A/N: I know it's been a long time and i'm so, so sorry!
She noticed him as soon as she got off the plane. Who could miss him. "Hey dad" she waved and gave him a small smile. It was to early to be happy.
"Hey Liv" Don embraced the younger woman.
"How'd you know I was coming?" she picked up her bag and pushed the older mans hand away when he silently offered to take it for her.
Don let out a small chuckle typical "your better half called me" he pointed towards a white Jaguar.
Olivia looked at the man and then formed her mouth into a 'oh' shape. She nodded towards the car "I see your movin' on up" she winked as she put her bag in the trunk.
Not knowing what he was getting himself into "yea, when I retired I decided to let loose and do something nice for myself" her eyes got wide and he wished he'd never said anything "I thought Elliot told you" he winced at the look on her face.
She raised her right eyebrow "you what? because it sounded a lot like you said you retired" he nodded "I thought so" she bit her bottom lip "so if I'm gone and Elliot's gone and your not there...what about Mun-"
"Munch decided to retire too, and Fin went back to homicide" he opened the car door feeling the December winds effect when he saw a puff of air coming out of his mouth.
Olivia just stood there in shock. My family is gone. I know I have Abbie and the kids, and trust me I love them more then life, but the five of us were close. We were family. She shook her head and got into the car "I don't understand. What happened?" she turned her body to face the man.
"After you left, know one felt any reason to stay. They were bringing in new people and it just wasn't the same. They hired this new girl named Dani, she...she was something else. They were bringing in the new kids, the ones that knew nothing about life, but at the same time thought they knew it all." he started the car " It all hit us that we we're getting older and it was time that we moved on. So, about a month after you and Abbie left, we all packed up our things and said our goodbyes, and I haven't seen anyone since"
Olivia put her head back "well, I have a case that might just bring us all back" she let out a deep breath.
AOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOA
"Mommy?" Banini stat up in bed. A bed that wasn't his or the one at Alexs'
Abbie turned over to face the little boy "nope, hate to disappoint you babe" she felt his weight shift "carful your sister is in here too" she reminded him softly.
"Oh" he gently climbed out of the bed and headed for the door.
"Stop. Right. There. Mister" she blinked her eyes trying to adjust them to the darkness "where are you going at.." she looked at the clock "..three in the morning" she swung her legs over the bed, a little disoriented.
Banini walked over to his mother and whispered "I don't fink mommy woves me no more" it was said with such innocence. He took this time and walked out the door.
Abbie sat there shocked. My son thinks his mother doesn't love him. She could help but let a few tears fall down her face. Hearing Maddison whimper, she slowly got up and cradled the baby in her arms "you don't feel the same way, do you?" Maddison just gave her a small cry "ok, bottle here we come." She made her way down the hall, stopping when she herd sniffles coming from her son's room. She was torn. Both of her kids were crying. Both of them needed her. When Leni gets home, I'm going to kill her.
"She's not hungry" came a small voice "Leni says when she cry's wike dat, she's just cwanky cause her teef are growin" he turned and faced the other way, as if the woman wasn't even standing there.
Abbie started swaying back and forth trying to soothe the child in her arms back to sleep. "Why do you think that mommy doesn't love you anymore?" she slowly walked into the room.
There was no answer from the boy.
Abbie nodded her head "ok" she walk further into the room and sat on the bed "well, do you think that you could help me with Maddi?" she watched as the little boy turned over. He wasn't mad at her, he was hurt. She understood that.
"Can I hold her?" he looked up at his mother, only the glow from the nightlight showing her face.
"Sure babe" she sat indian style and patted the spot in front of her. "Ok, gentle with her head" she lowered the girl into the waiting arms "so, what should we do?" she rested her chin on top of Banini's head.
"Well, umm...Leni always sings her tha wainbow song"
Abbie picked up on it. He was back to calling them by there first name. "Ok, would you like to sing it with me?" she could feel the tears streaming down her face. She silently thanked god that the bulb in the nightlight was going out.
Banini reached back and felt Abbie's face. Softly they both started to sing.
Somewhere over the rainbow,way up high,
there's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.
"Abbie?"
"Yea buddy"
"You still love me right?" he pushed his back against her chest.
It hit her. It hit her hard. He questioned her love for him. "Remember what I always say?"
"Dat I'm the ownly man in your life"
"That's right, and I will always love you" and as if on cue, Maddison started giggling and clapping "and I love you too, forever and ever"
Somewhere over the rainbow,
skies are blue,
and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.
"Banini?"
"Jea?"
"Why do you think mommy doesn't love you anymore?" she took an almost sleeping Maddison out of the little boys arms.
"Cause she's never home" he turned around to face her "and she promised that she would take me out to get a chwstmas tree and she's not here" he pawed at his tears.
Abbie made a little nest with pillows around Maddison. She pulled Banini into her arms "you know what I think happened" she lifted his chin "I think you got surprised when mommy went back to work" he just put his head down "because you know what, when me and mommy adopted you, we took something called maternity leave and that meant that we could stay home all day with you and Maddison" she pulled him closer "and we never really told you what was going to happen, but that doesn't mean she loves you any less"
"But she promised mama"he cried into her shoulder.
