Hello again! Another update to keep you going ;) Just to note, as one of you did, that I am aware that El and Liv have been taking somewhat of a backseat at the start of this chapter of the saga. It is partially intentional and partially not, but either way will naturally remedy itself very shortly. They have some real meaty challenges to contend with on the horizon. A storm is brewing ;) I think they have been backgrounded slightly to allow for me to set up Calvin, Texas and Eve in their own right so far. Now the carousel will turn slightly for Fin, Sam, Liv and El to step up a little more. Fear not! Of course the other three will still be in on the action, but I just wanted to respond to those of you who commented :)

Thanks again for the R&R, you're awesome!

"Hey Stabler there something going on I should know about?"

"You mean there's something going on in this precinct you don't know about Detective Tutuola?" laughed Elliot, his shirt sleeves rolled up and his collar unbuttoned as he sat at Georgia's desk and skimmed through his notes from earlier that day.

"That's the second time this week the doctor's office have called for Liv."

"You think she's pregnant again?" quipped Elliot drily, having long ago become comfortable with the teasing he had incurred for having so many children so accidentally. "Should I be looking to mortgage the house?"

"They were pretty intense. They said they've been trying to get her in for another appointment for weeks."

"She's still over at Mercy on that night club case from this morning."

"Night club case?" asked Fin, having only arrived to start his shift at lunchtime and evidently missed this particular callout. "Dude your handovers are seriously lacking. How the hell did you ever get back in this unit?"

"I married the boss."

"20 shitty little hours a week and you can't even tell me where the Captain is?"

"You never asked."

"Seriously? She's been gone hours…."

"Girl got the crap beaten out of her at Flaming Red last night. Bathroom stall, drugs, the time of night…." shrugging as he attempted to recall all the details Olivia had given before departing earlier Elliot finished, "… she thought she recognized the MO from a case she worked last year so she wanted to handle this one personally."

"She's gonna work herself into an early grave if she doesn't stop trying to be Detective Benson and Captain Stabler….." noted Fin, and Elliot said nothing because it was nothing he hadn't repeated to Olivia ad nauseam, "… she ain't no spring chicken anymore God love her."

"Raising teenagers makes SVU look like a cake walk. I'd forgotten how exhausting it is. I'm getting too old to keep up with their games."

"Sam's fairly low maintenance though, right?" asked Fin, dancing around the question he really wanted to ask.

"Yeah, yeah he's a great kid. They both are."

"Baby girl doing okay too?" not entirely sure what Eve had told her parents about recent events Fin was careful not to say too much. "She hasn't been round at my place to see Calvin lately….."

"I'll be honest I kind of hoped this thing the two of them have going would've fizzled out by now but…"

"Now not so much?" genuinely surprised Fin couldn't believe Elliot of all people seemed to be coming around to the idea.

"I dunno I guess I just see how happy Mouse is and I figure maybe it's not as bad as we all made out, you know? Like I want to be so against the whole deal but every one of Maureen's boyfriends was boring as sin, Katie dated the mentally unglued for at least a decade and Lizzie's longest relationship to date was with a married man. Calvin might not be catch of the day but he's just her high school boyfriend. When she goes off to college next year they'll be over anyways so I figure…."

"You don't worry about her around him?" because it was what they were all thinking, all feeling, all fighting off because of how endearing Calvin was despite his baggage.

"Course I do but she's not marrying the guy! The second her grades drop, the second she starts sneaking around or he starts making her miserable then they're done. I will call time so fast that boy's head will spin. Until then…." shrugging with a grudging acceptance Elliot smiled, "… what can you do, you know?"

"Ugh 1PP again….." noted Fin, seeing the number flash up on screen as he ignored the phone ringing on his desk , "…. I'm gonna go grab us a coffee and donut and I'll call the Cap on the way and find out what's going on at Mercy."

"Black one sugar and a half glazed half chocolate.

"It's gonna be okay."

"Is it?" laughed Texas bitterly, as Calvin made his way quickly across the room and grabbed for her hand.

"Course it is. You're gonna be just fine, you're not on your own I'm right here. We're gonna figure this out….." perching on the side of her bed he stroked at her hair and face and spoke with a softness in his voice that Olivia had only previously heard him reserve for Eve, "… whatever you wanna do. I got you, you and the baby."

"I think that I need to get some air."

"Livia…." said Calvin, having momentarily forgotten about Olivia's presence on the other side of the bed. Looking across and meeting her eyes he lost his words a moment.

"Calvin I don't even know what to…." chewing hard on her cheek Olivia felt herself ride out so far past anger and frustration and disappointment she could barely hold herself together.

"It's not his."

