DISCLAIMER: Not mine. Well, Alise is, but that's it.
A/N: I'm sorry this took forever to get up... I was away for a while, and I've had a sort of writer's block... Which is why this is so boring. It should get more interesting... Anyway. Thank you to my reviewers. ^_^
And Pixie? This one's for you. :)
It had been almost two weeks since Elliot and Olivia's premature son was delivered. Olivia had been discharged only days afterwards. She hadn't been able to go back to work, and Cragen had given her time off anyway, so she mostly stayed in the hospital. She'd sit across from the nursery, looking in at her baby boy… watching him grow.
Since she wasn't working, she also had more time to spend with Alise. Which was all the better because it still worried Elliot – and Olivia, for that matter – to send her to a daycare.
Olivia's past two weeks had been spent with her children, and she loved it more than anything.
"Mama. Baby," Alise would say as she pointed at her baby brother. She was just a month away from being two years old now.
Olivia would smile. "Yeah," she'd say. "You're baby brother, Alex."
Alise would nod enthusiastically. "Auntie Alex," she'd say every time.
"Like Auntie Alex, but this is your brother Alex. Alexander."
It hadn't taken Elliot and Olivia long to decide on a name. Alexander Donald Stabler. It was really rather easy; Alex was Olivia's best friend and more like a sister, and Don… Don was like a father to both Olivia and Elliot.
"Zander," Alise repeated.
Just then, Elliot came walking through the doors at the end of the hallway. Olivia turned to the clock. 9:03. She hadn't realized it had gotten so late so fast.
"Daddy!" Alise cried, bouncing in Olivia's arms as he approached.
He scooped her out of Olivia's arms and kissed her forehead gently as he lifted her in the air. She squirmed with excitement as she giggled.
"How are my girls?" he asked, settling Alise in the crook of his arm. She leaned her head against his shoulder and shut her eyes, suddenly tired.
"We're just fine," Olivia said with a smile.
He turned to look at Alex, who had just acquired a new nickname from his sister: Zander. "And how's my boy?"
Olivia turned to him, too, her smile dropping to a tender grin. "He's doing really well. They've been giving him all the medicine for his lungs and things… They say he may even be able to come home soon."
Elliot turned back to her, a grin creeping across his face. "Home? Really?"
She nodded. "Really."
Olivia suddenly realized how tired she was. "Elliot?" she began, sinking into a nearby chair.
"You're tired," he finished her sentence.
She nodded, leaning on his shoulder. "But I don't want to go home."
"Because Alex is here," Elliot said, reading her thoughts again.
Olivia nodded again. "Oh! I forgot to tell you..."
"Tell me what?"
"Alise came up with a new nickname for Alexander."
Elliot put his arm around Olivia's shoulder and rested his head on hers. "And what's that?"
Olivia smiled, her eyes drooping sleepily. "Zander."
Elliot pulled Alise's sleeping body closer to his as he kissed the top of her head gently. "Zander," he repeated. "It's perfect."
He looked back to Olivia, who he could see was quickly slipping into sleep. He stood up, making Olivia's eyes flutter open. She looked up at him, a sleepy question in her eyes.
"Come on, honey," he said, taking her hand. She stood up slowly. "Let's go home."
She nodded and leaned on him for support as he put his arm around her shoulder, leading her out to the car.
As Olivia climbed into the passenger's seat of Elliot's car, he buckled Alise into a car seat. He turned around, shutting the door behind him.
He suddenly froze.
There was a woman lying against the wall, her clothes ripped and torn. Her curly blond hair hanging in her face, which was covered in bruises. A trail of blood ran from a higher point on the wall, down to where she lay, bruised and broken.
But it wasn't the seeing the unconscious figure that frightened Elliot... it was that he recognized that slender figure and those curly locks...
He rushed to the woman's side and lifted her head, feeling for a pulse. No, it couldn't be... it simply couldn't... But it was.
He looked at that familiar face as he found a slight pulse. He looked up at the glowing sign, thankful that he was outside a hospital.
Elliot slid his arms under her arms and knees, lifting her body from the ground. "You've gotta stay with me, Dani," he said to her unconscious figure, lying limply in his arms.
A/N: Alrighty... Ya'll will know what happens with that in the next chapter. But please R&R anyway! Because you know how much I like reviews. ;)