A/N: What does Elliot say to Kathy? Who shows up at Liv's door?
DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and its characters. TStabler© owns the narrative, dialogue and plot of this story
He slammed the door closed, starling her in the kitchen. She dropped the pot and the rice went everywhere. "Goddamn it, Elliot! You scared the...well at least you came home tonight."
"When the hell did you sleep with Liv's fiancée?" Elliot asked, barging into the kitchen.
Kathy looked up from the floor, where she'd been scraping up rice. "I'm sorry, what did you just ask me?"
"You heard me," Elliot said, fuming.
Kathy rose to her feet and threw the fallen rice into the trashcan. "I did, and you're crazy! I wouldn't do that to you, or to her. Who the hell told you that?"
"Trevor did," Elliot said. "He told me it happened at One-P-P's New Year's Eve party, after Liv and I got called down to the doc...work."
Kathy sighed and closed her eyes as she gripped the kitchen counter. "Elliot, I wish you would, for once, talk to me about these cases of yours," she said softly. "And no, I did not sleep with Trevor. He lied to you."
"I don't think so, Kathy. I think you're lying to me." Elliot opened the fridge and pulled out a beer, popping it open and chugging half of it.
"How does it feel, Elliot?" Kathy asked, with a surprised smile. "To doubt? To never really know? Now, you know how I feel. How I have felt for five goddamn years. For the record, though, I'm not lying. As much as I despise her for what she's done to me, to us, I would never hurt her like that. She's been there for the kids, and you, always. More than I was, sometimes."
"Shit," Elliot said, realizing. "That snake. He wanted me to...oh, damn! Liv!" He pulled out his cell and dialed, but the call went right to voicemail. "I have to go," he said, slamming down his beer.
"Elliot, she's getting married! Damn it, just let her go!" Kathy yelled.
Her voice stopped him, he turned, remembering why he came home in the first place. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, picking up his beer again. "She's not getting married, Kathy. He's been cheating on her for as long as they've been together. And she's...not in love with him," he said, chugging back the rest of his beer.
"I know," Kathy said with a laugh. She folded her arms and leaned against the counter. "She's in love with you. I just figured that since she was marrying Trevor, she finally got over you and we could all move on with our lives."
Elliot scoffed. "Nice, Kathy. Look, what are we doing?"
"Standing in the kitchen, talking about your partner's five-hundredth failed relationship," Kathy said, snidely.
"Damn, Kathy, have a little sympathy! She just found out her entire relationship with Trevor was fucking meaningless!" Elliot didn't mean to yell, but he found that when it came to Olivia, he was always defensive.
Kathy chuckled, "Oh that's rich. It was only meaningless because she wants the one person she can't have, Elliot. Or, has she already had him?"
"Don't go there, Kathy," Elliot warned. "This is exactly what I meant. What the hell are we doing, staying together? Are you happy?"
"I was, up until, oh, I'd say, five years ago," Kathy spat.
"Stop blaming Olivia," Elliot said through gritted teeth. "This has nothing to do with her! We've been fighting like this since the twins were born! If you haven't noticed, they're twelve! That's seven years, before Liv and I even met, that we've been completely incapable of getting along! You're stubborn, and you're so self-righteous..."
Kathy ran her hands through her hair, again, and spat back, "We could have gotten passed it all, if it hadn't been for her! Why is she so close, huh? She's your partner, yes. I could have dealt with that. When she became your friend, I accepted it. But then, you didn't have to invite her over here for dinner every night, you didn't have to make her a part of the fucking family, you didn't have to get the kids so attached to her, you didn't have to fall in love with..."
"Woah, what?" Elliot interrupted. "Why are you still talking about Olivia?"
Kathy sighed. "Damn, Elliot, I'm not blind. You're in love with her, aren't you? I can see it in the way you..."
"Oh, fuck it, Kathy! Yeah, okay? You win! You're right! That's exactly right! Happy?" Elliot asked, yelling.
"Yes," Kathy said. "But are you admitting it because it's true or are you admitting it because you're such a fucking hot-head that you'd say anything to piss me off and shut me up?"
Elliot looked her in the eyes. He gripped her wrist and through a clenched jaw, he shouted. "If I wanted to piss you off and shut you up I'd tell you I want a divorce!"
Soft footsteps and even softer tears went unnoticed. The child slipped out of the house, as Elliot and Kathy continued their horrendously loud yelling.
Olivia, asleep on her couch, was awakened by a loud, frantic, knock on the door. She shot her eyes open and reached for her gun, but assuming it was Elliot, she shook her head and left the weapon on the table. She unlocked the door and pulled it open. "El, I don't...Dickie?"
"Liv? Can I come in?" the boy asked, sniffling.
"Sure, honey. What...what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Olivia asked, wrapping her arms around him and leading him to the couch.
"Mom and Dad...the yelling...the things they were saying to each other...they're getting a divorce," the boy spat.
Olivia's heart started to race. What exactly had Elliot thrown at Kathy? "Oh, baby-boy, I'm sorry you had to hear..."
"It was all about you," he said, cutting her off. "Well, what my mother was saying was all about you. I think...Dad's in love with you, Liv."
Olivia choked. "Um, Dickie, I think maybe..."
"No, he is. He said it. I don't blame him, because you're a lot cooler than Mom and you've been so much nicer to him than she's been," Dickie told her, wiping his eyes. "But she said some awful things about you and Dad defended you, and tried to change the subject, but she went right back to yelling about you."
