A/N: Thank you for your lovely reviews on the chapters so far.
To DaisyNoura – I'm glad you liked the gifts in the last chapter, I thought they were appropriate for where this couple is up to in their relationship. They are committed to each other but not quite ready for marriage yet.

2. Birthday Parties

The sound of a child's sadness or terror was enough to wake any parent in the middle of the night without hesitation. Parents want nothing more than for their children to be happy, healthy and safe, they don't like when something is bothering the child. So, it was always hard for both the adult and the child when a child woke up in tears during the night. Tonight, was one of those nights and it was a night where Chloe woke up crying from what they could only assume was a nightmare. She cried out over the baby monitor in quite a state, waking both Olivia and Elliot up from their peaceful sleep. Olivia made a move to get out of bed and go to grab the little girl, but Elliot insisted he would be the one to go and get Chloe tonight.

Olivia lay back down in bed, watching Elliot slip on his trackpants and move towards the door of the room. Elliot never slept in more than his shorts, but he wasn't one to walk into another room almost naked. Olivia was grateful that Elliot wanted to be the one tonight to go and soothe the little girl but Olivia hoped that she hadn't woken the twins as well.
Elliot had really stepped up the father role with Chloe in the past 2 weeks since he'd signed the papers to formally adopt her. There were a few other things that needed to happen before it could become official but Elliot and Olivia didn't care, they were already acting like it was.

"Shhh, Daddy's here. Shhhh, it's ok" Olivia heard Elliot soothe Chloe through the baby monitor. Elliot had asked Chloe about a week ago to refer to him as 'daddy' rather than 'Ellot' which of course she didn't mind. She's not even 2 yet, so she didn't really understand the situation, but she had been taking easily to calling Elliot 'daddy' as it was much easier to say.
"What's all this crying about huh? It's ok, it was just a bad dream and I've got you monkey. Daddy's not going to let anyone hurt, I promise" Elliot continued to try and talk to Chloe and soothe her from all her night terror. Olivia could hear that Chloe's crying was subsiding and being with Elliot was working right now. She knew that Chloe felt as safe as she did with Elliot and whilst he was around, he really would not let anything happen to them.

Olivia heard Chloe first when she woke up again later that morning. Although she and Elliot were in the process of helping Chloe soothe herself or not call out for her instantly when she woke in the morning, like she had done in the past, it was a work in process. Spending time at Elliot's was becoming more familiar to Chloe with the more time that they spent there. But it still wasn't home, so Olivia understood why she was always worse with calling out when they were at Elliot's. The toddler bed was helping though, as it was more suitable for her now than the usual crib she slept in whenever they had been over. Chloe was able to get out of the bed by herself now rather than Olivia having to worry that she would climb out of the crib and get hurt.
Olivia had already been awake when Chloe called out, she'd heard the girl before she called out over the baby monitor, the little girl had been doing well at entertaining herself but she was over it now. Olivia wanted to leave Elliot asleep in bed a little bit longer if she could, he had a big day ahead of him. '

Elizabeth and Richard had turned 8 about a week ago. But due to variety of reasons, they hadn't been able to have a birthday party till today. So not only was Elliot going to be supervising a group of 7-8 year old's playing laser tag and bowling today, but he would then have a number of them back over for a sleep over tonight. He would definitely need all the sleep he can get beforehand. Olivia and Chloe would be elsewhere for the rest of today and most of tomorrow as several of her students from school were obviously going to be at the party and the sleep over. No one outside of a special few people knew that Elliot and Olivia were in a relationship and especially no one at school knew, so Olivia couldn't be around with all those kids here. Not to mention, teachers weren't even supposed to attend their student's birthday parties as it was a child protection type issue. Olivia felt bad that she wouldn't be there to support Elliot through all of this but she was going to let him sleep more now whilst he had the chance.

