A/N: Sorry for the delay in new chapters, life has become very busy and I wasn't anywhere near a computer to post last weekend. But please enjoy this new chapter :)

4. Not Talking

Olivia didn't say a word after leaving the legal office. She got in the car before Elliot, sat on the opposite side of the back seat, gave the driver the instruction to take her home and then gazed out the window. Elliot didn't know what was going on in her head but he knew it wouldn't be good. He had tried to reach for her hand or get her to look at him several times but she wasn't. Every time he touched her hand, she'd simply pulled it away or told him to just leave her alone. But Elliot wasn't just going to drop it like that, he wanted to talk about it and work out together, what the next step was, because this not talking, wasn't it?

"Chloe's at mine, remember?" Elliot tried to start conversation, reminding Olivia that her daughter wasn't at her apartment like he assumed she thought Chloe was.
"No, she's not. I asked Lucy to take her home to my place this afternoon after daycare, rather than your place as I didn't want her around your mother" Olivia replied, voice monotone and obviously frustrated.
"Do you want to talk about this? I'd like to and I know my mother has the twins this afternoon so I'm free. I have time to come up and we can talk" Elliot asked as the car pulled up outside of Olivia's apartment building. Elliot wasn't just prepared to leave things like this, but he didn't know what the right thing was to say or do right now. This had all come as a complete shock to him, as much as it had to her.
"No thank you. I think right now, I just need some space" Olivia replied.
"Liv-"
"Elliot, go home and see your kids. We'll talk later" Olivia tried to smile as she grabbed her bag from by her feet. Elliot could tell that smile was fake as he knew what a real one looked like
"As long as we do. You have to believe me when I say I really had no idea I was still married, but I'm getting a divorce. I don't love Kathy, I haven't spoken to her in years and neither have my kids, I don't even know where she is. I love you, I love Chloe, I want to be her father like we both want and I want more than anything, to marry you"
"It's kind of hard to even talk about marriage or move forward when you're still married. Good night Elliot" Olivia replied as she climbed out of the car and closed the door without another word. This conversation on her end might be over but Elliot was going to call her later, he would not let her leave things like this. He didn't know what was going through her head right now but this was something they could work through, it wasn't a complete disaster.

Elliot honestly couldn't believe how in a matter of minutes, his whole afternoon came crashing down around him. He'd been planning on having a nice afternoon/ evening with Olivia and the kids. He had thought that they would get the adoption paper issue resolved with Tony and then go either collect Chloe to take her somewhere or go and grab a coffee together. But instead, he'd found out that he was actually still married to Kathy, she had received his petition to adopt Chloe and refused to agree on that. So now Olivia had shut him out.

He didn't understand what had caused such the sudden shift for them. He had never pursued a relationship with Olivia whilst knowingly married to Kathy. Elliot honestly believed that he was divorced as he had a solid belief that they had processed the divorce when Kathy walked out. But he was also a very different man then compared to what he was now, so that likely had a role in his memory too. Despite this, Elliot didn't want to get back with Kathy, he didn't even have much of an intention to contact her other than to get her to sign the divorce papers, now he had a contact address. Elliot wanted to divorce her so that he could properly create a future with Olivia, like he wanted to. Elliot honestly wanted to adopt Chloe, he wanted her to be known as his daughter and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Olivia as his wife. She made him the best version of himself that he could be and he didn't want to lose that or anything that he had with her.

As the car drove back through the streets in the direction of the hotel, Elliot couldn't help but think about his kids and what all of this would mean for them. He had an address for their mother, he was hopeful that would give him the chance to contact her. But the question was would they really want to? Elliot knew that both Richard and Elizabeth had grown close to Olivia, she had almost filled the vacant spot in their lives as a mother, but she wasn't their biological mother. Their mother had been gone for over 4 years, but would they want to contact her now if given the chance? Elliot may not want anything more to do with Kathy, but he wouldn't steal that opportunity from his kids, if they wanted her in their lives, he wouldn't stop them. Elliot couldn't be sure what the twins would do or say but he knew he had to tell them, he knew that he needed to let them know that if they wanted to contact their mother, he would help them. They would figure it out together.

Kathy couldn't believe how much her twins had changed since she left. Bernie had sent her pictures and updates every so often whilst she was gone but it wasn't the same as seeing them in person. Richard was becoming a spitting image of his father, a very handsome young boy. Elizabeth was more like her but was still a beautiful young girl. She hadn't expected either of them to come running when she saw them, but she'd been hoping for a somewhat warm reception.

