Christmas morning came, and the Stabler house was full; Maureen and Luke took over the living room, Lizzie was on the top bunk in Allie's room, while Dickie and Alexander completely took over Elijah's room. Kathleen and Rose stayed in the guest room where they could maintain privacy, and Don had Eli at his house for one last night. Eli would stay the night at his house only when Ronny was there, which had become the regular Monday, Wednesday, and Friday routine. But the night before was his last night as a Cragen wanna-be. Elliot and Olivia had a little plan to help ease the transition.
Olivia looked at the table full of food that she and Maureen had cooked early that morning. John would be there soon with his family, as would Fin. Don and Casey were already over with Eli and Ronny, both of whom were trying to open gifts before everyone was up.
"Old times," Maureen said, smiling at Liv.
"Pretty close."
"Remember our first Christmas?" Liv groaned and rolled her eyes.
"I remember I worked all night and fell asleep half way through you guys opening gifts." Maureen laughed. "It seems so long ago. Allie was so little."
"She's still so little!"
"No, not really."
"She's too young to be anyone's Aunt," Maureen said, eyeing Olivia. Liv went about cooking for another minute before it registered what Maureen has said. "Don't tell daddy yet."
"Oh my God! Really?" Maureen nodded and Olivia hugged the woman. "You are So on desk duty," Liv teased.
"It must be your desk, because I'm the first in the squad to get pregnant since you."
"Good luck getting off the desk, Maureen."
"What if we don't tell dad?"
"Maur, you're 30, married for nearly a year, and you work 20 feet away from him. Why would you not want to tell him?"
"The idea of admitting to him that I have sex makes me queezy." Olivia laughed. The two put the last of the chocolate chip pancakes on the plate and set them on the table just as John, Alex, Hannah and Hope came through the front door, followed closely by Fin and his girlfriend.
"Hi Gramma Livvie!" Alexander said, throwing his arms around Liv's legs. His big brown eyes danced as he looked up at her.
"Go call the troops in for food, kiddo." Alex was off, yelling through the house that breakfast was ready. People came from every direction and soon, the table was packed. "First off," Liv said quietting the table. "Its been insane this last year. I don't know if we'd have made it through without you guys. Thank you for pulling us back together when we fell apart." Elliot took her hand as she sat down. Everyone looked at each other. In that short speech, Liv said everything that they'd all been feeling since the beginning of the summer. In the silence, they all thanked each other with glances across the table. "Dig in!"
As the dishes were cleared away an hour later, the kids gathered around the tree. Everyone was well-fed, and happy. Elliot decided to play Santa and hand out gifts to everyone. As soon as everyone had a present, they all opened their first gift. After that, he handed them out, one at a time. Hope was a little uncomfortable, as she'd never had Christmas before, and they'd just had Hannukah. No one had ever given her so much stuff. After an hour or so, the tree was empty below and there was wrapping paper up to Elliot's ears. Ronny and Eli were playing with the toys they got, while Allie and Hope were compairing iPods. Hannah and Lizzie were chatting about school and Elliot and Don disappeaered through the back. Olivia grinned, knowing where they were going.
"Santa missed the chimney with this one," Elliot said, coming back in with Don behind him. "He missed the chimney and it landed in the garage next door."
"Hmm," Liv said. "Who's it for?"
"I think its for Eli." Elijah popped his head up from the pile of toys.
"Me?"
"That's what the tag says...Daddy, Mommy, Eli and Allie. Its for all of us." The two kids came running to their dad, who held a puppy in his arms. "Kids, meet Rookie."
"Daddy, he's so pretty!" Allie said, petting the Golden Retriever's head.
"He's for all of us?"
"Yep, so that means we all have to take care of him, and we all have to live here to help take care of him." Eli thought about it. He'd been begging for a dog for so long. "How do you feel about that, tall man?"
"Can I still spend the night with Ronny at Grandpa Don's house sometimes?"
