"So this is life," he says, and she laughs at him.
"Life is a case of its own," she tells him. "Nice to have a break every now and then."
"Speaking of breaks," says Elliot, "What's up with you and Munch? Everything all right?"
"Everything's fine," says Olivia, "I'm sure you'd have heard from Fin by now if it wasn't."
"The whole squad would want blood," Elliot replies. Olivia shakes her head.
"Who says I'd let you take it?" she asks, and he gives her a sideways look.
"I wouldn't take it if you didn't want me to," he tells her. She rolls her eyes.
"Sure you wouldn't," she says, and swats at his hand. "Quit eating my food."
"Well, you aren't," he points out. She rolls her eyes at him again.
"Doesn't mean I'm not going to," she says, and he smirks.
"Sure it does."
"Come on, that's lame." Maureen's friends have discovered an old, random video blog, and are now poking at her.
"Has he?" one of them asks, and she rolls her eyes.
"Um, no," she replies, "Notice how he's got a ring on his finger."
Her friend shrugs. "Doesn't necessarily mean anything. Lots of guys don't take it seriously," she says.
"Yeah, like your last boyfriend?" Maureen asks dryly. Her friend rolls her eyes.
"Come on, Maureen, it's not like the rumor hasn't been going around for a while. Who's to say he'd say if there was any truth to it or not?"
"Pretty sure he's not going to lie to my mother about that," Maureen says, in a way that signifies the conversation is over. "Turn that crap off."
The video blog disappears, and Maureen's friend rolls onto her back on the floor of the dorm room. "Music?" she asks, and Maureen nods. A few seconds later, a favorite song of theirs comes on.
"I didn't mean to upset you," her friend says, and Maureen rolls her eyes.
"You didn't, really," she says, "I'm just tired of everyone talking crap, y'know?"
Her friend nods. "Yeah, I get it." A pause, and then, "I know your dad wouldn't. From the way you talk about him…you can just tell, y'know?"
Maureen laughs. "Yeah, really," she says. "Our family's about as straight laced as they come…" She pauses and then sighs. "But everyone comes undone once in a while."
November slowly starts coming to an end. Thanksgiving comes, and finds the squad in Queens.
"Hey, you lot, none of that!" Elliot says loudly, to the twins, who've started a minor argument over a game they're playing. He turns to the other detectives and shakes his head. "I swear, it gets worse the older they get."
"Well, you've got eighteen more years of it to look forward to," Olivia says dryly. "Nice going."
"Hey, you know what, we're not going there," says Elliot. "You wait until you have kids."
"You hear that, John?" Olivia says, smirking, "We should wait till we have kids. Then we can talk."
"Who says that's going to happen?" John asks in reply, only half-serious, and all of them laugh.
"One of these days, you're gonna be knocked on your ass by something like that, and I'm gonna laugh," says Casey, who's dragged Lake along with her.
"Yeah, we'll see," says Fin, "I should live to see the day anyone wants to get stuck with him for eighteen years."
"You've only got ten years left to go, then," John retorts. "Think you can manage?"
"I'll go back to Narcotics before I set any records with you," says Fin. More laughter.
This is the way it's supposed to be, Olivia thinks, friends and family all together, all at once…a vacation from the every day lives they lead.
She wanders into the kitchen, where Kathy is, finishing up whatever it was that she'd been doing.
"You need any help in here?" she asks, and the other woman glances over at her, and nods.
"If you wouldn't mind," she says, and Olivia comes over to the counter, shaking her head.
"No, it's fine," she says. "We'll get done faster this way."
Later, the kids wander off to wherever it is that they've decided to go, leaving the adults in various places around the main floor of the house.
"We should do this more often," says Elliot, from the kitchen. Kathy rolls her eyes.
"Yeah, if you plan on cleaning up every time it happens," she replies. "You can forget it if you think I'm doing it on my own."
"That's what we have kids for."
"Oh, that's nice, Elliot. Ought to call ACS on you," says Olivia, shaking her head as an amused look crosses her face.
"Hey, you gotta teach 'em responsibility at one point or another," comes the reply. "Casey, you'd defend me if she took it to ACS, wouldn't you?"
"Depends on the charges," says Casey, from the floor, where she leans back against Lake's knees. "Misdemeanor, maybe. Felony, forget it."
"Nice, Casey," says Olivia. "Guess you're on your own, then, Elliot."
"Yeah, I love you both, too." Elliot replies, and comes out of the kitchen. "I think the rest of it can wait for now."
