I'm so sorry for the delay. Writer's Block. The chapter is short, but hopefully, good, and worth the wait.
Don watched his wife change over a 3 day period. She seemed more alive now than she ever had in the years he'd known her. From the moment they brought the kids home, Casey gave herself over to their every need. Don expected exhaustion. He expected her to need him more. Don expected her to feel overwhelmed. The exhaustion never came.
Casey came to life again while teaching the three kids how to live a normal life, in a loving home.
It was day four with Ruthie home, day nine for Jacob and Rebekah, that Rebekah and Ruthie made the first move towards bonding with Casey and Don. Ruthie wanted Don to read a book to her in his 'Grandpa' chair, and Rebekah hugged Casey.
Rebekah hugged Casey, and the room froze.
Jacob smiled weakly at the couple who loved him more than he could comprehind. Casey looked at Don over Rebekah, and Ruthie snuggled into his lap, thumb in mouth. Don sighed, smiling at his wife.
"Aunt Casey?" Rebekah whispered softly.
"Hmm?"
"What did my Daddy look like?"
"I have pictures of him. I have a lot of pictures of your dad, and your mom from before, when she was really happy."
"Do you have any of me?"
"I have a few." Casey lifted the girl up gently.
"Can-can I look,too...please?" Jacob said very softly.
"Why don't I bring them out and we'll look at them together?" Don suggested.
"I have a better idea." All eyes were on Casey. "We'll get the albums out, and you can each pick a few to frame and put in your rooms...so you can remember them." Don smiled up at his wife. Her capacity to give to these three children amazed him.
"Sounds good to me," Don said. The kids smiled.
Elliot looked at his ex-wife. Her brown eyes tore into his heart.
"You want to what, Elliot Stabler?"
"I want to marry you..again." Olivia turned over in their bed and hugged her pillow.
"If you think that its how it'll fix us, think again, Stabler." Elliot sighed and touched the bare shoulder snuggled next to him.
"We've got 2 kids, who need us both, Babe."
"And they have us both. We decided that spiltting was best, so we're split up." He kissed her shoulder, eliciting a sigh from the woman. "I like how things are, El."
"We're," he started, pausing to kiss her shoulder again. "Living in sin."
"Are you happy?"
"Yeah," he admitted.
"I'm happy." She snuggled back against him. "Why change things?"
"Because...I screwed up...I want to fix it. I need to fix it." Olivia faced him. She cupped his face gently, and kissed his forehead.
"Its good how things are now. We're together, the kids will be back in a few more weeks, and we can go on with our lives."
"So, you don't want to marry me?"
"No."
"Why?" Olivia sighed and turned away.
"I don't want any more change in my life, El." She sniffled, and Elliot knew he'd messed up again. He wrapped his arms around her as she cried softly. "Everything is changing constantly, and I have no control over it. I just want one thing in my life to stay where it is. Its not that hard to not change." Elliot smoothed her hair down.
"Okay. If you change your mind, you know where I am."
John never had trouble keeping up with Hannah. Sure, she was fast on the bike, but he could pedel with the best of them. It wasn't until Hannah was 14 that he started to bicycle regularly, or at all for that matter. He was old, in his 70's and should be resting, in Alex's opinion. John Munch wouldn't rest when it came to a day at the park with his girls. Hannah and Hope rode a bicycle for two, as Hope was blind. Molly ran next to them, with Alex behind them. John was doing his best to keep up with Hannah and Hope.
"You okay, Pops?" Hannah called.
"Don't be a smart-ass."
"I'm serious. Are you okay?"
"Great!" he huffed. John was starting to think he may be too old for this after all. "Not so great."
"Hope, we're pulling to the left," Hannah called. Hope leaned into her sister's body as the bicycle slowed and pulled into the grass.
"I just need to rest a minute." Alex stepped off her bike and pulled a water bottle from her pack.
"John," she called, handing off the bottle. The family sat in the shade to cool off for a few minutes while John reseted. "Honey, you don't looks so good. Maybe we should call it a day."
"I'm fine," he said, still out of breath. "I just need to sit a while." Molly whined and pawed at Hope, and lead her to John.
"Papa, maybe-" but her words were lost as John collapsed.
"John!" Alex cried. "Someone call 911!"
"I hate this," Alex said as she paced with Olivia and Casey. Hope and Hannah were silently crying, holding each other's hand.
"Waiting is the hardest part," Kathy told them as she attempted to comfort the friends. "Dickie's good friends with the surgeon, and has full confidence in him."
"I can't beleive he had a heart attack," Hannah whispered. "He eats well, works out, and-"
"Works in a high stress job, years after he should have retired," Fin said, harshly.
"Can you see your husband ever retiring?" Don asked. Alex looked over at Don, and shook her head. Jacob held onto Don's hand tightly, while Ruthie sat on his lap, sleeping.
"No," she answered, tears filling her blue eyes. "Any more than I can see myself leaving SVU."
"Ma, he's strong. He'll pull through." Alex felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to face her oldest daughter, who had tears streaking down her cheaks.
"Hannah," Alex said, hugging her daughter.
"Mrs. Munch?" came a man's voice. Alex turned. "John's out of surgery."
"How is my husband?"
"I'm going to be honest. The surgery could have gone better. He crashed twice, and went without oxygen to his brain for several minutes."
"What does that mean?"
"He may have some brain damage if and when he wakes up."
"If?"
"We'll know more in the next 24 hours," he said, resting a hand on her shoulder. Alex felt tears streaming from her eyes as the waiting room blurred around her. Arms were around her from all sides; Olivia, Casey, Kathy, Maureen, Lizzie, Hannah, Hope, Fin, Elliot, Don, Jacob, Rebekah, and Ruthie. Alex cried openly in the nearly smothering group hug. The only comfort she had was that she wasn't alone.
Now, I'm going to finish up Chapter 8, which was more or less written last month, but I still had no Chapter 7. Sorry for the delay.
