Chapter 18
Alex was pacing in Olivia's room for about an hour when there was a knock on the door and Casey stuck her head around the door before she opened it completely and stepped inside.
"Sorry it took me so long but I needed to talk over the case with Liz." Casey says.
"Don't worry about that. I'm sure there is enough time left for you to get crazy with me pacing in this room. Liv will be in surgery for at least one hour till one and a half hour." Alex smiles.
"How did 'the talk' go?" Casey asks.
"Better than I thought it would go. We didn't even argue about it. She was more worried about that she screwed it up with you and me than she was worried about the fact that she kept running. We talked about it and even though it's gonna take some time to get Liv getting her confidence back and believing that she isn't damaged, talking about it went really well. Without going into details, she wants you and Liz to visit her besides me but nobody else for now. Although I think it will be much longer than that. She needs time to figure out what she wants after the trial is over. And we don't know where or how to do that for now but we have some time to talk about that. That's all there is to tell you about it. Roughly." Alex answers.
"I hope you told her that she didn't screw it up? That we understand why she asked Liz to take it over. And that I'm not mad about it." Casey asks.
"Yes I did. Although I think she doesn't believe it yet. But seeing you here when she wakes up will certainly help with that. She ran because she's scared. But I figured that out as soon as Liz told us what she had said. I hope Liz didn't give you a hard time about me taking off so fast?" Alex asks.
"Nah. She was more surprised and shocked. I had to tell her where you were going because she didn't get that herself. She was more concerned that we needed to call security to get the two of you stop fighting when I told her where you were going to." Casey laughs.
"Don't take this the wrong way because I certainly don't mean it that way but maybe it's a good thing she asked Liz to take it over. I mean now you and I both can support her here and in the courtroom. And I don't think Liz will fight no less for her than we do." Alex says tentatively.
"I will be honest with you. At first before Liz explained it I was a bit hurt and angry, but as soon as she explained it to us I thought the same thing you're saying now. So I won't take it the wrong way. Besides Liv can use all the help and support she can get. And knowing that she won't let the guys do that it's just you and me." Casey answers.
"I think you're right. Right now I'm not even sure if she will go back to SVU. Not that it matters to me. I mean I don't care what she will decide. As long as I'm with her it's fine with me. If she wants to go and live in the Netherlands I don't care. If she wants to go we'll go. In fact if you go back far enough on my family tree you'll find ancestors from there. Anyway, it's not like I need to work to be able to live. But if she decides that after she recovered and is cleared to go back to SVU that she wants to go back I support her too." Alex says.
"How come I have the feeling that she didn't tell us everything that happened? If she doubts about going back to SVU things hit her harder than I thought they did. You think Liz could get it out of her if it turns out that she didn't tell everything?" Casey asks.
"I don't know if she didn't tell us everything. I tend to think that she did, however, if she didn't tell us everything Liz should be able to get her so far she will tell her." Alex answers.
"Enough shop talk. How are you feeling, besides burning a hole in the floor by pacing over it again and again?" Casey asks.
"Besides being worried about Liv's surgery I'm fine actually. I'm really relieved that Liv and I were able to talk and clear thing up a bit. And I'm beyond happy or thrilled that she let me back behind her walls again. So I think I should say that Liv's surgery aside I'm feeling rather good." Alex answers with a soft smile.
For the next hour, more or less, the two ADA's had some small talk and like the blonde said she would, Alex drove Casey crazy with burning a hole in the floor by pacing for about 20 more minutes. Until the younger redhead had finally enough of it and ordered the older blonde to either sit down and stay down or go get something to drink or eat. Alex told Casey that she should go get something because she wouldn't leave the room and that she couldn't sit still and stay that way. Half an hour later they still hadn't heard something about Olivia and Alex decided to corner a nurse or someone else and demand some information about the Detective. Casey shook her head but said nothing, knowing it wouldn't help or stop the blonde from going anyway. Alex walked out of the room and came back about 7 minutes later with a worried look on her face.
