Thanks for reviewing! These updates take so long because I update the chapters using fanfiction's document system, but it takes me a few days. By the time I finally get around to saving it, OHHHH NOOOO, you haven't been active in your account, so we logged you off and lost all your data. Stupid fanfiction.

Chapter 3

Elliot burst into the hospital waiting room, looking around frantically for his partner. He finally spotted her sitting in the corner, slumped over, her head in her hands. "Olivia!" he called, hurrying to her side.

She glanced up from where she was sitting, her face streaked with tears. She jumped up right immediately when she saw who it was, moving closer to him. "El! Are you okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Just a dislocated shoulder and some bruises- I'm fine."

Olivia sighed heavily in relief, some of the tension leaving her body with that one breath. "Good. I'm glad." She sat back down, leaning her back against the wall. "The Captain's calling Kathy. She'll be down here in a bit, I think... They took her away from me the moment we got to the hospital. It's bad, Elliot. Really, really bad."

"She'll be okay, Liv. I'm sure she will be," he said, resting a hand on her shoulder.

She shook it off. "No, don't. Don't do that. If you tell me that and I believe you and she... she doesn't... make it... please, don't." Elliot shuddered at the thought of Casey not surviving, then grabbed her by the shoulders and stared deep into her eyes.

"Hey. Don't think like that. Don't go around thinking that she won't make it." Olivia extricated herself from his grip, shaking her head and refusing to meet his eyes.

Deciding that it was futile to try and convince her of anything right now, he sat down next to her. "Where's everybody else?" he asked, looking around the mostly deserted waiting room. Perhaps, if he could distract her with more inane questions, then she wouldn't be so worried about Casey.

She shrugged, still averting her gaze. "I'm not sure. Like I said, Cragen is contacting your family. I'm not sure where Fin is; I think he's trying to get in contact with Casey's family. And Munch is-"

"Right here," a voice announced from the doorway. Munch walked forward, carrying two cups of coffee, one of which he handed to Olivia. "Thought you could use this. Any news?" Olivia shook her head and bit her lip, reverting her gaze to the nurse at the triage and glaring at her. She was the one who wouldn't let her be back there with Casey. "And you, Elliot? You're fine?" Munch asked.

"Yeah," he said again. "Just hurt my shoulder. I'll be okay."

Just then, Cragen and Fin returned, both seeming exhausted and haggard. "Elliot, your wife is on her way down to the hospital. She's worried sick... sorry, I didn't know what to tell her about your condition. I said you were fine, but-"

"It's fine. She worries; I'm used to it. You owe me, though."

Fin spoke up once Elliot was finished. "I just looked- there's no mention of any family in her personnel file. Elliot, you handled that aspect when she was assaulted in the Duvall case, do you know if- ?"

Elliot shrugged. "I asked, she said there was no one worth calling. And before you ask, I'm fine."

"Good. Olivia, has the doctor come out with any news yet?"

"Not yet," she whispered, letting her head fall into her hands and groaning softly.

Elliot, mindful that none of the other detectives knew that Olivia and Casey had started things up again, just patted her on her back softly. He couldn't comfort her better than that, but, then again, how could anyone ever be comforted in a situation like this, anyway?

Time passed in lurches and stalls, sometimes flashing by faster then Olivia could believe possible and sometimes so slow every second seemed to take a lifetime. Because every second that passed was another second she was apart from Casey, another second meant she could die and never know how much Olivia loved her and how sorry she was she had ever said those things to Casey.

Right now, Olivia honestly hated herself for what she said to her- this was even worse than she had said something that sounded like confessing she loved Alex. She had hurt Casey so much and never apologized, and now she could die and Olivia would never have the chance.

Elliot had been doubtful when Olivia told him that she and Casey were back together... she didn't blame him. If she was being honest with herself, she, too, was shocked that Casey had taken her back. She had been ridiculously lucky to even get her back, and then, she had just gone and blown it.

But now, Casey was hurt and Olivia didn't know if she would ever see her alive again or not. And, cliche as it was, she didn't care what Casey's reaction was anymore. She was going to tell Casey that she loved her. Perhaps it was too early in their relationship, but so? She wasn't going to risk losing Casey.

