Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction.

"Dad?" Kathleen called softly, seeing him in the hallway on the way to her room. She had a question for him, and it couldn't wait.

"What are you doing up?" he asked, narrowing his eyes but smiling. "Something wrong?"

"No," the girl said, shaking her head. "I was just in the bathroom, but I..." She paused. "After dinner, when you were helping Liv with the dishes, did you...did I see what I think I saw?"

The color drained from Elliot's face, his heart pounded a bit harder. "What do you think you saw?" he asked, folding his arms.

Kathleen sighed and blinked a few times. "Did you kiss her?"

Elliot couldn't answer her. He was ready to take the next step, albeit a small one, with Olivia. More than ready. But how could he say that to his daughter? "Um, Katie, honey, I don't think..."

"Yes or no?" Kathleen said. She looked down at her bare feet, curling them into the carpet. "I'm not mad. I'm not upset. I'm just...is it because you miss mom? Because you're lonely? If that's the case, then for the love of God, Dad, don't do that to Liv."

"Oh," Elliot breathed, closing his eyes. "Honey, that's not...I would never do that to her. Yeah, I kissed her. She, uh, she kissed me. We kissed."

Kathleen chuckled at her father's nervous explanation. "I know," she said. "Why?" She needed to hear him say it, so she wouldn't hate him. Or Olivia.

Elliot looked at his daughter for a long moment, biting his lip and thinking of how to say what he needed to say, hoping it wouldn't sound awful. "Liv and I...we, um...have...feelings."

"And those feelings would be...?" Kathleen prodded. Part of her got a kick out of the rise she was getting out of him, but there was a bigger part of her that hoped he'd say what she wanted to hear.

"There's been something...a lot of things," he began awkwardly, "For years. We're just...finally figuring it all out, and...she's going to be staying here for a while longer, while we do that."

Kathleen nodded, her face falling into an expression of solemn acceptance. "Okay," she whispered. "Good, then. That's what...what I wanted to know." She shot a look toward his bedroom door. "She's in there, isn't she?"

"Nothing like that...it's not there yet. We aren't," he told her, waving his hands around wildly, flailing. "But yes. She is."

Kathleen nodded again. "Tell her I said good night and that..." she swallowed hard and took a breath. "I love you, Daddy." She stood up on her tip-toes to give him a kiss on the cheek and turned back toward her bedroom.

Letting out the tension-filled breath he was holding, he, too, headed into his bedroom. What he saw when he entered took his breath away entirely. She was sitting up, on the edge of the bed, running a brush through her hair. The partly opened window let in a breeze that swept the shoulder length locks around her face and made her sleep-shirt billow a bit. He couldn't help thinking that, at this moment, she was more beautiful than ever.

He took a few steps closer to her, slowly reaching his hands out. He grabbed the brush from her and sat beside her, and with as soft a touch as he could manage, he took over. He brushed her hair back, smoothing it with his other hand, letting his fingers tangle in the waves.

"Thanks," she whispered, but it was more of a gasp. No one had ever done this, and she had to admit she loved it. Her eyes closed again, and when his short nails scraped over her scalp and rubbed into her skin, she moaned a bit. "Feels good," she mumbled.

He laughed and bent his head, kissing the back of hers. He dropped the brush to the mattress and held her hair in one hand, in a ponytail. He tapped her on the shoulder with his other hand.

Knowing what he wanted, she held up a hair elastic. She felt him take it from between her fingers and she chuckled again when he wrapped it around her hair for her.

"I have four daughters," he told her softly, now letting his hands run down her shoulders and arms. "I can do a mean French braid, too."

She laughed again and turned to look at him. "That's sweet," she said, her eyes brightening as they landed on his. "You're an amazing father." Her hand rested on his knee, and she gave it a squeeze. "That's the best part of you. The daddy."

He smiled at her, tilting his head. "It's what I'm most proud of," he told her. He moved toward her, his lips pressing into hers, and his arms coiled around her waist. He pulled her closer, swiped his tongue across her lips, and moaned when she opened for him.

She looped her hands around his neck, moaning his name into his mouth. She felt him press into her further, coaxing her down onto her back, and she let him win. His body covered hers as soon as she'd flattened out, and her hands ran the length of his back a few times before growing bold enough to settle themselves on the rounds of his ass.

He moaned and bucked his hips, responding to her touch. He pulled back, away from her lips, and kissed his way down her neck, over the very top of her chest, and up behind her left ear. He whispered something to her, his hot and heavy breathing making her moan louder, and then he pulled her earlobe into his mouth and suckled gently.

"Elliot," she breathed, her eyes still closed, afraid if they opened they'd realize this was all just a wonderful dream.

He pecked her cheek, her chin, and then finally sealed over her lips again with only a bare whisper of her name. There was a burning in his body, a fire coursing through him that he'd never felt before, and it took every ounce of courage and strength in him to suppress and ignore it. Pulling away again, he panted heavily as his forehead rested against hers and his own eyes closed.

Breathing just as irregularly and harshly, she skimmed her fingers up his back again, scratching him lightly. "Was that your way of telling me..."

"Yeah," he nodded with a single, soft laugh.

"I felt it," she said quietly. "I felt...everything. I see it, too, you know," she whispered to him.

He opened his eyes at her words, backing away only an inch to look down at her. "What?"

"In your eyes," she said, giving him a small but meaningful smile. "Every time you look at me, even when you...when you don't realize you're doing it."

He smiled at her. "I always know what I'm looking at when I look at you."

"Yeah?" Her lips curled up a bit more and her hands moved lower to reclaim their soft grip on his ass.

Chuckling, he nodded. But then his smile faded, and he grew a bit serious as he swallowed hard and darkened his gaze. "The same thing you see when you look at me." He kissed her softly, once. "I know."

She opened her mouth to say something, but the chirping of her phone stopped the words from forming. She pushed against him, kissing him deeply as she sat up straight. She kept her eyes on him as she reached over and answered the offending device.

He watched her as she spoke but he wasn't listening to anything she said. Instead, he was finalizing his plans for her, what he felt he had to do in return for everything she'd done and had become. Kathleen already knew, but he owed it to her to tell the other kids.

"El," she said a bit firmly. "Did you hear me?"

"No," he said honestly, shaking his head.

She shook her head and laughed, then told him, "We have to go. They're short handed and this...this is pretty huge."

He blinked. "Yeah," he said, nodding, even though he meant something else entirely. "I know it is."

Peace and Love

Jo

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