Chapter Eighty Five – Going Home

Ben and Suvi showed up at the hospital the next morning to pick Olivia up and bring her home. When they got to her room she was sitting up with her legs hanging over the side of the bed. Ben's face lit up at the sight. It was so good to see her up. Suvi had behaved up to the point of the door and then forgot that he was supposed to be working. When he saw her he rocketed forward with enough force to completely rip the leash from Ben's hand. Ben ran two steps after him but then stopped and decided to let Suvi go.

Suvi ran toward Olivia, leash trailing along behind him. As he got closer he seemed to realize Olivia wasn't at her best and he shouldn't slam into her, so he put on the breaks at the last minute and skidded to a stop at her feet. Olivia lowered herself off the bed and onto her knees so she could wrap him up in a massive bear hug. She wanted to press her face into his fur but couldn't since she knew doing so would ignite her headache. While she was definitely feeling better, her headache was not going to be going away that easily. She would have to be careful for quite a while or she could easily make it worse.

"Good morning, Sunshine."

Olivia's eyes flickered over to Ben's and she smiled warmly.

"Sunshine. That's basically become my pet name, hasn't it?"

"Seems that way," Ben laughed. "I figure it's the option least likely to get me killed besides Miss Detective, and that's not really endearing."

Olivia smiled and started to get up from her crouch. It was harder than she'd expected, and she grimaced and wobbled a bit. Ben hurried forward and held her arm to offer her help getting to her feet. She leaned into him more heavily than he would have expected, but he easily held her weight.

"It was a total accident, wasn't it?"

"Sunshine?" he asked. "Yup. Though the not getting killed thing was true."

She leaned against him.

"I don't think you have to worry about that. Hit you maybe, but not kill you." Her voice dropped to a mere whisper. "I don't know what I would do without you."

Ben wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, careful not to squeeze too tight so he wouldn't bother her ribs. He felt the same way and was glad to hear her say it. Now that she was back in his arms and visibly doing better he felt like he could breathe again. The massive weight that had been sitting on his chest and shoulders was finally gone.

"Good thing I'm still here then," he told her.

"Can we go home?" Olivia whispered. "My head hurts."

"Of course. Let's get you home."

O . o . O . o . O

Ben got Olivia settled on the couch and draped a blanket over her. The entire time he was almost tripping over Suvi. Ever since they'd left the hospital he'd refused to be more than a foot away from her. He'd been so demanding about it that Olivia had to sit in the backseat with him so he wouldn't try to climb into the front to sit with her, likely smashing her in the process. Now he was half standing on the ground and half lying on the couch with her. It didn't look like the most comfortable position for him, but it was better than him trying to climb completely onto the couch. He would have been bound to step all over Olivia and hurt her ribs if he tried.

"Do you need anything else?" he asked.

"Is an icepack too much to ask?"

"Nothing is too much to ask," Ben assured.

He kissed her forehead and vanished into the kitchen for her ice. When he came back in she was shifting to get into a better positon.

"Whoa, hey! Stay still. I'll help you."

Olivia tried for a moment longer before wincing harshly and lying back down. That little bit of movement had made her face pale, and her eyes closed briefly as if that could hold off the pain. When Ben reached out to brush her hair back he found her face was sweaty from the exertion and pain too. He slid an arm under her shoulders so he could move her but had to swat at her hands when she tried to help.

"Would you stop and let me do this for you before you hurt yourself worse?"

"Sorry," she mumbled and used her hands to hold a pillow to her ribs instead of to press herself up.

Ben got her settled and handed the icepack over so she could put it where she wanted it. She fumbled with getting her shirt up so Ben had to step in again.

"Stupid wrist," she grumbled as she set the ice in place.

"It'll get better. You just have to let it heal."

"I know. I know."

"You might want to call the guys at work. They were worried about you. Even your captain stopped by at the hospital."

He'd said it in hopes of distracting her from her injuries, and it seemed to work. She stopped glowering at her bound wrist and glanced up at him.

