A/N: When a child can see that you're in love, maybe it's time to admit it to yourself.
DISCLAIMER: SVU and characters belong to Dick Wolf. Tstabler © own this story.
The classroom was decked out in red and pink hearts, children wearing those colors were running around the room toting heart-shaped cookies and pink cups filled with red juice. Elliot laughed as he watched his twins passing out their valentine's to their friends. He missed the days of carefree youth, but he was taking great pride in watching his own children enjoy it.
"What happened, Lizzie?" he asked, concerned as his youngest daughter plodded over to him.
"Mark threw out my valentine," she said, turning her lower lip up, pouting.
Elliot looked up and he smirked. "Well, honey, Mark can't have chocolate, but look. Look at him."
Lizzie turned, and her smile returned. For there was little Mark, reading the card she had given him, smiling. "Oh!" she said, laughing. "I just…I guess I…"
"Go talk to him," Elliot said, nudging her. "Go ask him to be your valentine."
Lizzie turned. "I'll do it if you do it," she said.
Elliot made a face at her. "I don't want Mark to be my…"
"Not Mark, Dad! Liv," she said, matter-of-factly.
Elliot laughed. "Yeah, you've had way too much sugar. She'd never…besides, she isn't even here, Lizzie, she's at work. I only took the day off to come to this party for you guys."
Lizzie smiled at her father. "Dad, I know you're in love with her. We all do. We've known for a long time. And we're all tired of you pretending you're not because you think we'll hate you or something. You're always doing this really cool stuff for us, and putting yourself last. That's why we did something equally as cool for you. Turn around, Daddy."
Elliot furrowed his brow, and he turned around. His face lit up when he saw Olivia, in her work suit, badge shining in her hand as she laughed and joked with Dickie and his friends, who were pretending to be interested in her shiny, gold shield while discreetly checking her out, as all thirteen year old boys were apt to do.
"How did she…why is she…she should be…" he was stammering over his words.
Lizzie leaned over and whispered, "Happy Valentine's Day, Dad." She kissed him on the cheek and then ran over to talk to Mark, and a few other kids.
Elliot got to his feet, walked over toward his son, and said, "Okay, guys. Leave Detective Benson alone or I'll have to take you all in for harassing an officer."
The boys laughed, and they ran off to play one of the party games. Olivia stood up straight, hooked her badge back onto her hip, and said, "Hey, El."
"What are you doing here?" was his response.
"Wow," she scoffed. "I can leave if it's really…"
"No," he said too quickly. "I just…you're supposed to be at work, and I didn't even think you knew about this thing."
She laughed. "I am at work," she said. "I'm taking a break. And I didn't know about it, not until your son called me, asking if I could stop by. He was so cute, El, he asked me to be his valentine and he drew little hearts in his text message, it was adorable."
Elliot looked at Dickie, something interesting in his eyes. "So you came to be with…my son?"
"I would do anything for your kids, El," she told him. "Relax, I'm not gonna date him or anything. He's not my type. Ya know, I want a guy who can drive. And vote. And drink."
"I get it," he said to her, chuckling. "You really took time out of your case-load to come down here and eat cookies with my kids?"
She made a face and wagged her head back and forth for a moment. "And you." She eyed him cautiously and said, "Dickie said that this was a party for the parents, and I know Kathy was supposed to be here, so I…"
"Oh," he said, stopping. "Thanks, Liv. That means…"
"Don't mention it," she interjected. "You're my partner. It's part of the job description. Right between 'honor and defend' and 'support fully' it says 'attend asinine school functions on stupid holidays."
He laughed, smiling his most genuine smile in months at her. "You amaze me."
"I do?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow.
He nodded. Then he took a chance, he took her hand, and he led her over to a desk. He gestured for her to sit, and he looked at her. "Lizzie…uh…we had this agreement. If she asked the kid she's got a crush on to be her valentine, then I would do the same thing."
She pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. "You have a crush on a kid? Do I have to arrest you?"
He rolled his eyes. "It's not a kid, Liv. I'm trying to tell you something serious here."
"Sorry." She sighed and folded her arms. "I don't do serious very well. You know that. Especially not when you're about to ask me for dating advice. The best I got is don't pick her up in the Cadillac and make sure you're wearing clean socks."
He raised an eyebrow. "Socks?"
"I told you I was bad at this," she said, smirking.
He laughed and shook his head. "I'm not asking you for dating advice. I'm, uh, I think I'm…I'm trying to ask you on a date."
Both eyebrows rose into the air and her face was the epitomic expression of shock. "What?"
"I'm…well, I…" he looked at her, and he sighed. "Look, here it is. For a long time, I don't even know how long, I've been falling in love with you. It just got worse after Kathy left. Or better. I don't know. All I know is, my kids dragged you down here because they saw it. They noticed it, and they wanted me to do something about it. So…this is me doing something about it."
"I'm still on 'I've been falling in love with you." She shook her head and took a breath. "Gimme a little time to catch up."
"I'm sorry." He unfolded his arms, bit his bottom lip, and shrugged a bit. "I know this isn't how you deserved to find out…but it is Valentine's Day, and this is a Valentine's Day party so…uh, God this is so cheesy…" he paused and picked up one of the pink heart-shaped cookies. He held in his hand for a moment, as if feeling the weight of it, because it was very heavy. What it meant was very heavy. "Liv, will you…will you be my valentine?"
She looked into his eyes, her heart gave a hard thud, and she reached with shaky fingers for the cookie. "El," she whispered, staring at the pink-frosted sugar cookie. "El, I..."
"Hey," he said with a defeated smile as he punched her lightly in the arm, "It was worth a shot, right?"
"I love you," she said, though it's not what she wanted to say. Her eyes widened a bit and she stuttered, making small noises. "I…I meant, um, I think we…we should probably…"
"You love me?" he asked, a whisper, leaning closer to her. "Did you mean that?"
She closed her eyes and let out a breath, trying to relax. "Yes," she said. "But I…I was just afraid that you…"
Her eyes were closed, so she didn't see him, couldn't stop him. His lips were so soft, so warm as they pressed against hers. She moved the hand not holding the cookie to his face, and caressed lightly as she returned the soft, delicate, closed-mouth kiss.
He pulled away, and he held his breath, waiting for her to open her eyes. "Liv," he whispered.
She slowly lifted her lids and she stared into his eyes. "El," she said, her lips curling into a smile.
He took her hand, grabbing it lightly and pulling it off of his face. He brought it down and rested it over his heart, and he said, "You did that. You feel how fast my heart is beating right now? Every minute of every day, that's what you do to me."
She blinked, and she kissed him again. "Happy Valentine's Day," she whispered, before nuzzling his nose with hers.
Looking on, Dickie and Lizzie grinned. They turned to each other and high-fived, and they laughed. "Maybe now he'll stop picking up the phone and trying to call her," Lizzie said.
"Maybe now he'll stop mumbling her name in his sleep," Dickie said, rolling his eyes.
Lizzie sighed. "Maybe now he'll be happy. We'll all be happy."
"Yeah," Dickie said, giving a sigh of his own. "Hey, Liz?"
"Yeah?" his sister replied.
He smiled and whacked her in the arm. "Happy Valentine's Day."
A/N: Cute and Fluffy, and something I don't think I have done. Maybe I did? Dunno. Review here or on Twitter: TMG212 and read tomorrow's story…a double date gone awry!