Once she had been into Chloe's room at Elliot's and said good morning to the little girl, the pair made their way downstairs, trying not to wake anyone else up. Olivia had given Gusto the morning off from cooking, as he was going to be making food for all the children later, so Olivia was going to make breakfast. She had already planned to make blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes as a special birthday treat for the twins. She hadn't been able to do it on their actual birthday, as it had been a school day and Olivia wasn't over then. But there was no more perfect time than now to do it. She wasn't sure when the twins were going to wake up and didn't want the pancakes to get cold, so she made herself coffee instead.

Once the twins had surfaced, Olivia knew it was time to start breakfast and wake Elliot up. He'd slept for another few hours past when Olivia got up with Chloe and she knew he needed to get up soon to have enough time to get ready for the party. She left Choe playing with Elizabeth in the living room to quickly make a coffee for Elliot before taking it upstairs to him.
Elliot was still passed out in bed, fast asleep as Olivia entered the room. She placed the coffee on Elliot's bedside table and caressed her hand down the side of his face slowly, pausing to admire his sleeping form for a moment. She smiled to herself with how cute she found him right now before leaning down to press a kiss on his lips. Olivia honestly adored this man and she still found herself with times where she couldn't believe someone like Elliot was really hers. She'd had moments over the past couple of weeks where she found herself lost in thought, staring at the beautiful ring that Elliot had given her on Valentine's Day. She had the perfect ring to go with the perfect necklace Elliot had given her for Christmas. She was the luckiest woman.

Olivia smiled as she felt Elliot start to kiss her back and she pulled apart to find his beautiful blue eyes staring back at her.
"Good morning" Olivia smiled.
"Good morning, what time is it?" Elliot asked, curious as to how long he'd slept as Olivia was already dressed for the day and sitting on the bed near him, with a coffee ready. It was clear she hadn't just got up.
"A little after 9am. The twins are up and everyone's downstairs. I'm about to start breakfast but thought I'd bring you a coffee first" Olivia explained as she watched Elliot scowl.
"You were supposed to wake me when Chloe got up. Just like we agreed, remember?" Elliot asked.
"You are already in for a very busy day and next 24 hours really. You have a party with lots of 7-8 year olds and then a sleep over. So, I figured that you were in need of extra sleep this morning so I let you sleep. Not to mention, you gave me extra sleep last night when you got up with Chloe" Olivia tried to defend her decision to Elliot, not that she really felt like she needed to.
"But I don't want all the responsibility of being up with Chloe or fetching her during the night when she wakes unsettled, being on you. I'm her father and I want us to share the parental duties that come with raising her" Elliot continued to argue, this was something he was clearly very passionate about. Olivia just smiled in return and placed a hand softly on his chest, over his heart.
"Honey, it's perfectly ok, really. Besides, I can't help you with the party today or the sleep over tonight, so consider us even with this" Olivia replied as she softly pressed a kiss to Elliot's lips again and he sat up in bed properly to take the coffee from her.
"I just...I don't...I don't want you to think that I want the privilege of being Chloe's father but not put in the work too. I want to be just as involved with her life as you are, where I can"
"I would never think anything like that. I know how much you are committed to being her father and to her. I also know that even though the papers aren't official yet, you are already her father. Now, enjoy your coffee, get dressed and I'll see you downstairs for pancakes" Olivia requested as she moved off the bed but Elliot stopped her by quickly grabbing her hand.
"Thank you" Elliot replied and leant in to kiss Olivia once more before releasing her hand to let her leave the room.

