A/N: This story is the third in a series that began with Kindred and Grenade and takes place about a year after the end of Grenade. I am not a doctor (and don't play one on TV!) but I tried to make the medical aspects of this story as factual and realistic as possible.

Akin

Akin: adjective. Of one kin; related through a common ancestor; having similar qualities; similar.

Chapter One: Unknown

Kathy hung up the phone and turned to Elliot, a furrow of worry between her eyes. He glanced up from the newspaper he was reading. Still dressed in his work clothes, tie loosened and shirt unbuttoned, he was keeping her company at the kitchen table while she put the finishing touches on dinner. She loved having him home at a decent hour, which happened most days in his position as Special Investigator for the Office of Veteran's Affairs. When she thought back to his years at NYPD and SVU, she wondered how their family and marriage had ever survived those hours. Things were so much better now.

"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned at her expression. "What did Liv have to say?"

Kathy sat down heavily in the seat across from him. "She just got back from taking August to the doctor."

"And?" He waited expectantly. August had been sick for a few weeks with vague symptoms that her pediatrician had been monitoring. The normally vibrant and active two-year old had become listless, pale, and easily short of breath. At first the pediatrician had attributed it to a particularly aggressive upper respiratory infection that had been making the round in pre-schoolers, but over the weekend, Olivia had mentioned that she was taking her back for a follow-up because she still didn't seem herself.

"The blood work that the doctor did last week as a precaution came back with some red flags."

"What kind of red flags?" Elliot asked, putting the paper down. He picked up his beer and took a long sip, his eyes on his wife as he drank. "Like that she has pneumonia or mono or something?"

"Something more serious, El. They want to do a lumbar puncture tomorrow to rule out Aplastic Anemia." Kathy's eyes filled with tears and Elliot's widened in alarm. They were both remembering the scare with Kathleen as an infant, when they'd thought she had meningitis and had to have the same test done. It had been horrific, as parents, to stand by and watch their child being subjected to a painful procedure without being able to take away her pain or explain what was happening.

"Holy shit," said Elliot, getting up from his chair and coming around the table. Kathy stood and they held each other for a minute, each lost in thought. "I thought she just had a bad cold. Isn't Aplastic Anemia a form of…cancer?"

Kathy nodded, wiping at her eyes. "Not exactly cancer, but it's similar. The bone marrow can't produce the right amount of blood cells. I told Liv I'd go with them tomorrow to the hospital for the test."

Elliot nodded, his eyes distant as he thought about the implications. Even though he had fathered August with Olivia, he had long ago relinquished any claim to her. Olivia and her husband Declan were amazing parents. As an only child, August had their total and undivided attention and wanted for nothing. Elliot sometimes wished he and Kathy could provide the same level of care for their brood of five. As much he had reconciled himself to the situation, however, August still had a special place in his heart and it hurt to think of her as seriously ill.

"How's Olivia doing?" he asked Kathy, wiping a tear from her cheek with his thumb.

"She's scared to death, of course." Kathy told him. "The doctor told her not to worry too much until all of the tests were in, but of course she's worried. And she doesn't know how to break the news to Dec. He's out of town at a conference until late tonight."

"Of course," Elliot murmured, holding her close again. What parent doesn't worry when a doctor says "We'll wait and see what the tests say."? It was human nature to prepare for the worst, if only to have that sublime sense of relief when one's worst fears aren't proved true.

The back screen door banged open and closed again. "Mom, can I go over to…." Eli burst through the door, followed by two other boys his age. At six, he was tall for his age and wiry, with his father's dark hair and blue eyes. "…to Jason's house? His mom is making cookies. "

Kathy and Elliot broke apart, Kathy pasting a quick smile on her face. "Sure, just don't eat too many. We're eating dinner as soon as the twins get home."

"Okay," he agreed cheerfully and as he headed back out the door, friends in tow, he called over his shoulder in after thought: "Hi Daddy!"

Elliot shook his head and smiled. Eli was by far the most outgoing of the Stabler children. As the baby of the family, born when his siblings were so much older, he'd had undivided attention and thrived on it. He was always in the center of activities in his first grade classroom, and ruled the neighborhood children in his age group. The family consensus was that he'd grow up be a politician or an actor, or as is often the case, both at once. His mind flashed back to the day when Eli had been born, when he and Kathy could have easily died if not for Olivia's help and as he had dozens of time over the years, was thankful that they were both okay.

"Do you think one of us should be with Liv?" he asked Kathy when the kitchen was quiet again, the sound of eager boy voices fading in the distance as they headed next door to the McCarthy's kitchen.

"I offered," Kathy told him, "but she said no, she just wanted to spend some time with August. She'll call if she needs anything." She looked up at him, her blue eyes dark with concern. "I feel so helpless, El, I wish there was something we could do."

"Me too." Elliot picked his beer up from the table and stood looking out the kitchen window as he drank. It was too terrible to contemplate that August might be seriously ill. After so many years of being alone, Olivia was finally happy with a family of her own—and now this? It wasn't fair, and it made him feel helpless that there wasn't anything he could do about it. Elliot Stabler did not like feeling helpless.

Olivia sat in the rocking chair in Augusts' room long after her daughter had fallen asleep. She rocked and watched the slow, steady rise and fall of her little girl's chest and wondered, how, why, this could be happening. Her eyes were dry and she appeared calm but inside, her brain was a seething, screaming swirl of emotions. Not her baby girl—not after all they'd already been through. She and Declan and August were a family and had the rest of their lives to be happy together. This could not be happening.

