A/N: Another updated because one, I've been having a shitty week and I've been writing as a means of escape. And two, I wanted to update for the people who are showing interest in the story. Hope you like it.

Chapter 9

He walked into the dinner and instantly spotted the twins and his eldest daughter. He assumed Maureen had stopped by the house and picked them up on her way. He had not gotten any panic calls or texts and none of them looked upset, so he assumed his plan to get to them before their mother had worked.

Maureen was the first to spot him and she gave him a smile before throwing in a "Morning, Dad."

"Hey, Mo," he greeted in return as he gave her a hug from her seated position. "Thanks for grabbing the twins."

"Morning Daddy," came Lizzie's voice. He smiled at the tone she used as she only used it with him. Lizzie, being one of the babies for a long time and being the baby girl of the clan, was by all definitions and daddy's girl.

"Morning, Baby," he greeted her with a kiss on the forehead. "You eating already?" he poked playfully at Dickie who was stuffing his face full of donut holes.

"I was hungry," the boy replied around a mouth full of food.

"Ahh, you're always hungry," he told him as he slid into the booth next to Maureen, across from Lizzie. "Anyword on Katie?"

"Nope," Maureen answered. "I called her before I left, she was still asleep. I told her to get up. I knew she was going to be late."

"Oh shut up Maureen," they heard the last member they'd been waiting for say as she walked up to the table. "I'm not that late. Hi, Daddy." She kissed Elliot on the cheek before sliding into the booth next to the twins, sandwiching Lizzie between her and Dickie.

"You wouldn't have been late at all if you would've just listened to me," came the eldest's reply.

"Yeah, well, I don't make a habit of that," came Katheleen's retort, causing Maureen to roll her eyes at her.

"Alright you two," he jumped in. "It's too early for that."

"Too early for your highness to pretend she's the boss of us? Nonsense."

"Katie," Elliot warned before Maureen could respond, sparking up the feud again.

"Sorry, Dad," she apologized. He was right. She hadn't gotten out of her bed to argue with Maureen. She came to the dinner to spend time with her father and siblings, something they rarely got to do anymore.

"Can we order now?" asked Dickie as he started to search around for their server.

"You just ate a whole plate of donuts," Lizzie told him, looking disgusted.

The twins engaged in their own side argument about how donut holes weren't donuts. Katheleen on the other hand was all business. "So," she clasped her hands together and looked up at him, "why'd you bring us here, Old Man?"

Elliot couldn't help the laugh that escaped him. "Okay, first of all, I resent that remark. Second, let's order food first before your brother chews his arm off."

They managed to get the server's attention and placed their orders. Kathleen and the twins fell into gossip about a sibling pair they all knew. While he and Maureen sparked up their own conversation.

"What did you want to talk to us about? It isn't bad, is it Daddy?" she asked looking up at him and he could tell her anxiety was kicking up. Unfortunately, he couldn't give her any words of comfort. To him, the news was not necessarily bad though he knew the results of it would be for them, at least in the short term.

She watched as he picked up his glass of water, his jaw clenching before he took a sip.

"Daddy," she whispered firmly. "Are you leaving again?" She was trying not to let her younger siblings hear her, just in case it was bad news.

"No, Mo. I'm staying put for the foreseeable future," he told her. She could still sense the apprehension in his voice.

"Are you sick?" she asked, her face falling and he looked at her. He could read the panic there and he figured he better get talking before he threw his oldest daughter into a full-blown panic attack. It wasn't fair to cause them any more distress over this than it was already going to cause them.

"Ok, guys," he stated, looking across the table at his other kids. The other three sets of eyes were immediately drawn to him. "You know I asked you here because I wanted to talk to you about some things."

"Mom isn't pregnant again, is she?" Came Dickie's clearly displeased tone.

Before he could respond, he heard Lizzie gasp. "Daddy," she reprimanded.

"What?" Elliot exclaimed, a little offended by his kids' attack and obvious judgment. "No. You're mom's not pregnant."

Kathleen giggled at her dad's obvious confusion and defensiveness. "It's not like it would be out of left field for you guys."

