Chapter 14 - Friendly Conversations

Olivia had just managed to get Chloe down for the evening after 2 books and rocking in her arms for a while, when her mobile started to ring. Olivia didn't have a landline number, so her mobile was her main method of contact with the world around her. But that didn't mean she knew who was calling her at this time. She knew her father wouldn't call after 7pm and she didn't expect that the call would be Elliot.
"Hello?" Olivia answered the call.
"Hey stranger!" Alex greeted and Olivia smiled into the phone, she hadn't spoken with her best friend in a really long time and it felt really good to hear her on the other end right now.
"Oh my gosh, Alex! It's been so long!" Olivia greeted warmly.
"Well you know, I figured that it had been a while and I should really call. How is everything? How's Chloe?" Alex asked, wanting ot hear as much information about her friend and god daughter as she could.
"She's really good, she misses you though. We were looking at pictures of you tonight before bed and she asked where you were" Olivia explained, smiling at how Chloe had reacted so fondly at a couple of pictures of Alex and other friends and family.
"Soon, I promise, I miss both of you" Alex agreed.
"You know I'll hold you to that. But anyway, enough about me, how are things with you?" Olivia asked, wanting not to talk about herself so much but more talk about her friend.

"They're really good! I just got a promotion and I've started seeing someone recently" Alex explained.
"really? Alex Congratulations! That's fantastic news about the job and the new relationship too"
"Its…It's very new but I feel like it's off to a good start. How about you? Is there anyone you want to talk about? Maybe an interest or something?" Alex asked, Olivia just had to roll her eyes at her friend even when she can't be seen. Every time Olivia and Alex spoke there would always be questions about her relationships or her love life and it was really something Olivia didn't want to talk about. There really was no one on the scene at the moment and it wasn't like Olivia was particularly looking. She was so busy with work and Chloe and life in general at the moment that even if she wanted to, she didn't have time to date. Especially now she had offered up her spare time to look after Elizabeth and Richard as well as everything else in her daily life.
"No…Oh, I've started to look after a one of the kids in my class, after school" Olivia remarked, unsure exactly why she was telling her friend this but feeling it was important.
"Why? Olivia you already do so much for those kids in school on a daily basis, you really don't need to be giving more of your spare time to them as well" Alex replied which surprised Olivia a little as she hadn't expected that reaction from her friend.
"The little girl's father is a single dad with twins and he's been through a really rough patch lately. I know what that feels like and it is no fun in general, even worse alone. So I wanted to just help out where I can" Olivia tried to explain to her friend but she could already hear the disappointment on the other end of the line.
"Wait, he's single?" Alex asked which only caused Olivia to roll her eyes again. She was honestly glad this was a phone call and not a facetime call as she could keep her reactions secret but Olivia should have known Alex would focus on the fact Elliot was single more than anything.
"Stop it" Olivia warned.
"Stop what?' Alex pleaded ignorance.
"I know where you are going with this and no, we are not even going there" Olivia replied.


Olivia had a really lovely chat with Alex, she had brought up some really interesting thinking points. But there had also been moments where Alex had been so far wrong in her thinking that it almost wasn't funny. Olivia knew what Alex was trying to get at and it clearly wasn't going to happen. Once Olivia had mentioned Elliot and that he was single, as far as she knew, Alex didn't have an interest in really talking about much else. Alex was adamant that there had to be something between Olivia and Elliot, particularly in the way that he had only wanted to talk to her specifically about things that were going on in his life, not anyone else. Olivia dismissed this as just being friend and there was nothing more to it, she was definitely more guarded though with the information she spoke about with him. However this wasn't to say that if something really was happening, she wouldn't speak to Alex about it. There just wasn't a lot going on in her life at the moment other than caring for the Stabler twins, caring for Chloe and work. Her life wasn't super eventful or exiting, and there wasn't anything major that she wanted to discuss or felt the need to.

If Olivia was honest though, she could admit to herself, that there was something growing between her and Elliot, or at least she thought so. She had felt it with the time that she spent with him earlier this evening and recently. She particularly felt there was a moment she had the other night with him, just as she was leaving. Olivia often found herself smiling with the communication that she had with Elliot and she felt like there was just a familiar sense of comfort she got from spending time with him. But it was ridiculous to think about as there was no way that any feelings she may have towards Elliot, would be reciprocated towards her by him. There was simply no way that he even saw her as anything more than a friend, which would always be the case. She just felt lucky that Elizabeth was in her class, so she had an excuse to be talking with him or spending time looking after the kids.

She would admit that she really liked the thought of spending time with Elliot and found herself incredibly comfortable around Elliot. But she put all of that down to the fact that he was a really nice man. He also wasn't too bad on the eyes either, if she was honest. She could admit to herself that she had wondered in the past, what it felt like to be held by Elliot, what the feeling of his strong arms around her, protecting her would be like. But it obviously wasn't something that she would ever act on, it wasn't professional or even remotely ok. Screw you Alex Olivia thought as she found herself lying in bed that night thinking solely about Elliot. If Alex hadn't put these thoughts into her head about maybe there being something going on between Elliot and Olivia, with the way they were around each other. Then Olivia was sure she'd already be asleep and wouldn't be feeling quite so guilty.


Just because you have a business, and you have lots of money, and you are successful, doesn't mean that it's in any way ok for you to push us around like you did Dani thought to herself as she walked up the street, brushing past numerous people in the process and not apologising once. She was on a mission, she wasn't just going to let the Stabler family walk all over her like that and think everything would be ok, or that its ok to treat people so poorly. She already knew without her, Elliot would have to be looking after his own kids and he would be far from enjoying that. But she knew there was no one else that he would feel even remotely comfortable leaving his kids with, or having them picked up from school by. The man needed her, he needed here help as there would be no way that he would choose to spend the time with his two troublemakers, over work. Dani knew that the twins, with Elliot would be getting home from school soon and thus if she approached him then, there was no way that he could avoid her. Dani knew if she confronted him, they would have the opportunity to talk and she would get her job back easily.