"Tex don't….." warned Calvin, holding her hand tightly in his lap and shaking his hair. Throwing her warning eyes he insisted, "You don't have to..."

"She's your Livia? The one you never shut up about when we were kids…."

"That isn't…." interjected Calvin quickly, mutteringly, as Olivia's eyes widened and filled with glassy tears.

"I love you for wanting to defend my honour….." said Texas with a shrug, and a faraway little smile that grudgingly accepted her own fate, "….but I won't let you lie: especially to her."

"The baby isn't yours?" asked Olivia, the relief she felt rush in tainted by how breathtakingly, heartbreakingly noble the young man before her had just proved himself to be. "But Cal you…"

"He just doesn't want me to have to tell everyone that I don't know who got me pregnant…." folding her arms across her stomach Texas swallowed slowly, "… only that he paid me afterward."

"Oh sweetheart….." sitting herself back down Olivia reached for Texas' other hand, careful not to jostle the drip feeding into the back of it, "…. you don't have to scared to tell anyone that. At least you don't have to be scared to tell me that. Whatever you might have done in the past, however you might have got here, all that matters now is that you are here. You survived today and we can help you now."

"I don't need help."

"Yeah, yeah you do Tex…." acknowledged Calvin, having learned lately the point at which he was out of his depth and heading Fin's advice, when to admit he couldn't go it alone.

"Cal I…."

"You were already gone before I could tell you that I got Mom into a rehab up in yonkers. She's in there for as long as it takes and I figured out how to pay for it without breaking the law and without you fucking for cash….." the words were so brutal, so raw and so silencing to Olivia as she saw a very different Calvin to the one who was so gentle and contained around her daughter, "…. but I didn't shoot up that 7 Eleven to do it. I did it right, Tex. I gave your 9 and your coke to Fin and he helped me."

"That's very noble of you but…."

"It's over Texas. It's done. That way we lived, that life we had. If you and me don't get out now we're gonna end up dead like Trigger or as good as like Mom….." lifting their clasped hands up to his face Calvin kissed her knuckles and pledged, "… so it's you and me now. I will help you, I will look after you but we're not doing things the old way anymore."

"And you really trust these people?" she asked, and Olivia sensed in the way Texas looked at her in that moment that she knew just exactly what her history was with Calvin. She had yet to discover how far these two went back but she suspected it was far enough for her to know she had broken Calvin's little boy heart.

"Yeah…." nodded Calvin slowly, locking Olivia's gaze and turning the corners of his mouth to a deeply loving smile, "… yeah I do."

"I said no."

"Sweetie?" murmured Olivia, stroking her fingertips lightly against Texas' arm and coaxing softly, "What did you say?"

"It's not like I wasn't asking for it. It's not like I'm a fucking saint but I promise you Cal. I promised you I wouldn't and I told him to stop but….."

"Sweetie that rape kit…."

"I really appreciate what you're trying to do for me m'am but I don't want any of it."

"Tex…." ventured Calvin, stuck so perfectly between the two women as he attempted to walk the line.

"Not because I'm scared or ashamed but just because I'm realistic. I'm not an addict but I was high when it happened and they'll know that. They'll know I willingly took drugs and that I'm hardly the Virgin Mary. What the hell kind of chance does a pregnant whore have against a man she doesn't even recognise?"

"Texas, sweetheart, that is exactly the kind of thinking that means men like that aren't brought to justice for…."

"It was just sex. It was just one more fuck with one more man and I don't even care. It's not like he was the first to get rough, it's not like he was the first one whose face I couldn't pick out of a line up. The only difference between the guy last night and all the others was that he didn't leave a tip."

"The difference between the guy last night and all the others was that you told him no, you asked him to stop and that makes it rape Texas." Insisted Olivia, refusing to tolerate any excuse for the violation perpetrated.

"I won't press charges. I won't be your victim. I hear what you're saying and I admire your cause, I respect what you're trying to do but I don't want your help. I do just fine on my own."

"You're not on your own…." came Calvin's low, growled determination as he continued to clutch tightly at her hand.

"Okay, okay well I can't force you…." nodded Olivia slowly, gathering up her purse and jacket and setting her business card down on the nightstand, "….but if you change your mind I'm only a phone call away."

"Elliot you should've seen how quick Cal was to claim that baby."

"I don't even know where to start with how messed up this is Liv."

"I know."

"I can't even wrap my head around it."

"The worst part is I was stood there looking at this brave, loyal, beautiful boy and I was so proud of him. I was so admiring of how he didn't even hesitate before he stepped up and reassured that poor girl that he'd be there for her."

"Which is all very honourable and…."

"I mean the way he was with her was pretty incredible. He really is a gentle giant."

"I know when you're working your way up to a pretty overwhelming but…."