"Really," Maureen grumbled causing her father to look down at her.

He paused a moment. "Okay, why do I feel like I'm being shit talked by my own kids?"

"Because you are," Kathleen pointed out. "It's bad enough these two came along, then ten years later you decided to start all over again."

"No, Katie," Maureen chimed in with a laugh, "they didn't decide anything. Eli was a whoops baby."

"We were all whoops babies," Dickie chimed in causing the whole table to burst into laughter.

"Yes," he agreed. "The flip side of that being that I wouldn't give any of you up." His kids had opened the door to the topic of discussion, so he figured he would run with it. "And no, your mom's not pregnant again…but you do have another sibling."

The table immediately went quiet, and he felt bile rise in the back of his throat as his kids all gave him varying looks of 'what the fuck?'.

The waiter, bless her heart, came at that exact moment and started placing their food on the table, calling out each order as she placed it in front of them.

"Can I get you all anything else?" she asked with a big smile.

"No, we're good for now," Elliot managed to smile at her. "Thanks."

With that, the woman walked away.

"Okay, I'm not sure how to ask what I want to ask, but there is just so much that I don't understand. So start talking Dad, because I am sooo confused right now," Kathleen stated.

Maureen, having been thinking through their entire encounter this morning, concluded that if there was a new sibling and their mother wasn't pregnant, then that meant…"Did you cheat on Mom?" she all but yelled.

His only response was to drop his head, looking down at his hands in his lap. He quickly picked his head back up though. He wasn't a coward, and these were his children. They deserved to be looked in the eyes as he delivered the news.

"Daddy?" Came Lizzie's voice, only this time he could hear the tears behind the word before he even looked at her. He figured he'd better start explaining while they were all still somewhat stunned into silence. Maybe he could explain some before the outrage set in.

"It happened before Italy? Before I left. I didn't know there was a kid involved until we moved back."

"That doesn't make it any better, Daddy," Kathleen admonished, realizing that her father was not only a cheater but also in part, a deadbeat dad.

"I know. I know baby," he responded, fighting back his own tears after seeing the tears in her eyes.

"Is that why mom was gone last night?" Before Elliot could explain that he didn't know why Kathy wasn't home the night before, Lizzie chimed back in.

"She said she was at Aunt Claire's." Of course she was at her sister's.

"Does Mom know?" Maureen asked, still obviously pissed.

"Yeah," he said almost silently. "She knows."

"About the kid too?" she continued to question.

"Yeah."

"Who was it?" Kathleen jumped back in.

He stopped short of continuing to supply answers. God, he didn't want them to hate her. He wanted to protect her from any backlash. He would shoulder all of the blame.

"Before I answer that, I want you all to know that this is completely on me," he tried.

"Pretty sure, it's only half on you," Dickie chimed in, stuffing a tater tot into his mouth.

"Shut up Richard," Kathleen spat at him. "And cut the shit, Dad. Who is it? Who did you cheat on mom with?"

"It's…" he tried. Shit…this was the hardest part of this entire ordeal so far. "Olivia." There were gasps all around as all of his children's jaws dropped. He gave them a moment to process it all before he broke the silence again.

"Like I said, this is on me. I don't want any of you guys to think worse of Liv for …" he tried but was cut off by Maureen.

"Oh, bullshit Dad. How could you? And with Olivia of all people? You knew how Mom felt about her. You knew she didn't like how much you two were together. And all along, she was right."

"Maureen, this wasn't something that went on for a long time. It just happened," he tried to explain.

"How the hell does that, just happen?" Dickie chimed in.

He went to answer but realized that he didn't have any explanation for them. Not one that would justify what he had done anyways. He took a few seconds to survey all of his children and saw looks of hurt, anger, and disappointment.

"I'm sorry," he offered. "If I could…" he cut himself short. He would not take it back if he could. That meant that precious little girl would not be walking this earth.

"Let me out," Lizzie said, abruptly turning to Kathleen.

"What?" the older blond asked, looking at her sister a little dumbfounded.