Dani had worked as the nanny to the twins for almost 3 years now, she'd been there for them when their mother walked away, she'd been a huge support for Elliot too. She knew how much Elliot relied on her during this time. She also knew what she was worth to Elliot and she knew that everything that had happened over the past week or so had been one simple misunderstanding. Richard loves me, Elizabeth is going to learn to accept the way that I am with her and not everyone is meant to love such a brat. There simply isn't a better nanny out there than me and Elliot would never let me go Dani thought. She knew that Elliot and the twins would be lost without her, she was simply irreplaceable.

Dani knew that she maybe she had messed up in missing the lunch with Elliot but she genuinely had gotten the dates wrong. Her schedule had been all over the place since Elliot returned from his travels and she had simply mistaken the days and her phone was dead. She knew she probably should have charged it but then there were events in her personal life that made her question everything. She had never expected that Elliot would want to meet up with her for lunch, so with she schedule all over the place, what was she supposed to do? She hadn't been in the position to drop everything. Dani could admit that she wasn't perfect and she had never claimed that she was, she simply made a mistake but she couldn't be fired for that, it was not fair. Dani was determined to get her job back, she was prepared to take Elliot down if she really needed to. Dani knew that Elliot needed her more than she needed him. Dani absolutely loved Elizabeth and Richard, she loved Richard more but she still tolerated Elizabeth. Everyone she knew, knew how much she loved those kids and would do absolutely anything for them. Sure, if she got the choice, she would do anything for Richard and not so much Elizabeth. But she wasn't prepared to help a kid who had the brain of a pigeon and took more help than anyone she knew.

Dani didn't see the point in even trying to help Elizabeth when there was so much potential with Richard and he was prepared to put in the work. She couldn't' believe that this would be the issue either as Elliot had to see that when a kid wasn't succeeding, there was no point in over exerting herself to help someone who simply wasn't intelligent enough to get better. But Richard on the other hand, could do absolutely no wrong, the boy was perfect and Dani was sure that Elliot would see that if she could just talk to him. She would make sure that he understood where she was coming from.

Elliot had sent through her reference yesterday, just like he'd said that he would when they were on the phone but that wasn't good enough for Dani. She was determined to get her job back and she knew how to get it. She knew htat the minute she spoke with Elliot, he would see how wrong that he had been with dismissing her like he did, he will give her another chance and everything can go back to the way they were. Though Dani knew that she was going to have to push to have Elliot remove Elizabeth from that Miss Benson's class as Dani was adamant that the woman was doing very little good for Elizabeth. Miss Benson had only caused issues for the family since she decided she was going to step in. In fact, it was Miss Benson that had started all the suspicion about Dani in the first place, and if it wasn't for her deciding she had to stick her nose in it, then nothing would have happened in the first place and Dani would still have her job. Dani was so sure that if things hadn't been disrupted by Miss Benson, then Elliot would be more determined to please her and keep her around with his kids. But Miss Benson had clearly messed with Elizabeth's brain in the classroom during time when she was supposed to be 'learning' and now she was doing the same with Elliot. But Dnai wasn't just going to take it, she wasn't going to let that teacher mess with something that was rightfully hers. I'll make him see, make him know that he can't live without me and that he's just desperate to take me back. I'll forgive him and we'll start where we left off, he doesn't need Miss Benson and I'll make him see that Dani thought as the Sapphire Suites building came into view.


Wednesday mornings were when Elliot spent extra time at the hotel itself, with following up on the general running of the day to day things within his hotel. He was very happy with how things were going at this particular branch of his hotel. Elliot was very impressed by the efficiency of the staff and had made a specific post for the managers in the different departments, telling them how impressed he was and to pass it on to their teams. He wanted to show his appreciation for all of his staff and he'd spent this morning doing exactly that, especially as he had found recently that he didn't really do that often and he needed to. This took him right till lunch time when he was meeting a few of his friends, Charlie and Finn for lunch at one of their favourite local restaurants. Elliot tried to catch up with his friends at least once a month and normally they met up in the evening or something. But in this current situation with Elliot having Nanny issues and wanting to be at home in the evening with his kids, it made more sense to go to lunch together instead. Not to mention that Charlie was flying out of town for business early tomorrow morning and thus dinner just wouldn't work.

The trio arranged to meet at the Italian restaurant that was only a few blocks over from Elliot's hotel. He decided today to take the car to lunch rather than walk but there had been times in the past where he had walked over, because he wanted the exercise. Today though, as he was heading into his office after lunch, he figured he would skip the walk to lunch and try get to the gym later. Elliot was a man who liked to keep fit where he could and keep reasonable shape so that he could keep up with his kids and generally just stay healthy. Despite being a father, Elliot really didn't like to let himself go very often as he had quite the appearance in the public eye to keep up with being the face of a multi-million-dollar company. Elliot had to admit though he was really looking forward to the catch up with his friends, there was so much they needed to discuss, there was a lot he felt he needed to catch up on about their lives.

A/N: I said i'd ive you 2 chapters today and i did just that! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and let me know what you thought by leaving me a review! I love to read all of them and see exactly what thoughts on the chapters you all had. Next Chapter...Well...things are intense...strap yourselves in because it's about to get rocky...
Until Next Time ;)