Aftermath of the attack, chapter 10

[Insert this scene between chapters 7 and 8]
I wrote this months ago, but dug it out to revise while I am home the second time in a week due to another NE blizzard!

On the short ambulance ride from his condo to the hospital Rafael Barba drifted in and out of consciousness. His pain was so intense. Where was Olivia? he wondered. Had Lewis also hurt her? Where was he? His thoughts were jumbled. He couldn't seem to clear his mind.

When the EMTs lifted his body onto the bed in the emergency room he cried out. The bright lights irritated his eyes so he tried closing them. When the nurse cut away the sheet the EMTs had wrapped him in, she gasped, reacting to the sight of the many 2nd degree burns covering his arms, legs, and torso. There were also dozens of bloody but shallow knife wounds on his arms and chest. The nurse was checking his vital signs when the ER doctor walked in and grabbed the chart.

"What do we have here?" he asked the nurse.

"The EMT radioed in that Mr. Barba was assaulted in his home. He was burned with cigarettes and metal objects and he has many shallow knife wounds. According to the responding police he has alcohol and barbiturates in his system."

She handed the doctor an empty vial. "A detective gave this to the EMTs, but said he did vomit just before the EMTs arrived. The police told them to have us do a rape kit as he disclosed he'd been sodomized."

"OK. We'll do an anal swab and pump out his stomach, then tend to the burns and cuts and the rest of the rape kit."

"Mr. Barba, can you hear me?" the doctor asked gently touching his shoulder which was one of the few places free of any wounds.

Rafael moaned and opened his eyes. "Yes," he replied in a low voice.

"We need to move you on your side so we can begin the rape kit procedure."

Barba began flailing, his body moving dangerously close to the edge of the bed. "Olivia? Where's Olivia?" he kept repeating. "Is she here?"

"Go see if there is an 'Olivia' in the waiting area," the doctor ordered while cautiously grasping Barba's arm to keep him from falling off the bed. "We need to calm him down." To offer Barba some privacy he covered his naked torso with a towel.

The nurse returned with Benson and introduced her to the doctor. "This is Detective Benson, who found Mr. Barba. She's a colleague of his. She witnessed his vomiting and gave the empty prescription vial to the EMTs."

"Detective, can you try to get him to calm down? We'd rather not administer any sedatives yet, but he is very agitated and has to stop moving."

"Rafael, can you hear me? It's Olivia," she said as she leaned closer to his face. Sweat beaded on his brow and he was breathing heavily.

He turned his head toward Olivia and tried to focus his eyes. She noticed he was wearing his contact lenses. "Rafael is wearing contact lenses. He must have had them on for days, the entire time he was kidnapped," she told the medical team.

"Rafael, you need to lie still while they do some procedures and treat your wounds. You'll feel better soon. Do you want me to stay here with you?" She glanced at the doctor for permission and he nodded. She touched Barba's right hand.

"Yes," he replied faintly.

The nurse turned him on his side to do the anal swab. He squeezed Olivia's hand tightly and winced. "Are you alright, Liv? Did Lewis hurt you?" he asked, gazing up at her with concern, his green eyes unfocused.

"I'm fine, Rafael," Olivia said, surprised that he could think of her despite his own pain.

"I'm going to call your mother," she said. He nodded, breathing heavily. "Don't tell her about the sexual assault," he whispered, knowing how upset she would be.

The nurse removed and discarded his contact lenses. She then placed some saline drops in his eyes to soothe them. Olivia stayed with him while the ER team pumped out his stomach, cleaned his burns and knife cuts and treated the wounds with an antibiotic cream that would also relieve some of his pain.

The doctor administered a sedative, then they began to do the rest of the rape kit procedure. Olivia left the room to phone Barba's mother. Although she had comforted many rape victims in her 15 years in SVU, she had never been witness to a close friend. She also did not want to relive the procedure and trigger memories she wanted to forget.

Mrs. Barba was shocked at the news of her son's assault. Olivia had trouble understanding her as she started to speak rapidly using more Spanish than English. She persuaded Mrs. Barba to wait a few hours before coming to the hospital since Rafael would be sedated or sleeping. When she returned to the cubicle Barba was indeed asleep. The nurse pulled aside the curtain. "Mr. Barba will be moved upstairs soon to a private room. You can sit with him then and wait until he wakes up." The nurse smiled and started to leave. She turned around and pointed to Olivia's cast.

"Detective, are you all right? Do you want someone to look at your wrist? Have you re-injured it? You seem to grimace and hold onto it with your other hand."

"OK," said Olivia resignedly and followed the nurse out. Better she deal with it now than get more grief from Rollins about it, she thought.

A few hours later Olivia was sitting next to Barba's bed. Her wrist was sore and she'd been given some pain medication that was making her sleepy. She started to drift off when Rafael called her name.

"Olivia?" he asked, "did they catch Lewis? That son-of-a-bitch has more lives than a cat."

"No, not yet" she replied, happy that he was alert and seemed to have his memory back even if some of the recollections would be hard to face. Rafael was receiving antibiotics intravenously. His eyes were sunken and his normally clean shaven look was replaced by several days' growth of a salt-and-pepper beard. He really did look terrible, she thought.

"Do you want me to get the nurse? Is your pain worse?" she asked, remembering the constant gnawing pain she endured after her attack.

"No, the pain is better. Liv?" he asked. "Liv, I can hardly see anything without my contact lenses. Do you think you could get my glasses from my condo? When you get a chance."

She leaned over and gazed into his naturally green eyes.

"I see you're not so vain that you enhance your green eyes with colored lenses," she said.

Barba attempted a smile. "Not that I haven't thought of it," he replied.

Amaro knocked on the door and he and Fin entered the room.

"Counselor," Nick said. "I hope you are feeling better. Cragen sent us to take your statement. And Liv, we need to get a statement from you since you interrupted Lewis's assault."

Benson stood up. She touched the top of Barba's hand. "I'll wait outside so you guys can have some privacy for the interview. I'll intercept your mom if she arrives."