As soon as Kathy got home she had sent the babysitter home and set the table out for a family meal ready for Elliot to come home to. She didn't think Cragen would tell them what Kathy knew, she hoped he wouldn't want to get involved that much with their problems and would be happy to split them up to save himself from IAB but in case she had judged the situation wrong she had decided that a family sit down meal was what Elliot needed to come home to, to remind him what he was giving up.

When she hears the door close she takes a deep breath and plasters a smile on her face walking out to meet him at the door. He hangs his coat up on the coat stand in the hallway and as he goes to turn around she grabs him and reaches up to kiss his cheek.

"Hey"

He doesn't say anything back, he doesn't even move. It's like she's on her tiptoes clinging to a statue and she knows that Cragen had told him. She carries on talking as if nothing has happened, walking them through to the kitchen where she was finishing off food.

"I've done your favourite, set the table, we're all going to sit down together like a family"

"Kathy-" he doesn't want to waste any more time. He doesn't want to lead her on a second longer or have to sit through an awkward meal. He wants her to be angry, to be throwing the food over his head not asking him to sit down for a family meal. The more she tries the guitlier he feels and it makes him feel sick.

"Go and call the kids. I'll start bringing this through"

Elliot nods admitting defeat when she lifts up the pot and heads towards the dining room. Maybe she had the right idea, maybe she just wanted one more meal together for their kids before they separated for good.

Kathy takes a seat at one end of the table and Elliot sits in his usual spot at the opposite end so they're looking over at each other with the kids in between them. It's how they've sat for over twenty years. The only difference was the size of the table between them and the amount of kids on either side. He wonders how he will be sitting down to eat his food tomorrow night. Will Liv have him there or is it too much too soon? He knows he can't really stay there with the lack of room for his kids but will she come to a new, bigger place with him?

"Elliot!"

He finally hears Kathy calling his name. He wasn't sure how long she'd been calling and he feels guilty for planning a life with his new family before he'd even left this one.

"Can you pass the carrots please?"

"Yea sure, sorry"

He reaches over and passes them to Dickie who in turns passes them to Kathy and she smiles around at her family sitting at the table but he knows it isn't real. She must know their time is up.

Elliot tries his hardest to keep his mind on the family before him for the rest of the meal. He asks the twins about their day and tries to chat to little Eli about his new truck because he doesn't know when he will next get to see them all together like this and it hurts but he knows he can't lie to himself anymore.

The twins run off to their rooms as soon as they're done and as soon as Eli starts to play with his food, clearly finished Elliot scoops him up and takes him off to bathe him ready for bed. He doesn't get to do this often, especially not lately where he would stay late to go and spend time with Olivia so he savours the moment.

"Daddy loves you Eli. No matter what happens ok spud"

Eli laughs and gives Elliot a hug as he gets him dried and into his pyjamas and he can feel the dampness at the back of his eyes.

He waits until he knows Eli is out for the night before he goes downstairs. Part of him wants to put this off forever but he can taste a new life and he needs to man up. He finds Kathy cleaning the dishes from their meal and he stands awkwardly in the doorway wondering how to start.

"I know what you want to say Elliot and I don't think you should"

Kathy doesn't even look up at him as she speaks, she carries on washing the plate in her hand and placing it on the dish rack.

"I'm sorry"

"We all make mistakes. We can forget about it"

"I can't"

She puts the bowl she's holding back in the water and places both hands on the sink, closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

"You have a family Elliot. You can't walk away from that"

"Kath-"

"No. You listen"

She dries her hands on the tea towel and flings it down on the side before walking across the kitchen and placing her hand on his cheek.

"We all make mistakes but I'm willing to forgive you" she leans up to try and kiss him but he jumps back and pushes her away.

"Kathy what the fuck?"

"I'm your wife, I'm the only one you should be sleeping with"

He's lost for words. This was the last reaction he had expected, he hadn't even thought for a second it would go this way.

"Elliot please. Think of what you're throwing away"

"I'm sorry"

He places his hand over hers and removes it from his face. He squeezes it reassuringly as he drops it to her side but that's when she sees red.

"Get out! Get out now!"

"Ok just let me-"

"NO!"

She pushes his chest and he takes a step backward from the force.

"Get out NOW"

"Look K-"

"No, it's fine. You've made your decision. I hope you and your little whore are happy together!"

He wants to tell her not to talk about Olivia like that but he knows defending her right now wouldn't be a smart idea, there was no reason to make her even more angry so he bit his tongue and turned around walking towards the door.

