Sorry its been a long time coming, but my computer crashed like a Kamazi drinking Sake. My computer, has been ressurected, and I have 2 versions of chapter 8. The one I wrote on this one, and the one I wrote while this one was down. I like the one I wrote while this one was broken better. Its cooler :)
Ejoy!
And thank you to the well-wishers and 'Get Well Soon' mails for my computer. PurpleComp is running nicely now :)
Olivia was enjoying the silence of her home; a few days after the Fourth of July, Liz flew back to New York, and Dicke wasn't home most of the time. He'd gotten two jobs in the area to save up for a car, and to get things for Jen. He was out by 6:00 am and in just after midnight. Elliot hated to see him working so hard; he was exhausted between two jobs and taking care of Jen. But Dickie didn't complain one time. He was really tough about it.
The two offered him help where ever they could, but Dickie refused it. The money he was saving wasn't about numbers, it was about responsibility. Jen's parents lived in a 2 million dollar home in Sammamish and gave her everything she needed. Dickie wanted to work and save up to get the things she would have a senimental attatchment to; things she'd find so special she'd never throw away.
Dickie had taken a third summer job. Three nights a week he would clean floors at a nursing home. Three nights a week, he wouldn't sleep at all. Three nights a week, he was making $25 per hour, where the other 6 days he worked 18 hour days already between two jobs.
He would sleep the last day. Midnight Monday morning until 5:45am Tuesday morning.
And nothing could wake him up.
This went on for 6 weeks. In the middle of August, he collapsed at work and ended up getting 6 stitches in his head. But he vowed it was worth it when he took the money he'd saved up, and the money his parents and Olivia had pitched in, and drove off in 2002 Honda Accord. Not the most expensive, but it was clean, inside and out, ran well, and gas milage was pretty good.
He'd picked out one he didn't need any help to buy, but Elliot pointed out that he needed a much nicer and safer car if he was planning on putting a car seat in it. Elliot picked out the Honda, and said, 'This one would be better, for the baby." That was the only convincing he needed.
Olivia loved that Dickie had a car. The house was quiet.
She and Elliot were alone most of the time.
The downside was that it was still quiet, even with the two of them there alone. They worked most of the time on files and cases. Delilah Talbot was a good detective, but her paper work needed a lot of help. Same with Pratt. Elliot and Liv took their files home to straighten them out, and shoe the two newbies what it should look like.
"Liv," Elliot said, looking over the edge of the couch.
"Hey," she replied.
"Can we talk?"
"What's up?"
"Um, I know that I haven't been..."
"You want to know why I haven't been in your bedroom since that night in your shower?" Elliot blushed and grinned. "You said that we were moving too fast, so I backed off."
"Liv, we went from a PG13 rating straight back to G rated."
"You offered no explination, I thought that maybe you did want me," she said gently, looking away from his eyes. Elliot moved to the table and put his hands on her shoulders.
"Olivia Benson, I love you, and believe me, I want you." His hands ran through her hair soothingly. "I do, I'm just...you're going to laugh at me."
"What?"
"Kathy was the only woman I'd ever been with." Olivia's eyes went wide. "We were teenagers! she was my first, and BAM! Maureen."
"You're worried I won't compa-"
"Hell no! I'm worried I won't compair to your boyfriends! You've had like, what, 7, 8 men?"
"You're looking in the right direction for a black eye, Stabler."
"I'm not saying it like that, Olivia. I'm just nervous that I won't be any good, and because I was her first she had no idea what good was." Olivia looked down, still stinging a little from his words.
"Elliot, you're right. We should take this slow." Elliot groaned. "I've been with a lot more than 8 men. I can name them if you like, but you won't be happy."
"Wh-"
"In the 1-6 alone, there were 5. Dean Porter, my F.B.I. case worker, just before I came back, Trevor Langan after a really bad case, Fin a number of times-"
"Why you doing this Olivia?"
"You basically called me a slut, Stabler."
"One forward, 2 back." Olivia gave him her famous 'What the hell?' look. "Its like a fuckin dance with you...all the time. "He stood nose to nose with her, his voice raising into a yell, louder with each word. "I mean one thing and it comes out wrong and you get so fixated on it that you forget the real issue. News flash; its not always about the Wonderful Olivia! You aren't the only one who has issues, babe!" Olivia felt her eyes well with tears. "I love you...so much that it hurts that you're not with me every second. But Jesus Christ, you push me away so hard sometimes."
"El-" she cut herself off with a sniffle. "I'm sorry." That was enough to break both of them. He pulled her into his chest and kissed her forehead. "I'm scared."
"Of what?"
"You'll leave."
"Been here for 9 years, Olivia. Not going anywhere. Even when you left, I was here, because I knew you would come back."
"What happens when we get back to New York?"
"Cap'll probably split us up."
"I don't want to leave," she said. "Maybe we should stay here...in Redmond."
