Cragen smiled at Alex when he re-entered her room. Munch glanced up from the paper he was reading and barely nodded acknowledging the Captains presence in the room.

"What did you find out?" Alex asked afraid of what the verdict about Olivia would be.

"Wait till Stabler and Fin return" He stated as he took the chair on the other side of her bed.

"Oh god." Alex gasped.

"Relax Cabot she is still alive." Cragen said as he turned to face her "I would just like to say everything at once that is why I say wait till they return."

Each of them remained silent lost in their thoughts. Munch was lost in his thoughts about how to catch three perps at once and one of them could never have a complaint. Alex was wondering how the squad would treat her once they discovered she distracted Olivia. Cragen was lost in the thoughts that he and Stabler would have to make the decision in the morning that neither of them wanted to ever make.

"You paged?" Fin said as he stepped in holding some papers in his hand.

"I did" Cragen said standing "Please shut the door I have news on Olivia.

Stabler quickly secured the door behind him before glancing at each person in the room. Each pair of eyes held the unspoken fear of losing Olivia while each face remained neutral trying to be strong for each other.

"I talked to her surgeon" Cragen stated pulling each one out of their own thoughts "He was straight forward and honest with me. If Olivia makes it through the night he'll be amazed and he's not sure how she's survived up to this point. The bullet nicked her artery which caused a massive internal bleed. He lost her twice on the table and almost didn't get her back the last time." He stopped and looked at each person before continuing "If she does survive the night he is ordering an EEG for brain activity. He is afraid that with the extensive periods she underwent without blood or oxygen has caused brain damage. To put it blunt he's afraid she may be brain dead. That is the worst case. The best case is she'll have some cognitive function issues which will require extensive therapy. Even with the therapy there is a chance she will not fully recover."

Each detective stood there as stoic as always although one look at their faces one could see they were falling apart. Munch who had noticed the tears pouring from Alex's eyes quietly slipped her some tissues and the held her hand to offer comfort. She squeezed his hand tightly to thank him without having to speak.

"Elliot." Cragen spoke his voice full of the heartbreak he was feeling "If there is no activity we have to make the decision and sign the needed paperwork."

"I know" He choked out as the tears he was fighting started to fall. "Where is she? She doesn't need to be alone right now. She's never left me alone."

"El" Fin whispered placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't El me" he almost screamed "I'm her partner I should be with her. I have to. We've..we've…we've never left each other."

Fin grabbed Elliot as he was finishing his sentence and held him tight against him. He knew what it was like to lose a partner in the line of duty,especially one that you were very close with like they were. He stood there and let him beat him on his back with his fists until he broke down and cried. After a few minutes he whispered something in his ear and he nodded. Standing he pulled himself together and turned to face Alex.

"I'm so sorry Alex." He whispered as he quietly advanced toward her taking a seat on the edge of the bed "I know how much she meant to you. Please remember she is a fighter and if I know Liv she's probably arguing about dying right now."

Everyone laughed knowing how true that statement was.

"I'm sorry too" She choked out as she fully broke down in front of everyone no longer caring or having to be the ice princess they all knew "I distracted her. That's how she got shot. I um I um I called her name which called her to take her eyes of the suspect. When she did they fired and hit her. If I had just kept quiet she would still be here."

"It happens" he said squeezing her leg quickly before letting go "You can't blame yourself. If you do the guilt will eat you alive."

"yeah but.."

"But nothing. I woke her too early for something that wasn't concrete. If I had let her sleep she wouldn't have been on that street. Ultimately the blame is with me. It's like you said I was being a selfish bastard when I woke her."

"No what it was" Cragen said stopping the guilt trips before they got worse "Was Olivia doing the job she was trained to do,a job that she loves with all her heart. It was simply a case of the wrong place at the right time. If she hadn't been there god knows how bad it could have been."

Everyone was silent and nodded in agreement knowing how true those words were. Each of them at one point or another had been in the wrong place at the right time. Fin had to take the life of a twelve year old one time when he stopped at a store to pick some items up. He had been grabbing a gallon of milk when he heard some order the cashier to hand over all the money before he shot her. Fin responded by announcing himself and pulled his weapon. He had taken one to the abdomen because he had hesitated when he saw how young the perp was. When the young kid had leveled the gun for a second shot he fired two quickly taking the young man out. To this day he still lived with the guilt of killing a young man even though it was more than justified.

Munch the ever calm detective that never acted as if anything bothered him remembered when he had to take the life of young woman in front of her two kids. She had walked into the restaurant branding a gun. He jumped up and started ordering her to drop the weapon. She kept waiving it around till she turned it toward the manager and said it was all his fault. She pulled the trigger and shot him in the leg. Munch fired a kill shot right off. It wasn't until after she hit the ground he realized her two children was watching everything. No one knew but that was the case that kept him awake at night.

Elliot, the hot headed one who up until Olivia, had gone through partners like they were water remembered the time he hesitated on taking a shot in a hostage situation. That hesitation had cost him the victim's life, a bullet in his leg, and his partner transferring out of the unit. The face of the victim till this day still haunted his dreams.

"We've all had situations that made us question ourselves and our jobs" Cragen stated pulling each person from their guilt ridden thoughts "But it is those situations that have made us the officers that we are today. What happened today is no different. We can sit here and dwell on it or we can honor Olivia by finding the bastard that tried to take her from us. Which one will it be?"

There was no need for them to stop and think it. They knew the answer to that question in their sleep.

"We're getting the bastard." They said with renewed determination in their voice.