A/N: Some people wait a lifetime, for a moment like this.. - Kelly Clarkson
DISCLAIMER: If I owned the characters I wouldn't need to write a disclaimer. And also, the show would need to be on HBO after 11PM...
The card's words struck her hard. Harder than she'd anticipated. The printed poem, the gold leaf lettering, the embossed script that called her 'mom,' it all added up to something she felt she did not deserve. It wasn't until he called her name, twice, that she realized she was staring too intently at the folded stock. "Yeah?" she said, looking up at him, trying to pretend she was okay.
"What's the matter with you?" he asked, worried. He stepped around the kitchen's island, looped an arm around her waist, and let his fingers toy with the hem of her red button down shirt as he whispered into her ear, "They picked it out, on their own. I didn't prod, or influence this at all."
She turned her head a bit more, raising one eyebrow. "What?"
He nodded as he kissed her forehead. "This is how they really think of you. They didn't want to leave you out on Mother's Day, because you..." he stopped, his words catching in his throat as emotion overwhelmed him. "Liv, you're their mom," he whispered with a shrug.
She shook her head, tears falling and going unnoticed. She sniffed once as she looked back at the card, and then toward the six gift bags on the island. "I can't believe they..." she paused, reaching for the smallest bag.
He stopped her, taking her hand and laughing. "No, uh, that one's for last."
She shot him an inquisitive look, but smiled and then grabbed he biggest one, a white bag with pink and silver roses on the front. She flipped over the tag and read "Love, Maureen," written in pink marker. She pushed aside the silver tissue paper and curled her fingers around the side of a beautiful silver picture frame. She carefully lifted it out of the bag, and the tears fell more freely.
"Oh, my God," she breathed, pulling her other hand out of Elliot's grasp to lay the frame flat on its palm. She traced the engraved lettering as she whispered, "Family." She smiled as she looked down at the photograph, the seven of them, in coordinating outfits, genuinely smiling for the camera. She trailed one fingertip down Eli's little face, laughing at the memory of having to promise him ice cream if he didn't squirm, and how he threw a tantrum until he was switched from his father's arms to hers.
"you now, uh, the last time we had family pictures taken, before this, the kids were miserable," Elliot spoke, taking the frame from her and looking down longingly at it. "This," he said with one nod, "Is a family picture."
She nodded and chuckled, and said, "My first." Her eyes flickered as she asked, "When did they come in?"
"Couple days ago," he told her with a wink. "They didn't want you to see them until you opened this one. We'll look through them, tonight, after dinner." He kissed her once, and then he sighed happily as he slid the next bag toward her. "Guess who this one's from," he laughed.
She feigned ignorance as she took the blue bag, with a huge Wonder Woman insignia blazing across it, from him. "Gee, I dunno." Flipping the tag, she nodded. "Dickie," she said, and then she opened the bag wider. She reached in, clutching the contents, and pulled an oversized coffee mug out of the yellow tissue. "Mommy fuel," she read, laughing hard. "Oh, this is perfect, she said, tracing the lettering on the ceramic with a fingernail. "Where'd he get this?"
"Same place Lizzie got this," he said, grinning, handing her a smaller, plain red bag. "They had a sale at school. They picked these out, honey, with no help from me." He kissed her temple and watched her open his youngest daughter's hand picked gift. He tilted his head, softened his expression, and whispered, "Don't cry."
She felt him brush away a few tears as she stared, with a partly opened mouth, at the paperweight in her hands. She turned it, twisted it, unable to understand why Elliot's ten year old daughter had given it to her. "This is beautiful," she said, curving her fingers around the carved marble figures. A mother, holding a little girl on her lap, reading a book.
"That's what the two of you look like, ya know," he said to her. "When you're reading together. She saw that, Liv, and she told her teacher that it was perfect, and that it was meant to be yours."
She wiped her own eyes, shaking her head. "I'm gonna need to fix my makeup before we go," she joked, rubbing the back of her hand under her left eye.
"Nah," he said, smiling at her. "Just wash it all off. You don't need it." He picked up another bag, this one an odd size, with a lot of paper and ribbon stuffed inside. "Forgive the wrapping," he said, "She forgot to do it, so...she just threw this together this morning."
"Kathleen?" Olivia asked, chuckling. She saw Elliot nod, rolled her eyes, and then opened the gift. "Oh, how...this is gorgeous!" She let the silk of the scarf skim over her hands, through and around her fingers, the silver swirling design shimmering in the light.
"You see what those are?" he asked, holding the material still so she could look closely.
She gasped, and then let out a hard guffaw, realizing the pattern she thought was so delicate was actually a series of linked and unclasped handcuffs. "Oh, God, where on earth did she find this?"
"She got it off of one of those nerdy licensed TV merchandise websites," he said, running his hands up and down her arms. "This is an official 'NYPD Blue' scarf."
The laugh that came out of her mouth rivaled the previous one, and she shook her head as she folded the scarf and dropped it back into Kathleen's gift bag. She picked up a McDonald's Happy Meal box, raising one eyebrow, smirking. "Lemme guess," she said knowingly.
"Sorry to tell you, he kept the crown," he laughed. "Open it."
