A/N It took me longer than I hoped for but less time than I expected, but, here is a new chapter. Thank you to those that are still reading or start reading.
A hero is somebody who is selfless, who is generous in spirit, who just tries to give back as much as possible and help people. A hero to me is someone who saves people and who really deeply cares. - Debi Mazar
Chapter 62
They were joking for a while when Alex thought she should get them back on track. They wouldn't have much time before Gena would come back, she figured, and she wanted to know at least what her Detective had in mind to do to help Gena's wife, not knowing that he wanted to help Gena herself as well.
"Not that I want to be a party pooper, but care to enlighten us as to what you have in mind, Liv?" Alex asked.
Oliver thought for a few seconds as he needed to get it clear what he wanted to do and how to explain it to Alex, Abby, and Jane.
"Well knowing me, I think that all three of you now know that I want to help Kerry, but I want to help Gena as well. I need to know something from a legal perspective first to know if I or we can help Gena."Oliver said.
"Should have known that you wanted to help them both, Oli. Alright fire away and Alex and I will tell you what you want to know if we do know the answer that is of course. Right Alex," Abby answered and asked.
"Yes of course. Between the both of us, there aren't many things that we won't know right away I think. So just ask us what you need or want to know, "Alex answered.
Oliver nodded his head as if he had asked them something and they answered him.
"Lex, Abby, should we be able to get some actual proof that Vain was or still is blackmailing Gena, can we use that regarding the conditions he was given in that deal Alex got for me? Did he violate his probation with it or not? Because if the answer is yes, I think I might know a way to help them both, if they want it of course" Oliver asked and explained.
At first, both attorneys looked surprised, but soon they both understood where, possibly, Oliver wanted to go with it. Abby nodded at Alex, letting her take the lead, after all, it was the deal she had gotten for Oliver and therefore knew all about it.
"Well, the short answer is he could be. It depends on whether or not he is still doing it, if not it depends on what the judge thinks and will decide." Alex answers.
"But Alex, we didn't know he was doing it at the time you got that deal. And it wasn't me he was doing it with. Doesn't that make a difference? Doesn't that count as new evidence and therefore it can't fall under the same umbrella even though it was in the same time frame?" Oliver asked.
"Good thinking Detective, you've got a point there. If Gena has it in writing, and therefore proof, that she told him he was the one that made a mistake, and it was dated and she has proof that he was blackmailing her from that date on, then it's a separate case, but maybe we can use your case and with that the deal we got, which would make it so much stronger. What I'm worried about is that he will do what he blackmailed Gena with and go to Kerry's Captain if she wants to go to court with it." Alex answered.
"Maybe not with the plan I have in my mind. But, let's wait and see if he actually stopped or still is doing it before we worry about that, and of course, wait to see if Gena wants to do it," Oliver said.
"Are you gonna tell us what your plan is or not? Because I don't think you have much time left before either Kathy or Gena comes back inside," Abby asked.
"Okay, I will. But just in case Gena comes back before I am finished, are you all gonna help me or not?" Oliver asked.
"Of course, I will help you. As long as it is not putting anyone in jeopardy or you doing things you shouldn't do right now, that is," Alex answered.
"I'm with Alex, I'll help you with the same conditions," Abby said.
Jane looked at both ADAs and shook her head before she answered Oliver's question.
"I'll help you with whatever it is, no matter what," Jane smirked.
Oliver smiled at Jane while both Alex and Abby shook their heads, knowing that it would be useless to say anything and that it was true, Jane would help Oliver no matter what.
"Alright, now that you're all gonna help, this is what I want to do…," Oliver started.
But just like Abby had said what could happen, there was a knock on the door and not only Gena came back into the Detective's room but also Kathy came back. Both were carrying boxes of food in their hands.
"You know you have enough food here to feed a small army. I know that Oliver eats more than most of us do, but I was lucky that Gena here saw me and came to help me to take all of it here at once." Kathy said.
Alex smiled sheepishly at Kathy.
"Well I just wanted him to be able to choose," Alex said.
"He can choose today and tomorrow and maybe the day after that, depending on how much you eat, Counselor," Kathy joked.
