A/N: Thank you again for all the reviews on the previous chapter. Glad to see that so many of your are enjoying it and welcome to all the new readers to this story, I hope you are enjoying it with every new chapter. I just want to say, this story is going to be a slow burn type story, the way I want to build the relationship between Elliot and Olivia as well as any particular influence of other characters, will be a slow build up. But i expect this to be a long story anyway. However, I do hope that I do this justice and that you'll stick with it :D But without further ado, please enjoy this new chapter and as always, leave me a review with your thoughts at the end, I love reading them all. If you have any questions at any stage, my inbox is always open and feel free to message me. But until next time ;)
Chapter 5 – Lost Cause
Elizabeth Stabler was sitting at the dining room table, working on her homework for the day, she had been given extra spelling work to try and help with learning to sound out words. Whilst Dani was supposed to help her with this work, she was currently trying to work it all out for herself as Dani was upstairs helping Dickie. Beatrice, the housekeeper walked into the dining room and found Elizabeth struggling with a few of her words. She stood watching the little girl for a few minutes and wondered where Dani was right now, she wondered why she wasn't helping Elizabeth right now.
"Sh-e-ll…shell" Elizabeth read out loud before managing to copy down the word from her list again. Beatrice had cared for the twins exclusively since they had been born and had been around a lot as they were learning. She knew how much Elizabeth had been struggling but was glad that she was getting the help she needed at school now. Beatrice was impressed with how hard the little girl is currently trying and she took a seat at the table next to Elizabeth.
"Hey Bertie" Elizabeth greeted, as she looked up to see who had sat next to her.
"Hey little one, want to read your words to me?" Beatrice asked, she really took a special shining to Elizabeth lately when she had noted that the little girl had been kind of left out of everything with Dani and Richard. Beatrice was 65 and had 2 granddaughters around Elizabeth's age, and so she was very good with the little girl.
Dani had come downstairs from helping Richard with his reading and writing upstairs in his room, she wanted to check that Lizzie was working on her homework and not causing issues. She was the same age as Richard but she was falling behind more than Richard was. Dani didn't see the point in helping Lizzie when she was already struggling so much with her learning, when she could help Dickie to stop him from falling any further behind. The younger boy had a lot of potential and Dani believed he could go far if he was supported properly. Dani didn't understand why Bertie was even trying to help Elizabeth at the moment when there was a million other things to be done right now by the older woman. Elliot stabler would be getting home tomorrow and the last thing anyone wanted was for him to return to the house with the current state it's in. Elliot had placed Dani in charge of things before he went away and Dani really wanted to impress him when he got back. She wanted him to see the amazing job that she did for him when he was away and hopefully earn herself a little more respect from the man.
"Mrs Davis, don't you have other things you should really be doing at the moment? More than helping Elizabeth?" Dani asked as she walked into the dining room and interrupting the pair. Bertie flinched when she came in and could tell that things weren't great for the little girl right about now.
"I'm simply helping her with her homework, education is important" Bertie replied.
"And Mr Stabler gets home tomorrow, I would simply hate to explain that you're the reason that this house is not looking the best because you haven't done your job.
"Bertie is helping me get good at my spelling, as you helping Dickie" Elizabeth defended.
"Lizzie, you don't need anyone to help you with it, you're not going to get better – you're a lost cause" Dani replied and Bertie was not happy with this.
"You can't speak to her like that" Bertie spoke up, she was not going to let anyone speak to such a cute little girl so rudely
"Mrs Davis, go back to your jobs, I'm here in charge of the children and I will say what goes. I would simply hate for you to be fired for such a lack of work" dani argued back and Bertie almost wanted to fight back. She knew that her position in this household was fairly comfortable and she wasn't going anywhere, as Elliot had often thanked her in person for her hard work around the house and supporting his kids and would show appreciation where he could. But instead, she knew that this battle wasn't one to have and simply got up from the dining table and made her way out of the room. She apologised to Elizabeth as she was leaving but Elizabeth simply said she understood, and everything was ok. Once Bertie had left the room, Dani did too, leaving Elizabeth all alone. Elizabeth wasn't entirely sure what a 'lost cause' was but it didn't sound like something that she wanted to be. Elizabeth would have to ask Miss Benson tomorrow. Miss Benson knows everything, she'll help me Elizabeth thought to herself as she tried to work out the next word on her homework.
Olivia sat in a chair, next to Chloe's high chair where she was currently enjoying dinner very much. The little girl was mashing it all together before trying to fit it in her mouth, which made Olivia laugh at the way this was all done.
"You sure love to make a mess here, don't you" Olivia commented as she watched Chloe take another handful of dinner.
"I am going to have to teach you some manners soon though little one, you can't always eat with your hands" Olivia said as Chloe was simply too wrapped in dinner to be able to communicate with her mother. It was moments like this that she loved with her little girl and it was like they were in their own little world. Teaching meant that there was a lot of time that Olivia was away from Chloe, but she tried to make it up where possible. However, it was moments like this that really made Olivia think about different students in her class. Tonight, her thoughts drifted to Elizabeth and everything that the girl had said earlier today. She was such a precious little girl and Olivia felt incredibly lucky that the girl was in her class, but the way things were sounding at home, things really weren't great for her outside of the classroom. Particularly, when it came to her learning and the attention that her brother seemed to get from the nanny.
