A/N: Another update for you all as it was ready for publishing and I'm not sure when I'll have time to update again next. I am hoping next weekend. But with it currently being the end of the school year and lots of other commitments over the next couple of weeks, I'm not sure how much time I'll have to write/edit. We're taking a couple of time jumps over the past and current chapter to lead up to the next part of the story without hopefully dragging too much.
So please, enjoy :)

18. Plans

When every relationship goes through a rocky patch, there is a recovery phase and time for making everything right again. For Elliot and Olivia, that was now. It was the beginning of June and it had been a couple of weeks since they'd cleared the air in her apartment after weeks of not talking. But the time they had spent not talking, had quickly been made up with the time they spent together. The added media pressure on their relationship had changed things for the time being, largely spending more time at each other's places rather than out and about when they wanted to be together. It was the most time they had probably spent with each other since before Kathy came back. Due to Kathy practically being locked out of Elliot's place, they were seizing every moment to spend together. Despite the custody issues with Kathy, Elliot made sure that the twins were getting enough time between him and Kathy, though he'd give her notice to find an apartment outside of his hotel, as he wouldn't be allowing her to just live there anymore. There were plenty of available apartments around New York for her, and he made it clear to her that if she wanted the kids to be with her full time, she would need to have some where for them to live and have some way to financially support them. She could not rely solely on him anymore. But both Olivia and Elliot had noticed that Elizabeth was much happier now, even when she had to spend time with Kathy, as she could come back to Olivia, which she loved.

Elliot had become very hands on with Chloe again which was a good change, insisting on sharing the load of responsibilities for the little girl with Olivia. Even the nights where they hadn't spent together, Elliot had made the trips across town around the time that he knew that Chloe would be going to bed, so he could be there for story time and then made the trip back to his place. Of course, this was easier on the nights that he didn't have to look after the twins, but usually, he was able to get someone to watch them when he made the journey over and was always back in time for their bedtime too. Elliot had raised the topic again with Olivia about moving in together and she turned him down, insisting that whilst things with them were good at the moment, she didn't want to change too much and risk rocking the boat. She also didn't want to risk anything till after the divorce was finalised and everything with Kathy settled down. But at least now, it wasn't a straight no or claims that they hadn't been together long enough. They had been together now almost 9 months but who was counting – except maybe Elliot. But with everything that they had been through over the space of the last almost 9 months, to him every month they were together was a milestone. He knew what it was like to almost lose Olivia and he didn't want to experience that again if he could help it.

Despite the new confidence together, there was still part of Olivia that was very hesitant moving forward with Elliot. She knew that things felt too good to be true and she wasn't sure what Kathy knew about her and Elliot still. The night of the Children with Cancer ball, Kathy had attended with Elliot and she had practically been hanging off him at every chance she got. She was playing the cameras like they were a big couple who were working on getting back together. Olivia had stayed at Elliot's with the kids, as she wanted to avoid the event due to not feeling comfortable stepping out again with Elliot and the headlines that would follow. She had too much going on with school and everything that she didn't need another media gossip headline. Olivia knew they were going to be part of her life now if she continued things with Elliot but she hoped that with the conversations Elliot had with the media outlets and once the divorce was over, thins would be better.
Still, Olivia had to have some gratitude for the media sources as they were the websites that she went to for images of the ball to admire how handsome her man looked. Olivia loved the way that spending time with Kathy had repulsed Elliot so much at the charity event that he couldn't get enough of her when he made it home from the event. They had spent numerous hours making love and pleasuring each other. Elliot had told her that despite the images she might see of him and Kathy, he would be imagining that she was on his arm and she was right there with him. So, he showed her exactly how much he'd been thinking about her when he got home.

Olivia knew that Elliot had no feelings or attraction to Kathy anymore, he found her repulsive but she just didn't trust Kathy with what she might be planning next. Elliot was sure that with everything else going on, Kathy would have no attention left to try and plan against Olivia but Olivia just wasn't so sure. She knew that a possessive woman could do so much more damage still, when under threat like Kathy felt she was.

