Chapter Eleven

A couple of weeks later, Rook was still out there. Fin and Munch were not happy to still be looking for him. Elliot and Olivia were still settling into their new home. The twins each had their own room, which they liked. They each decorated their own rooms, much to Elliot's annoyance. Dickie painted his room black. Elliot decided that as soon as he felt like they had dealt with Kathy's death, they were repainting that room. He didn't think it should be black. Lizzie had gone with a normal color at least, for a girl, it was pink. He didn't think the black was very healthy. It was too dark.

He had gone back to work, but Olivia had chosen to stay at home for awhile longer. He had been going stir-crazy. He hated not seeing her as much, but he made sure that he got back home to her as quickly as he could. It was much different than the old days, where he stayed at work as long as he could, so he could be around Olivia. It was different now that he knew she was waiting at home for him.

Everyone was treating him a little differently now that they knew he and Olivia were engaged. Munch and Fin were pretty much happy for him, but Cragen seemed a little put off that it had happened so quickly. Elliot was thinking that maybe he should have asked Cragen's permission first, but he would have felt silly doing so, since Cragen wasn't Olivia's father. He wondered if Cragen knew that, however. The entire squadroom treated him as if he hadn't cared about Kathy at all. It was a little annoying. He had cared about her, but his relationship with her had been over. And that didn't mean that his relationship with Olivia was just going to go away. He was a little annoyed. But whatever.

He sat down at his desk, and had started going through his latest case when someone tapped on his shoulder. He nearly jumped a mile. ''What the hell do you think you're doing?'' He said, more loudly than he had intended.

It was Brian Cassidy, a dectective that had used to work on the Unit with them years ago. ''Hey, El. I'm back to take Lake's place.'' He said, as Elliot stood up to shake his hand.

Elliot sized him up, hoping that Cassidy had a girlfriend now, because he and Olivia had had sex back in the day, and he didn't want to have to deal with Cassidy being all jealous. ''So, you don't look a bit different.'' He said, noting that there was no ring on Cassidy's left hand.

Cassidy nodded. ''I know, still as handsome as ever. So, where's Liv? You still working with her? How's the family and everything?'' He seemed to be sizing Elliot up, too.

Elliot was happy to tell him, and felt a little guilty about that fact. ''Well, Kathy and I split up a few months ago, and Olivia and I are engaged.'' He paused a moment as he worked himself up to say it. ''And Kathy was murdered a couple of weeks ago. We're still working through it. Oh, and I had another son, his name is Eli.'' He was glad to brag about his son.

Cassidy seemed to be unfazed by the information that Olivia and Elliot were engaged, but he expressed condolences for Kathy's death. ''I have to tell you, man, I'm not surprised about you and Olivia. I had a feeling that it might happen some day.''

Elliot gave him a Look. ''What are you saying, Cassidy? How is it any of your business if Liv and I are destined to be together or not? I mean, really?'' He wasn't sure he liked what Cassidy was saying. He knew it was pointless to get all pissed about it now, but still.

Brian looked at him a little nervously. He had already had a long talk with Munch, who had told him some about how everyone had changed, and he knew that Elliot's temper had not gotten any better. ''I just mean that anyone could tell how much you guys were into each other, that's all. Is Munch here?'' He asked, albeit a bit nervously.

Elliot gave him another look and said, ''Yeah, he's in the crib, catchin' some Zs.'' He turned to his desk, to call Liv. He had to tell her this. It was shocking.

Olivia was sitting in the living room of the new house, watching something arcane and uninteresting on television while Eli gurgled away in his playpen. She was startled when the house phone rang. She picked it up, not bothering to look at the caller id. ''Stabler residence.'' She said, as she glanced at Eli in the playpen. Still looked happy to her.

It was her gorgeous fiance. ''Hey, baby, it's me. Guess who came to fill Lake's spot on the squad?'' He tried to calm himself down. There was no need to get all pissed off.

Olivia was a little interested now. It must be someone she knew. ''I don't know. Who do we both know that would have taken it?'' She asked, as she thought for a minute. Surely it wouldn't be Jeffries, she wouldn't want to work with Cragen again, maybe it was Cassidy. She highly doubted that.

Elliot took a deep breath and said, ''Brian Cassidy. Cassidy's back. And let me say, I'm not too happy about it. The man was in love with you.'' He leaned back in his chair.

Olivia knew she shouldn't laugh, because Elliot was being completely serious, but she couldn't help it. It was a little funny. She laughed a little. ''Come on, baby, don't tell me that you're worried about him. That's ancient history. I didn't even really want to be with him, it just happened. Besides, I was still dealing with the fact that I was so in love with you I couldn't see straight. It was a big tequila inspired mistake.''

