Daddy's Girl
(Chapter Ten: Content)
Two Weeks Later….
Olivia sat up in the dark and made her way to the bassinette.
"Hello angel," she said to the blue eyed baby staring up at her.
Kaylee grunted and whimpered a bit as she stared up at her mother.
"I know, you are wet and hungry and being very patient about it."
She picked the baby girl up and carried her down the hall to the nursery. Olivia laid the baby on the changing table and wound the mobile to start the gentle lullabies to keep Kaylee calm. She picked up a fresh diaper and changed the baby, then snapped up her little pink sleeper again.
"There we go. That is much better, huh?"
Olivia carried the baby to the rocking chair by the window and opened the blinds so the moonlight could shine in. She tossed a burp cloth over her shoulder and unbuttoned her gown to nurse the baby.
"That's my girl. Were you hungry sweetheart?"
Olivia smiled down at her daughter. Kaylee closed her little eyes and rested her tiny hand against her mother's breast as she nursed, grunting softly. Olivia yawned and hummed along with the songs of the mobile as she stared out the window, rocking the chair slowly.
Over the last two weeks this had all become a part of their routine. Kaylee slept well for most of the night, waking only twice to be nursed and changed and even then she didn't really cry. She would just open her little eyes and stare up at the mobile over her bassinette making her little grunting sounds until her mommy came to get her.
It didn't usually take long for Olivia to realize it was time to feed little Kaylee. She would wake at exactly three o'clock and five o'clock every morning with a deep ache in her breast that could only be relieved by nursing her baby daughter. These early morning feedings had become kind of a sacred mother daughter bonding time. While the rest of the world was asleep, Olivia and Kaylee were here in their own little world.
"Good girl," Olivia whispered brushing her fingertip over Kaylee's thick hair.
Olivia smiled as the baby yawned and nestled her little cheek against her skin.
"Are you done already?"
She raised Kaylee and leaned her against her shoulder to burp her. She rocked her gently and patted her little back until she got a good burp. She laid Kaylee on her blanket on the changing table and re-wrapped the baby, then scooped her back up into her arms.
Olivia gave the baby girl her pacifier and held her tight as she walked around the nursery singing softly to her until she had fallen asleep once more.
"Mommy loves you," she said softly kissing the baby's forehead as she placed her back into the bassinette.
"Everything alright?" Elliot asked softly raising up in the bed to look at his wife.
"Perfect," Olivia replied.
He rolled over and looked at the alarm clock.
"Baby, come back to bed. It's way to early to be awake."
"I'll come back in a few minutes," she replied checking the baby again. "I need to pump first."
"I thought you didn't have to pump if you nursed her," Elliot said as she sat down on the edge of the bed with her breast pump.
"Well, she didn't nurse enough. I need to pump, too. Then I will have fresh milk for bottles during the day."
"Honey, you are home with her during the day. You can nurse her."
"And I do, but it is still good to have bottles made up. And if I don't pump there is no way I am going to be able to go back to sleep. It wont take long. I can move to the other room if it bothers you."
"You don't bother me," Elliot said kissing her gently.
"I thought maybe Kaylee and I would come and visit daddy at work tomorrow. Maybe take him out to lunch. If you don't already have plans that is."
"Anything I have planned can be rescheduled. I wouldn't want to miss a lunch date with my girls," Elliot said kissing her tenderly. "Everyone at work will be excited to see her. You haven't brought her in since she was born."
"Alright, so I am a bit over protective. But it is flu season and it seemed like everyone there was sick. But she is a little older now and I have to take her out for a doctor's appointment in the morning anyway. And we need diapers."
"I don't blame you and I am sure they understood. A common cold for us could be really rough on her. But I'm glad you decided to bring her in."
"Me, too. And we have the kids tomorrow night. It will be the first time they have all stayed over since I had the baby. It's gonna be a big night. I hope me getting up with the baby doesn't keep them up."
"It shouldn't. She barely cries and she is in here with us. I think the kids will sleep right through it," he said kissing her shoulder. "But I can move the rocking chair in here and sit it by our window if you'd like. Just for while the kids are here."
"Then I'll keep you awake."
Elliot smiled.
"You wont keep me awake. Besides, it's a Friday night and I can sleep in on Saturday. And she is my daughter, I could stand to get up with her now and then. Infact, why don't you just let me get up with her?"
"Oh, are you lactating now?" she joked.
"No, but we have bottles. I can get up with her on the weekends and give you a bit of a break."
"That is sweet, baby. But the second she begins to stir, I feel it."
"Feel it?"
"Yes. Because I'm breast feeding, I kind of hurt when it is time to feed the baby. It's because I'm full of milk. She is your sixth child and you don't know this stuff?"
"Kathy didn't breast feed."
"Really?"
"She tried with Maureen, but she wouldn't latch on. She didn't make enough milk with Kathleen and bottles were just easier with the twins."
"I'll bet."
"Yeah, every twenty minutes there was a baby crying wanting to be fed or changed."
"She hardly ever cries, but I still couldn't imagine having two at once. You guys must have had your hands full."
"Yeah," Elliot said with a smile. "But the girls were so close together that we kind of had a bit of practice. When you have two babies that little at the same time, when one cries the other wakes up and cries. The girls were actually a little help. Maureen was big enough she could help change diapers and they helped feed and play with Dickie and Elizabeth."
Olivia buttoned up her gown as she leaned in to hug him.
