Time for Elliot to face his kids.
Chapter 11
Olivia pulled up to the hotel and turned off the ignition. She turned to Dickie who was staring straight ahead; he hadn't said a word since they had left the house.
"You okay?" she asked him.
He nodded and turned to face her "I guess I'm just a little scared to see him….. You know with him being in a wheelchair."
Olivia put a hand on his shoulder "he is still the same person, he is still your dad whether he is in the chair or not…. You have nothing to be scared of."
"Yeah," he said as he took a deep breath and removed his seat belt.
"Come on then," said Olivia climbing out the car. Dickie got out and followed her into the hotel. "I will go in and ask Munch to come with me, before you go in." She stopped by the room. "Wait here," she told him with a smile "and stop worrying."
She opened the door and walked in.
Elliot's head shot up when he heard the door open, him and Munch were sitting watching TV.
"Liv," he said spinning round in the chair, "How did it go? Are they okay? Do they want to see me?" She held her hand up.
"Whoa Baby one question at time," she smiled. "It went as expected, but before I tell you anymore I need a quick word with Munch."
"Why?" he asked her.
"I just do…..John," she said nodding towards the door. Munch got up and followed her to the door looking at Elliot and shrugging his shoulders as he followed her out. Olivia shut the door behind him leaving Elliot alone in the room. As he got outside he looked at Dickie and smiled.
"Dickie wanted to see Elliot alone," she told him. "I thought we could go grab a coffee till their ready to head back to see the girls."
"Sounds good to me," smiled Munch.
Olivia looked at Dickie "I will be in the coffee shop across the road if you need me, you have my number."
"Yeah thanks," he said trying to smile. He took a deep breath and turned towards the door and put his hand on the handle…
Elliot sat in the room staring at the door, waiting for her to come back in. He was starting to worry. Why didn't she tell him what was going on, what had happened. Why take Munch out the room. He turned his chair towards the table and picked up the beer he was drinking to try and calm himself down. He heard the door open.
"About time Liv….." he said putting his beer down and spinning his chair round. He froze as he came face to face with his son.
"Hey Dad," said Dickie not moving from where he stood.
Elliot didn't move, he just sat looking at his son for a few moments "Hey," he replied quietly, tears flowing from his eyes, as he looked at his son who he never thought he would see again. He didn't know what to say, as they just stared at each other.
Dickie looked at his dad. He looked exactly the same as the last time he had seen, a little thinner but he looked the same except for the chair. He saw the tears falling on his Dads face as they both didn't move or speak they just stared at each other.
Elliot wiped his eyes "I…I'm so sorry, Son. I had to do what I done, I…" he stuttered as he tried to explain. He never got to finish as Dickie ran towards and flung himself on to him wrapping his arms tight around Elliot as he cried.
"I missed you so much Dad," he sobbed as his dad held him tight.
"God I missed you to, everyday Dickie," he said holding him tight. "Every single day." No more words were spoken as they both cried and hugged each other.
Outside the door Olivia moved her head away and smiled at Munch. "Let's go get that coffee," she said to him.
"Dad," said Dickie his voice muffled into Elliot's shoulder. "I …cant breath; you need to loosen up a bit."
Elliot smiled and released his grip on him and Dickie stood up straight. They both wiped their eyes and looked at each other.
"You got so big," said Elliot as he looked at him.
"Well it has been almost three years."
"Yeah it has," said Elliot looking down. "I guess I missed a lot."
"Yeah I guess you have" he said looking at his dad and smiling. "But your home now…" he dropped his head. "God I wanted to be so angry with you, for leaving us…. But I can't," he said as he walked past his Dad to the hotel fridge and took out two beers. Elliot spun round and looked at his Son raising an eyebrow as Dickie popped the tops off and handed one to Elliot.
"Erm…." He said looking at the beers.
"Seriously Dad, Three years and the first thing you're going to do is have a go," he grinned. "I think I need one after today, and I hate to tell you this but I do drink now, and go to parties, I aint a little kid anymore."
Elliot laughed and took a drink "Yeah okay point taken," he said as Dickie sat on the chair next to him and turned it to face Elliot. Elliot took a drink of the beer before he spoke again. "You have to know I didn't have a choice, when I left."
"I know Dad, Livvy and Don explained everything….. I was angry at first, at you for leaving us, I kinda freaked out a bit and stormed out." He told him. "Accused Livvy of knowing you weren't dead…and keeping it from us."
"She didn't know, I promise you."
"I know she came after me and told me everything…. I don't hate you Dad, don't ever think that."
Elliot took a deep breath and let it out "God it's so good to hear you say that. I was so worried you would hate me for leaving and…."