When Kathy had walked into the apartment behind Bernie, Elizabeth wouldn't go near her and insisted she wanted to be alone. Whilst Richard simply seemed confused, he was staring Kathy down but wouldn't say a word to her. Kathy knew that her absence would have hit them hard and she was sorry about that, but she didn't think that her return would be quite so shocking either.

Elizabeth had fled upstairs to her room almost the first opportunity she got and wouldn't talk to anyone, not even Bernie. Instead, she asked for her father or for 'Livvy' instead. Bernie knew she was asking for Olivia, but she didn't understand why or what Olivia could do to help in this situation right now. Elizabeth's mother was downstairs, she should be happy and excited to have her back but instead she was hiding away. Richard wasn't doing much better, he stayed downstairs but simply played with a Lego toy and stared at Kathy like he was trying to work out what was happening right here. Bernie just hoped that Elliot would come home soon, and he would be able to sort everything out.

Elliot was in 'auto pilot' mode when he finally managed to make it back to the apartment. The traffic had been horrendous on his journey home with 3 major accidents impacting the travel routes and traffic. He'd used the time to text Olivia to tell her that he loved her, just because he wanted her to know. He hadn't stopped thinking about her on the way home, but he was going to give her some space whilst she wanted it. He just hoped that they could talk about this soon, that they would get through it together.

Elliot was used to walking into his apartment, to the sound of children, the sound of laughter and genuine excitement that he was home. Usually, he was met by his kids the minute he walked out of the elevator. But not today. Today he was met with silence as he entered the apartment. However, he was also met with an unwelcome figure sitting in his loungeroom. Elliot could hear what sounded like his mother upstairs, trying to get Elizabeth out of her room, he didn't understand what was going on. Richard didn't say anything but ran straight over the minute he saw his father, standing in the entranceway. This was not like the little boy at all. But the minute the blonde figure on his couch stood up and turned around, Elliot understood it all.
"Elliot" Kathy smiled as she faced him and Elliot just focused on his son, clinging to his side right now.
"What are you doing here?" Elliot asked, unsure how she was back in town or why she was in his apartment. He knew that she had to have come in with his mother but that didn't explain what she was doing here right now.

"Elliot, thank goodness you are home. Lizzie is in her room and won't come out" Bernie interrupted as she came down the stairs.
"What is she doing here?" Elliot asked his mother, ignoring the current issue with his daughter for this moment.
"That's no way to greet your mother or your wife?" Bernie reprimanded.
"She is not my wife"
"The courts say otherwise, if I wasn't your wife, I wouldn't have got the papers about your pending adoption" Kathy replied with a smug smile on her face, Elliot knew what she was trying to get at.
"Adoption? What's that daddy?" Richard piped up, curious as to what was going on right now.
"How about we go up and see if Lizzie's ok? I think she could really use us to talk to right now?" Elliot suggested, diverting the conversation about the adoption, he didn't want to get into the topic of what he and Olivia had been trying to do, right now. Richard didn't reply, simply nodding and heading upstairs to find his sister.
"I need you two, to be gone by the time I come downstairs. Kathy, you and I are going to need to talk and soon but now is not the time. The kids haven't seen you in over 4 years and you can't just come waltzing back into their lives and expecting everything to be fine. Mother, I can't believe you thought that would be ok but it makes so much sense now that this is all happening. You two need to leave now, you are not welcome here" Elliot ordered before heading upstairs to check on Lizzie. Right now, his children were coming first above everything else.

Elliot knocked on the bedroom for Elizabeth and informed her that he was home and wanted to see her. She didn't reply, just opening the door for him and hugging him tightly. Elliot could tell that Elizabeth was scared and he honestly didn't blame her, there had been so much on this afternoon, that was different to usual and change hit Elizabeth hard. Elliot was annoyed that his mother had just brought Kathy by without warning and unleashed her on the children, he was annoyed that she was back and he didn't know. He was concerned most of all about his children and their welfare in the matter. Elliot moved over to Elizabeth's bed, climbed in and leant against the wall before both twins snuggled into him. He wrapped his arms around both of them and sat holding them for a minute before talking. It had been a while since they openly wanted to cuddle like this, at least for Richard anyway. So, Elliot was going to seize the moment whilst he could.