"Cragen was there?"

"Yup. Fin and Amanda too. Nick was on a case, but he kept calling to check in."

"Can you…"

Ben finished her sentence for her.

"Get your phone?" He pulled it out of his pocket and held it out to her. "Yup."

"Finishing my sentences now, huh?"

She shot him a glare that would have been fierce if she hadn't been smiling. Ben wasn't the least bit concerned. He'd faced far worse glares from her for more legitimate reasons.

"If you don't want me finishing your sentences you'll have to try harder to make them original."

Olivia gave him another look and shook her head very gently in amusement before dialing her captain's number. He picked up before the second ring had even finished. That either meant it was a quiet day for the squad or things were right at the boiling point. She was hoping it wasn't the second option.

"Hey, Captain."

"Olivia. It's good to hear your voice. How are you doing?"

"I'm alright. I was released this morning."

"You might have been released, but I'm not sure you're alright. I know you, Olivia, and I can hear the pain in your voice."

Olivia smiled weakly. Of course he could hear that. Even if she'd been trying to hide it he probably would have picked up on her pain anyway. He knew her too well.

"Concussion," she explained. "My head is going to hurt for a while."

"That boyfriend of yours there?"

"Ben? Yeah. He's here."

"Put him on for me, Liv."

Olivia blinked in confusion and struggled to make her partially scrambled brain work. She was coming up so blank that she simply blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"Why?"

It certainly wasn't a dumb question. Had her brain been functioning normally she probably would have asked it anyway, though in a far different form (one that was quite a bit more acidic).

"Because I want to talk to him, Olivia. Now put him on the phone."

Typically she would have growled about how his words had sounded like he was talking to a child, but that hardly even registered at the moment. Instead she just automatically followed his orders. Olivia held the phone out to Ben, and he took it from her with the same expression of confusion she'd had.

"He wants to talk to you."

"Uh… okay," he told Olivia before addressing Cragen. "Hello?"

"Ben, it's Cragen. I want to make sure she's taking it easy."

"I'm doing my best to make sure she is. She's on the couch right now and not going anywhere."

Olivia didn't know what Cragen had said, but she definitely didn't like Ben's response. She liked his amused smile even less. The fact that she hadn't guessed that Cragen had wanted to talk to Ben to make sure she was being looked after said quite a bit about her current condition. Thinking about it almost made her admit that she needed Ben there. Almost.

"Good. Are you staying with her?"

"Not going anywhere. At least not until her head is fully back in the game."

"She's doing better though?"

"A lot better," Ben confirmed.

Cragen made an indistinct sound of confirmation. That was good to hear, but he wasn't quite satisfied yet. There was one more thing he needed to be sure would happen before he could relax about the whole situation.

"You look after her."

"Yes, sir."

Now he was satisfied. Olivia, however, wasn't. She was getting rather irritated with this conversation that was most definitely about her yet she wasn't involved in. After holding her hand out for the phone she gave Ben her best glare. Given the circumstances it came across as less than impressive and looked more like a grimace (which it partially was). While Ben wasn't the least bit intimidated into doing what Olivia wanted, he handed her phone over to her anyway. Not doing so would likely cause her to get up and overdo it, and he didn't want that happening.

"You better not be asking Ben to be my babysitter, Cap, because I don't need one."

"Of course not, but you could use someone to look after you for a little while."

"Captain…"Olivia sighed in exasperation.

That was basically what a babysitter was: someone to look after her.

"I can't help it, Liv. I want to make sure you're alright. You're still one of mine even if you aren't here anymore."

"I promise I'm okay."

"Then you take it easy. A concussion and broken ribs aren't anything to mess around with."

Olivia smiled weakly and pressed her head back into the pillow. She knew how much Cragen cared about her and tried to protect her. Normally it was a little bit annoying, but today it was nice to hear that he cared that much.

"I know, and I'm taking it easy. Thank you, Captain."