"Don't think you're leaving without helping me finish in the morning," says Kathy.
"I'm sure he wouldn't dream of it," says John, smirking. Olivia rolls her eyes.
"Think again," she says. "How d'you think I get stuck with all that paperwork?"
"Knew one of us was putting it off," says Elliot, and Olivia shakes her head, throwing a pillow at him.
"Yeah, you," she says. "You can ask anyone in the squad room. Mine's always done on time."
"Why are we having this argument now, anyway?" John asks. "Isn't Thanksgiving supposed to be a time of peace, or whatever?"
"I think the government's finally gotten to you," says Casey, and laughter fills the room.
December fades in, slowly, and all it does is make Elliot more skittish. He watches the phone more often than not, and always has his cell phone in his hand when they leave the squad room.
"Is it sad how I'm already counting down on this?" he asks, and she shakes her head.
"No," she says, "I'd probably be counting down, too. Of course, I'd be the one having the kid, so it'd be more of my wanting the kid to be out of me already."
"Lovely, Liv," says Elliot dryly, and then, "I'm gonna love seeing how any kid of yours turns out."
"I'm running out of time," says Olivia, mildly. "You might never get to see that. Of course, I'd be hard pressed to find a good reason to let any kid of mine around you."
"Hey, I resent that," Elliot tells her, "I'm not that bad. There are worse people a child could be around."
"True," says Olivia, "But I'd still be hard pressed. You'd have to impress me in a rather profound way for me to want my kid to be around you."
"Putting up with you for nine years hasn't done it?"
"Excuse me, I'm the one that's put up with you for nine years. You're the longest relationship I've ever had with a guy, remember?"
"Well, you have a relationship with Munch now, if I do recall correctly," says Elliot and Olivia laughs.
"All of a few months," she says.
"But it's something," Elliot points out, and Olivia shrugs.
"Would you tell me it was wrong if I told you I wanted something like what you have?" she asks. "Something that could last forever?"
"I don't think anything lasts forever, Liv."
"All right, then, twenty years or longer."
There is a long pause between them, and then Elliot speaks. "No," he says. "No, I wouldn't tell you it was wrong."
Life is, she thinks, just perfect right about now. Somehow, she's gotten talked into ice skating, by Casey, who told her to bring John, and somehow, Lake ended up on the outing, too.
"Nice move, Casey," Olivia says dryly, as they skate, away from the guys, who've ended up in some sort of debate. "Next time we should bring Elliot and Kathy, you think?"
"Maybe Fin and whoever he's dating at the moment," says Casey, smirking. Olivia laughs.
"I swear he's the only one of us who can really keep a personal life out of the squad room nowadays," she says.
"Wasn't that way this summer," says Casey, and shakes her head. "I still can't believe I lost that. We had everything…"
"Everything but a confession," says Olivia. "I could never make it as a lawyer."
Casey shakes her head. "I bet you could," she says. "You just…want to make everything right. So do I."
"Suppose you could say we all got our priorities straight through what happened, though," says Olivia.
"In some ways, yes. In other ways, no. I'm lucky I didn't get fired," says Casey and makes a face as she goes on. "Suppose you could say a few good things came out of it."
"Finally, someone you can stand," says Olivia, and both women laugh.
"Yeah, finally," says Casey. "It's been a while."
And Olivia knows exactly what she means, because of a conversation they had a while back. They're silent until the guys finally catch up with them again.
"Cat got your tongues?" John asks, and the question, for some reason, strikes both women as amusing, so they laugh, and skate away.
"You lot, help your mother. She asks you to do something this morning, do it." Elliot bends down to tie his shoes, and looks up at the three standing before him. "I mean it."
"Don't worry, Dad, we will," Kathleen says dryly, "I don't have to work today, so I'll be around."
"You call me if you need anything, and I'll find a way to get home," Elliot tells her, reaching for his keys. "You two, go to school."
"It's only seven," says Dickie, mildly, "We don't even leave until seven-thirty."
"Well, you'd better not miss the bus then, because your mother isn't driving you, and neither is Kathleen," comes the reply. "Homework done?"
"Yeah, it's done," says Elizabeth, "Where is Mom, anyway?"
"She's asleep, and don't you dare wake her up before she's ready, either." Elliot takes his coat off the rack near the door and pulls the door open. "I am going to work. Like I said, if you need anything, call. My phone will be on."
He leaves. The kids exchange glances and shake their heads.
