Disclaimer 1: If only they were mine, alas, they belong to Mr Wolf.

Disclaimer 2: I'm doing my best with the medical stuff, please don't take my interpretation as best or only way to treat NHL. While I'm trying to make it as close as I can, some of it is done for the sake of the story. Also, there may be misinformation but that is intentional and will be revealed throughout the story. I've Googled all medical information and consulted reputatable sites, so, having said all that... here it is...

Dedicated to my beautiful state of Victoria, devastated by the horror of February 7th, the souls lost and the tragic destruction.

Forgetting about everything else but the fact she was finally going home, to her home, as a married and pregnant woman, Olivia sat in the passenger seat and alternated between smiling and yawning during their fairly quiet journey.

While she would miss not having the kids around, she never felt truly at home in the Stabler house in Queens as there were too many reminders of Kathy.

"What are you thinking about?" Elliot asked her, drawing her from her thoughts.

"How glad I am to be going home," she said smiling involuntarily.

"You've missed your place, haven't you?" he asked, reaching across and taking her hand.

"Yeah, sort of," she admitted, lacing her fingers through his.

"You've been through a lot, haven't you? And all because of me," he said rather sombrely.

"We have been through a lot, Elliot, we, " she reminded him gently.

"Yeah, but you gave up so much to make things better for me... and the kids..." he said, almost guiltily.

"Maybe," she replied, lifting their hands to kiss his before placing them on her belly, while her hand, with her wedding bands glistening rested atop his. "But look what I've got in return. I've gained far more than I ever gave up."

After parking the car in front of their building, they grabbed the bags they could carry and headed up to the apartment. Reaching the door, Olivia put down the things she was carrying so she could unlock the door. As she turned the key and pushed the door opened, Elliot surprised her by sweeping her off her feet.

"What are you doing?" she asked as he carried her into the apartment.

"Carrying you over the threshold," he replied. "This is the first time we've been here since we got married and it's custom."

"Well, who am I to argue with custom," she said and linked her arms around his neck.

"Welcome home, my beautiful wife," he whispered, leaning down to kiss her.

"Welcome home to you too, my gorgeous husband," she replied, pushing up into his kiss.

.

Reluctantly, Elliot finally eased her legs down but still held her close enough to continue the kiss.

"You know this is New York City and leaving your gear in the hallway and your door open is not the safest move," Fin said, surprising them, as he gathered up their things and dropped them into the apartment.

"Well, yeah," said Elliot, as he turned to face their friend. "We were just about to do that."

"Sure," he said with a grin, closing the door behind me. "How are you both?"

"Good," they replied in unison and Fin could only laugh. "What?" said Elliot.

"Well, up until about three hours ago you were both hospitalised, so 'good' probably isn't the most accurate word," he explained.

"Well, we're good now we're home," Olivia said in their defence.

"Glad to hear it," he said. "Now, given that you haven't been here for a month, I'm guessing you've got no food in the house."

"No, we don't," replied Elliot. "We were going to sort that out tomorrow."

"Well, I've done your grocery shopping, it's in my car. Wasn't gonna haul it up if you weren't here. I'll just go get it," he said, departing before they could argue the point.

.

Twenty minutes later, with the groceries packed away, coffee made and a late lunch ready, the three sat around the table and talked about the health and welfare of all concerned before Fin updated them with the goings on at the 16th. An hour later, when Olivia yawned for the third time, Fin put an end to the visit.

"I'm gonna head out and let you have a nap," he said, leaning across to kiss Olivia's head as he stood up. "Glad you're doing better, Liv."

"Thanks, Fin, for everything," she replied, patting his hand. "We really appreciate it."

"Anytime," he replied, as Elliot stood and shook his hand.

"Thanks, man," he said and Fin just smiled.

"Take care of each other," he said and saw himself to the door.

.

It took Elliot a couple of minutes to clear the table as Olivia sat and watched him. She had tried to help and had been told no uncertain way that she was to sit, rest and do nothing else. When he'd finished, Elliot offered her his hand.

"Care to join me in an afternoon nap?" he asked, not that he was all that tired, but because he wanted her to rest.

"Thought you'd never ask," she said and allowed him to help her up.

Snuggled up in bed, Elliot was concerned that Olivia hadn't really mentioned the baby. He knew she was struggling to believe she was actually pregnant, and he knew she said she wanted to have his baby, but there wasn't the elation he thought he'd see. Waiting til she was nearly asleep and her ability to censor her words gone, he gently stroked her face.

"You happy about the baby, Liv?" he asked quietly, gazing down at his beautiful wife, nestled into him.

"Yeah," she replied, a smile spreading across her face.

"You haven't said much about it?" he said, his lips pressing to her forehead.

"Sort of keep forgetting," she mumbled, snuggling deeper into him.

"What do you mean?" he asked, trying to draw her face up.

Olivia gave no reply as she drifted off into a deep and peaceful sleep.

When Olivia awoke hours later, she was in bed alone. Puzzled, she ran her hand across her face and in the dimming light of the room, caught sight of writing on her hand. Leaning over, she turned on the lamp and looked at her hand. On her palm of her hand, with a black permanent marker, Elliot had written, It's true, see for yourself. Checking the other hand she found another message, I love you so much, and yes, it's true.

.

For a minute she sat and looked at her belly, slowly she pulled up her nightgown and her tears started before she could read what he'd written. All she could see was the large love heart he had drawn around the growing baby bump. Swiping her tears away, Olivia focused on the words which he'd written so she was able to read them the right way up.

