Erica stepped into the bathroom and stood to the side waiting for Olivia, who was giving herself a speech, to acknowledge her before she attempted to make any form of contact with her. She knew from experience to allow someone who was stressed and suffered from a TBI to initiate the contact.

"Are you enjoying watching me trying to keep it together?" Olivia asked glaring at Erica.

"No, I'm not," Erica answered as she carefully sat down on the mini couch by the door, "I am waiting for you to acknowledge me so I can enter."

"It's a public bathroom; you can do what you want."

"Look, I don't want or wish to cause you any more stress than what you are under at the moment," Erica explained as she stretched out her leg and rubbed her throbbing hip, "You tell me when you feel comfortable with me coming in."

"You have experience with TBI's?"Olivia asked as she tilted her head to the side and studied the woman who was patiently waiting to enter the restroom on her terms.

"I was eighteen years old when I enlisted in the United States Army," Erica began to explain, "I wanted the quickest and fastest way out of an unhappy home and the Army was it, but that is neither here nor there at the moment. During my four year stint, I was sent overseas for a one year tour in Afghanistan during the first Gulf war. While I was there, our convoy was hit with an IED and my staff sergeant, who was also my best friend, was injured. As a result from the blast, he received a TBI as well although, unlike you, he didn't and to an extent still doesn't have as well of control over it as you do. I will say that I find it amazing."

"Believe me, it wasn't always like this," Olivia said as she sat next to the woman, "In the beginning, it wouldn't take much for me to lose it and I had no problem placing holes in Alex's wall or break anything I could get my hands on. It seemed like no matter what I did my anger was always getting the best of me."

"You seem to have it under control now."

"You have to walk out there and thank that blonde haired angel sitting at the table for that. In the beginning, she bought me a punching bag to take my anger out on and made sure I had the best medically. Now I have finally reached a point where the techniques my therapist taught me work although there have been a few incidents where even that didn't work."

"Are they working now or would you like to leave?"

"I want to be able to sit through this dinner for Alex," Olivia said leaning back and closing her eyes, "God knows I have put that woman through more than any woman should go through and yet there she is everyday in my corner, encouraging me. This is the least I can do for her."

"You made an attempt, Olivia, which is what matters."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"What happened?"

"My injury?"

"Yeah."

"I was back up and chasing a suspect who had just shot another officer. He crossed a street and without bothering to look I crossed too, the only problem was I didn't see the car that was coming and they couldn't stop in time. I was flung approximately fifteen feet before I came to a stop. When I came to, almost a week later, I had a shattered hip that they had to replace my femur was broken in three places that is now held together with screws and pins. My ribs had broken and punctured my left lung as well."

"You survived that," Olivia said amazed.

"I had something worth fighting for just like you."

Olivia nodded as a smile crossed her face.

"It wasn't until I was at the rehab clinic that I was told they didn't expect me to survive and she needed to make my final arrangements. I coded several times and one time it took them almost five minutes to bring me back. They told her then that I would have brain damage and be a vegetable for the rest of my life. It's been a struggle and from time to time it's still a struggle, but like Alex, Sarah never left my side."

"You said you were never cleared for duty again. Do you mind telling me why?"

"I don't have full use of my left side and it doesn't take much for me to become out of breath due to my lung only having about eighty percent capacity now. In truth, I am supposed to walk with a cane, but prefer not to and at the end of the day I pay for it. There are some evenings that by the time I get home from work I hurt so bad that I can barely move. Those are the days I remind myself that I am alive, I get to hold my wife at night, and watch my children grow."

"How did you take it when you weren't returned to full duty?" Olivia asked as she stood up and began to pace the bathroom.

"In the beginning, I packed everything up and left Sarah."

"What?"

"I couldn't work therefore in my mind I couldn't support my family and was nothing but a burden to them. I fixed it where I could move in with my Army buddy and actually had divorce papers drawn up, surrendering everything I had with the exception of two hundred a month to them."

"I take it she didn't sign them.'

"Sign them, oh no," Erica said laughing, "I have truly never seen that woman as pissed as she was the day she busted and I do mean busted through Jones' door. She flung those papers in my face and told me I can have all the pity parties I wanted, but I would be having them as her wife and at our house. Before I could stop her, she rolled me out of the house and to our car. I will never forget the words she said to me when I started to argue with her about leaving."

"What were they?"

"I am willing to face any obstacle that we come to together; what I am not willing to do is face a life without you."

"Sounds like Alex."

"I bet it does because those are the words of a woman in love. I can tell by the way she looks at you that she's in love with you. Whether you realize it or not, that woman is head over heels in love with you. She leans toward you to maintain contact and any time she looks at you her whole face lights up."

"I love her too."

"But…"

"What if I can't be the detective she fell for? What will I do with myself if I can't do that anymore?"

"I'm willing to bet my life that she fell for you as a person and not a detective. As for what you will do with yourself, I can't answer that. No one can, but what I can tell you is that despite what you feel or think right now is that you will survive not being in a uniform. You can make it without strapping a badge and gun to your hip every day. I understand that right now that is a large part of your life because that is all you had but now you need to look and I mean really look at what you have. You have so much more than just a job now. You have a woman who loves you more than anything and, believe me that feeling is way better than any feeling you can get from the job.

"Have you ever considered becoming a therapist," Olivia said laughing.

"If I can keep the class load that I currently have, I should be finished with my psychology degree in about a year and a half and when I finish I want to start a practice catering to those of us in the field who have to face these challenges and live with them every day. Someone who knows what it's like to be in their shoes. Because I don't know about you, but personally nothing pisses me off more than someone saying they understand when they have no clue what it's like to walk a mile in our shoes."

"Amen, sister," Olivia said laughing as she stood, "I can tell you right now, you will be a good one."

"Thank you," Erica said struggling to get to her feet with Olivia's help, "So what do you say we go back out there and join our women, preferably before they come busting through this door in an all out panic mode?"

"If Sarah's panic mode is anything like Alex's, we should have been out there ten minutes ago," Olivia said causing them both to break out in laughter at the thought of both of their women busting through the door, worried that something was wrong and the extent they knew they would go to protect them as well.

A/N: I never saw this story going as far as it has to date and it still amazes me that there is so many more chapters to go. I will never be able to thank you enough for giving this story a chance and allowing something that tend to stay in the dark finally come to light. Thank you.