A/N: The squad returns to its floor, complete with shiny, new, whole desks! Is Tucker going to tell Elliot? What's he going to say? Olivia picks a baby name that surprises Elliot...but, really, it was unavoidable.
DISCLAIMER: SVU and its Characters belong to Dick Wolf. Storyline and dialogue, and narrative belong to TStabler©
"Holy shiny squadroom, Batman!" Munch exclaimed, walking into the bullpen. The walls were freshly painted, stark white. Everyone had a new desk, not just Olivia and Elliot. The coffee corner was now fully stocked, not only with coffee and milk, but with fresh fruit, juice, water and decaffeinated tea, all labeled with Olivia's name, and a note from Tucker declaring anyone else who touched "her shit" would die a horrible death. The floor was retiled, there were new filing cabinets and even the double-sided-mirrors in the interrogation rooms had been replaced.
"You keep getting weirder and weirder," Elliot said, in response to Munch's comment. "And what the hell is up with Tucker trying to take care of my wife and kid?"
"Wife?" Fin asked, raising an eyebrow.
Elliot snapped his head toward him. "What?" Fin chuckled, Olivia looked shocked, but had a smile on her face. She enjoyed that little slip of the tongue. "You just called Olivia your wife," Munch said.
"Well, in two weeks she will be. Maybe my brain's already there, ya know?" Elliot smiled at his woman, glowing and beautiful, and he winked at her. "Seriously, Munch, you're the conspiracy guy. Do you think the government got a hold of Tucker and brainwashed him? Maybe he's a pod person, like in that Bodysnatcher movie. He is being really...nice." He walked over to the table grabbed an orange and a bottle of water and put them on Olivia's desk, kissed her on the forehead and sat down in his seat.
"Great," Olivia said, watching Elliot suspiciously. "Now I have to deal with you being extra attentive and forcing vitamins down my throat at work, too. Remind me to thank Tucker. What says 'thank you' more, my foot up his ass or my pen in his eye?"
The group chuckled. "Liv, baby, I just wanna take care of you. That's my job. Not fucking Tucker's, that's for damn sure. That man is up to something, Liv. I know it. He's trying to sweeten us up, make us like him, then he's gonna drop some kind of bomb on us."
"Please," Munch said, sitting in his new desk. "Don't say 'bomb' in here."
Cragen stepped out of his office, his shoulder out of its sling and he folded his arms for the first time in a week. It felt great. "Benson, Stabler. Officer involved DV on Forty-Fifth. Children involved," he said, handing them a pink slip of paper. "Handle it delicately."
They rolled up to the address in a maroon sedan, their blue light flashing on the dash, and they stepped out of the car. On their way up to the apartment door, they ran into Tucker. "Oh, hide me," Olivia said. "He's gonna sing to the baby, or make me eat spinach." She hid herself halfway behind Elliot as he chuckled. "Ed," Elliot said, "What's the story here?"
"Oh, um, Vicars from the 2-9 came home drunk, hit his wife a few times after she confronted him, then when his son tried to stop him..."
"Okay," Elliot said, instantly picturing a scene from his own childhood, "We get the picture. We need to get the story from the wife and kid, so, could you maybe, be a dear, and get out of the way?"
"Hey, Stabler, do you think Benson can handle this on her own for a few minutes?" Tucker asked, putting his hands in his pockets.
"No," Elliot said. "Whatever you're gonna yell at me for can wait till we're done. I'm not going to let my pregnant partner go anywhere alone." He wrapped an arm around Olivia's back and walked with her into the building.
Tucker had been pacing back and forth for over an hour, glancing at his watch every three minutes. "Fucking hell, how long does it take to get a few people to talk about what their psycho father did?"
"It took Liv four years to get it out of me," Elliot said, coming back out of the apartment. "We got a full statement from the son, only a partial one from the wife and Vicars, God help him, tried to hit Liv. She's bringing him out now."
