Modern Day Fairytale
Summary: All Olivia ever wanted was her chance at true love
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the SVU characters, or the fairytale characters, fairytales stories, or fairytale movies.
A/N: Okay, so I totally never expected to write this. It just came to me one night when I was going to sleep. This is my first one shot fic, and it's a little long, but I couldn't figure out how to make it into a long story. I am excited to have another story though! It is all fluff, no case. I hope that you guys like it and let me know what you think!
It's all written form Olivia's pov (also a first for me) so let me know how I did!
It's no secret that my childhood was less than ideal. My mother was an abusive alcoholic, and I never knew my father, but I guess that it's better that I didn't. The first time I can even remember my mother telling me that she loved me was when I was 8, and my teacher showed her a story I had written about a lonely girl and her teddy bear. I think that that's when it all started.
To try to make up the 8 years my mother had tried to love me, yet clearly failed in doing so, she designated a special day for the two of us. I still remember it. Every Wednesday she would pick me up from school, and spend the day with me. We would sit down to a home cooked dinner, and she would even read me a story.
At the time I thought she was making a real sacrifice, staying home with me. It wasn't until later that I realized Wednesday night was the only night her favorite bar was closed. But, I guess it was better than nothing.
It was the story that I remember the most. One rainy Wednesday night we were sitting in my little bed; I was under my purple covers, and mom was sitting on top of the blankets with one arm around me. It was the first time I had ever heard the story of Cinderella.
After Mom kissed me goodnight, and turned off the light my mind began to wander. I made up my mind at that moment that if Cinderella could escape her horrible childhood, and find a prince that loved her unconditionally, and who would take her away to a magical castle, I could too.
That was a long time ago though. I have since stopped believing in fairytales I've seen too much pain and hurt to still believe in happily ever after. I've been engaged, and dated more men than I can count, but I've never found that love that seemed so easy for Cinderella to find, until, that is, my Prince Charming strolled into my life.
I remember it like it was yesterday. There was no glass slipper, fairy godmother, or magical ball, but the moment he walked into Captain Cragen's office, I knew that I had found him.
His name was Elliot Stabler, and he was going to be my new partner. For the first time I knew what Cinderella felt like when she walked into the ball and locked eyes with her prince. In that moment all my childhood dreams came back to me, and I found myself believing in true love again.
Cinderella had taught me that even girls from the worst of families could find someone who would love them, and who they could love back. The only thing the story failed to tell me was what to do if my Prince Charming was already married to Snow White.
You see, the problem with my Prince, was that he already had a wife and kids. I did the only thing that I could do, and pushed my childhood fantasies back into my mind, and just did my job. I convinced my self that there was someone else out there for me, and I tried my damndest to find him, but each time I only ended up finding heart ache.
I lived like that for 6 years before completely giving up on ever finding my prince, but then; my fairy godmother must have finally woken up and heard all those wishes I had been making on stars. Elliot Stabler and Snow White were divorced.
I didn't want to just move in immediately; the chances that he cared about me as much as I cared about him were slim, and I knew that. The next few months were just like the past. I went to work, and came home to the same empty apartment. When Casey found out about the monotony of my life she tried setting me up, but I wasn't interested. She just didn't understand that I would have rather spent the rest of my life alone than to live a lie with some other man.
I guess everything finally changed around Christmas time. It was a Friday night, and I was up to my elbows in paper work. I was so caught up in what I was doing that I didn't even hear Elliot come in.
"Hey, what the hell are you still doing her on a Friday night?" He asked from the doorway, snapping me from my trance.
"Doing the cha cha." I joked. "What dies it look like?"
Elliot smiled at my attempt to be funny, and after hanging his coat in his locker he strolled over to the coffee machine and poured two cups. He came to his desk, and placed one cup in front of him, and extended the other to me. After I took it he sat himself down. It was soon that I noticed the lack of typing coming from where he was sitting. I could feel his eyes on me, and decided to say something.
"See something you like Stabler?" I asked, not looking up from my paper work.
"Relax, I'm just thinking." He smiled, looking away.
