A/N: Thank you for all your lovely reviews, some of you have provided some really helpful feedback and thinking points for me. Thank you also to those of you who have pm'd me with little things that you have picked up on, that some of them i'd not even picked up on. Please enjoy this next chapter and I'm going to try and get another chapter up for you later today, to make for not posting in almost a week.I thought it had only been just before the weekend, but apparently not o.o
However, without further ado, here is the next chapter :)
Chapter 13
Tuesday ran pretty much like clockwork for a school day, Olivia was able to get Chloe organised and off to daycare in time to head to work. Chloe had been a little more fussy and clingy to her this morning, but Olivia put that down to the fact that their normal schedule had changed in these last couple of days and she was adjusting. Chloe had been used to Olivia being home before dinner or bath time as that was something that Olivia had put the emphasis on being there for. But now helping out Elliot with the twins and his home times, made her rather unpredictable and she couldn't always guaranteed that she would be there for dinner and bath time with Chloe. Whilst she was only 18 months old, the little girl knows the routine and notices changes, Olivia knew she did. Olivia couldn't help but wonder that if her role in looking after the Stabler twins in the afternoon became a longer thing, could she work out a way to have Chloe there in the afternoons as well? So at least her little girl wouldn't lose time with Olivia or feel a little left out with the extended absence. That was something she was definitely going to have to think about for sure.
The afternoon arrived and Olivia was looking after Elizabeth and Richard again, but this afternoon didn't have quite so many different activities planned as they were on Mondays and Wednesdays. Monday was the usual basketball and dance practice, whilst Wednesday was swimming lessons. But the swimming lessons were held privately in the hotel pool rather than elsewhere so really all they had to do was go home and get ready on Wednesdays. The private lessons at home was something that Elliot had established as a way to encourage Dickie and Elizabeth to do their best and at the time it had been also to minimise the different places Dani had to get the twins to.
However, today was Tuesday and that meant they didn't have anything on and so they were just going to go home and hang out at the penthouse. Olivia intended to let the twins chill out for a bit, unwind from their busy day at school and then work on homework with them till Elliot got home. She was also intending to ask Elliot if she could bring Chloe over tomorrow afternoon with his kids, if he still needed her to get them. At least then Olivia wouldn't feel quite so guilty for choosing other kids over her own. Olivia couldn't see Elliot having any particular objection to it, but it was more professional for her to ask him first than just assume he'd be fine. As they would be in his house anyway. Olivia didn't want to make things with Elliot awkward or hard when they were in a good and comfortable place with each other.
Tuesday, for Elliot was more laidback in terms of work than Monday had been. He still had numerous required meetings that he had to attend and work through but they weren't as long as his Monday's or even as tiring as the Monday's. This meant that Elliot was feeling pretty confident that he would get to go home earlier than he had yesterday. Elliot honestly felt like he had slept really well last night and managed to be around to be able to take the kids to school but he'd not gone in with them or stuck around after that. His dreams had been filled with a certain teacher that he had spent a lot of time thinking about yesterday, the same one who happened to be babysitting in the afternoon for him as well. Elliot knew he would get the chance to see Olivia this evening more personally, when he got home from work, so he didn't feel the need to go into school and see her this morning. That wasn't to say that he didn't want to, because he really did, it was just more that he didn't feel like he had the need to go and see her in the morning. He didn't want Olivia thinking that he was desperate for her attention, he just really liked having her around and found that he could talk to her easily. He hoped that maybe they would get more of a chance to talk tonight too, if he got home that little bit earlier and she didn't have to rush off quite so quickly. Elliot hoped she wasn't in a rush to leave tonight.
"Excuse me, Mr Stabler?" Ashley asked as she appeared at Elliot's office doorway.
"Yes?" Elliot invited her into his office.
"I have a Dani on the line sir, she's requesting to speak with you now and she is adamant that she won't make an appointment. She continues to get aggravated every time I bring up an appointment and I wanted to know what you wanted me to do?" Ashley asked, Elliot had known this would likely be the case when Dani made contact. He knew when he gave out the business card last night, that Dani would contact the hotel, they'd give the number, so she'd call the number and then get frusterated by having to make an appointment. However, Dani had been the one to stand him up last time so he wasn't just going to give in to her orders through the phone but it wasn't fair to leave Dani with Ashley, at least it wasn't fair to Ashley, Elliot didn't care about Dani.
