Three sharp cracks filled the night air and for a second after, it seemed as though the world had come to a stand still. Olivia Benson felt the searing pain moments after the bullet ripped through her left shoulder, burning flesh and tearing through muscle, to exit just below her clavicle. Her upper body swayed with the bullet's exit just as another entered above her hip, tearing through her side. Her left hand instinctively sought the new wound and her breath caught in her throat as she felt a wave of panic wash over her. She saw a small, black spot surrounded by dark crimson that was spreading steadily down her knitted sweater. The breath rushed out of her lungs as she fought the urge to vomit. She looked at the hooded man, who was side stepping his way to the corner of the intersection, still aiming his gun in her direction. Another shot was fired and she felt the bullet wizz by her face, snapping her out of her post shooting daze. Her gun was still pointed at him, as it had been before and with a small squeeze of the trigger, she let off another round. It connected with his left arm, the arm that held the leather satchel that was ripped from Olivia's companion mere seconds before. He stumbled forward; his free arm extended as though to help break his fall. His feet slipped on the icy concrete, slamming him into the brick facade of an apartment block. He dropped the satchel, scrambled to his feet running and sliped down a narrow laneway, out of site.
Abbie Carmichael had remained on the ground while the scene played out above her. She didn't dare move from where Olivia hadpushed her down. She had held her head down and leaned into Olivia's calves, jumping with each shot fired and feeling an unusual sway in the woman above her.
How on frickin' earth had it come to this!
They had bumped into each other at Prego's and decided to dine together. Abbie had welcomed the company of the older woman, remembering fondly the interchanges the two had had when Abbie worked with Olivia's unit. Although dinner was fantastic, and seeing Olivia again was even better, she had needed to get back and finish off the paper work that had started to pile up precariously on her desk.
She had only been back in New York for a few weeks, after deciding to return to the District Attorney's Office, as an Executive Assistant District Attorney, working with her previous division in Narcotics. Although working in DC with the Justice Department had initially been attractive and allowed her to remove herself from Jack McCoy's shadow, policy writing and political niceties were not exactly what she had in mind. The move to New York had been seen as a step backwards by her DC colleagues but she honestly missed the challenge that being in the DA's office provided.
Olivia had offered to walk her back to her Office's and Abbie had gladly accepted. They had only managed to get halfway downthe street before she had felt the elbow smack into her face, knocking her head towards the Detective, and the strap of her leather briefcase ripped from her shoulder. Olivia had caught her with one arm and drawn her weapon with the other. She had heard the warning shout but was preoccupied with obeying the Detective when she had pushed her down. And here she was now, lying in the snow, fairly sure her nose was broken due to the instantaneous swelling and copious amounts of blood on the snow beneath her, not to mention the dull thumping that seeped through her skull. She began to get to her feet, brushing off the snow and mud from her overcoat when she heard a low groan coming from the woman next to her.
"Olivia?" Abbie reached out and placed her hand on the Detective's shoulder only to find it sticky with blood.
"I'm shot."
Olivia fell to her knees, her gun falling from her hand, landing in the deep snow of the gutter. Abbie struggled to keep Olivia from falling down further by helping her into a sitting position, while looking around wildly for help.
Surely someone was going to help her?
She sunk down behind the wounded woman and rested Olivia's head back against her own chest. Her hand dug into her overcoat pocket, searching madly for her cell phone.
"Ugh...Abbie. I can't believe this!" Olivia looked down at her side and groaned. "This doesn't look to good." Olivia's hands grappled in the snow as she tried to stop writhing.
Abbie found the small phone and wrenched it from her pocket and flipped open the face.
"Hold on 'Liv. Geezus." Blood was seeping steadily from the wound in Olivia's side, drenching Abbie's suit and coat. She placed her free hand over the entry wound and pressed down, hoping to slow the bleeding. Olivia grunted in pain and clenched her teeth.
* 9.1.1. What is your emergency? *
"We have an Officer down. Detective Olivia Benson has been shot. We need EMS and Police assistance immediately."