"I don't want it to be like this Kathy. When you're ready to talk then call me"

"Fuck you"

He sighed and walked out of the door, turning back around to see his house and say a silent goodnight to the kids inside. He wishes he could go and say goodbye but that would have looked suspicious. He gets called into work often and never goes to say goodbye if they're already in their room so if he had tonight they would know something was up and he didn't want to put that on them yet. He and Kathy had a lot to discuss first so instead he gets in his car and drives back to Manhattan.

--

Olivia had been pacing her living room on and off since Elliot had left a few hours ago. She felt sick with guilt and worry about what would happen in the future. She didn't know how Kathy would react when he told her it was over, she worried she may stop him seeing Eli and she didn't want that to be because of her. The thought that Elliot would be leaving his wife and coming back to her also scared her shitless. In her heart she wanted this but part of her was still telling her to run, that this was more serious than she could deal with. She was about to have a whole family, something she's never had before and she didn't know how to act.

When she hears a knock at the door she practically runs over to find a defeated looking Elliot on the other side.

"How was it?"

"Not great"

He sighed and walked in past Olivia and dropped onto her sofa. Olivia's place had become like a second home to him lately, he felt more and more comfortable there every time and Olivia is the one to close the door and walk over to cuddle into him.

"What happened?"

"I didn't get a chance to say much. She told me she wanted to move past what i've been doing behind her back"

Guilt washes over her again, if Kathy was willing to try then maybe they should.

"I would understand if you want to.. I mean we can figure something out.."

"Liv please" He turns his body to face her and looks her straight in the eyes. "I've made my decision"

She nods. She knows he is certain from the look in his eyes but still, the guilt is strong.

"Let's just go to bed and deal with this tomorrow. It's been a long night"

"Ok" she tells him because she doesn't know what she should be saying to help make this earlier and maybe sleep will help.

It's only early but the emotional battering they've both had today has exhausted them. Elliot strips down to his boxers and Liv puts on some pyjamas and they climb into bed together.

Liv cuddles into him, her head laying on his chest and arm slung over him and he wraps both of his arms around her protectively. They'd never done this before, just get into bed to sleep. They cuddle after sex and sometimes they sleep but this was now for them, something so simple yet a level of domestication they'd never seen before.

--

Olivia is the first to wake, she'd turned away from Elliot at some point during the night and had her back to him facing the window in the bedroom as the sunlight shone through the curtain. It takes her a second to remember that Elliot is there with her and even though that had happened a few times before this time was different, he didn't have to rush off and go home to his wife or give anyone an excuse. This could really be their future and it makes her smile.

Olivia rolls over with the smile still on her face and lays her head on his shoulder and her arm across him similar to how they had fallen asleep last night but this time she reaches up and kisses his neck, light kisses that wouldn't wake him with just one but as she reaches his chin she can feel him stirring and she smirks, rolling her body over onto him fully and straddling his hips as she continues to trace kisses along his jawline.

"Good morning" she whispers against him before he speaks, with his eyes still closed he grabs her hips and pushes her back enough so that his erection pushes through her folds and she moans.

The second Elliot had started to stir from the feel of Olivia on his neck so had his arousal and when she climbed on top of him he was ready to take her. She must sense when his eyes open because she leans back and grins down at him.

"About time"

"I was hoping if I feigned sleep for long enough you'd move your kisses elsewhere"

He was only joking with her but she smirks and moves her hand between their bodies, stroking his length between their legs.

"Is that what you want El?"

Before he had even replied her kisses were trailing down from his neck and over his chest and his ability to say no was failing him. He'd been conditioned over the years to feel guilty for wanting such a thing, for giving his wife such a chore but the few times Olivia had done it she'd never made him feel like that. He notices the way she touches herself as she takes him in her mouth and even though her actions tell him one thing, twenty years of conditioning is hard to break but he is eventually honest in his reply.

"Yes"

"You only have to ask" she says seductively from between his legs and he lifts his head just enough to see her smirk at him as she strokes him in front of her face.

"Oh fuck"

She doesn't waste any more time teasing him, she takes him straight into her mouth and hollows her cheeks around him, moving her head up and down as his hips start to thrust in a rhythm. Elliot wonders if he is still dreaming. Getting woken up with a blow job had been the reason he'd woken up fully erect many mornings so watching her now looking him in the eyes as she took him as deep as she could until he was hitting the back of her throat seemed like a parallel universe.

When he holds the back of her head, his fingers tangling in her hair a few moments later as he comes in her mouth he realises how much he'd been missing out on in his marriage, that had been something he hadn't got to do in twenty years.

"Go and get us some breakfast and you can return the favour" she says crawling back up his body but she doesn't get far before he is flipping her over to her back and moving between her legs.

"Let me do it before and after"

She giggles and opens her legs wider for him and prays all mornings together will be this fun.

--

Kathy hadn't had as great of a morning. After spending all last night cutting holes into every item of clothing Elliot owed, and had barely any sleep where she had gone between crying and anger she was now trying to get the kids ready before thinking of her next move.