Olivia sighed and brushed back the boys hair. "Oh, wow. Dickie, sweetie, I don't know if you should be telling...
Dickie interrupted, again. "Dad's just gonna tell you anyway, right? I don't want them to split up, Liv, but they're not happy...all they do is yell and fight and Mom doesn't want you around anymore, and I can't deal with it all. It just hurts to know that they stayed together for so long, unhappy, because that's what they thought we wanted." He rested his head on Olivia's shoulder and held her tight, trying not to cry.
"And it's not?" Olivia asked, rubbing his shoulder.
He shook his head. "What kid wants their parents to stay together if it's gonna make them unhappy? We all know they hate each other. And we all know that, well, Maureen thought so and pointed it out to us, that Dad would rather, um, he'd rather be with you." Dickie looked up at Olivia and blinked. "Are you gonna marry Mr. Langan, Liv? Because if you do, I think it might kill my father."
Olivia wiped a tear from her own eye, her heart broke as she listened to the boy cry and talk, and she shook her head. "No, sweetheart, I'm not gonna marry Mr. Langan." Olivia blinked at him, and tilted her head. "Do your parents know you left the house?"
"No," Dickie said, reaching up to wipe away another of Olivia's tears. "I didn't mean to make you cry, Livvy."
"Oh, pumpkin," she said, as her heart filled with love for the young man. "I always cry when one of you is in pain. Come on, let's get you settled in the bedroom, huh? I'll call your dad and let him know you're here, but I'll tell him you can stay."
"Thanks," Dickie said, giving her a big hug. "Hey, Liv?"
Olivia brushed his hair back and said, "Yeah, bud?"
"Do you love my dad?" Dickie asked, tilting his head.
Olivia was silent. She smiled at him, but said nothing.
"I think you should tell him," Dickie said. "It might make him happy for the first time, in a very long time."
"You're just like your father," Olivia said, leading Dickie into her room. "Too smart for your own good." She pulled down the covers, watched the boy climb in, kissed him on the forehead, and tucked him in. "Goodnight, little Stabler."
"Goodnight, big Benson. Oh, Liv?" he asked with a yawn.
As she turned out the light, she replied. "Yeah, honey?"
"Another way I'm just like my dad is, I love you, too," he said, his little eyes closed and his hands clutched around the pillow.
Another tear fell as she sweetly said, "Oh, Dickie. I love you, kiddo."
"Hey," Elliot said, opening her door and closing it, softly. "Thanks for calling while I was still fighting with Kathy. She didn't mind my son running away to your place at all," he said mildly sarcastically. "In fact, she loved it so much, she yelled about it for twenty minutes."
Olivia rolled her eyes. "I didn't know you were still fighting with her, El. I wanted to make sure you both knew he was safe."
"I know, baby," Elliot said with a light chuckle. "He really heard everything, huh?"
"Yeah," Olivia said, nodding. "Well, up until he left. He also said that the kids expected this, they wish it would have happened sooner because they're tired of the fighting, and you, apparently, wear your heart on your sleeve at home. Your entire family thinks you're in love with me."
Elliot raised an eyebrow at her as he sat next to her on the couch. "I am."
"Well, it would have been nice of you to tell me that, ya know, before we jumped right to the sex." Olivia said, patting his knee.
Chuckling, Elliot said, "Hey, is how we got together really important? I think we both had an amazing time, and we're together now, so..."
"Oh," Olivia interrupted. "I promised Dickie I would tell you that I love you. He said it would make you happier than you've been in a very long time."
"So, tell me," Elliot demanded with a smug grin and a lick of his lips.
"I love you," Olivia told him, leaning closer to him. She brushed her nose against his and breathed him in, heaving a contented sigh.
"Damn, the kid was right," Elliot said with a laugh. "Happiest I've been, well, ever, really. I love you, too, Liv." He cupped her face with one hand, pulled her closer, and pressed his lips to hers. He wrapped his other arm around her body, pulling her onto his lap and deepened the kiss. He moaned, very softly, into her mouth.
"El," she whispered, "Your son is in the next room, baby, we can't."
"We can't kiss?" he asked, reclaiming her mouth.
Olivia chuckled. "I'm having the most amazing feeling of déjà vu," she said. "First there was talking, then there was kissing."
"Ah, but there was no one in the precinct that night, baby. There was just us." Elliot swiped his hands over her chest, thumbing her nipples lightly. "I told Kathy I want a divorce," he said, stopping his fondling and looking into her eyes.
Olivia nodded. "I know, Dickie told me."
"Did he tell you that she's gonna give me one? A very messy one, but she's not fighting it," he said, resuming his groping. "She wants half of everything I got, and she wants the house."
"Why are you so happy about that? God, El, that feels so damn good," she gasped, dropping her forehead to his and bucking her hips, rubbing against him.
He groaned and pulled her down, forcing her to rub harder. "I'm happy, because there's one thing she isn't going after."
"What?" Olivia asked, moaning into his neck.
Elliot licked her neck, right behind her ear, then whispered, huskily, "The kids."
With a new excited fervor, they made out like teenagers, briefly avoiding the turmoil of the mudslinging divorce, the fact that Kathy would be throwing Elliot and the kids out of the house as soon as the divorce was final, and the fact that Trevor wasn't ready to let Olivia go. They would deal, later, with their crumbling lives, and the glue that would hold it all together: each other.
A/N: next: round one of the divorce, a new case, and another apology from Trevor, where Eliot confronts him about Kathy.