"Daddy" Elizabeth spoke up, as they all sat in the dining room, eating through a large pile of pancakes which had been prepared by Olivia. Elizabeth had been eager to help in the kitchen and Olivia had shown her the way that she makes both blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes. Olivia strongly believed in the importance of teaching children how to cook when they wanted to learn. So, every time that she was cooking and any of the children expressed an interested in helping, she would eagerly let them do so.
"Yes Lizzie?" Elliot replied as he looked up from his plate of pancakes.
"Why can't Livvy and Chloe come to the party? Elizabeth continued to ask.
"Chloe can't go bowling, she's too small" Richard interrupted before Elliot even had a chance to respond.
"But they aren't coming to the sleep over either, and they always sleep over here...so why can't they come to our sleep over?" Elizabeth persisted.
"It's cause nanny doesn't like her, isn't it daddy?" Richard asked to which Elliot looked over at Olivia for support but she just raised an eyebrow. She was questioning how he was going to respond to this one and not helping at all.
"Alright. Now you are right in the fact that Nanny doesn't want Olivia to come to the party, and nanny will be there. However, that is not the whole reason why Olivia and Chloe won't be coming" Elliot stared.
"Chloe is still too little to go bowling at the moment and she can't play laser tag either, so the party really wouldn't be much fun for her. So, we're going to go and do something else that would be more fun for Chloe and you can all go and enjoy the party with your friends" Olivia stepped in and explained, taking the weight off Elliot's shoulders.
"But they won't be here for the sleepover afterwards as there are a lot of your friends who are in Olivia's class coming and no-one knows about the fact that Olivia and I spend lots of time together. There are some rules that Olivia has to follow as a teacher, and if people knew about us and all the time we spend together, she could get in some serious trouble. That's why for this year, Olivia and Chloe can't come to any of your birthday celebrations but maybe next year that will be different" Elliot explained, both adults could see the disappointed look on Elizabeth's face but that was the way things were this year.
"I know you three are going to have so much fun today doing everything with bowling and laser tag. Chloe and I will miss you and miss being part of all the fun but next time we're all together you can tell us all about it" Olivia smiled as the Stabler trio. She appreciated that the kids were excited by the thought of having her at their party and she hated that she couldn't be there but the last thing she needed was the school to find out through the parents that she was in a relationship with another one of the parents. Even if it was true, and she didn't want to hide it, this was not the way she wanted it to come out. She did not need the headache of all the politics and rules that would follow.

Elliot may not be actually talking with his mother at the moment, but he wasn't going to let that stop his mother's relationship with his children. Olivia had been the one to encourage him to not let his grievances with his mother, affect his children like this. There was nothing more special or unique than the relationship a child has with their grandparents and Elliot didn't want to be the reason his kids didn't know theirs anymore. So, even though he didn't want his mother anywhere near them, the twins had invited her to their party, so she was coming bowling and to laser tag with them. Before Olivia left his place this morning, she had encouraged Elliot to try and keep his temper and emotions towards her in check at the party. She also encouraged him to call her later if he needed her, she may not be able to physically be there but she was always at the end of the phone line for him.

Elliot walked inside the bowling alley with the twins either side of him, this alley was a special kind of bowling alley as it had an arcade and laser tag arena built into it. It was quite simply, most children's dream playground if given the chance to attend, when they're 8 years old. Elliot had booked out the entire place for his kids and their friends, he also made sure to include extra food into the booking as well. A group of young children, whom were going to have multiple hours of entertainment, were going to need lots of food to keep their energy up.

They found Bernie waiting inside for them when they arrived, with Edward, Maria and Arthur who had come into town especially for the party. Most of Elliot's siblings lived out of town or in out of states so they didn't get to attend family things much. However, Edward didn't live that far away and he and Elliot were close, so they were really trying to make an effort to spend more time together than they had in the past.
"Uncle Eddy!" Richard called as he spotted his favourite uncle and ran over to give him a big hug.
"Hey Dickie! Hey Lizzie! Happy Birthday guys!" Edward replied as he hugged both the twins, now that Elizabeth had come over with Elliot.
"Happy Bit-day" Arthur echoed, causing the group to laugh a little at how cute that was. The twins were very happy to see all of them here at their party.
"Thank you!" Elizabeth and Richard echoed in response as Elliot took it upon himself to find out about their booking and made sure everything was ready. The twins were perfectly happy to be greeting their friends whom were arriving and starting the whole party celebrations. But Elliot was purposely avoiding anything to do with his mother right now, solely focused on the kids who were arriving and his twins who were the center of everyone's attention.