"Let me out," Lizzie all but screamed at her before turning to her oldest sister. "Maureen take me home. I want to leave."

"Lizzie," Kathleen started to try to reason with her. She knew her little sister was just emotional, hurt by their father's admission. But running out on him wouldn't change the facts of the situation.

"We haven't even finished eating yet," Dickie chimed in.

"Maureen I want to leave," she said turning to the makeshift mom of the group when Kathy wasn't present. "Now!"

"I'm going to take her home," Maureen said grabbing her bag and turning to her dad in a silent request to be let out of the booth.

"Mo, you guys can't leave. Let's talk about this," he tried, a few tears escaping his own eyes at this point, leaving Dickie to be the only one around the table that wasn't in tears.

"We're leaving Dad," she said pushing her way past him to exit. By this point, Kathleen had already slid out allowing Lizzie to pass freely.

"Guys, please don't," Elliot tried. "Please, don't leave. Let's talk about this, please."

"If you want to talk, why don't you try Olivia and your affair baby," she retorted ruefully. This caused his head to drop as more tears escaped from his eyes. But it didn't move Maureen as she latched on to her baby sister's hand. "Dickie, com'on."

"I'm still eating," he told her.

"Are you serious right now?"

"You guys go ahead," Kathleen offered, shaking her head at her brother. "I'll drop the idiot off once we're done."

With that, the two girls left the diner, the younger of them audibly sobbing. Kathleen for her part plopped back into her seat next to Dickie. Elliot sat back down as well, but neither of them spoke as he continued to try to regain his composure enough to hold a meaningful conversation. With two of their group gone it seems the atmosphere around them got even heavier. The physical manifestation of the splitting of the family unit, already manifesting itself. Even Dickie, stopped devouring the food in front of him and began picking at it instead.

The waitress came back to check on them and Kathleen quietly asked her for a few boxes, knowing that someone would eat it later. The table remained quiet for a while before Dickie spoke.

"Is that why you weren't home last night? Where you with her…them?" he asked. Elliot couldn't get a good read on him, but he could tell that he was less than pleased with the turn of events.

"No," he answered with a sniff, having gotten control of his emotions. "No. I slept at my…I moved out. I slept at my apartment last night."

"What the hell, Dad?" Kathleen joined in. "You already have a new place? How long have you been planning this?"

"This wasn't planned," he tried to defend.

"Well you don't just get leases to apartments overnight," she pointed out.

"I've known about, Isabella for about two months now," he provided.

"So you have another daughter? It's a girl?"

Elliot nodded.

"Katie, let me out," Dickie said, gathering the boxes. "I'm gonna go wait in the car." He knew this was going to be a bigger blow to his twin. She was or had been their father's baby girl. They had both been spoiled by their father growing up, whenever he was around at least. He had been the baby, being the younger of the two but Lizzie had been the baby girl, which seemed to hold more weight than being the actual baby even if just by a few minutes. They had both been a little disgruntled with Eli coming along, having to be the more mature one in the sibling squabbles now. Still, Lizzie's baby girl status had stood with their father for the most part. And she took great delight in that fact. This was going to hit his twin hard. And even though he originally wasn't as pissed with his dad as the girls seemed to be, this pushed his anger over the edge.

"Dick," Elliot called to him as the boy began walking away from the table. To the man's surprise, he actually turned to look at his father. "I'm sorry," Elliot continued. "But, I want you to be better than me. I haven't set a very good example, but please, try to be a better man than me."

He didn't reply. He just stared at his father before turning with the keys Kathleen had given him in hand and walking out of the restaurant. That left only one of his children who could still tolerate being around him.

"You seem to be the only one that doesn't hate too much to look at me," he tried to joke.

"That's because I'm on mood stabilizers, Dad," she responded through gritted teeth.

He took a deep breath and blew it out. "I really am sorry about all of this Katie. I never meant to put any of you through this."

She stared at her father. She knew he was sincere. He had spent their entire lives trying to avoid putting any of them through this. And you don't just give up your entire life at seventeen and spend the next twenty-something years continuing the sacrifice just to turn around and throw all of that effort away.

