A/N: "Hands raised. Offense, defense. He shoots. He scores. I win. " Paul Forthern, Age 13. Untitled Poem
DISCLAIMER: Credit for inspiration and original creation goes to Dick Wolf. This version of the characters, events, and written story belongs to me. ::Evil laugh::
Uncomfortable.
The only word to describe how she felt at this moment was uncomfortable.
They'd been called down to dinner, just a moment before Elliot's fingers slipped inside of her, seconds before they'd taken a step too far, but not far enough. She'd tried to straighten out her clothes as they ran down the steps of the two-floor family apartment, hoping she'd managed to do it. Since then, she'd been sitting between Elliot and his sister, awkwardly tugging at her shirt and pulling her hair behind her ears, wondering if the rest of the family could somehow tell what had happened. What had almost happened.
"Where's Dad?" Elliot asked, reaching for a bowl of mashed potatoes. He balanced it in the palm of one hand while he scooped some onto Olivia's plate first, and then his. When he set it down and still hadn't been given an answer, he eyed his mother carefully. "Mom? Do you...do you even know where he is?"
Bernie Stabler looked at her son, sighed almost painfully, and then pulled the platter of chicken toward her. "At work," she said coolly, as though it wasn't the whole truth.
Elliot knew, he could always tell when someone was lying or hiding something, and he huffed as he grabbed the bowl of broccoli out of his brother's hands. "Fine," he snapped. "Not the first dinner he's missed, won't be the last." He was a bit rougher in his tone and whipped the spoon a bit harder as he plopped the vegetables on Olivia's plate and his. He slammed the bowl back down and gritted his teeth. "Pass the chicken, please?" he nearly growled.
"Hey," Olivia whispered, reaching under the table with one hand. She cupped his right knee, smoothed her palm over it, leaned into him and whispered, "Calm down."
He snapped his head toward her and lowered his voice. "What if something happened to him? Why the hell are we eating dinner at four o'clock? A little early, huh? What if…"
"Nothing happened," Olivia reassured, her fingers trailing in circles over his kneecap. "You're the one who was that it was all part of the job, they were handling it." She looked around, blinked once, and sighed. "It's early, you just said it yourself." She brought her gaze back to him. "He's still at work, and will be for a while." She shrugged. "Maybe your mother just wanted to have dinner early and go to bed. We had a long day, everyone's on edge, and this place...isn't exactly…"
He cut her off with a short kiss, nodded, and said, "Okay, you're right." He kissed her forehead and then turned to dole out some chicken for her and himself. "I guess, I'm…" he shrugged as he handed her a roll. "More worried than I thought I was. But you know my mom as well as I do," he said, giving her a pointed look, "There was more to her answer...something she wasn't saying. Something she didn't want us to…"
"Don was reassigned," Bernie finally spoke, proving she could hear them. "There. Okay?" She looked at her son, then Olivia, then the others. "Your father got a new partner this morning, Don is...captain of the homicide unit, and that means…"
"Dad's partner is his boss now?" Elliot asked, his eyes wide. "How did...how could that have possibly…" he shook his head. "Dad's gotta be pissed. Is he pissed?"
"Language," Bernie scolded with wide eyes and a tender voice. "No, your father is fine with it, especially with...well, with…"
"Someone threatening to whack 'em," Elliot's brother, Ryan, declared innocently shoveling a forkful of broccoli into his mouth.
"Whacked?" DJ questioned, his own mouth stuffed with potatoes.
Olivia laughed at how adorable he was, and then said, "Your big brother is so silly sometimes," and then shot Ryan a harsh glare.
Ryan chewed and swallowed, realizing that his little brother didn't really know why they had to move or what was going on. "Sorry," he said, more to Olivia than anyone else. He cleared his throat and decided to change the subject. "So, uh, Liv...the little squirt tells me you gave him another comic book."
"That's right, I did," she said, her face dropped, her fork poking at a piece of chicken she suddenly had no intention of eating.
DJ held up a finger and his eyes widened in excitement. He chewed faster, swallowed, and then said, "It's the best one yet! Quantum and The Bookworm induct The Incredible DanMan into their secret superhero society and then The Bookworm reads the entire Oxford Dictionary so she can defeat the evil dark underlord, Braindrain!"
Everyone at the table looked at the young boy, except Olivia who'd turned red and hid her face with one of her hands as she shifted her food around on her plate. There was an intense silence, until Laura spoke.