"Daddy, Nanny said that was mommy? Is that true?" Elizabeth asked straight away and Elliot knew he couldn't lie to them.
"Yes honey, that lady who was with nanny today, is your mother. Do you not remember her?" Elliot asked, confused whether Elizabeth genuinely didn't know or just had forgotten what her mother looked like after all these years.
"I do, but she left a long time ago" Elizabeth replied.
"Why did she leave daddy?" Richard asked.
"I don't know buddy, and I don't know why she's back now but I think nanny is really happy to see her and I know she thought that you would be too" Elliot tried to comfort, knowing that whilst he had issues with his mother, she had probably been trying to do the best thing.
"But...mommies aren't supposed to leave. Chloe has Livvy as a mommy and she hasn't left" Richard added and Elliot wasn't entirely sure what way this conversation was going to go right now.
"I wish Livvy could be our mommy...she wouldn't leave" Elizabeth replied, Elliot knew that Elizabeth in particular found Olivia very important and nothing would change that. Elliot honestly wasn't sure what to say in this situation, today had been such a big change for all of them and so much had happened that he was just trying to keep up with it all.

"You guys know that Olivia loves you both very much right?" Elliot started and both twins nodded.
"Now I know that even though your mommy has been gone a long time, she loves you just as much if not more than you already know Olivia does. Although I know that Olivia loves you both a lot so I don't know if more is even possible" Elliot continued to explain. He wasn't entirely sure if the comments that he was making would be true but he had to make out like they would be. He knew that Olivia did love both of the twins like they were her own children, but he couldn't be sure that Kathy loved the kids as much, he hoped she did but he couldn't be solidly sure, as she had walked out after all.
"I wish Livvy was here... Daddy? Where is Livvy?" Elizabeth spoke up after a couple of minutes of silence.
"Did she have lots of school work to do tonight?" Richard asked, that was often the excuse they went for in the nights where Olivia didn't stay over.
"Um yes, I think so. She just said that she couldn't' come over today. I think Chloe was also feeling a little bit sick too. But you'll see her tomorrow" Elliot lied and the twins nodded. Part of him knew that if Olivia was here, she'd be so much better at explaining this type of thing to them, but this was what he had to do tonight. He had to try help his twins understand what was going on with his mother returning, even when he didn't understand what was really going on himself. Elizabeth and Richard were his first priority right now and hopefully he and Olivia could talk through everything tomorrow.

The television was displaying pictures of some drama show, pictures were flashing before Olivia's eyes but she wasn't really paying attention to it. She had put it on as something to watch, to keep her out of her head but it wasn't working well. She was still catching herself thinking about everything that had happened today and what this all meant for the future. Elliot was still married, he had a wife. Even though she had been out of the picture for a while and he'd told her that there 'was no Mrs Stabler', there actually was and she was back in the picture now.
Olivia thought back to that first meeting she had with Elliot and how things had gone from two people meeting to discuss the work of the children to now, where she had completely fallen deeply in love with Elliot. She saw the future when she looked at him, she was opening herself up to the idea of marrying him and spending the rest of their lives together. She had organised for them to petition for him to adopt Chloe, but that wasn't going to happen now.

Olivia wondered if they ever would have found out about Kathy and still being married, if they hadn't sent in the papers for Elliot to adopt Chloe. Surely, they would have found out one way or another as she was always going to give Elliot the option to adopt Chloe, and she hoped maybe they would get married one day. So maybe it was the best thing that they found out now about Kathy rather than when they were due to get married after waiting all that time. Olivia was sure that if she had found this out when they were going to get married, or further down the line in the relationship she would not be able to cope, so maybe it wasn't a bad thing that they had found out like this. Maybe they could make it through this, Elliot had told her that he was determined to get a divorce. He had already texted her this afternoon after she got out the car, to tell he the loved her and he wanted to make this work. Initially Olivia had thought that she would have to leave Elliot, she couldn't be in a relationship with a married man. But time had given her the clarity that if Elliot was so adamant that he was going to get a divorce, then they didn't have to end it as she wouldn't be in a relationship with a married man. Olivia didn't know the answer and the more she thought about it the more she realised this, though she knows she loves Elliot and she loves what they are together, so she wasn't just going to walk away. She had to talk to him.

A/N: Leave me a review on your thoughts of what's going to happen next or what you thought of this chapter? Kathy stopped the adoption? What could that mean? What is she trying to get at? Elizabeth clearly isn't comfortable with Kathy but how will that go? Surely Elliot and Olivia will find their way back to each other?
Until next time :)