Automatic Disclaimer: I sadly do not own Law & Order: SVU or Law & Order: OC (but they surely own me!) I don't make any kind of compensation from this work of fiction. Also a big thanks again (& always) to AlexisDawn for being my lovely BETA (& someone I can bounce ideas off of, even if they usually end up being the same thing!)
"Olivia?!"
"Olivia?" Eli mumbled to himself as he looked at the older woman in the room with inquisitive eyes. He'd heard the name before and had seen pictures, but it had been quite a few years. Before they'd left for Rome, nearly nine years before. How he still remembered so easily he wasn't even sure.
"Yeah, it's me. Hi guys." she didn't know how to reply, so she tried to answer as best as she could and waved slightly.
"What are you doing here with dad?" Kathleen asked the question most of them were thinking. It wasn't threatening or accusing, just genuine curiosity. They had all froze when Lizzie said Olivia's name, then looked at her like she had just magically appeared.
"I was going to an awards ceremony for the PD when I heard-" she stopped talking, not sure how much she should reveal. She looked to Elliot and he nodded. He knew why she stopped and knew that one of the hardest conversations he needed to have would be needed now, not later.
"Guys, I need to- I need to talk. This won't be an easy subject, you all need to know." Elliot spoke quickly but to the point. Each kid looked to each other, then to Olivia, and finally back to their father before moving in closer to him so they could hear what he needed to say. Elliot looked each of them in the eyes, but couldn't seem to start talking, he didn't know how or where to start.
"What's going on Dad?" Richard asked softly, he could feel the heaviness in the room and knew if he could feel it, his sisters had definitely picked up on it. Maureen, Kathleen, and Lizzie nodded their agreement for their father to go on. Eli just kept looking at him to Liv, back to him, really trying to remember why she was so important.
Elliot took another moment, then took a deep breath, "You all know full well that mom and I were not on the greatest of terms. We had been separated for a while. The last time I talked to her, we were going ahead with the full divorce because she had mentioned that she had found someone that she could see a future with back in Rome."
That got Eli's full attention.
"Were? Daddy? What aren't you saying?" Maureen cut in, something wasn't right. Why was he talking in the past tense? Her heart skipped a few beats as he continued.
He looked at her, swallowed hard, and continued after looking back to his own hands, he really wanted to reach for Olivia's so the one would stop shaking, but thought better of it, "I was- I was content with that. It hurt, but I knew that it was for the best." Shaking his head, he continued, "She came back to the States earlier this week so we could finalize it. Last night she was supposed to bring me the paperwork to sign."
He had to stop again. He looked into their eyes and knew his next few sentences were going to destroy their lives, "Guys, she brought me the papers and I signed them. But on her way back to the car, it, it umm…" he looked at Olivia hopelessly, then back to the faces of his kids, "Guys the car blew up, and Liv and I were told a little bit ago she didn't make it through."
The cries were nearly instant, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." His pleas were made with tears running down his own face. It was the first time that he had remembered the events up until that point.
His heart broke for his children and knew there was nothing he could do to mend their broken hearts. His would meld, his childrens' probably never fully would. Four of the kids came in closer to him and were crying with him. The fifth, Lizzie, turned to Olivia and shocked them both when she practically fell into Olivia's arms instead of her father's.
"I'm sorry sweetheart, I'm so sorry." Olivia held onto her tightly. It hadn't felt completely real until now. She rocked with the youngest daughter of Elliots for a few minutes, murmuring to her that she'd be there for her and her brothers and sisters. All they'd need to do was call her, she didn't care when it was, she'd always do her best to answer.
After everyone's initial shock, about 10 minutes later, the kids started asking questions,
"Do you have any idea of who it could've been daddy?" from Maureen, "Or why?"
"Were they exclusively after mom, or was it something related to the work you were doing that you couldn't tell us much about?" Kathleen quizzed softly.