"I got dibs," she said, pointing at her kid brother, and then she looked over at Olivia, who had just popped her head up. "I have this friend, his name's Mark, he works at Midtown Comics. Ya know, over on Fortieth? Anyway, they have this program for indie artists, like you. You bring him your comics, they can copy them, bind them, sell them...the store would take a few dollars, but the rest…"
"I'm not an artist," Olivia spat, her fork dropped out of her hand and clanged against her plate.
Elliot looked at her and the look on her face was one he'd never seen before, and never wanted to see again. "Liv, what…"
"Besides, uh, I only make them for DJ," she turned fast and looked at the kid, reached out, and brushed his hair back as he blinked his little eyes up at her and struggled to eat with his casted arm. He had two weeks to go before he was rid of the thing. "They're his. No one else would…" she stopped. Her voice got quiet. "They're his," she whispered.
Laura curled her lips downward and gave Elliot a concerned look. "Okay," she said. "But if you change your mind, uh, Mark thinks you could probably get seven bucks per comic. He says your work is some of the best he's ever seen, and when he found out you were only fifteen, he…"
"Wait," Olivia blinked and licked her lips, shifted in her chair, and squinted at Laura. "When did this guy, who I don't even know, see my comics?"
Laura chewed, swallowed, and wiped a napkin over her mouth. "Oh, uh, well, I took Danny into the store, I promised him I'd buy him the new Batman...and he had yours with him...he wouldn't put it down, not even for Batman, so Mark, uh...asked what he was reading and…"
"And I said, 'Only the best comic book in the history of comics!' and that my sister made it for me, and that I was in it, and that I was famous!" He jabbed at a stalk of broccoli and jammed it into his mouth as he stared excitedly at Olivia.
Laura saw the surprise and slight embarrassment on Olivia's face. "Well, hey, if you don't want to sell your comics, that's totally cool, but I was serious. Mark loves your style, and he wanted me to ask you if you'd draw up some posters for the shop. Flyers, ads, ya know? He'd pay you."
"Pay me?" Olivia whispered. The thought was seductive, but she couldn't seriously consider it.
Elliot leaned into her. "I told you, you're good. Art, poetry, baby, think about it. You could earn some extra cash, doing what you love…" he looked into her scared brown eyes. "If you want. I mean, you don't...no one's gonna force you to…"
"Tell him…" she looked at Laura. "Tell your friend I'll do it," she smiled, and with a heaved sigh, she finally took a bite of her chicken. She chewed for a moment, then turned, swallowed, and asked, "Hey, Deej, uh...did you," she cleared her throat. "Did you just call me your sister?"
DJ nodded as he forked some chicken into his mouth. He pushed it all to one side of his mouth and said, "My favorite sister," and then looked at Laura and Christine. "No, offense guys."
"None taken," Christine scoffed, amazed at her brother's lack of tact.
DJ swallowed and then said, "That's what it's called when your brother gets married, right? It makes you my sister?" He looked eagerly and hopefully at Elliot. "Am I wrong?"
Elliot felt his heart thump, not just because his little brother was the most adorable thing in the world, but because he thought he and Olivia were married. That Olivia was his sister. "No, bud," he said with a warm smile. He looped his arm around Olivia's shoulders. "You're absolutely right." He kissed Olivia's cheek and whispered something no one else could have possibly heard, and when she nodded, he kissed her again. Pulling away from her, he looked at his mother. "This, uh, this is really good, Mom. Thanks."
Bernie looked at her son and smiled. One of her kids was doing something right, and she was blessed to be fully aware of it all. The knock on the door broke into her thoughts, and though she moved to get up, Ryan stopped her.
"I got it, Ma," he said. "It's probably Owen looking for a free meal now that we're closer to his campus," he said as he rose from his chair. He moved fast, pulled open the door with a grin, and said, "Once you moved out you…" he stopped. "Oh, uh. Sorry. Who, uh, can I help you?"
The woman tried to peek into the room around the young man's body. "I'm looking for Olivia. Olivia Benson."
Ryan blinked once. He knew exactly who it was. "Wrong address. No one here by that name, but, uh, it's a pretty big place, maybe you got the wrong floor." He offered a charming smile, nodded at her, and once the woman turned and headed for the elevator, he slammed the door. "Call Dad," he pointed to Elliot. "Now!"
Elliot nodded, rushing to pull his cell phone out of his pocket while still holding onto a thoroughly terrified Olivia. He kissed her forehead as he dialed and when his dad picked up, he spoke as quickly and clearly as he could. "We have a problem. Uh, she knows...she knows where Liv is, where we are. She found us." He closed his eyes and said, "Liv's mom."
A/N: Uh...oh.