"And just what are you thinking about?" I inquired; dropping my pen and looking up at my partner.
"Well," He began. "Why is it that more Friday and Saturday nightsthan few you're cooped up in here? I would think that a single woman like your self would want to be out on the town." He asked.
"Well," I offered, "I guess that I'm here for the same reason why you're here." I answered, not wanting to tell him that I don't see any point in 'going out' just to shack up with some meaningless guy for a one night stand anymore. Don't get me wrong, it was great at first. I was the poster girl for 'no-strings-attached' relationships, but they'd just gotten so lonely.
"That's not an answer Olivia." Elliot had said sternly. "I'm only here because I have an ongoing case, Kathy has the kids this weekend, and for some wacky reason Becky, (The last woman he had been seeing) doesn't see a point in dating a man who she was no future with."
"What ever happened with you two?" I asked, wanting to continue keeping the conversation off of me.
"There was just no chemistry." He answered tersely. "But back to you, you seein anyone?" He asked casually.
"Not currently." I answered honestly.
"It's been a while since I've heard anything about a guy in your life, what's goin on?" He asked.
I wanted to lie, to tell him that there had been guys, just none all that worth talking about, but, for some reason, at that moment I couldn't bring myself to lie.
"I'm just done with it all. I mean, ever since I was a kid, I always had this… idea about what love would be like." I began. I shouldn't have started in about my childhood, because once those gates were opened, everything came out.
"And what was that?" He pushed.
"It's just… My mother used to read me Cinderella, and I just always expected that I would be swept off my feet by prince charming, just like she was."
"Expect ed?" He asked. "What, you don't believe that anymore?" His interest had obviously been peeked.
"I guess not." I answered truthfully. "I mean, I grew up and found out that in real life, the hit man kills Snow White, and even if he doesn't she has no where to go. The seven dwarfs are ostracized out of the community, and if they weren't nine out of ten times they end up being child molesters. Sleeping Beauty never wakes up from her sleep because the witch murders her, Prince Eric leaves Ariel out to dry because she's different, and when Cinderella finds prince charming he's usually married witha house full ofkids, and just uses her when he needs a vacation form his wife." I cock my head to the side at this point, and look Elliot in the eyes. "I mean, the only fairytale that ever comes true is that Belle falls in love with the beastdue toanother case where the kidnapped falls for their captor. In Real life Hanzel and Grettle get eaten by the witch. I guess happily ever after just doesn't exists in the real world." I sighed.
"Sure it does Liv." Elliot protested. "I mean, maybe it doesn't happen as easily as it does in the movies, but it's out there."
"How can you even say that?" I asked quietly. "I mean, yeah sure, you though you found your Happily Ever After, but that only lasted for 20 years.But I guess taht's better than never finding it at all.Look, I gotta go." I finally said, defeated. "I'll see you tomorrow." With that I left.
------
I was curled p on my couch flipping through channels that night when someone knocked on my door. I hadn't been expecting anyone, so I was a little apprehensive to answer it. My apprehensiveness was replaced with confusion when I saw my partner standing at the other side of the door.
"What are you doing here?" I asked as I let him in.
"I just…" He began, but stopped. He had a box in his hand that he placed on the counter. "First of all," He started again. "It kills me that you've given up on love."
"Elliot." I began to protest. I turned, and plopped on the couch. I really didn't need to hear him preach about love to me.
"But…" He said over my protests, "what kills me more is that you've given up on it without even giving your self a chance." He added as he walked over to me and knelt down in front of the couch.
"What are you talking about?" I asked as I rolled my eyes. "Trust me, I have given love many a chances in my time,"
"Not true love." He told me.
"To have given it a chance I would first have had to find it." I answered.
"Olivia, you cannot honestly sit here and tell me that you've never had a moment when you saw someone from across the room, and your eyes met, and you just knew that he was the one who you would spend the rest of your life with." He said bluntly.
"And just how do you know that?" I snap.
Elliot raised himself off the floor and gathered the box off the counter, and returned to the living room. He sat on the coffee table in front of me, and placed the box to his side.