"Maybe we should get married." Liv tensed in his arms.
"What?"
"We elope. Cap can split us up all he wants, I'll still be coming home to you. Let's do it...this weekend. Two days isn't a lot of notice, but its important to me to be with you, Livvie."
"Elliot..."
"Marry me...Olivia Benson," Elliot said, kneeling in front of her. He took her hands and kissed them. "Liv, will you marry me?" Olivia stared at him wide eyed, jaw dropped. "Okay, at this point, saying anything would be good..."
"Y...yes..."she breathed. Elliot hugged her, still kneeling, putting his head at her stomach.
Olivia stared into Elliot's eyes, the night before they were planning on eloping. They were filled with terror, and love.
"Take the shot," he mouthed.
"Keep it closed," the kid said. He was maybe 16, and holding up the grocery store where Elliot and Olivia had gone to get milk for breakfast in the morning. The kid, who was quite possibly younger than Dickie held the pistol to Elliot's temple.
"Put it down," she said calmly.
"No, not til he hits the ground." His voice was cold and calm. Olivia felt his hate from across the isle. "Put it down or you'll be wearing this guy's brains." Olivia struggled to keep calm when he spoke. She saw the store melt around her and suddenly she was back in the warehouse with Gitano. Liv shoot that from her head and focused on Elliot now.
"You do this, and you'll be fucked for life kid. I'm a cop, and so is she."
"You are why I'm doing this, you prick. My dad got arrested."
"Stolen funds won't help bail him out, kid," Elliot said gently.
"Not trying to get him out. I want to get in. Killing a cop'll do it." Olivia felt the need to throw up.
"Killing me will only get you killed. Burglery is enough. Let me go, you live to end up with your dad." He wasn't begging, he was calmly talking the kid down.
"Elliot," Olivia said getting his attenion. "Protect the goal," she said. Elliot nodded and waited for an opperatunity to make his move.
"Goal?"
"She wants me to make sure you live through this. See, she's my partner, and she hates to see 16-year-old bodies."
"Put it down," Liv ordered again. "This place is going to be crawling with cops and guns soon. You won't live to see the light of day unless you put the gun down!"
"Neither will he, birtch-" Elliot took that moment drop and kick the boy's feet from under him. Olivia went to cuff him. He pulled the trigger on his gun twice, and Elliot went limp on the ground. Olivia threw the kid to the ground as he tried to get up, slapping cuffs onto his wrists as cops stormed the building.
"Elliot?" she called. "Answer me, damn you!"
The store was silent as blood began to pool around the man Olivia was supposed to marry in less than 24 hours.
Olivia sat in silence staring at the ceiling tile above the chair in the waiting room. She'd stared everywhere else; her bloody shoes and clothes, the other people in the waiting room, pretended to read a magazine, and stared at the full cup of coffee that she filled 6 hours earlier. There was background noise, but Olivia's world was silent. She couldn't hear Jen comforting Dickie. She couldn't hear doctors telling people the fate of loved ones. She couldn't hear her cell phone, or her captain who had shown up after calling 7 times.
"Benson?" Nothing. "Olivia?" Silence met Migel. "Kathy Stabler is here."
"What?" Olivia jumped out of her chair.
"Sorry. Just trying to bring you back to Earth."
"Don't ever do that again."
"Noted."
"Dad's going to be fine," Dickie said from his chair. Jen rubbed at his back lovingly. "We can see him in the morning."
"I called your captain in New York. He's letting his ex-wife and the rest of his kids know."
"I need some air," Olivia said, leaving the hospital. Dickie followed her to the smoking area where the doctors who were on break decided to give them some privacy.
"You going to be okay, Liv?"
"Not sure yet."
"Dad'll be fine. How many times has he been shot, and walked away?"
"Too many. His luck is going to run out. Almost did this time." Liv wiped a tear from her cheek. "As soon as we get back to New York, he's taking a desk job."
"Like that'll ever happen. He'll take a desk job as easily as you would." Olivia laughed. "You really love my dad."
"Yeah, I do."
"My mom loved him, but she never understood him. She never understood that his job is more important to him that anything else; her, me, the girls..."
"That's where you are wrong, Dickie. You guys are the reason he does this job. If he didn't have you five, he wouln't give a damn about his work." Dickie shook his head with a synical laugh.
"He had the option of getting out of the unit after 2 year, 4, 6...Cragen came to the house and talked to him. My mom begged him to leave the unit. He refused. When he started, he told her it was for 2 years, then he'd go for the next rank up. And he almost made it. But, Cragen partnered him with you, and he wouldn't leave. Ever. You and the job are all he has, really." Olivia turned to face the boy as the color drained from her face. "At least that's what he told mom last fall when you left."
"Dickie-"
"You love my dad, he is crazy in-love with you. Do you think you couls stop screwin around and just be a normal couple already?"
"We're getting married."
"Oh. Okay then."
