Why are you being such an asshole!"

"Why are you so surprised?" snickered Calvin, running a hand through his hair and rolling his eyes at an increasingly infuriated Eve. "You're just another girl Bambi."

"You're only saying that because you're pissed at me. You think I lied to you about who my mother is but I didn't know Calvin. I had no clue you two had a history and you're a dick for punishing me when you know I did nothing wrong here."

"I'm not punishing you…." he shrugged, playacting indifference coming so easy to him after years of practice so long as he didn't meet her teary eyes, "…. I don't give a crap."

"So we're really doing this? We're really pretending that the past few weeks don't mean a thing just because my Mom is freaking out?"

"She wouldn't be if you hadn't told her you fucked and sucked a bad boy."

"I hate you so much right now….." she rasped, with an icy, narrow eyed stare that did little to hide her agony.

"Go home little girl."

"Go to hell, asshole."

"You're not even close to being the big deal you think you are Evie Stabler. Girls like you are dime a dozen….." pushing her away with the full force of both hands Calvin shrugged, "… like buses."

"I know what you're doing and it won't work. I don't care how many girls you've screwed we're different and you know it. So you can drink that beer and get wasted out of your mind and pretend like you don't give a damn but I know you do. I know you love me."

"You're deluded."

"Calvin!"

"It's all in your head Bambi."

"You're a liar!" she yelled, her voice breaking as she shook her head in painful disbelief.

"Go a-way. Leave me alone Eve."

"So I was wrong about you?" she whispered, swallowing hard against the rising nausea in her stomach as she slid down from the passenger seat and turned back to give him one last chance. "You really are that guy?"

"Yup."

"I know this isn't what you want. I know you don't mean any of this crap you're spouting and I don't know why you're hurting me like this but I just hope it's worth it. I don't know why you're putting on this little show for me but it sucks. You suck Calvin, and you're better than this. You are better than this."

"Why are you not punching something?"

"Because I am not an animal and I don't appreciate….." he was teasing her, and in that moment she couldn't have hated him more for it.

"Elliot!"

"What?"

"I just told you that our baby daughter lost it to a nineteen year old high school dropout who lives in his truck!"

"You mean Calvin."

"Are you high right now?" puffed Olivia, her eyes wild and her hands pinned to her hips ready for war. "Did someone slip a Valium in that coffee? Because I would have thought you would have something to say about this. I was prepared for yelling and death threats and you tearing up my kitchen. I was not prepared for you to stand there looking at me gormlessly like I just told you the store was out of milk."

"What d'ya want me to say Liv?" he sighed, attempting to parcel her into his arms and pacify her but receiving firm resistance. "I know you're upset. I know you are and I want to help but…."

"Aren't you? What is wrong with you right now El? Evie had sex! With a boy! Your little girl is no longer a virgin. Your daughter is no longer a little girl!"

"And it hurts like hell, it does. The letting go. It's the worst kind of pain but it's also inevitable." Sighing heavily Elliot reached for her hand and stroked his thumbs across her knuckles, "Babe don't get me wrong, don't think for a second that I'm enjoying this. She's my baby too and I want to protect her and coddle her just as much as…."

"I do not coddle her."

"This isn't my first rodeo, Liv."

"I know that."

"And I don't want you to feel like I'm not right there with you on this, believe me I don't. It's just I've been there, in that hell you're in right now, three times already. It doesn't get any easier to hear but it gets easier to deal with."

"She wasn't ready."

"Did she tell you that?"

"No, no she told me she's in love with him and she wanted it and that despite being built like the Brooklyn Bridge he's….." twisting her face at the thought Olivia added, "…. gentle with her."

"Liv this isn't some random guy we're talking about here. It's Calvin, your Calvin. We know this kid."

"He's not a kid anymore El. He's not that same little boy you used to play rock paper scissors with at the 1-6."

"You were only telling me the other day how he's a good guy, how he's trying to straighten his life out and…."

"That was before he was sleeping with our daughter."

"How old were you, babe?" asked Elliot, slicing with a sharp knife at her rapidly beating heart.

"You know the answer to that." She snapped hotly.

"Maureen was seventeen, Katie only fourteen and I know now that was her illness but I didn't then and it just about killed me. Lizzie we were lucky and she was in college but we both know even she's made her fair share of bad choices with guys."

"Is this supposed to make me feel better?" smarted Olivia, though the sting had gone from her tail and she was softening.

