Title: Stones in the Road

Series: Give a Little Bit

Author: Megan Faye

Rated: PG

Disclaimer: I don't own anything here.

A/N: Sequal Give a Little Bit This song just reminds me of a picture of Mariska Hargitay, and inspired this story.

Elliot listened to the morning noise that invaded his sleep. Lizzie and Dickie were home for the weekend, Maureen was over as well "to help with the kids," and they were making as much noise as they possibly could. Allie was bouncing around the livingroom, singing along with her favorite Wiggles DVD, and Maureen was yelling for them to keep it quiet. Olivia snuggled as close as she could, but being very nearly ready to pop, it wasn't an easy task. Elliot looked over at his clock. It was 4:45 am. He moaned and hid his eyes.

"Honey," he said. "Wake up, we gotta go."

"Is it today already?"

"Whadda you care? You're going under for this one, babe," he laughed, kissing her. The baby was a full week overdue, hadn't turned, and was making no effort to come out, so Liv was having a C-section that morning. "You, my lovely wife, look gorgeous today."

"I'm so ready to have this baby, Elliot. You," she said looking at her belly. "This is the police. Come out with your hands up." The baby kicked a good swift one to her bladder. "Assaulting an officer? Nice. Just as stubborn as your father. Boy."

"Nope. Daddy's little girl."

"You've got 4 of those. I want at least one Mama's boy."

"Yikes. You aren't doing that to my kid."

"Get out of my bed, Stabler," she grunted. Elliot slid his arms around her in a warm, inviting hug. "On second thought-"

"DAMMIT DICKIE!" Maureen yelled. "ARE YOU CRAZY? PUT HER DOWN!" Elliot jumped out of bed and flung the door open to see what his son was doing and where Allie was.

"What- Dickie, put your sister down." Dicke had Lizzie flung up over his shoulder, and was spinning her around. Allie was safely tucked up on Maureen's right hip, laughing just as hard as Lizzie and Dickie. "So, why are you up at 5:00, Allie-cat?"

"Daddy," she said, flinging herself into his arms.

"As soon as we're all ready, we're headed over to the hospital. Go get dressed, Mini-Stablers." Maureen finished cleaning up their breakfast. "Maureen, thanks for helping today." Her arms were around him as he finished the sentence. "You okay?"

"Can we talk later?"

"Sure, sweetie. Is everything okay?" She nodded lightly. "Are you lying?" Maureen nodded again. "Allie, can you ask Lizzie to help you?"

"Kay Daddy." He set her on her feet. "IZZIE!" she yelled running into her sister's room.

"If you need to talk, now is as good a time as any."

"I met a guy," she started. "But he's just...something's missing."

"Can I run a background check?"

"Daddy, he's a fire fighter. Luke Ryan." Elliot thought carefully. He'd come across many fire fighters. Luke Ryan was familier. "He's worked with you on a case once. The guy who set his rape victims on fire." Elliot nodded, remembering the young rookie. He was so scared; he'd been on the job less than a month, and this was his first homicide by fire.

"He's a good guy," Elliot said, voicing his approval. "What's missing?"

"I'm scared. Look at what Liam did to me. I was the other woman, Dad. He hurt me, and his family."

"Ryan is not married. He's a good kid, who wouldn't do that to you. If you are scared, just know that Olivia and I will be there for you, no matter what you decide to do. Okay, Maur?"

"Thanks Dad."

"I'm gonna get dressed. My wife is having a baby today. Oh, is there any cake left?"

"I threw it out yesterday."

"Why?"

"Dad, it was a week old!"

"Tasted fine yesterday..."

"Ew. Dad, that's just gross...even for you!"

"One more minute, and you'll be parents," Dr. Joan said over the curtain to Liv and Elliot. "So, you have 5 between you now?"

"After this one, we'll have a six-pack of Mini-Stablers." He stroked Olivia's hair gently. "You ready, Benson?"

"Hey, Elliot," she whispered.

"What, babe?"

"Today is our anniversery." He kissed her head through the mask he wore. A small weak cry filled the room.

"Elliot, come meet your son," Joan said. Elliot moved around the cloth and saw his baby boy. "We need to get him to NICU, stat," Joan said as the crying stopped. The nurses took the baby and rushed out of the room. "His lungs aren't opening properly. They'll get him breathing normally soon. Don't worry."

"Elliot, go with him, please," Olivia said, crying.

