A/N: How did Cragen know what their wedding song was? Olivia and Elliot spend a day with the kids, and run into Casey.
DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and its characters. TStabler© owns the narrative, dialogue and plot of this story.
"This could just be a coincidence," Elliot assumed, running a hand down his face as he stared at the CD on his desk.
Olivia looked at him funny. "Oh, yeah, El. Cragen just happened to have a CD of the same Elvis song you drunkenly told the organist she could play when we got married. No big deal!"
Elliot chuckled. He loved seeing Olivia's feathers get ruffled, and not a great many things did it. He was intrigued, and he wanted to see how worked up she could get. "All right, Liv. Calm down, okay? So, maybe it's not a coincidence. Maybe he knows, and maybe this is our last night as partners. What then?" he asked with a smirk on his face. He instantly regretted it when he saw her reaction.
Olivia's eyes widened and her hands moved quickly. One to her mouth and one over her stomach. The thought of not being his partner anymore made her physically ill. "Oh, God. What the hell did we do, El? We...this is…wow, we really didn't think."
"Oh, no. Don't even…Liv, cut that out, right now, damn it!" Elliot spat in a harsh whisper. "If we actually thought about it, we wouldn't have done it, and we'd still be sitting here staring at each other when the other wasn't looking. If we thought about it, I'd still be feeling guilty about having an emotional affair with you and wondering what you look like naked, and you'd still be dumping every one of your dates because they're not me. We'd both be fucking miserable, Liv. Is that the life you wanna go back to?"
"I didn't say that, did I?" Olivia spat, just as harshly. "You know damn well I can't do this without you. You're like a fucking magnet! Every time I tried to leave, you pulled me back. And you fall the fuck to pieces if I'm gone for more than a day! You can't work with anyone else, either!"
"Well," Elliot said, sighing, "Like I said. Maybe this is just a coincidence. And if it's not, we just have to hope that Cragen's seen that we can still do our jobs. Right?"
Olivia took a breath and nodded, absently twirling her rings around her finger.
"And quit playing with those, you're gonna draw attention to your hand, and enough fucking people already know," Elliot chuckled, leaning back in his chair.
"You're being awfully calm about this," Olivia said, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, Liv," Elliot said, tossing his hands in the air, "Maybe being split up at work doesn't scare me as much as it used to, ya know? Before, being your partner was as good as it was gonna get for me. Before, all I had of you were the hours we'd spend on a call, or at these desks. Now, I get to come home to you every night, and that's my ring on your finger. One seriously outweighs the other."
Olivia smiled at him, shook her head, and sighed. "Kathy's an idiot," she said. "But I'm glad she's an idiot."
"What are you talking about?" Elliot asked, as he signed his DD-fives, smirking.
"She's an idiot because I'm sitting here looking at you, and listening to you, and thinking that you have to be the most perfect man in the universe, and she just walked away from you," Olivia said, shaking her head. "But I'm glad she's an idiot because if she didn't walk away…"
Elliot interrupted her, looking up at her, as he said, "Then I would have."
"Eventually," Olivia said, shrugging, "But Lord knows we would have been old enough to retire by then, and you wouldn't want me anymore."
Elliot narrowed his eyes at her and stuck his tongue out, playfully. "For the record, I will always want you," he added.
Olivia laughed and winked at him. "I love you," she mouthed to him.
Elliot laughed at her and said, "Might as well just say it, Liv. Cragen fucking knows. I love you, too."
Cragen, watching from the doorway to his office, did know. And he thanked his lucky stars that he followed them that night in an attempt to keep them from doing something stupid. As he listened and watched their playful banter, he knew that they'd made the smartest decision possible.
The alarm blared, annoyingly, at seven the next morning. Olivia grumbled and tried to bury her head in her pillow, but since her pillow was Elliot's chest, it wasn't really working for her. "Shoot it," she mumbled, trying to muffle the noise with Elliot's arm.
"Baby," Elliot laughed, "Come on, get up."
"It's Sunday," Olivia gruffed. "What the hell do I need to be awake before noon on a Sunday for?"
Elliot kissed her, nuzzled her nose, and said, "Church."
Olivia's eyes widened and she popped off of him a bit. "Are you…you're serious right now," she declared.
"Yeah," Elliot said, shoving her gently off of him. "I am, Liv. We have to take the kids to Church and breakfast, and then I think I want to take them shopping. Let them pick out stuff for their rooms."
"Church," Olivia said.
Elliot chuckled. "You're still stuck on that?"
"I'm probably going to burst into flames or something," she joked, getting out of the bed.
"Well," Elliot said, rubbing his neck, "You are part vampire, so you just might."
