A/N: Firstly, thank you for the lovely reads and reviews of my prologue to this story. I'm glad to see so many of you are wanting to find out what happens next in this little world that I've created. There will be drama along the way, but there will be plenty of fluff too. Speaking of fluff, that's exactly what we're going to start the story off with! Please, Enjoy :)

Chapter 1 – A Day for Love

A day for love and the celebration of love, deserves to be shared with those closest to you. It was the kind of day which, in the past might have had negative thoughts towards it, but not this year. This year would be different and it would be filled with good and lasting memories.

For Olivia, Valentine's Day always reminded her of the year she'd ended up spending in hospital with a concussion. Brian had come home from a bad day at work and absolutely let loose on Olivia when he found out dinner wasn't quite ready when he wanted it. Brian had unleased his feelings about how the day was and everything which had happened to him, out on her. A right hook to the head and meant Olivia knocked her head on the kitchen bench as she fell to the ground, making her think she was going to die that night before she passed out. However, she didn't die, not that Brian cared as he didn't even stay around after attacking her. It was only when the neighbours had thought something was up and came to check on the house, that Olivia was taken to hospital. Olivia remembered clearly the way she had told the hospital staff that she had slipped in the shower due to carelessness and cut herself above her eye when she fell. She never confessed that she was being beaten and she never would.
That was 3 years ago now and was the last Valentine's Day she had been with Brian for. The following year to the attack, Olivia was already pregnant with Chloe and so her father had taken her out for dinner to her favourite restaurant to try and cheer her up. Olivia had been going through a rough patch with the pregnancy and her life, so her father wanted to cheer her up. Then last year, Olivia was still single and Chloe was only a few months old so Olivia had just been trying to work out the successful juggle between single parenthood and a successful career.

This year would be different, this year she was in a happy relationship with the man whom she could not have imagined ever wanting her the way he did. Olivia would spend all day in school with her amazing class and then she had plans with Elliot tonight. This year would be different to all the ones in her past, this year she would have a Valentine's Day to remember for all the right reasons.

For Elliot, Valentine's Day simply reminded him of mixed feelings and emotions. He'd had good years celebrating the day of love with Kathy where the day had been filled with romance and spoiling each other. But he'd also had years where the only way he'd coped to get through the day, was throw himself into work and try forget what day it was. He'd also had years where he'd been out with friends and got absolutely drunk to the point, he couldn't even remember his own name, to heal the pain that Kathy's disappearance caused. Last year, Elliot had been away on business, but he could hardly remember the events of the night. He remembered he went to a strip club with a few business colleagues and that he'd been drinking. But he'd woken up the next morning in his hotel room, alone, naked and with no memory on how he got there or what had happened.

This year would be different though, this year he had a beautiful girlfriend and he was going to spend the evening making only good memories or times with her. Olivia had invited him over to hers for the night rather than going out for the evening. Olivia even offered Lucy the babysitting job of looking after the twins and Chloe, so Elliot didn't have to worry about a sitter. Lucy hadn't hesitated with accepting the work as she expressed, she needed the money and she didn't have plans. Tonight, would definitely be a good night.

Elliot had chosen to work from home today rather than heading into the office, he had a couple of personal matters to attend to outside of work and it was just easier to work from home for the day. He had recently finished upgrading his home office and loved working from there when he had a chance to do so. Elliot didn't have any meetings that required him to be in the office and so he felt he could get just as much work done from home as he could from the office and it would be easier to get to Olivia's later.

After New Years Eve, Olivia and Chloe had been staying over at his place more frequently. They didn't exactly have a routine for what nights they stayed where, however it was very common for Olivia to spend 3-4 nights a week over at Elliot's. Sometimes it would even be more frequent than that, if Elliot or Olivia felt that they just needed to be around the other for a night. Elliot had used this as a perfect excuse to upgrade his home office, so Olivia could have space to work when she was at his considering he knew how busy at school she'd been lately. Olivia's workload outside of school seemed to have increased recently and thus he wanted her to be able to have space to get work done when she needed to, and she was staying at his. He'd had the study upgraded so that there were 2 desks with computers, and he'd brought in a bookcase and storage unit or two so that Olivia had space to store things when she needed to. Not to mention, she already had several clothes hanging in his wardrobe for when she stayed over, so she didn't always have to bring a bag with her and Chloe.