"Kath found condoms in Maureen's draw and it took her six months to get a confession out of her. Katie got drunk and blurted it while I held her hair back and she spewed green jello shots into a bucket. Lizzie talked to just about every person on the planet about it before Kathy dragged it out of her three Christmases later."

"I just wanted her to wait….." the words catching in her throat Olivia allowed him to approach this time, moving his hands to her waist and then stroking soothingly at the small of her back.

"Look I might have to say a few more hail Mary's on Sunday for saying this but this isn't so bad. It might not be how you wanted things to play out but I gotta tell you it could've been a whole lot worse. You said they were smart?"

"Yeah, yeah she promised me they were safe."

"And she's not upset about it? She doesn't regret it? Feel bad?"

"No….." conceded Olivia reluctantly.

"And Liv she came to you. She did something she knew you'd hate and she knew would he awkward to talk about but she sucked it up and without any kind of blackmailing or bribery or Mirandizing she came clean."

"So you really want me to try and see this as a win?" laughed Olivia desperately.

"I treated Maureen like a leper, I grounded Katie and I couldn't look Lizzie in the eye for a week. That isn't right, babe, and you were the first in line to tell me so if I remember rightly."

"You were a monster."

"I was."

"Am I a monster? Oh Elliot did I really screw this up?" she breathed, falling into his chest and burying her face. "What if she never trusts me again?"

"I don't understand I thought he loved me….."

"Oh baby girl, come here…" falling down onto the sofa beside Eve, who sat cocooned in blankets and heartbreak Fin sighed, "… come here."

"He won't answer any of my texts or calls. I left him messages. It's like he just dropped off the face of the earth or something."

"You know what maybe he just needs a little time to…"

"I know I said some stuff I shouldn't be he did too. Only the worst part is I know he was lying. He was just saying all that stuff because he and my Mom have this weird history and he's trying to be some kind of hero."

"Evie that boy has the weight of the world on his shoulders. It started when he was knee high and it just never stopped. He's not like you, baby girl. He wasn't raised the way you were."

"I know that! I know he's got it rough but I don't care Fin. None of that matters to me. I don't care what he's done or what mistakes he's made he wasn't like that with me. He was good and kind and….." too tired to even process thoughts properly anymore Eve curled up against Fin's broad chest and sighed miserably, "… I just wish he'd talk to me. I just want to tell him that none of this matters and it doesn't change anything. At least not for me."

"What does your Mom have to say about all this? Your Dad?"

"Mom and I were fine until she knew it was Calvin and then that's when it all just went to hell. She's been weird ever since. Like, not mad, just quiet. I hate it when she gets like that. I just wish she'd shout or get angry or something. At least then I'd know where I stand."

"She talk to Calvin?" tested Fin, but when Eve shrugged her shoulders he doubted that was the end of the story. If he knew Olivia, and he did, then she had gone straight to Calvin at the first opportunity. His cynical side suspected she was probably the cause of Calvin's sudden silence, whether Eve knew it or not.

"No, no I don't think so."

"Baby girl it's late and you've got school first thing. You wanna stay here tonight?"

"Can I?" smiled Eve, forever grateful for her home away from home.

"Call Liv and get her sign off….." smiled Fin, ruffling her hair as he got up from the couch and handed Eve her cell phone, "… and I'll defrost a pizza."

"You get tired of pretending you're better than us Cal?"

"I'm not better than you."

"Big of you to say."

"So…." pressing thin lips together, stood shoulders hunched and hands in pockets in the doorway of his cousin's apartment Calvin swallowed hard, "… can I come home or not?"

"Home? What are you? Five years old?"

"Can I stay or not Johnny?" tired, more tired than he could ever remember being in his exhausting life Calvin leant against the doorframe and sighed heavily. "I'll do whatever you want."

"You got rent?"

"Nope."

"What'd you think this is, boy? A fucking hotel?"

"No."

"You're dead weight Calvin and I'm done carrying you. You're not a little kid anymore and it's about time you started paying your way round here. Bout time you joined the family business I reckon."

"I need an address….." deliberately mumbling as inaudibly as possible Calvin added, "… to register."

"Register for what? You found some benefit we're not already getting? You found a loophole?" now he was curious, now Johnny was listening. He had always known his cousin had claimed all the brains in the family, or at least the smarts, and perhaps he could prove useful after all.

"No."

"So what you registering for?"

"Class."

"What class?"

"Just a class, alright J! I wanna pass fucking high school if you gotta know."

"Don't you yell at me boy and what makes you think that reading books is gonna pay your rent. You were a waste of space in school the same way you're a waste of space here. You'd be better off taking a few classes from me, from the school of life. It'd do you more good."

