Chapter 3: ONE Promise
AN: Thank you again for all of the reads, favorites, reviews, and follows! I made this chapter a long ONE (little pun there), so I hope you all enjoy it!
They pulled up to Olivia's apartment and Elliot put the car in park.
"Thank you again, El . . . for everything."
"Don't mention it, Liv. I'll see you in the morning." He smiled.
She went to shut the car door, but stopped at the last second. She bent back down into the car.
"Hey."
He crinkled his brow, but still offered a smile. "Hey."
"Would you like to come in and meet Noah?"
The wrinkles in his brow relaxed then. "I'd love to, Liv."
Her smile grew. "Okay." She paused for a moment thinking about how heartwarming it was going to be to see Elliot with Noah. "Follow me."
He unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car to follow his partner inside. Olivia hit the elevator button, and both elevators opened completely empty.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" She asked with a grin of mischief.
"Elevator race?" He offered.
"4th floor! GO!" She confirmed. They both bolted into their respective elevators and relentlessly poked the 4th floor button.
"Come on, come on!" Olivia spoke to herself.
2 . . . 3 . . . "Come on; almost there." Elliot encouraged the elevator.
"4! Finally!" They both exclaimed as they all but busted through the elevator doors.
"I won!"
"I won!"
They looked at each other and evaluated the nature of their excitement. They both simultaneously burst into a fit of laughter.
"Oh man! It's been a long time since I've had a good elevator race." He said with his hands on his knees still trying to recover from the laughter.
"Right?! Remember that time it was you and Munch versus Fin and I? We got to the top and all four of us blew out of the elevators and fell to the floor! Melinda looked at us like we had lost our minds!" She reminisced.
"Could you imagine if it would have been Cragen instead?"
"He would have put us all on desk duty!" She laughed.
"He probably would have banned us from using the elevators!" He laughed with her again.
"He played it tough, but he loved our care free spirits in between cases." She remembered with a smile.
His laughter subsided then. "No doubt." He watched her comb her hand through her hair, still leaning against the wall.
"I can't wait to get back to work with you, Liv." He couldn't hold it in any longer.
That grabbed her attention. She looked over at him again and her eyes met his. She gave him a small smile. "Me either, El."
Liv's phone buzzed then and they both jolted back into present time.
"Noah!" She breathed.
They darted in the direction of her door.
She opened it and immediately called out to the babysitter. "Lucy, it's Liv! I'm so sorry!"
Lucy walked around the corner from Noah's nursery. "Liv, please, don't worry about it. Noah's asleep. He's fed and changed, and he behaved perfectly today, as always." She smiled, and then gave a curious look towards the man behind Olivia.
"Lucy, I can't thank you enough! Oh Lucy, this is my friend, and partner, Detective Elliot Stabler." She stepped to the side to allow the two to shake hands.
She extended her hand to him. "Nice to meet you sir. I'm Lucy Taylor, Noah's babysitter."
"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Taylor."
"Lucy, could I get you back here tomorrow say, 6 am?" Olivia asked.
"Of course! Not a problem. I'll see you then! Have a good night, everyone." She grabbed her bag as she headed toward the door.
Elliot and Olivia both said good night as she headed out. The door closed behind her and then it was just Elliot and Olivia again.
"I guess I'll have to stop by some other time to meet Noah." He smiled. "Should I pick you up at 6:30 tomorrow morning?"
"No no, hold on a minute. I'll get Noah." She started towards Noah's room.
"Liv, don't wake him up. It's late and you have work in the morning. You don't need to be up all night trying to get him to go back to sleep. I'll meet him another time."
"Elliot, if he gives me a hard time going back to sleep, this will be the first. It's a special occasion. Just let me get him." She reasoned.
"Wait, Liv." He caught her arm before she could get too far.
She spun around to face him. "What? What's wrong?" Her eyes danced back and forth between his trying to figure it out.
"Will you tell me who his father is now?" He's practically begging with his eyes.
She relaxed from her previous tense form. "Let me get him, and I'll tell you everything you want to know."
He nodded and released her arm that he was still holding. He watched her disappear into Noah's nursery.
She kept the lights off as she walked up and peered over the side of the crib at her sleeping baby boy. She ever-so gently ran the back of her four fingers over Noah's cheek, admiring how precious and soft his little face was.
She started to pick him up and he made a quiet baby noise as he started to stir awake.
She lifted him to her and he laid his head on her shoulder and let out a big sigh.
"Oh, I know sweetheart." She softly spoke to him as she soothingly rubbed his back. "Mommy wants you to meet someone very special, and then I'll let you get back to sleep."
She walked back out to the living room where Elliot was sitting on the couch.
"El." He jumped up off the couch and turned towards her and Noah. She walked over to him. "I'd like you to meet Noah."
She was beaming from ear to ear. It was the happiest he had ever seen her. She was so beautiful with that smile and that baby in her arms, he thought.
