"I want to go home."
Olivia rolled her eyes while she dug through her bag for her phone. "El, you can't be serious. You were stabbed with a knife that was probably oozing with bacteria. You bled out for hours and almost died." She found her phone and turned back towards him. "They don't just let you go home after something like that."
He groaned. "I'm fine." She raised an eyebrow and he amended his statement, "I'm going to be fine. I can lay around at home just as easily as laying around here."
She shook her head and chuckled. He was so damn predictable. She sauntered towards him and leaned over, placing a soft kiss on his lips. "I really don't want to bring you home only to have you croak on my watch, so do us both a favor, and suck it up for a couple days."
"I'm not going to croak," he rolled his eyes, but then he lifted a hand to her face. "I have way too much to live for." He pulled her closer and kissed her deeply. It took all of her self control to not get completely lost in it.
She eventually pulled back and whispered against his lips. "We'll get you home soon enough, but I'm not risking springing you from here too soon." She pulled back further and cupped his face. Her thumb lightly caressed his cheek. She bit her lip nervously. It still felt weird to say it out loud… to admit it to the universe. "I love you."
His eyes softened as he pulled her in again, kissing her softly. "I love you too," he said in a breathy whisper. "So damn much."
She leaned into him, kissing him deeper until her phone began buzzing in her hand.
"Benson," she answered, a little breathless.
"I'm not interrupting anything am I?" It was Ayanna's voice on the other end.
Olivia muffled Elliot's snort with her hand. "No no, not at all." She gave Elliot the look she always gave Noah when she needed him to behave. "What's going on?"
"We have some updates. I'm assuming Elliot's with you?" Olivia heard the amused quality in Ayanna's voice and resisted the urge to facepalm.
"Yeah let me get you on speaker." She came around to the other side of the hospital bed and slid into it next to Elliot.
Once she settled in she hit the speaker button and held the phone out towards Elliot. "Hey Ayanna," He greeted.
"They haven't let you out yet?" Olivia rolled her eyes. Ayanna wasn't helping.
Olivia groaned aloud. "Don't get him started on that. I just got him off of the idea."
Her eyes stared pointedly in his direction, and he stared back with a similar stubborn look. She sighed and changed the subject. "How did your interviews go?"
"Well, first of all, Elliot must have pissed someone off." Olivia could almost hear Ayanna's eye roll.
"No surprise there," she flicked a cheeky look towards Elliot. "I thought it was pretty well established that he ears slots on a few different hit lists."
Elliot looked offended. "You act like everyone in the city wants me dead."
"Okay okay," Olivia amended, "not everyone, but maybe any criminal you came in contact with over let's say…the last thirty years?"
Elliot smiled at her, giving her an amused nudge. "Ha ha. You guys are funny. What did you guys find out?"
"These idiots were hired…obviously. The hit was contracted through a contact of theirs, and the whole thing was meant to go down anonymously."
"Did they give up their contact?" Liv questioned.
"They did. This person must have really hated Elliot because the pair was only contracted for the abduction. The stabbing was…I'm not sure accidental is the right word…how about unintentional."
"Okay?" His voice held an air of confusion. "Abduct me and then what?"
"Oh this is where we get to the part where someone really hates you. They wanted to have you abducted and taken to a location where their anonymous employer would kill you himself."
"Damn El. What the hell did you do to this person?" Olivia asked with disbelief.
"Hell if I know. Like you said, thirty years of this, someone has to have some sort of score to settle." Olivia felt a little annoyed that he didn't seem more worried about the apparent target painted on his back. "Have you checked if there have been any recent jail releases from contested cases? Particularly ones with the connections to contract an abduction of a NYPD detective?"
"Jet's working through recent cases. We might need a little help though. Thirty years created a lot of enemies. Do you think one of your detectives could comb through his SVU cases? I know you're short handed, but it would help us cut down the amount of reading Jet would need to do."
"Of course. I'll get one of my people on it."
"You would remember the cases to focus on more than I would…" Ayanna hinted.
"I'll have Fin narrow the focus. He has been there nearly as long as I have." Olivia could comb through them herself, but she trusted Fin to remember the ones that could be relevant.
"We are going to continue working with this pair to set up some sort of meet up with the middleman in all of this."
"Need anything else from us?" Olivia laid her head onto Elliot's shoulder.
"Nah, if you can get someone to help us out that would be the best thing. Other than that we will keep you guys posted."
"I appreciate all of this," Elliot said humbly.
"It's not like we were going to let someone try to kill you and then get away with it. We like you at least enough to catch your attempted killer…" she teased.