"Yep."
"Can Ronny still come over here?"
"Of course."
"I guess I can live here. Its not so far to Gandpa Don's house."
"Eight seconds if you run," Lizzie said.
"Hey," Maureen called quieting the group. "There's one more little gift here." Everyone looked at her. "Daddy, this is for you." Elliot opened the box and pulled out a t-shirt.
"World's Greatest Grandpa. Thanks, sweetie!" Liv covered her mouth to hide the laughter as best she could. Elliot froze. The groups could see the wheels in his head turning. "Maureen? You and Luke?"
"Due in late July," Maureen said, resting a hand on her belly. Her father hugged her tightly and kissed her cheek.
"You're on restricted desk duty, sweet heart."
"Aw, man...more pregnant lady food runs," Fin mumbled. "I will NOT drive to Jersey for a hot dog you won't want by the time I get back like I did for Liv!"
"Yeah, ya will."
"Only 'cause your dad's my boss." A knock on the front door called attention away from the group. Liv stood to get it. When she came back into the room, Kathy was following her, blush creeping up her neck.
"Kathy-"
"I thought she should be with her kids for Christmas," Olivia told her husband and the family. Her tone was final, and no one was going to question it. "Come eat, we have a ton of food left, and a lot of gossip to catch up on.
As winter faded into spring, and spring faded into summer, the back doors between Stabler and Cragen were always open with Ronny and Eli running back and fourth with the dog, Rookie. The houses were all full as usual. A kid who lived next door to Maureen and Luke got creative with fireworks, and now the couple, and their new little daughter Jo Anna, lived with Olivia and Elliot.
Olivia was loving retirment; the kids were going better in school, and Eli stopped sneaking over to Don's house at night and sleeping on the porch swing. Elliot had been back at work about a year now, as he'd started back in August, just two months after his nearly fatal encounter with a knive. Fin was always with him at work, as was Maureen, Munch, and Maureen's various partners. But it wasn't until January that work was back to normal for him. He lived with Liv then, and Eli had started sleeping in his own room on a regular basis.
Casey and Don were both working, and Ronny spent his days running wild through the Stabler house. He was, as Liv said, "a very active" 5-year-old. He cut Allie's hair, which ended up needing to be cut almost as short as Eli's after that. She looked like a boy with the baseball shirts and Converse shoes. People often mistook her for a boy as well. At first, Allie got very upset and cried in the middle of dinner, getting her a free dessert. Now, however, she was used to it, and rarely let it bother her. As long as her room was Ivory, Pink and Sage done in roses, she was happy.
In fact, she'd used it to her advantage a few times at summer day-camp. Another child was teasing her, and she ran to the counselors in tears. She put on quite a show for them, and tearfully explained her uncle was 5 years old, and cut her hair while she slept, and how long and pretty it was before. She cried when she said how much she missed braids like the girls who were teasing her. Allie had extra ice cream after lunch.
Her relationship with Elliot was still damaged. Olivia was scared that they would never be as close as they once were.
Once school started, and Maureen moved out with her husband and daughter, the Stabler House was back to normal. The days were certainly quiet with Ronny in school (finally) and Olivia found herself missing the noise.
"El?"
"Mmm?" he moaned sleepily.
"What do you think about having another baby?"
"Your crazy," camed a muffled response.
"I only have time for one more, I'm pushing menopause."
"You're a grandma, Liv."
"Hey," she whined. "Forty-seven is Not old, Elliot Patrick Stabler."
"Yeah it is," he joked. "Go to sleep."
"Elliot, I'm serious." Elliot flipped the light on and sat to face his wife.
"Olivia, think back to when Allie and Elijah were babies-"
"Best years of my life." He gave her a look that was gentle, but told her not to interupt him. "Sorry. Go on."
