Olivia sat on the couch near Elliot's bed, flipping through a magazine she picked up from the gift shop while Johanna sat on the chair on the other side of the bed, writing in her data binder. The machines around the bed still beeped basically nonstop, but Olivia tuned them out a long time ago. She glanced up on occasion to see if Elliot had moved at all, but he hadn't.

It had been five days since the shooting. Elliot spent three days in the induced coma, and it seemed as if he was healing well and on his way to a speedy recovery, so Dr. Reed began to gradually wean him off the barbiturates to bring him out of the coma. He mentioned that it could take anywhere from days to even months for Elliot to wake up; it was up to his body to heal and regain consciousness once the medicine was out of his system. So far, two full days had passed without any change in the patient.

Olivia would've been lying if she had said she didn't feel guilty and responsible for the lack of life on the hospital bed in front of her. She spent most of her time at the hospital, graciously accepting the fact that her captain gave her half of her workdays off. She couldn't sleep well at night, and she knew she wouldn't be able to rest until it was confirmed that her best friend would be fine. She would never be able to live with herself if things didn't go back to normal for everyone when the whole ordeal was over.

Johanna was thankful that Olivia remained at the hospital most of the day, watching over Elliot. Grace kindly took over most of Johanna's clients, but because she had clients of her own, she couldn't cover them all, so Johanna still had to go into work for a few hours each day. She felt better leaving, knowing Olivia was with Elliot while she was gone – not because she suspected anyone would attempt foul play, but because she knew his partner would take care of him the same way she would.

A knock on the door brought the two out of their dazed thoughts.

"Come in!" Johanna called.

The door opened, revealing Munch and Fin.

"Hey guys," Olivia greeted as they walked in.

"Hey Liv," Fin replied then turned to Johanna. "You must be Johanna."

"I am," she replied, closing her binder and standing up.

"I'm Fin, and this is John," he introduced.

"Oh I've heard quite a bit about you two," Johanna teased with a smirk as she shook their hands.

"Don't believe anything Elliot or Olivia told you about me," Munch joked. "They're lying."

Johanna laughed as Olivia rolled her eyes teasingly. Munch and Fin visited Elliot in the hospital at least once a day, but Johanna was usually at work while they were there. She was glad to finally meet them, and they had been looking forward to meeting her as well.

"How's he doing today?" John asked.

"No change so far," Johanna sighed, looking over at Elliot, who looked peaceful in bed.

"He looks like he's getting some color back in his face," Fin commented.

"Yeah, a little," Johanna replied.

"He'll pull around soon," John assured.

"Hey, we've got some good news," Fin said, trying to turn the mood around.

"Yeah?" Olivia responded.

"Bardwell cracked," Fin answered.

"He was losing his mind all alone in that jail cell," John explained. "He flipped out and confessed to everything. Killing his daughter, raping her, and even another child."

"Wow," Olivia's eyes widened.

"Casey said he'll plead insanity," John told her.

"Hey, won't have to convince me," Fin replied. "He's definitely insane."

"No kidding," Olivia scoffed.

It was more than unfortunate that Elliot had to suffer before they got a confession out of Bardwell, but it was a diamond in the rough for them – at least some good came out of the fiasco.

Johanna was alone with Elliot that night, curled up on the couch where Olivia usually sits. Though she was small, she hardly fit on the uncomfortable makeshift bed. It was fairly unnecessary for her to spend the night with him, but she was afraid he would wake up in the middle of the night, and she didn't want him to be alone.

The door slowly opened, startling Johanna slightly; she wasn't expecting any visitors at 8 o'clock on a weeknight, and the doctors and nurses had finished their rounds for the night.

Johanna sat upright when a young teenage girl, somewhat resembling Elliot, appeared in the doorway looking slightly worried.

"You must be Maureen," Johanna stated.

The girl nodded.

"I'm Johanna," she continued.

"I know," Maureen replied. "My dad told me about you."

"Does your mom know you're here?" Johanna asked.

Maureen shook her head. "I came by myself. I just wanted to see my dad."

"Of course. Come in," Johanna said as she took out her cell phone to text Olivia, asking for Kathy's phone number.