"You can transfer her through to me, Thank you Ashley" Elliot replied and he waited a couple of minutes whilst Ashley went back to her desk and transferred the call through to him. Elliot used this time to take a couple of deep breaths and try remind himself to maintain composure when speaking to Ashley. He thought about the way Olivia would handle things if she was in this situation and what she would have said. Olivia definitely seemed like the type of person who had an answer for everything when he needed one, he wished she was here to advise now.
"Good afternoon Dani" Elliot greeted as he accepted the call from Ashley.
"Elliot stabler, how thankful I am that you managed to take my call. I'm down here at reception for the hotel and they won't let me go upstairs? I have a few things with me that I have for the twins and I wanted to leave them here before I go and collect them from school, can you fix this?" Dani asked. Are you serious? She really thinks that she can waltz in like this and everything is just going to go back to normal? Elliot thought to himself before proceeding.
"Yes, sorry Dani, reception have my list of people who have my permission to use the elevator to go to the penthouse" Elliot replied, remaining strictly professional.
"Which obviously includes me, I'm the nanny and thus I have always shad access upstairs" Dani replied.
"Not anymore" Elliot kept it short and simple, he wasn't in the hotel at the moment as his office was in a different building but he really hoped he wouldn't have to make the trip back to deal with this today.
"What?" Dani asked. Taking the 'playing dumb' approach this afternoon I see Elliot thought as he tried to consider the best move forward from here talking with Dani.
"Dani, you didn't show up for our lunch meeting at the café, and there were a few important time sensitive things I wanted to talk to you about" Elliot explained.
"But…I'm sorry I just got the date wrong"
"I called you numerous times and left you messages, it's been 5 days now since our meeting was supposed to happen and you are only contacting me now? I'm sorry but I really don't think this is going to work out" Elliot explained, bracing for impact as he knew Dani wouldn't take this well.
"You can't just fire me like that!? I have rights?!" Dani yelled down the phone line, she wasn't happy at all.
"I will provide you with a good reference, which I will email you this afternoon and I will make sure all payments have been finalised. But I would prefer it now if you didn't contact me again, and stay away from my children"
"You can't do thi-"
"Thank you Dani, I hope you are successful at wherever life takes you from here and I wish you all the best" Ellito said before he disconnected the call. Dani had been a good nanny for him in the past and he really felt he owed it to her now that she had made contact with him, to provide a good reference and make sure she had been paid all he owed her. But he just couldn't take her back on as a nanny right now and he wouldn't. Elliot expected a high level of decency from his employees and this was simply one case where that had been abused to the point he couldn't forgive.
Elliot: You'll never guess who I just had to speak with…Dani! I hope you're day is going well :) Elliot texted Olivia, he felt the need to let her know that Dani had actually made contact with him again.
The doorman held the car door open for Olivia and the twins to climb out after they arrived back outside the hotel. Olivia had been rather surprised when Elliot's driver had been waiting for them outside of the school gates, she didn't expect to be taken home this way with the kids. They had taken the subway for the activities yesterday and Olivia already knew what would be the best way to get back to the hotel via the subway as well, she had looked it up last night. Sure, the subway wasn't by any means the safest way to go home but it had quite the personality and the kids enjoyed their time on the subway. Olivia had learned to love the subway when she moved to New York and she honestly thought it would be a good experience for the twins to experience other transport than a chauffeured car, even if that is normally how they travel. However, as Elliot had sent his driver to the school this afternoon, with the order to collect Olivia and the twins to take them home safely, she couldn't refuse him.
She had read the message from Elliot during the car journey home and was surprised that Dani had actually made contact, but she hoped the communication that had to be done, had gone well. Olivia didn't want to mention anything to the twins just yet about Dani as she knew it would be unlikely that Dani would be coming back on as the nanny but she wasn't sure exactly what Elliot would do.