"From the time Allie was born until she was five and Eli was three, you didn't sleep more than 2 hours at a stretch unless one of the older ones had them for the weekend," he reminded. "Eli wouldn't let go of you until he was almost two, and that's a LONG time to nurse a baby, wife of mine. Remember when Allie figured out how to oped the diaper thingie?" Liv groaned and laughed. "Smell stayed on the walls even after we scrubbed it-" A splash from their window pulled Elliot from the conversation.
"Elliot, its 2:30. Don and Casey wouldn't be swimming right now-" Elliot was out of the bed as quickly as she'd spoken. Liv pulled on a robe and followed her husband.
"Liv, he's gone!" Elliot called from Eli's room. Olivia rand down the hall, through the open glass door and through the yard. She froze for a second, seeing her 7-year old struggling to staf afloat in the pool, and suddenly disappear under the water. Olivia dove for the boy, grabbing at whatever she could reach. It was too dark to see her son.
"What-" Don asked opening the door.
"Eli's in th pool!" Elliot yelled, running from the deck to turn on the lights. Don disappeared back into the house. As the lights flickered on, Liv could see her son, kicking, trying to go up. She grabbed his hand and pushed off from the bottom of the pool, and surfaced, Elijah in tow.
"Elliot, help me!" she called, kicking to the edge of the water. Elliot stepped onto the ladder and pulled his family in. "Elijah, sweetie?" Eli coughed and gasped, but he was breathing. Don came back out with Casey behing him, both carrying towels.
"We got a bus on its way." Don wrapped the boy in his favorite towel. "Elijah? Are you okay?" Eli gripped Don's neck and started crying.
"I forgot about the pool," he sobbed. "You didn't leave the light on and I couldn't see it." Elliot looked at Don.
"I left the light on in the pool so he could see it when he was still sneaking over, but I figured since he didn't do that anymore, I could shut it off. Hasn't been here since his birthday..."
"Eli," Casey said, putting a smaller towel to his forhead. "Olivia, he smacked his head."
"I fell over my swim jacket that I left out to dry and hit my head on the ladder. I stood up, and I got dizzy." Eli yawned and shivvered.
"Let's get him inside before he freezes," Don suggested.
"I'll go stay with Allie so you can go to the hospital with your son."
"NO!" Eli whined. "I want you and Grandpa Don!"
"I have to stay with Ronny," Don told the boy as he carried him in. Eli started to cry, and hugged Don so tight that the man gagged. "Eli," he coughed. "Elijah, you parents need to be there. okay?" Don set him on the kitchen counter and flipped on all the lights.
"Daddy?" Ronny called from the hallway. "What's going down?"
"Fin babysitting again?"
"Eli fell and bumped his head. Elliot and Liv are going to take him to the hospital, Red," Casey said, lifting the boy up. "He'll be fine." Ronny nodded and yawned. "I'm going to take him with me up to stay with Allie." Liv nodded and loked at her son's head.
"That's going to leave a cool scar, Stabler," Liv told her son. He sniffled and focused his blue eyes on Don. "Just like Mommy's. Grandpa doesn't have a cool scar."
"Olivia Michele-"
"Actually, I changed it to Olivia Dawn when you 'adopted' me," she said over her shoulder, still cleaning her son's wound. Don stopped for a moment.
"It was Lizzie's idea." Before Elliot could tell his little story, paramedics were knocking on the door.
The hospital waiting room hadn't changed in the last year, Olivia noticed. The same magazine Maureen had flipped through a year earlier while Elliot was being worked on was still there, although it wasn't in as good condition. Eli had opted for Don to go back with him, but he wasn't allowed, as he wasn't next of kin. Elliot stepped up and went back to hold his son while they checked his lungs and put stitches in his head.
"So, how was this Lizzie's idea for you to take my name?" Olivia laughed lightly and looked down at her hands.