Unlike the rest of her siblings seemed to be doing, she wasn't going to pretend to be in denial about the origin and state of their parent's marriage. In a way, she was a little relieved. Their union wasn't one of love or choice. Granted, it had been great when she was younger, growing up in a home with two parents that had loved her. The fighting hadn't been that bad from what she remembered. Or maybe they had been able to keep the fighting hidden from them. But as she and Maureen had gotten older, they had become more aware of their parents' tumultuous relationship. She wasn't sure about her mom as she wavered back and forth between loving and resenting her dad. And she knew it was more than the 'you are never home because you work too much' resentment. It was deeper than that.

On the other hand, she was hurt. Her life as she knew it was changing. She was hurting. And so were her siblings. She was sure her parents were too. And she was so disappointed in her dad, and Olivia. She had always respected the woman. It was no secret that of all of the Stabler girls, Kathleen was the least like her mother while Maureen was the most like her. She loved her mom, but she didn't have the most respect for her. It was hard not to lose respect for someone who constantly cried about their significant other being in love with someone else and not having the guts to pull the trigger and leave them. She never understood that if her mom was so miserable, or that she came second to her father's colleague, how could she stomach staying in a marriage with him? She felt that she, as a woman, would not be able to do it. She could never understand why her mother didn't have enough self-respect to get her shit together, grab her kids, and prove to her father that if he didn't want to be with her, she didn't need him.

She had respected her father more than her mother as she appreciated his tendency to put all the bullshit on the back burner when it came down to getting things done. And even though she knew that their marriage wasn't built on any of the things that marriage should be built on, she would be lying if she said she hadn't lost some respect for him with today's revelation. She likely would have been okay, she reasoned if he had gone about it the correct way. Divorce her mom, fine. Eventually, she thought everyone would be happier because of that. Hell, they honestly should have done it a while ago. Then she and her siblings wouldn't have had to grow up in such a tense environment where the two adults were frequently at each others' throats. And though there probably would have been some suspicions, if what her father had said was the truth, there wouldn't have been any proof or any reason to take issue with a divorced man moving on with someone else.

"I'm gonna go," she stated after realizing they hadn't said anything in the last few minutes. Both had gotten lost in their own thoughts. She made to get up from the table but her father grabbed her hand.

"I know you're mad at me, but just promise me, when you are ready to talk, you will call me," he pleaded.

She blew out a breath before giving him a short nod. She then slid her hand from his and exited the restaurant. He was left to contemplate the now manifested consequence of his actions, though he feared there was still more to come.

He found himself in a foreign predicament. Standing on the front step of the home he had once shared with his wife and children feeling out of place and knocking for the invitation to gain entrance. It was a surprise visit he was paying to the house. A surprise because even though he'd been trying to see Eli for the past couple of weeks, Kathy had either been ignoring him or purposefully making herself and their son unavailable at times she'd told him he could stop by. But tonight was Halloween and like most kids, he knew his son would be ecstatic at the chance to wander around the neighborhood dressed up and collecting free candy from neighbors. He knew they would be home as he'd come early enough to catch them before they would be leaving. How things would play out was still to be seen, but he had to take the chance. He had to see his son. The feeling that the child was being intentionally kept away from him was serving to do nothing more than heighten his anxiety.

He knocked again and this time heard the voice of his oldest son getting closer to the door. He took a breath, glad that he was going to be able to avoid immediately coming face to face with his soon-to-be ex-wife.

He noticed the look of shock on Dickie's face as he realized who was standing on the other side of the door. "Dad," he said surprised.

"Hey, son," he started and immediately noticed more footsteps heading towards the door. More hurried steps.

"Dad!" Eli exclaimed, pulling the door out of his brother's grasp as he tried to squeeze himself between the older boy and the door to get to his father.

"Hey," Elliot managed to get out before he found himself stooping to catch the boy who had launched himself at him. He picked him up and hugged him, placing a kiss on his temple.

"I've missed you, kid," he told him.

"I missed you too, Dad," Eli said pulling back from the hug. "Are you gonna take me trick-or-treating?" he asked as Elliot put him down.

