I have two huge essays due in the next week, so leave me some love & motivate me keep writing even when I think I'm sick of it! xoxo
Elliot loved waking up every morning with Olivia in his arms, nestled in tightly against his chest eyes closed and cheeks flush with sleep.
It had been almost a month since the scare at the hospital, and so far Olivia had managed to avoid any severe episodes of cramping. Every time she got upset or stressed she'd try and step back and breathe.
Despite many arguments, Olivia insisted she didn't want to tell anyone in SVU about the baby until after their 12 week appointment, which was scheduled later that morning.
And Elliot found he could refuse her nothing when she looked up at him with those liquid brown eyes, lips slightly pursed and open as she waited for his response.
Damn minx, he thought to himself ruefully still watching her sleep. She knew it too, and used it fairly often. It seemed as though he soon wouldn't be the only Stabler who liked getting his own way.
Although she had told him earlier this week that Munch and Fin and Cragen knew something was up because she'd been taking the backseat in some of the more physical aspects of work.
She knew Amaro knew, he'd gone through the whole 'having a pregnant wife' thing so he recognized her new behaviours for what they were, luckily he hadn't said a word.
With a laugh, Olivia had admitted that she thought it was because he was scared of her.
But now with her belly growing bigger every day, the flowy tops she'd been wearing since she'd found out she was pregnant were starting to become not so flowy – and pull a little if she leaned a certain way – outlining her not so little secret in a very obvious way.
He hated to wake her, but it was encroaching on 8:30 am and their appointment was in midtown at 10 o'clock. He knew that once she woke up, the pretty sleep filled flush that painted her cheeks rosy would turn grey as the inevitable bout of morning sickness hit.
He pressed his lips to her forehead, smoothing the hair back from her face that had gotten mussed in the night.
She stirred, her eyes opening and closing sleepily as she blinked awake. Smiling softly, she arched in a light stretch "Good morning."
But then, as predicted, she shifted slightly and her mouth pulled down at the corners and she closed her eyes again, breathing only through her mouth.
Elliot turned back to the nightstand at the side of the bed and fumbled around in the drawer for a few seconds until he pulled out the sleeve of saltine crackers they'd decided to put in there since her 9th week when the morning sickness had really hit.
He handed her a cracker and she smiled weakly, though it looked like more of a grimace as she considered putting it in her mouth.
"Come on, Liv you know it'll help," he coaxed her as she gingerly nibbled the edge.
Still taking tiny bites, Olivia burrowed further down under the covers pressing herself to Elliot's warmth as his shoulder pillowed her head.
After a couple more minutes snuggled against the breadth of Elliot's chest as he rubbed her back in slow soothing circles she began to feel a little better…at least enough to open her mouth to speak without fear of spontaneously ejecting the contents of her stomach.
"Thanks," she sighed, edging out from beneath the comforter.
As she walked over to the master bathroom, Elliot stealthily slipped from the covers as well; coming up behind her and catching her lightly by the shoulders turning her around to face him.
He fingered the hem of the long t-shirt she'd worn to bed, easing it up over her hips as he kissed her.
Despite her nausea only seconds earlier, Olivia leaned into the kiss – never able to resist when Elliot was around.
His breath warmed her neck and chased away the goose bumps that had risen as his fingers had skimmed her body as he edged up the shirt.
"Why do you wear this?" he breathed, cupping her face in his. "You are so beautiful, Olivia."
She smiled, her mouth quirking up at one side in a wry grin. "At the moment, I'm a bloated swollen mess who looks more fat than pregnant."
Elliot shook his head, easing the fabric out of Olivia's grip as she tried to hold it down. "Nuh-uh, you; Olivia Benson soon to be Stabler, are stunning."
He held a finger to her lips to keep her from retorting back with a joke about being 'stunningly large."
Finally, she allowed him to undress her completely and she stood, bared before him – her arms and hands covering her breasts as she shifted uneasily from one foot to the other.
"No fair," Elliot teased. "You need to learn to share."
His hands replaced hers and started a gentle kneading motion that awakened every newly sensitized nerve ending she had. And wow, were they ever sensitive.
Her breasts had already swollen almost one cup size, making her a very tight C cup or a too loose D.
They'd just begun to start becoming sore at her tenth week, but now they ached with a tender heaviness that begged for Elliot's hands.
But then his hands moved down her body as he slipped to a crouching position. His hands cradling the weight of the baby who was making its presence known in what Elliot thought was the most adorable little potbelly.
When he stood up to meet Olivia's eyes again, they burned with new desire.
He teased her, waiting, "We're going to be late for the doctor's appointment."
A disappointed moan slipped from Olivia's mouth as his hands moved away, changing to a gasp of renewed desire as he swept her up into his arms and into the tight space of the shower.
