Kindred: noun: blood relative, adj: related or connected, alike, corresponding, matching

Author's Note: This story starts about seven months after "Stablers in Private" ends. It's not necessary to have read that first, but it will give you some of the background-and I think you'd enjoy it! I am an E/K shipper but feel that there is a strong bond between E/O that transcends mere partnership on the job and even friendship. So this story will be an E/K/O story-no, no 3-somes involved! but E & K will put their own family on the line to help Olivia get to where she needs to be in life. I think this story will appeal to even strict E/O shippers-unless you absolutely hate Kathy Stabler-if that's the case, then read elsewhere!

In canon, this story would take place in Season 10, but I've taken some liberties. Neither Maureen or Kathleen live at home-they share an apartment. Eli looks like Elliot in my stories instead of being blond as in the show-I like the two boys in the family to have inherited their father's good looks! Olivia is a year or two younger than she should be in the time line of the show.

As always, I welcome reviews and feedback-be honest, I've got a tough skin and true feedback helps improve the story. Feel free to review here and/or follow me on twitter: Foreword55

Olivia

Olivia sat at her desk, trying to stifle a yawn. It had been a long afternoon of doing paperwork and after a night without much sleep, she was having trouble staying awake despite numerous trips to the coffee machine. When her phone rang, she eagerly snatched it up.

"Benson. Oh, hi, Kathy. Yes, I can still pick him up—4:00, right? Okay, I'll see you back at the house."

She hung up, a rueful smile on her face. Who would have guessed that after all of these years, her new best friend would be her partner's wife, Kathy Stabler? Over the course of the last seven months, that was exactly what had happened. First, Kathy had extended an invitation to dinner at their house with the whole family and then, shortly after, asked her to go to lunch. The real turning point was when Olivia had watched the Stabler kids for a weekend so Elliot and Kathy could go away for their anniversary. Somehow, that had turned a corner for both of them and given them a common ground. Now, Kathy was going taking courses at the university and she and Olivia got together often for lunch or coffee. Olivia had to admit, it was nice having a female friend to dish with. The erratic hours of her job made it difficult to connect with anyone outside the police force.

Today, Olivia was helping out by picking their youngest son, Eli up from the campus day care center. Kathy had a late study group and Elliot was down in Quantico, Virginia at the FBI Academy, attending a workshop on profiling. This was the third time she'd picked the little guy up and she was looking forward to it. At almost two, Eli was adorable and the two of them had really bonded over the past few months. He was beginning to talk and would babble an enthusiastic "Wib-a!" whenever he saw her.

Olivia glanced at her watch. Twenty more minutes before she could leave, which meant she had time for another D-5. Damn, she was tired of paperwork. She had been sure that, as soon as Elliot left town, they'd be hit with a slew of cases as always happened when they were shorthanded. That hadn't been the case this time. He'd left yesterday and they'd had no new calls. Fin and Munch had dodged the paperwork bullet by going to meet with the ADA to go over testimony for an upcoming trial.

She yawned again, and resumed typing. Sleep had been elusive for the last few nights, and, if she really thought about it, for the last few months. She preferred not to think about it.

Her phone rang again, and this time it was Declan, the man she'd been dating for the past nine months. They had a pretty relaxed relationship, getting together whenever their schedules allowed. Since they were both detectives, that wasn't as often as they would have liked.

"Hey, Liv—I wondered if you wanted to grab a bite to eat tonight," said Declan now. "I'm actually getting out at a decent hour."

"Dec, I'd love to," answered Olivia. "But tonight's the night I'm picking Eli up from day care, remember? I told Kathy I'd stay with him until she gets home at seven. "

"Ah, that's right," he replied, sounding disgruntled. She knew that Declan had issues with how close she was to Elliot and his family. No matter how many times that she assured him that she and Elliot were just close friends, he seemed to feel threatened by her relationship with her partner and thought that the time she spent watching his kids was just plain weird.

"I could stop by after I'm done," offered Olivia lightly. "We could have…..um, dessert…or something…"

"I don't know," he muttered. "I'm kind of tired, I'll probably be conked out by the time you haul your ass back from Queens."

"Okay then," said Olivia, a little miffed that he would turn down her offer. That didn't fit in with her plan. Declan had been bugging her to move in with him for months, but she wasn't quite ready to make that commitment. She cared about him, but there were…issues….she had to work out in her own life, things she had to decide before she took that kind of step. If she was being honest with herself, she was waiting for the decision to be taken out of her hands, but so far, that wasn't happening either.

"I'll give you a call tomorrow and see what's up," he promised. "Say hi to the Stabler brats for me."