* What's your location? *
"We're... Umm... Near the corner of West 10th and Greenwich. Hurry!. I think she's going into shock and I don't know what I need to do."
Olivia reached out and covered the hand Abbie held over her side. Tears of pain had started a slow, lazy trail down her cheeks.
* It's OK, honey. I've dispatched your call and someone will be on the scene in no time at all. Are you injured? *
"I'm fine. I may have broken my nose, but..." Her voice broke with the effort to remain calm.
* Can you tell me your name and what happened? *
"I'm Executive Assistant District Attorney Carmichael. I was walking with Detective Benson when I was assaulted and had my briefcase snatched. Benson drew her gun and advised the perpetrator to stop when he fired his weapon directly at us."
Now it had been said, the full impact of what had happened hit home. Abbie was silent for a few moments as she swallowed a sob, then continued to talk to the operator.
"I had fallen... and Olivia shielded me... there was three shots before she returned fire."
* Is the offender still at the scene? *
"No. Just us."
Abbie noticed Olivia trembling and looked down at the woman in her arms. Her face was so pale, eyes screwed shut and groaningin pain. It took all of Abbie's strength not to scream out for help. In the distance she thought she heard the sirens but she could never tell in this city.
* Abbie can you tell me where the officer's wounds are? *
"Umm... There seems to be two wounds. One near her shoulder, just under her collarbone and the other..." Abbie craned her neck to look at the wound in Olivia's side. She removed her bloodied hand and gingerly pulled Olivia's leather coat away from the general area of the entry wound, only to find that the bullet had exited from her side, leaving a gaping hole. A small groan escaped her and tears that had threatened to fall earlier, streaked their way down her face. Olivia took the young EADA's hand and placed it back over her wound as Abbie sobbed into the phone.
"...the other bullet... has gone in above the hip... but it's exited near the side."
* OK. Good. There should be someone there very, very soon. Now you have to try and keep her awake OK? Don't let her go to sleep. *
"OK." She brought the back of her hand to her eyes, wiping away the tears before looking down at the Detective's face. Olivia's dark eyes gazed back at her, more alert than before.
"Hey you. The EMS are on they're way OK? I want you to keep looking at me, alright?" Olivia squeezed Abbie's hand in answer and gave a small smile.
"You OK?...Your face..." Abbie smiled slightly and nodded. "I'm sorry ...didn't want to end it like this... was hoping to ask for...another dinner out." Olivia tried to flash Abbie a smirk but caught another tear making it's way down the younger woman's cheek.
"Don't worry about that now. There will be time enough for dinner later." Abbie's Texan drawl broke towards the end. She bent down and placed a light kiss on Olivia's forehead and rested her cheek on the crown of Olivia's head.
"You just gotta hang in there. I don't want to lose you." The last statement was barely a whisper but not lost on the injured woman.
"I don't want to go."
Within moments, an ambulance pulled up to the curb and a paramedic jumped out of the vehicle and headed towards them.
"I'm Mike Dolens. My partner, Buchman, is getting the ambulance ready to take you both to North General. How are we going here?" The young man had crouched in front of Olivia and began to examine the wounds to her torso.
"I dropped my gun...I'm gonna need you to get it for me. It's in the gutter...near my foot." She indicated towards the curb with her eyes before looking back at Abbie.
"I'm just going to help get the stretcher over here but I'm gonna be back real soon, OK?"
"Abbie? What the HELL happened?" Abbie looked over towards the familiar voice and saw Elliott Stabler and an officer she didn't recognise run over towards them.
"Geezus!" Stabler came to an abrupt stop when he saw his partner lying in the snow, her green knitted sweater red soaked with blood, looking more dead than alive. He brought his hand up to his mouth to stifle the sob as he knelt next to Olivia. He looked at Abbie and groaned.
"Sir, you're going to have to move for a moment." Dolans had returned with the stretcher while his partner crouched beside Abbie, opening a large medical container and pulling out a breathing mask, gauze, and other equipment that she would use on Olivia. The young woman looked at Abbie and gave a small smile.