Kathy wasn't as 'distracted' or as blind as everyone assumed though and she knew that something was still going on between Olivia and Elliot. At the charity ball, Elliot had seemed so distracted and couldn't wait to get out of there quick enough. Kathy knew it had to be because he wasn't focused on her but focused on the woman, he likely had waiting for him at home. If Olivia and Elliot had truly broken up, Kathy was sure that Elliot would be more lenient towards her and he wouldn't have put into place all these new restrictions on her access. He claimed that it was due to the fact they had an impending divorce and she was fighting him over custody, but Kathy knew it was because of Olivia. Elliot was simply trying to stay in Olivia's good books after the horrid headlines she'd had, and to be able to get into her pants. Elliot had called her demanding and always made comments about her strange demands. Yet, he was seemingly easily following Oliva's demands without another word? The woman was clearly controlling Elliot somehow and Kathy needed to put an end to it all. She officially needed to get rid of Olivia for once and for all, she just needed to work out the best way to do it.

Of course, Bernie was no real help. The older woman, for some reason or another had seemingly had a change of heart lately. She seemed to be in real support now of Elliot's relationship with Olivia and Kathy wondered if she'd been brainwashed because the older lady had been so on her side before now.
"I just don't get why you have to continue with all of this? Clearly you've already tried hard enough to get Elliot's attention and he's really just not interested" Bernie remarked as the women sat in a booth at their local café for a catch up.
"He's being controlled by her somehow, I just know it, as it was only when she became uncomfortable with everything happening, that he placed any of the restrictions in place. He'd never restricted my access to the apartment before now" Kathy explained and Bernie just raised an eyebrow at her logic.
"Well, don't you think that the fact that you're getting a divorce now, might have something to do with that and not actually Olivia?" Bernie suggested.
"But that's just it, we shouldn't be getting a divorce at all. I don't understand how he's still so set on getting a divorce and that has to be her doing. We both know how good we are and we look together, you only have to look at the gala to see that" Kathy remarked.
"You may look good together, but that doesn't mean you are good together. Kathy, you got the woman fired from school, took her away from the children and then had her and her daughter's picture plastered all over the internet as a 'mistress' and a 'love child' as well as advertising her as a 'homewrecker'. Don't you think you've done enough damage now? It hasn't worked the way you wanted and it's time to step away now" Bernie tried to suggest but Kathy wasn't going to hear it.
"How could you say that? I thought you were on my side? You were all for making Olivia disappear when I first came back and you hated her just as much as I do" Kathy asked.

"Yes, but that was before I saw how much my grandchildren really love her and how happy Olivia makes my son. I saw first-hand how miserable he was when he thought he'd lost her and he didn't come running to you, like you hoped. So, I'd hate to think about what he might be like if you actually make him lose her" Bernie defended herself. She had taken the high road recently, and supported her son when Olivia completely shut him out, even admiring how happy Elliot really was when Olivia was around. Elliot and the twin's happiness was the most important thing here and Olivia and her daughter, were their happiness.
"But he won't be, because we'll be together and you know that I would make him so much happier than she ever could. I just need to come up with an idea about how to get her to leave him and just this city, completely" Kathy thought aloud.
"You're not talking..." Bernie looked up with a shocked expression, hating the thought of what Kathy might be thinking about.
"Well not intentionally, but if the push comes to shove and she becomes collateral damage then it wouldn't be a bad thing" Kathy smiled over her tea cup. Bernie, for the first time since Kathy had returned, was actually scared about what steps this younger woman might take next for what she wanted.

Friday afternoon's were Elliot's favourite. Olivia always got out of school earlier than other afternoons during the week, on fridays. Elliot would pick Chloe up with the twins, after school before collecting Olivia from her school and the 5 of them would then head to the park for a little bit before getting some kind of take out and heading back to Elliot's. If it happened to be a time where he didn't have the twins though, then he would get Chloe first alone before he got Olivia. Elizabeth and Dickie had really taken to being an older sibling of sorts to Chloe and the trio quite happily played on the playground for ages, under the careful supervision of the adults. Elliot and Olivia took that time to discuss different things and properly catch up with each other after long days, especially if they hadn't managed to see each other a lot during the week.

