16. What a Mess: Part 2

The gym was the right move for Elliot, he was able to get all his frustration out into a punching bag to wear himself out, rather than someone else's face. The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur apart from putting the twins to bed and reading more of their favourite story. He didn't know where things really stood with Olivia now but he would not let that impact his relationship with his children. He avoided Kathy at all costs though. Elliot saw Chloe's birthday present still sitting by the door to his bedroom, wrapped up and ready but simply not able to be delivered, when he walked into his room for bed. The present was a reminder of what today was supposed to be like before it all blew up in his face. Was this a sign of things to come? Was Kathy really going to break them or could they make it through this again? Elliot didn't know the answer but he hoped that this wasn't going to be the first step to losing Olivia.

E: Hope Chloe had a good rest of her birthday, give her a hug from me xx Elliot texted Olivia before he climbed into bed, he didn't expect a response but he just wanted Olivia to know he was still thinking about them.

The following morning, Elliot arranged to go out to breakfast with his best friends, Charlie and Finn. It had been a while since they last hung out due to a number of different reasons and in times like this, he really needed their advice. They both knew Kathy and they had met Olivia before so they knew he would be able to provide advice on what exactly Elliot should or shouldn't be doing. Although neither of them had been in quite such a serious relationship like the one he was in with Olivia. He had to keep that in mind with the advice they would likely give.
"Man, how long has it been since we last hung out?" Finn remarked as the group sat down at the table in the café.
"Uhh, I don't remember if we've been able to hang out since Elliot's New Year's party?" Charlie tried to guess.
"He's been too busy with that new tail to hang out with us" Finn teased as the group looked over the menu, working out what to.
"Not true, if I remember correctly, you Charlie, were the one who cancelled on us last time" Elliot defended himself. He knew that a lot of his spare time lately had been taken up by Olivia and the kids but there was so much going on with all of that, which they had to understand. He did acknowledge that he had to put more responsibility on catching up with his friends though.
"Ok, but usually you are too busy" Charlie replied to which Elliot nodded before they had to pause conversation to place drink orders for the group.

"So lover boy, what's new in your world?" Finn asked, wanting to avoid the small talk and dive right in to the hard-hitting conversation which they had been brought here for.
"Well, my ex is back" Elliot started.
"What?" Finn sat up a little bit straighter in his chair, not expecting this to be the starting point for the conversation or this to be the topic of conversation at all.
"Yes, Kathy is back and has been for about a month, or just over a month now. She has been determined to destroy my life ever since she returned. Well, actually just before she returned, when she stopped my adoption" Elliot continued to explain to the group.
"Adoption?" Charlie clarified, there was clearly so much to be processed here.
"Yeah, I tried to adopt Chloe as kind of a join decision between Olivia and I. But turns out Kathy and I are still married and so the court had to get her approval too and obviously, she rejected it and then turned up in my apartment shortly after" Elliot explained, thinking back on that horrendous day that Kathy had just turned up.
"How are the kids handling it?" Finn asked.
"Well, Richard seems to be over the moon about it and is thrilled to have his mother back but Elizabeth isn't coping too well with it and Olivia has explained why this might be. She was also trying to support Elizabeth with it in the classroom, however she almost lost her job and was then transferred to another school. So... Elizabeth now has a teacher whom she doesn't like and often fights me on going to school each day" Elliot said as the others just took in the information.

"Wait, how did Olivia almost lose her job? I heard she was a fantastic teacher?" Charlie tried to clarify with what Elliot was saying.
"She is and I know that she makes a real difference in her student's lives. But Kathy put in a formal complaint to the school about Olivia's actions towards her students and the 'inappropriate affair' that she and I were in, so Olivia ended up getting transferred to a position in a public school. But the final straw of Kathy's actions happened yesterday, when she turned up uninvited to Olivia's daughter's 2nd birthday celebration at the aquarium and dropped 'bombs' on Olivia's father about our relationship and the adoption. So, Olivia told me to leave with the twins and Kathy, I haven't heard from her since and I don't know where we stand. She called me 'extra baggage' that she couldn't handle" Elliot finished explaining.
"Shit" Finn replied, no better way to put it right now.