"Hey now, I don't eat that much," Oliver said.
"Yes you do," all women said at the same time.
"Anywayyyy, now that Abby and Jane are here, maybe we all can eat together, there is enough for everyone in this room I think, knowing Alex, even Kathy, and Gena can eat with us and have something good to eat instead of the stuff they call food in a hospital," Oliver said.
All women snickered at the words he had spoken, even Alex, knowing that Oliver was right.
After some protesting and not taking no for an answer, they all agreed to eat together, and Kathy and Gena put everything on the table before Kathy went back to the kitchen to gather more plates and cutlery.
"Now that Kathy is away for a moment, were you able to call Kerry and talk with her, and if so, what did she say?" Oliver asked Gena.
Gena turned her head and looked at Oliver, " Yes, I called her and talked with her, at first she didn't want to come, afraid that it was a trap or something like that, but after I told her that you voluntarily would stay at the hospital and sign for it, she changed her mind. I don't know what happened inside her head but hearing that changed something that I do know, so she's coming and should be here in an hour or a little under. She hates it when I take the subway back home in the evening so she's driving here since my shift will be finished when she or we will leave, so we can go back by car together, but traffic is a bitch at this time of the day as you know, so give or take it will an hour I think," Gena answered.
Oliver thought about what Gena said about the change of mind Kerry had after telling her about what he would do, but he couldn't put his finger on it just yet, and so he decided to let it go for now and think about it later and maybe he would be able to figure it out then.
"I promise that I will do everything I can to help her Gena, we all will. Now Kathy will be back soon so I suggest we stop talking about this for now, but know that it's safe with her as well. She used to be married to my ex-partner at the precinct, that's all I'm saying about it now," Oliver said.
Gena nodded at Oliver, letting him know she understood and got the message that they could talk about things later when Kathy was gone if she preferred it that way.
Just after they finished the conversation Kathy returned to Oliver's room and not long after that everyone had a plate filled with food of their choice. Everyone was having a good time and the conversations were kept light and with some humor now and then. About half an hour later Kathy had to return to her floor.
"Thank you for dinner, Alex and Oliver. I have to go and try to finish my work before my shifts end so I can go home at a decent time and spend some time with the kids," Kathy said.
Oliver nodded at Kathy, "I know the neighborhood is safe but still be careful when you go home. And say hi to the kids for me, please. Well those that will be still up of course," Oliver answered.
"I will on both accounts, but like you said it's a safe neighborhood as you know perfectly well since you lived there before the kids and I got there. You stay in your bed Detective and if I come back tomorrow morning and you did as asked, I'll try to get you home but you have to follow the instructions given to you, Oliver. I don't want you to end up back here again because you didn't do as you'd been told to," Kathy said.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll stay in my bed," Oliver grumbled.
Kathy just shook her head, knowing that saying anything only would make things worse and she didn't want to leave him with the rest of the women being stubborn and making the lives of her colleagues a living hell as long as the Detective would be here.
"Right, I'll get out of your hair then. We have to catch up soon again. Good evening everyone," Kathy said.
"We will call you soon, Kathy. Thank you for all you have done. Have a good evening," Alex said.
"Yes, thanks, Kathy. Bye," Oliver said.
The others said their goodbyes as well and with that the blonde nurse left Oliver's room.
Just after Kathy left a nurse came into Oliver's room.
"Hello Detective, I'm Sierra. I'm your nurse this evening. How are you doing?" Sierra asked after introducing herself.
"I'm good. So far my dinner went down well and I'm not hungry anymore," Oliver answered with a smile.
"Yes, I heard about that, well it's a good sign that it went well so far, let's hope it stays that way. How is it with the pain, do you need anything for it?" Sierra asked.
"No thank you, I don't need anything now. I can handle it so far," Oliver answered her, raising one eyebrow as if he was challenging the nurse.
"Don't worry Detective, I'm not gonna try to force you to take them. One, I know how that can end if I would try to, two, and more importantly to me, someone that can wander around the hospital after surgery without needing them and being relaxed as you are now, most of the time has a high pain tolerance and won't need them unless they ask for it," Sierra said.