"Are we going back to Rome dad? Mom said that we would. I've still got school. And my friends. And my soccer team. What are you going to tell Max?" Eli was the most adamant. He could easily make the case that their mother's death impacted his immediate -even long-term- future the most.
Olivia would be lying if she said she wasn't intrigued by Katie's question and made a mental note to try to figure out later on, what exactly her former partner was up to up until that night. In the current moment though, she knew just by looking at Elliot, that he was getting overwhelmed by the multiple questions the kids had fired at him.
"Guys, I'm not your dad, but he does possibly have a brain injury, let's leave the questions for a time when he's better suited to answer them." she butt in. They all stopped talking and looked at her, then to their father with wide eyes.
Kathleen gasped, "Oh my God, we're in the hospital so something happened! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't even stop to ask how you were dad!" as even more tears sprang to her eyes, "Are you okay?" she choked out. The other children looked on with just as much emotion in their eyes.
"Hey! Hey, enough of those tears, we've all nearly cried a river tonight! That goes for all of you." Elliot tried lightening the mood and reached for her right hand and squeezed it with his own when she gave it to him, "I will be Katie. I've got six staples in my head, but you all know your dad has a hard head, to begin with." he bent his head down and to the side just enough to show the children the staples, "I had a CT of my head about two hours ago, and had just got back from X-rays of my arm when you all ran in, which will likely show that it's a little banged up. Likely a concussion, but not much more. I promise I'll be okay, take a breath guys."
"You can't promise that." Maureen and Lizzie said at the same time. Both girls smiled at each other, "Truly dad, you can't promise that especially when you haven't gotten your CT scan results back yet." Maureen continued.
"How much longer until you're out of residency, Mo?" Elliot smiled.
"Little over a year, but I'm practically already a doctor, just working towards my expertise." she beamed back.
"Whoa, way to go Maureen! What's your area of expertise that you're working towards?" Olivia lauded, she knew the Stabler children were smart, but maybe she underestimated them more than she realized.
"Pediatrician. It's been a long road, and I'm excited for it to be almost over so I can start paying off some of the student loans!" the eldest Stabler chuckled.
"Okay, saying this right now, once your father is able to go home and is stable, we'll all have to get together so I can catch up with all of you and your accomplishments. And I'll share a few of mine." Olivia gleamed at each of the children, she was proud that even if she hadn't seen any of them in ten years, they all seemed to be getting on with their lives and living them to the fullest. It hurt too, but she wasn't going to dwell too much on that right now. Too many other things on her mind.
Everyone responded with their own versions of okay and absolutely.
"Guys, where's Fin? Isn't he the one that picked you all up?" Olivia asked.
"Oh, yeah, he said he'd be right outside if we -or either of you- needed him," Kathleen responded, pointing to the door.
Nodding her thanks, "Mind if I go talk to him really quick El? Kind of catch him up with what's going on? It can wait if you want me to stay."
"I'll be alright. My kids are here." Elliot spoke just as softly, but let his eyes say what he didn't want to say out loud. Don't take long.
It never ceased to amaze her that even after ten years of radio silence between them, she can still read him just by the look in his eyes, and he by looking into hers. I'll be fast, I promise.
As she started walking to the door, she had a hard time not listening in to what they were discussing,
"I just thought of something guys," Lizzie commented.
"What's that?" her father replied.
"I was just looking at Cal's EMT books the other day, about head trauma actually, and it said if you have a concussion, depending on the severity of it, they keep you overnight at the hospital, then will only release you as long as you have someone to look after you for at minimum a day. Eli can't be the one that looks after you, it has to be an adult, sorry bud. Who will be the one to look after you? We all have stuff going on…" she asked.
"That's actually a great point Liz, I've got to be up at the hospital at 10 so I can't. Carl is on patrol upstate and won't be back until early Saturday morning." Maureen excluded herself and her fiance from being a possibility.
"Yeah, I've got a major test later in my psych class, I can't unfortunately." Kathleen apologized.