"I understand why you had to leave and why you did it. I'm more angry at the guy who took the hit out on you and the FBI for not doing their job properly. I know you only left to protect us, I'm just glad the truth came out and we got you back. It's been awful these last three years… Especially just after we were told about the crash….." Dickie dropped his head not looking at Elliot.
"Hey it's okay, whatever happened is in the past now." He said putting a hand on his shoulder.
"It's just I got angry with everyone. I hated you for leaving us; I hated Mom for moving away from New York and taking us with her. I had a go at Livvy cause she didn't look after you like she promised. I got into loads of fights; I almost got kicked out of school. If it weren't for Livvy putting in a good word…"
"Son that's all over now. I'm just sorry you had to go through all that. You will never know how much I wanted to call you all, let you know I was okay. I just couldn't risk it. I had to keep you safe."
"And who was keeping you safe?" asked Dickie looking at his Dads legs and the wheelchair, the room falling silent again.
"It's not permanent," he told Dickie "this thing," he said tapping the side of the chair. "It's only till I get the strength back in my legs….and I will, I will walk again."
"What made you do it Dad, what made you go into that building by yourself? All those years as a cop, you know to always have back up."
"I have asked myself that question over and over especially when I was in the hospital and I always come up with same answer. I had to save that little girl. I didn't have a choice….. And at the time I had nothing to lose."
Dickie looked at him "What do you mean, you had nothing to lose?"
"I had nothing at the time. I thought I would never see you and the girls again. Olivia, my Mom, your Mom. I didn't have anyone. So I went after her alone, I didn't want to put anyone else's life in danger. All the men in my Section had families to go home to ….. I had no one. You already thought I was dead." Dickie held the tears back as he listened to his dad talk.
"Is that why you went back into the Marines, I mean you could have went anywhere, had an easy life?"
"What do you mean?"
"When you used to tell me stories about your time in the Marines you always said it was like a family, so is that why you re-joined? To have a family."
"Yeah I guess it was, in a way, plus I just needed to keep myself busy. Could you really see me doing a 9-5 job somewhere?"
"I guess not," said Dickie smiling. Elliot finished is beer and pushed himself to the fridge and took another two out.
"So how are your Sisters?" he asked him. "How did they handle the news?"
"They are all good and they handled it a bit better than me, at least they didn't storm to the beach with no coat on in the middle of winter. They can't wait to see you. They knew I wanted to see you alone first so they told me to come with Livvy to pick you up… Do you want to leave now to go and see them?" he asked, praying the answer would be no. He didn't want to share his dad just yet.
Elliot shook his head "No not yet, we can finish our beers first. I never thought I would ever see the day when I would be having a beer with my son, I don't need to rush it."
"Great," said Dickie with a huge smile on his face. "I don't think I want to share you with girls just yet." Elliot pushed his chair over to him and handed him the beer. "Welcome home Dad," he said as he took the beer from Elliot and raised the bottle.
"It's good to be home Son," he said clinking his bottles against Dickies before drinking it.
Olivia looked at her watch then at Munch "It's been two hours, do you think everything is okay up there."
"What you mean you're worried about leaving two Stabler men in the same room together," said Munch looking at her form over his newspaper.
"Maybe we should head back up…. I mean the girls will be wanting to see him." she said standing up. Munch got up and followed her.
"If we hear any yelling you can go in first. There is no way I am getting in-between to Stablers, just calming one down is bad enough."
Olivia glared at Munch "You're not funny John."
He shrugged his shoulders "Just saying."
They stood outside the room and Olivia put her head to the door trying to listen inside. "I can't hear anything." She knocked gently on the door and entered the room. She shook her head at the sight in front of her. Elliot and Dickie were both sat on the couch, feet on table in front of them surrounded by empty beer bottles watching TV.
"Hey Livvy," said Dickie pushing himself up off the couch and wobbling slightly. "Me and dad have been catching up."
"So I see," she smiled. "Just how many of those beers did you have whilst catching up?" she asked them raising her eyebrow.
"Ooops I think we just been busted," grinned Elliot, pushing himself forward.
"Livvy is cool she won't tell Mom," said Dickie walking up to Olivia and putting his arms around her and hugging her tight. Elliot looked at his son and Olivia and smiled as he realised how close they had become since he had been away. He reached over and pulled his chair closer to the couch and climbed in.
"You ready to go and see your girls now?" she asked him as he pushed himself round the couch and banged into the table leg. "Stupid fucking thing," he cursed as he backed up and tried again.
Dickie started to laughing "hey dad can you get a DUI when you're in that thing." Olivia began to laugh with Dickie, whilst Munch just shook his head. Elliot just looked at the two of them.
"Come on let's get out of here, we need to try and sober up a bit before I get you home to your mom," he said to Dickie. "Otherwise you really are going to be going to my funeral."