"Seriously," Olivia said with a light chuckle, "I don't even know what to wear to Church, El. I'm gonna be lost and confused and…"
Elliot silenced her with a soft kiss. "And relax. Just sit there and listen to the priest talk about God for an hour. I'm not asking you to believe in anything, and I'm not asking you to walk into the place and confess all of your sins."
"Well, glad for that," Olivia said. "The priest would have a fucking heart-attack."
Elliot laughed, kissing her again. "I'm just asking for you to come, as my wife, with our kids."
"Our kids," Olivia parroted, a sparkle in her eyes. "You just called them our kids."
Elliot nodded. "You're their mom now, Liv."
Olivia looked into his blue eyes, stunned, and tried to process how, exactly, this all happened.
The kids were up and ready in a few minutes, since they were with their father and Olivia instead of Kathy, who would give up trying to get them out of the house and let them sleep. They piled into the black SUV that Elliot only used when he had his kids, and they headed to Church. Olivia felt uncomfortable. Beyond uncomfortable. But if sitting uncomfortably for an hour every Sunday was the worst part about being Elliot's wife, then it was a sacrifice she was willing to make.
"See? That wasn't so bad," Elliot said, holding Olivia's hand as they left.
Maureen chuckled. "You looked very confused, Liv."
"Uh, I was very confused, Mo," Olivia told her oldest step-daughter. "I think the only part of that whole thing I understood was when the priest said, 'Good morning."
The kids laughed and Elliot winked at her. "It'll get better," he told her as he started the car. "Thank you for coming, Liv. It means a lot to me," he said, kissing her quickly over the console.
"Where are we going for breakfast, Dad?" Dickie asked, leaning forward from his seat in the back.
"Sit back and put your seatbelt on," Olivia told him with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.
Dickie gave her a look and did as he was told. "I think I'm gonna need therapy. Years of therapy," he said.
"What?" Elliot spat. "Why?"
"Forget it," Dicke said, laughing to himself. "So the question about the food?"
Elliot rolled his eyes and said, "Kendall's sound good to you guys?"
The kids all muttered sounds of agreement. And they watched as their father reached across the center console and grabbed Olivia's hand. Something they'd never seen him do with Kathy. "I think he got it right this time, guys," Kathleen leaned over and whispered to her siblings.
"Duh," Lizzie whispered, rolling her eyes. "Best decision he ever made. Right, Dickie?"
Dickie cleared his throat and whispered, "Yeah, but, uh, I'm not supposed to have a raging crush on my mother, guys. So it's gonna be a little weird for me."
Olivia and Elliot had to suppress their laughter. Olivia leaned over and whispered into Elliot's ear, "Should we tell them we can hear them?"
"After breakfast," Elliot said. "I will talk to Dickie after breakfast," he chuckled. They pulled into the restaurant's parking lot and climbed out of the car. The kids ran in first, each eager to be the one to get the table, and Elliot tugged lightly on Olivia's hand, slowing her down. "Come here," he said, pulling her toward him.
"What?" Olivia asked, furrowing her brow.
"I just, uh, I wanted to tell you that this doesn't feel weird to me," Elliot said, brushing her hair back. "I don't know what's been running through your head all morning, but I want you to know that I'm actually more comfortable and happy with you than I have ever been. The kids, clearly, love you. Some more than others," he chuckled. "My son has really good taste, I think."
Olivia laughed. "You wanna know what's been going through my head all morning? Besides, 'What the hell is that guy in the white collar talking about?'"
"Yeah," Elliot laughed, placing a kiss on Olivia's nose. "I do, honey."
"The same thing. This isn't weird. It should be, ya know? I should be freaking out right now. But, to be honest, this just feels…"
"Natural," Elliot said, finishing her sentence for her.
Olivia nodded and kissed him, soundly, on the lips. "Feed me," she said, pulling him through the doors of the diner.
Elliot laughed, following her, and said, "If all I need to do to keep you happy is feed you, then I think we're gonna be okay."
"Oh, honey. That's not all you have to do," Olivia said, giving him a slightly seductive glance.
"Well, I think we already know that that isn't gonna be a problem," Elliot said, smirking and clearing his throat. "Do you see the kids?"
Olivia scanned the tables and pointed. "There," she said, leading Elliot toward the back where the kids had chosen to sit. "Katie, honey, elbows off the table," she said as she sat.
Kathleen instantly moved her arms and handed her father a menu.
"Katie," Elliot said, "I'm very proud of you."
"For what?" Kathleen asked,looking stunned. "I didn't do anything."
"Liv only had to tell you once and you listened to her. You used to fight with Kathy about it, using some argument about your arms being tired." Elliot gave a flat expression to his daughter and shook his head.