"I can't make any guarantees, you all know that I have no idea when a client will need or want something done." Dickie shrugged, unable to give them the answer they were all hoping for. Five pairs of eyes looked to the person who first voiced the question,
"Don't look at me, I'm in the same boat as Kat, except I've got three tests. One in bio, one in poli sci, and one in my own psych class." Lizzie defended herself.
"I'll be fine, I don't need you guys to put your lives on hold just for me." Elliot insisted.
"You very well may be fine dad, but that's a pretty universal rule for anyone with a concussion. Especially since it was clearly bad enough to warrant a CT scan of your head. We'll figure something out, dad, don't worry about it." the soon-to-be doctor spoke.
Elliot subconsciously looked to the door, he could see Olivia and Fin talking. He was pretty confident in thinking that it was likely about him.
"That's it! We'll ask Olivia!" Lizzie blurted, Elliot snapped his head to her, probably faster than he should have,
"Elizabeth, no. She's Captain now, she can't just babysit me. She's got a squad to babysit most of the time. And when she doesn't, she's got-"
"That's actually what I was just talking to Fin about. And don't be telling all my secrets there Stabler, I've got to be able to have some surprises when we have that dinner." Olivia walked in as he was trying to explain why she couldn't be the one to look after him.
He smiled, "Liv, we'll get it figured out, you don't need to babysit me."
She smiled back, "Fin won't be too happy if I don't let him be in charge. He was looking forward to looking over the squad, weren't you Fin?"
"Ha. Yeah, sure Captain." Fin walked further into the room and up Elliot, "Ya look like hell man, but good to see you." and gave him a fist bump.
Returning the fist bump, Elliot nodded, "Thanks man, good to see you too."
"So it's settled. I'll sit with Elliot for the day, or however long it takes for you to heal, Fin will run the squad and will call me if there's anything immediate that needs my attention." Olivia looked around the room, the children nodding their heads in agreement.
"What about Noah?" Fin asked.
"I'll just bring him with me, and if we need to go anywhere, Elliot and Eli will just have to go with us. It'll be fine, we'll be fine Fin, relax." Olivia shrugged.
"Who is Noah?" Katie inquired, thinking she had an idea -there were only so many people that Olivia would need to drive around, but would rather hear it from her mouth first.
Olivia took a breath, grabbed the chair nobody was using, sat down, and opened her mouth,
As she was about to explain, there was a knock at the door, and Doctor Powell entered, "Are we having a party in here and nobody told me?" he smiled, but got straight to the point, "I have your results for your CT, but I don't think it's wise to share them with so many people here."
"You guys hungry?" Fin inquired, looking at each Stabler child, "I know you said something about being hungry on the way over here baby Stabler."
Each of the kids murmured their answers of yeses and sures, and Fin took that as confirmation,
"Okay then, why don't we head out, and go get something to chow down on? Your dad is likely going to be here all night anyway. This will give him a chance to get his results, talk to Liv afterward to square up any potential complications of him staying with her. And time to rest, he's looking pretty tired over there."
The general consensus was that while nobody really wanted to leave their father, it was the best-case scenario for everyone. They all gave their father gentle hugs and the girls gave kisses on Elliot's cheek, then said quiet goodbyes to both him and Olivia before walking out with Fin.
After the kids and Fin were out and down the hall, Dr. Powell cleared his throat then spoke up,
"Mr. Stabler. How are you feeling?"
"My head still hurts, the ringing has gotten slightly better, and my arm -well look at it yourself, clearly I did something to it and it still hurts like hell." he held up his arm, from the elbow down was severely bruised.
"Yeah, I'd say it probably does. Your headache will hopefully subside soon with the Tylenol we gave you earlier. The ringing? Well, we'll see. I don't have your X- rays back yet, but I will share them as soon as I do. But for now, we'll settle for your CT scans. There's good news and bad news. The good news is that there is nothing too serious going on, no brain bleeds or any tumors. The bad news is that you do have a pretty serious concussion, what we call a "Grade 2", not the most dangerous, but not a mild one either." he stopped to take a breath and to be sure his patient was following along.
