I know our former detectives will seem very old to my younger audience, but you will find that as you get older yourself, it won't seem so strange to see people finding romance in their sixties. This is just one alternate way of getting them back together eventually, in case the show won't provide us with closure in the end. I hope you will continue to read!
...
8. Benson and Taylor
Elliot had looked forward to seeing all his children and grandchildren again. The weather wasn't the greatest but they always had a good time together. It was the only time he saw all of them and he was so proud of what they had made of their lives. The four oldest were all married with children now. The only one who hadn't found his soul mate yet, was Eli. He was twenty-seven and a police officer like he had been, and Elliot worried sometimes that Eli worked too much and didn't have enough of a personal life. It was all too familiar to see his son so engrossed in his job that he seemed to forget about himself. He'd seen someone else let the best years of their life go by and in the end, he hadn't been able to do anything about it.
He shook his head as he and Catherine emerged from his car, keeping their heads down because of the rain that was still coming down, and hurrying to get their duffel bags from the trunk so they could go into the hotel that this year's organizers of the reunion had chosen. He couldn't believe he'd stood in Olivia's apartment earlier today, just like that. Eli reminded him of Olivia so often. Not that he would have forgotten her otherwise, but she was on his mind a lot lately, ever since he'd moved back to the city six months earlier. He hadn't found the courage yet to go and see her, and then suddenly she had stood in front of him. His granddaughter's boyfriend's mother. He had almost forgotten how to breathe. She still looked amazing. Older, of course, but she was still all Olivia.
She had been just as shocked to see him, and he had seen her steel herself after a few beats. She had changed, but not that much. And he knew that, no matter how long they hadn't seen each other, there was still a connection between them. He had wanted to say something but she'd cut him off. He'd had no choice but to accept it, with the two young people watching them and no doubt wondering what was going on. But he knew that there was still something between them, even after all this time.
And now Catherine was telling him that Olivia was still single and had, in fact, always been a single mother. He couldn't wrap his brain around it and couldn't blame his granddaughter for doubting his detective skills. He had never bothered to check. He had gone on what he'd seen alone. A happy, radiant Olivia with her kids, waiting for daddy to join them. He had left before risking seeing the lucky bastard who now had a family with her. And nineteen years later he hears by chance that there never was a daddy? That the other kid wasn't hers? Just a fucking play date or something?
Catherine grabbed his arm and they headed inside to greet the rest of the family. He blew out a breath and Catherine squeezed his arm. He looked at her and winked at her when she gave him an encouraging smile. She was a great kid. His first grandchild, the firstborn of his firstborn. She was the light of his life right now.
...
Olivia was sitting on the sofa, her feet tucked underneath her and sipping her tea. Noah had left once the rain had let up a bit, urging her once again to think about what he'd said. He was right, of course. How could he not be, using her own exact words against her? No, he hadn't used them against her. He was in her corner, always. And he was right. No matter how and why they had met again, if she didn't at least talk to Elliot once, she would always wonder what he would have had to say for himself. Hell, she might even wonder what she would have said, and how she would have felt. They were so much older now, they should be able to have a civil conversation. But she'd felt the tension immediately. That feeling that had always hung between them, that delicate balance where one of them, or both of them, would go off as soon as the balance was disturbed. It shouldn't still be there. Not after twenty-four years. It meant something that it was still there and deep down, she knew only too well what it meant.
She was glad to know that Elliot would be away for the weekend, so she didn't have to wonder if she should do anything now. She needed some time to come to terms with the fact that he was, apparently, back in her life.
Meanwhile, Noah was waiting to hear from his girlfriend. He knew he'd gotten through to his mother a little, and he knew that they were adults who should solve their own issues, but he wasn't just going to wait and see what was going to happen. He had every intention to help make sure that his mother sat down to talk with Catherine's grandfather, and he knew his girlfriend felt the same way.
...
After everyone had assembled in the main lobby, Richard Stabler stood up to explain to everyone what the program for the next morning would be, and his wife Anna would hand out the key cards to their rooms. The children took turns organizing the annual reunion, and Richard and Anna had made all the arrangements this year. The families would each get a room with two double beds. Kathy and her husband Melvin had their own room, and Elliot would be partnered with Eli as usual. Richard told Kathleen, who was the only one who still had a toddler, that an extra cot had been placed in their room for their two-year old baby. After giving birth to twin boys fourteen years earlier, Kathleen and her husband John had been surprised by another pregnancy, giving them a beautiful little girl that they had named Lily Rose. The entire family doted on the child, who was the youngest of the clan so far.
