A/N: "Only when a person truly forgets the empty feeling of loneliness, will he or she know they've found true love."
DISCLAIMER: SVU and characters belong to Dick Wolf. TStabler© owns this story.
Olivia was growing more frustrated by the second. With Fin gone, she and Elliot had almost doubled their work-load, taking on each case as it came in and leaving Munch behind to work the techs and answer the phones. She was irritated, tired, getting her facts mixed up, and she had been feeling sick since she woke up.
She knew. She had a deep, deep feeling, that something was going to happen that would change her life. She just didn't know what, she didn't know if it was good or bad, but she knew it was today.
Elliot walked over to her, flipped through a few papers on her desk, and held out a stapled pack. "Looking for this?" he asked. He narrowed his eyes and whispered, "Calm down. You look like you're about to throw up."
She narrowed her eyes right back at him. "I feel like I might," she admitted. "I just have this feeling that something…"
"Detective Stabler?" a man's voice called into the squad room, interrupting her.
Elliot and Olivia turned toward the door. "That's me," Elliot said, stepping closer to the young, uniformed officer waiting in the entrance.
The rookie took off his hat and nodded at him. "Sir, I'm supposed to drop off a con. My sergeant told me that I was to give immediate custody over to you as soon as she was released."
"She?" Olivia said, surprised and hopeful, but slightly confused.
Elliot took the clipboard out of the officer's hands, and he read it before breaking into a grin. "Wonderful." He signed the form, gave the pen a great swoosh as he crossed his T and dotted his I, and he handed it back to him with a chuckle. "Thank you."
"Right," the cop said, nodding. He turned his head and yelled, "Bring her in, Dave!"
Another officer entered, holding tightly onto a blonde, cuffed and in a bright orange jumpsuit. "Here ya go, Detective," the second man said, unlocking the silver cuffs. "She's all yours," he said, nudging the former prisoner toward Elliot.
Elliot's arms wrapped around her, he pulled her into him, and he sighed as his eyes closed. "Yes, she is," he whispered, ignoring the two uniformed men as they left. "God, Kat," he mumbled, burying his head in his daughter's hair.
"I'm sorry, Daddy," Kathleen mumbled as she sobbed into his chest. "I'm so sorry."
"Shh," he soothed, running a hand through her hair. "What happened? Why did they…"
"Good behavior," she said with a shrug, pulling away from him and wiping her eyes. "They needed the bed for a woman who killed her landlord, and they figured I was no longer a threat to myself or anyone else so they…they made sure I would be in police custody so…"
"Because Liv and I are cops," he said, smirking and giving an understanding nod. It wasn't intentional, it wasn't conscious, but it had felt so right and so natural to include Olivia. To say that she had as much custody of Kathleen as he did. "Come on," he said, giving her a gentle nudge. "Let's get you out of this thing. You can take a shower and get some real sleep upstairs until we can go home."
"That sounds good, Dad," the still-timid girl said. She turned, then, and looked at Olivia. Without saying a word, she pulled the brunette into her arms and whispered a soft, "I missed you, Liv."
"Oh, honey," Olivia whispered back, kissing the top of Katie's head. "I missed you, too, sweetie."
Kathleen looked up, tears in her eyes again. She smiled, nodded, and moved back toward her father. "I need that shower."
Elliot laughed and wrapped an arm around Kathleen. "Come on, honey." He looked at Olivia and smiled, then took his daughter to a storage room to get her some fresh clothes.
Olivia wasn't even aware she was staring after them until Munch appeared at her side. "Weird isn't it?" he asked, interrupting her unconscious thoughts.
"What?" she asked, turning to him.
He chuckled and shook his head, his eyes squinting slightly behind his glasses. "Being somebody's mother."
"I'm not her mother," Olivia said, one hand over her churning stomach. "I don't know where her mother is, actually, so I am just doing my best to make sure she knows she's loved. That's not…"
Munch held up a finger. "You're as good as her mother," he said. "If not better." He winked at her, the light reflecting off of his glasses just a bit, and walked back toward his desk.
Olivia watched him in confusion, then made her way toward the back of the room, hoping that a glass of milk or hot tea would settle her nerves.
The night had calmed, the cases were either closed or cold, and Elliot and Olivia were barely able to sit up straight in their desks. "Are you all right?" she asked, lifting her head to peer over at him from across the joined tables.
"Me? Fine," he answered, running a hand down his face, trying to get the lewd thoughts of her out of his head while they still had twenty minutes left at work. "Are you? You've looked like…"
"I'm good," she said too quickly, clearing her throat. "I'm really okay. I was just really…I felt funny, but I guess I just knew Katie was coming home, and I'm worried about Kathy and Fin, and the baby kept us up all night, and…"
He laughed, cutting into her tirade. "Okay, I get it. You're sure you're feeling better now? You don't think you're gonna get sick on the way home or anything?"