Elliot rolled his eyes. He knew that there wasn't in Olivia's case, but Cassidy's, on the other hand...''Of course I am, Livvy. Not in your case, in his. I know you love me. That's not what I'm worried about. I'm worried that he might still have feelings for you. He's not married, I already checked.''

Olivia tried not to laugh again, she didn't want to upset him. ''Please tell me you just checked his hand instead of asking. And it's kind of cute that you're all jealous. I love it when you get jealous. Except when it makes you act like a big jerk.'' She did tend to hate that, it was annoying. It was not cute like she knew he wanted her to think.

Her fiance replied, ''Of course I just checked his hand. I'm not going to make a fool of myself and let him know that I'm worried about him. Jeez, Liv, what do you take me for?''

Olivia was struggling to keep the laughter back. He was already riled up, that wasn't going to help matters. He was so adorable when he was like this and it wasn't aimed at her. ''It's going to be fine, baby. Look, I've got to go check on the twins' laundry, and call the doctor back. He wants to make a checkup appointment. I've got to go. I love you so much. Don't worry a bit about Cassidy, OK, baby?''

Elliot replied, ''I'll try not to, sweetheart. I love you, too.'' He hung up and headed into Cragen's office. He wanted to know who in hell had made the decision to let Cassidy come back to the unit.

Cragen looked up when Elliot entered his office, surprised. Now was about the time that Elliot headed out to lunch with Fin, if they were both able to. ''What's going on, Elliot? Did you need to see me about something? Shouldn't you be heading out with Fin?''

Elliot closed the door behind him and folded his arms. ''Who made the decision to let Brian Cassidy come back to this squad? Why didn't you tell me that he was being considered?''

His boss looked at him in disbelief. He wasn't sure where this was coming from, Elliot had always gotten along with Cassidy, unless this was about the fact that Cassidy had once had feelings for Liv. He wasn't stupid, he knew more than he let on. ''What are you talking about? He came back because he was seeing someone in narcotics and it didn't work out. Plus, John called him and told him he wanted him to come back, so he did. Why do you want to know? I thought you and Cassidy had always gotten along?''

Elliot shrugged. It felt a little out of character to just shrug off his anger like that, but he had to be nonchalant if he wanted to get what he wanted. ''I did, but he just bugs me. I can't explain it.''

Cragen smiled despite himself. He knew what Elliot was doing. ''Look, son, I know about Cassidy's feelings for Olivia. That was a long time ago. She loves you. You're engaged. She's carrying your child. You have nothing to worry about, even if Cassidy still does feel the same.''

Elliot just shook his head, and said, ''I don't want to work with him.'' He left his boss' office, letting the door bang shut behind him. He turned to leave the office, running into Fin on the way. He ignored him, and headed to the elevator. He went all the way home to Queens, and let himself into the house. He found Liv in the living room, folding laundry. ''Liv.'' He said, as he buried his head in her neck.

Olivia was surprised as she put her arms around him. ''What's wrong, baby?'' She asked, hoping that this didn't have anything to do with Cassidy, that he just wanted to see her.

Elliot didn't answer right away, just continued to smell her. This was going to be harder than he thought, being away from her. He also knew that it was going to be hard to work with Cassidy and not want to punch him in the face. He finally pulled his head out of her neck and said, ''I don't know if I can do it, Livvy. I don't know if I can work with him, and just pretend that everything's fine.''

Olivia ran her hand through his hair, which was actually, for him, anyway, getting a little long. He looked like he'd already been running his hand through it, and it was sticking up a bit. It always drove her crazy when it did this. ''Baby, I told you, there's nothing to worry about. Even if he does still feel that way towards me, you know that I don't feel the same way for him. I never will.'' She pulled away from him enough so that she could show him the ring on her finger. ''Look, I'm in this for life. I said that I would marry you. You can relax. Working with him is going to be fine.'' She kissed him softly. ''You need to chill out.''

Elliot knew he needed to chill, he just couldn't help it. He had been in love with her for so long, and now that he had her, it was just unbelievable to him that she was his, and he wasn't going to lose her. It was still sinking in. ''I know it's forever, I just, I can't get used to the fact that you're mine. We're together, we're having a baby, I just can't shake the feeling that no one's going to take you away.'' He knew it sounded stupid.

Olivia answered him by kissing him as deeply and passionately as she could. ''It's going to be fine. We're not ever going to be without each other ever again.'' She wrapped her arms around him and held him as he buried his head in her neck again. She never did want to be without him again. Her time undercover had been the worst time of her life. She had hated being away from him. She never wanted to go through that ever again. She knew he didn't, either. Now that Cassidy had come back into the picture, she hoped that they wouldn't have to deal with that crazy psycho bitch, Dani Beck, who'd worked with Elliot while she'd been away. She hoped not, she'd have to kick her crazy psycho bitch ass. That wasn't something she was looking forward to, even though if she got the chance to, she'd enjoy it.