"What's wrong Alex?" Casey asks, seeing the worried look on Alex face.
"Liv's still in surgery. Apparently there are some complications why it's taking longer than they thought. But the nurse couldn't tell what complications there are." Alex answers softly.
"She's having a knee surgery, right?" Casey asks.
"Yes and her ankle, why?" Alex asks.
"Well maybe they found more once they opened her up then they were able to see on the X-ray. If something would be wrong with her health I'm sure they would notify you. You are her MPA aren't you?" Casey asks.
"Yes I am." Alex answers slowly.
"Well if there would be something wrong with her otherwise, they would have come and tell you it. So don't think the worst of it right away. I really think it has something to do with her knee or maybe with her ankle. Although X-rays are a good way to see things sometimes they don't show it all and are they less accurate than a scan for example. She's in the hands of the most competent surgeon in this country. I'm sure he will do what ever he can to repair what ever damage they found while doing the surgery." Casey say to reassure the blonde ADA.
"You're probably right. If it would be something life threatening they would've come to me. I just hope that what ever it is it doesn't mean that she won't be able to recover completely and can't go back to SVU if she wants it." Alex says.
"Well the only way you will find that out is to wait till she's back here and the surgeon comes to tell it." Casey says.
"I know Ms. Smartypants." Alex says.
"Hey, don't blame me Ms. Know-it-all." Casey says, but her voice betrayals that she's joking.
"Well better be Ms. Know-it-all than the Ice Princess or the Ice Queen." Alex jokes back.
"Don't let Liv hear you said that. She'll kick your ass for it in this case." Casey laughs.
"I know. Why do you think I say it now and not when she's hear and awake? I'm not that stupid." Alex laughs.
Casey wants to react but gets interrupted by a knock on the door and Nathalie walking inside.
"I don't know more about Detective Benson than the nurse you cornered told you, Alex. That's not why I'm here." Nathalie says quickly.
Alex and Casey can't help it but to snicker lightly.
"What are you here for then?" Alex asks, raising one eyebrow.
"To talk about what you told me to tell Detective Benson. You could have warned me that the woman is a living lie detector Counselor." Nathalie says smilingly.
"Yeah I should have told you that. Sorry for forgetting it. Now what is it that you want to know?" Alex asks.
"I talked with my colleague Prof. Meander about it. That he should say to Detective Benson that he would stay here under the same conditions as we have. But the thing is that Prof. Meander actually wants to stay under those conditions. He said that he wanted to do that because of everything that Detective Benson has done in her career and what she has been trough, what happened to her why she is here I should say. Now what do I say to Detective Benson? Because I doubt she will believe me or Prof. Meander when we say that it is the truth. She still will think that you are behind it. Which you were initially but not after I talked with Prof. Meander." Nathalie explains.
"He what?" Alex asks surprised.
"He insists that he stays here under the same conditions as the rest of us." Nathalie says again.
"Wow. Not that I'm not happy for the reasons why he wants to do it, but it's not necessary, really, I can more than afford his normal payments." Alex says.
"I told him that you told me that it doesn't matter what it cost but that you wanted the best of the best and that money wasn't a problem. However, he still wouldn't know of it. So that leads me to the question what do I say to the Detective?" Nathalie asks.
"Don't worry about that Nathalie. I'll handle it. Now since the Prof. refuses to accept his normal payments, can you find out for me if he has a foundation or a research program that accepts donations?" Alex asks.
"Sure I can. I will look it up for you and let you know it." Nathalie answers.
Then Nathalie's beeper goes off. And the Prof. looks at it.
"Good news, Alex. Detective Benson's surgery is finished and they prepare her to transport her to the recovery room. So I think that in an hour and a half till two hours, Detective Benson will be back here in her room. Of course that is if she plays it by the rules. I know not to be surprised if she wakes up sooner and demands to be brought to her room because you will be waiting here. Or something like that." Nathalie says, winking at the end.
