A/N: So i'm personally really happy with this chapter and i think there are some really cute moments within this chapter. Things between Olivia and Elliot are changing and I think it's for the better. But brace yourself...it may be calm now and you may think Dani is gone but...well...we'll have to see. There are some BIG things happening over the next chapters so brace yourselves! But on that final note, i hope you enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think by leaving a review :)
Chapter 12
The afternoon went way better than Olivia had expected it would, she managed to get work done with both Elizabeth and Richard whilst they had their different extra events this afternoon. She worked with Lizzie on her spelling whilst they were watching Dickies basketball practice and then she worked with Dickie on his spelling whilst Lizzie was in dance. She could see that both of them had made significant improvements with their learning in the past couple of weeks and knew that Mandy had to be as proud of Dickie as she felt for Lizzie. They even managed to get a start on their homework before they got home. But they finished it off with Olivia once at home, before dinner and whilst waiting for Elliot to come home.
Olivia had a call from Lucy after she picked Chloe up from daycare and explained that she would have Chloe fed before Olivia got home tonight. However, Olivia hoped that she was able to get home in time for the bath and bedtime routine. There was nothing Olivia loved more than being able to do that nightly routine with Chloe and be the last one she sees before she sleeps because Olivia isn't always the first one she sees when she wakes up.
"Miss Benson" Richard asked as he looked up from his homework.
"Yes?" Olivia asked, looking over from where she had been working on a few school related documents whilst the twins did their homework.
"Are you going to be looking after us all the time now? In the morning too?" Richard asked, Olivia hadn't thought about it. She didn't know how long it would take Elliot to organise a new nanny, she imagined that she would be looking after them for at least this week but didn't know after that. But there was no way that she could manage to look after them for Elliot in the mornings too. She would not have enough time to get everything organised with Chloe, drop her at daycare, get across town via public transport to pick up the twins and still get to school on time. Not to mention that Olivia needed to get to school early in the morning to be able to get things done and so if Elliot needed someone in the morning too, it couldn't be her.
"Um, I'm not sure sweetie. I won't be looking after you in the mornings too because I won't have time to get here before I have to be at school. But I might be the one looking after you for the rest of the week, after school. Is that ok?" Olivia suggested.
"Yes! I'd really want you to look after us" Richard replied, eagerly.
"You're much better than Dani" Elizabeth chimed in.
"Dani wasn't that bad...she was nice too like Miss Benson, you were just really naughty" Dickie retaliated to his sister. Olivia knew she had to step in before this got out of hand.
"Alright you two, that's enough. It's sad that Dani had to go away and I know your daddy is working very hard to find another nanny for you but for now I think I'll just have to do ok?" Olivia interfered, whilst also trying to end the conversation about who would be looking after them as she really didn't know anymore than they did at this stage.
"But I really do like when you look after us, Miss Benson" Richard explained, clearly he was suddenly feeling the need to explain himself and his thoughts.
"Me too" Elizabeth echoed which made Olivia smile, she too had really enjoyed this afternoon with the twins.
Elliot felt exhausted as he walked in through the downstairs private entrance to the hotel and made his way to the elevator. He felt like he had been talked at completely all day and his brain was literally mush. He wasn't sure how the twins were going to be when he made it upstairs but he just hoped they hadn't caused too much trouble for Olivia. He knew first-hand how much trouble they could cause when they wanted to.
"Ah Mr Stabler, welcome back. Did the meetings go well today?" One of the receptionists asked as they spotted Elliot waiting for elevator.
"Yes thank you, but I'm not really up to discussions right now" Elliot dismissed, hoping they would get the message he didn't want to talk. But the receptionist was persistent.
"Just quickly sir, we had a lady called Dani come in today and request specifically to speak with you? We told her you weren't available but sir, what should be do if she returns again?" the young man asked just before the elevator opened. Elliot knew he would need to respond to this before going upstairs but why was Dani contacting them now? Elliot grabbed his card from inside his jacket pocket and handed it to the young man.
