AN: Thank you all for your continued support! It means a lot to me. I know I said that I wasn't going to update again until tomorrow night, but I wound up bringing my computer with me, so why not? I hope you enjoy and have a great day!

It was a bitter-cold Sunday afternoon, and Olivia was sitting inside a little diner that she had never been to before, waiting for Kathleen. The young blonde had asked if they could meet for lunch the day before, but Olivia had to cancel because they caught a case and being a man short made it impossible for her to get away. So here she was on her day off, waiting for her partner's daughter. She didn't mind having lunch with Kathleen, but she hated being out this time of year. Christmas was only a week away and even though songs of the season promised children laughing and meeting smile after smile, that certainly wasn't the case for the city. People were too busy last-minute shopping and hating each other to enjoy it.

"Kathleen" She called, waving to get her attention. It was impossible to miss the angered look on her face as she made her way to the booth to join Olivia. There was a bad feeling in the pit of Olivia's stomach, but she brushed it off, assuming that it was morning sickness. "How are you?" She asked, trying to ease the evident tension. Kathleen simply stared at her, refusing to open her mouth. Olivia sighed and ran her hand through her hair, unsure of what she could do. "Can you at least tell me why we're here?"

Kathleen silently rummaged through her purse, grabbing what looked like a picture and put it face down on the table. "I need you to tell me why my dad had this in his pocket" She said, sliding it across the table. Even though Olivia already knew what it was, she flipped it over. It was the photo she had given Elliot from the ultrasound on Friday. As much as she wanted to confess to everything right there and then, it wasn't her place.

"I'm going to call your father".


"Can I get you anything? A drink? A snack maybe?" Olivia offered to Kathleen, needing to get up from the had been sitting in her apartment waiting for Elliot for a little over ten minutes now. They left the diner only a few minutes after Kathleen arrived, so Olivia paid for her drink and left a generous tip, apologizing for the inconvenience. She gave the keys to Kathleen, asking her to start the car while she called Elliot.

"No thanks" Kathleen responded with that stone-cold look on her face. Olivia had seen that same look on Elliot's face countless times during interrogations, and it felt like she was being interrogated right now.

"So how far along are you?" Kathleen asked.

"Eight weeks" Olivia answered honestly. There was no point in lying about the pregnancy. Kathleen already knew about that. She busied herself look through the cabinets for something to eat.

"Is the father anyone I know? Someone I'm related to maybe?"

Thankfully she didn't have to answer that because Elliot entered her apartment, going right over to Kathleen. Olivia had told him about her attempted ambush, but asked him to keep his cool. Things were only going to get messier if he didn't stay calm.

"You should have come to me" He yelled at his daughter.

"El" Olivia said from the kitchen as she closed the cabinet. This certainly wasn't the calm, cool, and collected approached they had talked about on the phone.

"It says her name on it" Kathleen retorted with an annoyed look on her face.

"You found it in my stuff. Why wouldn't you bring it up with me?" He lectured, only stopping when Olivia came over and put her hand on his arm, breaking her own rule and involving herself in their argument.

"Just tell her" She sighed, locking stares with him. He only nodded, taking a seat next to his daughter on the couch.

"I'll give you two some space" She nearly whispered, making her way down the hall towards her bedroom.

"Wait" Kathleen called. Olivia turned around to face the girl. "Can you stay? I know that you'll answer my questions honestly". She didn't want to be a part of this, but that choice was long gone. She came back over to join them on the couch, sitting next to Kathleen who moved so that she was sandwiched between the detectives.

So they told Kathleen everything, sparing no details. Olivia kept her eyes locked on the floor, knowing that he built up tears would start to fall if she looked at either one of them. Even though she knew that her tears were the result of her guilt and hormones, she didn't want them to see her break. As Elliot wrapped up the story, Kathleen turned her attention to Olivia.

"So...you posed as a prostitute so that the Bushido guy wouldn't kill you and the plan backfired when he paid to watch you have sex" Kathleen summarized, waiting for Olivia to correct her if she got something wrong.

"Yes" Olivia sighed, finally looking up at the girl. "I never meant for it to happen. That was such a stupid plan. If I could go back in time and change it…" She trailed off.

The three of them sat in silence for a while, letting Kathleen digest all of the information they had thrown at her. Her anger seemed to have dissipated, which was a good sign.

"I believe you".

"You do?" Elliot asked, shocked that it was that easy. There was no meltdown, no screaming, no accusations, nothing.

Kathleen nodded, "Olivia has never lied to me, and I don't think she'd start now when it matters the most". She wrapped her arms around Olivia, throwing off both detectives. "Thank you for getting my dad here, and I'm sorry for setting you up". She let go of Olivia and turned to her father. "Your secret is safe with me, but not for long. You need to rip off the bandaid and tell mom. She's going through enough already, she certainly doesn't need you lying to her".

"It's not that easy" Elliot started, but was cut off by his daughter.

"I know that, but the longer you lie the worse the fallout will be". She grabbed her purse off of the coffee table and made her way to the door. Looking over her shoulder, she said something that neither of them were ready for. "Liv, as screwed up as this situation is, I'm glad it's you and not some crazy rando. You're going to be a great mom". Before either of them knew what to say, she was gone.

"Well, that went better than I thought it would" Elliot said, making his partner smile. "Look Liv, I'm sorry-"

"It's all good" She insisted with a forced smile. "I'm sorry that she found out so soon".

Elliot shrugged, "It's my fault. I let her wear my jacket without a second thought. I knew it was in the pocket".

"We all make mistakes, El. Trust me" She tried to reassure, but it came out sounding as remorseful as she felt. She could tell by the look on his face that he wanted to say something. "Go ahead".

He looked down at his hands for a beat before speaking. "What you said to Kathleen about taking it all back...Did you mean that?"

She struggled to find the right words to say. Truthfully, it was complicated. If he had asked her a few days ago, she would have said yes without hesitation, but now that she had seen her baby…

"I don't know" She admitted. "I've always wanted to be a mom, but I'm not the one paying the price for it".


Elliot had been home for a few hours, playing with Eli and watching Kathy as she slept peacefully in the recliner. A million thoughts raced through his mind. Things hadn't been good between them in years. She had accused him of sleeping with his partner too many times to count, and he had accused her of wanting him to, that way it was his fault their marriage failed. No matter how silent or ugly things were between them, they always wound up back together. Things were different this time had messed up. Although they had only stayed together for the sake of their children, he never wanted to hurt her. He thought about what Kathleen had said about ripping off the bandaid, and she was right. He couldn't go on lying to his wife. Kathleen was up in her room, Maureen had just left to pick up Lizzy and Dickie from youth group, and little Eli was napping in the pack and play. If he was going to tell Kathy today, he had to do it now. As gently as he possibly could, he woke Kathy up.

"What's up?" She asked through a yawn. "What's wrong?"

"Kathy, I need to tell you something".