Did Casey love her back? Possibly. Neither one of them had discussed the 'I loves you's they had said to each other in the hospital three months ago. After what Olivia had said to her, Casey probably hated her. But she was at least going to take a chance.

Munch watched Olivia unhappily, shaking his head. He knew about her relationship with Casey. He and the ADA had always been close- after all, she was the only one who could go head to head with him and come out with her head held high. She had confided in him several weeks after she and Olivia had gotten back together. He had supported her all the way, but knew something was up between them- they had been at each others' throats all weeks. But the look on Olivia's face told him, quite clearly, that she loved Casey, and would do anything to get her back.

She just had to live first.

No one wanted to fall asleep- what if something happened? But the hours continued to pass, and the exhaustion from the days events continued to pull them towards sleep, especially Elliot. Now that the adrenaline from the car crash had long since worn off, he was falling asleep standing up- literally. By this time, Kathy had come to the hospital. Once she was assured that he was okay, she'd tried to convince him to come home, but he had refused. She had eventually fallen asleep on his good shoulder. Finally, Cragen announced that it had been four and a half hours and at least some of them had to go back to the squad room.

It was Fin who volunteered. None of them could ask Olivia to leave, and there was no way Elliot was going to leave Olivia like this. And he knew his partner was closer to Casey than he was. "I'll go," he said, getting slowly to his feet and stretching his sore muscles. "Call us if something changes."

Cragen said, "Munch, I'll call you if we get a case and need more than one detective... I hope Casey's okay."

A few hours after they had left, Elliot started to pace around the ER, trying to keep himself awake, when he glanced at his watch. A whole ten hours Casey had been back there. A whole ten hours where doctors were working to save her life, every second being one where she could die and Olivia could lose her... the wait was unbearable.

Unbearable, yes, but not endless. A doctor did come over to them and asked if they were there for Casey Novak. A doctor who knew if Casey was alive or dead and, if she was alive, how badly she was injured.

Olivia shot upright, approaching the doctor and struggling to force out her frantic question. Finally, she choked out, "That's us. How is she?"

"Alive. Maybe not alive and well, but alive. Ms. Novak sustained a rather severe concussion and several broken ribs, however, that is not her most serious problem. We had to get her into surgery to stop the internal bleeding and we gave her a transfusion, so there shouldn't be any further damage from that, but then we discovered some nerve damage in her right leg. She'll need some minor physical therapy before she'll be able to walk again, but, all things considered, she is very lucky."

Olivia's eyes closed, and she leaned back against the wall, finally relaxing as the end to her horrible imaginings of what was happening to Casey was provided to her. Elliot smiled as well and asked, more for her sake than his, "Where is she? Can we see her?"

He turned back and shook his head. "I'm sorry, but no. She's in the ICU and will be for the next two days, at least, so only family can see her. Unless you are related to her, then I can't-"

"We're the only family she has. Please," Olivia begged him. "Please."

The doctor looked between the detectives uncertainly for a moment before nodding tersely and saying, "Fine. But one at a time, and only for an hour." He led them to Casey's room, telling them more about her condition but hiding the cold, hard truth when long medical phrases that none of them wanted to hear.

After Olivia had entered the hospital room, Munch pulled Elliot aside and asked, "El, it's pretty clear that something's wrong between those two. They've been fighting like all hell this past week. Is Casey going to react... well, I suppose my question is, should Olivia be there when she wakes up?"

Elliot shook his head, glancing into Casey's room, where Olivia was currently squeezing the ADA's hand tightly with her head lying on the bed, and she looked like she was crying. "Olivia loves her, Munch, and I talked to Casey right before the accident. She says the had a fight about what Zergin did to her and never talked about it, and she asked me to drive to her to the precinct- I think it was to finally talk to Olivia about it. And when she woke up when those EMTs were trying to get her out of the car? She told me to tell Olivia she loved her. Trust me, they just need to work it out."

Munch sighed in relief. "Good. Now Casey just so needs to wake up so they can."

What do you think? By the way... Casey isn't the character I was talking about in the summary.