Closing Time

Chapter One:

Alarm sound… Olivia sighed and got up. 6:30 am was pretty much the norm for the Lieutenant and mother. She always made it an important part of her day. Mornings were really the only time she could spend with her son. After walking Noah to school, she got lost in thoughts and dreads. Olivia knew this was going to be a difficult day. It always was on the anniversary of Elliot's departure. She always tried to keep busy and forget that horrible day but was never successful. Through time and with Noah's help, missing Elliot was getting easier, although it changed her life forever.

As she walked in to the precinct, it felt like any other normal day. She went to her office and was briefed by Fin about a case involving a 16 year old girl and her 22 year old boyfriend. Nothing that Fin couldn't handle on his own. While reading through emails, she faintly heard a knock on her door. Not even looking up she replied, "Come in."

"Hey, Olivia."

Her heart skipped a few beats at the all too familiar voice. She took her reading glasses off and looked up only to see Kathleen standing in her doorway holding a cup of coffee and smiling from ear to ear. Olivia stood up and walked over to give her a hug.

"Wow…Kathleen. How long has it been?"

Kathleen Stabler hugged Olivia back and sighed, "Almost 8 years. How have you been?"

Olivia gestured for the young woman to take a seat as Olivia took her seat at her desk. "I've been good. Touch and go for a while but everything seemed to have fallen in to place. You?"

Elliot's second oldest daughter looked down at her cup and only replied, "It's been okay. I graduated from college and working at the trauma center at Mercy Hospital."

"That's amazing sweetie. As much as I would love to sit and catch up, it's been almost 10 years so I know this isn't a social call. What's up?"

Olivia could tell that Kathleen was having a hard time saying what she came to say and in the pit of her stomach, she knew it had to do with Elliot because otherwise, why would Elliot's daughter even be here.

Kathleen sighed and replied, "I actually need to ask a favor."

"Okay. What can I help with."

Kathleen hesitated. She continued to look around the room and stopped at a picture of Noah. "Who is this cutie?"

Olivia had a big smile on her face and stated, "He's my son. I adopted him about 6 years ago." She loved talking about Noah but she knew this was a tactic to side track the conversation. "Kathleen, why don't you just ask me what you came here to ask me?"

"Because I'm kind of apprehensive about the whole thing."

Okay, now Olivia was confused. "Why?"

"It involves my dad and mom and I know that he left 8 years ago. I'm just not sure about how my dad left things with you and…"

Olivia held up a hand to stop her. "Hold on. Your dad and I didn't leave on good or bad terms honey. He just left but it was a long time ago."

Olivia could hear Kathleen sigh and then she saw the young woman place her empty coffee cup in the trash next to Olivia's desk.

"I need to ask you something and I know it's going to be a weird request. Just hear me out until the end without interruption and then you can give me an answer."

That threw her off a bit. Now Olivia was intrigued. What could Kathleen possibly be asking her to do that would be this hard to actually say? "Okay."

"Okay, here it goes. My mom and dad got divorced about 3 years ago. At first, I thought they were going to be okay and then about 6 months ago my mom started dating this doctor at the hospital she works at. Now I'm not so sure my dad is okay. I'm pretty sure he went to our grandfather's cabin in Buffalo and now we can't seem to get him out of this funk he's in. He won't answer his phone, he's not really even responding to his texts and we are all worried about him."

Olivia took every word that Kathleen was saying and letting it sink in. Elliot was divorced. She knew that it was a possibility when he and Kathy first split but after Eli was born, she thought they would eventually work it out.

"Okay, so what do you want me to do?"

"I want you to go to Buffalo and talk to him. Maybe you can convince him in to coming back home. He has an apartment in Brooklyn. Just…talk to him and make sure he's okay."

"Kathleen…why would me being there make a difference? I haven't seen or heard from your father since he left SVU 8 years ago? Even if I could find the time to take the long drive to Buffalo, what makes you think I could make a difference?"

Kathleen stood up and looked Olivia in the eye, "Because you and he always had a connection. I know that he wants to see you, Liv. Please just…promise me you will think about it?"

Kathleen wrote her number down on a piece of paper and walked out of the office leaving Olivia to her thoughts. She's never been able to deny a request from Elliot's children but this was a pretty big request. As much as she wants to see Elliot, she doesn't have any confidence that he wants to see her. He walked out on the job and her so many years ago without a thought or a care for her so why would he even care to see her now?

While lost in thought, Fin walked in to her office and shut the door behind him. "Was that who I think it is?"

"Yeah…that was Kathleen."

Finn smoothed his face with his hand and replied, "What the hell was she doing here?"

"Long story short, she wants me to drive to Buffalo and convince her father to come home and for some odd reason, she thinks I'm the best person to convince him."

Finn just leaned against the door and gave Olivia a questioning look. "So, what did you decide to do?"

Olivia just shook her head, "I have no idea. I'm not so sure that I would make a difference anyways."

"And why not?"

"Finn, I haven't seen or heard from Elliot in almost 8 years. Why the hell would he want to see me."

Finn sat down on the couch that was in her office and looked in her eyes with intent. "Liv, I think we can all understand why he left the job. Shooting a young girl isn't something anyone would or could get over but don't you think that after all you've been through with the man you deserve some answers?"

Olivia sighed and leaned back in her chair. "I used to think that I needed answers but it's been so long. I have Noah now and I'm in charge of this unit. I can't just up and leave."

Finn smiled, "I can take charge, Liv. I am a sergeant now. As far as Noah, can't Lucy watch him for a few days? Either way, it can be worked out. In my opinion, you deserve some answers and you owe it to yourself to find out why."

Olivia gave him a questioning look, "Why what?"

"That's for you to find out. You have people here who will help you in any way they can. It's up to you to decide if you want to do this."

As Finn stood up and walked out of her office, Olivia couldn't help but think about her decision. Should she go to him? Should she even bother trying? All that she knew was that this was the first chance she got to be able to talk to Elliot about why he left and maybe, just maybe she would get the answers she needed.

After mulling it over for a few hours, Olivia decided to go ahead and try. She decided that if she can't convince him to come home then she was damn sure she was going to corner him and get some answers to questions she's had on her mind for years.

Olivia texted Kathleen, What's the address

Once she got a response, Olivia started planning her trip. She had some vacation time and she was going to take them. This was her chance to get closure…one way or another.