Simply Sonny: An SVU love story

Chapter 88: Done

My eyes open to the burning fluorescent lights of the hospital and I mumble a groan, hurting all over. It's not a severe pain but a dull pain. They must be feeding me morphine through a drip. I eye the room and see Sonny slumped on a chair. I call out to him "Sonny?" He jumps up, his head searching around and his hand instinctively going to his gun, "did you get the phone?"

"Babe, we did. Don't worry about any of that." He stands up and comes to grab my hand, "are you alright, are you in any pain? Do you need me to get the doctor?"

"I'm alright, nothing really hurts, just everything kind of throbs." I tell him, "how long have I been out?" I question next.

He sits down on the bed and moves to lay down with me, "around 18 hours. I was so scared, doll." He admits, and I feel a tear on my collarbone as he lays with me, "I love you so much."

The tears start to fall for me as well, the realization I almost died, should have died, but I'm here. I'm with him in a hospital. Safe for now. "I love you, too." I manage to sob.

After a few minutes of crying, we pull it together. He runs his fingers up and down my arm and we lay silently together, enjoying a peaceful moment. It's not too long from then before a doctor comes in to check on me and inform me of what happened. Sonny stands back up but holds my hand. The doctor reviews the gunshot wound, the shattered eardrum, the bruised and cracked ribs, the abrasions and the stitches across my eyebrow. He informs me I'll be in the hospital at least through the next few days and asks if I have any questions. I shake my head but as the doctor gets to the door, I blurt out one question that popped into my head, "Lori. Is she okay?"

The doctor eyes Sonny then me and just exits the room. I look to Sonny and he answers, "she was DOA."

"What? She's dead? But what about what she did? What she was involved in. I needed her to.." I start to panic.

Sonny calmly interrupts me, "it's alright Adds. We got your recording and Barba already moved forward with a dismissal of all chargers. Griffin also came clean when he found out she was dead." He sits down, "turns out she was threatening him and his family."

I exhale deeply, unsure of what all of this means. I inquire, "so it's over? The charges are dismissed?"

"Pretty much. Just a few paperwork things left to do." He smiles, "you're okay. We're okay."

"What about Charles?" I ask, the knot in my stomach twisted even more then it has been, "is he just going to get away with it all again?"

Sonny has a small smirk and he whispers, "Lori had some evidence hidden at her secret apartment. Crowder thinks it's enough to go after him. He's already running scared."

"Running? That's not good." I return.

He shakes his head, "Fin and Amanda are sitting on him. If he tries to leave the state they'll pick him up right away."

I exhale slowly, unsure if I could truly breathe again without being kicked back by something else, "so, what now?" His hand finds mine again and he smiles.

He tells me, "now you focus on getting better. That's it."

"That's it? Really?" I hesitate in asking, feeling as if something else bad is going to happen.

He smiles "I promise, that's it. You've done enough, I've done enough. We're just going to stay in this hospital until you're all better and then we can get back to our life together."

Three days later I'm finally able to sit up on my own and slowly limp my own way to the bathroom. Sonny and I had grown a lot closer in those two days, as he helped me with cleaning myself and using the restroom. I told him I didn't mind a nurse helping me, but he insisted it should be him, "we're getting married, I'm not concerned about seeing you pee."

"Still, I just need help getting on and off the toilet, not actually wiping myself. You can wait behind the door." I assured back to him, a small laugh escaping both of us, but he agrees.

Just as I get back from the bathroom, Crowder comes in and knocks on the open door, "hi Addison, is this an okay time to talk?"

"Of course, come in." I say to him.

Sonny smiles and leans down to kiss me, "I'm going to go check in with Liv. I'll be right outside."

"Okay" I kiss him back and he leaves after shaking Crowder's hand and giving him a firm head nod. "What's going on? Is everything okay?"

I try not to worry like Sonny tells me, but this is my lawyer and everything that happened is serious. What if the evidence from the phone can't be used? What if the judge declined the dismissal of all my charges? Crowder waves his hand, "everything is fine. You've officially been cleared of all charges and everything is expunged from the record. Nothing that happened can prevent you from moving forward with your life now."

I exhale a deep breath, one I've been holding for a long time. After taking another breath in and letting it out again, I question him, "then what's up?" A small smile of freedom lingering on my lips.

"I thought you should be the first to know, well besides Jason." He pulls out a photo from his bag "Charles was found dead last night. Appears to be a suicide."

I look at the photo in my hand, a fresh set of emotions running through me. Relief. Anger. Frustration. Happiness. I can't determine what exactly any of that means but I just start to cry, and nod. My hands shake as I hand back the photo, "thank you."

Sonny comes back into the room and stands at the door "I talked to Olivia. He told you?" He asks me.

He walks over to me and I nod, wiping the tears away, "he's dead. It's really over."

Crowder steps back, "I wanted you to know that I'm still pursing pressings charges. I'm sure there's a lot more people involved with a lot of the bad things he had his hand in and I don't intend on letting them get away with it just because he's dead."

"Good. Everyone should know what kind of person he actually is.. was.." I correct myself, "and anyone who helped him should rot in prison."

"I just wanted to let you know before I go. I wish you a quick recovery, Addison." He smirks just slightly as he gets to the door, "take care, you two."

"Thank you." I say again, the relief coming over me again.

The door shuts and Sonny sits on the edge of the bed, "are you okay?"

I nod, "yea. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it yet but I'm not sad he's dead." He nods and I ask him, "is that bad?"

"No, it's perfectly fine. I'm not either." He puts his hand on my shin over the blanket, "we're ready to move on, now. It's really over." We smile at one another and I can finally picture our future together. Marriage, kids, happiness.