A/N: "From this moment, life has begun." Shania Twain, From This Moment

DISCLAIMER: SVU and characters belong to Dick Wolf. TStabler© owns this story.

Elliot woke up with a groan, his hands searching for something that wasn't there. "Liv?" he called, blinking his eyes to try to see through the dark. "Liv, baby, what are you doing?" He sat up, finding her silhouette in the room, standing in front of the floor length mirror in the corner.

She didn't hear him, though. She was busy examining her body, twisting and turning, her hands splaying over her still-flat stomach, tilting her head. She seemed to be deciding something.

Elliot was confused, having no issues with her body at all. He thought maybe she was trying to visualize what she would look like with a bump, but since his ex-wife had never done that, he wasn't sure. He smirked, then, realizing that it's exactly what she was doing. Kathy wasn't looking forward to being pregnant the first time, and she already knew what she looked like when she found out about Kathleen.

He chuckled to himself, getting out of the bed and walking over to Olivia. He would finally know what it was like to watch a mother so eagerly face her first child, and he was proud and grateful to be the man that gave her that gift. "Honey," he whispered, wrapping his arms around her, "Come back to bed."

She had a smile on her face as she caught his reflection in the mirror, one that he'd never seen before. "I'm not tired," she said, looking into his eyes in the glass.

"Baby, look at you," he said, his eyes sparkling at hers. "You're already glowing."

She let out a small laugh and nodded. "I'm glowing. I'm also nervous," she said with a shrug. "Scared. Worried. Excited, and so happy, Elliot," she said, turning to face him.

He shook his head and turned her back to face the mirror, his arms holding her close. "Look," he whispered, seeing them in the mirror, His hands were over her stomach, hers cupped gently over his. "Look at us."

She sniffled and shook her head. "Ican't believe I was really gonna leave," she whispered. She clutched his hands tighter. "I was honestly gonna kiss you once and leave."

"You were," he said with a nod. "But, see, I'm a stubborn son of a bitch, and I there was no way in hell I was training some rookie, I was keeping you. I fought like hell, didn't I?"

She laughed and nodded, smiling. "You did," she said, leaning back into him. "But you're still training a rookie, here, I mean, I have no clue how to raise a child."

"You think I do?" he asked, serious. "If you knew how many mistakes I made, you wouldn't let me within ten feet of your children." He kissed her neck softly and whispered, "But that's what makes this great. Your first child, my chance to get it right, and if we mess up we're doing it together."

"If we do something great, we're in it together, too," she whispered, turning her eyes up to his.

"Damn right we are," he said, kissing the end of her nose. "We are gonna be amazing, do you know why?"

She shook her head and twisted her lips.

"Because this is what we've been waiting for, baby," he whispered to her. "This child, you and me creating a life, it's something I've thought about, honestly, for years. Wondering what it would be like to see you round and happy, knowing I did that."

She chuckled. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," he said, nodding with a grin. "We planned this, wanted this, and this baby is going to be loved and protected more than anyone in the world, because both of its parents are cops. It's not just me being overprotective this time."

She cupped his face and kissed him. "Tell me more about you thinking about this," she whispered against his lips. "When, and why didn't you tell me?"

He chuckled and swayed her in his arms. "That would have worked. 'Hey, Liv, thanks for the coffee. We have a vic at Mercy. By the way, I had vivid dreams of fathering your children last night."

She laughed and kissed him again. "Tell me," she said, tilting her head.

He sighed. "I don't know, baby, it was the middle of the night, usually after a case, I couldn't sleep and I would think about how much you wanted to be a mother, and whenever I thought about how you might go about doing that, the only man I saw there with you was me." He shook his head. "I guess, subconsciously, I wanted this, even before you did."

"Oh," she said, her face turning into an exasperated expression. "You think so? I used to have very similar dreams. El, I had them for a very long time."

"Dreams really do come true," he told her in a soft voice, kissing her slowly. He pulled away and heaved a sigh. "I don't wanna ruing the mood, but I've been trying to tell you this all day. I, uh, talked to the girls. About Kathy being able to go home. They, um, they're gonna pack while we're in Vegas."

Olivia tilted her head again. "They still wanna live with her? After everything…"

"Just until they're sure she's okay," he interrupted. "They're leaving most of their things here, they'll be here on the weekends, and when they're absolutely sure she can deal with the baby and the house by herself, they wanna come back."

She sighed and looked into his eyes. "That…that makes sense." She pulled out of his hold and walked toward the bed. "Well, maybe we can make Maureen's room into a nursery, then. She and katie can share one."

Elliot chuckled. "See? There's a bright side." He got into the bed and wrapped her in his arms. "Our flight's at seven."

"No sense in going back to sleep then," she said, looking at him.

"Didn't plan on it," he laughed, kissing her. He pulled her up and onto him, moaning softly, losing himself in the moment, in her.

Olivia yawned as she grabbed her suitcase off of the conveyer belt. "What did he say?" she asked, watching Elliot yank the luggage away from her.