Olivia came out, smirking and yelling at the man she was holding, in cuffs that she made sure were too tight, his nose crooked and bloodied. "What was that, Vicars? What did you just call me? I'm a bitch?" She shoved him roughly into a squad car, accidentally hitting his head on the hood. "Let's see how long it takes for you tobecome one at Rikers." She slammed the door and was stunned when she turned to see Tucker in her face.
"Did he hurt you? Did he hurt the baby? I'll kill him," Tucker yelled.
Olivia, confused, said "No, he didn't hurt me, he didn't even touch me. What has gotten into you, Tucker?" Ed spun around. "I'm worried about my family, okay?" he spat, running a hand through his hair. "So, go fawn all over them!" Olivia yelled. She moved to walk away, when Tucker screamed, "I am!"
Olivia and Elliot gaped at him. "I'm sorry, what?" Elliot gasped. "When, in the last three years, did you start considering us family?"
"Fuck, Elliot. You've been my family for thirty!" Tucker sighed, stepping toward the two detectives. "We need to talk. There's something you need to know."
Elliot and Olivia followed Tucker into the café across the street, nervous, confused and a little pissed. Ed led them to a booth in the back, scooted in on one side, and gestured for the couple to take the other side. "I'm going to talk, I need you to listen. Please, do not interrupt me, don't say anything until I'm done. Can you do that?"
"Yeah," Elliot nodded. "I'm not speaking for Liv, though. Ow!" She elbowed him in the ribs, and he chuckled, placing a soft kiss to the top of her head. Tucker looked on with a smile. They were so happy togther.
"Okay. Elliot, I knew your father, Joe. We were in the same unit for a while, when I was just a rookie. He used to bring your mother to all of the balls and banquets and he told me she loved getting dressed up, made her feel like 'a princess' he used to say." Tucker watched as Elliot nodded. "Well, one year, the night before the Black and White Ball, the one you two have been going to together 'as partners' for the last three years, Joe got a call. The case was rough, hard, serial killer running loose and they didn't have a lot of time before he hit again, so he had to stay at work. He didn't want to let your mother down, so he asked if I would take her."
Elliot held up a hand. "Okay, so you did my dad a favor. That doesn't make us fam..." Tucker glared at him and said, "Don't interrupt!" Elliot nodded and put his hand down, wrapping around Olivia instead.
Tucker went on. "I told him I would. I picked Bernie up at seven and she looked beautiful. Your mother was gorgeous, Elliot. We spent a lot of time talking, dancing, having a really nice time. She told me things...about your father. What he used to do to her, and your sister, and my heart broke for her. It occurred to me, then, that she needed to be kissed, so I kissed her."
"You kissed my mother? Who did my father try to kill first, you or her?" Eliot said, running a hand through his hair.
"Elliot, please, this is hard enough. She didn't turn away from me, or stop me, or slap me, and it felt so...perfect. That night, when I dropped her off, she invited me inside for coffee. We had coffee, talked a little more, and I can't remember how but we ended up..."
"Holy shit! You slept with my mother!" Elliot yelled. The people in the tables next to them stopped taking and turned around. Olivia looked up and said, "Oh, we're actors! Just rehearsing. Go about your business." She clenched Elliot's hand tightly as they watched Tucker's head drop.
"Christ, Elliot. Yes, I did. She told me, in the morning, that she'd never felt so loved before. Your mother and I had a long affair, Elliot. For almost two years. Your father never suspected a damn thing, but when she got pregnant, he found out. Bernie called me, told me that Joe knew about the baby. He knew and he was making her keep it. He wanted me out of their lives, of course, he wanted to raise it as his own. He was just going to let everything go, forgive her, but he promised that he would make the kid's life hell. You were that kid. She sent me letters, and pictures, and everything she could from your life. An extra copy of your senior yearbook, a program from your Marine Corps graduation, wedding pictures, photos of the kids as they arrived, and then when you walked into One-P-P five years ago in your uniform, I didn't know what to do. I wanted to tell you, then, but I chickened out. A year later, you transferred into SVU and I watched you pummel the shit out of perps and your temper flared just like Joe's and I kicked myself everyday for letting him raise you, because it's not in your genes to be that angry, Elliot, that was learned from him. Then when Benson came along, she calmed you down, a little at least, and I saw what was happening. I wasn't about to let my son put his career at risk by falling in love with his partner, so I tried like hell to screw with you guys. I see, now, that even fucking bombs can't blow you two apart." Tucker wiped his eyes, he had been crying, and he sniffled. "You can talk now."