Elliot and Olivia took the back seat and let Munch and Dickie in the front. Within minutes of setting off Dickie had fallen asleep, and they all drove along in silence with the only noise from the radio.
"How much did he have?" asked Olivia taking hold of Elliot's hand about twenty minutes into the journey.
"Only four bottles, I'm sure he drinks more than that at the parties he goes to. I think it just hit him a bit quicker with everything that has happened today. All the emotions he went through."
"So everything went okay?"
"Yeah it was great Liv. I really thought he was going to take it badly and hate me, but he Is more pissed with the FBI, he hates them for what they put us through."
"Like father like son Huh," she smiled turning her head and staring at Elliot. "I still can't believe your home," she said turning her body to face him properly. "I keep expecting to wake up and find out it's all been a dream and none of this is real."
Elliot reached over and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear "It's real Liv," he said as he pulled her head towards him and kissed her softly on the lips. "Does….that…..feel…..like….its…not …real?" he asked kissing her softly between each kiss.
"No that feels pretty real to me," she said before kissing him and sliding her tongue in to meet his and moaned into his mouth. "Feels pretty good as well."
"Yeah it does," he agreed as his mouth moved and he kissed and sucked her neck gently.
Dickie woke up and looked into the back of the car and quickly turned back around as he saw his Dad and Olivia making out.
"Ah man, you could have warned me," he said to Munch, who was sitting with a stupid grin on his face. "Have they been like this since they seen each other? Since Dad got home."
"In-between all the fighting, yeah pretty much."
Dickie smiled and glanced back "It's pretty cool aint it," he smiled.
"Yeah Kid I guess it is, after everything that's happened they both deserve some happiness."
Elliot broke away from Olivia and dropped his forehead to hers as they listened to Munch and Dickie talking over the song on the radio "I love you," he whispered to her running his finger down over her cheek.
"Right back at ya Stabler," she said dropping her head to his shoulder and cuddling into him for the remainder of the journey.
Dickie jumped out the car and ran round to the back getting Elliot's chair out for him and put it up. He opened the back door and helped his dad into the chair.
"You okay dad?" he asked him.
"Yeah, just nervous."
"Believe me dad you have nothing to be nervous about, the girls will be fine, come on," he said all excited heading up to the house.
"It will be fine," she said to him. "This is the last hard bit, after this everyone else will be a piece of cake."
"Yeah, your right. Once I have seen the girls I can start living my life instead of hiding away."
"Just promise me one thing." She said to him beginning to laugh.
"What's that?"
"When you come to the station and see Tucker for the first, make sure I'm with you. Can't wait to see his face when he realises your actually alive and we are back together," she grinned at him. "The guy is going to shit bricks."
They headed into the house behind Dickie and Elliot stopped as he got into the door way, as Dickie headed into the living room where he could hear everyone talking. As Dickie walked in the girls all stopped talking and turned to face him. They all looked past him looking for their Dad.
"Where is he?" asked Kat as they all stood up.
"Did he not come with you?" asked Maureen. "Did he not want to see us?"
"Of course I did Sweetheart," said Elliot from behind Dickie. Dickie moved to the side and Elliot pushed his chair forward. The girls all just stood and looked at him, nobody spoke or moved.
"Wow," said Elliot. "If I knew faking my death, then reappearing after two years was all it took to shut the three of you up I would have done it years ago," he said smiling, he heard Dickie chuckle from the side of him.
"Yeah and after Two years of working away, with no allowance to pay out, you would think you could afford a better set of wheels. Is the Porsche in the garage?" Said Kat running towards Elliot and flinging her arms around him followed by Maureen.
"God we missed you Daddy," sobbed Maureen as his they held him pushing him back in his chair.
"I missed you all, so much," he told them as more tears fell and they all hugged each other. Elliot looked up from his two older girls'; Lizzy was still just stood looking at Elliot, tears streaming down her face.
"Lizzy…Baby Girl, you okay?" he asked her.
Lizzy shook her head and started to back out the room, as she got to the door way she turned and ran, a few seconds later they all heard her bedroom door slam shut. Everyone looked at each other in silence.
"I'll go," said Dickie, going to leave the room.
"No," said Elliot grabbing his arm. "I will." He looked at his other two daughters. "Do you mind?" he asked them.
"No dad, it fine, go see her," said Kat. "We can wait." Both the girls bent over and kissed each cheek.
"I love you, both," he said as he followed Lizzy down to her room.
"Well…" said Kat looking round at everyone.
"Really Kat, you don't see your dad for all this time and the first thing you do is joke about the wheelchair," said Maureen laughing.
She shrugged her shoulders "What can I say I don't like tension," she laughed back. "Come on let's get this party started," she said getting a bottle of wine out the fridge and throwing a bottle of beer to Dickie. Dickie looked at Olivia who just shook her head and smiled as he popped the top and took a drink.