Chloe on the other hand, basically claimed the entire spare room upstairs as her own room. Elliot had organised a toddler bed to placed in there and there was a selection of toys that Chloe now kept at Elliot's. Elliot hadn't heard from his mother since Christmas, so he didn't know if she intended to return or not, thus he moved Chloe out of the study into her own room. If Elliot was honest, as bad as it sounded, he didn't want his mother to return. He much preferred the spare room being Chloe's room and the little girl having her own space at his place rather than always staying in the study. The penthouse was really starting to look like Chloe and Olivia had moved in, but not completely as there were still nights that Olivia and Chloe stayed at Olivia's place. Elliot hoped that there would come a time that would change though, he really wanted to have all his favourite people under one roof.

Elliot emerged from the study in search of another coffee, he'd just finished looking at the latest design plans for the renovation of his hotel in Vancouver. It was one of his oldest hotels, as it had bene one of the first ones built when he was starting out and it needed an interior upgrade. However, none of the plans that he'd been given were exactly what he wanted yet. This was despite the numerous descriptions that he'd given his team. It was really starting to look more and more like Elliot needed to take a trip up there sometime soon to get everything sorted and give everyone a clear picture of exactly what he wanted as the descriptions didn't work.

However, he wasn't expecting to find a visitor sitting in his living room, he wasn't expecting to have anyone over today. Elliot was the only one home and wasn't expecting anyone, the twins were at school and he was meeting Olivia at her place later. But yet, as Elliot strolled past the living room, he spotted a familiar figure sitting on his couch. He paused and walked closer, the familiar figure was his mother. It almost looked like she was waiting to see him here too.

"Mom?" Elliot asked as he walked over to his mother, making his presence in the room known.
"There you are! They told me at reception you were home but I didn't know where? No one was here when I arrived" Bernie remarked as Elliot rounded the couch.
"I was here, I've been hiding away working in my study. But what are you doing here? You never told me you were coming back?" Elliot replied. He had not spoken to his mother since Christmas and even then, he'd only done that because Olivia had asked him to.
"You have not spoken to me since Christmas! So how exactly was I supposed to let you know that I was coming back?" Bernie argued.
"I am not the only person who can make a phone call mom! I know you would have had access to a phone wherever you were and I know you know my number" Elliot defended himself, he would not be blamed for not talking to her in all this time, he never wanted to talk to her in the first place but Olivia had wanted him to.
"A son, should regularly check in with his mother to see how she is. So, you can imagine my surprise after not talking to you for so long, to return him and find a tiny bed in my room. I cannot sleep in that? It's too small!" Bernie argued as Elliot just shook his head, this woman clearly thought everything was about her when it wasn't.

"Firstly, it's not your room – it's my spare room. Secondly, the bed isn't for you, it's for a toddler, who has been staying over and the spare room has become their room" Elliot argued in his own defence.
"That bitch and her brat have been staying here? I leave and she moves in, telling you to cut me off completely? She must have really got her claws in deep then" Bernie remarked to which Elliot had to control his temper or he would hit something. He would not tolerate the woman he loved being badmouthed by his mother in his own apartment.
"Get out!" Elliot replied, trying to keep his temper under control and hoping his mother would take the hint he didn't want her here.
"Excuse me? That is not the way I raised you to talk to me" Bernie replied, disgusted by her son's behaviour.
"I said, GET OUT! I will not have you come into my house and insult my girlfriend! You wonder why I never thought to call you in all this time and yet you seem to have no issue in insulting the most important woman in my life, every time I see you. So get out! You are not welcome here!" Elliot yelled, clenching his hand into a fist at his side and heading towards the stairs instead of the kitchen. All intentions to get coffee had been abandoned now, he just needed to get away from his mother or he would do something stupid.
"You can't just kick me out! You won't stop me from seeing my grandchildren!" Bernie argued in defence as Elliot started to head upstairs.
"Watch me!" Elliot yelled back as he stormed up to his room. Bernie had to be gone by the time he came back downstairs again after cooling off, or he would have her officially escorted out.

