Well, hello, beautiful people! Here is another story for you. This isn't a cabinverse story, so no Josie or Cam or Caroline or that mean old Ivy. Just Liv and Alex (mostly). This idea has been rolling around in my head almost as long as the Cabin Fever stuff, so I'm happy to start laying it out so I can make room for other story business. I finished this chapter today, and wanted to wait until I had a few more chapters written before I posted anything, but I'm not very patient. Speaking of not being patient, I'm gonna be upfront and say that I have no idea when I'll get more time to churn out the next chapter. I work a full-time job (who am I kidding? It's an overtime job!) and six day work weeks leave me to cram everything I need to do in one always-too-short day. But I promise I'll try to work on it more often than not. This chapter is like a cork in a bottle of wine: once the initial block is gone everything flows relatively easily and you take as much as you can get and at the end you're passed out cuddling a raccoon while wearing nothing but a sombrero on your front lawn.

I felt you long after we were through...because I carry you around in the background.

"Come on, El! Don't pout just because I happen to be siding with Munch on this particular subject," Olivia Benson smirked as she took another sip of her beer.

Elliot threw his hands up in exasperation. "But you're my partner, Liv! You're supposed to agree with me!"

"I don't think anyone can agree with someone who thinks-" The ringing of Olivia's cell phone stopped her from finishing her thought. She glanced across the booth to a smug looking John Munch, and then to Elliot Stabler, who had a look on his face that said that their discussion was far from over, before she looked at the screen of her phone. The area code was from New Jersey, but she didn't recognise the number, so she gave her formal greeting. "Benson."

"Um, hello, Miss Benson. My name's Bethany Akander. I'm a trauma nurse in the ER at Bergen Regional Medical Centre in Paramus. Do you know an Alexandra Cabot?"

Munch and Elliot watched as the colour drained from Olivia's face. It had been years since she'd allowed herself to even think of that name. She felt like an elephant had decided to sit on her chest. Her mouth opened and closed as she tried to respond, but no sound came out.

"Miss Benson? Are you there?"

Shaking her head to try to get rid of the surge of feelings that she'd worked so hard to push deep down over the years, she finally croaked out a response. "Yes. Yes, I know her."

There was a sigh on the other end of the phone. "I'm sorry to inform you that Miss Cabot's been in an accident. Her car lost control on the freeway and spun out. She's stable, but she's in critical condition."

Olivia ignored the concerned looks from her friends and ran her hand through her hair. "Why did you call me?" It wasn't an angry question. The absence of Alex in her life caused her a lot of heartache. There was the initial agony of Alex being taken away from her to join witness protection, followed by the false hopes of getting Alex back when she returned to testify against her would-be assassin only to be ripped away again without so much as a goodbye, not to mention the never ending sting of knowing Alex had been released from witness protection and returned to New York but had never returned any of the phone calls from her old friends. For three years Olivia had done her best to rid her mind of thoughts of Alex Cabot. She had done a pretty good job, only experiencing an occasional twinge of nostalgia, but this moment in time was one Olivia had not prepared herself for.

"When the paramedics were treating Miss Cabot in the ambulance, she kept repeating your name. We looked in her phone and found your number."

"Um...OK." Olivia nodded slowly. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

Bethany Akander gave Olivia directions then thanked her for her time and hung up. Olivia slowly took the phone from her ear and put it in her jacket pocket, moving like she was in a trance.

Elliot reached out and put his hand on Olivia's forearm. "Are you OK, Liv? What was that all about?"

"It's Alex. She's been in an accident. She's in Paramus and she's in critical condition," Olivia recounted.

"Why did the hospital call you?" Munch asked.

"She kept repeating my name in the ambulance. They checked her phone and found my name." Olivia put her purse on the table and stood up to leave. "I'm gonna drive to the hospital."

Knowing what Alex's absence had done to his partner, not to mention the knowledge that Alex was back and still hadn't even acknowledged Olivia's repeated attempts to contact her, Elliot wasn't sure how to tell his partner that he didn't think this was a good idea. "Liv..."

"Save it, El. I know you had to pick up the pieces after she left...twice...but I can handle this. I'm not staying. I'm gonna give them the information they need to get her next of kin, and then I'm coming back. She doesn't mean anything to me anymore." With that she picked up her purse, sidestepped her way out of the booth, and left the bar.

Munch looked at Elliot, who rubbed his hands roughly over his face. "I don't believe that for one second. Do you?"

Elliot shook his head. "Nope. When it comes to Alex Cabot, Liv's heart takes over and gets destroyed in the process every single time. And I don't think this is going to end well."

###

Olivia could honestly say that she'd never been to Paramus, New Jersey. It wasn't that she didn't want to go there, just that she had no reason to do so. There wasn't anything there that she needed to do or see and she didn't know anyone there. Until now. Alex Cabot was in the hospital there. Why? In all the time she'd known Alex, the blonde had never mentioned anything about the town. Olivia had so many questions and the only person who could answer them was Alex.

The trip took thirty minutes, but it felt so much longer than that. The closer Olivia got to her destination, the more anxious she felt. She pulled into a parking spot and turned off the engine. Leaning forward and resting her head on the steering wheel, she took several deep breaths to try to calm her nerves. When her heart stopped racing, she picked up her purse and got out of the car. She'd seen quite a few people in hospitals in her years on the force, but this was different. This was Alex.

Striding into the ER with a confidence that she hoped covered the rattled nerves and increasing anxiety at the thought of seeing Alex, she walked up to the desk with her badge out to show the nurse. "Hi, I'm Detective Olivia Benson. I was called about a patient you have here."

