Where We Belong
Chapter 2
A/N: I hope I can live up to the standards set after the success of Give a Little Bit and Stones In the Road. This one isn't coming as easily, but its still coming along :) I hope you all enjoy it. I'm enjoying writing it. Its (hopefully) going to be longer than the first two. If not, I'll have to write a fourth :-)
Maureen stepped into the shower to wash away the horrible day she'd had. The man who attacked her friend got off, thanks to supression of DNA evidence. Her father tried to tell her that things like that happen all the time. He'll eventually get caught again, and now his DNA was in the system. It would be easier the second time around. That wasn't good enough for Maureen. Her first case in the unit, working for her father, and she screwed the case up. Maureen climbed out of the shower and fell to her knees in front of the toilet. She scrambled with the lid, and threw up the second it was open.
"Maureen? Honey? You okay?" Luke called from the bedroom. She retched again and he was by her side. "Rough day, Maur?" She nodded and dry heaved once more before trying to stand. Luke steadied her, and brought her to the sink. As she splashed water into her mouth, she heard the shower cut off.
"The bastard got off." Luke sighed and rubbed her back.
"Honey, it'll get better. It has to."
"I know, but she was one of my best friends as a kid. Now she's afraid of leaving her house."
"It is not your fault, Maureen Rebecca Stabler." She pulled away from him and shrugged her robe on. As she stormed into the bedroom. "Don't be like this, honey."
"Luke, I need space." Luke whirled her to face him and spoke gently.
"Do not push me away. We're more than that, we're a better and stronger couple than your dad and Kathy. You don't have to hide your work from me; I've seen it, and I can handle it." Maureen sighed and allowed her new husband to hug her close. A moment into the hug and she sobbed openly. "You did everything you could, Maureen. She knows that. I know that, and your father knows that."
"Luke, I," she took a deep breath. "I screwed up, Casey and Alex couldn't fix it. Because I tried to get things done quickly, I lost the case."
"Is his DNA in the system?"
"It is now..."
"Then you'll catch him next time. Filth like that rarely strike once." Luke handed her a pair of sweats and started digging for socks. "We're going for a walk."
"But-"
"You'll feel better after you walk this off, have some hot chocolate, and make fun of strangers."
"Well...when you put it that way..." Maureen stepped back into the bathroom to dry off and dress.
Allie, being a curious and intellegent 8 year old, looked back from her dad to her mom. One was bound to yell. She hoped it was Elliot. Allison knew that while he yelled louder, it was over when he stopped. Her mother, on the other hand, would hold a grudge. The dissapointment would linger for days.
"Allison Paige Stabler," Olivia started. 'Damn,' Allie thought to herself. "I understand you are curious about James, but you may not hack my computer!" Liv yelled. She had never yelled at Allie before. Allison knew she was in over her head.
"I didn't hack it..."
"You found a neighbor's wireless network, broke into it, used it to detect mine, broke into that, and surfed my desktop through your computer."
"I can't Google from mine."
"THERE IS A REASON FOR THAT!" Elliot hollered, starting to stand. Liv touched his arm and he fell back into his seat. "You aren't allowed to use the web without one of us there for a reason, Allison Stabler."
"I KNOW, creepy, nasty pedophiles...I Get it, Dad. But looking for a Jewish doctor in Jersey...not many creeps there." Olivia rubbed her forehead. "I just wanna know about him. Do I look like him? Sound like him?"Elliot stood and walked out of the apartment, shutting the door too gently behind him for Liv's comfort. She closed her eyes to keep the tears at bay.
"You have his eyes," Olivia said softly. "And his smile." Allie snuggled onto her mother's lap.
"Mom, I'm sorry I hacked your computer."
"I know."
"Dad's mad at me, isn't he."
"No, sweet heart. He's mad at James for not loving you," Olivia said, trying to comfort her daughter. "He doesn't know how to respond when you ask questions about James. Why don't you go get ready for bed? I'm going to try and call your dad."
"Mom?"
"Yes, honey?"
"I don't want to meet James. I just want to know about him."
"I know, Allie."
"Daddy!" the 4-year-old boy squealed, pouncing into his father's arms. "I went potty!"
"Good job, Ronny. Now, where is that train?" Don said poking around under his son's train table.
"So this is what you two do all day? Toilet talk and train sets?" Casey said, standing in the doorway to the play room. Don stood and greeted his wife with a kiss on the cheek.
"Missed you today," he whispered.
"Oh, we could have used you. Maureen...is so green." Don sighed, understanding what she meant. "The whole case is flushed."
"I'm sorry."
"Momma! Lookit what me an' Daddy built!" Casey knelt by her son's train table and looked the tracks over.
"Wow, Red, that looks awsome!" Ronny put the battery operated train on the track and turned it on. "Testing to make sure it won't derail?"