Elliot stood next to Edward at one of the tall tables, watching the kids run around and enjoying the celebrations. Both Elizabeth and Richard were having a fantastic time right now and it even looked like his mother was having a great time. She had been busy talking with a couple of the parents who had stuck around at the party and helping teach Arthur bowling even though he was kind of small to be doing it.
"So, where's Olivia?" Edward asked, scanning around the room once more. They'd been here for over an hour now and he hadn't seen her.
"Not here" Elliot replied, playing a smart-arse type of response for once.
"Thanks captain obvious! I had noticed that, as I'd not seen her yet. Where is she?" Edward replied, wanting to hear more about why Olivia wasn't here when he'd assumed she would be.
"I believe she was taking Chloe to an indoor playground with some friends from daycare. Bowling and laser tag are a little too advanced for my daughter and as most of the kids coming are from Olivia's class, she couldn't be here" Elliot replied with a smile on his face, he wondered if his brother would pick up the new development in his life that he had dropped in that sentence. Elliot watched as Edward opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again before opening it once more, like he was unsure what to say next.

"Hold up, daughter?" Edward spoke up after a minute
"Well, it's not been certified and approved yet as the paperwork is still with the courts but it should be soon. Yeah, I'm trying to adopt Chloe as my daughter, Olivia gave me the paperwork as part of my Valentine's Day present" Elliot explained, trying to bring his brother up to speed now he got the hint.
"That's fantastic! Congratulation's man!"
"Thanks, I must admit the whole thing has made my year already, and the year is still fairly new. The papers may not have it official yet but I'm already her 'daddy"
"Does mom know?" Edward asked as both the boys looked over to their mother.
"No, and I don't intend to tell her just yet. She hates Olivia and Chloe, so I'm not going to go ahead and just tell her that I'm in the process of legally adopting Chloe and have committed myself completely to Olivia" Elliot explained.
"Wow, hold up, so you've proposed them?" Edward asked for clarification as to what his brother was telling him right now.
"Not entirely. Well, not yet anyway. I gave her a promise ring that I bought, as my commitment to her. It was a promise that when we're ready, I want to marry her and I already plan to spend the rest of my life with her" Elliot remarked, taking a sip from his soft drink.
"You really have fallen hard for her"
"There were so many things I got wrong with Kathy and in life in general then, but I feel like with Olivia I've been given a second chance, a better chance and I never want to stuff that up" Elliot explained as he watched the way Richard was challenging his friends to an arcade game whilst Elizabeth was playing with Bernie and a couple of her friends at bowling.
"I'm happy for you man, really. I'm happy that you've found a second chance at love and happiness and you're willing to fight hard for it" Edward replied before ordering another soft drink from the bar for both of them.

Olivia stood watching Chloe as she slept. Ever since Chloe was a baby, Olivia loved to just watch her sleep, watch the little girl's eyes flutter with different dreams she was having, and wonder what in the world the girl could be dreaming about. Olivia knew that after the day they'd had today, Chloe was exhausted and she had gone to bed with ease. They had been at the playground today with lots of her friends from daycare for several hours today. Olivia had loved watching how Chloe was interacting with all of her friends, whilst she spoke with the different mothers. Chloe was quite the social butterfly around her friends and Olivia loved that she was making so many friends.
She couldn't help but wonder how the party had been today for the twins and Elliot though, she wondered how he was coping with everything and how he was feeling. Elliot hadn't called her yet, which she thought was a good sign as it meant things can't have been going too badly then. But Chloe had been really determined to call him earlier, to say goodnight to him, which Olivia found adorable. Chloe had wanted to say good night to her 'daddy' as he wasn't there. They were all really embracing this new side of life and the joining of their two families. They just needed the paperwork to be approved and then it would be official.

A/N: I warn you, this may be the last fluffy chapter for a while…from the next chapter on we have new introductions and things start to become more…interesting. Let me know what you thought of this chapter in a review, I love to read them, and they really help me stay motivated in updating this story.
Now, school goes back next week for me and so that means I will have less time to write, I have quite a few chapters of this story written though and am in the process of editing, so that I can keep up this weekly updating situation, however as I am stepping into a new role, we shall see how that goes. But at the moment, you will get a new chapter next Saturday as I plan to update every Saturday for you all.
Until Next Time :)