The table laughed, then Kathleen said, "Well, Dad, I didn't really like, uh, can I call her Kathy? And also, Liv has a wicked temper and a gun. She's you with boobs."
"Could we not talk about Mom's boobs?" Dickie groaned.
Olivia gasped and grabbed Elliot's hand. Dickie just called her "Mom," and that actually scared her a bit. She couldn't get used to the kids really thinking of her as their mother; she'd been expecting them to be angry at her, or at least a little apprehensive.
Elliot squeezed her hand gently, his own heart swelling. His children loved her, and although this was unexpected and shocking, they were accepting her as his wife. As their mother.
"Hey, Dad," Maureen said, looking at someone across the restaurant, "Why is that lady staring at us?"
Kathleen looked up from her menu and said, "I think that's Miss Novak."
Olivia's head snapped toward the table at which her step-daughters were looking, and she tried to give Casey a smile. What she got in return was a shake of the head and a scowl. "I wish I knew what her problem was," Olivia said, softly.
"I'm gonna go find out," Elliot said, rising out of his chair.
Olivia pulled back on his hand, "No," she said. "Sit down, El. You'll only make it worse."
Dickie and Lizzie looked at each other, and before their father or Olivia could say anything, they were out of their seats and halfway over to Casey's table.
"Excuse me," Lizzie said, "Miss Novak?"
Casey looked at Lizze and smiled. "Hi, there, Lizzie. You remember me?"
"Yeah," Lizzie said. "My brother and I wanna know why you're mad at our parents."
Dickie folded his arms, looking like a mini-Elliot, and said, "You know you made my mother cry."
"Um," Casey muttered, looking nervously at the other people at her table. "This is Elizabeth and Richard Stabler, Detective Stabler's kids," she explained to the other attorneys. She looked back at the kids and said, "I don't even talk to your mother, so how I made Kathy cry is beyond…"
"Not Kathy!" Lizzie spat, rolling her eyes.
"Are you telling me…did you just refer to Olivia as your mother?" Casey asked, furrowing her brow. She watched the twins nod, and she laughed in an irritated manner, shaking her head. "Unbelievable," she said. "I'm not mad at your mother, guys," she told them. "I'm mad at your father."
Dickie raised his eyebrow, in a very Stabler-like way, and asked, "Why?"
"God, you look like your father," Casey said, in awe. "And he knows why. Just tell him that he broke a very big promise to someone by doing what he did, and he needs to prove to me that what he did wasn't a mistake. Tell him that I know why he did it, and I'm upset."
"You know, you talk like a lawyer even when you're not at work," Lizzie said, tilting her head.
Casey looked at her table of colleagues, who were all laughing, and then back at the kids. "He'll know what you're talking about. Just, uh, go."
Dickie and Lizzie looked at each other, shrugged, and headed back to their table. They took their seats, then Dickie looked at his father. "Dad, I look like you, apparently."
"You do, sweetie," Olivia said. "You definitely got your father's good looks."
Dickie looked at Olivia for a moment, laughed nervously, and took a long sip of his water.
Lizzie laughed at her brother , then said, "Dad, she told us to tell you that you broke a very big promise to someone. That's why she's mad."
"She thinks you made a mistake, and she wants you to prove that it wasn't," Dickie added after he'd calmed down.
"Oh!" Lizzie said, looking at her father, "She also said she knows why you did it, but she never said what we were talking about, so I'm very confused."
Elliot ran a hand down his face, closing his eyes, and said, "Shit."
"What?" Olivia asked, turning to face him. "What is it?"
Elliot shook his head and turned to her, whispering, "She thought…for a while, she thought that we were having an affair. I told her we weren't and that the only way I could probably even get you to consider being with me is if I got you drunk enough."
"Oh, my God," Olivia said, her head dropping to Elliot's shoulder.
"I was kidding!" Elliot said, surprised. "She thought I was serious. She made me promise that if anything ever happened between us, I'd tell her, and I told her, because I was still fucking kidding, that alcohol wouldn't be involved. Liv, she probably thinks I got you drunk on purpose."
Olivia chuckled, nuzzling his nose. "Ya know what, El? If she thinks you're capable of doing that, if she honestly believes you would do that to me, or that I would let you, then she doesn't really know us. Does she?"
"Not really," Elliot said with a light laugh of his own. "No." He kissed her and ran his hand through her hair as the waiter walked up to the table.
Casey, watching from her own table, saw Olivia and Elliot smiling and kissing. She watched them with the kids, who seemed completely happy. She decided, then and there, that they needed a wake-up call. No way was she gonna stand by and let Olivia think that the mess she got herself into was gonna be easy.
A/N: What's Casey's real problem? What is she gonna do? And when they decide to confront Cragen, his reaction stuns them. NEXT! If you want it…