O: I hope the conversation went well then. Thanks for the car by the way? I wasn't expecting that at all, but the kids were glad to see your driver Olivia quickly responded as the group headed into the hotel and towards the back elevator which would take them up to the penthouse. They politely greeted the reception staff, a few patrons in the lobby and stood quietly waiting for the elevator.
E: Well…I'm not sure how it really went to be honest, but I'll tell you more about it alter. I'm aiming to be home slightly earlier than last night Elliot replied again, as the trio rode up to the penthouse apartment.
"Alright you two, I'm going to give you one hour to relax and then we'll get your homework done as I think your daddy is going to be home earlier tonight" Olivia said as the twins took their things up to their rooms and went about their way. Olivia decided to take a step into the kitchen and see what she coudl make up for afternoon tea. However, she really should have known that she didn't need to do that as Mrs Davis already had two plates of fruit and snacks made up ready to go for the twins. They never even have to raise a finger Olivia thought to herself as she made her way back into the living room, opting to get the marking she needed to do, done before the kids would need her help with their homework.
Elliot had stuck to his word, he arrived home a whole hour earlier than last night for his kids. He was tired from the day, as always but he was very glad to be home. He had seen to both of his kids and then signalled to Olivia that he wanted to talk to her and to take a step away slightly from where she was helping Dickie with his reading. He wanted to explain the details of everything with Dani to her. Elliot guided Olivia to his study to discuss this whilst keeping the door ajar if the twins needed them and Bertie explained she would keep an eye on them if needed.
"So you spoke to Dani? Did she contact you again?" Olivia asked as the pair stepped into the study and over to Elliot's desk.
"Yeah, she apparently turned up downstairs earlier today, trying to get up to the apartment" Elliot confirmed as he leant against the edge of his desk and looked up at Olivia.
"But she wasn't allowed?" Olivia queried. She could tell from his body language that this was leading to a big discussion but she really appreciated that Elliot wanted to keep her in the loop.
"No, there are really very few people who have access and I update the list at the front when needed. I most recently updated it on Sunday afternoon with the team after you agreed to look after my troublesome two, so you have access up here now and she doesn't" Elliot explained to which Olivia thanked him for access.
"How'd she take that though?" Olivia asked.
"Not well, in fact I don't know what she's going to do next now"
"So you didn't hire her back then?"
"What? No! I would never, after the lack of communication on her part, she explained she forgot about our lunch and her phone died and so she didn't have the ability to call me about it" Elliot explained Dani's explanation as to why she'd missed their lunch but Elliot wasn't really buying it.
"But it's been 5 days?" Olivia queried.
"Exactly my point, a phone can be charged, so she had plenty of opportunity to call me and explain herself"
"So, what are you going to do now?"
"I'm not sure, I've written her a good reference and I sent it to her via email, I ensured her pay is up to date to when she last worked for me. She really has nothing else that she needs from me but I have this bad feeling. But that reminds me, how much do I owe you?" Elliot asked, grabbing his wallet from his jacket pocket, ready to give money to Olivia. But she didn't need payment, she wasn't looking after his kids for him, so she could get extra money, she was doing it because she wanted to help him.
"You don't owe me anything" Olivia answered.
"You've looked after my kids for two afternoons already, I need to pay you something, as I'm taking up your afternoons"
"The chauffeured car ride this afternoon was enough payment, I really don't need anything else" Olivia convinced him as she softly placed a hand on his arm, enforcing that she really didn't need payment.
"You're being too nice" Elliot remarked as he placed the wallet back in his suit jacket and looked up at her.
"No, I'm being a good friend" Olivia said whilst Elliot placed his hand over hers and gave it a light squeeze. She was really being a good friend and he couldn't appreciate it more than he already did from this gesture to look after his kids.
A/N: So what did you think of this chapter? Leave me a review and let me know, i really appreciate each and every one and all of you. Next Chapter: More of an insight with Dani, Olivia gets a call from an old friend which leads to thoughts about a certain business man...Hmm i wonder what will happen? Guess you'll have to wait and find out soon!
Until next time!
