Partners Forever

Chapter 4 - UC Operation

Over the next several days, Sergeant Bell's team and the SVU squad had several meetings to plan the undercover operation. Elliot had provided intel that Tanisha had been prostituting herself and another member of the organization known as T-dog was her pimp. Rumor is that Jamar found out about her selling herself and killed her. T-dog was upset that one of his girls could no longer make him money and then killed Jamar. The plan was to have Elliot bring Churlish in as an undercover prostitute. He was going to bring her to T-dog since he was down a girl and see if he could get T-dog to confess to murder. Elliot had become T-dog's right-hand man over the last three months so he felt he could get him to admit to the murder. There was also a plan to get money to change hands for Churlish so that T-dog can get busted for prostitution as well.

The undercover operation was happening tonight, and my stomach was in knots. I knew Churlish could handle herself, but she is still new to the field and this group would not hesitate to kill anyone they knew betrayed them. Jet and I were in a van with audio and visual surveillance and the rest of SVU and Bell's team were nearby waiting for the signal to head in. We were located outside a townhome in Queens. El said there was going to be gambling in the basement and an auction with girls on the main floor. El's undercover name is Billy and Churlish was going to be introduced as Shawna.

T-dog: "Hey Billy, who is this fine piece of ass you have with you?"

E: "Hey T-dog. This is Shawna. She is going to be in the auction tonight since you know, we are a little short on the merchandise."

T-dog: "Yeah, well if it weren't for that moron Jamar, our inventory would be full."

E: "Hey, Shawna, baby, why don't you go upstairs with all the other ladies and get ready for tonight?" "Listen, T, I tried to put Jamar in his place and let him know he can't be harming the merchandise."

T-dog: "Yeah, well, once I saw him taking out Tanisha, I had to teach him a lesson and make it known to everyone else that you don't touch my girls. I'm the only one allowed to show them whose boss."

E: "So, you're the one that took care of that problem? Word is, one of the other girls took him out by bashing his head in."

T-dog: "Nah, man. None of those stupid bitches have the guts to kill anyone. I shot him right through the heart. Problem solved."

E: "I figured those were just rumors. I'm going to go check on the girls and make sure they are ready to go for tonight."

Elliot went upstairs to one of the bedrooms where all the girls were gathered to be auctioned off. He was about to tell them all to line up and head downstairs when he noticed Churlish was nowhere to be seen. He asked the girls, "Where's Shawna?" All the girls looked scared and afraid to talk. One of them pointed to the right and said in barely a whisper, "down the hall." Elliot ran out of the room hoping that Bell and Liv heard all of that, so they were ready to send SWAT in if Churlish was in trouble. He could hear voices coming from the bathroom and shoved open the door. A man was giving Churlish some money just as El opened the door. The man looked up and yelled, "Hey man, what the hell? Get outta here. I'm conducting business." El looked down and noticed the guy had a knife in his hand. El said, "the girls are ready." This was the code phrase for SWAT to head in and take everyone down. The man sensed that something wasn't right and moved towards El to try and get out of the bathroom. El shoved him back and a fight began. El was trying to get the knife out of his hands and get the man where he could restrain him. Suddenly, El felt a sharp burning pain in his right side. He grabbed his right side and felt warm blood oozing over his hand. He fell to his knees just as the man was pushing past him to escape. Churlish reached over and grabbed the man from behind. The man turned towards her, knife still in his hand, when she kicked the knife out of his hand and then twisted his arm behind his back. The man yelled, "stupid bitch!" SWAT then ran in to help arrest the man along with everyone else involved.

Olivia and Jet had jumped out of the surveillance van once El said the code phrase. As they were running inside, they heard someone over the radio say, "officer down! Need a bus, officer down!" Olivia's stomach cramped, her chest became tight, and she felt like she couldn't breathe. Did something happen to Elliot? Was Churlish hurt? She ran up the stairs taking two at a time and stopped dead in her tracks when she got to the top. El was lying on the floor with a large pool of blood around him. Olivia ran over to him yelling, "Elliot, no! What happened? You're going to be ok." She removed her jacket and placed it over the hemorrhaging wound in his belly. She applied pressure and he groaned. She looked him in the eyes, and he raised his hand up reaching for her hand. She grabbed it and tears formed in the corners of her eyes. She couldn't lose him again. There was so much blood and his face had lost all color. He started to close his eyes and Olivia began screaming, "El! El! Wake up, stay with me El! Where the hell is the bus?"

Paramedics ran up the stairs just then and started working on Elliot. Liv rode with him in the ambulance, refusing to let go of his hand. She had seen Elliot hurt on multiple occasions and had been scared for his life before, but this felt even scarier. She now knew what it was like to live without him and essentially "lose" him. That pain was still raw even twelve years later and she could not bear to feel that pain again. She was sobbing during the entire ambulance ride to the hospital when normally she is fully composed in situations like this. The paramedics took him away to be worked on by the ER doctors while Olivia sat in the waiting room frozen unsure how to react or what to do.

Olivia didn't know how long she had been sitting in the waiting room staring at the yellow wall when she realized Amanda was sitting next to her telling her everything was going to be fine. She looked up and saw a woman in scrubs walking towards them. The woman said, "I'm Dr. Stephenson. Are you with Elliot Stabler?" Olivia looked at her, frightened of what she was about to say and found herself unable to speak so she just nodded her head yes.

Dr. S: "He has lost a lot of blood, but we have him stable right now. He is still touch and go and is in the ICU. He needs another blood transfusion and lots of rest."

O: (barely audible) "I have the same blood type he does. I can donate blood. Can I see him?"

Dr. S: "Um, sure, family only, and only for five minutes. Let's have you go to the lab to get that blood and then you can visit. Are you his wife?"

O: "No, but I am family. I need to see him."

My heart sank as I entered his room in the ICU looking at all the machines and tubes hooked up to him. I knew at that moment seeing him lying there so vulnerable that my feelings for him would never diminish and I would never be able to move on. I hate that it took him almost dying for me to realize it. I slowly walked over to his bed and grasped his hand. I said his name, my voice hoarse from crying, "Elliot. Elliot, I'm here." He didn't stir or move. "Please get better. I can't live without you. I lo.., I lov...,I love you."