hadn't even said goodbye, and the way he shut her out of his life entirely after the shooting as if it had been her fault. He never forgave himself for abandoning her and ultimately unintentionally causing her any pain after she had been such a great friend, always having his back, no matter how much of a bastard he'd been to her. And yet here she was, beside his hospital bed, once again protecting him.

"We'll talk about that later, El, but for now let's focus on making sure you get better, okay," Olivia said as if reading his mind, and seeing the sorrow in his eyes. "I called Kathleen and told her you were here so her and Maureen should be getting here in a couple of hours," Olivia explained and again as if reading his mind she added nodding," She told about Kathy and Florida." Both of them were surprised that even after all the time they had spent apart, their chemistry was still present enough for them to read each other's emotions like a book.

Elliot blinked and appeared to have trouble staying awake, so Olivia scooted a little closer to him and with her free hand caressed his cheek. "It's okay, Elliot, go back to sleep, I promise you that I'll stay here," she assured him as she saw him begin to lean his head further into her hand and his pillow. Trusting her, slowly his eyes started to close upon hearing her assurance, until he was fast asleep once again.

Olivia as careful as possible not to wake him, slipped her fingers away from his face and her hand out from his. Before staying any longer she needed to make a call to Lucy and check up on her foster son. She sat in the chair beside Elliot's bed and pulled out her phone dialing Lucy's number.

"Hello Lucy thanks for coming earlier again," Olivia greeted.

"Hi, Liv, it's no problem really, Noah's still sound asleep. So, you caught an important new case?" Lucy asked, still a bit concerned as to why Olivia's co- workers were watching Noah when she arrived.

"Actually, no, I called to check up on Noah and say that I will most likely not be coming home tonight so if you want I could send either Nick or Amanda to watch Noah for a while," Olivia said not sure if Lucy was willing to spend another night watching Noah.

"No, I'll be fine spending another night watching him, Liv. What happened though?" Lucy asked truly concerned.

"Well, there was a shooting in front of the apartment earlier today, and it ended up being my old partner. He's still pretty shaken up so I'm going to stay here with him for tonight," Olivia explained to Lucy.

"Oh, sure, yeah, take all the time you need, I understand. I'm sorry, Liv, I have to go Noah just woke up," Lucy said sympathetically.

"Okay, bye, I'll call again later," Olivia concluded and hung up her phone. Elliot had stirred and was once again wake when she glanced at him. Once again getting up, she sat on the side of the bed and held his hand realizing that between her nightmare and Elliot getting shot she had not gotten any sleep herself. Elliot looked into her eyes with a pleading look as if he might cry. Olivia had remembered seeing that look when he was blinded only it was Kathy who had comforted him and now the look on his face was even more severe and it broke her heart to bits to see him like that. She placed herself laying down right next to him, took his hand in hers, and rested their connected hands on his waist. When he turned slightly to look at her he looked to be grateful and touched by the gesture.

"It's okay El, try to get some sleep," she whispered to him and when he gave her a look that asked her why she would do this for him she simply answered," Because we're partners for better or worse remember?" Olivia then saw a tear escape his eye that was bruised and so she resumed caressing his forehead and holding his hand, until she too fell asleep still protecting her best friend from the vices of the world.

A\N-Thank you for reading and please write a review to make a little girl happy. By the way, I'm so happy that you liked the kidney part in the last chapter. I thought that it was completely adorable because they were basically saying they love each other.