Bernie wasn't going to stand for this kind of behaviour from Elliot. She wasn't just going to take his clear misguidance in terms of the appropriate behaviour. She knew that he was being misguided by someone in terms of his actions and he knew exactly who that was. He may have told her that she couldn't stay at his place, but he couldn't stop her from seeing her grandchildren as she had every right to and she knew exactly how to get to them. As far as Bernie was aware, she was still one of the registered people that could pick up the twins from school as she doubted Elliot would have changed that, so that was what she would do. Bernie wouldn't let another woman take her grandchildren when she was around and if Elliot wanted to go and mess around with the woman who was ruining his family, then he could do that but she was going to take the twins.

Bernie managed to get a taxi right from outside the hotel to the school, in New York traffic, with time to spare before the final bell went. Bernie knew that if she showed to pick the children up, Elliot wouldn't disrespect her in public and if he knew she was there to collect the children, he would respect her wishes. Elliot was very respectful and determined on his public image, at least he used to be. Bernie knew that there was no way that he wanted bad publicity for the hotel chain by causing a disturbance in public. She made her way over to where the designated pick up part of the school was and waited the last couple of minutes before the kids would be dismissed.
"Mother, what are you doing here?" Elliot spoke from behind her, he had clearly come to collect the children for the day like she expected he would.
"Collecting my grandchildren from school, what does it look like?" Bernie replied.
"You are not welcome to do that" Elliot demanded, he had not organise for her to do it nor was he going to allow her to do so.
"Elliot, you cannot stop me from seeing my grandchildren. Do you really want to cause a scene like that here?" Bernie warned, looking at the group of other parents that were starting to mingle in the area.
"I need you to leave mother. I will not have you around my children when you are spreading such horrible and incorrect lies about someone I know they really care about"
"So, she's deluded their heads too? Wow you really are in trouble now. Elliot, if you want to go and be with that woman instead today then you can go right ahead, and I will take care of the children. I'm overdue for time with them and you know it!"
"As I know they will be happy to see you, you can take the twins for the afternoon, they have a sitter coming tonight and you cannot stay at my apartment. You are more than welcome to stay at the hotel but you are not welcome to stay in my apartment. I do not want to see you there when I get home tonight" Elliot warned his mother. That was a partial lie as Elliot wouldn't be coming home tonight, he was going to stay the night at Olivia's but he wouldn't tell him that as she didn't need to know. He would make sure that Bertie kept an eye on the twins tonight and she would tell him about it later.

"NANNNYYY!" A voice called out across the playground before Bernie could respond and both adults turned to see Elizabeth and Richard running across to them. Elliot looked up at the teachers watching children and didn't see Olivia there, instead he spotted the teaching student in Elizabeth's class, Clara doing the afternoon pick up duty.
"Nanny you're back!" Richard smiled as he hugged his grandmother close and Elizabeth did the same.
"I sure am and we get to spend the afternoon together" Bernie replied as the twins hugged their father as well.
"Then, what's daddy doing here?" Elizabeth asked, confused by the appearance of both adults.
"I just wanted to make sure that Nanny got to school alright and I wanted to see how surprised you were to see her. Was Miss Benson at school today?' Elliot asked, wondering if Olivia was off school today because she was unwell or something and she hadn't told him. Elizabeth just nodded.
"She had a special meeting this afternoon but and so we didn't have her. She told me to give you this though and she'll be back tomorrow" Elizabeth explained as she reached into her bag to grab the letter which Miss Benson had given her earlier. Elliot knew if he opened this now, his mother would try and read over his shoulder or next to him. Instead he waited till they were heading back to the car to read it, as everyone was in front of him.
Dinner, my place 8pm – L Olivia had signed her name with an L for 'Liv' clearly and he liked that but he found the whole letter a little strange. He would have thought Olivia would have texted him about their plans tonight instead. But maybe she was trying to be extra mysterious with it being Valentines day, he wasn't sure but he couldn't wait to see her tonight.