"I know how hard this is on you," she said softly.
"God, I just wish Maureen could have seen her. She would have been so proud. Kaylee reminds me so much of her. She even looks a lot like Maureen did as a baby."
"Except Maureen was blonde headed and Kaylee's hair is more the color of mine."
"Liv, all of my kids were born with dark hair. It got lighter as they got a little older."
"Well, she has your eyes. Dark hair and brown eyes are more dominant, but she is her father's daughter."
Elliot smiled.
"Yes, she is."
"You really think she looks like Maureen?"
"I'll have to see if I can find a picture. They could be twins. Years apart."
"Maybe that means she will grow up to be just as beautiful as her big sister."
"Well, look at her mama," Elliot said with a smile. "She has beautiful women on both sides of the family. Even your mother…."
"Elliot…."
"I just mean, she was a very attractive woman. Good looks are genetic," Elliot said kissing his wife.
"Yeah, lets just hope that is the only thing that is genetic."
"Hey," he said softly kissing her shoulder. "You are a remarkable woman. You are smart and beautiful and an amazing mother. And there is nothing about you that I wouldn't be proud to have passed to our daughter."
"It doesn't scare you? All of the bad things about my mother and all of the things I don't even know about my father….that they could all effect her?"
"Olivia, baby, you turned out pretty amazing. And Kaylee is going to have a lot of really great people around her throughout her entire life. People who will love her and influence her in good ways. If she takes one thing from each person in her life, only one, just think how wonderful she will be."
"I hope you're right."
"What are you talking about? I am always right," Elliot laughed.
Olivia laughed as he kissed her again.
"You worry too much," he insisted.
"I can't help it, she is our baby."
"I know exactly how you feel. It is all part of being a new parent. I went through the same exact thing when Maureen was born."
"I don't think I will ever stop worrying about her."
"No. You never stop worrying about them. You just learn what things to watch out for and what things to ease up on."
The next day Olivia took Kaylee to visit everyone at work. She watched nervously as Cragen, Munch and Fin passed her infant daughter around and took turns talking baby talk to the little girl. Kaylee seemed to be enjoying it, though and she just stared at them with her big blue eyes.
Cragen sat down at Olivia's desk and fed the baby her bottle as he spoke softly to her, telling her stories of his days with the NYPD. Kaylee grunted and stared at him as if she was very interested in every word he said.
"I think we might have a second generation police detective on our hands here," he said with a smile as Olivia took the baby to burp and change her.
"She can be anything she wants to be," Elliot said kissing the top of Kaylee's little head.
"She does like lights from the squad cars," Olivia added.
"They are pretty, aren't they sweetheart?" Cragen cooed to the baby.
When Kathy came by that evening to drop the kids off she came in to see the baby.
"She is so adorable," Kathy said as she stared down at the little girl in her arms. "It is almost hard to believe that my kids were ever this size. She looks a lot like you."
Olivia nodded in agreement.
"But she has those Stabler blues," she pointed out to Kathy. "Elliot said she reminds him of Maureen when she was a baby."
Kathy smiled as she got misty eyed.
"Actually, she does. She looks a lot like Maureen did at this age."
Olivia watched as Kathy held the baby with one arm and pulled her wallet out of her purse with the other. She opened the wallet and flipped through some pictures until she found one.
"There," she said handing the wallet to Olivia.
"Oh my gosh," Olivia said with a smile. "They really do look alike."
"I think Maureen was about three or four months old in that picture. If you flip through there is a really cute one of her with Kathleen when she was tiny. And the girls with the twins and that one when Eli was a baby."
"I can definitely see the Stabler in her."
"Yeah, Elliot makes pretty babies. But she looks like you, too. She has your nose and mouth. She is just beautiful."
"Thank you," Olivia said as Kathy handed her the sleeping baby.
As Kathy kissed her children goodbye she told them to make sure to pick up after themselves and help Olivia out around the house. Olivia put Kaylee in her bassinette to nap while she and the kids made dinner for Elliot.
"Something smells amazing," Elliot said taking off his jacket and loosening his tie as he walked in the door.
"Dad," Elizabeth squealed as she threw her arms around his neck. "We helped Olivia make dinner."
"You did?"
"Yes."
"Where's the baby?"
"Kaylee is sleeping in your room."
"Ahh," he said walking into the kitchen. "Hey baby," he said slipping his arms around Olivia's waist and kissing the side of her neck as he handed her a single red long stem rose.
Olivia smiled and smelled the rose as she turned to look at him.
"What is this for?"
"Just for being my beautiful amazing wife. And giving me my precious baby daughter. I love you," he said with a wink.
"I love you, too. And speaking of your baby daughter, if I don't wake her up and feed her soon she will be up all night."
"I'll tell you what, why don't we all sit down and have a nice family dinner together while Kaylee is sleeping? And after dinner or whenever she wakes up, I will go get her and give her a bottle."
"El, she wont want to sleep tonight."
"Daddy will get up with her tonight. Friday and Saturday nights are mommy's nights off."
"That sounds amazing. Unfortunately, I'm not so sure it will work out that way."
"If it doesn't work out then we will adjust things until we find a schedule that does work."
"You are the most incredible husband ever," she said kissing him tenderly. "Not many men would volunteer to get up on the weekends with their newborn for diaper duty."
"Well, I am not most men."
"No, you're not," she said kissing him.