"Elliot told the kids that when I adopted them, they could take new middle names if they wanted, since they didn't want to have anything to do with Kathy. Elliot rattled off names from my family, and Lizzie asked about the rape. Kathy told her about my mom's case." Don sighed. "When he got to the part about my lack of father, Elizabeth, in her infinite wisdom, suggest that Munch adopt me." Don chuckled. "And it dawned on Elliot that you were more of a father-figure to me than he was to his own kids at times."
"No argument from me," Don said.
"So, he asked if they thought it was a good idea. Apparently, Maureen thought it was perfect, Kathleen thought it was romantic as hell, Dickie was 'cool with it,' and Lizzie suggested that I take Dawn as my middle name, since all of them were changing their middle names."
"When did you find out about it?"
"At the party."
"But Liz changed her name to Elizabeth Dawn."
"Elliot told her that she could suggest it to me, it had to be my descision, so she picked the name in hopes that it would help me accept you as my dad." Don shifted his weight in his chair a little uncomfortably. "Anyway..."
"So, he's taken to sneaking back over."
"Yeah. I don't know what to do. He and I never really bonded. He took to Kathy better than me."
"That's not true. He's a Stabler. Its in his gene pool to adore you, Benson." Liv smiled and looked down again. "Anything going on at school?"
"No, his teacher said he's doing okay. Not terrific, but not bad."
"Last year, he was well ahead of his whole class, Liv. He's a brilliant kid. Maybe being so close was a bad idea." Olivia's head shot up. "He sneaks over at night, introduces Ron as his little brother, won't go anywhere with out me or Casey there half the time."
"He still watches your yard from his bed or he won't sleep."
"Olivia, he needs to talk to someone."
"I think we all do after the year we had."
"Damn straight."
"Look Grandpa!!" Eli's voice rang. "Dr. Herbert gave me a green sucker AND a red one!"
"Cool."
"I asked for the green one for you. He said I could only have it if I was really still while he put stitches in," Eli bragged. "I was really really still. He said I was the best patient he's ever had."
"Very Cool, Mini-Stabler."
"Grandpa?"
"What?"
"Mom changed her name to Olivia Dawn after you, right?" Don nodded. "Can I change my name to Elijah Cragen Stabler? Don is already taken by everyone else." Don looked to the boys parents for help with the answer. Olivia smiled and nodded.
"I think that would be a great idea, Little man," Elliot said, taking his son. "Everyone should be named after someone they love in our family."
"What about Allie?"
"Well, son, Allie isn't ready to make that choice yet. When she is, she'll tell us."
"No," Liv said looked at the boy. "There are rules that you have to follow, kid. You want to take Grandpa's name, you have to be more respectful to his home. You can't show up at 2:30 in the morning to sleep on his back porch. Its rude."
"I'm sorry Grandpa Don!"
"When you have a bad dream, or when you get scared, you can tell me or Daddy. Got it?" Eli nodded. "Just like Grandpa don, we can help you to feel safe again, Eli."
"How?"
"Here's how...Elliot you wanna take over?" Elliot shot Liv a look, but Don took over before he had time to panic.
"I have a case for you." Elijah listened carefully. "You have a dog who needs, a mom, dad, and sister who all need you a lot more than I do."
"You don't need me anymore?"
"I need your friendship, I need your quick-witted jokes, but your mom and dad need you to hug them good-night, and sleep in your bed where you won't fall in my pool and get hurt, and they need you to love them. Okay?" Eli nodded. "Now, you can come over to my house no earlier than 8:00am, and no later than 8:00pm unless you are spending the night, or its a really emergency. All right?" Eli nodded sadly. "Good. If that's settled, you can borrow my last name and make it your middle name."
"Thanks, Grandpa."
"Thank them," Don said, tilting his head in Olivia and Elliot's direction. Eli hugged his dad tightly.
"Love you, buddy."
"You too, Dad."
"We need to make sure your sister hasn't driven Casey nuts." Don lead them from the hospital to his car.
Sorry about the wait, Y'all! Had an interesting week, and no time to write. On that note, my 24th birthday was AWSOME!!!