A thin blonde woman in navy blue scrubs came up behind Olivia and stood next to her at the counter. "I'm the one that called you. Bethany," she said as she held out her hand. Olivia shook the nurse's hand and smiled sadly. "Your friend just went up to surgery. She's got some compound leg fractures that need to be repaired. She also sustained broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder. We did a CT scan and as far as we can tell there's no concussion or anything like that, which is pretty incredible. She's gonna be in the OR for a couple of hours and if you'd like to wait for her I can take you to the waiting room."

"That'd be great," Olivia said, her plan to offer information and leave forgotten. In Bethany's recounting of Alex's injuries Olivia's resolve to not have anything to do with the woman who had directly and indirectly broken her heart crumbled. The urge to see Alex suddenly burned white hot and turned any animosity she had been clinging to into ash.

Bethany told the intake nurse that she'd be gone for a few minutes and placed a hand on Olivia's forearm. "Ready?"

Olivia took a deep breath. "Yeah."

They walked to a bank of elevators where Bethany pushed the up arrow and stood back. She gave Olivia a sidelong glance and tried to figure out the relationship between her and Alex Cabot. The detective's face remained impassive with the exception of a furrowed brow and eyes that were filled with worry.

"Is there any paperwork I have to fill out or any information I can provide?" Olivia spoke as soon as the elevator doors opened and they stepped inside.

"There are a few forms you need to fill out but I'll give them to you when we get to the surgical floor. Any information you can provide would be helpful. All we know is what we learned from her driver's license and that's not much. We know her birthdate, address, and that she's an organ donor. If you've got anything beyond that, we would love to know."

She prefers tea to coffee, but she drinks coffee when she knows she's gotta work late. She has to sleep with her feet covered by blankets, even in the dead heat of summer. She sings obnoxiously loud in the car on long trips. She's an affectionate drunk. Her favourite thing in the whole world is to be kissed awake. But somehow I don't think that's what you wanted to know... Olivia thought. "As far as I know she doesn't have any allergies to medications, and that's about as much as I could tell you. She's always been incredibly healthy as long as I've known her. Oh, but she does have insomnia and some anxiety, but with the kind of work we do, it kind of comes with the job."

"Is she a detective too?" Bethany asked.

Olivia shook her head. "No, she's an assistant district attorney for the Manhattan SVU. Or at least she was... She...um...left...for a few years, and then came back as a bureau chief in another department."

Bethany smiled as the elevator dinged and the doors parted. "A lawyer, huh? Well, that explains why she was driving a Mercedes." She stepped out first, followed by Olivia.

"She comes from a long line of lawyers, judges, and other assorted politicians. When she first started working with us we couldn't figure out why she was slumming it with us instead of having some ridiculously successful private practice. But it turns out she was the best thing to ever happen to the unit. She's tenacious and brilliant and has more empathy than any of us ever expected."

As they arrived at the nurses station, Bethany rounded the end of the long counter and searched through a stack of files, finally locating the one for Alex. Olivia looked around the room and took in the small waiting area and noticed that there was no one else in it. A TV was mounted in one corner and several rows of chairs lined the walls. She turned back to the desk as Bethany handed her a clipboard with the form that the hospital needed to be filled out.

"Here's this, and when you're finished with it, just hand it to whoever's behind the desk. Rachel over there will keep you posted on your friend's condition." Bethany pointed to a nurse with fiery red curly hair at a computer station at the opposite end of the station. She leaned closer to Olivia and whispered, "She's the best nurse on this floor. She'll make sure you're taken care of."

Olivia smiled genuinely at Bethany. "Thanks for everything. I'm glad Alex had someone as nice as you to be there with her."

Bethany flashed a comforting smile. "She was pretty banged up when she got here, and she was alone in the car when it crashed. She needed someone to keep her calm because all she kept saying was your name and crying. I told her you were on the way and she passed out. Poor thing just needed to know you were coming to her." She watched as Olivia's eyes filled with tears. "If you need to talk or anything, I'm a few floors down. It's a slow night and it beats stocking supply closets."

"Thank you," was all Olivia could choke out.

With a nod, Bethany went back to the elevator and Olivia sat down with the clipboard and began to fill the form out to the best of her ability.

###

After handing off the paperwork to a passing nurse, Olivia returned to the chair she had been occupying and stared at the little TV showing CNN at a low volume. She wasn't even paying attention to the broadcast, but it beat staring at the wall. The next thing she knew she was being tapped on the shoulder by the nurse who Bethany identified as Rachel.

"Miss Benson?"

Olivia blinked a few times to get the haze out of her eyes and sat up a little straighter. She didn't even remember falling asleep. "Yes?"

"Miss Cabot is in recovery now. You can go see her if you'd like."

The butterflies in Olivia's stomach started going crazy. "Um, yeah." Rachel stepped back and allowed Olivia room to stand up.

The red head led Olivia slowly down the hallway to the patient rooms. "Everything went well in surgery. She's still out from the anaesthesia, but she'll wake up soon. We're keeping her up here for the night to monitor her and then hopefully tomorrow we'll have her down in ICU." As they reached the door of the room that was Alex's, Rachel stopped Olivia with a hand on her arm. "I'm not gonna lie, she looks pretty bad. She's got bruising on her face from the impact and a burn from the airbag. She's in a sling for her shoulder and her legs are in traction. She's gonna be in pain when she wakes up, but we can manage that. She's got a long recovery ahead of her. But believe me when I say that she's incredibly lucky to even be alive." She paused a moment to let her words sink in. "When she wakes up, hit the call button so we can reevaluate her and give her some pain meds." Rachel pushed the heavy door open a ways and pointed inside the darkened room. "She's all yours."

Nodding slowly, Olivia slipped inside and closed the door behind her.