"First things first, you'll need to set up an appointment with your general practitioner within a day or two. It also means you'll be here for the night, as you probably expected already, and you'll likely have symptoms for a minimum of a week. That ringing you mentioned? Is another symptom. Hopefully, that'll go away sooner than later. You're going to need someone to stay with you, or you stay with them, for likely two weeks, if not more if you continue to show symptoms. If you do continue to show systems for that long you'll need to see your doctor again or come back here to the ER. I know that was a really quick explanation, do you have any questions for me?"
Elliot looked over to Olivia, she wasn't far, and he shrugged. Olivia looked to Elliot at the same time and shrugged herself in reply to his shrug.
"You said it was a pretty serious concussion, I've had mild concussions before, so should I expect the same symptoms in addition to what you mentioned?" Elliot inquired.
"I would say they should be mostly the same, just maybe more severe and expect them to last longer. Especially the dizziness. No driving for a minimum of two weeks, no operating heavy machinery for two weeks, and no strenuous activities like working out. Your doctor will go over that with you in more detail. I'll go check on your X-rays, see if I can get them developed a little faster if they aren't finished yet. Hold tight for a few." with that Dr. Powell left them to their own devices.
They both sat there for a few minutes before looking at each other, "Two weeks? Are you okay with that long?" Elliot asked. He hated that he was going to have to rely on others, but especially her so soon after reuniting. "You don't have to stay the whole two weeks." He quickly added.
Olivia smiled, "We'll play it by ear, but I doubt it'll be a problem, Elliot. I know you don't like having to rely on other people, but think of it this way: Once the kids go to sleep, it'll give us time to talk. To catch up. There's definitely plenty to talk about."
He nodded, that was daunting to think about right now, but it wouldn't be forever. Or maybe it would be, but they'd plow through it together. He decided to change the subject,
"You gonna ever tell me what you saw on my phone that caused you to gasp like you saw nudes?" Elliot couldn't help but ask, and it was a lighthearted subject and couldn't lead to too much trouble... Right?
"I don't know Elliot, are you going to tell me what the names of the file folders said and what language they were in?" she asked as she raised an eyebrow at him.
"Sure. If you promise to tell me what surprised you so much," he replied easily.
"Okay." she shrugged, "You first."
"Arabic." he smiled broadly at seeing her slightly shocked face. "A few of the file names translate to: 'children', and 'work'." he was intentionally leaving out the most important one and knew she'd pick up on it faster than most others would.
"Okay… What about the last one? The file seemed to have two words. And how in the hell did you learn, when did you learn, Arabic?!"
"Oh no, that's more than one question Captain. Just the one for tonight. But I'll share soon enough." he winked back at her, "The file name you're asking about? Shay' 'akthar? Promise to not kill me?" he chuckled nervously.
"Elliot… Just tell me. I saw what was in that folder. If you're going to make fun of me, can you please just make it in English so I know how painful I can make your murder." she looked at him with such a dejected face, even if she was joking about murdering him, did she not realize how beautiful she was, he couldn't hold it in anymore,
"'Something more'. That's what it stands for, 'something more'. I would NEVER even consider making fun of you in English, much less another language! I swear to you, look it up if you have to. You know me better than that Liv." it was his time to look bashful and somewhat vulnerable.
Her eyes widened, "Elliot." she whispered before speaking louder, "Elliot. What do you mean 'something more?!"
His famous smirk was back, "Later. Now tell me, why did that one surprise you so much?"
"You're insufferable, you know that?!" she couldn't help the chuckle that came along with her words, "It surprised me because there were pictures of you and I, mostly just me! I don't even know when or where or how you could've gotten a good chunk of them."
He nodded slowly, "Someday I'll tell you when, where, and how. Just not now."
She could accept that for the time being, she really wanted to know, but a bigger part of her likely wouldn't be able to handle whatever truth he was willing to share, especially right now.