"He can't go with them. Its better if he stays with you, Olivia." The doctors started closing her up. Elliot took his place seated by Olivia's head. He absently stroked her hair as he had done many nights since she got pregnant with Allie. He whispered encouraging words to her, but nothing that was convincing enough for even him to believe. After an eternity, they wheeled Olivia to recovery. She still hadn't met the baby, and was terrified.

"Olivia, I'm going to talk to the kids, okay?" She nodded, not making eye contact. Elliot stepped out of the room and took a deep breath before heading into the waiting area.

"Dad! How's Mom? How's the baby?" Lizzie asked in a rushed, excited voice.

"He's got...some problems. They took him to NICU about an hour ago. We haven't heard back yet," he choked out. "I'll let you know as soon as we hear anything."

"Is Mom okay?" Kathleen asked.

"She came through the surgery very well. Looks like she's going to be fine in a few weeks." As Elliot started to walk away, he felt 5 sets of arms wrap around him gently. The smallest set was around his neck; Maureen held Allie up so she, too, could hug her father.

"Elliot?" a vioce called.

"What are you doing here, Kathy?"

"I work here. Its not a violation of the restraining order if you come to me, Elliot," she said very gently.

"Leave us a-"

"Elliot, you, Olivia and the baby are in my prayers. We've got the best doctors in the city working on him now. He's a big, strong baby. He's going to come out of this," she said, softly. "He's not breathing well enough on his own, so we've got him masked to help. He's improving.

"Thanks."

"Any time. Oh, he's got your blue eyes." Elliot smiled as she turned to walk away. "Does he have a name?"

"Elijah Paul. Eli."

"I'll be sure to have that written on his bed," she said as she started back into NICU.

"Hey, Kathy?" Kathleen called.

"What?"

"Would you like to meet my son?" Kathy looked over at Kathleen who had Alex in a front carrier. "This is my girlfriend, Rose, and our son, Alexander Gavin Stabler." Kathy looked into the brown eyes of the baby and smiled. She planted a kiss on his head.

"Hi, buddy." Her eyes met with Rose's firey green eyes. "Take care of her for me?" Rose nodded. "I have to get back in there. Thanks for introducing me, Kathleen." Kathleen gave her mother a weak smile.

"Tell my brother happy birthday."

"I will," Kathy said as she finally made her way back into the unit.

"I'm going to talk to your mom. Why don't you kids get some lunch?" he said, handing Maureen a couple of twenties. The kids started off towards the elevator as Elliot headed back towards Olivia's room. He paused outside of the door, trying to decide if he should mention Kathy is his nurse. Finally, he went in. "Hey, Livvie."

"Any news?"

"He's breathing on his own, but not too well. They have a mask on him to help inflate his lungs a little better. And Kathy is his nurse." Olivia's eyes bugged out.

"Elliot, she'll hurt him!"

"Kathy came out and spoke to me. She's not going to hurt him, and she's not quite what we saw last year. Kathy's cooled down. A lot. I think she accepts that she screwed up, and she's moved on."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Elliot kissed her forehead. "He's got my blue eyes."

"Really?"

"Mmm...Eli Stabler. We got our six pack." Liv smiled lightly. "He'll be fine, babe."

"Hold me a while?" Elliot scooted carefully into the bed next to her and gently tucked the hair behind her ear. "Mmm...feels nice."

"Why don't you rest a while? The nurses'll tell us if anything changes." Olivia closed her eyes and relaxed in the warmth of him next to her. She dozed for a few hours or so before he spoke again. "Hey, Liv?"

"Hmm?"

"I have court in 3 days. Would you mind if one of the girls stayed with you? I tried for the week off, but I can't step out on this one."

"Don already offered to stay with me, and visit his grandkids."

"Good. I hated the idea of you being home alone with two babies and unable to move around as you need to. Its olny a few hours, and I'll pick up Chinese." A knock on the door pulled them from their conversation.. "Come in," Elliot called.

"I have a little boy who would like to meet his mommy and daddy," a familier voice called. "Eli, I see your mom." Kathy lifted the baby, who had an oxygen tube around his nose, very gently and handed him to Olivia. "He needs this still to breath, but the best thing for him is to be near you. I can't leave him without medical personel just yet, but I'll close the curtain and give you some privacy if you like."

"Its okay, Kathy," Olivia said, gently. "Hi, sweet heart," she said to her son. "Oh, yeah, he's got your eyes, Honey."

"So what happened? He was fine until birth...?"

"Olivia, have you been stressed out lately?" Olivia laughed lightly. "I take it that would be a Yes. And do you toss and turn a lot in your sleep?" Elliot laughed this time, looking right at his wife.

"Oh, yeah she does. I got hit with the kid all month."

