So half this chapter will be them in Paris and the second half will be them coming home. Sorry it took so long for the update, my sister has been in the hospital and I have had to stay overnight with her. Anyway I hope you guys enjoy.

The last few days they had in Paris the two ladies decided they wanted to explore the museums and shop. Their first stop was the Musée d'Orsay. They walked through the rooms, pausing along the way to look more carefully at the Van Gough collection and the Dante's Inferno pieces. They spent about an hour walking through the rest of the collections. When they were done they walked down along the river and after walking across the bridge they arrived at the Louvre entrance. Both Olivia and Alex thought it would be a good idea to buy the audio guide so that if nothing else they have a back story as to what they are looking at. They picked a wing to start in at random and started walking through it.

"Did you know that if you spent like 30 seconds at each piece of art in the entire museum it would take roughly three weeks to make it through the whole museum?" Olivia always did love knowing random facts and Alex always thought they were funny if not actually interesting.

"Well, we have the rest of the day and they close at 6:30 so we have about 8 hours so we had better hurry." They worked their way through the wing in about two hours, stopping at the pieces that sparked a genuine interest or if they saw a famous piece. When they finished they made their way over to the wing that housed the Mona Lisa; yes it is a lot smaller in real life but they wanted to be able to say they saw it. By the time they finished that wing it was nearly closing time and both ladies hadn't eaten sine that morning so they decided to call it a day. They returned their guides as the exited the wing and slowly made their way out onto the street. They stopped in a small café that barely could hold the tables that were stuffed inside, but they food was of course amazing. They left the shop and walked around a while, strolling past the opera house and simply enjoying the scenery around them. When it got too cold and too dark to stay out any longer they made their way back to the metro stop and eventually arrived back at the hotel.

The next morning Alex was up first and was starting to piece together their suitcases; they had to leave early the next morning and if they got the packing done fast then they could enjoy their final day in Paris and not have to worry about their trip home. Once Olivia woke up the two made their way out into the city. They stopped at several shops that sold the clichéd tourist stuff and they spent a decent amount of money in each of them. They had already had some stuff from their shopping trip earlier in the week, but they wanted to have something for everyone. After dropping off their bags at the room they both decided to go out into the city one more time and just enjoy it (and maybe a little more shopping if Alex could wrestle the card away from Liv). They walked hand in hand around the city until both ladies were sure their feet would fall off. The found a few last minute gifts for friends and family and themselves. After grabbing dinner at a small café near the opera house they got back on the metro and made their way back to the hotel.

They packed their gift and other purchases in with the rest of their bags and set them near the door. They got into their PJ's and flopped on the couch and bought a movie. When it was over Alex was passed out against Olivia's shoulder and Olivia felt bad having to wake her wife up.

"Alex babe you gotta wake up so we can at least move to the bed."

"Carry me."

"Lazy."

"Not lazy, tired." Olivia laughed and picked Alex up and laid her down on the bed. After checking to make sure they had all their stuff together Olivia climbed in bed next to her wife.

"Do we have all our stuff packed?"

"Yeah baby we do, now go back to sleep."

"Liv, I want to go home but I like being on vacation. No one is arguing with me, no criminals that I have to care about, no real drama, no real cell phone service; it's like a magic world."

"I know babe I loved every minute of it, but we have to go home to work and to Haddie. We will take more vacations though I promise and we will bring Haddie next time, ok?"

Olivia looked over and Alex was dead to the world asleep. She smiled and turned over and settled into the pillow before she too was asleep. What seemed like minutes later the alarm was going off and the offending noise woke both women wide awake. They enjoyed one more breakfast in the café on the ground floor of their hotel before heading back up stairs and making sure they had everything ready to go. Olivia called downstairs to get them a ride to the airport and soon a hotel employee was at their door and was loading their luggage onto a cart. During the ride to the airport Alex snuggled into Olivia and they watched the city race by the window around them. When they got through security and settled in at the gate Olivia took out her phone and sent a quick text to Elliot who was going to pick them up at the airport with Haddie when they landed in New York.

Back home Haddie was still asleep when Elliot knocked on the door of the den. "Haddie, its 5, your moms' flight will be coming in soon so get dressed and we'll go pick them up ok."

"Too early, why did pick a flight that got in so freakin' early in the morning."

"I don't know honey, come on we can pick up some food on the way to JFK." Haddie reluctantly rolled out of bed and grabbed a jacket and pulled her hair back into a ponytail before stumbling into the garage after her uncle. She fell asleep about ten minutes into the ride but as soon as they parked she woke up and followed Elliot into the baggage claim. After a few minutes of waiting a large group of people filed down the stairs and into the baggage claim waiting area. Elliot and Haddie scanned the crowd and finally Haddie saw Olivia and Alex walking toward them. Haddie pushed through the crowd of people and ran right into Olivia, tackling her in a hug and causing her to drop her bag.

"So I take it you missed us?" Olivia hugged her daughter tight before Haddie turned and hugged Alex just as tightly.

"Maybe just a little bit." Haddie walked over to the carousel with Alex to pick up their bags. Olivia turned to Elliot and gave him a hug, "thank you for letting Haddie crash at your house while we were gone."

"No problem we love having her around. Kathy and the girls like having another girl around and the kids love having their cousin around and she knows her way around power tools and cars, she helped me fix that busted engine in Kathy's car. Did you enjoy your honeymoon?"

"So much, I don't remember the last time I had a vacation and we were finally able to relax and enjoy ourselves and knowing that Haddie was being looked after put our worries at rest. Everything was perfect and so beautiful."

"Go ahead rub it in, but I'm glad you two had fun and like I said Haddie was a joy to have around the house."

"So she was ok while she was with you guys, like she didn't have anymore school issues or problems with the depression or the cutting?"

"School has been fine, she was so happy getting that part in the musical and as for the depression and that kind of thing Kathy assures me that she hasn't done anything while she has been with us. She went to all her therapy appointments and she seems to be doing pretty well."

"We saw that video Kathy sent us, we were blow away by her performance and I think it showed her that she can do something really well and that she has something to be proud of. Did her therapist say anything to you after her appt." Elliot was about to answer when Haddie and Alex reappeared.

"She said that next time I have an appointment she wants to talk to you guys." Haddie smiled at her mother and handed her one of the bags. Alex tried to guide the conversation away from being too serious, "well I'm exhausted and I want to go home." They all made their way to the car and after picking up Haddie's things at the Stabler house they made it back to their apartment and started to unpack. Haddie sat on their bed and listened to them talk about all the details of their trip. She talked about the play and school and filled them in on everything they had missed. Once Alex was done unpacking she and Haddie went into the kitchen to put lunch together. When Olivia walked out of the bedroom she stood in the doorway and smiled at the sight of her wife and daughter moving around in the kitchen laughing and smiling as they prepared a meal. It was then that Olivia realized something; their lives weren't perfect, bad things happened, they saw terrible things everyday they sent to work, Haddie was still working through her problems, but they had each other and family and friends and as far as Liv was concerned that was enough good stuff to outshine the bad. As she joined Alex and Haddie she decided that no matter how great that vacation was, the best part of it was coming home.

I know it's short and that it is more filler but it needed to be done. I promise the next few chapter pick up the same pace as the previous ones so stick with me and please review for another update.