She knew he was gone, he was with Olivia for now but she wasn't going to make life easy for them. At the very least they needed to feel as humiliated as she had. She hadn't just been cheated on, she'd been willing to forgive him and move on and still she was on her own.

It wasn't fair and she wasn't going to let it go just like that.

--

Elliot and Olivia had ended up being late to work. They walked in full of smiles and when Cragen had come out to check why they were late he could tell exactly why by the grins on their faces and decided he was going to let today slide. Clearly Olivia had made up her mind and he'd call them both into his office this afternoon for a chat and a plan of action for the next few months.

It was lunch time before everyone's good mood went to shit. In walked three men carrying large boxes and the officer at the front desk pointed over to Elliots desk. Instantly he knew what was going on, Kathy had sent his stuff to the precinct to make a scene and even though he could feel his face burning he kept his best poker face on and thanked the delivery men.

"El, what the hell?" Liv asked softly when the men walked away.

"I can guess"

He takes out his pocket knife and slits it along the sellotaped lid of the box and opens up the flaps. While he wasn't wrong, he had misjudged just how angry his wife was. He put his hand into the box and lifted up a shirt and another and another, careful not to pull them fully out of the box for everyone to see but it was becoming clear that everything in there was cut up.

"That crazy…"

Olivia rounded their desks and looked into the box and then up to Elliot and she felt responsible for all of this. If only she had left him alone.

"Come on then Stabler, what is it?" Fin asks, walking over to the pair of them but Elliot chucks the shirts in his hand back into the box and shuts the flaps. He is pretty sure it's too late and Fin had already seen but he knows he isn't the type to push for any more information.

"Nothing"

"Alright.."

Fin turns to look at Liv who is still standing next to Stabler's desk starting to look pale but before he can check on her he hears someone else call her name from behind them.

"Olivia Benson"

If possible she goes even paler but still she turns around to the man walking across the bullpen and speaks.

"Here"

He hands her a box, much smaller than the ones Elliot had received and she looks around confused as if someone was going to tell her the contents before she had to open it but nobody did she reluctantly she places it on her desk, her heart beating wondering what the hell Kathy - she had assumed by this point that it had to be from her - was sending her.

The last thing she'd expected to see was a cake, so relieved she felt it took her a moment to notice the words spread across it.

Congratulations

She slams the lid back down on the box and her face burns bright red. Is that really what Kathy thought? That this was some game she had won? She was angry and upset and the tears that she'd managed to stop forming earlier were now blurring the vision in her eyes. Elliot is frozen at his own desk, he wants to reach out and hug her but he doesn't want to bring any more suspicious attention to them and so he stands awkwardly not knowing what to do. Whatever was in that box had clearly been sent with the same intent as his cut up clothes.

Eventually Cragen notices the atmosphere outside his office. Its silent, much quieter than it should be because everyone was looking over at Elliot and Olivia waiting for an answer and when he walks out he notices the two of them frozen at their desks.

"You two. My office now"

They move quickly, both glad they had a reason to leave the stares of all of their colleagues. Cragen stares back at everyone else until they remember they are meant to look busy and they go back to their work.

"What the hell is going on?"

He looks down to the box in Olivia's hand. She hadn't wanted to leave it on her desk in case anyone got curious and opened it. It was a room full of detectives and she knew it was probably already clear what had happened by their reactions.

"Kathy" Elliot finally says.

"So, you've been honest with her?"

"Yes"

"And she didn't take it well"

"It seems not" he answers back sarcastically.

"Can you blame her?!"

Elliot lowers his head. He was angry at her for trying to embarrass them both but he knew after what he had done to her maybe she was within her right to try and get him back.

"No"

Cragen sighs and smooths his hand across his forehead.

"Go home you two. Elliot, go and speak to Kathy and Liv" he looks over at her sympathetically, only just noticing how upset she looks. "You just go home and rest. This is no good for the baby"

Olivia nods knowing he's right and walks out of the office without another word and straight down to Elliots car, only stopping to chuck the cake into the first bin she sees. She doesn't even bother to collect her things, she knows Elliot will get them for her; she just didn't want to get anymore stares from their colleagues until she had recharged herself.

"I'll sort it" Elliot tells Cragen before following her out of the office and back to his desk to collect their belongings.

He asks Fin and Munch to help him carry a box each down to the car park with him which they agree to with no questions asked but when they see Olivia leaning against Elliots car waiting for him they drop the boxes by the door for him giving him a knowing nod. He smiles back glad to know that they have his back and glad he can tell Liv that someone else is there for them.

For now Kathy and her dramatics can wait. He doesn't care what Cragen has said, he just wants to look after Liv and their baby.