The table was set, dinner was cooking in the oven and Olivia had already bathed and changed Chloe into her pyjamas for the night. Olivia had allowed Chloe to stay up till Elliot arrived, so she could see him and then it would be bedtime. She knew how much Chloe loved to see Elliot, so she wanted to allow the little girl that time tonight, especially with the gift that Olivia had for Elliot later. Olivia had spent a lot of time thinking this one through and organising it, she thought today was the perfect time to let Elliot know about her plan. Olivia had wanted to organise everything herself and tell Elliot when it was official, but the paperwork that was involved meant that she couldn't exactly do that. Olivia just hoped that Elliot would agree and be onboard with the whole plan – though she didn't exactly think he was going to object.

Elliot buzzed to her apartment through the intercom and Olivia was quick to let him into the building before moving to the front door, ready to let him in and watch him come onto her floor. She thought Elliot looked so handsome in his suit which she was sure was new when he walked out of the elevator onto her floor and towards her.
"ELLOT!" Chloe squealed as she spotted him in the corridor when she had come over to the door to see what her mother was doing. She instantly took off running towards him in her pyjamas. Elliot stopped in his tracks to catch and meet the little girl, hugging her close as she did. Olivia watched the two talk and walk hand in hand up to her, with a smile on her face. Elliot was so good with Children and watching him interacting and caring about Chloe just made Olivia crave him more in every possible way. There was just something so attractive about this man with her child.
"Petty fowes momma" Chloe stated as they reached Olivia, she had also noticed the beautiful bouquet in Elliot's hand.
"Any proper gentleman would never turn up to a woman's house emptyhanded" Elliot stated, as if he was already explaining what to expect in a man when she's old enough to date. That though made Olivia shiver, she didn't want to think of Chloe dating yet.
"But these beautiful flowers, are for my beautiful lady" Elliot turned to Olivia as he handed her the flowers and leant in for a kiss in the process.
"Yucky Ellot! No ksfhasding" Chloe objected as she tried to get in between the two adults and push them apart. Even after all these months, where Chloe has seen them kiss numerous times, she still didn't like it. However tonight, neither of the adults really cared about her objection.

"Alright sweet girl, it's bedtime. Can you say goodnight to Elliot?" Olivia asked as the trio made their way into her apartment and Olivia placed Elliot's flowers down on the bench for a minute to pick up Chloe.
"Nigh night Ellot!" Chloe echoed as she looked over at him.
"Night night Chloe, sweet dreams and I'll see you tomorrow" Elliot replied as he pressed a soft kiss to the top of the little girl's head, just like he did every night when he was around for bedtime. Olivia excused herself for a moment and Elliot made himself comfortable, taking of his coat and shoes before placing them by the door.

The apartment smelled amazing with all the aromas from dinner. Elliot loved that Olivia was such a good cook and this was one of the many things that always made her place feel so homely. Elliot admired the pictures that Olivia had placed on her bookshelf by the television, realising there were a couple new ones from the last time he was here. He spotted the picture of Chloe when she was born and the picture of Olivia's father, but there were also now pictures of them and of all the kids over the holidays. Elliot's favourite definitely had to be the picture that Alex had captured on Christmas day, where Olivia and Elliot were so obviously lost in their own world together but it was the perfect picture with the sun shining in through the windows. Elliot loved this picture so much, he even had a copy sitting in a frame on his bedside table.

"Sorry, I wanted to make sure she had a chance to see you before bedtime as I knew that she'd wake up if she heard you and didn't get to see you" Olivia apologised as she re-entered the room but there really was no need for it as Elliot loved seeing Chloe.
"I love seeing and spending time with Chloe almost as much as I love seeing and spending time with you. So, thank you for keeping her up so that I could. You updated your pictures?" Elliot asked as he pointed to the new pictures on her bookcase.
"I had new ones that I wanted to put on display and I did that a while back. We just don't spend too much time here, you didn't notice" Olivia teased as she walked over to Elliot.
"Now dinner is about 5 more minutes, but can I get you a drink?" Olivia offered, playing the perfect hostess.
"How about I get you a drink?" Elliot suggested.
"But you're my guest and I can't be a very good hostess if I don't get you a drink" Olivia pointed out.
"If you insist but I'll have whatever you're having" Elliot smiled as he watched Olivia walk back over to the kitchen.