"No heavy lifting from you," he said sternly. "And Frasier and Lutz had no problem heading up the unit this weekend. Cragen, however, seemed pretty pissed. He still can't remember us asking for vacation to begin with." He chuckled and winked at her. "He'll get over it."

"Do you remember where we're supposed to meet them?" she asked, looping her arm through his elbow.

He snapped his gum and chuckled. "Of course I do," he said, leading her out though security. They made it outside, and they stood on the sidewalk waiting for a cab, their arms wrapped around each other, kissing.

"Another couple comes to Vegas just to get hitched," someone next to them said with a laugh.

Elliot chuckled and turned his head. "No, Sir, we're already married," he said, holding up his left hand.

The man laughed and said, "Well, then it's good to see a married couple so into each other. Rare nowadays."

"Well, when you have something amazing, you do everything you can to hold onto it," Elliot said, addressing the man but looking at Olivia.

She smiled at him, her eyes upturned behind her sunglasses. She leaned toward him and kissed him slowly, oblivious to the man still watching them. She nuzzled his nose as a cab pulled up to them.

Elliot waved to the man as he helped Olivia into the backseat, then helped the driver put the luggage into the trunk. He slipped into the seat beside Olivia and gave the address, and then he pulled his wife close to him.

"I was thinking," she sighed, cuddling with him.

"Uh-oh," he said, rolling his eyes.

She slapped his arm and scoffed. "Ass," she chuckled. "Seriously. I found a downside to this baby thing," she told him.

He twisted up his face and tilted his head. "What?"

"My tattoo is gonna look really stupid for nine months, and I'm gonna be in the gym more than in your bed for weeks after I have the baby trying to get it to look normal again," she said, grinning.

"That's it? That's your downside?" he asked with a laugh. "Honey, I don't care what you…"

"Yes, you do," she said, stopping him with a disbelieving look.

"I love your body," he said, nodding once, "But it's not why I love you. You know that."

She kissed him and nodded. "Still, you know how I am. I want my body back as soon as possible." She looped her fingers through his and tugged him tighter around her.

"So we'll go to the gym," he told her, kissing her forehead. "Together." He ran his hands over her stomach and whispered, "I wanna watch you work your back into incredible shape." He nipped at her neck with a soft growl.

She chuckled and looked out the window. "Funny. We're across the country, and it feels like we're still in New Yorks."

"It's the traffic," he laughed. "And the lights, the smell, the fact that we're in a cab. There really is very little difference between Vegas and the city."

The cab stopped and the driver turned to them. "You're here, Mister," he said, nodding at Elliot.

"Thanks," he said, pulling out his wallet to pay.

Olivia got out of the cab, surprised to see Melinda and Fin in front of the hotel waiting for them. "Mel!" she squealed, leaping toward her friend and giving her a tight hug.

Fin and Elliot got the bags out of the trunk, and Fin laughed. "Look at them," he said, slamming the lid shut.

Elliot smirked. "Girls are giggly," he said, letting the cab speed off before giving Fin a manly hug. "Congrats, man. Now you know how I felt."

"Happy," Fin said, nodding. "I thought about what you said, about not waiting if you knew it's what you wanted. Then I got this letter from Munch, and we felt we owed it to him to do this."

Elliot sighed and nodded, moving out of the street and toward the girls. "Exactly," he said. "We owe him a lot, too." He wrapped an arm around Olivia and kissed her forehead.

She looked into his eyes, her shades on the top of her head, keeping her hair back. "You wanna tell them?"

"Might as well," he said, tugging playfully on her ear. "We don't wanna steal your thunder, but we came out here to celebrate something besides your marriage," he said, facing Fin and Melinda.

Melinda folded her arms and tilted her head. "You get a promotion at work? One of you getting a medal or something?"

Olivia shook her head and bit her lip. "No, this is…so much better than that."

Fin's eyes widened. "You…Baby-Girl, you're gonna be a momma?"

Melinda gasped. "Is that it?"

Olivia nodded, her eyes filling with tears again as they have every time she thought about it. "Yeah," she whispered, clutching Elliot's hand. "I'm gonna be a momma."

Fin held out his hand, giving Elliot a congratulatory handslap and shake, laughing. "Man, you must be thrilled."

"Beyond," Elliot said with a chuckle and a nod. "We, uh, we talked about it on the plane and we want you to be the Godfather, Fin." He saw his friend's eyes well up, and he continued, "And we know what we're gonna name him, if it's a boy."

"Man, don't tell me you're going for Odafin," Fin joked, pulling his new wife into his arms and sniffling.

Olivia and Elliot laughed, shaking their heads. "No," Olivia said.

Elliot looked at her, into her eyes, and said, "John."

"Jonathan Elliot Stabler," Olivia said, dropping her forehead against his. The moment was calm, peaceful, as a swift breeze kicked up around them, as if hugging them. They realized, shared a look, and knew that Munch approved.

A/N: A weekend in Vegas brings on another spontaneous moment, one that may leave some people in Manhattan in the dark, and the cold. Review here, or on Twitter: TMG212