"If she contacts you again, just inform her that she needs to get in contact with my assistant who will set up a meeting, it's regarding a personal matter and I don't want to discuss it right now. So if you'll excuse me, I want to get upstairs and see my children" Elliot farewelled the other receptionist and entered the elevator. The minute the doors closed, Elliot let out a slight groan. Why was Dani contacting him now? It had been at least 4 days since he'd tried to meet up with her, he wasn't going to just do what she wanted. He also wasn't interested in re-hiring her again.
The elevator doors opened and Elliot walked out into his penthouse apartment to find the living room empty. He would have thought his kids would be there when he got home, just relaxing before dinner. He knew that Dinner wasn't ready yet but it smelt like it wouldn't be far off.
"Daddy" Elizabeth called and Elliot turned just in time to find his little girl running out of the dining room towards him.
"Hi honey" Elliot greeted as he embraced his little girl and placed a kiss on her head.
"Miss Benson helpded us to get homework done before you got home, she didn't want you to have to worry as she said she knew you'd be tired and we'd be tired" Elizabeth tried to explain as she dragged Elliot back towards the dining room. Elliot spotted Olivia standing next to Dickie, helping him. Beautiful Elliot thought as he took a moment to admire Olivia. She was in a deep blue dress which he thought she looked stunning in. Her dress today was more professional than what she was wearing when he'd last seen her at the park on the weekend but it would make sense considering she had been working all day.
"Elliot, Welcome home" Olivia greeted, smiling briefly as she looked up at him.
"Hi Daddy" Richard greeted.
"Hey" Elliot smiled as he made his way around the table to see what they were working on. He watched closely as Olivia covered the last spelling word for this week and Dickie tried to write it down from memory. He wrote all of it almost correctly, but he'd just mixed a couple of letters at the end the wrong way round but noticed it enough to quickly change it before getting the answer. As he was correct, Olivia gave him a high 5.
"Good work buddy and don't worry about the ones we got wrong, I'm sure you're going to be a spelling pro by the time the test comes around on Friday" Olivia encouraged as Dickie gave her a hug and thanked her for helping him.
"Well, your dad's home now so I guess that's my cue that it's time to leave. Well done today and I'll see you tomorrow"
"Bye Miss Benson, thank you for helping us" the twins echoed.
"Alright you two, go wash up before dinner and I'll just see Miss Benson out" Elliot requested, both twins nodded in agreement before hugging Olivia once more and rushing off to wash their hands.
Elliot watched on as Olivia made quick work to gather her things together and place them all in her bag. She was a very organised person that was for sure and it seemed that everything had a set place, which Elliot actually admired a lot. If he was honest, Elliot admired Olivia in a lot of ways and was grateful that she had been so willing to look after his kids today.
"So how were they really?" Elliot asked as he walked with Olivia towards the elevator.
"They were really good, we went to basketball and dance today without any issues and I did the home reading with whichever twin wasn't doing something, at both times. You have 2 very smart kids there Elliot and I can already tell that they are going to really go far with their learning. They've made such big improvements already. How were your meetings?" Olivia asked as she grabbed her coat from the rack near the elevator. Elliot rushed to hold it out for her like a gentleman.
"Long and very tiring but I did appreciate the texts you sent me to let me know pick up had gone well, it kept me going through the meetings. But business is always changing and that means meetings are required I suppose, even if they are unbelievably boring. Oh by the way, I really appreciate that you were willing to look after the twins for me today" Elliot stated, remembering that it was important to let people know you appreciate them when you do.
"Your most welcome, they are honestly lovely kids and we had a lot of good conversations but I hope you don't want me to look after them before school as well"
"Oh no no no, I know you are much to busy for that and I would never expect it. I also don't intend to take up too many of your afternoons either"
"I don't mind looking after them in the afternoon though, now you don't even have to ask, I've already arranged my schedule so I can look after them tomorrow as well for you"
"Thank you, that reminds me though, Dani has apparently tried to get in touch with me today"
"Oh really?" Olivia enquired, she hadn't seen that coming.