She peeled apart the cardboard golden arches, and her face lit up. "Oh," she gasped, lifting it gingerly into her hand. "Did he make this?"
"At school," Elliot nodded. "Yeah." He brushed her hair back. "You should know...he made it with every intention of giving it to you. He drew Kathy a picture, and he didn't even write his name at the bottom, so...""
"Really?" she asked, interrupting him. She looked back down into her hand, at the small oval of plaster. She placed her hand over the imprint of Eli's, marveling at how tiny it was. She then moved her hand, fingering along the painted lettering on the top. 'For Mommy' stared up at her, in shades of blue and green, with 'm's that had too many loops and a 'y' with a backward facing tail. "El, this is the kind of thing he should give his mother."
"Baby," he said, pulling her closer to him, "That's exactly what he did." He took the handprint from her, carefully set it back in the box, and then piked up the last bag. "This...I'm hoping that this will make you realize it." She reached for the bag, but he swatted her hands away. "No, uh," he began, and he started to shake slightly as he reached into it. "This one...this one I have to open for you." He clenched the small box in his hand, and as he took a deep, trembling breath, he sunk down to the tiled kitchen floor, situating on one knee.
"What are you..." she stopped talking, having figured out exactly what he was doing. "Oh, shit," she said, her eyes widening.
He chuckled at that, but fear took over again. He exhaled through pursed lips, and then looked up at her. "My kids think of you as their mother already, and I can't say that surprises me. The love you've given them, the way you protect them, defend them, amazes me every day. I will never now what I did to deserve having you in my life, loving me, but God, I am so damn thankful. You are the answer to every prayer, the miracle I always begged God to give me, but never really believed he would give. We've been partners for years, working side by side, proving that we are the perfect team, and that, together, we're unstoppable." He took another breath, his cheeks puffing out as he exhaled again. "It's true, beyond work, and I don't even remember who I am without you, and I never want to. I think we should be partners...for life, Liv." He flipped open the blue velvet box in his hands, his eyes wide open and set intensely on her face. He saw her hands fly over her mouth, her eyes widen and redden, and he bit his lip hard before asking, "Will you marry me?" and then he held his breath, and waited.
Struck with pure amazement, she was frozen. Her brain wouldn't send the signals to her body to move or her mouth to speak, as she simply stood, rooted to her spot, staring at the ring in the box. Suddenly, her legs buckled, and she fell to her knees in front him, falling hard along with her tears. All she could do was nod, a small sob flying into her hands as they still pressed over her mouth.
"Wait," he said, finally letting himself breathe. "You...did you say yes? Was that a yes?"
Her limbs loosened and her hands fell away from her face and moved to his. She cupped it, moved closer, and brushed her nose against his as she nodded again and whispered, "Yes."
He let out a relieved, sighing moan, his body moving toward hers, and he kissed her as his tears began to mix with hers and he blindly searched for her left ring finger. His hand quavered as he slipped the platinum circle around her finger, and then looped both arms around her, squeezing hard. "I love you," he said softly as he sniffled. "God, I love you so much."
"I love you, too," she cried back, closing her eyes and kissing him again.
Standing in the archway between the living room and the kitchen, four grinning children stood watching. The oldest, crying herself, turned to her siblings. "We should have woke Eli up for this," she said.
"He's not old enough to see this," Kathleen quipped. "I don't think I'm old enough to see this," she added.
"She's really gonna be our mom now," Dickie said, the joy clear in his voice.
Lizzie laughed. "I told Daddy I didn't lie to Mister Reynolds." She was the first to move, rushing toward her father and Olivia, still locked in a kiss on the kitchen floor. She wrapped her little arms around Olivia, breaking her away from Elliot, but no one seemed to mind.
Seeing Lizzie being welcomed into a hug triggered a chain reaction, and one by one, the kids piled onto the newly engaged couple, until it was hard to tell where one Stabler ended and the other began, and they were all laughing and crying as they attempted to figure it out.
It was only when a soft, groggy voice called out, "Mom?" that the group pulled itself apart.
Olivia looked to her left and her heart leaped, and she smiled as she said, "Come here, sweetheart."
Eli rubbed his eyes with tiny balled fists, yawning as he dragged his feet, making his way over. He fell into Olivia's arms as his eyes closed and he spoke, with what little energy he had left. A garbled, mumbled, "Happy muddersh day," left his little lips, and Elliot laughed before explaining.
"I've been trying to teach him to say, 'Happy Mother's Day," he laughed, wiping his eyes. "Guess that's the best he could do."
"It was perfect," she said, dropping her forehead against his, cradling a now sleeping Eli in her arms. "Everything is absolutely perfect."
"Liv," he whispered. When she looked at him, he grabbed her chin with two fingers, and slowly turned her head.
Her eyes widened and new tears formed, a smile began to grow on her face as she looked at the person standing, crying tears of their own, in the archway. She sniffled and blinked slowly, and then titled her head as she said, "Happy Mother's Day, Mom."
A/N: To all of my readers, whether you are a mother, stepmother, grandmother, Godmother, fur-mommy, aunt, guardian, teacher, doctor, or advocate: Happy Mother's Day. May you always know how truly special you are in the lives you touch, and the hearts of the people you love.