"Do you want me to take you trick-or-treating?" he asked with a knowing smile.

Before he could answer, another one of his children appeared at the door. "What are you doing here?" Lizzie asked in a whispered voice. He just stared at her as he could tell she was still pissed at him.

"I came to take Eli out for Halloween."

"Are you serious, Dad?" came the voice of the boy twin overlapped with a "You need to leave before Mom sees you," from the girl twin.

"I don't…" Elliot started, a little offended by their responses. Eli for his part just stood looking back and forth between the two sides, confused as to why exactly everyone had been so weird or absent during the last few weeks. "You guys are my children. I have a right to see you. This is my house."

"Wrong," Lizzie told him as she folded her arms in front of her. "This used to be your house. You left. Remember?"

"Seriously, Dad, you need to get out of here before Mom sees you," Dickie added as he looked back into the house to make sure his mother hadn't appeared in the kitchen. He seemed more concerned with his mother's reaction than upset with his father. The opposite of Lizzie's disposition. "She's been flipping out for every little thing lately. If she sees you here, we won't hear the end of it for a long time."

"Com'on Eli," Lizzie said grabbing for her little brother, but the boy pulled away.

"I wanna go with Dad," he said stepping away from his sister.

"Eli, you can't" she explained. "Mom is gonna take you trick-or-treating with Aunt Claire, Danny and Lily."

"But I wanna go with Dad," Eli argued.

"You guys, who's at the door?" he heard her voice come from further in the house. And he could see the change in the twins' body language. Lizze just squinted at him and shook her head, huffing as she disappeared back into the house. Obviously, more eager to avoid the blow-up of her mother than anything.

"Dad, leave," Dickie whispered urgently as he grabbed his little brother's arm, trying to pull him fully into the house as he'd been straddling the doorway. Before he could respond, the door was wrenched fully open and he watched as the rage settled onto the blond woman's face.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she gritted out, trying to keep from yelling.

He took a breath to collect himself as he felt his own anger rising. "I came to see my son, Kathy."

"I told you we were busy tonight," she said and he noticed Dickie slowly backing away from the two of them. "You can't just show up here anytime you feel like it, Elliot. You don't live here anymore."

"And you can't keep coming up with bullshit excuses to keep me away from my kid," he yelled at her.

"He's my son," she told him and she didn't give him a chance to respond before she grabbed the child and started pulling him back into the house.

"But I wanna go trick-or-treating. I wanna go with Dad," Eli tried to explain as he tried to plant his feet, but it was no use as his mother was serious about separating the two of them.

"I know, Bud. I know, and I promise," he said turning his efforts towards calming his sons's growing distress.

"He doesn't want to take you, Eli," Kathy gutted out. "He's has a new family and new kids. He doesn't want us anymore."

"Don't tell him that!" Elliot said outraged, and heartbroken at the words his little boy had just ingested.

He took a step forward in an attempt to grab the little boy and explain to him that his mother was lying. He would never not want him. But she slammed the door in his face before he could get close enough. He heard the latch turn and he already knew that she had had the locks changed. He'd tried one evening when she had claimed that Eli was sleeping over at her sister's. So he did the only thing he felt he could.

"Eli, don't listen to her," he yelled through the door. "That's not true."

"Get the hell away from my door before I file a restraining order on you," he heard Kathy yell back.

"I love you, Eli," he yelled again and the tears sprang to his eyes as he knew that he wouldn't be allowed to see his son more than he already had for the time being. He also knew that he was in for a fight if he wanted to change that. "Liz, Dick," I love you guys," he yelled, voice cracking as he hoped the two teenagers were still close enough to hear his words.

Before he could stop himself, he punched the door out of anger and frustration, rattling the entire frame.

"I'm calling the fucking cops, Elliot!" Kathy yelled back. He dropped his head and stood there sulking for a few moments before he managed to pull himself off of the porch and back around to the front of the house where he'd parked his car. He got in and looked back at the house, tears streaming down his face as he started the engine. Kathy was going to try to destroy him, and she had access to the right weapons to do so.