"Liv." He was nearly speechless. "He's perfect."
Her smile grew even wider and she brushed some of his hair out of his face with her lips before giving him a kiss on the forehead.
"He looks just like you." He continued.
Her eyes shot up to meet his in a direct stare. She had always dreamed of someone telling her that her baby looked just like her. She thought she would never receive that compliment with Noah though.
"I mean it." He whispered to her.
She bit her lip and closed her eyes as she gently shook her head.
"What? What's the matter?" He asked with concern.
"His father..." She started.
"Olivia . . . I don't care who the father is. You don't have to tell me. All I care about is that you and Noah are happy, healthy, and safe. I'm happy for you regardless."
"I don't know who his father is." She told him as she continued rocking Noah back and forth.
"You don't?" He asked, the look of concern back now.
"No, I don't." She said in a defeated whisper. She took a moment and a deep breath. "His biological mother didn't even know who his father is." She finally admitted.
A confused look grew on Elliot's face now. "His biological mother? Wait."
She shook her head again. "I'm not his biological mother, El. His mother was an SVU victim."
It was all starting to click for him now. He listened as she went on.
"She told me that she was trying to get her life together to get Noah back. She said the last thing she wanted was for Noah to live in foster care all his life, like she did. We found her burned to death near the railroad tracks one night. They were going to put him into foster care when the judge called me out on showing the most interest in Noah's well-being. She asked me if I would like to be his foster mother for a one year trial period with the intentions of permanent adoption." She shrugged then. "I jumped at the opportunity."
He placed his hand on the side of her face. "Liv, I think it's wonderful."
She looked up at him. "You do?" She asked in a voice of sheer innocence.
"I do." He assured her. "I'm so happy for you, Olivia." He brushed his thumb over her cheek.
"Thanks." She closed her eyes and smiled.
"And I still think he looks like you." He added.
"Now I know you're feeding me a line." She remarked.
"I'm really not." He argued. "The brown hair, the perfectly round little cheeks, his nose even looks like yours."
She laughed at him squinting as he examined her nose closely and then examined her son's.
"And I bet he has big, beautiful brown eyes like you, too." He said as he gently ran his thumb back and forth over Noah's cheek.
Olivia blushed at his words and was quite grateful that his attention was directed towards Noah at the moment.
Noah was stirring again and let out another little sigh on Olivia's shoulder. Suddenly, his eyes blinked open and Elliot felt his heart start to melt.
"He's awake." Elliot whispered.
"Is he?" She tried to look at him on her shoulder.
"Yeah. And I was right about those eyes." He confirmed still admiring Noah.
Again, she smiled at his compliments. That's all she seemed to be doing tonight.
"Would you like to hold him?" She asked gently.
"I'd love to, but I don't want to startle him."
"I think he'll be okay." She assured.
He looked down at Noah, who still had his head resting on Olivia's shoulder and silently looking around.
Elliot gently lifted Noah out of Olivia's arms and cradled him in his own. Noah didn't seem phased at all by the change in arms holding him. He just contently laid in Elliot's arms and looked up at the new face.
"Hi little man." Elliot softly spoke to him.
Olivia was smiling as she watched Noah concentrate on only Elliot.
"I'm Elliot." He smiled. "I protect your mommy . . . and now . . ." He held his little hand and gently ran his thumb over the back of it. "I'm going to protect you."
As if to tell him he understood, Noah wrapped his hand around Elliot's finger. His eyes still remained focused on Elliot's face.
Olivia was now awestruck by the exchange between her best friend and her son. She'd never seen Noah so engaged before.
"You don't ever have to worry," He spoke to Noah again. "because I'm never going to let anything happen to either one of you . . . I promise." He finished in a whisper.
Noah was still holding his finger tighter than ever. He grabbed onto Elliot's finger with his other hand as well and pulled it up to his face. He examined it for a moment before pushing it away from his face again. He looked back up at Elliot then, and broke into the biggest smile Olivia had ever seen from him. There was even a sparkle in his eyes.
Elliot just beamed back at the little boy in his arms. He turned to Olivia then.
"I think he gets it." He smiled.
"I think he does too. I've never seen him smile like that." She said seriously.
"I must have a way with words." He suggested with raised eyebrows and an overly confident smile.
"You're ruining it." She said, trying not to smile.
He laughed lightly. "I'm only kidding."
"Uh huh." She gave him a skeptical look. "So that was a pretty big promise you made him."
Noah was busy playing with the pocket on Elliot's shirt.
"Yeah, well, I keep all my promises . . . big and small."
He looked back down at Noah and smiled at him again.
"Besides, I wasn't promising him anything I wasn't already sure of myself." He added.
She just looked at him. She was speechless. She didn't know what to say to him . . . to what he just said. So she just watched as he rocked Noah back and forth safely in his arms. She simply couldn't wrap her head around all the changes that had popped into her life in just one short evening. And she can only expect more changes to come tomorrow. Maybe even tonight.