"We were supposed to be getting married tomorrow, but it looks like its going to be pushed back a while."
"No way, Dad invited me to go to Snoqualmie Falls for lunch tomorrow...oh...Okay. Get it now. Nice."
"Are you okay with this?"
"Yeah. You'd make a pretty cool step-mom."
"Thank you," she said softly.
"Olivia, what you and Dad do...I get it now." Olivia leaned back against the building and stared into the dark sky. "I didn't get it before, but every time I feel my daughter kick, I want to cry, knowing that she's going to have to deal with scum like her father, and perverts in school. It scares the shit out of me." He leaned next to Olivia. "Found out today we're having a girl. I plan on spoiling her rotten with attention, and love."
"You sound more ready to be a parent than most people I know. Any names picked out?"
"Eleanor Faith Stabler."
"Quite a mouth-ful."
"Ellie. I'll bet she's going to have red hair and green eyes like Jen."
"And if she looks like...him?"
"He's got blue eyes, like me and Dad, and similar body shape as Jen's dad. She very well could look like him, and we're going to love her just the same."
"My mom had a boyfriend when I was born. He stuck around until I was 18 months old, and looked nothing like my mom, or anyone else in her family. I look like him. I've seen his picture, and I look like him." Dickie ran his hands through his hair, in slight annoyance.
"I'm not him. I'm not going to walk away because my daughter doesn't look like me. I love that baby so much, that I I'm willing to give up school, any kind of fun times and parties to be had because I want to be her Dad, and I want to be Jen's husband when she's ready to marry me. I love those two girls as much as you and Dad could ever love each other."
"I don't doubt that."
"She's doesn't have my genes. Screw genes. You know that DNA doesn't make family; look at you, Fin, Munch and Dad. You're more family than he ever was at home."
"You scared?"
"About?"
"Becoming a father?"
"Out of my mind." He grinned and looked away. "You scared?"
"Of What?"
"Becoming a wife, step-mother, step-grandmother..."
"Scared shit-less."
Blackness faded into light and Elliot's eyes were opening. Bright afternoon sunshine met his eyes, sending them closed again.
"M' I dead?"
"El?" came a soft call next to him. "Elliot," Liv said, stepping over him, looking into his blue eyes.
"Close the damn blinds." Olivia closed the curtains, making the room dark. "How long was I out?"
"16 hours."
"What happened?"
"Shot in the neck. We have matching scars now," she said touching her scar from Gitano. "I almost lost you, El."
"Will I live?" Olivia nodded and wiped her eyes. "Can I go home soon?"
"Probably not today. Most likely tomorrow."
"Good. 'Cause we got a wedding to go to-"
"You're ex-wife is here. We need to push it back until she's gone." Elliot rolled his eyes and stared up at the ceiling.
"She doesn't hate you, you know."
"No, but I don't want to throw it in her face that we're getting married." Elliot gestured of her to climb into the bed next to him, which she obeyed wihtout question. "Last night scared everyone. Dickie's here with Jen."
"Does he know about us?"
"Yeah. He's going to be the one to tell Kathy; she won't hurt her own flesh and blood." Elliot snorted a laugh. "They're having a girl. Eleanor Faith. He's thinking about becoming a cop, like you. Didn't say it, but I feel like its coming."
"Good. He'd make a great cop. So protective of his sisters, and Jen." Liv snuggled further into his arms, and almost jumped out of her skin when they heard a knock on the door.
"Don't get up; Dickie already told me. How's the patient?"
"I'll live."
"Good. So, when's the big day?"
"Soon. You okay with this?"
"I have two choices; accept that you've moved on no more or less than I have, and still have a healthy relationship with the father of my children, or I can throw a temper tantrum, and our kids hate me. I'm choosing the first." Elliot smiled. "Besides, she's good for you. She can pull a gun on you if you get out of line." Liv snorted. "I'm sorry I flew out here; habit dies hard. I hear Elliot was shot, I bolt for the hospital where he is."
"Why don't I give you two some time to talk," Olivia said, leaving the bed. "I'll be back in a while with Dickie, Jen and coffee." Liv pecked a kiss onto his forehead. She smiled once more at Kathy as she left.
"She's changed a lot, El."
"How?"
"She's happy. I don't think I've ever seen her happy, Elliot. I don't think I've seen you happy like this...for a long time." Elliot met her eyes. "We sucked as a couple. We are so different, and it was too much for both of us. We weren't meant to be married, Stabler."
"I know."
"But we can still be friends, right?"
"Hope so; we got 4 kids who need both parents."
"She loves you." He smiled and yawned. "Looks like you're still buzzed on pain killers. Get some rest. I'm going to go get some lunch. I'll be back in a while. Okay?"
"Okay." Kathy started to leave. "Kath?"
"Hm?"
"Thanks...for coming out here...and for just being...cool about everything."
"Any time, Stabler," she said, smiling playfully at him.