He found himself driving aimlessly around, replaying the events in his mind. Considering what actions he needed to take to regain access to his youngest child, and making a mental checklist of everything he'd have to do to accomplish that task. Still, his mood remained sullen as he knew that he would be the one at a disadvantage in this fight. Kathy had been the primary caregiver throughout their marriage, alternating between being a stay-at-home mom and a part-time nurse when needed to help make ends meet or for that brief period when there were no small children in the home. He was the absent parent, working the long hours. And he was the one that had ultimately committed the act of infidelity.

So currently in total, he had seven kids spread out throughout the five burrows, although some people would argue with him about that number. Two of them were not talking to him at the moment, although one of those two did answer just to tell him she didn't want to talk. Three of them were being withheld from him, although he was sure that Lizzie didn't mind her mother's refusal to let him in the house. And his access to two of them was currently being filtered through a woman that treated him like a child-eating plague. He found himself at a red light and he took a breath and blew it out.

He had to say, even though Olivia still wasn't the most open towards him, it did seem that over the past few weeks they had found themselves on more stable footing. He wasn't sure if that had more to do with him backing off and trying to respect her boundaries as Fin had advised him to after witnessing their big blow-up in the middle of the precinct. Or if it had anything to do with Cragen demanding to speak with Olivia in his office after breaking up the incident. As he had exited the station shortly after they had been separated, he'd passed the captain's office and he could tell the man was laying into the brunette. Either way, he was thankful for the small shift that had occurred between them.

His thoughts led to him picking up his phone and dialing her number. He was only somewhat surprised when he heard her answer with a slightly subdued, "Hi, Elliot."

He smiled, knowing the exasperation in her voice likely had something to do with the crying in the background. It was Isabella, no doubt as he'd quickly picked up on the distinction between the two cries.

"Hey, Liv," he answered. "Sounds like you guys are having fun."

"Tons of it," she confirmed. He heard a horn honking on her end followed by a mumbled 'asshole' and he knew she was driving.

"You guys aren't going trick-or-treating?" he asked.

"We are done for the night," she informed. "Heading back. Thankfully."

"Is that what all the crying's about?"

"No, that's because I won't let her eat any more candy than the four pieces she's already had?"

He heard the high-pitched voice of the little girl in the background and knew that she was trying to make a point with her mother. To which Olivia responded with a calm, "No, Baby, I'm sorry. But you've had enough." Her response was met with a renewed sobbing. She sighed.

"Since you guys are heading in for the night," he looked at the clock on his dashboard, "You think maybe I could see them for a few? Get to see them in their costume?"

He really, really needed to see at least a portion of his kids.

"I don't know, Elliot," she started hesitantly. "I want to get them back home and settled in. It's been a long week and…"

"Liv, please," he heard his own voice cracking. He paused, sniffing as he tried to regain his composure. "I…I really need to see them."

She was quiet for a moment. She had heard the change in his tone and she knew something was wrong. She assumed it was work, a case. Maybe something that had reminded him of one of her kids. Something with a small child, although that didn't make too much sense since he wasn't with SVU anymore. Maybe their case at OC had gotten tied up with some other unit. She figured it had to be something to trigger this desperate need for contact with her children.

Still, it was a Friday. Fin and Nick had agreed to cover for her and Amanda that night and the next day so they could take the kids out for Halloween. She was thankful for that. To make it up to them, they had taken one of their shifts earlier in the week and it had been a week from hell up until the end. She was almost afraid that she and Rollins would still have to forego the Halloween outing in lieu of making sure the job was taken care of. That was until Fin, Nick and Cragen had ushered them out of the door making them promise to send costume picks.

She and Amanda had planned an early outing, no more than two hours since they had younger kids. Now her plans were to go home, get everyone bathe and into their Halloween jammies, and get them fed with something other than chocolate so they could issue out candy to the older kids that would be out during the later hours. Although she would let them stay up a little longer to help with that, she still knew that a visitor would disrupt their routine. And she definitely didn't want to meet him anywhere because that would only throw the kids off more. And he still hadn't been to her new place.