"Why did Kathy turn up to an event that she wasn't invited to?"
"Her explanation was that, as she is my wife, any events that I go to she is automatically allowed to go to. In her words, she was 'nearly stepmother' to Chloe and so had a right to be there. I just came home and went to the gym, I knew if I didn't, after what she'd done, I was going to do something that I'd regret"
"But you haven't spoken with Olivia since?"
"I sent her a message last night, hoping Chloe had a good remainder of her birthday but she'd not replied, I don't know what to do but I really fear this is the beginning of the end" Elliot confessed, as he took a sip of his coffee, wishing it was something stronger but it was too early for that.
"What is Kathy trying to get at?" Finn asked.
"I don't know, she is still under the impression that we are meant to be and that after her time away, we will be stronger than ever. She thinks that we are going to find our way back to how we used to be and we'll be a happy family again. But I'm getting a divorce, I thought I already had one when she walked out but apparently not and I don't want anything to do with her. I want to spend the rest of my life with Olivia but Kathy is just determined to put that to an end" Elliot explained as the waitress returned to take their food orders.

Elliot enjoyed the conversations with the boys, whilst they were both not in serious relationships, they did give good insight into how Elliot might fix his. Finn suggested that Elliot and Olivia needed to talk, they needed to get everything out in the open and actually listen to each other. Elliot needed to prove to Olivia, that despite what Kathy was trying to do, they were stronger than that and she was his priority in this situation. Elliot wasn't sure exactly the appropriate step for this would be but he was going to make sure to work on it. They also suggested that he put boundaries in place with Kathy, as it sounded like she thought she was ruling the roost at the moment, since her return. These were all things that Elliot would definitely work on but right now, he just needed to get Olivia to talk to him somehow and for them to clear the air properly.

What Elliot didn't know, was that there had been photos taken yesterday at the aquarium and now displayed over a number of different press and media outlets. Olivia knew about this, Alex had been one of the first to tell her when she'd come across the headline. Olivia knew that media attention came with being involved with someone so well-known like Elliot was. But she really didn't appreciate publicly being referred to as a 'mistress' and having her daughter referred to as a 'love child'. Olivia wasn't as upset about herself being in the headlines as she was about Chloe being in the headlines. The girl as barely even 2 and she really didn't need her face displayed all over the internet for anyone to see, it may come right back to haunt her when she was older. You could clearly see in the images that Chloe was terrified when Kathy got close to her and this crossed so many lines with Olivia. Whilst she felt embarrassed and upset over the images, it didn't even come close to how Don was feeling right now, he was angry how his family day out had ended up on gossip sites for millions to see. He wasn't going to stand for this and he was going to make Elliot talk to him about it. He had wanted to talk everything that happened through with Elliot yesterday but he wouldn't do it as it was his daughter and grandfather was more important then but today was a new day. He would get to the bottom of this.

Don stood at the reception desk of the hotel and waited to be served. He was going to have a meeting with Elliot and was going to do it now, he didn't care that it was Sunday and Elliot likely wasn't going to be working on a Sunday. There was plenty of things that this man had to answer for and Don was going to make sure that there was justice to pay for it. He may have been in Elliot's corner for support to Olivia last night, but that was then and this is now, that was before the horrible headlines and names about his family had surfaced and now Don wanted answers.
"Mr Cragen, I do not believe Mr Stabler is in right now for a meeting" A receptionist apologised again to Don and tried to get him to call a number to book an appointment but Don flew home tomorrow and this needed to be dealt with now.

"I need to speak with him now and not be told again that I need to make an appointment, I leave New York tomorrow and he is currently dating my daughter, so I have a right to speak with him now! Either you get him down here, or I'll go up" Don ordered, knowing he was on the approval list to go up to the penthouse. But thankfully before either action could happen, Elliot came strolling into the reception.
"Don! Is everything ok? They said you wanted to meet with me?" Elliot asked, worried something major had happened with Olivia and Chloe.
"You know damn well that it isn't! You and I are going to have a talk" Don replied, Elliot knew that from his tone of voice, this was not going to be a pleasant or easy conversation. He knew that this reaction was from Kathy's words yesterday and he braced for whatever would come next. He just hoped that Don may give him some insight into where Olivia's head was at right now, as he still hadn't heard a sound from her.

Elliot guided Don over to the elevator to take him up to his home office, as they couldn't meet comfortably down here and Elliot didn't think the man would really want to meet in a conference room when he had a nice when they got closer to the elevator, Don paused.
"I'm not going up to your apartment right now, this conversation that we have to have, should be away from certain young ears" Don stated which Elliot understood. If they couldn't meet in his home office and the bar wasn't appropriate either, the only other option was the conference room.
"Would a conference room suffice?" Elliot suggested to which Don nodded before Elliot lead the way into the elevators once more and then pressed the correct floor for the conference rooms.