When dinner was ready, the couple sat at the dinner table which Olivia had appropriately dressed in a romantic setting, with a tablecloth and candles. Anyone who saw this might think that they were at a real restaurant with the layout that Olivia had created and not actually in her apartment. But Elliot was really touched that she wanted to go to all this fuss especially for him, when he already knew she would have had a big day at work before this. To Olivia, this wasn't really her making an effort, she just wanted the place to look nice. She made ravioli for dinner and she wanted the table setting to match the romantic kind of feel for the evening. Elliot couldn't hide the fact he loved that he didn't need to use a knife for tonight's meal, as that meant he had a spare hand to hold Olivia's across the table. After everything which happened today, he was really glad to be spending the night with Olivia tonight.

The pair talking about anything and everything over their meal. Olivia explained how she still hadn't heard anything about the promotion she'd applied for weeks ago and was starting to think it'd already been given to someone else. Elliot was feeling confident that she'd get the new position as he'd thought she was perfect for the position with the specific criteria that she'd told him about for the position. However, some could say that he had certain bias when it came to Olivia as he always thought she was perfect in every way.

Olivia on the other hand, could tell that there was something on Elliot's mind throughout the time they talked and ate dinner. She could tell that even with his success as small talk and maintaining conversation with her, there was something that was playing on his mind and bothering him. In the time that they had been together, she had come to know almost all of his facial expressions well and she could, at times, read him like a book. They'd already discussed the dramas over his renovations at his hotels, so it wasn't that which was still causing the look of concern that Elliot had in his eye. Olivia just wanted to help him however she could, so she hoped that she could get to whatever it was that was bothering him.

"What's on your mind?" Olivia asked after a moment of silence between them, giving Elliot's hand a gentle squeeze of encouragement across the table.
"Nothing, I'm fine" Elliot declined her question.
"Honey, I can tell that there is something bothering you and I want to help if I can" Olivia continued to encourage Elliot.
"I don't want to ruin our evening together" Elliot continued to turn her down. He knew the minute that he brought up his mother then the mood of their night would change and their night would be ruined. However, her re-appearance had been playing on his mind most of the afternoon and it was still there now.
"What is it that you've told me in the past? I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong and I don't like to see something troubling you like this" Olivia continued to encourage Elliot, whilst stroking the back of his hand with her thumb in comfort. Elliot looked at her and took a deep breath, trying to work out the best way to explain what it was.

"My mother is back" Elliot stated, deciding it was better to just tell Olivia as she'd likely find out anyway and he didn't want this to ruin their night.
"Wow, when did she get back?" Olivia asked.
"This afternoon. I worked from home today and found her sitting in my living room when I went to grab a coffee after finishing with those plans. She basically accused me of not talking to her and said it was your fault. She also had some rather rude words to say about you and Chloe, so I kicked her out" Elliot explained, Olivia had to concentrate to make sure not to let her mouth hang open with the shock.
"What?!" Olivia replied after a moment.
"I won't have her living in my place insulting my girlfriend or her daughter like that. I told her that she wasn't welcome and that I didn't want to see her if she was going to be so rude" Elliot explained.
"I hate that our relationship is causing so much grief between your mother and you"
"Sadly, my mother is still blindly under the impression she controls my life and that's just not the case anymore. I won't stand for her poor treatment of you and I'm not going to let her anywhere near Chloe"
"Really?"
"Nope, especially not with the things that she said today. I'm not going to repeat them but baby, it really wasn't nice and no matter how much you fight me on it, she's not getting anywhere near you or Chloe" Elliot explained and Olivia just smiled, if she had been waiting for the perfect moment this would be it and she couldn't have asked for a better segway into her gift for Elliot.
"You know, I'm really glad to hear you say that and I'm not going to fight you on it at all. But it does line up well with something that I have for you" Olivia replied before excusing herself for a moment to get something from her room.