"I can't let him date our daughter anymore El."

"Wow….."

"I feel sick. I've felt physically sick all day about it and I've gone over and over it in my head and my heart but I just keep coming back around to the same answer. I can't let my little girl be part of his world."

"You realise it'll break her heart?" he was on her side, she knew that. Everything about Elliot's body language and the tone in his voice told her so. He just knew what she did, that there was going to be no easy way to break this news to Eve. "This is going to be hell on her."

"What Calvin did today was so noble and speaks volumes as to his character but the fact of the matter is that I stood there and watched him commit to raising that woman's child with her."

"I don't disagree with you, babe. We always knew that this was a huge gamble, a huge risk we were taking letting them even go this far. He's older than her and he let's face it their lives are not exactly on the same page."

"Vivian is in rehab, I don't think this Texas girl is an addict but she's not clean either. Now she's pregnant by a man who paid her for sex. I can't let Evie be part of any of that and still get to sleep at night."

"Then we'll sit her down. We'll talk to her. We'll talk to her like the adult she insists she is and we'll lay down the law. We let it go so far but now it's time to call time. We'll tell her that we know she loves him but that she's sixteen years old and we're her parents and whether she likes it or not we're not going to allow her to date Calvin anymore."

"You'll have my back?" smiled Olivia, profoundly relieved when Elliot squeezed her shoulder and winked.

"I always do…" and then because he knew just what kind of day she'd had and just how hard it was going to be for her to talk to Eve he volunteered, "… heck I'll even start the conversation if you want?"

"She's going to hate us. There's going to be war."

"Raising a teenager is pretty much a constant battle, but I'm willing to fight a war to protect our girl."

"We're not saying she can't ever seen him again. I know that line is blurry. I know we're supposed to set clear boundaries and that's going to be impossible to do here but I don't see a way around it. Calvin is still living at Fin's place and helping him put Vivian through rehab so it's not like their paths won't ever cross again."

"It's gonna be really hard for her to handle that."

"I know, I know it is but Elliot I don't think I can just cut and run and I can't ask Fin to either. I think that for as much as I would never forgive myself for not protecting Eve the same would be true if I let Calvin down again."

"You sure don't like to make life easy for yourself, do you Captain Stabler?"

"Oh Elliot you should've seen him today. I couldn't handle it. On the one hand I was exploding inside trying to figure out how I ever let my daughter date him and on the other I was thinking how he might just be the sweetest boy I ever met."

"Calvin Arliss, ladies and gentleman, the dark knight."

"He would've let me believe that child she's carrying was his rather than make her have to admit the truth. Even with all that it would mean. Even with all he stood to lose."

"Are we really sure it isn't his?"

"Calvin wouldn't lie to me…." said Olivia without hesitation, with absolute and unwavering conviction, "…. I just know he wouldn't. That kid has a lot of faults but by God he's honest."

"So we talk to Mouse at the weekend?"

"Yeah….." and then because there was nothing more to be said Olivia simply exhaled heavily and nodded, "… yeah."

"Hey, so Fin was saying earlier how the doctor's office had called?" frowning lightly Elliot searched her tired face and asked, "Everything alright?"

"Oh yeah, no, it's nothing I just had a routine appointment the other week and said how I'd been so tired lately so they were running some blood work. I'll call them back when I get chance."

"Is tired all you are babe?" he asked, stroking at her leg and feeling his way along what was always uncomfortable territory for him. He wasn't particularly good with the emotional or the medical and if it was anything decidedly female he was painfully awkward about it despite a lifetime around women.

"Elliot I run an NYPD precinct, my sixteen year old is dating a chisel jawed train wreck and my fourteen year old just got detention again for not turning in his English paper. Tired is an understatement, it's a miracle I'm still vertical!"

"I've been telling you for years you need to slow down….."

"And I've been telling you for years that I'm fine and you worry too much…." she smiled, leaning over and kissing him softly as they enjoyed the calm before the inevitable storm the following morning. 'No' was not a word in Eve Stabler's vocabulary and telling her that she was forbidden to date Calvin Arliss was almost certain to end in tears, screaming and the threat of apocalypse.

"I just don't….." gritting her teeth so hard Eve felt her temples begin to pound, "…. I don't understand…."

"Texas needs my help."

"But it's not your baby….." wrinkling her nose and knowing his having lied would be the end of her life for sure she whispered, "… it isn't your baby, right?"

"No, no it isn't mine."

"So….."

"You ride a bike?" asked Calvin, his hands sunk deep into the pockets of his jeans and his shoulders hunched as he peered at her through the curtains of hair in his face. "Can you ride a bike Bambi?"

"Yeah, yeah I can ride a bike."

"Who taught you?" he asked, shifting his weight between feet.