This afternoon, Elliot had the twins and when Olivia texted him about finishing up at school, he took them to go and collect Chloe before they headed to get Olivia. Elliot would always wait for the text message from Olivia before he collected Chloe so they didn't have to wait too long outside of Olivia's school.
"Daddy" Richard spoke up from his seat in the back of the car whilst they waited for Olivia.
"Yeah buddy?" Elliot replied, turning to face him.
"How come we always stay at our place now with Livvy and Chloe? How come we never go to stay at their place anymore?" Richard asked. Elliot had to admit he and Olivia hadn't really discussed this, it just seemed easier and made more sense to stay at his place all together.
"Well, there is more space for everyone at our place and you have all your things there" Elliot attempted to explain.
"But Chloe's stuff isn't there? Olivia always has to bring a bag with her for Chloe's toys if we don't have something like it at our place?" Richard continued to ask, the boy clearly had spent time thinking about this.
"Well, it's just easier for all of us to be at our place, with everything considered" Elliot replied.
"An some toys at daddy's" Chloe piped up.
"Yeah, you do have some of your toys at my place" Elliot agreed, glancing out the window once more to spot Olivia heading towards them.
"Hey Chloe, who's that?" Elliot asked the little girl, pointing out the window.

"Mommy!" Chloe squealed, squirming to get out of her car seat but Elliot refused to undo her as they were going to be moving again in a minute and he didn't want to re-do her seatbelt again. Elliot climbed out the car to greet Olivia with a quick kiss, stealing a moment alone from the kids.
"Hi beautiful" Elliot greeted.
"Hey yourself, happy Friday" Olivia replied.
"Happy Friday" Elliot echoed as he stood aside and held the door for Olivia to get into the car. He watched as she took the time to greet all of the children. He just loved how when he collected all the children first, she always had a car excited to see her after her day. Olivia took a seat next to Chloe's car seat, in the middle and Elliot took the spot next to her, before telling the driver exactly where to go next.

When the group arrived at the park, Chloe insisted to be carried by Olivia whilst the twins took off running ahead to the playground. But as they got closer, of course Chloe wanted to be just like the older kids and get down to run on too. Olivia followed cautiously behind, ready to catch Chloe if she fell. Whilst the little girl was getting much better running now, she was still occasionally a little unsteady and fell over. Olivia had to admit she didn't like how fast her little girl was growing, she missed the little baby she used to have.

In a distance behind the group as they headed to the park, a figure was trailing them. The figure was observing the actions and watching as the adults interacted with each other and the children. They took a phone out to grab pictures of the group, they needed clarification over which adult was the supposed target. From their spot, they could easily tell these two adults were passionate about the other, the way that the man reached for the female the minute the kids were distracted, just holding her close and both looked caught up in conversation together. There was too much space from this spot, to hear what the conversation was actually about but the man must have said something funny considering the woman seemed to burst out laughing at whatever he said. The figure wondered why these pair were the supposed target and what they had done for such a price, but there was no way they would turn it down. The figure, sent off the images to his client, seeking clarification over which adult was the designated target and moments later he received a response the female with the brown hair and possibly youngest child. He got out the binoculars for a closer look at the children from his spot. The smallest child was currently being chased by an older boy who was waving his arms around a lot. Although the obvious signs of laughter pointed out they were playing a game. The figure stood and watched the group a few moments longer before slinking into the shadows and away, they needed time to prepare the next step.

A/N: Hmm, I'm not sure this is going to end well. Who is the mystery figure? Why are they watching Olivia and Elliot? What do they want and who's the client?
I love your reviews and they really encourage me to keep writing and keep posting. So please, leave me a review if you feel like it and let me know what you think could be happening next or who this figure is?
Until Next Time ;)