Oliver looked surprised at the nurse. He didn't expect this, usually, everyone tried to force him to take painkillers, without any luck of course, so someone not trying it was refreshing. He looked again to see if she really meant it and then a big smile got on his face.
"Finally, someone who gets it. Thank you very much. And I promise that if I need it I will ask for it, not that it's gonna happen tho," Oliver said.
"Sure you will, Detective," Sierra laughed, before she turned serious again, "Alright, now the annoying part, I have to take your temperature, blood pressure, and so on. So everyone, leave the room and wait outside, I'll call you all back in when I'm done. Unless you want someone to stay with you, Detective, then that person can stay and everyone else needs to wait outside," Sierra said.
Gena and Abby got up and walked out of Oliver's room while Alex and Jane stayed and waited till they had left.
"Oli, do you want Alex or myself to stay with you, or none of us?" Jane asked.
Oliver thought for a moment and then turned his head and looked at Sierra.
"Do you have to check my wounds as well?" Oliver asked, looking a bit scared.
Sierra shook her head as she answered, "No not right now Detective, unless you have blood on your gown or bed again of course," Sierra said.
"No, not that I'm aware of," Oliver answered.
"Well then, lucky for you, I don't have to check them now, but I will have to check them with the last round on the floor before the night shift starts unfortunately," Sierra said.
Oliver's face fell for a moment but then he remembered that she had said that she didn't need to check them now and a small smile returned.
"Lex, can you wait outside, not that I don't want you here with me but just in case Sierra isn't done?" Oliver asked as he looked at Alex, hoping his wife would understand it without him saying it aloud in front of Sierra.
Alex nodded and smiled at Oliver, letting him know that she perfectly understood what her husband meant and why he wanted it.
"Sure I can. No worries, honey. Just promise me that the two of you behave yourself," Alex answered, as she snickered the last part of her answer.
Oliver refused to take the bait and just shook his head. Alex stood up and pecked Oliver on his lips and then walked out of the room closing the door behind her.
Sierra did what she had to do and then Jane called Alex back into the room.
"Well, everything is alright. His blood pressure and such are more than alright. So nothing to worry about. If both of you don't have any questions, I'm going to the next patient. If you do have questions later on, you can always ask anything you want to know, just have Detective Benson page me then," Sierra said.
"Is everything really alright, I mean other than his blood pressure, temperature, and things like that?" Alex asked.
"Yes, ma'am. No blood on his gown or bed, and no more pain than is normal, that combined with the rest means that so far it has gone well," Sierra answered.
"Alright, thank you. I won't keep you up any longer then," Alex said.
Sierra nodded at Alex and Oliver and left the detective's room. Right after she left Alex climbed back onto Oliver's bed and Jane went to get Gena and Abby back into the Detective's room.
In the meantime, Oliver suddenly got an inkling as to why Kerry changed her mind, but he again decided to let it go. He would find out soon enough if he was right or not.
After everyone was inside the Detective's room they had some small talk, after Oliver had said that they might as well have some light conversation until Kerry arrived. So that's what they did until there was a knock on the door and Gena went to open the door after confirmation from Oliver to do so. After a short conversation, Gena turned around and walked back into the room with Kerry behind her. As they went and stood next to each other Gena wanted to introduce her wife but it didn't get that far.
"Benson,"
"Denning,"
Oliver and Kerry said at the same time with a smile on their faces.
The rest of the room's occupants all had surprised looks on their faces. It was obvious that they both knew each other but other than that they didn't have a clue.
"Can one of you explain to the rest of us what is going on here?" Jane asked.
Oliver looked at Kerry and she nodded at him to take the lead.
"First, I didn't know Kerry was well Kerry, before. I would have told you all if I had known it. I didn't hide it just so you all know," Oliver said, as he looked around the room and last but most important he looked at Alex.
"I know you would, Liv. But how do you know her?" Alex asked.
"We were at the Academy together, well not together, but at the same time, I mean. That was before, well, both of our transitions as it turns out now. We kind of lost contact after graduation," Oliver answered.
Oliver looked at Kerry as he was not sure how much he could tell.