They stared at each other for a while, neither breaking the contact until they heard a knock at the door. Both looked away at the same time, looking towards the door when Dr. Powell walked back in, along with Hannah and another nurse Elliot didn't recognize.
"Mr. Stabler. Captain Benson." he nodded to both of them, "I was able to get them to finish up your X-rays quicker than expected. It should come to no surprise here, but by looking at these X-rays," he flipped on the light behind the X-ray film itself, "I can clearly see a few different places that you've broken your arm and wrist. Thankfully your humerus, the upper part of your arm, is still one hundred percent intact. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of your ulna or radius. You can see here," he stopped to point to where he was talking about, "and here," pointing to another spot "are clearly broken. You can see your wrist here, it also looks to be broken in a couple of places. I told the nurses to bring you something stronger than the Tylenol from earlier. Toradol, and they'll give it to you intravenously, you probably need it by now. I'll be honest, you've got a long recovery ahead for that arm Mr. Stabler. You'll need surgery to set the bones in your lower arm, but until we get that scheduled for later this morning, we're going to get it wrapped up and immobilize it. Because your ulna and radius are both broken, we're going to give you a full arm immobilizer. I know they are much more uncomfortable, but it's important that nothing more happens to those bones."
Dr. Powell stepped to the side so the two nurses could step forward to give Elliot his pain medication and to start the process of wrapping his arm and getting it steady. Olivia also stepped back to stay out of their way.
About twenty-five minutes later they were finished. As they were walking out the door, Dr. Powell smiled,
"Thank you, Hannah and Madison."
"You're welcome, Dr. Powell." The brunette smiled and replied before stepping out of the room entirely.
"Okay Mr. Stabler, you should be set for a little while. I'm about to take off, but your doctor from earlier, Dr. Williams, will check on you periodically through about 10:00 or so, along with the various nurses we got running around here." He turned to Olivia, "While I wish it was under better circumstances, I'm always happy to see you, Captain. Have you good night you two." With that, he walked out of the room.
"You two know each other?"
"Nothing to worry about Elliot." Olivia laughed, "I'm actually surprised he didn't hit on you." That was enough of an explanation for him.
"Oh. Okay." He chuckled, "While I hate to say this and please don't think I'm kicking you out, but you should head home and get some sleep. How you're still standing… I'm not sure. Guess you really are Wonder Woman." He winked at her.
"Elliot." She looked away and blushed slightly. Turning back to him, she addressed the elephant in the room finally, "I'm sorry for what happened to Kathy. I know you said that you were separated, but that doesn't change the fact that you were together for over twenty years. We were never close, but she was obviously a great mother, and she took care of you for all that time, that couldn't have been easy." She couldn't help the joyful jab at him, they both needed it, "But I do think I'm going to take off for a little while. If you need anything, have them call me. The kids will be alright. They've still got an amazing father to look after them. Goodnight, El." She closed her eyes as she once again kissed his forehead, squeezed his uninjured hand, then left, only looking back once to find him staring after her. She waved slightly and smiled when he waved back. She hated leaving him. It was only for a few hours, she could handle that. At least that's what she was telling herself. He was gone for ten years, a few hours was nothing!
Elliot watched as she walked out, and when she turned back once to wave, he waved back and finally turned away from the door after she turned back around herself. He really didn't want her to go, but he knew she needed sleep and to do stuff on her own accord. She was captain of SVU now. And had a son. He smiled to himself, he was damn proud of her! He needed to tell her that as soon as he was able. Tomorrow.
-End Chapter 4-
Quick AN: As always, thank you to my Fab 5. Seriously, this story wouldn't be here if it weren't for you guys! To anyone that is interested, I tested negative for COVID. Wish everyone could have the same result. Anyhow, with me going back to work, these chapters might not get done quite as fast. You likely noticed that I changed Maureen's fiancé's name to Carl, just like on OC. As customary, please always remember that you are loved, you are important, and you are always believed.