Dear Mommy, I really am in here and am growing well. I love you very much and can't wait to meet you. Love Junior. PS. Daddy loves you too. xox

Quickly, Olivia scurried from the bed and went in search of Elliot. She found him in the kitchen organising their dinner. Preoccupied, Elliot didn't register her arrival and Olivia was struggling for words, so she tapped his shoulder.

"Hey, you're aw..." he started before looking at her tear stained face and wrapping his arms around her. "Hey, hey," he soothed. "What's wrong?"

"Baby and me love you too," she cried, into his chest.

"Aw, honey," he said holding her tightly. "You okay?" She nodded but continued to hold just as tightly too him. "Are you happy?"

Pulling back, Olivia nodded again. "Absolutely."

"You sure?" he asked, leaning over to turn down the oven.

"I am ... it's just all a little overwhelming... when you think of it," she said, as she wiped her face. "I mean I left her not all that long ago and was just me...and have come back married and pregnant."

"Well, you were pregnant when you left," he corrected gently. "You just didn't know it."

Meaning it to be funny, Elliot quickly changed tack when Olivia failed to smile. "I know everything's changed so much and so quickly and that it must be really overwhelming for you but it will be okay... we'll be okay," he reassured her.

"There's just so much to do... so much to consider..." she said, pulling back from him.

"Things like what?" he asked, watching as she started to pace around the kitchen.

"Well, this place, for one. It's not the best place for the baby... and definitely not when the other kids are here too, so we need to find a bigger place, a house would be good, with a yard. I've never had a yard before...And we need to organise a nursery... you know what should be in one, and it will entail a lot of shopping..." she said, sitting down at the table.

Elliot moved to sit next to her, hoping to calm her, but by the time he did, she was pacing again. "And of course there's work ... I'll have to take some leave I think and then be on desk duty, not sure what Don will say but it's not like I have a choice. And you still have two treatments left, so I need time off there too...that's a lot of time I'll be taking off...poor Don..." she rambled.

"I'm sure Don will be very understanding in the circumstances," Elliot said quietly as he stood to block her pacing track. "All you need to tell him is that he's going to be a grandad."

"And that's another thing," she continued, barely taking a breath, "telling people. They say to wait until the end of your first trimester, and I missed mine completely, so when do we tell them? Who do we tell first? And godparents? The kid needs to have godparents, how do we choose them? And names... we have to make a list of names, for a girl and a boy... And-" Anything further was stopped by his lips on hers.

"Breathe, baby," he said gently, pulling back from her just a bit. "Just breathe."

"But-" she protested and his lips claimed hers once more.

Pulling back once more, Elliot placed his finger on her lips. "I know we have to consider all those things and make some arrangements and some decisions. However, we don't need to make them all tonight, okay?" She nodded. "And although you're already 14 weeks along, we still have plenty of time, okay?" She nodded again. "And I promise you that by the time junior's here it will all be organised and we can be in our own house and he or she will have a nursery, and a name picked, and godparents organised and a yard and anything else you want, okay?" he said as he removed his finger.

"Yeah, okay," she replied tearfully. "Just promise me one more thing, El."

"Anything, Livia, anything," he replied as she wrapped her arms around him once more.

"Promise me that when we have the house and baby and everything else that you'll be around for it and we can live happily ever after," she pleaded quietly. Knowing it was a promise he could easily make but had no real say in whether he kept he didn't know how to reply. Olivia read his mind. "At least promise me you'll try."

"With every piece of me, I promise, Olivia."

.

Later that night Elliot was sitting in the living room watching a baseball game, it was a close game, and Olivia could hear the sportscasters raving about it being the 'game of the year', and going onto say it was 'history in the making'. Not caring about the game at all, Olivia came out of the study, happy with her hour long internet search for pregnancy information. At least she knew what to expect at 14 weeks.

Padding over to the armchair, where Elliot was sitting, she sat on his lap and started unbuttoning his shirt.

"Liv, what are you doing?" he asked, taking his eyes from the screen for just a second.

"Getting comfortable," she replied as her fingers reached the last button.

"Looks more like you're undressing me," he said, not that he was complaining at all.

"No," she replied with a shake of her head. "The doctor said that all I was supposed to do for the next two weeks was to get comfortable and rest."

"And undressing me is a part of that?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Yes, Elliot," she replied sighing deeply before pulling back his shirt. "It's a scientific fact that there is a direct correlation between my level of comfort and the proximity of you."

"And does my level of dress, or undress as the case may be, have an impact on that level?" he asked as she snuggled down and rested her head in the crook of her neck, her hand going under his shirt and slipping around to his back.

"Well," she replied. "I'm more comfortable in your arms than anywhere else in the world...it's just when your clothes aren't in the way it's a little bit more fun for me." She grinned happily.

"Well, in that case," he said, turning off the television before scooping her up. "I'm going to take you to bed, strip naked, and you can have as much fun and comfort and rest as you want, all night."

"Something tells me that if we are in bed naked, it won't be all that restful," she said with a chuckle as she reached out to turn off the light as he carried her from the living room.

"I promise I'll let you rest afterwards," he answered before kissing her head.

"What about your game?" she asked as she kicked the door closed behind them.

"What game?" he asked, crossing the room to the bed.

"The one you were just watching. Didn't they say it was the best one in years? History in the making?" she asked, keeping her arms hooked around his neck as he lowered her to the mattress.

"They did, but I'm far more interested in our own little piece of history in the making" he replied, bending down to kiss her belly.

"Aww, you are so sweet..." she said, smiling as his lips met hers and sweetness gave way to passion.

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