All I Ask [A Bensler Fan Fic]

Chapter Thirty-One

Eleven days after Evie got rushed to the hospital, she still wasn't awake. The doctors kept lowering her sedation in hopes of her functioning by herself, but it wasn't working. Her brain waves were not completely normal, but better than expected of a baby that hadn't been breathing for ten minutes.

Olivia spent every day at the hospital with her baby, only leaving for an hour a day to shower. Elliot tried his hardest to be there all the time, but he also had work and was spending more time with his kids.

"Morning, Liv," Lizzie spoke, as she walked into her baby sister's room and to where Olivia was sitting in a chair. Olivia shifted the blanket off her body before sighing softly.

"Morning."

"How is my little sis doing today?" Lizzie asked, as she washed her hands before stepping up to the crib that Evie laid in. She reached out and caressed her sister's hair before kissing her chubby cheek.

"The same as before," Olivia frowned. She stood and stretched her cramped limbs as her mother walked into the room with Evie's chart. The hospital was already short staffed, so Serena was going to be her granddaughter's nurse, even if it should be against policy.

Lizzie kept an eye on her sister as Serena changed Evie's diaper and set her up for another tube feed. 

"Her lips are twitching today." Serena spoke hoping her daughter would respond to her. Or at least look at her.

"Is that good?" Lizzie asked, but regretted it the moment her sister's monitors beeped like crazy and Evie's small body shook.

///

Olivia and Lizzie sat in the waiting room, their hands held tightly together as both cried. Lizzie had sent a text to the family group text and informed them that Evie had seized. In a matter of moments, everyone was making plans to come to the hospital to see the small girl.

"What happened?!" Elliot demanded, as he raced towards his girlfriend and daughter. Olivia swallowed hard as she stood on shaky legs. Elliot quickly looped his arms around Olivia so she wouldn't fall.

"Serena was changing Evie's diaper and starting her next feed, and she just started to shake. Liz was right there and watched it start," Olivia whispered the last part. Elliot frowned deeply as he hugged Olivia tightly to his chest and watched as Lizzie continued to cry.

"She'll-"

"Elliot, she has brain damage. Ten minutes is too long to go without oxygen, and we are just lucky she's still alive. But what if her quality of life is low? What if she can't walk or talk? If she is having seizures all the time, we won't be able to leave her alone or send her to school. El, she may be sick her entire life over this." Olivia sniffed, as she leaned back and locked eyes with Elliot.

"Evie is strong, Liv. I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but we will fight as long as she keeps fighting." Elliot spoke. He kissed Olivia softly, before slipping away and to where his daughter sat.

Everyone showed up at the hospital to rally around Evie. She was taken down for an MRI after her seizure. They sat for hours waiting for results and a chance to see the little girl. Tears were shed and any time the intercom came on, they feared the worse... a code blue in Evie Stabler's room.

///

"Do you want to see her?" Serena asked, as she came up beside her daughter. Olivia was staring out the window as the sky turned dark as a storm rolled in.

"I'm not going to be a mom soon," Olivia whispered, her eyes still locked on the storm clouds.

"You are a mom, no matter what happens," Serena frowned. Olivia bit her lip as she turned slowly to face her mother.

"Are you still a mother even if we haven't talked in years?"

"Liv-"

"Nevermind. I'm just going to join everyone else," Olivia grumbled. She stepped away, but stopped when Serena's hand wrapped around her arm.

"I have never stopped thinking about you. I got sober hoping to repair our relationship, to only find out you weren't even around anymore. Your apartment was empty and your landlord said you had left in the middle of the night and hadn't come back," Serena whispered.

"I ran away from Elliot. Not you... but I'm glad I left because I wasn't ready. I probably wouldn't have let you."

Elliot was in Evie's room when Olivia got back. He was actually sitting in the rocking chair, Evie resting against his bare chest. 

"You got to hold her," Olivia whispered. Elliot looked up from Evie and nodded as tears slipped down his cheeks.

"They said that she has some brain damage. It's not as bad as they had predicted, but the seizure is from that damage. We may deal with these her entire life."

"If she survives."

A heavy silence settled into the hospital room as thunder boomed and the windows shook. 

This was something that no one had expected to happen. Olivia and Elliot thought Evie would grow up to be a hyper little girl that was so smart and kind. But here they are, sitting in a hospital room for the eleventh day in a row, and no one knew what would happen next.

Would Evie suffer from seizures her entire life?

Would she have issues that affected her from here on out?

No matter what happened, Evie's parents knew they'd love her through everything.