Chapter 9 – The Accident

I opened my eyes the next morning to the sky just starting to get light. I was a little disorientated as to where I was and then felt El's arm draped over my waist. Images of the ecstasy filled previous evening flashed through my head and I smiled. I realized then that I was in love with Elliot Stabler and had never really stopped loving him even after he left. A sudden feeling of sadness overcame me though since I realized that I would be headed back to New York soon and Elliot would still be in Chicago. He had mentioned wanting to move back to New York, but I didn't realistically expect him to leave Eli and his job at CPD. I then felt him kissing my neck and he whispered, "Good morning, beautiful." I laughed softly and turned to face him. "Good morning. Did you sleep well?" He smiled back at me, "Better than I ever have." He leaned in and kissed me slowly and gently. "Let me make us some breakfast and then we can check in on Amanda." He rolled out of bed and the loss of his warmth made me shiver. I decided to go take a shower while he was in the kitchen.

I came out to the kitchen twenty minutes later feeling refreshed and had jeans with a brown sweater on. El had made scrambled eggs and bacon that looked delicious. While we were eating, my phone rang, and it was Amanda. "Hey Amanda, how are you?" Amanda replied tiredly, "I've been better, but I will survive. I feel hungover from these drugs, but I am ok. I am getting discharged later this morning. I am ready to get back to New York." I sighed, "I know how you feel. We just have some paperwork to finish up so we should be able to fly back the day after tomorrow. El and I will head over to the hospital to help get you discharged and back to the hotel." I hung up the phone and let El know that we can pick Amanda up later this morning. I was sitting on a stool at the counter when El came over towards me in just a couple of strides. He was standing behind me with his hands on my hips and I felt him gently kiss my neck and whisper in my ear, "I don't want you to go. I never want to be apart from you again." I had goosebumps all over and I felt the same way but wasn't sure what to say. I had to get back to my life in New York and El was established here in Chicago now. Last night was amazing but it was never going to work with us living this far apart. I also knew not to get my hopes up with how easily he left me last time. I let out a sigh and said, "I know El, but this thing between us will never last long distance. I need to get back to my job in New York." He turned me around and kissed me firmly and passionately. He felt so good that part of me wanted to never leave his apartment, but I knew this was coming to an end.

We left for the hospital around 11:00 am in El's car, a blue sedan, from the department. We were driving along Lake Shore Drive and I was looking out the window admiring the beautiful view of Lake Michigan. Suddenly a large truck changed lanes and side swiped us. I felt the car crash into the side of the concrete barrier. Elliot slammed the brakes and a car behind us rammed into the back of us and our car started to spin. I felt another crash and then everything went black.

My eyes then open, everything is blurry, my head is throbbing, and I can feel something warm and wet dripping down the side of my face. I look over and Elliot is not in the driver's seat. I hear voices just then calling my name, "Sergeant Benson! You have been in a car accident, but we are going to get you out of here." I recognized Lieutenant Severide, Shay's roommate as who was speaking to me. He had full firefighter gear on, and I could see firetrucks and an ambulance. I then looked down and noticed that the front end of the car was smashed and my legs were completely stuck under the dashboard. I started to panic some and had to take some deep breaths. When I spoke, my voice was hoarse and barely audible, "My legs, they are stuck. I can't move them at all." I could see some commotion behind Severide and then heard Elliot's voice, "Liv! Liv! Hang in there. They will get you out soon." I relaxed some knowing now that El was ok and not severely hurt. I saw a firefighter with the name Casey written on his helmet step in front of Elliot blocking him from running to the passenger side of the car. Casey said sternly, "Detective Stabler, you need to let us do our job. You can't be near the vehicle. It's too dangerous."

The firefighters were getting the jaws of life machine to help tear open the car so my legs could be released. My head was pounding, and I felt nauseous. Suddenly a young woman with dark hair and brown eyes opened the driver's side door and crawled into the car holding a neck brace. She said gently, "Hey Sergeant Benson, I'm Gabriela Dawson. I'm a paramedic and here to help you. How are you feeling?" I looked over at her slowly and said, "Any relation to Detective Dawson at CPD? My head hurts like hell and I'm nauseous." She looked a little concerned at that and said, "Yes, Detective Dawson is my brother. Ok, let me put this neck brace on you for stabilization and I'm going to take your vitals while they work on cutting the car."

I looked over at her with tears in my eyes, "I'm scared. I can't move my legs, and everything is spinning." She reached out and touched my forearm, "Listen, you are going to be fine. These firefighters are the best there are. I want to thank you as well for how you handled Shay's case. She is my best friend and told me how great your team was in listening to her as well as solving the case." Her face was looking blurry, and she sounded far off to me. I could also smell gasoline now which I'm sure couldn't be good. I could hear the machine next to me working on the frame of the car, but it sounded far away. I heard Dawson say something about gasoline is leaking and they needed to work faster. Suddenly then everything went black again.

I woke up in an ambulance. El was holding my hand sitting by the gurney. I was so out of it. Alarms started going off again and I heard something about blood pressure dropping and then I passed out again. The next time I woke up I was in a hospital room. I looked around the room and saw El sitting in a chair near my bed. I attempted to speak but my voice was barely audible, "El, what happened?" He looked over at me and jumped up towards the bed. "Liv, oh my god, you're awake. I was so scared. We were in an accident. The driver of the truck was distracted and ran into us. You have a concussion along with some minor cuts and bruises. They couldn't keep you conscious and the doctors were worried. How do you feel?" I smiled up at him, "Like I was hit by a truck." He smiled back, "Your sense of humor is still there so I think you are going to be ok." He reached down and kissed me lightly. They probably want you to stay a couple of days to make sure all is good. He held my hand and sat next to my bed. He made me feel safe and I knew everything would be alright.