"You're my father? And you knew...my whole life, you knew? My mother cheated on my father, that's hard enough to stomach, but to find out that you are my father...God, that was almost illegal! What were you, like, twenty?"
"Twenty-five, Elliot. My age had nothing to do with it, I fell in love with your mother, you weren't a product of a one-night-stand, or a meaningless fling. I really did love Bernie. And I really do love you. And your kids, and Olivia and that new little life she's got inside of her. I had to stay away, Elliot, your father would have..."
"Killed us all, I know." Elliot was shaking, he didn't know what to do, say, or even think. He just got up and ran out of the coffee shop. "El!" Olivia called. She got up, too, and looked down at Tucker. "I'll talk to him," she sighed. "Thank you for telling him." She rested a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, then ran after Elliot.
He was still lying awake in their bed at three A.M. She was awake because she couldn't sleep if he wasn't sleeping. They were both naked, entangled, staring at the ceiling. She had been tracing the outline of his tattoo for the last ten minutes, he blinked. "That feels good," he whispered. "Really good."
"I have magic powers, didn't you know?" she joked in a similar whisper. Then she grew serious. "Are you all right? Your life was just ripped out from under you like a cheap rug. I know what that feels like, and it hurts."
"I'm fine. Part of me knew my father wasn't my father, Liv. He used to mumble something about 'the damn kid not even being his' every once in a while. Pretty good hint," Elliot said, trying to get closer to Olivia, which wasn't possible; they were already wound around each other tightly. "I just never imagined it would be Tucker. I think I'm more pissed off about that than I am about anything else. I can't be mad at my mother, because my father treated her like shit and she found someone who, he claims, loved her. It would make me a hypocrite to criticize her for cheating, because every minute, for three years, I wanted to do the same damn thing. I heard his reasons, I heard his story, and for some strange reason, I believe him. I'm just pissed off he didn't tell me sooner. He knew I had kids. He's got photos of our kids, Liv, and he's only met them, in passing, in the hallway at work. We've got another one on the way, and he seems thrilled to actually be able to see this one, from the beginning, grow up."
Olivia looked up at him, still running her finger along his tattoo. "What are you saying, El?"
Elliot pulled her back, directly on top of him, and he said, "I'm saying that I think I'm gonna let him do it. Kids are supposed to have two grandfathers who love them, right? Now, our baby will. Grandpa Don and Grandpa...um...Ed. And, tomorrow, I'm gonna take a few hours of personal time in the morning, and get to know Tucker. As much as I hate him, he's always been nicer to me than Joe Stabler. I mean, come on, the man named me 'Elliot' who does that to their kid?"
Olivia peered down at him, her brown eyes glittering and sparkling. She bent her head and lightly kissed him. "I was hoping we would," she whispered. "If it's a boy. Not that the world really needs another Elliot Stabler," she quipped. He looked up at her and smiled, his eyes wet and shimmering, but he wouldn't cry. Not tonight. he kissed her, nibbling lightly on her lips. "If it's a girl, can we name her Olivia?"
She laughed. "Not a chance in hell," she said. She wrapped herself around him snuggling close, resting her head in the crook of his neck. Elliot chuckled as her ran his arm lovingly down Olivia's back. They slept, finally, safe, for the moment, from the unavoidable incident that would be heading their way in the morning.
A/N: Aw, Tucker. Such a nice guy...really? What's coming for Liv and El? Reviews!?!?