He draped his arm on her upper chest and curved his forearm so his hand rested on the side of her head. He stroked her hair until she fell asleep and then he drifted off himself feeling more alive than he had ever felt before.

A sweet older nurse named Beth came in several times that night to check Olivia's vitals which unfortunately, did not prove conducive to a restful night's sleep for either detective. Eventually, around 4:30 Elliot and Olivia flipped on the television and moved the bed into a slightly elevated position.

"This okay?" Elliot asked, with trepidation as he raised the top of the bed slightly so that she could see the tv mounted across the room.

"Ye-ah." Olivia winced, readjusting herself. "Beth has been bouncing in and out all night and she picks now to go AWOL? I would kill for a Vicodin right now."

"Must be a shift change. I'll try paging her again." Just as Elliot reached over Olivia to push the red button on her side of the bed to page the nurse, the door swung open and a new nurse appeared, holding Olivia's chart.

Elliot, still in position draped over Olivia, went white.

"Kathy. What are you doing here?" Elliot was cold and stoic now.

"I could ask you the same thing, Mr. Stabler." Kathy answered flatly, not looking up from Olivia's chart. "Looks like you're due for a dressing change, Ms. Benson."

Olivia gave Elliot a wide-eyed stare. "Kathy, with all due respect, I would like to request a different nurse." Olivia said, politely but firmly.

Kathy shut her chart quickly and stared straight into Olivia's eyes. Olivia was shocked to find that the woman was close to tears. "You think this is easy for me, Olivia? Walking in here, trying to pretend like I have no idea what's been going on all night with you two? And you…" she turned fiercely to Elliot now. "You could at least have the decency to not flaunt your affair at the hospital where I work not to mention on my floor!" Kathy was in tears now. She looked at Olivia once more with disdain and then huffed out of the room.

"Elliot, go after her." Olivia said, hoarsely, placing her hand on his arm.

"What? No! Why should I? She cheated on me. I've done nothing wrong. Our marriage is over and I have nothing to apologize for."

"I didn't tell you to apologize. I told you to go after her. Talk this out instead of letting these feelings fester. Figure out what the hell has been going on with her and who the hell this "Greg" guy is. Talk to her, don't shut her out. Trust me. It will make things easier for you in the long run. And while you're out there, find a damn nurse who can keep her shit together long enough to bring me some damn pain pills." Olivia was breathless but determined. She let go of Elliot's arm and pointed towards the door. "Go."

Elliot looked at her, tilted his head slightly, and smiled. He bent down slowly and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Pain pills first, then Kathy." He whispered into her hair.

"Okay." She smiled at him and readjusted the blanket around herself as she watched him leave the room.

Elliot came back two minutes later with a different nurse who came bearing Vicodin and a new set of dressing for Olivia's wound. Elliot stayed with Olivia until her bandages had all been changed and she was once again comfortable in bed. She wasn't used to having someone there to take care of her and admittedly, it made her uncomfortable to have Elliot waiting on her like he was, but she also knew that he needed this. Elliot was above all else, a fierce protector and Olivia knew better than to question or tamper that side of him in this particular situation. On the job, she matched him point for point when his over protectiveness got out of hand. On the job, Olivia had proven herself quite capable of taking care of herself and he had all but stopped questioning her. This was different. This was Elliot repenting for some sin he thought he committed in not being able to prevent her from getting hurt, and if he needed that she would oblige.

Elliot clasped her hand gently and walked out of the room to find Kathy. Olivia settled back and turned the volume up on the television and shut her eyes. The pills were making her drowsy already and Elliot would surely not be back for a while. She silently prayed that she hadn't unintentionally pushed them down a road to reconciliation again but quickly chastised herself for being selfish. Though, she didn't quite know how she would survive only ever kissing Elliot once or only spending one night wrapped in his arms, she was determined not to think about that possibility now and let sleep overcome her.

Elliot stalked down the bright fluorescent hallway towards the nurses' station. Kathy was seated, going over a file.

"Kathy," Elliot said, a little too gruffly perhaps, "we need to talk. Now."

Kathy looked up and sighed. "Elliot, there is nothing to talk about. Not here." Elliot noticed that her ring finger was absent. There was no 20 year old wedding ring or bright shiny new engagement ring to be found.

"He left you, didn't he?" Elliot challenged, pointing to her ring finger.

"Elliot! I am not having this conversation here where my co-workers can overhear!"

"Okay, Kath, then where? Because we are talking about this right now. You know we need to."

"Fine. Let's go up to the roof. People take their smoke breaks up there but we should be able to find a semi-secluded spot." She pushed away from the desk and started down the hallway, not looking to see if Elliot was following her but knowing he was.

The rooftop was surprisingly vacant save for a few younger doctors in residence and Kathy and Elliot were able to find a secluded corner easily.

Elliot leaned against the rail and gazed out over the city. "How did we get here?" He said more to the wind than to the woman next to him. "How are we this distant?"

"You stopped showing up." Kathy spoke with a stony sadness. "You stopped talking to me, stopped caring about my day, my life, who I was and wanted to be."

"Kathy, I never stopped caring about you. When did you start seeing Greg?"

"Elliot." Kathy had a warning tone to her voice.

"No, Kathy. This is part of the discussion. I don't want to rehash every fight about our marriage that we've ever had. We need to talk about the fact that some guy named Greg proposed to you at Giorgio's. How long have you been seeing him?" Elliot's interrogation face was firmly in place now. Not intimidating, but resolved and determined.

"2 years." Kathy mumbled.

"Excuse me?! 2 years?! 2 fucking years of my life I was married to a woman who was done being married to me and you didn't have the goddamn decency to tell me you wanted a divorce? You just shut your mouth and kept your head down and went about life like usu- wait." Elliot stopped ranting and turned abruptly to face Kathy. "Eli. Oh God, Kathy. Is Eli even mine?" Elliot voice had shrunk to that of a whisper. He gripped the metal bar in front of him so tightly that his fingers turned white and stared into Kathy's eyes.

Kathy looked down immediately, studying her shoes and rolling a pebble under her foot. "I – I don't know."

Kathy stood there, with her head down, waiting for it to come, whatever "it" was. She expected a scream, a yell, a rant, cursing, anything displaying Elliot's fierce rage but the rooftop was silent. When she finally chanced a look at Elliot, all she saw was his back disappearing through the rooftop door.