His wife is curled up in his lap, resting her head against his shoulder. In the background a cartoon can be heard along with their daughter babbling to herself while trying to pay attention to both the TV and the book in front of her. Elliott smiles to himself watching their 10-month old turning the page and clapping her hands in excitement at the dog on the picture. He carefully strokes a strand of hair from his wife's cheek and breathes in her smell. God, he loves her. She starts to shift and her breathing becomes heavier. He holds her tightly to him as she starts to clutch his shirt in her hand. Where the hell is Kathleen?! Suddenly his wife's grip on him loosens and she looks up at him.
"She'll be here soon", he says kissing her forehead.
She smiles and turns her head toward their daughter. It doesn't take long until eye contact is established and their little girl is crawling hurriedly towards them. When she's made it to the couch her father bends town to pick her up and handles her to her mom, who can barely fit her little girl in her lap.
"I can't believe she's gonna be a big sister…" she whispers, loud enough for her husband to hear.
Well, he can't believe it neither. They weren't exactly planning for another pregnancy, at least not so fast after the other. Only a month and a half old their little girl was no longer the youngest anymore. Some might call it reckless planning, but the Stablers never doubted to welcome yet another child, their greatest surprise so far. She found out at the regular check-up six weeks after the delivery. Her doctor had informed her that even though it was far from common to concieve again so early, it had happen before. Guess we were lucky…
Finally the desired knock on the door is heard. Elliott breathes out a sigh in relief and rushes to the door where his thrilled daughter is waiting. He wants to thank her and yell at her at the same time, but manages to keep any negative, or angry, feelings aside and welcomes her with a hug. She's naturally unintersted in her father and makes her way to the living room. He smiles to himself, happy that his daughter is dealing with his 'new' family so well and then hurries upstair to check on his son before leaving.
"How are you feeling?" Kathleen gently asks kneeling in front of the couch. She looks into Olivia's eyes but has problems sorting any feeling out. Her step-mother looks scared and happy at the same time.
"Fine. I think Julia's finally getting tired…"
Kathleen takes that as "not so good". Olivia doesn't want to discuss it with her, doesn't want to tell her how much it hurts and how worried she really is. If that's what Olivia wants then she doesn't have a problem with it neither, she can focus on Julia. God knows she could need it now during her last few hours as the youngest in the Stabler home. She reaches out to take Julia from her mother's arms watching her father helping Olivia up the second after. They make it to the door where the parents give a final kiss goodbye to both of their daughters.
"Good luck!" Kathleen whispers as the main door opens. She gets a nod in response from Olivia who's leaning on her husband looking very uncomfortable. She stands in the kitchen with Julia on her hip looking out of the window as the black Volvo goes further and further away off the street. She realizes that now awaits hours waiting for the phone to ring… She can't keep from wondering if she's ever gonna have kids of her own. Well, if Olivia keeps popping them out like this maybe she can have number six or seven…
---
The cellphone on the coffee table suddenly starts to vibrate. Both startled and excited she lifts it to her ear and answers.
"Hey. How're you doing?" her father's voice is asking.
"Daaad! Tell me…" she laughs.
"Alright, I'm looking at your new brother right now. Adam. He's a big guy, 10 lbs."
"Gosh. Adam, huh? Oh, is Olivia OK?"
Thinking about squeezing 10 lbs out of her body makes her a bit nauseous. She hears her father sigh. No… Please, dad… She holds her breath, waiting for more information.
"She's fine, really. She had a hard time, but she's fine."
"Good. Are you coming home soon?" she breathes.
Suddenly being in charge of her younger siblings feels way too heavy on her.
"Yeah, sure, I'm coming in a few hours."
"Kath? Olivia's fine, trust me." Now she's crying. "She's sleeping and she'll be fine when she wakes up. We'll be home, all of us, in two days, I promise! We'll talk more later, OK?"
"OK."
She hangs up the phone and makes her way upstairs. Two doors in the hallway are open, the doors to David's and Julia's rooms. She quickly peeks into both of them, making sure they're asleep. She honestly wouldn't mind if they'd wake up, though. After sighing loudly and accidentially bumping into toys and the bed getting no reaction from her sleeping siblings she leaves and carefully opens the door without a sign. Soon there'll be one. Adam it'll say. She turns on the light and looks around. She's seen the room before, but this time it's different. Now it's for a real person. It actually gets her into a better mood thinking about it, picturing the baby sleeping in the green crib. Feeling warm and happy again, she closes the door and makes her way downstairs.