"Paranoid," says Elizabeth, and goes into the fridge for the orange juice.
"Dad drank straight out of there again," says Kathleen, but Elizabeth shrugs and pours a glass anyway.
"Who cares? We're all family anyway; doesn't matter," she says. "You really don't have to work today?"
"No. In fact, I don't work all week, so I'll be around to keep an eye on Mom, and maybe then Dad will quit freaking out."
"I doubt it." Dickie glances at the clock on the wall, and motions to Elizabeth. "We should go across the street and poke at JD."
"You should poke at her; she won't take a swing at you," says Elizabeth, but she picks up her backpack anyway. "Let's go."
They leave. Kathleen watches them walk across the street and rolls her eyes, before going to do the breakfast dishes.
"I wouldn't be so on edge if it wasn't so close to the date," Elliot points out, and Olivia rolls her eyes.
"Your kids know how to use a phone," she tells him, but he shakes his head.
"Kathleen still can't drive, remember?" he says. "How are they supposed to get to the hospital if she's the only one home?"
"You could ask to take time off, you know," Olivia tells him, but he shakes his head again.
"No, I can't, not right now," he says, "Kathy's already on leave; I don't think it'd be such a good idea for me to be on leave, too."
"Besides that, then you really would shoot yourself," says Olivia. He glares at her.
"You aren't funny."
"I wasn't trying to be." She trails off and sighs. "You need to quit being so skittish. I've got your back, but do you have mine?"
"You know I do. We're not going there again."
"Fine. Now will you quit fidgeting? You're starting to bother me. It's just a trial, Elliot. We've done this before."
"Yeah, well, I wasn't waiting on something else the last time we did, now was I?"
Olivia rolls her eyes. She's learned better than to mess with him when he's in this mood.
"I swear if I never see you so nervous again…You weren't even like this when Gitano had a gun to your head," she says.
"Notice how we've been trained to stay calm in those situations," Elliot retorts, twisting his ring around his finger. "I can't do this. I can't just sit here."
"Then walk around or something," says Olivia. But then his cell phone rings, and before she can say anything else, he takes off.
They sit. Patience is a virtue, Maureen had said to her father earlier, but he hadn't listened, and had instead disappeared into the delivery room. She and her siblings had opted to wait.
"What're the odds we end up with another girl in this family?" Elizabeth asks. "I mean, there are three of us already."
"If I end up with another sister, you're going to find me hanging from one of the ceiling fans," says Dickie, without looking up from the latest video game he's playing.
"Yeah, right," says Kathleen. "We'll find out when we find out. I just think it's funny that we're all so old and now there's going to be another baby around."
"Yeah, that's just what we need. Some kid keeping us awake at night because it hasn't figured out that some people actually have things to do come morning," says Elizabeth. Maureen laughs.
"You guys trying to put me off having kids, or is that just me?" she asks. Kathleen rolls her eyes.
"Like you could ever be put off having kids," she says, and then, "You two figure out when yet?"
"Still debating. Next year, definitely. When is still up in the air." Maureen replies, and drums her fingertips on one of the armrests.
"That's so weird," says Dickie, still without looking up. "Mom's having a baby and you're getting married. This is like a freaking movie or something."
"Watch," says Elizabeth, smirking, "By the time Maureen ends up pregnant, Mom will be having another one, too."
"Now, that's weird," says Kathleen, and there's silence for a split second before all four siblings burst into laughter.
For some reason, they're all asleep when he goes into the waiting room to look for them. There they are, all in a row, from oldest to youngest, and for some reason, this makes him laugh.
"Figures," he says, to the bundle in his arms. "First your mom, and now the lot of them. Looks like it's just you and me for now."
The bundle doesn't answer, not that he much expected it to. Of all the things that have come over the past year…this is definitely one of those things that he doesn't mind.
"Suppose we should leave them alone, then, huh?" he asks, but again, no answer comes. He sighs. "You're gonna have to learn to talk one of these days, kid."
Nothing but a yawn. He laughs, and pulls his cell phone out of his pocket, turning it on again. "Fine then," he says. "Have it your way."
There's voicemail, and a text message, from Olivia. "How goes it?" she's asked, and Elliot laughs, shifting his new baby in his arms as he goes to sit, so he can answer.
"Pretty well, considering. Everyone fell asleep, goes to show how eventful this was, no?" He pauses for a moment, and then goes on 'typing', smiling faintly.
"I have another son."