blues and greens (barson)

xxix.

Olivia's heart sank hearing those words. Elliot had asked if it was okay for him to put her down as his emergency contact now that he was in the city and Kathy was gone; he didn't want to put his children and cause them fear of losing another parent nor did he want to put his mother and risk something happening to him and her receive the call and be unable to handle it at her age. She looked at Rafael, stepping away from where the entire group had been sitting around the dining room table and kitchen island.
"Yes, is everything okay?"
Rafael came up behind her and wrapped an arm around her. He didn't know what was happening but the look on her face had worried him.
"Mr Stabler was in a severe accident," Patricia from Mercy explained, "we don't know what time since the storm is so bad, but it appears he may have been out there for more than an hour, at least. The cold helped clot the blood so he didn't lose as much but he is severely hypothermic and frostbitten."
"But alive."
"He is alive," she confirmed.
Rafael could hear vaguely as the woman on the other end continued speaking to Liv, he was worried based on what little Liv has said.
"I can't get there because of the storm, but I am reachable at this number with any updates. Please, please take care of him."
The woman on the other end spoke again and Liv was quiet.
Rafael rubbed her back gently, offering support to her.
"No, I can call them. Thank-" She leaned heavily against him suddenly.
He could hear machines whirring and beeping loudly on the other end of the line and he felt that panic rising in his chest that he'd had that day in the hospital.
Liv stood there silently, leaning heavily against Rafael.
There was the vague voice of the woman again and then Liv was lowering the phone.
Rafa pulled her into his arms, he didn't ask any questions or try to find out what was going on.
She was panicking, her heart was racing. They were just discussing taking him into surgery and letting his kids know when she heard the machines beeping and yells of "he's coding" from nurses and doctors. The woman she'd been speaking to had hung up with the promise to keep her updated.
The kids, Carisi, and Rollins were chatting softly, trying not to disrupt.
Liv had to fight the urge to try to fight her way through the storm to get to him. She knew she wouldn't even make it out of the parking garage in these horrific conditions and she cursed her former partner for not staying home. She knew him, though, she knew he was stubborn as Hell and if he needed to get somewhere he wasn't going to let a storm stop him.
"You okay?" Rafa asked softly, feeling her trembling in his arms.
"Elliot... accident... coding..." she couldn't formulate the words to explain fully what was happening.
Rafael seemed to realize the gravity of the call was beyond what he'd imagined it to be and led her to the couch in the sitting area near the entryway. He pulled a blanket around her shoulders and sat down with her. He spent a few minutes calming her down, singing softly and trying to keep her from going into a full blown panic attack.
Once she was calm enough, she explained what had happened... or at least what she knew.
Rafael looked toward the window but it was still nearly whiteout conditions and after going to save Lucy, he knew she wasn't even considering getting in the car. It was dangerous enough walking the two of them to get the younger woman, let alone trying to get into a vehicle.
"I have to call his kids but I'm hoping she calls me back to tell me what's happening before then."
"I was worried when you mentioned that you're his emergency contact," Rafa whispered, "but I know you'll be able to break the news to the kids more gently than they would."
"That was his thought. Hearing it from me would be better than hearing it from the hospital..."
Rafael nodded, he could understand that.
Her phone started buzzing again and she answered it.
"Benson."
Rafa rubbed at her back and held her, ensuring he wasn't listening.
"Oh," Liv said, taking a deep cleansing breath, "okay. Okay, thank you. You'll keep me posted?"
Rafael thought that sounded promising.
"I will call them now, thank you."
He looked at her.
"The cold had caused some clotting and now that his body is warming up one of the clots passed and caused some internal bleeding because of the injuries from the accident," she whisper to Rafa once the phone call was done, "he's stable and being rushed to surgery."
"He's Stabler," Rafael attempted to bring a bit of lightheartedness to the heavy situation.
Liv stared at him for a long moment before kissing his forehead, "you tried."
He gave her a weak smile, "do you want me to sit here while you call his children?"
"Would you?"
He nodded and held her, watching as she tapped the contact "Kathleen Stabler", he knew that the second eldest daughter was the one Olivia was closest to and had also become a bit of a rock for her family in recent times. Apparently she'd had trouble in her teens and once she'd gotten it under control, she was a strong person to have around.
"Liv?" He could hear the younger woman's voice very clearly on the other end.
"Hey, Kathleen."
"Something happened, didn't it? I told him not to go out into the fucking storm, Liv. He was trying to get to Maggie because her building's power went out."
"He's stable..." Liv glanced at Rafa as she said it, "he's at Mercy. They're taking him into surgery now."
"Was Maggie with him?"
"They didn't tell me if he had a passenger or not."
The sound of footsteps like pacing came through the phone, "okay. Okay. Don't try to get to the hospital to him. The entire city is shutdown. All five boroughs. No trains, nothing. Please don't. He's safe at the hospital and you've gotta stay home with your kids."
"Kathleen," Liv said softly.
"And I'll call Maureen and Dickie, maybe I can try calling Maggie?"
"Kathleen."
"I have her number in case something happened with Eli and dad wasn't reachable-"
"Kathleen!"
"What?"
"Take a deep breath. I'm not going to try to get through the storm, none of you try either. He is a strong man and he'll be alright, we just have to have faith and stay safe ourselves because we can't help him if we get hurt. Okay? I can call Eli and Lizzie, if you're certain you want to call Maureen and Dickie."
"Okay..." the young woman took a deep breath, "Liv?"
"Yes?"
"I'm scared."
"I know, honey, I know. Your dad is strong and he's stubborn, he's going to be okay."
"Okay."
"Do you want me to call everyone and you just try Maggie or do you still want to split it?"
"Split is okay. Gives me something to do other than worry."
"Okay. I'll call Eli and Lizzie."
Liv made the calls while Carisi, Lucy, Noah, and Jesse got to work making breakfast. Amanda was reading with Billie, Maddox was drawing, and Felix went to plunk at the piano for a little while.
Aspen came over to sit with Rafa and Liv once she was done with calls.