Whilst Olivia was gone, Elliot cleared the table and went to start washing up but Olivia pulled him towards the couch when she re-appeared. She had to give him the gift now.
"Happy Valentines Day El!" Olivia expressed as she handed Elliot the two wrapped presents that she had for him. Elliot wasn't sure which one she preferred him to open first, so went with the smaller box first. Part of him felt guilty as he'd only bought Olivia one gift and yet she'd gone above and beyond to get him 2. He carefully unwrapped the first gift and opened the box. Inside he found a beautiful new black and silver business looking watch. The clockface itself was black but had silver hands, border and wristband.
"Have a look on the back" Olivia encouraged as Elliot took the watch out of the case and slowly turned it over. My love for you is timeless 3 O read the message engraved to the back of the clockface. Elliot just smiled in appreciation, he loved this gift and already decided he would never wear another watch but this one again.
"It's perfect! I was really in need of a new watch for work and now I'll have one that I'll never want to take off" Elliot replied as he put it aside for a moment to open the other gift. Olivia honestly felt butterflies in her stomach right now over this moment and how it was all going to play out. The protectiveness that Elliot had showed earlier towards Chloe told Olivia this was the right gift and the right time but she still felt incredibly nervous about it.

Elliot slowly unwrapped the second gift and found a folder with some of what looked like documents inside. There was a card too which Elliot opened first.
"Ellot, do you want to be the one I call 'daddy' for the rest of my life? Will you be the one everyone knows as my 'father?' Love Chloe" Elliot read out loud before looking up at Olivia with a question in his eyes. He looked down to the card again and back up to Olivia, as if he was hallucinating but she just smiled and took his hand in hers.
"You are the first man other than my father, who has ever taken an interest in Chloe. I watch the way you two are together and I don't want her growing up only thinking of you as 'Ellot' when you could be 'dad'. If you want to, I want you to be her father, you may not be biological but you're the closest thing she's ever known as a father. I wanted to wait till this had all been processed and made official, but the paperwork needed your signature. Regardless, the question is still the same, will you be Chloe's father?" Olivia asked and she could see the tears in Elliot's eyes from pure joy.
"Of course! There is nothing I would want more than to be her father" Elliot stated and Olivia just leant in and kissed him.

"Well, there's no way that my gift will top that but let me get it" Elliot replied as he moved to grab his gift for Olivia out of his coat by the door. He handed the small parcel to Olivia and took a seat across from her. She opened it slowly and found a velvet box, her heart was racing in her chest and she couldn't work out what was happening right now. Was this Elliot proposing? Was this going to be something else?
Olivia slowly opened the box and found a beautiful delicate silver ring sitting inside. It had a diamond sitting inside a silver heart but Olivia couldn't believe quite how beautiful this ring was. She looked up at Elliot from the ring, unable to find the right words to say in the moment.
"Now, I'm not proposing. Not yet! But this ring, is my promise to you. It is a promise that you are the only woman I want to be with for the rest of my life, it's a promise that my heart is yours and yours only. It's also a promise that one day, when we're ready and the time is right, I want to be your husband" Elliot explained and Olivia felt the tears in her eyes spring up. This was such a sweet and special gift.
"Oh Elliot. It's stunning" Olivia gushed as Elliot took it out of the box and took the opportunity to slip it on her finger. It wasn't an engagement ring but a promise ring with the promise of the future together. Olivia once again leant in and pressed a soft kiss to Elliot's lips as the perfect thank you.
"Confession time, I may or may not have had help from Alex to make sure I got you the right size" Elliot remarked as they pulled apart once more which made Olivia laugh, Alex had kept that quiet. Both of them were so happy right now, Elliot had made a promise to Olivia that they would be together forever and one day he planned to marry her. Whilst Olivia had asked Elliot to be Chloe's father which he had been wanting to be for a while now. Not even the knowledge that Bernie was back and trying to cause difficulty would ruin their mood right now. This had definitely been a Valentine's Day to remember.

A/N: So, Bernie's back? I wonder what her plan is and do you think Elliot was right to throw her out of his house? Olivia wants Elliot to be Chloe's father and Elliot promised to spend the rest of his life with Olivia but no marriage…yet. Next up, family time for the twins. Leave me a review and let me know what you think and what else you think is in store for this story?
Until Next Time ;)