"My Dad, my Dad taught me but what has that got to do with…."

"Ride a bike, bait a line, start a fire to roast those weird marshmallow things you like."

"Smores."

"I know Elliot did all those things with you. You told me. Bambi I don't expect you to understand. I'm not saying that be an ass. I just mean that someone raised the way you were can't ever understand why I gotta do this. Nothing bad in that, just…."

"I know you care about her and I love that you do. I want you to help her. I will help you help her you know I will. We can help her fix up a room for the baby and shop for cute little clothes and booties and…."

"It's not enough Evie."

"It could be…."

"No, no it couldn't. Someone has to be different, someone has to make this stop, someone has to end this….." dragging his brows together in a deep furrow Calvin sighed broodingly, "… this fucking circle we're all trapped in."

"Who's trapped in?"

"Texas isn't a junkie. She's strong. She's not like my Mom. She has a real shot at finishing her diploma and being an RN and she wants to keep this baby. Even after how she got it she wants to keep it and that's some freakish kind of brave or stupid I don't even know. All I know is that I grew up with a single Mom who couldn't cope and a Dad who walked away."

"But you're not its Dad!"

"That doesn't matter."

"It matters to me!" her voice high, strained, breaking as she realised that which she loved so dearly was slipping out of her grasp. "You're committing to a girl you don't love and a kid that's not even yours! How is that right? How is that fair?"

"I love Tex."

"But you're in love with me!" yelled Eve, her voice sharp as cut glass and her balled fists and teary eyes betraying her. She was painfully sixteen and she just couldn't understand.

"And what happens when you go off to college next year Bambi? What happens when you figure out that you can do a million times better than me and you marry some doctor or lawyer or candlestick maker and I'm just left here waiting like a fucking idiot."

"That wouldn't ever happen, it just won't and…."

"You know what this time next year will look like for Tex and that kid if I don't do this? She'll have dropped out of college because she can't afford to have someone watch the baby. She'll be screwing strangers to survive. She'll be fucked up because she hates herself for doing it and you know what that kid will grow up thinking?"

"I….."

"That it's his fault."

"Cal…." they were breaking up, she knew it then. She knew it in that moment when she looked in his eyes and realised how his mind was made up and not even she could dissuade him.

"She'll ignore him because she can't stand to look him in the eye. He'll think she hates him. He'll think he made her that way. He'll grow up believing that he's the reason everything is just so fucking messed up."

"Texas isn't your Mom…." gasped Eve, throwing her arms around his neck and clinging to him while she still could. Though she may not have understood all the intricacies of his decisions he understood him. She knew he was trying to rewrite history and it was as destructive as it was beautiful.

"Not yet she isn't."

"I love you Calvin. I love you, I love you and I will be in love with you always and the worst part about this is that I can't even hate you….." she couldn't cry, she wouldn't cry, she needed to show him she wasn't a child and that she could be strong, "… I wish I could hate you."

"I've had the best time with you Bambi. You know we always talk about how you're so young like it's a bad thing but it's not. I'm just jealous. I wish I remember what that felt like. You gotta hang on to sixteen, don't be in such a fucking hurry to grow up…" reaching out he stroked her face, running his thumb down her nose and then pressing it like a button, "… you'll be there soon enough."

"Calvin….." though she had fought valiantly, tears over whelmed her and poured silently from crestfallen eyes.

"I love you Evie G….." sliding his hand to the nape of her neck he drew her in for a lingering kiss and inhaled the last taste of her, "… now go be a kid and just forget about loving me."

"That isn't possible."

"Go inside now…." he choked gruffly, and when he turned away she knew it was because he didn't want her to see him weak, "… go be with your family."

"I'll see you around Cal." Nodding quickly, she didn't touch him again, didn't try to meet his gaze.

Instead she ran up the drive way and threw herself into the house, slamming the door hard behind her and leaning her back against it. Gasping, gulping for air she felt her eyes burn as white hot tears seared her cheeks as her knees went from under her, and she slid down to the floor in a broken heap.

"Liv? Hey, babe?"

"What?" asked Olivia, looking up to Elliot's stricken face in the kitchen doorway as he looked down the hallway to the front door.

"Come quick….." holding out his hand and beckoning her he grabbed at her waist when she was close enough, turning her around and nodding his head at Eve sobbing on the doormat, "….I think someone else started the conversation."

"Will you make me a camomile tea in her Yankee's mug and leave it by the couch? And then go run a hot, hot bath? Use the fancy bubbles on my dresser?"

"What the hell did I do to deserve you…." smiled Elliot with a loving sigh, leaning down and pressing a kiss against her temple and thanking God for her one more time, "… okay, okay I'm on it. Go take care of our girl."