Olivia didn't have any siblings, so she couldn't relate to this 'favourite child' type of thing. However, she'd had a horrible relationship with her mother and never met her father, so she kind of knew what it was like to lose one parent and have another distant. Olivia knew from the conversations they had in the meeting, Elliot had been a rather distant father to this point, he felt guilty about it but it had happened. So, in a way she could relate to Elizabeth, which may be one of the reasons that she cared so deeply for the little girl. The more she thought about it, Chloe was very similar, as she didn't know her father and Olivia prayed that she never would. However, Olivia was 110% dedicated to her little girl and she would do anything for her, including getting her all the extra assistance or support she may need. Olivia hated Chloe's father and would do anything to help her daughter keep away from such the horrible man he was. But if Chloe was one day determined to see her father our and wanted to see him, then Olivia would help her out where she could because at the bed of the day, he did give her Chloe and she was a very special little girl. Olivia hoped that the same could be said for Elizabeth and Elliot, once he was back then hopefully things would get more structured or at least more equal for both children.
"All fin" Chloe spoke up, drawing her mother out of her thoughts about those Stabler twins. Chloe was looking rather impressed with herself for finishing dinner though she clearly hadn't noticed it was all over her face.
"Alright then, I think it's bath time for you" Olivia said as she picked up the little girl from the high chair and headed for the bathroom.
Elizabeth walked into the classroom the following morning, in a better mood than the day before. But she still had a very deep and determined look on her face. She had come into school by herself, as Dani hadn't waited for her as they got out the car. Then she couldn't find them on the playground and so Elizabeth thought she would head to the classroom early to put her bag away. She also really wanted to see Miss Benson and ask her a couple of questions. Elizabeth wanted to know if Miss Benson had spoken with her father, like Miss Benson had said she was going to try to. She also wanted to know what 'lost cause' meant because that was exactly what Dani had called her last night and again earlier this morning. Elizabeth didn't know what the word meant and Dai wouldn't explain it to her when Elizabeth asked. Dickie had simply stated that he thought it was a good thing and she should take it as a compliment. Elizabeth thought otherwise.
"Morning Lizzie" a voice spoke up from behind where Elizabeth was walking. She turned on the spot and saw Miss Anderson standing behind her. Miss Anderson was the other teacher in her classroom now, helping out Miss Benson whilst learning to be a teacher. Elizabeth really liked Miss Anderson and thought she was very friendly. Elizabeth had created the card for her dad with Miss Anderson's help yesterday too.
"Good Morning" Elizabeth replied, as the pair continued in the direction of the classroom.
"Are you alright? You know you're not supposed to be in this building yet" Miss Anderson asked as she continued to follow Elizabeth and Elizabeth knew she had to explain what she was doing now.
"I can't find Dickie or Dani…They didn't wait for me at the car and I've lost them now" Elizabeth explained, telling the truth in a way but it wasn't the entire truth.
"I've not seen them in here this morning, how about we go and put your bag down and then I'll come help you look for them outside" Miss Anderson spoke up which only lead Elizabeth to feel like she needed to explain more.
"I need to talk to Miss Benson too though, before the bell" Elizabeth continued, she didn't want to go outside again just yet, she needed to get to Miss Benson.
"She's in a meeting but maybe I can help you with what you need to talk about to her, too or we can tell her in class?"
"No, I just need to know if she spoke to my dad" Elizabeth declined the offer as they reached the classroom and Miss Anderson helped her to put her bag up on her hook outside the classroom.
"Well, how about we go see if we can find some of your friends or Dickie and Dani first and then after the bell we can talk with Miss Benson but she's really in a very important meeting right now and we need to go back outside" Miss Anderson tried to explain as she knelt to Elizabeth's height ot help the little girl understand. Elizabeth just nodded and after Miss Anderson stood up again, the pair headed back up the hallway towards the exit to the playground.
Elliot was looking out the window of the plane, he was heading home from his business trip and honestly felt kind of scared with what he was returning to New York to. The emails he had received from Olivia, Elizabeth's teacher had been slightly concerning to him and he hated the thought that his daughter was so unhappy. He wasn't sure what was really going on, but he was determined to get to the bottom of this as he wanted the best for his children. If the claims of favouritism had gotten this bad where his sitter, Dani was looking after one of his children more than the other, then he would need to reconsider that employment.
He was planning on arranging a meeting with Olivia again to check on any progress that Lizzie had made since their last meeting, as well as to discuss what else Lizzie had actually disclosed to her. He was also planning on talking everything through with Elizabeth and Dani to see what exactly was happening. Elliot was dedicated to his children and he would believe them over an employee if it came down to it, but he knew there are always two sides to any story, and he needed to hear both sides. Only once he had done that, he would the judgement on where to go next.
Elliot watched the clouds below him and thought back to the day the twins were born and how freaked out he had been at being a father in the beginning. He remembered feeling like he wasn't even sure if he would be able to properly care for these children like he wanted to. However, the minute that he looked into Elizabeth's eyes that first day, he made a vow that he was never going to let anyone hurt his children. He would protect them as much as he could and that was still true to this day, even with everything that they had to go through to get to now. Elizabeth and Richard had experienced more pain in their little lives than any child should have to, but Elliot was working hard now to try and stop any more pain where he could. This included in relation to who he left them with when he had to go away for work. He was determined to get to the bottom of this situation right now, he was going to help Elizabeth and he was going to make sure to protect his children.
A/N: Next chapter, Elliot's back and how do his children treat this return? What will happen with Dani? Guess you'll have to read the next update to find out :)