"Look can I move back in or not?"

"How the hell did I get stuck with you Calvin?"

"I'll get you the money."

"Damn right you will."

"Fine."

"We're a guy short tonight. 59th Street bodega leaves his kid sister watching the cash on a Friday between 7 and 9. We're taking it. You can be the fifth."

"Johnny I can't….." throwing his head back, closing his eyes, and seeing Olivia and Eve and all their disappointment imprinted on the insides of his eyelids.

"You wanna earn your way back in here?" reaching down the back of the sofa and fishing out a 9mm Johnny tossed it across the room at Calvin. "Load that and be ready to roll by 6."

"Can I come in?"

"If I say no will it stop you?"

"Yes….." said Olivia firmly, before twisting her face from Eve's doorway and confessing, "… no, no probably not."

"Let's test the theory. No, no you can't come in. Go away and leave me alone."

"Yeah, no….." sighed Olivia with a warm, patient smile as she wandered across the carpet and took up a perch on the edge of her daughter's bed, "… you were right. Not gonna stop me."

"Mom the past few days have sucked. Like, really, truly sucked on a whole new level than I ever thought they could. Please tell me you're not here to lecture me or talk to me about college or how if I washed my own cheer kit then you'd have more time to….."

"It's my fault, Evie."

"What is?" asked Eve, dragging herself up from her pillow and pushing her hair behind her ears. "What's your fault?"

"You think that Calvin is ignoring you because he doesn't love you or because he thinks you lied to him or because…."

"He's an asshole and Fin has a big mouth."

"He's ignoring you because I told him to. You have every right to be upset, to be angry, and to be confused at why I would…."

"I'm not confused Mom."

"I…."

"Upset, yeah. Angry, sure. But I know why you did it. I knew even before Fin and Dad played council for the defence. I knew as soon as you told me who Calvin was and how you knew him that you just wouldn't be able to help yourself….."

"Hey!"

"Will you help me fix it?"

"Evie….."

"I know you think he's a bad guy but he's not and….."

"I never said he was a bad guy I….."

"You warned him off me! You didn't have to!"

"Okay, okay I'm sorry."

"He was a pain in my ass about not skipping school and doing my homework and making me list over and over again all the reasons I want to go to college and Europe and….." laughing, a little breathless at the memory of all those conversations Eve sighed, "… he was even more annoying than you about it and that's really going some."

"I just want to protect you Eve…" whispered Olivia, reaching for her daughter's hand and hoping her impulsive actions hadn't cost her too dearly, "…. you know that right?"

"Hey, knock knock…" rapping lightly at the door Elliot waited a moment, smiling at his girls and asking, "…. can I join you ladies?"

"Oh sure, sure because it wasn't mortifying enough….."

"You're old enough to have sex Eve and you're old enough to talk about it like a grown up."

"I did talk about it. I came to you and I did everything you asked Mom!"

"I know you did, baby, and…."

"So why'd you do it?" asked Eve with a soft voiced disappointment that was harder for Olivia to bear than her earlier outrage. "If you know Calvin isn't a bad guy and you trust me then why did you screw everything up?"

"Because I panicked….." shrugged Olivia honestly, looking to Elliot in the doorway for support. "Honestly, Evie that's the truth. You did do everything right and believe me when I say that I of all people know that Calvin Arliss is a good guy but you are my baby girl and when it comes to protecting you all bets are off. I lost my head."

"He's being an ass but he loves me….." it stole Olivia's breath to see that same wilful determination in her daughter's eyes that she knew burned in her own heart, "… we're not done. It's not over."

"Okay."

"So you're done freaking out?"

"Oh Evie G if you knew how I've only just started freaking out…." laughed Olivia, rolling her eyes heavenward and leaning in to hug Eve tight, "…. you're just gonna have to bear with me here. This is no fun for your Momma, sweet girl."

"Dad will you tell her she's psychotic."

"I will not."

"She's a crazy person!"

"She is your mother Mouse….." said Elliot, shooting her a warning look, "… and you will get a little bit more respect in your voice when you talk about her please?"

"Yes Dad….." she nodded curtly, before holding Olivia at arm's length and flashing her a wicked little smile and whispering, "… you are a crazy person."

"I'm sorry Evie, can we start over? Can we fix this, together? Can you give me a chance to do better at this, please?"

"Yeah, yeah I think so, I can do that..." nodded Eve slowly, her eyes shining for Olivia, "... I love you Momma."