"I'm pretty sure that everyone in this room knows how protective he can be about people that he cares for or likes, assuming that you all know him well. We met at the Academy where we became friends, just friends nothing more. Some of our fellow cadets were real assholes during the last semester before graduating and causing trouble with a lot of the cadets, including me. Well, they tried to, but Benson here saved my ass by kicking theirs. They got kicked out of the Academy and thankfully he didn't get into trouble for kicking their asses. Anyway, I didn't want to stay in the city at that time and went away to join the force somewhere else. And we just kind of lost contact after that. That's all I want to say about it," Kerry said.
"Oh we know, we all know how he is," Abby snickered
Everyone started to laugh at the brunette's words, and without intending it Abby was breaking the ice with it. After everyone, including Oliver, had stopped laughing, Oliver went to introduce them all.
"Right, let me introduce you to everyone here in this room," Oliver started, he looked at Alex and took her hand in his own, "This is my wife, Alex Benson, although you might have heard of her as ADA Alexandra Cabot now Alex Benson, she is assigned to Manhattan SVU at the 16th precinct," Oliver said, and then laughed at the look on Kerry's face when she took a better look at Abby and Jane.
"I know they look alike, but no, they're not twins, good thing as well cuz it would have been a real problem as they are in a relationship," Oliver said while he laughed.
"On the left, Abby Carmichael, ADA of Manhattan SVU as well, on the right, Jane Rizzoli, SVU Detective at the 16th precinct as well. Abby came back not that long ago after the feds whisked her away from us, and Jane is a former Homicide Detective from Boston. Both are friends of Alex and myself. And I am, or well, was at this point, a Detective at SVU at the 16th precinct as well," Oliver said, his smile disappearing a bit at the end of his introductions.
"You still are, Liv, just because you're here now and haven't been working for SVU recently because of certain circumstances, doesn't mean you're not one anymore," Alex said, with a soft tone in her voice.
"I agree, Oli," Jane said.
"Anyway, everyone in this room, you can trust them, Kerry," Oliver said, making it clear to everyone including Kerry and Gena, that he didn't want to talk about it.
"Thank you for the introduction," Kerry said.
Oliver nodded and thought for a moment before he spoke again.
"Well I guess it's safe to say that I don't need to sign anything and stay in this damn hospital too much longer than I hope it will be," Oliver said, with a small grumble in his voice.
Of course, everyone, except for Oliver himself, shook their heads and started to laugh at the Detective's words. Gena looked at her wife and Kerry nodded back at her.
"No worries about that Benson, even though it will be longer than you want, you don't have to sign anything and stay even longer," Gena laughed.
Even though it annoyed him, Oliver bit his tongue to prevent him from taking the bait and responding to it. And while he thought he knew the answer he still wanted to ask it and so he looked at Kerry.
"Gena said that you changed your mind and agreed to come here, she didn't say anything about what you talked about so don't worry, and if you don't want to answer that's fine, feel free to say so, but why did you change your mind, Kerry?" Oliver asked.
"At first I didn't want to come when she said that a Detective wanted to talk with me, she didn't say it was you, but after she said that the Detective had said that they would sign a paper stating that they would stay as long as she or the Doctor wanted them to stay, I changed my mind, not because we all hate to be in a hospital if it's not for our job, but because I thought it might be you being here, it was something that you would say and do, and I decided that the only way to find out if it was you, was to come here, turns out I was right," Kerry answered.
Oliver nodded and smiled at Kerry,
"I didn't know if her last name was her married name or family name, but when Gena said that you had changed your mind after hearing what I would do if you had a bad feeling after seeing me, somehow I knew it was you, because you would know that I really meant it and that even though we haven't seen each other for many years, you knew I would never harm you in any way. Thank you for coming here, I know it wasn't easy even though you thought it could be me. And, whatever is said here stays between us," Oliver said.
"Thank you, and I'll take your word for it," Kerry said.
"You're welcome. Now let's start with why I asked you to come here," Oliver said.
A/N I have decided to split up this chapter and the next one so that at least y'all had something to read now, and hopefully don't have to wait a long time for the next one. In other words where this chapter ended the next will start and we will move on after the next one….if my mind is not gonna play any tricks with me that is of course.