"I'm fine," she said with a smile. Her phone rang then, and she rolled her eyes praying it was just a survey or misdial. "Benson," she spat, picking up the receiver. She ran a finger over the ring on her left hand, though, reminding herself it wouldn't be "Benson" much longer.
Elliot watched her face pale, her eyes twitch. "What?" he asked, sitting up and leaning forward. "Liv, what…"
She held up a finger. "Where are you? What are you doing all the way…she was with…what?" she was almost yelling. "Well, thank you for the call. Yeah, that's not gonna happen. No, Fin, take as much time as you need. Charlie will be fine with us." She screwed her face up as she realized what she'd done. "Charlotte," she hissed.
Elliot felt the painful pang of resentment at the name, knowing how badly it was supposed to be his daughter. Olivia should be calling their child Charlie, not his ex-wife's. He watched her hang up the phone and he repeated, "What?"
"Fin found Kathy," she said, running her fingers through her hair.
"Yeah, I got that much," he said, sounding a little more snippy than he'd meant.
She eyes him for a moment. "She was in Jersey, but she wasn't with her father." She took a deep breath. "She was with Dean."
Elliot's jaw tightened. "What?"
"She was giving him details…about us. She was telling him how I was planning to wear the dress…" she stopped, her breath catching in her throat. "She told him that she made a mistake and she ruined lives, and she wanted it all to go back to the way it was. She tried to convince him to come back here and fight harder for me, but he…he knew it wouldn't work. He told her he was done, and he just wanted me to be happy."
"How did Fin find all of this out?" Elliot asked, rising from his seat and walking over to her. He pulled her up into his arms, almost roughly, and asked, "How did he find her?"
Olivia sniffled, tears coming for no reason at all. "They were at a diner, Fin walked in to ask if anyone had seen her and there she was. He heard Dean tell her he couldn't…"
His lips were on hers, then, silencing her. "He knows your mine," he whispered.
She nodded with a small smile, feeling his thumbs brush away her tears. "Fin took Kathy to a hotel. They have some things to talk about before…"
"Yeah," Elliot said, nodding. "They do," he said as he sighed and kissed Olivia's forehead. "So do we."
She narrowed her eyes. "What? We don't have…"
"Katie's home," he said, looking up the stairs to the door, behind which his daughter was sleeping. "We don't have to wait anymore."
Olivia let out a soft gasp. "You mean, you wanna talk about…"
"Everything," he whispered with a smile. "I wanna talk about everything." He kissed her lips softly and he wiped away the last of her tears, still unsure of why she'd been crying to begin with. "I want this all planned as soon as possible, baby."
She chuckled and kissed his cheek, then turned and pulled him up the stairs to collect his daughter. The last twenty minutes had gone by fast, and they didn't know how much time they'd be able to spend home, together, with the kids, before the phone rang again, bringing them back to the squad room. She turned the knob and pushed open the door, stunned to see Kathleen awake and staring at the cell phone in her hands.
"Katie?" Elliot prodded, concerned.
A slow smile crossed the teenager's lips. She laughed a bit as she looked at her father. "This was ringing all night." She said, handing the phone to Olivia. "I didn't know it was yours. I thought this was Dad's sweatshirt."
"It is," Olivia said, smiling. "We share that thing." She tapped a few buttons on her phone and said, "No wonder Fin called the station. Seven missed calls. Did you talk to him? Did you answer when he called?"
Kathleen shook her head. "I answered when Doctor Swanson called, whoever that is. I thought it was really important, I wanted to take a message…"
Olivia's eyes popped. "Okay!" she shouted, shutting Kathleen up and ushering her and her father out of the cribs. "I will call him back in the morning. Let's just…"
Kathleen shook her head in protest. "But I know what he…"
"Katie, I will talk to him, I promise," Olivia said, interrupting again. The meaning of the look that passed between her and Kathleen was clear.
Kathleen looked at her father, smirked, then looked back at Olivia. "Okay, Mom. I'll wait." She chuckled and bounded down the steps, eager to get home and into her own bed.
Elliot looked happy and proud, and a little sick. "She just called you…did she just call you…"
Olivia's eyes gleamed, and she nodded as her lips curled into a genuine smile. "Yeah, she did." She kissed Elliot, lingering on his lips a bit too long, and she pulled him down the stairs. She was eager to get home, too, but the last thing on her mind was getting into bed.
She was too concerned about the morning. She had a phone call to make, and that meant she could have something very important to tell Elliot.
A/N: Hmm…any guesses? Last chapter coming up! Review here, or on Twitter: TMG212