Juliet and Juliet?

Chapter 12

Alexandra Cabot lay heavily on top of the body of Detective Olivia Benson.

She slowly pulled back and looked into Olivia's closed eyes, she turned her head to look at Brennan's limp body lying awkwardly on the floor. Goldie was applying pressure to the bullet wound at the rogue ESU agents' gurgling throat but it was obvious he was bleeding out.

Elliot opened the fire door, the 'Go Team' entered but it was the paramedics he needed. He shouted at them to enter but an ESU agent stopped them.

"Nobody goes in there until it's clear," instructed the agent towards the two paramedics.

Elliot grabbed him by the shoulder straps of his Kevlar vest and shoved him against the door, "Trust me pal, the floor's clear. My partner's in there, she needs medical attention and she's getting it," he said forcefully, feeling hands at his back trying to pull him away. Elliot released his grip and motioned for the paramedics to enter.

Two men looked to the flustered agent for permission and raced past Elliot after receiving a vigorous nod.

Olivia was tired, the last thing she had remembered was hearing a thud and then Alex crying out in pain. She had managed to find her gun but the effort to stay awake had been too much and she had succumbed to slumber. She had dreamed of warm hands on her neck, on her bare stomach and Alex's voice talking to her in hushed, soothing whispers. She had felt herself floating between sleep and wakefulness, struggling through the fog to find clarity and form conscious thoughts.

Her eyes had flown open as a booming voice bellowed, "DROP IT."

The voice didn't match the sight that met her. The beautiful, but concerned face of Alex Cabot was an image her tired eyes wouldn't soon forget. She blinked a few times to clear her vision. she could feel the pressure that Alex was placing on the bullet wound in her side. It felt odd, yet strangely comforting to have Alex's hands on her exposed flesh. Alex was too focused on tending her wound to notice she was conscious.

Olivia moved her blood stained left hand the short distance to reach underneath her thigh, Alex spotted the movement and instantly looked at her face. Olivia had smiled weakly and motioned with her eyes for Alex to move to give her an unobstructed view of the hallway. Alex had moved slightly to the right, as discretely as possible whilst still protecting Olivia's body with her own.

Olivia took in the position of Brennan and the angle of his outstretched arm, it didn't look good. She brought her eyes back to Alex and looked down to her left, Alex followed her eyes and saw the gun poking out from beneath her upper thigh. A look of confusion crossed the beautiful blond's face and Olivia realized she probably thought she meant for her to take it. Olivia waggled her fingers again, understanding flashed on the face of the ADA as she moved the weapon silently into Olivia's down turned hand.

As the gun settled into the unfamiliar grip of Olivia's left hand, Alex gently brushed her finger tips over the back of her wrist and looked deeply into Olivia's dark, dilated eyes.

Olivia smiled reassuringly at her as she closed her eyes, listening intently to the conversation taking place over her head. She knew there was no mistaking the intention in Elliot's tone. The tense silence that followed only confirmed what she already knew, her partner was about to shoot.

She had worked with him long enough to know he would do anything to protect her, even if that meant endangering his own life.

Her mind flashed back to a dimly lit warehouse and a deranged psychopath who had murdered his own child and slit Olivia's throat. She remembered how Victor Gitano pressed the gun barrel tightly against her partner's head, no more than 8 feet away from her and Elliot telling her it was,"Okay," to take the shot. She hadn't needed to, an ESU marksman had taken Gitano down with a single bullet.