"I'm Buchman and I'm going to give your friend some morphine, OK?" She looked down at Olivia and as she unwrapped a syringe and prepared it for use.
"Detective? We're preparing you for transportation" The paramedic inserted the syringe into the morphine bottle and drew out the prescribed amount. When she was satisfied with the dosage, she took Olivia's hand, found a vein and administered the drug.
"When we have you on the stretcher and in the ambulance, were going to have a look at these wounds, OK?" Olivia gave a small nod and looked back to Abbie.
"How are you going?" The question was directed at Abbie this time. The young paramedic touched Abbie lightly on the chin so as to get a side profile of her bloodied face.
"Looks like your nose is broken. Ride with us and we'll have someone look at it back at the hospital." She looked back down at Olivia and placed a breathing mask gently on her face.
"We're about to move you now so you might feel a little uncomfortable while we get you ready, alright?"
Buchman took over from where Abbie had sat and carefully lifted Olivia, with Dolans at her feet, onto the stretcher. After fastening the protective straps and extending the stretcher onto its wheels, the pair moved to the rear of the ambulance. Elliott took Abbie's arm and helped her to her feet before walking her to the street.
"Her gun. She said she dropped it." Abbie broke free from Elliott's hold and looked in the gutter near where Olivia had motioned earlier. Nestled in the snow was the harsh black of the Detective's service weapon.
"I'll take it. They'll want to run it through ballistics." He pulled a baggie out of his pocket, slipped his hand inside and gingerly picked up the expired service weapon, before scooping into the bag and sealing the zip lock top. He looked at the EADA before him, her coat, clothing and hands covered in Olivia's blood, her slacks wet from sitting in the snow and the purplish bruising from the broken nose a stark contrast to her pale features.
"Geezus Abbie." He drew her into a quick hug before helping her climb into the back of the ambulance
.
"I'll follow you to the Hospital and call Cragen. Go look after her and we'll talk later." He had turned towards his car and signalled to his colleague as Abbie seated herself behind Olivia's stretcher. Buchman closed the doors, pressed a small button near the rear doors that buzzed a signal as to their preparedness and Dolans turned on the sirens as they drew away from the curb.
"Ms Carmichael is it?" Buchman undid the stretcher straps that held Olivia down and without waiting for a reply continued.
"I want you to hold the Officer's hand while I remove her clothing. Can you do that for me? I'll be cutting her coat and sweater off and when I do, I want you to just hang in there and talk to her. It'll help her relax, making my job a little easier."
Abbie reached forward and took Olivia's cold, shaky hand. The small shuddering from the Detective reiterated how cold she was feeling. She had forgotten about the sub-zero temperature they had been sitting in until then. She had assumed her own shaking was purely shock related.
Buchman began to slice Olivia's coat from collar to shoulder, around the arm and down to the hem. Olivia groaned as the leather was gently removed, leaving half of her coat in tact.
"Shit. That coat cost me a week's pay."
"Be still and I'll get you another one."
Olivia turned her head up to Abbie as Buchman began to remove her sweater. She gave Abbie a smirk but yelped in pain as the sweater was pulled away from the wound and grabbed Abbie's hand harder. Abbie stole a look at Buchman who was concentrating on removing the rest of Olivia's sweater.
"You trying to bribe me Councillor?" This was said through gritted teeth.
Buchman took a wad of surgical swabs and ran them around the wound, to clear away the clotting blood and any other foreign objects that could cause infection. The wound was inflamed but the blood seepage had slowed and it was a ruby red, not the dark black that she knew would mean damage to the officer's liver.
"It'd be best for you to just lie back for now, Detective, before I get Buchman here to leave a mark."
Olivia's grip on Abbie's hand weakened as she succumbed to the Morphine and began to doze off.
"I don't want to sleep... Don't let me sleep... What if I don't wake up?..."
As Abbie watched her friend, perhaps even her potential lover fall unconcious, she asked herself the same thing, * What if she didn't wake up? *
To Be Continued...