"Yes of course there is that. I wouldn't put it behind her either. But I'm glad that she'll be back here soon. I am worried about the complications the nurse was talking about." Alex admits.
"I'm sure you will find that out soon. I expect that Prof. Meander will come to you as soon as he can to explain everything to you. If not give me a call once Detective Benson is back here and he still hasn't visit her and you half way through this afternoon." Nathalie answers.
"Alright I will." Alex answers.
"Good. I'll leave again now if you don't have any questions to ask." Nathalie says.
"No nothing right now. There will be some questions but I need to talk about it with Liv first. So we'll come back to you once we've done that." Alex says.
"That's fine. You can always come to me if you have any questions or things you want me to search out for you. I'll come by at the end of my shift to see how Detective Benson is doing." Nathalie says.
"See you then, Nathalie." Alex says.
"See you then." Nathalie nods and walks out of the room.
Just like Nathalie said and Alex agreed, Olivia was her usual stubborn self and was wide awake half an hour after she was transferred to the recovery room and demanding to be brought to her room. Of course the nurses at the recovery room wouldn't give in at first. But when the Detective start threatening them with suing them for holding her there against her will, one of the nurses called Nathalie and asked her what they needed to do. They didn't want a law suit against them but it wasn't normal either to release a patient back to their room so soon. Nathalie was able to not burst out in laughter when she was on the phone with the nurse. Knowing that it wouldn't help to calm down the irritated and slightly anxious nurse. Nathalie agreed that half an hour was too short and told the nurse that she would bring Detective Benson's girlfriend to the recovery room to keep the Detective calm and a bit longer there until it was safe to release her to back to her own room. Although the nurse wasn't thrilled about the idea itself, she eagerly accepted the offer from Nathalie. Anything or anyone that would help them to deal with the stubborn Detective was very welcome at that point. So about 20 minutes after Nathalie had left Olivia's room she was back. She managed to stop laughing but as soon as she had knocked on the door and opened it she couldn't stop herself and bursts out in laughter again. Alex and Casey both look at Nathalie like the Prof had grown a second head suddenly.
"Care to enlighten us with what is so incredibly funny, apparently?" Alex asks seriously.
The tone in Alex voice makes that Nathalie can stop laughing and be serious again although she keeps smiling.
"Your girlfriend and my patient is being a royal pain in the ass in the recovering room. I just got a call from a furious and at the same time a little anxious nurse in said room. Asking me what the hell she needed to do with the stubborn Detective that was demanding to take her back to her room immediately. Of course this was too early since she woke up half an hour after she was transferred to the recovery room. But when the nurses told her that she threatened them to sue their asses for holding her there against her will. So long story short I'm here to take you to Detective Benson and ask you to keep her calm until she can be released back to her room at an appropriate time." Nathalie says smiling.
Alex and Casey shake their head and laugh out loud too. It's so Olivia to do something like this. After a minute Alex is able to talk normal again and she responds to Nathalie.
"Let's go then. I don't want to drive those poor nurses more up against the wall than Liv already did and is currently doing." Alex says.
"I think the nurses will be grateful that someone is there to take Detective Benson of their back. Although I don't know if they will show it." Nathalie says as she turns around to walk out the room.
"I don't know when we'll be back but I guess in about an hour or so. By then I'm sure they are more than happy to let Liv go back to her room." Alex says at Casey while walking out the room behind Nathalie.
Casey snickers at Alex's comment and shakes her head. 10 minutes later Alex is ready to go inside the recovery room, she needed to put on a surgical suit and cover her feet and hair and of course wash her hands first, before she is allowed to enter the recovery room. As soon as Alex and Nathalie enter the recovery room a very familiar voice booms through the room.
"Alex, Doc, finally! You two intelligent people need to tell these morons here that I'm fine and ready to go back to my own room!" Olivia says out loud.