"Hey, they're not…" she began, but he was already gone.

Olivia placed the phone back in its cradle and stared blankly at her computer screen. It was time for her to make up her mind about this relationship—commit herself to it or cut Declan loose. He was getting frustrated and she didn't blame him. If only….

She shook her head as if to erase her thoughts and glanced at her watch again. Okay—close enough. She shut down her computer, grabbed her bag and walked over to Cragen's office. He too was buried in paperwork, and looked up, bleary-eyed, when she tapped on his door frame to let him know she was there.

"Hey, Cap, I'm just heading out," she said. "Today is the day I'm leaving early to help Kathy Stabler out."

"Okay," said Cragen, rubbing his eyes. "It's nice of you to do that, with Elliot out of town. Have you heard anything from him?"

"Just an email saying he got there and that all FBI agents are prigs." Olivia laughed and Cragen shook his head.

"That's our boy," he laughed. "You go on Olivia, have a good evening."

Olivia went to the garage to retrieve her car. Everyone thought she was crazy when she bought it a few years ago—who needs a car when living in Manhattan?—but she'd been using it more often in the last few months. She drove the forty minutes to the Child Development Center on the Queens College campus where Kathy left Eli when she went to class. It had been a big step for the Stablers to put one of their children in day care but Eli had thrived; he loved going there and playing with the other kids his age.

The staff at the CDC knew Olivia from previous visits. She signed him out and found him playing in a group of toddlers supervised by two aides. All of the people who worked at the Center were either students or faculty at the college, which had been helpful in persuading Elliot that it was okay to leave his son with strangers. Olivia bent down next to the little boy and called his name. A wide grin spread across his face when he saw her and he immediately lifted his arms to be picked up. She scooped him up and gave him a hug, burying her nose in his dark curly hair and inhaling the scent that is unique to babies.

"Hey, little man," she said. "You ready to go home?" Eli clapped his hands, making Olivia laugh. "That's new, when did you learn to do that?"

"We've been doing a lot of "patty cake" this week," said one of the aides. "Now they're all doing it."

Olivia went to Eli's cubby and retrieved his jacket. He let her put it on with only a minimal struggle and waited while she slung his diaper bag over one shoulder and picked up the car seat that Kathy had left for her. She understood now how Kathy had remained so thin after having five children—this was hard work! Picking Eli up with her free arm, she headed out to the car.

Putting a car seat in a classic Mustang was not an easy feat. She set Eli down on the passenger side of the front seat and gave him her car keys to play with while she moved the driver's seat forward and struggled to fasten the car seat in the back. Not for the first time, she thought about getting a car seat to keep there permanently so she didn't have to go through this every time. Dec would just love that!

She pulled up at the Stabler house and parked to the side of the driveway so Kathy would have room to pull in when she got home. The twins, Liz and Dick, weren't home yet so let herself in the door with the key that Kathy had given her. Eli had just about fallen asleep during the car ride, but perked up when they got inside. She took off his jacket and set him down on the floor, where he made a beeline for the kitchen.

"I take it you're hungry?" Olivia laughed and followed him. He went right to his high chair so she helped him get in it and fastened the tray, then went to the cupboard for some graham crackers. He began pounding those into small pieces with his fist while she found a banana and sliced into to small pieces and set those in front of him too. When he was happily smearing the two items together and licking them off his fingers, Olivia went to the refrigerator and took out the casserole that Kathy had left for dinner. Olivia always offered to pick up take out, but Kathy insisted on leaving meals for the kids. She was determined to prove to Elliot—and herself—that she could handle going back to school and running a household as well as she always had.

Olivia turned the oven to the temperature on the note Kathy had left on the dish, and then sat down at the table next to the baby. He held out a piece of cracker smeared with banana too her and grinned.

"Why thank you, I was starving!" exclaimed Olivia and licked the food off his small fingers. He squealed with delight and picked up another piece for her. She loved being with this little guy and in fact, all of the Stabler kids. The weekend she'd spend with them back in the fall had been a turning point for her. It hadn't been an easy weekend—Eli had been sick with an ear infection and somewhat cranky. Olivia had gotten a true taste of what it was like to be a mother—and had loved every minute of it. The only down side was that it had started her biological clock ticking in earnest. If she wanted to be a mother herself, she had to get her act in gear and DO something about it. She was forty and soon, it might not be advisable, or even possible, to have children of her own. She'd already looked into adoption and had been turned down because of the demands of her job and her lack of family to support her.

"I wish your parents would just give me YOU," she mused to Eli. He gurgled happily at her, as if in agreement, and offered her another gooey cracker.