In the Blink of an Eye

This black void seems endless.

I am floating somewhere between time and space and yet, I feel at peace. The exhaustion and stress that have been building up for the last four months have suddenly ceased to matter. Elliot leaving SVU and New York's Finest didn't matter; my marital problems with Hunter didn't matter; and my lackluster pursuit to find my birth parents didn't matter either. Deep down, I knew; even then I knew that at some point, I'd wake up...

OLIVIA'S POV

"John!" I say, relieved that I am partnered with him instead of the new recruit, Rollins, that afternoon. "What do we got?"

"One confirmed fatality, at least," John replies, meeting me in the center of the dismal scene on the freeway. "The cabby didn't stand a chance."

"Poor guy," I reply, not really meaning it because he was a stranger to me. "What else? Anyone else?"

"The guy in the semi is moderate, but he'll pull through," John tells me as we manage to navigate our way through the crowd. "And then there was the passenger of the cab..."

"Yeah?" I ask, stepping around some rubble and debris, which is when I see it. I feel my mouth fall open and an alien-like scream come forth from my mouth when I see that, in the center of it all, Maggie is pulled this way and that like a rag doll. I charge forward, hauling bits of broken car off of her, managing not to cut and slice open my hands in the process. "Maggie, Maggie!" I scream, desperate to reach out and shake her before John pulls me back so as the EMT's can do their job.

"Let them work, Liv," he says, making an effort to hold tightly to me, despite my thrashing in his arms.

"No, let me go!" I scream.

"Liv, I can't! You could hurt yourself!" John says firmly. "Come on. I'm sure you can persuade the kind EMT's to let you ride along..."

I am out of his grip in half an instant as soon as Maggie is strapped to the stretcher and I manage to dart towards the ambulance. They don't ask to see my badge or anything like that and I perch next to her as I watch them do their work. Her arms are smashed and her legs are broken; she has a couple of broken and fractured ribs as well as one broken shoulder; she will suffer whiplash as well as a broken nose and jaw; her PT will be strenuous, and I know she will need as much love and support as necessary. I give them her blood type and tell them that, since mine is the same, I will donate as much as she needs. They start me on an IV just like Maggie as we whip through the streets of Manhattan, a lump in my throat at what has happened to her.

They charge with her through the ICU, and I am given my own private room to finish dispersing my blood into the provided pint for her. As soon as it is full, a nurse arrives and takes it, bandaging up my arm before leaving me with a pain killer, a cup of juice, and a cookie. I force myself to chew the mediocre cookie and squint at the ultra-sweet sensation of the juice slipping down my throat. I flex my arm ever so slightly and soon manage to get it moving normally again before heading back out into the waiting room.

"Captain," I say as soon as Don comes into view, and find myself breaking down again as Fin and John enter, but keep my feelings in check when I see Rollins slipping in behind Fin. "Sorry, I just..."

"John told us what happened," Don replies steadily. "That can't have been easy for you to see..."

"She seems like a real nice woman," Rollins says, and we all turn to look at her. "I saw her before she left the building—seemed to have a lot on her mind. I was just happy that she was polite enough to say hi to me..."

"John, why don't you take Rollins downstairs to get something to drink?" Don asks and John moves to do so, Rollins looking shocked as she is led out of the waiting room.