"But it's s'possed to! Big crash, Momma! Real loud!" And sure enough, the train went off the track, into stacked blocks, sending Ronny and Don into laughter. "See? Big crash!"
"That was a big crash!" Casey picked up her son and snuggled him tightly. "Ronald, are you ready for dinner?"
"Yep."
"Okay. Daddy and I will be in the kitchen. Okay?"
"Kay." Don and Casey stepped into the kitchen and greeted a little more lovingly.
"Missed you, too," Casey said, as Don kissed her neck. "We need to feed the red-head. I'm taking tomorrow off. Miss my kid and my husband."
"Wonderful," Don said nudging her gently. He stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her tightly. "So, I have a lasagna with your name on it."
"Perfect."
"Casey," Don said gently. "When are you going back to church?"
"You don't go, so I don't."
"You're Mormon. I told you I'm willing to convert." Case slammed the dishes onto the counter.
"Not this again. Dammit Don, I don't need this!" She stared at him, eyes flashing an angry green. "I told you, I gave up on God."
"I don't want Ronny to hear that."
"God gave up on me, I gave up on Him," she whispered angrily. "He let me loose the baby. He allowed me to be attacked when I was 5 months pregnant and with a 3-year-old at home. Where was He when I was stabbed by a 16 year old kid? Where was He when I was bleeding on the subway while people just stood there? Where the HELL was He when I walked 6 blocks, in premature labor before I passed out in a coffee shop from blood loss?" Casey crossed her arms, and set her jaw to force tears back.
"You know where He was?" Don asked, his voice dangerously low. "He was answering my prayers to save my wife."
"Well, He managed that."
"Not yet He hasn't." Don walked into the next room, picked up Ronny and left the house.
Elliot slid into the same old booth at the diner that he usually ate at when he and Olivia were at odds. Don went there, Luke went there, John went there. It wasn't much of a surprise to Elliot when Don and Ronny came in. Ronny was in his feety dinosaur pajamas, and asleep in Don's arms. The look of relief came over Don's face when he and Elliot's eyes met. Elliot waved the older man over.
"Casey?"
"Yeah. Liv?"
"No. Allie." Don looked at him curiously. "She found out about James recently and is asking all kinds of questions." Don nodded and put his sleeping son on the bench next to him and covered him with the blanket that never left the boy's sight. Ronny lifted his head once, and put it back down on his Dad's lap. "That kid can sleep through anything."
"Yeah," Don said smiling down at his little boy. "Casey's having a rough time."
"Maureen didn't lose the case today. Casey did. Casey gave up too quickly, and didn't ask Alex to step in quickly enough."
"She shouldn't be back at work yet."
"Don, its been a year. She's been fine the last 6 months, just now, its like she's given up."
"She left the church."
"I didn't know she went to church of any kind."
"Were you at our wedding? It was a very Mormon wedding. Her bishop was there, many Mormons were there, and even a few Missionaries." Elliot shrugged.
"All I know is Catholic; which Liv isn't." The waitress stood over the table with two steaming mugs.
"Thanks Gina," Don said as she placed the coffee in front of the men.
"Anything to eat today, guys?" she asked, smiling sympathetically.
"Triple Bacon cheese burger, extra chilli cheese fries, and a shake."
"Jesus, Elliot! Why not just shove the fat into your arteries!" Don said after the man ordered the greasey foods.
"And you'll have the same?" Gina asked knowingly.
"Please."
"I'll be back in 10." Elliot sipped at the watre he'd been given when he first sat.
"So," he said softly. "Casey just up and left the Church?"
"Won't go, won't take Ronny in, and she's not even saying prayers with him any more," Don said, at a loss. " I'm not part of the church; never have been. But, Elliot, part of Casey is that she's religeous without being offensive. The most beautiful things I've ever heard her say were when she was telling me about her beliefs. It was so solid. Like she was a warrior. She was passionate about it; like she is with work. But now, I can't...She gave up." Elliot nodded silently. "Did you ever give up on your faith?"
"Once."
"When?"
"Kathy left me. I thought God was punishing me. It took me years to realize it was my fault. But by then, Liv and I were together and Alijah was on the way."
"It took you that long to go back to church?"
"I still haven't gone back."
"Elliot, she was raised in a Mormon house-hold. I may not be LDS, but I want that for my only son. I want him to know that love, those values, and that family structure that I didn't have. I can't do that without her." Ronnie turned in his sleep, and popped his thumb in his mouth. The two sat quiet for a few minutes before Don spoke. "What do you think would happen if Olivia suddenly changed? If she decided that she wanted nothing to do with being a cop? What would that be like?"
"Jesus, I can't see Liv as anything but a cop...I mean out side of my wife and the mother of two-thirds of my children."
"Its a big part of her."
"Yeah."
"Take the cop out of Olivia, and what would you have?"
"Half a person."
"That's what is waiting when I get home with him. Half my wife."
Hope you liked Chapter 2! I'm half way done with Three :)