"The way he was positioned, mixed with high stress and basically flinging him around in the womb in your sleep cause stress on his lungs. He's going to be fine once he starts breathing properly. Its going to be a few more hours on this, and sleeping with a crib wedge for a few weeks. Think we can handle that?"

"Yep," Elliot said. "Well, Olivia, thank you for the perfect anniversery gift. He's perfect." He kissed her forehead.

"To day is your anniversery?" Olivia nodded. "Congratulations!"

"Um, Kathy? Can we talk?" Olivia asked gently. She didn't want to push her away. Honestly, she wanted to talk.

"I'm gonna go find the rest of our six-pack and call Don and the rest of the family." Elliot kissed his wife gently. "I love you, Babe." He excused himself from the room.

"He's beautiful. He looks so much like Maureen did when she was born."

"How are you?" Olivia asked bluntly.

"In a whole lot of therapy. Three times a week at least, and its been that way sine about a wek after I signed my children away. When I got home, I packed up their rooms, all their pictures, and I realized how much I hurt them." Kathy took a deep breath, bracing herself for the next question. "Did you fully adopt them?" Olivia nodded.

"We signed the paper work at Allie's first birthday party, when Elliot tried to adopt Allie. When we filed the paper work, James had missed a form, and we had to wait 6 months. Brilliant oncologist." Kathy smirked. "The kids...they...uh... changed their names. Maureen changed her name from Maureen Marie to Maureen Rebecca, Kathleen went from Kathleen Aurora to Kathleen Olivia, and Lizzie went from Elizabeth Kathryn to Elizabeth Dawn."

"Who'd they pick the names after? I mean Olivia is obvious."

"My middle name is Dawn, and Rebecca was my grandmother's name."

"They love you." Olivia smiled and looked down at her baby. "I followed the trial. Congratulations. I hear he got death row."

"Yeah."

"So, you have quite a large family now. 6 kids, two brothers and 3 sisters, in-laws, neices, nephews, a grandson...big family. Elliot told me once, you had no family, and it was the only thing he wanted you to have; people who loved you the way he loves his family."

"Its a bit overwhelming." She thought for a moment. "Okay, its a bit screwed up. I'm 40, and my youngest sibling isn't even due to be born for a few months."

"Olivia," Kathy started. "I'm sorry that I treated you so horribly. I look at the kids and Elliot now, and all I see is good. They are happy. I've never seen them happy and well-adjusted. The kids I knew were children, these guys were together in the waiting room, playing with Allie and Alexander, talking about school. Lizzie's gotten so tall. Did they ever get in to that school in Princeton?" Olivia smiled and nodded. "I looked into it for them, not to hurt Elliot. I knew from the get-go they'd be home on weekends. I was planning on taking every other Friday off just to get them early so they'd be back for all of his time with them-"

"Relax. They're fine. Those two love that school, and actually opt to stay there one or two weekends a month. Lizzie even informed me of the summer program." Kathy chuckled. "I honestly would have thought she'd ask to come back after a week."

"Me, too."

"She loves it there. We visited a few weeks ago to observe. Its amazing. The kids are completely free to come and go to class as they like. Dickie took up Trig this semester, and a few extra science courses." Olivia felt pride for the kids. Kathy listened, hanging on every word, lapping up anything Olivia could tell her about the kids. "They've really grown up this year. Awsome grades, the teachers report to me weekly with awsome notes. They participate in class now, and Kathy, Lizzie's piano playing has sky-rocketed. And My God, Dickie's moved from guitar to violin. He's still learning, but he's so good now. This morning, we were woken up by Maureen cooking breakfast for Allie, Lizzie and Dickie. We heard yelling and Elliot freaked. He ran out there, and Dickie had Lizze flung up over his shoulder and was spinning her around. I watched from the hall. they were laughing so hard, Kathy."

"I miss that."

"I can understand."

"I don't deserve that from them. I was so horrible to all of them. I knew they needed more time with you and Elliot, but I hated you so much."

"Why?"

"Elliot was in-love with you for so long, Liv. When you became his partner, its was great at first. He talked about you a bit, here and there. He was still in-love with me. He still kissed me, held me. But over the first few years, that all went away. He was working so much more than before. Even when he was home, he wasn't really there. At night, he talks in his sleep." Liv nodded. "He used to call my name in his sleep. He would tell me he loved me, while he slept. One night, he called your name, but he wasn't saying he loved you. He had a nightmare that you two were in some sort of hostage situation...he dreamed you were shot. He wouldn't go back to sleep until he called you. I remember the lame ass excuse he used. He told you that he had gotten locked out of his car and asked you to pick him up for work. I could hear you yelling through the phone about the date he's just messed up at 3:00 in the morning." Kathy laughed. "He figured you were...busy...with someone."

