a/n: thanks for reading! So glad you're enjoying this :)


Elliot just sat and stared at the screen, at the sonogram Liv had emailed him. No matter how many kids he had, he was still in awe every time.

Eventually he tore his eyes from the image and started to scroll through the rest of the emails they'd exchanged recently. They were trying to name the baby. They'd already listed their basic rules (Liv didn't want any boys names, and didn't appreciate Elliot pointing out Olivia-Oliver. Elliot didn't want to name her after any relatives, at all. That wasn't a problem for Olivia.). Now they were just throwing suggestions at each other:

"Sara Michelle?"

"No, I had an old school friend who screwed me over named Michelle. Sara Isabelle?"

"Nah, sounds like Sara-is-a-bell. Hazel Eileen?"

"No, I hate that 'Come on, Eileen' song. Katie Isabelle, even though I know you'll say no."

"As much as I like Katie-bell, I just can't call my daughter 'is-a-bell.'"

"Anna Claire?"

"I like Anna, but not Claire."

"Robin Anna?"

"Raw banana. :P You did that on purpose."

The emails just kept going and Elliot was so immersed he didn't hear Lizzie come in.

"Hey Dad." She said, flopping down on the couch.

"Hey honey, what's up?"

"Nothing." She leaned over and picked up the picture of Olivia he had next to the couch. "Do you ever think about Olivia, Dad?"

"Yeah honey, all the time."

"I miss her."

"I miss her too."


Later that night, Elliot just lay in bed and held the picture of Olivia. It was an older shot, from sometime last summer at the 'family' picnic that the squad threw. He was in the picture too; her arms were around his neck as he gave her a piggyback ride. It was the pure joy on her face that made him love the picture so much, just the look of happiness, that everything was right with the world as far as she was concerned that made him smile every time he looked at it.

He compared her image to his memory. In the picture her hair was shorter, and still full of streaks. She'd dyed it back to its original dark colour (at least as far as he knew) later that fall. It was longer now too, almost to her shoulders. That was the only real change, other than the obvious pregnancy related changes. He wished he could have kept some recent pictures of her, from his trip, but that could have disastrous results should they be found. He sighed and turned out the light.


Alex shook Olivia's shoulder to wake her up. She was feeling guilty for letting her sleep on the couch, but trying to wake her the night before had proved impossible. But then, it appeared so was trying to wake her now.

"Come on, you're going to be late," got no response, again, so she picked up the phone and dialed Liv's cell. Liv bolted upright as she grabbed the phone off the end table.

"Hello?" she said, but all she heard in response was laughter, Alex's laughter, who was standing right in front of her. Liv scowled at her, "not funny." Alex just shrugged and said,

"Shower's yours."


Liv joined her at the kitchen table after her shower.

"Thanks," she muttered, not sounding entirely grateful.

"Anything going on today?" Alex asked her. The two laid out their plans for the day. Afterwards Alex cleared away her bowl and started clipping the dead flowers out of the arrangement Bob had sent her.

"Why won't you agree to go out with him?" Liv sounded like she'd wanted to ask for a long time, and like she was in pain about the whole situation. Alex sighed, trying to organize her thoughts. Liv depended on her to be the stable, secureone; she didn't want to take that away from her by telling her how unsure and uncomfortableshe was about the whole situation. Liv continued on in Alex's silence, "He's wooing you, and I'm coming between you two."

"Don't think like that. It's…I'm not sure exactly what it is. It might be that I'd given up on ever settling down with someone, and then here he comes to mess up my plans." Alex suggested. Olivia choked on her orange juice,

"Settling down?" she said once she'd regained her breath, "Huh, I've got to meet this guy, this could be serious." Alex nodded and started to consider the idea that maybe it was serious.


Elliot arrived at the house to pick up Lizzie for her soccer game. The driveway was full of an unfamiliar car, so he parked on the street and geared himself up for whoever might be inside. He knocked on the door, but got no answer. It was open a bit, so he pushed it wider, only to find Kathy and a man, presumably Mort, kissing in the foyer. The noise of the door banging into the wall startled them all.

"Elliot!" Kathy blurted, a little out of breath, "You're early!" Elliot, stunned, barely managed to nod. He just stood, hulking in the doorway. Mort wasn't doing much better, he had a deer-in-headlights look about him. "Elliot, this is Mort, Mortimer Hinkle." Mort didn't look like he appreciated Kathy drawing attention to him. "Mort, this is Elliot, my ex-husband." Mort pushed up his glasses and extended a hand, which Elliot shook rather forcefully.

"Nice to meet you, Elliot." Elliot looked down his nose at the shorter man,

"Likewise." He said, giving Mort's hand one last squeeze. The two men just stood staring at each other.

"Um, you have some lovely children." Mort said. Elliot took a menacing step towards him, as if daring him to go near his children again. Mort stepped back. Kathy cleared her throat, effectively interrupting his intimidation.

"Elliot, can I talk to you?" She said, pulling him into the den and shutting the door. She turned to face him and Elliot instinctively backed away from her. She was quite livid. Her voice came out a soft but menacing hiss. "I will say this one time and one time only: I will not have you intimidating the men I date. I would appreciate you treating them with respect." She was right in his face now, "You are not my father, stop threatening my date."

"I didn't say anything!"

"You didn't have to." She shook her head and stepped away from him, taking a deep breath, "You don't need to protect me." She said in a much calmer voice, sitting down on the couch.

"Yes, I do. You're not my wife anymore, but I still care about you, and what happens to you." He said, and joined her on the couch.

"Ell, you need to let me move on with my life too, let me go on some dates. We're not all as lucky as you to find our true love so quickly. Olivia was under your nose all this time. You were lucky…I'm still searching for my soulmate." Elliot winced hearing her say that,

"Is he? Is he your soulmate?"

"Hinkie?" She asked in disbelief, "God no, Elliot, I'm just going on a few dates with him. I'm still testing out the waters, seeing what's available."

"So he's not Mr. Right?"

"He's just Mr. Right now." Kathy said, patting his hand. Elliot visibly relaxed, causing Kathy to laugh. "You obviously think more of this man than I do. How about this, if I get serious about someone, I'll let you know. Then you can run all the background checks you like, okay?"

"Thank you, Kathy."

There was a soft knock on the door, and Lizzie poked her head in,

"Sorry if I'm interrupting something, but soccer waits for no man…woman…come on, I'm going to be late! Anyways, Dr. Death's starting to look bored out here." she said, then disappeared.

"Would you please not call me that?" drifted in from the hallway. Elliot looked at Kathy,

"Dr. Death?" He asked. She shrugged,

"Apparently, 'mort' means 'death' in French." She explained. They found Lizzie in the hall, reciting a list,

"Je meurs, tu meurs, il meurt, elle meurt-"

"What are you doing?"

"Conjugating 'mourir'. It's a verb, means 'to die'." Elliot nodded, Mort looked like his was in pain.

"Could you please stop?" Mort asked plaintively.

"Come on, Lizzie. Let's get going," and he ushered her out the door. Elliot knew he should chastise Lizzie for mocking the man, but he couldn't do it, it was all he could not to laugh as soon as they were outside. So instead he asked her about her team, and Lizzie happily told him everything.


TBC…