Quick Disclaimer: I don't own any of the L&O SVU characters, Dick Wolf does =)
A/N: This is my first fic. I figured I'd jump in since I've been enjoying everyone else's stories on here the last little while, and hopefully once I get this story's momentum going, you'll all enjoy it as much as I've been enjoying reading yours. Reviews and comments are welcomed, and encouraged.
In this story, Eli wasn't born, Elliot & Olivia are together, so it's E/O (and 'fluffy' for the time being) Thanks for stopping by =)
"Hi, Sweetpea." Olivia smiled, walking into the bedroom of her 8-month-old daughter. Lightly fussing, and ready for attention, Ava Stabler smiled and kicked her feet as her mother approached.
"Did you have a good sleep? Let's get you changed, and then we're going to go meet daddy for lunch. Sound like fun?" She asked, taking the baby's gurgles and tug of her mommy's hair as a yes.
After loading Ava's stroller into the trunk, securing the carseat into the back, and making sure her baby had a soother and a toy to keep her occupied for the drive, Olivia headed to the 1-6.
She had gone on Maternity leave a month before Ava's birth, and every time she swung by to visit Elliot and the gang, she couldn't help but try to delve into whichever case the crew had been working on. She couldn't wait to get back to work, but as she glanced into her rearview mirror to check on her baby girl, she couldn't stand the fact that she'd have to part with her little one every morning.
"Hey, look who it is!" Fin called out as Olivia walked into the unit with Ava tucked into her stroller. "Right on time." He said, looking at his watch as he headed over to Olivia. "How's it going, baby girl?" Fin asked, as he unstrapped Ava. "We're good for the moment, actually. Ava had a nap before we came up here, so we've managed to forget the frustration of teeth coming in. For now at least." Olivia explained, running her hand over Ava's cheek.
"Knock on wood." Munch added, heading over to tell Ava one of his many stories that usually served the purpose of putting the little lady to sleep. "Where's El?" Olivia asked, looking around the office. She turned to Fin and Munch, but they were both too enamored with Ava to have heard her questions. The newly crowned 'baby girl' had them wrapped around her finger, and all she had to do was drool.
Olivia headed over to Cragen's office, knocked on the door, and sure enough found Elliot sitting opposite the Captain, sharing a laugh. "Hey, I didn't know you were here." Elliot said, getting up out of his seat. "It's okay, the guys get a few minutes to visit." Olivia smiled.
"So are you about ready to get back into things detective?" Cragen asked, quite relieved to be ready to stop replacing Elliot's temporary partners because they weren't "a good fit" as Elliot would put it each time, among other words.
"Yes, Sir!" She smiled. Cragen was about to say something more, but Olivia's attention was immediately diverted as a small cry broke out. "Uh… Liv?" The trio heard Munch call out.
Standing in the middle of the room was Munch, holding a crying Ava, and Fin standing opposite the two with Ava's last feeding on his shirt. "Fin, I'm sorry!" Olivia called out, taking Ava from Munch's arms. "It's… all good. I've got another shirt in my locker. And really, I should no better by now." He smiled.
"Hey there, princess." Elliot said, scooping Ava from Olivia's arms. "Let's get you cleaned up." He said, walking over to the stroller and the attached diaper bag.
Olivia watched Elliot with their daughter, carefully wiping her face of any leftover spit up, and gently securing her into her stroller. He always spoke ever-so-softly to her, tried way too hard to make her laugh, and always knew just the right way to calm her down when she was having a tough time.
Knowing that he had missed a lot of moments with his other children, he and Olivia had made a promise once they had found out they were expecting that they would do whatever it took to make sure they spent as much time with Ava as they could, even if meant loading Ava into the car to get a visit with her daddy for lunch that would be shorter than the amount of time it had taken Olivia to get herself and her daughter ready and up to the precinct.
Luckily, after the months that she'd been on leave, Olivia had managed to get her timing down good, and it no longer took her two or more hours to get ready to meet Elliot for half an hour. She smiled, remembering the thought of Ava's first months, before Elliot pulled her out of her daze.
"Ready? We're hungry." He asked, pushing the stroller towards her. They waved goodbye to the guys and headed out for their visit. It would be short, but for them, it worked, and that was all that mattered.
"Do you want me to take her?" Olivia asked, smiling down at Ava asleep in Elliot's arm. "Nah, I'm a multi-tasker." He smirked, eating the rest of his lunch with his free hand. "So how's the search going?"
"There's a couple agencies I've called. I've got an appointment set up at one for tomorrow, and another on Saturday, so we'll see how that goes." Olivia answered. Sensing Olivia's fear of leaving her daughter in the care of a stranger, Elliot placed his hand over hers. "She's going to be okay, Liv. We'll Skype with her from the office." Elliot chuckled.
Never one for being completely up to date with technology, Elliot had luckily somehow managed to grasp the use of Skype since Kathy had moved out of state with the kids. Oddly enough, making the time to go online and talk with them made him feel closer to them than he had been when they had been living in New York.
"Why don't we go for a walk around the park?" Elliot suggested after they had finished at the restaurant. "You have to get back to the precinct. Don't you guys have a case?"
"You'll be happy to know it got wrapped last night. Perp finally confessed at 2 am, so I crashed in the cribs for a few hours, then did most of the paperwork this morning. Told Cap that it was the last couple days of your leave, and I had a ton of unused vacation time, so he said he'd call me if I was needed." He smiled, pushing the stroller along the street, Ava still peacefully asleep. Olivia stopped walking and stared at him. "Really?"
"Liv, I've told you countless times how I want to do it right with Ava. I want to be there. I want to meet the new sitter, I want to be able to tell her what Ava likes and doesn't like, and how she needs to be put down for a nap. Cause I didn't know half those things with my other kids, and you know I regret it." Elliot took Olivia's hand in his, and smiled over at Ava. "I'm going to do it right this time."
"So who did you like? I thought that Sam was really nice. And did you see how attentive she was when Ava was fussing? And she even asked us questions, which I wasn't expecting. She's really nice." Olivia said, looking over her notes Friday evening. The family was seated on the couch, Elliot with his knees up so Ava could sit back against them.
"Sam was nice. What do you think? You're going to have to put up with her." Elliot asked his daughter. "Daa!" She said to Elliot. "I thought you'd say that, but mommy and I already said you can't come to work with us." Elliot frowned, scrunching his face Ava. She giggled, reaching her chubby fingers to explore her dad's face. He nibbled at her fingers, causing a fit of squeals. "El?"
"Right. Yes, Sam was a good fit. Provided she comes clean on a background check." Elliot replied. Olivia knew that the agency only hired sitters with a clean background, but she wasn't going to go against Elliot having a check done himself, especially when it concerned the safety of their daughter.
"Okay, I'll call Stella at her office and let her know, and we can get everything set up. What do you want for dinner?" Olivia asked, getting up off the couch. "I've already got some chicken marinating in the fridge. Figured we could just do that and pasta." Elliot answered. Olivia turned and stared at him.
"Got it done while you were napping with Ava this afternoon." He smiled. She walked up to him, bent down and kissed him softly on his lips. "Never change." She whispered to him. Elliot stared down at her, leaning in for another kiss. "I don't plan on it." Then of course, as luck would have it, Ava started to fuss. "Are you hungry again?" She laughed, taking Ava out of her dad's arms. She headed towards Ava's nursery and Elliot headed towards the kitchen to get dinner ready.