"Yeah, I was, actually. The guy didn't call me back after that."

"He had taken to calling you every morning to ask if you wanted a cup of coffee, or if you'd pick up coffee. Elliot needed to know you were safe. You'd taken my place as his best friend. After a couple of years, about a year before the divorce, he was asleep on the couch after an undercover assignment with you. Elliot was plagued with guilt because you were posing as his wife, and to make it work, he held your hand, he touched your back, he even kissed you."

"I remember that."

"He told me every detail, because he didn't want secrets. He felt guilty...not because he put his hands on you, but because it meant something. It was after that, he started whispering your name in his sleep, with that smile he used to have only for me. I knew you two were best friends. I knew he was in-love with you. I also could see that you weren't interested in him." Kathy sighed. "When I saw that you were, I was mad. I wanted to punish you both for hurting me."

"I didn't sleep with him until Allie was 4 months old. I prmise, she's not his kid."

"I know. The Stabler eyes are the strongest gene in his pool. They'll beat out your brown eyes this time," Kathy said, looking at the sleeping baby.

"So, you met Alexander?"

"He's beautiful! Who's is he?"

"My little sister Rebecca. She had it pretty bad, and really needs help. After the adoption was final, she took off. She's convinced that she's not worthy of our combined families, and left." Kathy frowned.

"After losing all of my kids, I can't understand how someone would do that. I hate myself for everything that happened. God, if I could turn back time a few years."

"They're still here, Kathy. They are good kids, and they'll listen. And if you catch them on a good day, they may actually respond."

"Ready for the invasion, Babe?" Elliot asked, poiking his head in. "Let's get our six pack together," he joked. The kids gathered around Olivia's bed as Eli opened his eyes at all the noise they made.

"Hi, shorty," Dickie said, rubbing his brother's tiny hand. "Welcome to the insane life of being a Mini-Stabler."

"He's so little!" Lizzie whispered, peeking between Maureen and Dickie.

"Hi Baby," Allie said, brown eyes sparkling. "Izzie, look! Baby."

"His name is Eli," Maureen told the toddler.

"Eli. Daddy, Eli!"

"Don and the guys'll be by later tonight."

"You guys want a picture together? The whole 6-pack?" Kathy asked. Elliot looked at Olivia, who nodded. Rose stood back with Alexander while the Stablers all gathered. Kathy snapped three pictured quickly. "You guys make a cute family," she whispered.

"We got our 6-pack."

Elliot rubbed his eyes and yawned. It was later than he cared to think about, and Olivia was home with the kids. He hated late nights and tough cases, but tonight he had both. A blind teen was raped and stabbed, and had only voice to identify the man. It was hard, as its easy to talk higher, lower, and change your voice with simple training. Elliot was able to change his on occasion and this case was tough.

"Elliot, go home."

"Can't. I'm close, Cap. I feel it. There's proof here, and I'm going to find it."

"Your wife is at home, with a 2-year-old, and a newborn baby who's belly-button hasn't even healed yet. Go Home." Elliot closed the file and looked at the clock.

"I have to be here in 5 hours-"

"Home or you are off the case."

"Personal bias, sir?"

"Your damned right there's a personal personal bias." Elliot nodded and flung his coat up onto his shoulder. "Olivia tells me that Kathy's sniffing around. You okay with that?"

"She seems to have changed. Kids are okay with her visiting occasionally. Maureen had lunch with her yesterday. She came out of it fine. Its good for them."

"Is it good for Olivia?"

"She didn't see a problem with it."

"Don't be too sure of that. They call them both Mom, just once, it'll break Olivia's heart." Elliot felt a sharp intake of breath. He hadn't thought that far through. He sighed and headed out.

"Get the hell away from my goddamn kids!" the man screamed. Detective Munch instictively stood between the drunken man and the crib where two babies cried.

"Sir, You need to cool down," John said evenly. When the man swung at him, Munch grabbed his hand and slapped cuffs around his wrist. "Assaulting an officer? We were just here because a neightbor complained that your children were always hungry and dirty. I'll bet they had no idea that you were pimping them out, you sick freak." John looked at the five children in the room, who were frightened, and obviously in need of medical attention.

"Munch, I'll take him down. Why don't you gather the kids and wait for a bus?" Elliot suggested as the sight of the children began to affect him more profoundly than he'd felt at a crime scene before. John shoved the man out the door where his partner lead him out.

