Sadly, it was on her wedding day but, I promise things get better. Things have to get worse for them to get better.

At the hospital, Olivia was rushed into surgery to get the bullet taken out of her. Cragen, Alex, Casey, Elliot, Melinda, and David were all waiting in the waiting room.

"You guys alright?" Melinda asked seeing them sitting there with the blood drained from their faces.

"I tried to get the gun out of his hand," Elliot said, "I wasn't fast enough."

"Elliot don't blame yourself," Melinda said.

Elliot just sighed and bowed his head to continue praying. "Olivia doesn't deserve this. You know that so why do you keep doing this to her? Give her a break. She's finally met a man that's going to take care of her and you do this. Today was suppose to be the happiest day of her life..." Never before had Elliot blamed God, but now he felt like he had no other choice. He needed to blame someone besides himself. Usually when something like this would happen he would talk to Olivia but in this case he couldn't.

"Are you doing okay?" Alex asked turning toward Casey.

"I don't know," Casey replied, "I keep thinking about when I had gotten attacked and Olivia had stayed with me in the hospital. I never thought it would be the other way around. I never thought that someone would actually shoot her."

"Oh Case," Alex said, "She'll be okay. She's tough and we all know that. She'll pull through. I bet she will probably be asking when she can go home after she wakes up from surgery."

Casey smiled, "That sounds like Liv."

"I don't want to worry anyone," Huang said walking into the waiting room, "But Olivia is most likely going to have a break down once she realizes what happened to her."

"What do you mean?" Casey asked turning her attention toward George.

"When people go through a traumatic experience they tend to have nightmares about it and then they become depressed," he explained.

"She deals with this stuff everyday," Alex said.

"Yes, but, today she forgot all about her work. She was focused on getting married. She wasn't thinking like a cop. When she went into that room she was a normal person."

"So what does this mean?" Casey asked.

"It means that she is going to need us now more than ever," George continued to explain, "She won't talk to David about it because she won't think he will understand. We are going to need to pay close attention to her."

Casey couldn't take it anymore and she began crying for Olivia. All the time she had known her, she had been the toughest person she knew. Even thinking about Olivia being sad and depressed made her depressed.

"This is too much," Alex said.

"I'm sorry. We are all sorry," David said.

"Relatives of Olivia Benson?" Dr. Brandt asked breaking the awkward silence.

"That's us," David said being the first one to stand up.

"She's out of surgery and we were able to remove the bullet and repair the bleed. She's lucky, just a few more seconds and she would have bled out. She will be tired the next few days but, she'll be okay."

"Can we see her?" David asked.

"Of course," Dr. Brandt answered, "Right this way."

Before they all walked into the room they braced themselves. They were sure Olivia was going to be devastated that her wedding day was ruined.

"Oh Olivia," David sighed when he walked in the room and saw her laying there with tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I'm sorry."

"Liv," David said grabbing her hand, "You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for."

"How do you feel?" Elliot asked.

"Like I had a bullet in my side," she answered letting out a small chuckle but quickly regretting it.

"Take it easy Liv," Alex said seeing that she had winced.

"I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ask you guys to leave," Dr. Brandt said, "Only one person can stay."

"Get better Olivia and don't give the doctors too much hell," Alex teased.

"Bye Alex," Olivia said while Alex bent over the railing to give her a hug.

Next was Casey and she leaned over to hug Olivia too, "I'm sorry your wedding was ruined. I hope he makes it up to you and I hope you feel better soon."

Olivia hugged her even tighter and then it was Elliot's turn. He didn't have nothing to say so he just hugged her and she knew that he was blaming himself.

"Don't blame yourself," Olivia whispered in his ear.

He pulled back at her comment and told her he would stop by at another time to check on her.

Next was Huang, "Liv, I was at the precinct when Fin filled me in on what happened. I believe you will get better soon and Fin sends his love."

"Thanks George," Olivia smiled.

"Olivia," George said starting to get to the more serious side of things, "If you ever need anyone to talk to you know you can give me a call."

"I know," Olivia said not fully understanding why he was bringing this up.

"Bye Liv," he said his last few words and then followed the rest of the crowd out of the room leaving David and Olivia to each other.

David climbed up into the bed next to Olivia and said, "I'll make this up to you," as he wrapped his arms around her careful not to touch the wound.

"All I want you to do is to stay with me tonight," Olivia whispered, "Just stay here and hold my hand."

"Were you scared?" he asked.

"I was more scared of him shooting you or one of them instead of myself," Olivia answered, "I didn't really think he would actually shoot me."

"I'm really sorry," David said, "This...I... If I could turn back time I would."

"Stop it," Olivia cried, "Please. This isn't your fault. Nobody could have prevented it. I did what I had to do. It's over and I'm still here and everybody is safe."

"Okay," David said not wanting to upset her, "You should get some sleep."

Olivia nodded because she felt like she hadn't slept in a year but, before she went to sleep she kissed David on the cheek and said, "I'm so glad that I met you. I always thought I would die alone and then here comes this amazing, handsome guy. You changed me David Hayden, for the better. I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Liv," David whispered.

"I want kids," Olivia continued, "If you don't want kids then I guess that's okay but, I really want kids. They would be pretty cute."

"I want your kids Liv," David said, "They would be more than pretty cute. They would be the cutest kids in the world."

"Those were my vows," Olivia cried, "There was more but I can't remember them. I wrote them down."

"It's okay," David soothed her by playing with her long brown hair, "It was beautiful and I'm glad I met you too. I'm never going to leave Liv. Now close your eyes, you need to rest."

Olivia did as she was told, not because she wanted David to think he was in charge, but because she couldn't fight the sleep any longer.

XXX

When Elliot had left the hospital he went back to the precinct to finish up his DD 5's on a few recent cases when he heard a smash from Cragen's office.

"Cragen?" he asked walking towards his office, "You alright?"

When he opened the door to the office he saw Cragen sitting at his desk with tears in his eyes and a broken bottle of wine on the floor in front of him.

"Cragen?" Elliot asked.

"I let her down." Cragen said, "She got shot because I was too slow getting my damn gun! She's like a daughter to me and she almost died today. Right in front of me. She was almost gone, just like my wife."

"Cragen this isn't-"

"Just shut up Elliot," Cragen lashed, "I didn't drink any. That's why it's on the floor."

"Okay," Elliot said bending over to pick the pieces of the glass up, "I'm sorry."

Cragen sighed and wiped the tears away from his eyes realizing that his detectives had never seen him like this, "You're not going to tell the others I cried like a baby are you?"

"No," Elliot smiled, "Just remember that next time I get in trouble for something."

Cragen smiled and nodded and Elliot went back to finishing the rest of his paper work until both gentlemen went home for the night.