"When's he gonna wake up?" Maureen wondered.

"Any day now, sweetheart," Johanna answered. "I'm gonna step outside so you can spend some time with him."

Maureen nodded and watched as the gorgeous redhead walked out of the room.

Outside the room, Johanna dialed the number that Olivia had sent to her. The phone rang a couple times before an unfamiliar voice answered.

"Hello?"

"Kathy?" Johanna wondered.

"Yes," she responded. "Who's this?"

"This is Johanna...um, Elliot's–"

"Elliot's girlfriend," Kathy interrupted with a sigh. "I know. Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine, everything's fine," Johanna told her. "I just wanted to let you know that Maureen is here. She said you didn't know she was here, and I just didn't want you to worry."

"She's at the hospital?! I thought she was asleep!" Kathy groaned, immediately annoyed that her oldest daughter made her look like a bad mother to her ex-husband's new girlfriend. "I'm coming to get her."

Before Johanna could say another word, Kathy hung up. She sighed, feeling slightly stressed at the thought of having to meet Elliot's ex-wife without him there (conscious, at least) to referee. She didn't necessarily expect to get into a catfight with the woman, but she knew Kathy wasn't the friendliest of people and probably didn't like her, so it would've been much more ideal to have Elliot there and conscious to have her back.

After a few more minutes, she went back into the room to see Maureen standing next to Elliot, holding his hand.

"Don't be mad, but I called your mom," Johanna said as she made her way back over to the couch.

"I figured you would," Maureen replied.

"She's coming to get you. I'm sorry; I didn't want to get you in trouble. I just didn't want her to worry about you," Johanna explained.

"I know, it's okay," Maureen sighed, looking down at her dad. "We got into a fight earlier, and I'm already in trouble, so it doesn't really matter."

Johanna noticed her eyes were identical to Elliot's. She missed seeing his eyes, but adored being able to see them in his daughter.

"I know it's not under good circumstances, but I'm really glad to finally meet you," Johanna said with a smile.

"I'm glad to meet you too," Maureen replied, smiling softly as well. "You're really pretty. My dad said you were, though."

Johanna chuckled slightly. "You're really pretty, too."

"You can marry my dad if you want," Maureen told her bluntly.

"What?" Johanna asked, confused by her bold statement.

"When you guys got back from the beach, I asked my dad if he was going to marry you. He said he wanted to, but he had to make sure we liked you first," Maureen explained. "And I like you; you're really nice, and I know Kathleen and Dickie and Lizzie will like you too. So you can marry him if you want."

Johanna laughed to mask her stunned expressed. Her heart dropped and she felt like she could vomit. She knew the little girl's intentions were good, but she had unknowingly opened a can of worms that scared Johanna half to death.

Before she could press the subject any further, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Johanna called.

It slowly opened and an older blonde woman, who she assumed was Kathy, walked in the room.

"Hi," Johanna greeted as she smiled. "I'm Johanna."

"Kathy," she responded simply with a nod then turned to her daughter. "Maureen, let's go."

Maureen sighed sadly and looked at her dad.

"Hey, how about I call you when he wakes up and you can come see him again?" Johanna suggested in attempt to cheer up the girl.

Kathy rolled her eyes. During the ride to the hospital, she promised herself she would be cordial and kind to Elliot's new girlfriend for the sake of avoiding unnecessary tension, but when she walked in and saw how gorgeous the girl was, she was immediately filled with jealousy. It made her feel inadequate in so many ways.

Maureen smiled then said, "Okay, yeah." She walked over to her mom then turned around and waved slightly to the redhead. "Bye, Johanna."

"Bye, Maureen," Johanna waved back. "It was really nice to meet you. You too, Kathy."

Kathy just forced a smile and then guided her daughter out of the room.

Johanna released a sigh of relief when she was alone again. Meeting Kathy pretty much went as she expected it to – could've been worse and could've been better. But she was glad she met Maureen and that the girl seemed to like her.

The nervous feeling in her stomach went away, and she was surprised at how she felt knowing that Elliot wanted to marry her. Her initial reaction was to feel frightened, but when she thought about it, it really didn't seem that scary after all.