The Beast's Rage

Post-Mortem

Fin followed Nick out the room. Already he could see girls being taken downstairs while men were in cuffs.

"I'm guessing these guys have good careers." He shook his head as they made their way to the basement.

"Yeah, and this is where the party started. These girls say they were being sold but won't say by who. Arrested some men that were down here but they weren't behind this." Nick shook his head and turned to Fin. "Ernesto did all of this didn't he?"

"We'll never know from him. He's dead."

"What? Is Liv...?"

"No. God no, Olivia is alive. She should be in an ambulance to the hospital with Stabler. We'll have to talk about her later. Right now, we gotta get these girls to the station and get CSU down here."

"It'll take hours for them to go through this entire house."

"As long as it's done by the book I don't care. I want everyone of those men locked up tonight." Fin said firm. "I'm going to see if I can get the girls to talk."

•••

When they first arrived, the nurses did a quick checkup on Elliot after seeing some bruises on his arms. The only things they could do were give him a pain medicine and tell him to rest.

His injuries were minor, and disregarded by him. He told them to focus entirely on Olivia. The injuries she faced were far worse, and with the drugs they could be fatal.

Elliot watched as nurses came in almost every ten minutes to monitor her. Giving Olivia more narcan every other time to keep her heart beat steady. She had just woken up but was still in a state of drowsiness.

"Can you keep your eyes open for me? The doctor will be here any second."

"I'm trying." Olivia whined, tears falling down her pale cheeks and her eyes fought to stay open.

Looking at her face alone caused him pain. From her black eye and split lip to the dried blood from her nose and distinct cheek bones.

"Hey, it's okay." He got up from where he was sitting and walked next to her. "Can I sit next to you?"

He waited for her to nod and sat next to her on the hospital bed. She watched him as he did and watched his hand come closer to hers.

"Can I?" He asked, to which she nodded again. Taking her hand in his, he used his thumb to stroke the back of her bruised hand. "Take a deep breath like we used to practice. Remember? In and out."

Continuing to softly stroke the back of her hand, he took deep breaths so she could follow. Calming down would no doubt make it easier for her to sleep- which was the last thing she needed to be doing considering what was still in her system- but he didn't want her to have an anxiety attack on top of everything else.

"Mr. Stabler." The nurse, Kelly, called from the hallway and waited for Elliot to walk out.

"What is it? Did something happen?" He asked keeping the door open ajar.

"Ernesto Hernandez, he came back to life in the ambulance but died again before reaching the hospital. The doctors couldn't save him." She looked past Elliot and into the room at Olivia. "The dose of fentanyl he was given was more then enough to kill anyone almost immediately. The EMT's were surprised he lasted as long as he did, especially since it was injected directly into his neck hitting a vein."

"Are you sure? He...He's dead?" Elliot questioned.

"They pronounced him dead in the ambulance and the doctors have already started calling to get his body placed in the morgue over at SVU. He's gone and will never put his hands on Olivia again."