Instead of answering me he just kept on ranting. "What kills me most of all, is that you did find true love, and just like Cinderella, you ran from it." He sighed.
I began to open my mouth to say something, but he cut me off.
"I just wanted to come here to let you know that I believe in true love because I know it exists. I saw this beautiful woman one afternoon, and our eyes met, and that was it. I knew that there was something special about her. I was stupid though. I let her get away." He sighed.
"Great!" I thought. Her I was falling in love with my partner, and all he could do was tell me about his storybook love with his ex-wife. With my luck he would probably be asking me how to get her back in the next few minutes, and knowing me, I would tell him, because I only wanted him to be happy.
"Look, El." I finally said. "If you want her back, all you have to do is go after her." There goes my big mouth again.
"That's what I came here to do." He said.
I didn't say anything, what could I say? It didn't matter though, because as soon as he said it, his attention went back to his box.
"I found this outside of Cragen's office that first day I met you, and I was wondering if it belonged to you." He said, picking up the box, and taking off the lid.
I was dumbfounded with what he pulled out. Here we were, two people who had been nothing more that partners and friends for the past 6 years, one who had given up on love completely and the other who had just lost the love that he had so strongly believed in, sitting in my living room. I had on sweats and a tank top, and he had on jeans and a sweatshirt, yet a modern day fairytale was unfolding in that very room.
In front of me sat Elliot, and in his hand he held a real life glass slipper.
"I fell in love with the woman who owns this shoe." With that he knelt to the floor, and slipped the shoe on my bare foot. "Look at that, a perfect fit." He smiled.
It was all too much for me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and kissed him with all the passion, and love that had been bottled up inside of me for the past 6 years.
-----
"Earth to Olivia." I hear behind me, and I'm snapped out of my trance. "You okay?" the voice says again, and a pair of familiar arms wrap around my waist, and familiar lips graze the back of my neck with soft kisses.
"Yeah, just thinking." I smile.
"About me?" He asks with a smile.
"Yeah, you wish Stabler." I answer, knowing that he knows the truth.
"Mommy, Daddy, be quiet!" A little voice comes form the couch. "I'm missing the end of the movie."
"Ella, you know this movie by heart." Elliot smiles. "Prince Charming falls in love with the beautiful, stubborn, amazing woman the first time he sets eyes on her." He says more to me than her.
"And she falls in love with him, without even knowing him. But she runs away because she's afraid he'll find out that she's not as strong and courageous as she pretends to be." I add, still in Elliot's arms.
"But what she doesn't know, is that he's already fallen in love with the real her, so he chases her, and doesn't stop until he's found her." At this point Elliot is whispering, and Ella has completely tuned us out to watch the end of her favorite movie.
I turn in Elliot's arms so that I can look into his eyes. "And when he finally does find her, she's feels complete." I kiss Elliot gently.
I hear the music to Ella's movie that indicates that Cinderella and Prince Charming are riding off into the sunset.
"And they Live Happily Ever After!" She sings, jumping off the couch, and running over to us. "Ewww!" She squeals as she sees her father holding me in his arms. We laugh, and break our embrace.
"Oh how I miss the days when your sisters and brother thought kissing was gross." Elliot laughed as he ruffles Ella's hair.
"Speaking of your brother and sisters, Rick and Elizabeth will be here soon, go wash up for dinner." I instruct.
As I begin heading to the kitchen to finish dinner Elliot grabs my arm.
"So, you find the fairytale ending you were looking for?" He asks.
"Well," I begin. "I started out with the destitute childhood, gave up on ever findinghappiness, wished on a star, found my prince charming, and currently have a little munchkin of my own, so yeah, I guess I have." I smile.
I start to walk away, put pull myself back into Elliot's arms instead. "Oh yeah," I say, "And the whole living Happily Ever After thing, isn't too bad either." With that I smile, and he pulls me to him for a kiss in front of the glass slipper that started it all. It's now on a shelf in the hall way with a picture of our wedding next to it, and plaque that says, "And they Lived Happily Ever After"
The End
So, tell me what you think, it's sappy I know, but I like sap! I hope you liked it, REVIEW!
3 Amanda 3