When the men reached the appropriate floor, Elliot offered Don a chance to choose where he wanted to sit before moving to take the seat across from him. Elliot called for some water to be brought into the room incase they were going to be here for a while. He really had no idea what Don would want to discuss right now but he knew that it was likely it would take a while.
"Don, how was the rest of the birthday? I'm really sorry for the interference which happened" Elliot started the conversation, interested to hear how the rest of the birthday had played out.
"You mean the interference of your wife? The same wife who showed up uninvited, got in my granddaughter's face and claimed to be her 'almost' step mother?" Don replied, Elliot could hear a sense of anger in his voice.
"Ex-wife and I never intended for any of that to happen, I did not know she was going to show up like that and the minute I spotted her, I tried to get her away" Elliot tried to defend himself.
"Well that worked really well didn't it? So well in fact, that my daughter is now being labelled as a 'millionaire's mistress' and my granddaughter is a 'secret lovechild" Don remarked, Elliot could clearly hear the anger in his voice.
"What?" Elliot asked, confused over these headlines Don was referring to, surely it had to be some kind of mistake.
"So, you haven't seen the endless media headlines about your outing yesterday? There were some paparazzi or something at the aquarium yesterday and they caught the whole scene with your wife on film and in pictures. Olivia wouldn't even leave the house today. Now I understand that your hotel chain makes you a media personality but I don't appreciate the mud flinging onto my family" Don explained and Elliot was speechless.

"Don, I had nothing to do with this...I would never!" Elliot attempted to defend himself.
"If you say so...But I won't tolerate this for my family" Don remarked before pausing for a moment and taking a deep breath, Elliot just watched him.
"When we met last year, I honestly thought that you were the best man for my daughter, I thought that you could make her very happy and loved. I thought that you were the right kind of man that I wanted as father for my granddaughter. However, these past couple of days have shown me all the ways that maybe I was wrong and maybe you're not the best choice I could hope for. You are a married man who is messing with the feelings of a single woman with a child. My daughter and granddaughter have ended up in almost every gossip headline today and that's making her question herself which I don't appreciated. Not to mention, she has had to transfer jobs and lose a promotion that I know she really wanted and deserved, all through being connected to you" Don ranted. Elliot couldn't respond as he had not response to give, everything Don said had an element of truth to it. Elliot hated that it was all so true.

"I leave New York tomorrow and I don't know what will happen next between you and my daughter but I hope that if you two make it through this, then you fight like hell for her and you deal with your wife. Olivia is an amazing woman with everything she's been through, and everything she still wants to achieve. If you want her then get rid of your wife and show Olivia how much she truly means to you. You are the only father figure that Chloe has ever known and I know that you genuinely love her too. But they are not second best, and if you can't appreciate them for what they are, then you need to leave. If Olivia has more difficulty through simply knowing you or being with you, then you better watch out" Don warned.
"You are completely right and I know that Olivia and Chloe are not second best. I don't know what Olivia has told you but I have told her before that I want to be with her and only her. I want to spend the rest of our lives together if she'll have me and when Kathy walked out on me, I thought we got divorced. I had no idea that we remained married but I assure you, since the minute I found out, I've had my legal team working on the divorce. I want to be done with Kathy so that I have the freedom to marry Olivia in the future, if she'll have me and I will try again to legally adopt Chloe - I give you my word" Elliot explained.
"I don't want your word, I want your actions. Just like anything else in life, words are great but actions speak louder. Just keep that in mind, for whatever happens next" Don remarked as he moved to stand up and leave the room. Elliot quickly followed him towards the door, desperate to ask him one last question before he leaves.

"Don, just one more thing before you leave, apart from the headlines, is Olivia, ok?" Elliot asked, desperate to hear some kind of news. He watched as Don sighed before answering.
"Your ex-wife is causing her a lot of grief and has her feeling very unsure about a lot of things right now. She and I discussed everything last night and I even stood up for you – which, if it was today I don't think I would have. But I will say this, she is very much in love with you but your...wife or ex-wife or whatever she is, is making it very hard on her. I think you'll still have her if you want her but you have to get your family issues resolved if you want to keep her" Don explained before making his excuses and leaving Elliot to process what exactly he had said.

A/N: Olivia, a mistress? Surely not! I created this version of Kathy and I can't stand her but how much more damage could she do? Are Elliot and Olivia going to be able to survive this or is this the end? Even with Don's help? I think they really need to talk. What do you think? How do you think this is going to play out? Let me know in a review
I'm a couple of chapters ahead writing wise and man...i don't think you're prepared for what else is coming our way.
Thanks for reading, your reviews are appreciated and help me stay motivated to edit/publish. Hope you're still all enjoying this story and I promise, things will eventually get better – maybe?

Until Next Time ;)