A/N: All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his. ~Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895:
DISCLAIMER: SVU and related characters belong to Dick Wolf. Story, dialogue, narrative and plot belong to TStabler©
Olivia ran into the hospital, looking around. She raised her badge, shouting, "Kathy Stabler!"
The triage nurse pointed, her face still white from the brawl she'd interrupted, and she watched Olivia run.
Olivia pushed the door open, hearing yelling immediately. Elliot, Kathy, and Bernie were all shouting, with Elliot between the women. She couldn't hear anything clearly, until she only heard, at once, Bernie and Kathy shouting, "Shut up, Elliot!"
Elliot stopped talking and his eyes widened. "Fine," he snapped, throwing his hands up. "Kill each other! I don't care! Just don't drag her into this!"
"This is all her fault!" Kathy yelled.
"She didn't drug you," Bernie hissed. "She was there when you were ripping Elliot's heart out, though!"
Elliot backed up. "I'm not listening to this," he mumbled, leaning against the wall, not having noticed Olivia.
"She knows people in narcotics!" Kathy yelled. "She's a cop! She put someone up to this, to get me outta the way so she could..."
"What?" Elliot asked, shouting. "Kathy! Don't you dare..."
Kathy turned to him. "Stay out of this, Elli..." she stopped, her eyes widening. "You," she said, her eyes narrowing.
Elliot turned, and so did his mother, to look at the door. A stunned, shocked, heartbroken Olivia stood with her arms folded. "I...wanted to see if you were okay," she said, looking at Kathy. "Guess you're back to normal," she added, shaking her head. She looked at Elliot, her eyes narrowing.
"Liv," Elliot said, taking a step toward her.
Olivia backed up, away from him. "Maureen called me, since you weren't answering your cell phone," she said. "Your brother's bringing your kids." She turned and left, not sure what was worse: listening to Kathy honestly blame her for everything that had gone wrong in her life, or seeing the pain in Elliot's eyes as she did it.
She made her way out of there, forgetting why she'd gone there to begin with, forgetting she was supposed to prove she wasn't just his partner, forgetting to tell him she bought a house and put his name on it.
She pushed through the front doors and made it to her car, but couldn't bring herself to get in and drive away. If she ran now, she would be just like her mother. She would be admitting that she, too, was terrified of letting herself really feel, scared of getting hurt even though she knew he'd never hurt her. She turned and leaned up against the car, folding her arms. She looked up and said, "I'm nothing like you." She would wait until she was sure Kathy had cooled off, then she'd go back inside. Then she'd tell him everything.
Back inside, Elliot ran a hand down his face and yelled, "Perfect! Fucking perfect! Do you feel better now, Kath? She heard you! She came to see if you were okay, and you spat in her face! You really think she..."
"No," Kathy said, sighing. "I just...when did this happen, Elliot?" she asked.
"A long time ago," Elliot said, glaring at her. "It just took...my mother of all people to make me realize how serious I was about...shit!" he said, feeling around in his pockets. "Shit!" he repeated, turning and running out the door, hoping to catch Olivia.
Kathy folded her arms and sat on the bed. "I'm sorry I hit you," she said, bitter.
Bernie sighed. "I'm sorry you're socially inept and my son is too good for you," she said.
Kathy's eyes widened and she tilted her head, scoffing.
"And," Bernie continued, "I'm sorry I told you the truth, and I'm sorry you lost him. But I'm not sorry that I am on his side, and I'm not sorry Olivia is in his life."
"What am I supposed to do?" Kathy asked. "Just let him go? I can't remember half of the last four months, and I'm..."
"Yes," Bernie interrupted. "Kathy, you know, the moments you were clearheaded, the few hours a day when you weren't, um, high," she said, making a wild hand gesture, "You knew. You knew he was gone."
Kathy took a breath and nodded. "I was hoping to..."
"Knock, knock," a man's voice said.
Bernie smiled as her youngest son and grandchildren walked into the room. "Charlie," she said, hugging the man. "Thank you," she said with a smile.
He narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice. "Is there a reason my brother and some hot chick are making out in the parking lot?"
Bernie chuckled. "That's Olivia," she whispered.
Charlie's eyes widened. He smirked, looking like his brother. "Oh," he said simply, nodding.
"Mom?" Kathleen questioned, looking at her mother.
Kathy tried to smile. "Yes, sweetie?" she asked in return.
Kathleen took a step forward and said, "I think...well, Dad's gone, right? For good? You guys are..."
"Getting a divorce," Bernie said firmly. "Yes, they are, dear," she told her granddaughter.
Kathy glared at her mother-in-law and shook her head, then turned to face her children. "Yes," she said sadly. "We're splitting up," she told them.
Kathleen looked at Maureen, shrugging. "I can't..." she said, backing up.
"Baby," Maureen spat. "What my slightly neurotic sister was trying to say, Mom, is that...if we have to choose, we all kinda wanna live with Dad."
Kathy laughed. A full on, belly laugh. "Of course you do," she chuckled. She wiped her eyes, sniffled, and asked, "Why? You guys know...I was sick, right?"