"Its okay, sweetie. You can come out of there." He pulled a blanket around the oldest girl, who looked about 6. "What are you names?"

"I'm Hannah Grace. You can call me Hannah," she said.

"Hi, Hannah. I'm John. How old are you?"

"Nine."

"Are you hungry." She only stared. "I can get you food if you're hungry. You don't need to worry about me getting angry. I promise." She nodded, and Munch. rested a gentle hand on his shoulder. "There's going to be an ambulance here soon and we're going to the hospital, Hannah. Why don't we gather your little sisters here and go into the living room."

"Daddy said I'm not allowed out of here. I have to stay here."

"Not any more, Hannah. You can leave this room and sit on the couch if you like." Hannah took a tentative step into the next room. "What are your names?"

"They don't have names." John felt sick to his stomach.

"What do you call them?"

"We're not allowed to talk most of the time."

"Go on in there, all three of you. Its safe, I promise." The three little girls wandered over to the couch while John studdied the babies, who were sitting up in the crib. "Hi babies. Do you want out of there?" He lifted one. She was filthy, in need of a change, and smelled. The other was just as bad. "Poor little kids."

"What do we have here?" a paramedic said gently to Hannah. "I'm Hayley. Do you want to go to the hospital with me?"

"John?" she called, frightened. Munch was at her side with the babies in a heart beat. He handed the little ones off first.

"They'll go with you. I'll bring her in."

"Detective-"

"She's been here longer, she's terrified. She trusts me. Send a medic to ride with me if you need to."

"All right. MacKay'll be up in a minute." The medics took the four littlest down while John tugged the blanket tightly around Hannah, who was shivvering.

"Is that better?" She nodded. "Where's your mother?"

"She died when I was 8, after the babies were born. Daddy didn't name them." John nodded.

"Munch, we got their names. Hannah, Hope, Faith, Lilly and Ana. They are 9, 4, 2, and 4 months. Their mother committed suicide a week after the twins born, no living relatives, and father has none either." John crossed his ankle over his knee. It was 7:45 in the morning, and Elliot was up working already, with results.

"You never rest, my friend."

"Actually, it was Rose and Olivia. I told her about the case, and she called Rose, who knows computers better than Liv, who teamed up and bam! We had a hit. I think Liv has a new partner in Computer crimes," he said, handing John a file and a cup of coffee. "Case still isn't closed."

"I know."

"We need to know who he was selling the kids to."

"Who would sell their own daughters?" he asked hoarsely. "We both know what's going to happen. The little ones will be adopted within a month and Hannah'll end up in a group home."

"I know."

"I want to adopt her myself, if it was allowed," he said gently. "I felt a connection with her the minute I saw her. She's a really good kid, Elliot."

"John, you need off the case?"

"Yeah, I think I do for this one. I'm gonna go sit with her." John wandered back into the room. "Hi Hannah."

"Hi John." She looked totally different when she was cleaned up. Her hair was a deep rich dark brown; nearly black in color, and was curly. She had a very gently smile and big dark eyes. "What's up?"

"Sweetie, we need to talk about your case. I already got your statement, and we have enough evidence to lock him away for a really long time."

"Okay."

"But you don't have any family. Your sisters are little, and will be adopted very quickly. But kids over seven can be hard to place." Hannah nodded. "I'm not going to give up until I find you a home with people who will love and take care of you."

"Can I live with you?"

"I'll ask, but they may not let you. I'm an old man who lives alone. Anyway, I don't have anything pink in my house."

"I don't like pink. I like yellow and blue."

"I'll make a note of that," he said smiling.

"Can I get a new star? I lost my old one."

"What star, sweetie?"

"My Star of David."

"You're Jewish?"

"Yeah," she whispered.

"Me, too. I'll talk to my Rabbi today...see if he'll stop by."

Elliot knew Cragen well, and knew that he could get adoption paper work rushed legally when he felt the urge to do so. Elliot knew from experience that Cragen had friends in high enough places to have things like this done. What he didn't expect was Cragen to argue.

"He can't adopt a kid from an open case!"

"The kid's going to end up in a group home! She 9, but is the size of McKensie! They'll beat her down, break her, and then we'll have lost another kid to the system!" he screamed.

"I suggest you lower your voice, Detective."

"He's doing this to save that little girl from a life-time of pain. You did it for me and Liv. Why not for John?"

"Its an open case, Elliot! What you should be doing is help him set up for foster care, and meet with her social worker." Elliot stepped back. "Do it legally." Elliot nodded and left.

Chapter 2 is half way done! I hit a writing flow tonight peeps!