"I feel really loved…" he chuckled.
"Get some rest Stabler. You too Liv."
"Bye." They both said before the line clicked off.
Elliot yawned, and Liv pecked his cheek. "You do need to sleep." He looked completely pale and exhausted. Between all the visits and calls he hadn't relaxed for long. If he ever wanted to get out of the hospital he needed to sleep.
She slid away from him towards the edge of the bed, but he caught her arm. She turned, and he asked, "You staying?"
Her heart pounded. That look in his eyes. The affection practically bled out from his stare. He wanted her there. He needed her there. She had planned to stay. She set up Noah with Amanda so she would be free to stay. The thought that he wanted her to stay made her heart swell. She swallowed the happy emotion in her throat and answered, "Yeah. I just need to make a couple calls. Do you want me to grab you anything?"
"Just you."
She wanted to laugh at the cheesiness of the comment, but his eyes were so serious that she couldn't help but lean in and kiss him.
"I'll be here," she whispered after she pulled back. She pressed one more kiss to his lips. "I'll just be a minute. Will you please do what you're told and rest?"
"I can't promise anything." He chuckled.
"You're incorrigible. You know that right?"
He pecked her lips. "I do."
She reluctantly pulled away. "Back in a minute," she said before stepping into the hall.
-000-
After making her calls Olivia quietly entered Elliot's room. He was asleep. She knew he'd crash once he had been left alone for a minute. She felt a little silly, climbing into the hospital bed with him for the night, but he wanted her there, and she wanted to be there.
She felt an enormous amount of discomfort over the idea of his attempted killer still roaming the streets. She took comfort in the fact that whoever wanted Elliot dead, didn't seem desperate enough to rush into it. He had hired someone to keep him one step removed from the process. A person like that doesn't usually snap and impulsively act. If he waited this long then he could wait until he formed a new plan. For now he was safe. She hoped.
She settled in next to him, pulling a blanket from her apartment over them both. She laid her head on his shoulder, savoring every rise and fall of his chest. This was a close call, and she was so glad that he seemed to possess some hidden power over death.
She pressed a kiss to his cheek, and decided to sleep. She had been restless and on her feet for so long that her body ached at every joint. With a sigh she closed her eyes, allowing sleep to take her over.
-000-
The sound of her phone shrieking yanked her out of the warm cocoon she had found herself in. "Damn it," she muttered as she blindly reached for her phone. It was the middle of the night. Nothing good came from late night phone calls. She reached around in the dark until her fingers grasped the slick surface of her phone. She didn't even look at the caller ID before answering. "Benson," she said groggily.
"Sorry Liv. I wouldn't call, but this is pretty bad." Her head jerked up. Suddenly awake at the sound of Fin's voice.
"What happened?" She sat up and hurriedly pushed the blanket off of herself before swinging her legs off the side of the bed. She glanced over her shoulder to Elliot, who shifted his weight around, but stayed asleep.
"We got a mom and daughter. Gang rape. Mom's in hysterics." Fin sighed. "I tried to take care of it, but she wants a woman, and Churlish…"
"Is too inexperienced. I'm still at the hospital, but I can be there in like twenty minutes I think." She slid her shoes on. Luckily, she hadn't really changed out of her work clothes. She was sleeping in a tank and her work slacks. Not the most comfortable, but definitely convenient in this moment.
She tossed her shirt over her head and tracked down her blazer.
"Okay. I'll try to get her in one of the quieter interview rooms, I'm not sure it will make a difference though. She's pretty upset."
"Understandable. I'm heading out the door now. Bye Fin."
She looked over at Elliot still sleeping soundly. She stepped closer to him and dropped a soft kiss to his lips. His eyes cracked open. "Hey," she brushed her hand over his head affectionately. "Fin called. I need to go in. I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?"
"Mmmkay." His eyes closed and she knew he was barely awake.
She pressed another kiss to his forehead. "Be back soon," she whispered, and then she headed out the door.
-000-
Elliot vaguely remembered Olivia getting out of bed and leaving for work. He remembered it being late, but not much else. The day caught up with him and he couldn't keep his eyes open if he tried.
He was so groggy when the door opened and shut he assumed it was Liv coming back from the precinct. He expected to hear the shuffle of her footsteps, and the sound of her shedding her outerwear before climbing back into bed with him. He expected to feel the warm comfort of her body laying flush next to his. He expected to smell her hair, and feel the light tickle of her breath on his neck.
That was what he expected. What he didn't expect was the feeling of cold metal pressed against his chest, and the cocking sound of a firearm. No. He didn't expect that at all.