She tried. She knew he wasn't going to understand, but she tried.
Someday I'll wish upon a star,
and wake up where the clouds are,
far behind me,Where troubles melt like lemon drops,
a way above the chimney tops,
that where you'll find me.
AOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOA
"Alright now that we've said our hello's, lets get down to business, because it's five days till Christmas and I have a family to get back to" Olivia pulled out the photo's from the file in her hand. It was the first time she'd seen her cuts and bruises up close. She ran her fingers over the one's under he t-shirt not noticing that someone picked up on the movement "ok, so... sofar we have seven victims. These two.." she pointed to the pictures of her and then she put up another one "...are the last one's that have occurred in Texas." she stepped back.
Munch tilted his head to the side "so not that I'm trying to be rude or anything, but why could the Dallas SVU handle this case?" he slid his hands inside his pants pocket.
"I have my reasons. Besides, it's not like your doing anything." she smiled and winked at Fin who had rolled his eyes at the woman's comment.
"I-"
Don through his hand up "wait" he switched the photos around "Olivia, I think we have a bigger case then we thought."
Olivia looked up at the bored. Her eyes got wide.
AOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOA
Elliot sat on the couch, his arm around Alex and his other arm drawing lazy circles on her swollen belly "haha, you've got an outtie" he teased.
Alex just sat there. A small tear dropped from her eye, never even touching her cheek. She couldn't take it anymore. She curled up as close as she could to Elliot, and she cried.
Elliot pulled the woman close. In the whole time that he was with her and she was pregnant, she never cried. She didn't have any wild emotions. She was just, Alex. "Hey, what's wrong?" he ran the tip of his fingers over her back.
Alex just sobbed into Elliot's chest.
Elliot smiled softly "Alex baby, if you don't breathe.." he laid his hand over her belly "...then she wont breathe" he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.
At that moment, Alex was calm. There were still tears coming down her face, but at the same time she knew she shouldn't be so stressed because of the baby. "I'm scared" she pushed her hair out of her face "I'm scared that I wont be able to love my baby" she sniffled.
Elliot tipped her chin up with his finger "hey, your gunna love her...trust me. I mean if you didn't love her why would you have spent all that time and money fixing up a nursery for someone you don't even love" he smiled down at her.
"But what if he doesn't love me, what if she doesn't love me cause I don't love her father" she spoke into his chest.
"So you don't love me?" Elliot gave a light chuckle.
"You know what I mean"
"No I don't. For now as far as I know, I'm this little girls father, and when the time comes we'll tell her. But she's not even born yet, we still have a long time to go" he wiped her cheek with his thumb.
Fresh tears made there way down Alexs' face "make love to me" she whispered.
"Ale-"
"Please" she could feel his hand grazing her heat "please El, no teasing" she hadn't let him touch her since they'd gotten back together. She knew she could trust him, but she didn't know if she could trust herself.
"We don't have to do this...you don't have to do this" he whispered into her ear which was now leveled with his mouth.
The warmth from his breath sent chills down Alexs' back "I want to. I need to" she looked him in the eyes.
"Ok" Elliot lifted the woman up, surprised that she wasn't as heavy as he thought. He laid her down on the bed. As she started to unbutton her shirt, he just stood there.
"What?" she raised her eyebrow.
AOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOA
"Hey, you've reached Olivia, Abigail, Benjamin, and Maddison, we can't come to the phone, but tell you what...if you leave a message, we'll think about calling you back. Bye" Abbie's sweet Texan voice could be herd all through the house.
"Hey Abbie, it's me...Leni. I just wanted to see how everyone was. I know it's late..." she took a deep breath "...so..um...give the kids a kiss for me and...tell them that I love them...I love you too" there was a loud beep that signaled the end of the message.
Abbie just sat there. In the recliner. In the dark house. Banini lay'd on top of her chest. After about two hours of crying, she finally got him to sleep. She silently thanked god that Maddison was sleeping through the night. She moved to get up but felt the little boys grip on her shirt tighten. With the light coming from the few cars passing by outside, she saw his eyes. It wasn't that hard. She could feel him blinking against her body. "Hey, I thought you were sleeping" she sat back in the chair.
He pushed himself further and further up towards Abbie's neck, finally reaching his goal. He laid on the left side of Abbie's chest, listening to the soothing beating. He slowly brought his fingers up to his mouth. Before he could even get them to his lips, he felt Abbie tugging his arm.
"Nope, you gotta talk to me baby"
He turned his head and let out a small silent sob. The only thing letting Abbie know that the boy was crying, was the fact that his body was shaking. Banini slowly slipped his hand under Abbie's shirt, dying for the skin contact. He felt it. He traced it with his finger. He knew the letters from the alphabet on his wall. He didn't know what the said, but he knew what he felt. M Y L O V E. He never noticed it. He was quick. He lifted up Abbie's shirt, confused at what he saw. "What happened?"
Abbie looked at Banini. She didn't know how she was going to explain this.