Everyone was hoping that Eli, the benjamin of the family, would eventually have a few children as well, but so far, the young man waved off their comments, telling them he didn't have time for a family anyway and that his nieces and nephews were giving him enough headaches as it was.
When Lily Rose reached for him, Elliot picked his granddaughter up and tickled her, and the little girl squealed from delight. He didn't see her often enough but somehow, she was always ecstatic to see her grandpa again and he reveled in the attention of the little ray of sunshine. Kathy smiled at him from her spot on one of the sofas in the lobby and he nodded at her and Melvin. After all the key cards had been handed out and he had handed the bouncy girl back to his mother, he and Eli trudged up the stairs to take their luggage up to their room. His mind wandered back to Olivia automatically. He sighed. As much as he enjoyed being with his family, this was going to be a long weekend.
...
Once Catherine was settled in their family room, having unpacked her bag and chosen a bed, she grabbed her phone.
"Calling the boyfriend?" her brother Alan teased, and she stuck out her tongue.
"Sending him a text, actually," she said, plopping down in one of the armchairs by the window of their hotel room so her brother couldn't see the screen of her phone.
"Oooh, with lots of x-es and hearts of course," Alan continued, until their mother intervened.
"Al, stop teasing your sister and finish unpacking. I want to drop by aunt Kathleen in a bit and you can play a video game with your cousins."
Catherine glanced at her mother and wondered if this would be a bad time to ask her if she'd ever heard of Olivia Benson. She must have. Grandpa had left the NYPD in the summer of 2011. Her mother would have been about twenty-six and aunt Kathleen twenty-two. When Alan made another remark about her texting Noah, she rolled her eyes and decided to hang back in their room so she could talk to Noah privately. She would join them later in her aunt and uncle's room across the hall. Once the door closed behind her brother and mother, she decided to make a video call to Noah right away in stead of texting him.
...
"Hey, how was your trip?"
"Ehm ... interesting."
Noah grinned. If he knew his girlfriend at all, she'd tried to get as much information out of her grandfather as possible.
"Wanna compare notes?"
"Absolutely."
They exchanged information, confirming that the two older people had once worked together, but they both had to admit they hadn't asked for how long. Catherine mentioned her grandfather's visit to New York in 2016 and Noah confirmed that the second kid must have been a random play date and that his mother had known nothing about Elliot being there. She hadn't spotted him, or she would have mentioned it. Knowing her, she probably would have confronted him about how he'd left on the spot.
"Mom did say that they loved each other but they both hurt each other. I think there were a lot of things left unsaid between them."
"They loved each other?"
"Yeah. But your grandpa was still married at the time. Sound kinda like a movie, doesn't it?" Noah grinned.
"It does. But it's a pretty sad movie if it ends like this," Catherine said. "Grandpa has been alone for years. What if he never really got over her?"
"They both seemed pretty shocked to see each other again after so long," Noah said pensively. "I wonder who else would know about their history. I know I wasn't around then so ..."
"Well, that's an easy one. My family of course," Catherine said. "Grandma for sure."
Noah thought that it might be a touchy subject for Catherine's grandmother, if her grandfather had indeed had feelings for his mom, or had maybe even had an affair with her. Catherine agreed, and decided she'd better ask her mother about Olivia first, or maybe her aunt Kathleen.
"Great. And I'll see what I can dig up on the internet."
"Awesome. This actually is kind of fun, isn't it? Benson and Taylor are on the case."
Noah chuckled and agreed. It had a nice ring to it. But he was a little concerned about his mother. He didn't like seeing her upset, and while she had recovered quickly from her shock, he had never seen her this rattled before, and she'd seen some pretty messed up stuff in her days. Maybe he should get his sister involved too. But he was talking to his girlfriend now, and decided to change the topic.
"Alright, so how are you doing, Cath? Miss me yet?"
Catherine giggled and blew him a kiss, which he pretended to catch with his hand. He could still hardly believe that this beautiful girl wanted to be with him. She was his first real girlfriend and he hardly dared to believe he might have struck gold on the first try. But here he was, head over heels in love with Catherine Taylor. And from the looks of it, she really liked him too.
...
To be continued.
Video call you say? Yes, this fic is set in 2035 so I think we will have stopped making sound only phone calls by then :))