Elliot knocked on Lizzy's door, when he didn't get an answer he pushed the door open slowly and went into the room. Lizzy was lay on one of the tow beds in the room her back to the door. Elliot could hear her crying and his heart broke.
"Lizzy….Baby…" he said rolling his chair up to the bed. "I'm so sorry, for everything. You have to believe me the last thing I wanted to do was leave you all, especially you kids. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I love you all so much."
Lizzy kept her back to him "Lizzy, turn around …..please," he begged her.
Lizzy shook her head "I can't," she said through her crying.
"Why not? He asked her moving closer and putting a hand on her back.
"Because, I'm scared that if I look at you and reach out to touch you, you will just disappear. Like you do every other night in my dreams."
"Ooh baby I'm not going anywhere this time I promise you. I'm back and I'm staying, I promise you."
"You can't make that promise, you promised me before you would always look after me and be there to keep me safe. You lied ….. you left me… you broke your promise."
Elliot sighed "Lizzy I had to go. To keep my promise to keep you safe I had to go. I couldn't risk you all being killed; I needed to look after you."
"But I missed you so much, I was so angry with you for breaking your promise."
"There is nothing wrong with being angry with me; I understand that, I really do. But I need you to know I am not going anywhere, not until god decides it's my time."
He heard her sniffle as she wiped her nose on her sleeve. "You promise?"
"I promise. And if you want we can get a legal contract drawn up, which gives you permission to kick my ass if I ever break that promise to you again."
He heard her laugh a little laugh. "Now you gonna turn around so I can see your beautiful face, that I have only seen in my dreams for the last two years."
Lizzy sat up on the bed and turned to face her Dad, wiping her eyes. She looked up at him and gave a little smile.
"Come here," he said holding out a hand to her. Lizzy took his hand and Elliot pulled her to him sitting her on his knee and wrapping his arms around her. "I love you so much," he told her wiping her tears away. "You're always going to be my baby girl, you know that right," he told her as she wrapped her arms around him holding him tight. She nodded her head.
"I love you Daddy," she told him as she hugged him. "I'm so glad you came back to us."
"Me to baby, me to."
Elliot looked over his shoulder as he heard someone come in the room.
"Everything okay?" asked Olivia as she looked at Lizzy sat on Elliot's knee hugging him tight as she cried.
"Everything is great," said Elliot smiling at her. "I love you," he mouthed to her. Olivia walked over to him and kissed the top of his head.
"There is beer, wine and food when you're ready, just take your time," she said walking out the room and leaving Elliot to spend some time with his youngest child.
"Is everything okay?" asked Kathy as Olivia came back into the room and picked up her wine glass.
"Yeah everything is good, in fact everything is great. For the first time since he left I don't feel like bursting into tears," she said to Kathy as she looked around the room at everyone's smiling faces.
"Yeah, I know what you mean, just look at the kids, it's like it's not real." She put her arm around Olivia's shoulder "How's things with you and Elliot?"
"Great, a few problems at first but we will sort through them."
"I hope none of them are because of me, because of mine and Elliot's past?"
"No they aren't, however I think Elliot is a bit worried about the fact your married again and living in Florida with the kids."
"Well I have been thinking about that. Once everything has settled down why don't you and Elliot come down for a holiday, relax a little in the sun. Up until then, if the kids want to stay here for a little with you and Elliot then that's fine with me."
"You wouldn't mind us coming down, what about Mike?"
"He knows all about Elliot, hell the kids talk about him all the time, it was him that suggested you both coming down."
"I suppose the kids could stay at my place and with Elliot if they do stay, we could always change their flights so they get back down before school starts again. Why don't we leave it till the morning and I will speak to Elliot about the trip and you can speak to the kids."
Kathy nodded in agreement as Elliot and Lizzy came back in the room. Dickie went up and hugged his sister as the two older girls hugged their dad again. Olivia took a bottle of beer over to Elliot before walking over to Munch, Fin and Bernie.
"I have told Don and John to use the hotel room, as I am having you and Elliot staying here tonight. I don't think the kids will let him go anywhere right now," said Bernie looking over at them all sat on the couch with Elliot in front of them.
"We will come and see you tomorrow to see if you're staying on here or heading back with us," said Don.
Olivia nodded and hugged Don and then Munch "Thank you for everything. Me and Kathy have a few ideas and some plans, so we will know tomorrow what is going to happen. But for now I just want to relax and celebrate, everything else can wait," she said turning round and looking Elliot.
Up next Elliot goes back to the station, and a little more Elliot and Olivia alone time. Hope your all still enjoying this. I have an idea I am working on for a new story after the Season Premier. (So many stories can come from those few moments when she talked about Elliot). Don't forget to keep the reviews coming.