"Which is why," he finished laughingly, "we should multi-task."
As the water ran, steaming and hot over their bodies they took turns soaping each other in the midst of their coupling. As Olivia climaxed for the second time, her legs wrapped around his waist he kissed the drops of water from her bared neck as her head arched back with ecstasy.
Then while she was still recovering from the earth shattering orgasm, he continued to soap the new, full curves of her body. Filling his hands with them as if they were an offering to some ancient god before making love to her with his mouth, prompting her to do the same.
When they were done, Elliot had dressed and gone into the kitchen to grab some coffee. Knowing Olivia couldn't eat until after the doctor's he'd decided to skip it too, not that she knew of course.
She came out, looking relaxed and smiling as she twined her arms around his neck, greeting him with another kiss.
"Yep," she nodded her head, grinning wickedly. "Definitely still my favourite cure for morning sickness."
"Did I ever mention I don't particularly like needles?" Olivia griped as she pulled down her sleeve, sitting in the examination room at the doctor's an hour and a half later; shooting a murderous glance at the nurse who'd just drawn blood from her arm as she left the room.
"Oh, just once or twice." He teased lightly as she lay down in the chair; her hands, as always, clasped over her stomach in an unconscious protective gesture.
"Elliot, this baby has to be okay," she whispered after a moment, fear catching in her throat.
"There's been nothing more to indicate there's something wrong…every time you've felt the onset of cramping or any tightness you've managed to get away or find a way around the situation or stress".
Despite her growing size, Elliot's hand still covered the place where they baby lay and then some. "And we can certainly see that he or she is getting bigger every day." He brushed his knuckles gently over the rounding swell – the motion seeming to soothe Olivia momentarily.
But before she had a chance for any other fears to come to light, Dr. Bronson came in – closing the door absentmindedly as she flipped through several sheets on Olivia's chart.
"So how are you feeling these days, Olivia? Morning sickness easing up now that you're heading out of the first trimester?"
"Anything but," Olivia answered back drily.
"Mm, you might be one of the lucky ones who experiences it throughout the entire pregnancy then." Dr. Bronson replied sympathetically as she lifted Olivia's shirt and pressing on different parts of her belly.
As she rolled the stool towards the computer to set up for the ultrasound she continued to ask Olivia questions.
"Have you been taking it easier at work lately? I don't know what provisions the NYPD has for pregnant cops."
"I'll be on desk duty the last trimester," Olivia replied, making a face at the thought.
Dr. Bronson pursed her lips disapprovingly but didn't say anything as the computer finished warming up and she grabbed the ultrasound wand, pulling down the waistband of Olivia's slacks so the total curve of her stomach was exposed.
The image hadn't focused yet but they could clearly hear the fast pitter patter of their baby's heartbeat as the doctor moved the Doppler around Olivia's gel covered tummy.
Olivia bit her lip, squeezing Elliot's hand as the image cleared and the tiny perfect profile of the baby could be seen through the grainy grey swirls.
A mixture between a sob and a laugh escaped Olivia's lips and tears ran unashamedly down her face.
Elliot leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead, his own eyes rapidly welling.
"Did you want to find out the sex today?" Dr. Bronson looked over at them, smiling to herself as she saw their attention was completely captured by the tiny scrap of precious humanity rolling around on the screen.
"You mean you know?" Olivia turned to look at her doctor questioningly. "I thought you couldn't tell until closer to 20 weeks."
"Normally you can't, not by ultrasound; but your amniocentesis results tell me 100% the gender of your baby, and before you ask – yes, everything looks fine from the test."
"Which means I can tell you that if all goes well: in a little over 6 months you're going to give birth to a healthy baby girl."
Too overwhelmed to speak, Elliot just kissed Olivia to let her know how ecstatic he was at the news.
"That's our baby, Liv," he whispered hoarsely as Dr. Bronson left the room. "That's our daughter."
"I know." Still laughing through her tears, Olivia brought his face down to hers again so that their foreheads touched.
She wiped the ultrasound gel off her belly and adjusted her clothes. Clothes that she seriously needed to replace now that even the elastic waistbands of her yoga pants were being stretched to their limits by their daughter making her presence known.
"So you're okay with the fact that it's not a boy?"
"Are you kidding me Liv? I could not be happier." He lifted her off the table, setting her on her feet and then pulling her close to him with one hand and cupping her bump with the other.
Running his fingers through her shoulder length hair he brought her face up towards his before he kissed her again. "All I want is for my two best girls to be happy and healthy."
Awww, sweet. Hope nothing and no-one happens to challenge that happiness. Oops...did I just give away part of the plot? REVIEW!