She slept some more – the nurse told me to make sure she rested and not to say or do anything that might upset her, because she needed to keep her strength up. I did what I could, holding her close, stroking her hair, promising forever, but I couldn't help the nagging feeling that it wasn't enough. I hadn't been there when she needed me most. I could never prevent her from falling, but if I tried, I could be there to soften the blow.

I kissed the base of her neck, a pang of sadness coursing through my veins when I saw the fading red handprints, obscured by her long hair. I tenderly kissed each mark, and when she flinched and started to stir, I was quick to soothe her. "It's okay, princess. It's okay. It's just me. I'm here. It's okay."

"L-Liv?"

"Yeah, baby, it's me. You're okay. I've got you."

"I – I – Liv –"

She began to cry again, the force of her sobs shaking her slight body. I caressed her cheek, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead and holding her close. "It's okay, sweetie. Don't try to speak. It's okay."

"S-sorry, I – h-his hands – it – it –" Finally Alex gave up the fight and leaned back against me, her eyes fluttering closed once again.

I gently stroked her hair. "It's okay, princess. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. I love you, baby."

She rested her head on my shoulder as she trembled in my embrace. "I – I l-love you t-too," she whimpered.

I kissed her forehead again. "I know you do." She opened her mouth to speak again, but I silenced her with another kiss. "Shh, baby, shh. Don't try to talk. It's okay, sweetie. You're okay."

She nodded, trying to calm her body, but not succeeding.

I held her more tightly and brushed her sweat-dampened hair back from her forehead, then gently wiped away her tears. "It's okay," I repeated, kissing her neck. "Everything's going to be okay."

"M-my – my –" It was clearly important to her to get these words out, but I didn't want her to exert herself.

"Sweetie, you can tell me later. I need you to go back to sleep now, okay?"

"Don't – don't you w-want –"

"Yeah, baby, I do, but I need you to calm down. I don't want you to pass out on me. Your body isn't strong right now, sweetie. It's fighting the drugs they gave you and it's fighting your pain. You need to let your body do its work, and you need to relax for me."

Alex let out a strangled sob. "It – it h-hurts!"

"Where, baby? Where does it hurt?"

"E-every – everywhere!"

My heart ached for her, but I didn't know what else there was for me to do. "Can you show me, baby?"

She burst into a fresh round of sobbing, then started to choke. I patted her back soothingly.

"Baby, I need you to calm down for me. I know it hurts, but your body is fighting really hard and you need to let it get better. I'm going to count to ten for you, honey. Would that help?" When she nodded, I counted in as level a voice as I could, "One . . . two . . . three . . . four . . . five . . . six . . . seven . . . eight . . . nine . . . ten. There you go, baby. You're okay. You're okay. I've got you."

Alex's body slowly calmed in my embrace, the aftershocks from her sobs coming intermittently. She didn't try to say anything more, just leaned into me as silent tears streaked down her cheeks.

I kissed away her tears, pulling her closer to me. "It's okay, sweetie. I'm here. You're safe."

"B-but wh-what if – if he – if he f-finds me?"

"I'm here, baby. I promise, I will keep you safe. No one will ever hurt you again, sweetie. Never."

Alex buried her head in my chest and let me soothe both her body and her mind with gentle caresses and sweet nothings whispered in her ear.

A nurse came in while she was sleeping, to check Alex's vitals and change her IV. "Do you know who did this to her?" I asked immediately.

"Her boyfriend. She didn't give us a name."

"But she told you what happened?"

"Parts of it. She had a rape kit done, which cleared up the rest."

"Were the police notified?"

"She didn't want to press charges."

I pursed my lips. "When a patient comes in with injuries like Alex – like Emily's, it's protocol to notify the Special Victims Unit."

The nurse snorted. "This isn't New York, Officer. We don't have those kinds of resources here."

"It's Detective, and she will be pressing charges."

"Has she told you who hurt her?"

"No, but she will. At which time I will inform the local police and tell them of your failure to report domestic violence and sexual assault."

The nurse rolled her eyes. "You do that, Detective, but I'm under no obligation to do so."

I tried to swallow my anger and tightened my grasp on Alex. Even though I wanted to rip this nurse a new one, my Alex was more important. She always would be. "When is she being released?"

"Not anytime soon. She's been hurt pretty badly, Detective."

"I can see that, but she's stable. Mostly."

The nurse sighed. "I'll be back to check on her in a few hours."

"Mm hm."

She left, and I decided now would be a pretty good time to call Hammond and inform him of what had happened. I knew he would be furious to find that I was here with Alex, but there wasn't anything he could have done to keep me away. When Alex was hurt, I would move heaven and earth to be by her side. I would never let her lie in a hospital bed, full of pain and fear, and alone. Hammond was just going to have to deal with that.

I gently extricated Alex from my embrace and stepped outside to use a payphone in the hallway. I dialed Hammond's number – I'd had it memorized for the past year and a half. I'd spent almost every one of those five hundred days thinking about calling him, wanting to ask him how Alex was, what the word was on Velez, if she was all right, if she had moved on. But I always resisted the temptation. Maybe I shouldn't have. Maybe Alex wouldn't be in this mess if I hadn't.

He answered the phone on the second ring. "Hammond."

"Hammond, it's Olivia Benson."

"Yes, Detective?"

I sighed. "Hammond, I'm not calling you as a professional. It's Alex. She's in the hospital. I thought you should know."

"What the hell happened? Detective, don't you realize the danger you've put her in, that she's put herself in? Her identity has been compromised. We're going to have to move her."

"Hammond, she's been hurt pretty badly. She called me because she thought she was dying. She isn't, but it's still pretty bad. She's in a lot of pain. I couldn't make her go through this alone. I'm with her now."

"What happened to her?"

"She was beaten and sexually assaulted by her boyfriend. She's been out for the past few days. She woke up this morning and called me, told me where she was. I came, obviously."

Hammond sighed heavily. "Which hospital are you at?" I told him, and he said, "I'll be there in twenty minutes."

"Hammond, no. She's not going to want to see you."

"Detective –"

"You promised you'd protect her. You failed. Stay away until she tells you otherwise."

"She's in danger, Detective. It's my job to make sure Velez doesn't find her, and it seems increasingly likely at this point that he will! They could be watching you, Detective."

"It doesn't matter. Alex is hurt and I'm staying with her and you're not coming near her. She's in really bad shape, and you're going to upset her. You can come see her tomorrow or the next day. She needs to heal. She needs me, not you."

There was a long silence, and he finally said, "Twenty-four hours. You have twenty-four hours with her."

"I wasn't asking for your permission. Goodbye, Agent Hammond." I hung up on him, seething, and started back to Alex's hospital room.

She was lying on the bed, and I was struck once again by how small and vulnerable she looked. She was on her side, and I saw silent tears running down her cheeks.

I climbed onto the bed beside her and carefully took her into my arms. "What's wrong, princess?"

She leaned into me and buried her face in my chest. "I thought you were gone. I thought you might never have been here at all."

"Oh, baby, I'm not going anywhere. I just called Hammond to tell him you were in the hospital. That's all."

She started to tremble and moved closer to me. "He's going to make me move again."

"Don't worry about that right now, Alex. Worry about getting better. You're not in good shape right now and you need to heal before you worry about anything."

She nodded and murmured, "I love you."

My heart melted at those three sweet words I'd waited so long to hear and I kissed the crown of her head. "I love you, too, princess. I love you, too."

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