"El, I'm really sorry but not tonight," she told him and she could hear him deflate even more through the phone. "Maybe some other time."

She cursed herself, wondering if she was making the right decision. He sounded pretty desolate in his request. And the talking to Cragen had given her a couple of weeks ago had made her try a little more to be civil with him and open to him for her daughter's sake and for her own. The older man had told her that he was concerned for her. She had been particularly cruel to Elliot during the argument he had witnessed. And he had voiced his concern about her losing herself in her anger and resentment, and how he didn't like seeing her change in the ways he had just witnessed. He had told her that it wouldn't be fair to her kids or herself if she allowed those negative feelings to fundamentally change who she was. And she hadn't thought that it was but honestly, she couldn't remember the last time she had been so unnecessarily cruel to someone other than a suspect or a perp. Even when she'd snapped at people after the whole Lewis ordeal, she'd apologized to them after realizing what she'd done. She had always been firm when she needed to be, but he was right. She had been cruel to Elliot when her unaddressed feelings towards him had overwhelmed her.

"It's okay," he said quietly.

"Elliot, I'm really sorry," she said after hearing the utter defeat in his voice.

"I understand, Liv. Sorry I bothered you. Have a goodnight."

And with that, the line went dead. She took a deep breath and blew it out. Great. Now she felt like shit. She glanced in the backseat at her kids who were now both happy, thankfully. Isabella had found contentment in a little toy she'd been given. And she was currently reaching across from her car seat toward her brother. The spinny part on the end tickled his little hand that he'd also reached out towards her. Both of them giggling every time she pressed the button and the toy made that whizzing sound. She studied them for a minute and more words from her discussion with Cragen came to mind.

He had asked her if the current environment between her and Elliot was really the environment and dynamic she wanted Isabella to experience growing up. Obviously, the answer was no. But she really wanted to get home as she had been looking forward to spending the remainder of the night indoors, cuddling with her kids and watching child friendly Halloween movies, even though she'd prefer the scarier ones. The more rational part of her mind offered the suggestion of just having Elliot come to her place. That would alleviate her guilt of denying him a chance to see his daughter as well as allow her to get off of the streets before all the crazies came out as well as allow her to do what she ultimately wanted to spend the night doing. But that would also mean she would have to grant Elliot access to her apartment. And she thought for a moment if it were really feasible to raise a child with someone, amicably without them knowing where that child lived most of the time. She knew the chances of that answering being no as well was a lot more likely than it being yes. And it did seem that he had been trying to be a little more aware of his actions and her boundaries since their argument. He seemed to back off more easily when she suggested he do so and he also had quelled the talks that involved the subject of them as a romantic item.

She blew out a breath as she came to a decision. 'God, I love you kid,' she thought as she turned her attention back to the road where the traffic had started to flow again, albeit slowly.

She grabbed her phone and typed out a couple of quick texts to Elliot. The first was simply her address. The second was informing him that they should be arriving home within the next thirty minutes or so.

He had pulled off to the side of the road near a row of his favorite old spots before he'd called her. He'd be lying if he said the call didn't leave him feeling even worse than he was feeling before, which he didn't think was possible. He really didn't want to go back to his half-empty apartment and sit alone for the rest of the night. He also didn't want to get out and go to one of the bars near where he was currently parked. He knew that would probably end up worse than going back to his apartment, but honestly, it was the more appealing choice at the moment.

He had just cut the engine and gotten out of the car when his phone chimed. He'd assumed it was work since just about everyone else who would be trying to contact him was either avoiding him or outright not talking to him. He was surprised when he saw that it was Olivia and confused when he saw she'd just sent him an address. But it slowly started making sense as her second text came through. A smile instantly came to his face and he felt his mood lifting.

He looked up from his phone and immediately the bar he had been heading towards didn't seem appealing at all. The Chinese restaurant just two doors down, the one that Olivia really liked, did however catch his attention. He knew she had been on her way home and was looking forward to an evening in. It was still early enough that he knew they probably hadn't had dinner yet, especially with the early trick-or-treating. So he decided to go there instead.