Dickie nodded. "No offense, Mom, but we're not...I mean, Uncle Chuck told us what the doctors said, and you were only sick for a few months. You've been blaming Dad for things for years." He scratched his head nervously and said, "And this whole thing...with Katie...you blamed Dad. He did what he had to do to get her help, keep her safe. Olivia, too, and you did nothing but yell at him for it."
"We're kinda tired of hearing you badmouth Dad and Liv," Lizzie said, folding her arms. "Do you realize that we would all, each one of us, be in some serious trouble if it wasn't for them?"
Kathleen looked at her grandmother. "I'd still be in jail, or I'd be dead," she said with a sad glance toward the floor.
Maureen put her hands on her hips and said, "If Liv didn't talk me out of it, I would have slept with Jimmy at the prom, and who knows what that would have led to?"
"Why did Liv take me to take my driver's test?" Lizzie asked, shaking her head. "It should have been you."
Dickie, the last to speak, looked at a spot on the wall, trying to keep his emotions in check. "I'm not an easy son to have," he said. "I know that. I'm an attitude problem wrapped up in a hot-headed package, and Dad and I fight about everything. But you have never stepped in, not once, to defend me to him. I'm a teenager, Mom. A teenage boy who likes to push his parents' buttons to see what kind of reaction he's gonna get."
Kathy shook her head. "Dickie, sweetie, I..."
"No, Mom," Dickie interrupted, "You let me and Dad practically kill each other. You let me give him the silent treatment for days at a time, and Olivia...who doesn't have to...has done more for me and Dad than you have." He looked at his mother, seeing the hurt in her eyes. "I love you, Mom, but you're supposed to be the one getting us out of trouble, and talking Dad out of ripping us to shreds, and going to unbelievable lengths to save us."
"Olivia went to see Grandma for me," Kathleen said. "She didn't even know Grandma! She stuck her neck out for me, and for Dad. She was with me in that jail cell, almost the whole time. She was with me when Dad couldn't be, and you...you know, letting them arrest me, giving that lawyer the necklace, that was the best thing he could have done for me. You hated him for it instead of knowing...trusting him."
Kathy couldn't believe what she was hearing. She nodded and said, "I know all of that." She did. She knew she had messed up, but she also knew that he would have, too, if it wasn't for Olivia. She closed her eyes and said, "If he wants you, I won't fight him."
"I want them," Elliot said, moving into the room from the doorway. "Of course I want them," he reiterated. He looked at his kids, their faces bright, and he said, "I didn't know you had so many issues with your mother."
Maureen shrugged. "Now you do," she said.
Elliot shook his head with a small laugh. He slapped his brother on the back, then shook his hand. "Charlie, you remember Olivia, right?" he asked, gesturing to his left.
Charlie nodded. "Detective Benson," he said with a smile. "You look different in jeans."
Olivia smiled taking a breath. She looked at the kids and they all smiled at her as she waved slightly.
Maureen smiled and waved back. She looked toward her grandmother, who winked at her. "So," she said, "Are we gonna come live with you?" she asked, returning her gaze to her father.
Elliot scratched his head. "Uh, well, when I get a place that's big enough..."
"Oh!" Olivia said, turning to him. "Yeah," she said, nodding. "You have one."
"I...what?" Elliot asked, squinting at her.
Olivia bit her bottom lip and said, "I bought a house." She watched his eyes widen and she cringed a bit as she said, "I had to put your name on the mortgage, credit ratings and...I didn't think you'd mind."
"You...bought a house...for...us?" he asked, surprised, excited, and thinking that it couldn't have happened at a better time.
"Think of it as a present from my mother," Olivia said, chuckling.
"You put my name on your...so, we own it," Elliot said, waving a hand between them. "You and me," he clarified.
Olivia let her smile fade. "I can call them, if you don't..."
Elliot kissed her quickly, a small peck, silencing her. He looked at her and smiled, and said, "We're gonna need new furniture."
Bernie, butting in as she was one to do, said, "I have your grandmother's bedroom set. You can have that."
Kathy's head snapped to Bernie. "I loved that set, you wouldn't give it to us when we got married!"
Bernie smirked and folded her arms. "My mother was nothing if not specific. That bedroom set is to be kept in the family. I never saw you as family, Kathy. You were always...temporary."
All eyes were on Bernie, Elliot even looked offended. "Mom!" he yelled, shocked.
"Oh, dear," Bernie said, looking down at a watch she wasn't wearing, "Look at the time. I have to take my pill."
Elliot watched his mother walk out of the room and he laughed out loud. He knew there were never any pills, at least not for any reason other than keeping her emotions in check, and he was finally learning to love his mother for who she was. He would tell her, when he picked up the furniture, that she didn't need to apologize for who she was anymore, she didn't have to pretend.
Bernie, however, had something else in mind to talk to him about. Something that, she hoped, would change his life, yet again, for the better.
A/N: What does she talk to him about now? Did Elliot give Olivia the red box? Not yet. What happens when he does? And they find the narcotics detective, and Ed uses the investigation to score some alone time with Olivia. What will Elliot have to say about it? He starts to sound a little like his father, and his mother. Review here, or on Twitter: TMG212