"Yeah, I was a little concerned when my receptionist downstairs told me and wanted to know what to do if she comes back again" Elliot explained.
"What did you say? I mean it's been a few days since she didn't turn up to your meeting"
"Yeah, I know. I handed the card with my assistant's number to the reception and told them to contact her if Dani comes back again. My assistant will them make the appointment and it will be so much worse if Dani skips it again. I much prefer my assistant to handle my communication as she does it so well" Elliot explained and Olivia took this as a sign she needed to get the number of his assistant should she need to get in touch with him again.
"Riight, so I think I'm going ot have to get that number for if I need to contact you" Olivia stated and Elliot realised she had mis-interpreted what he had said, he preferred Olivia to contact him directly but didn't want to hear from Dani.
"What? No!? I mean, you have my direct number and I don't want that to change, you can contact me directly" Elliot tried to back pedal as the pair stood in silence for a couple of minutes, feeling a little awkward all of a sudden.
"Daad, can we eat now? We washed our hands" Dickie called out, interrupting the conversation.
"Coming!" Elliot called back.
"On that note, it think it's time I was getting home" Olivia made her apologies and called for the elevator.
"The car is waiting for you out front"
"You don't ne-"
"You have looked after my kids all afternoon and taken them all over the city to their different things. The least I can do is make sure that you get home safely as I really don't think I want to get on Chloe or your husband's bad side for making you get home too late" Elliot joked as the elevator doors opened, Olivia had to laugh at his comment.
"Well I don't have a husband so I don't think he'd object but I'd avoid Chloe's bad side, she may be small but she's fierce. Good night Elliot" Olivia joked as she entered the elevator and waited for the doors to close.
"Just like her mother then, Good Night Olivia, thank you again for today" Elliot replied as the elevator doors closed and she was gone. So, she's single then Elliot thought remembering how much he had debated it earlier today. Elliot took a deep breath and headed back towards the dining room, he wanted to eat dinner and hear from his kids about their day.
Olivia thanked the driver of the car as he pulled up outside the apartment building. Her building certainly wasn't as lavish as the penthouse apartment that the stabler's lived in. The building was a redbrick apartment building with 4 storeys and about 12 apartments. Olivia and Chloe called apartment 3A home. It really wasn't much of an apartment and it was possible that she could afford something a little nicer now if she wanted but Olivia thought her apartment showed character. Not to mention it was the first place that was ever actually hers, so she was happy and protective of it. Apartment 3A had 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom with a bath/shower combo, it was smaller in size than what she probably liked and Olivia knew that as Chloe got older they might have to look elsewhere but it was good for now. The elevator in the building was rather old and had a big habit of breaking down, which made it fun when Olivia had to go out with Chloe and had to take the stroller too. But today, was one of the few but lucky days where the elevator actually worked so she could take it for a ride up to the third floor.
Olivia unlocked her front door and could instantly hear laughter, meaning Chloe was already in the bath. She placed her things down by the door and headed for the bathroom, finding Chloe sitting in the bath talking away and Lucy who looked a little wet so Chloe had clearly made a mess.
"Chloe Benson, have you been causing a mess here?' Olivia laughed as she made her presence in the room known.
"Momma!" Chloe called out, looking up at her mother and instantly reaching out for her so Olivia walked just a little closer.
"Hi baby girl, have you had a good afternoon with Lucy?" Olivia asked.
"We certainly did, we had pasta for dinner and then because of how much fun she'd had with that, we had to take a big bath before mom got home"
"Oops"
"Yeah, I think that's a big oops miss Chloe"
"I can finish up here with her though if you want to go change"
"Would you? That would be fantastic, thank you" Olivia smiled as the younger woman agreed, and disappeared into her bedroom to change into something more comfortable. Today had been a long day and Olivia felt exhausted but she was glad with everything that had happened today.
A/N; Next chapter - Dani...and i think that's enough said ;D
Until Next Time ;)