She heard the front door open and close softly and glanced at the cow-jumping-over-the-moon clock over Augusts' dresser. It was a little after 10 pm; Declan was finally home from his conference in D.C. She pushed herself up out of the chair, reluctant to leave her daughter's side and dreading having to tell her husband the news.

He was hanging the garment bag with his suits in the front closet when she came out of the bedroom.

"Hey," he said brightly when he saw her. "It was so quiet in here; I thought you'd gone to bed."

"Of course not, I was waiting for you." She wondered how he couldn't tell, how he hadn't picked up the vibe that something was wrong the second he stepped into the apartment, the second he saw her face, but to his credit he did when he crossed the room and bent to kiss her. Her lips were stiff with the words that had yet to be said, tight with the knowledge she had to impart.

"What's wrong?" he asked, pulling back and searching her face. "Did something happen while I was gone?"

Olivia took both of his hands in hers. She looked down at them, those big strong hands that had touched every inch of her, the hands that had cared for their daughter so lovingly for the past two years. "It's August." She said. His head snapped up and he automatically glanced toward her bedroom, where Olivia had pulled most of the way closed when she left.

"She's asleep," Olivia told him and then he appeared confused, searching her face again for clues. "Come sit down." She took his hand and pulled him to the couch where they sat side by side and she told him everything the doctor had said. How the blood work that the doctor had assured them last week was routine, just a precaution, had come back showing that Augusts' blood counts were all off, that the levels for all of her cells—white, red and platelets were low.

"So what does that mean?" he asked, struggling to accept what she was telling him.

"They want to do a lumbar puncture tomorrow to be sure, but he thinks it's a condition called aplastic anemia. We have to take her…" and this is where Olivia breaks down, when she has to say the words out loud …" to the pediatric oncology clinic at the hospital."

"Oncology!" Declan exclaimed, looking at her as if she has just told him a particularly tasteless joke. "That means cancer—do they think our little girl has cancer?"

"Not cancer, but if she has this…anemia…the treatment is similar, she needs to have this test and be evaluated by a pediatric hematologist and that's where this guy operates out of, the oncology unit."

Declan was silent. Olivia gave him a chance to process, remembering how speechless she had been in Dr. Norris's office when he first told her. His nurse had taken August out to the waiting room to play with blocks while they talked and Olivia's first instinct had been to run out of his well-appointed office with its' leather chairs and framed diplomas, snatch up her daughter and leave, never to return. Instead, she forced herself to listen as he described the various types of blood cells and their functions, and what her daughter's test results can mean.

"Lumbar puncture—isn't t hat the same as a spinal tap?" asked Declan at last. "Isn't that really painful?"

"Doctor Norris said it's more uncomfortable than painful, and that a small child with no expectations of discomfort should do just fine," said Olivia doubtfully, remembering how hard it had been to just get the blood done the week before. The nurse had done her best to cajole and distract August while she took the sample, but once the little girl had seen the needle, she wanted no part of it. In the end, Olivia had to hold her tight in her lap while the nurse drew the blood, August screaming like a banshee through the whole procedure and for a good five minutes after.

Olivia wandered around the apartment, turning off lights while Declan took a quick shower. Mariclair, their au pair, was away for the week visiting friends in Chicago. She was tempted to join her husband just for the comfort of feeling his arms around her, but realizing that he needed some time to himself to process, she busied herself emptying his overnight bag.

When Declan came out of the shower, a towel wrapped around his waist, he found her sitting on the side of the bed, sobbing over the stuffed animal she'd found in his bag. August had a whole collection of stuffed dogs, started when Eli Stabler had given her one of his old favorites when she was just a baby. Since then, Declan and Olivia had bought her countless new ones, hoping to entice her into giving up that original ratty "goggy" that she insisted on sleeping with at night. It hadn't yet worked, but they were always hopeful. This was one was pink, with a sparkly rhinestone collar. Olivia had started to laugh at the thought of Declan purchasing it, but the laughter quickly turned to tears.

"Liv, Liv, it will be okay," he sat down next to her on the bed and pulled her into his arms and crooned that mantra over and over into her dark hair. She clung to him, her tears dampening the warm skin of his chest. He stroked her hair and her back, whispering words of comfort until she lifted her head and sought his lips with her own. Declan lay back on the bed, pulling her on top of him and returning her kisses with equal fervor. Both desperate to push away the confusion and fear that threatened to engulf them, they ran feverish hands over each other's bodies, exploring, touching, stroking. The towel covering Dec's lower half was quickly discarded. Olivia sat up, stripping off her t-shirt with one swift movement, her black lace bra quickly following. She wiggled out of her black yoga pants and tossed them to the floor before straddling Declan's hips. There was nothing tender or romantic about their lovemaking. She took him inside her with one swift movement, allowing him just a moment to align himself underneath her and grasp her hips with his warm hands before beginning a rocking motion as primeval as the instinct for survival.

Declan raised his body to a half-reclining position, maintaining his hold on her hips while bending his head to nip and nuzzle at her breasts. Olivia laced her hands behind his neck to hold him in place, closing her eyes and letting the sensations wash over her. Their bodies fit together perfectly and they lost themselves in a rhythm that fit their desperate mood.

Olivia had just fallen into a troubled sleep when August cried out from her bedroom. Normally a sound sleeper, she'd been waking once or twice a night for the past few weeks. Trying to maintain a normal sleep pattern, they'd been taking turns soothing her back to sleep her in room, but tonight, Declan got up and brought her back to their bed, tucking her in between them. This wasn't the time to follow the rules of the parenting books. It was time to punt.