Prompt #43: Elliot hides behind Liv as they go through a haunted house


Chill In The Air, Chill Down My Spine

~oOo~

"Liv, come on," he says quietly over the rim of his coffee mug. "It's like a right of passage for a kid. He'll love it. And besides, when was the last time the whole crew came to an agreement…on anything?"

She smiles in slight agreement. This still feels surreal; Sitting across from Elliot Stabler at 7am, making small talk over two steaming cups of perfectly brewed Italian blend.

An hour ago, she woke up peacefully in his arms, his fingers gently stroking her hair, lips lightly pressed against her temple.

Thirty minutes ago, they were frantically staging pillows and blankets on the couch before Noah came out of his room, ready for breakfast.

With Noah's approval, Elliot sleeps over one, occasionally two, nights a week. For the first couple weeks, Elliot did indeed spend his nights tossing and turning on the much-too-small-for-him couch. But it didn't take long to realize how peacefully they both slept while spooned together in her Queen size bed. The trade-off, however, is making sure that Elliot is up, dressed, and out of the bedroom before Noah gets up.

But last night was date night and Liv and Elliot didn't get back until Noah was already sound asleep. They barely got the sitter paid and out the door before they were relieving each other of their clothes. Staging the couch was the furthest thing on Liv's mind as she lay face down, Elliot buried to the hilt inside her.

But this morning was a close call, Noah shuffling out of his room just as the last pillow hit the couch.

They won't be able to keep the ruse up much longer, especially with her son's keen observation skills, but she's not quite ready to let Noah in on whatever it is their relationship is evolving into. Of course, she's had conversations with her son about sex, sexuality, consent, and bodily autonomy. However, Noah doesn't need to know the details of what his mom may or may not be doing with a certain detective behind a closed bedroom door.

Elliot clears his throat, bringing Liv back to the conversation at hand.

"I'm not opposed to the idea El, it's just that when you suggested that we all get together for a holiday outing, I was thinking more along the lines of a pumpkin patch, corn maze… A hayride maybe?" She smiles over at Noah who is currently slurping the last bit of liquid from his cereal bowl, unfazed by the milk dribbling down his chin. "Noah's never been to a haunted house before and I don't want him to feel like he has to go—if he's not ready."

"Are you sure it's not you that's scared?" He laughs, earning an eye roll from across the table.

"How about we mention it to him and see what he thinks? I know he's going to love the idea though," he says with a wink. "No pressure."

~oOo~

A few days later Liv gets a text from Maureen requesting the $110 to cover the cost of her and Noah's tickets.

Of course, they are going.

Of course, Noah thinks the idea of a haunted house with the Stablers is the coolest thing ever. Liv promptly Cash Apps the money, and hopes that by the time Friday night rolls around, she'll be a little more excited about their venture.

For a week straight, all Noah can talk about is the haunted house. The plan is for Elliot to pick him up from school, then swing by the precinct to get her. Their time slot isn't until 8:30pm, so that leaves plenty of time to grab dinner with everyone before heading over.

Liv would still rather be doing just about anything else, but she can't help but smile at the scene across the dinner table; Noah, Seamus, and Kieran, heads together, engaged in excited chatter, their faces lit up with pure joy. What she wouldn't give to be able to experience life through the eyes of a child.

The check is paid and they drive the ten minutes to the haunted house. Then spend another twenty minutes trying to find parking spots. They no sooner get out of the car when they are swarmed by a small group of costumed characters, obviously employed by the venue.

Noticing the unamused look on Liv's face, Elliot bumps her shoulder with his own. "Hey, this is supposed to be fun."

"Remind me again why I spent $100 to come face to face with monsters? I literally do it all day for free," she counters.

Saying nothing, he wraps his arm around her shoulders and nods his head slightly to the right where Noah and his grandsons are hand and hand, excitedly skipping towards the end of the queue line.

"I think maybe there's your answer," he says softly, leading her over to her son.

They spend the next half hour slowly winding their way through the line, preparing the kids for what to expect once they get inside. Noah is nervous about getting scared, but Elliot reassures him that he will be right beside him the whole time, ready to protect both him and his mom if the need arises.

When they reach the giant double doors at the entrance, they learn that there are too many of them to go in together and will have to split into two groups which will enter about five minutes apart. After a lot of arguing and shuffling, and reshuffling, they finally decide on the groups. Liv, Elliot, Noah, Kathleen, and Eli are in one, and Lizzie, Dickie, Maureen, Carl, Seamus, and Kieran in the other.

~oOo~

Making their way through the doors, the first group is met with almost complete darkness. The air feels humid and stale, there's a high-pitched shriek echoing off the walls, and somewhere in the distance, a strobe light flashes. Elliot leads the way, with Noah sandwiched tightly between him and Liv, Eli and Kathleen pulling up the rear.

Feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, Liv is a little surprised at her heightened state of awareness. Maybe it's the hypervigilance that comes with being in law enforcement for almost half her life, or maybe it's her body's natural fight or flight response, regardless, she's beginning to feel a bit of sensory overload.

They wander down a narrow hallway, single file, headed towards the flashing strobe light. Liv catches movement to her left just as Elliot lets out a blood-curdling scream. Before there's time to even register what's happening, she feels a hand on her bicep, whipping her around to the front of the group, putting her face to face with a sinister-looking neon-green-haired clown in a ridiculous horror mask.

"Oh my god, Dad! Did you just push Liv in front of you?" Kathleen shouts.

Not only has this idiot shoved Liv straight into the "line of danger", but this man, her former partner of more than a decade, the same man who always has her six, is currently to her rear, crouched behind a ten-year-old child.

Her ten-year-old child.

"Elliot," Liv says through gritted teeth. "Get. Up."

As Elliot slowly rises, making his way to Liv's side, Noah, Kathleen, and Eli can't hold back any longer.

"That's so embarrassing," Eli says through a fit of laughter, tears streaming down his face.

"Liv, I'm sorry," El whispers into her ear. "I wasn't thinking…I just reacted."

She lets out a loud breath through her nose. "Can we just get through this stupid thing and never speak of this night again?"

The next 10 minutes are spent shuffling their way through a labyrinth of walkways, tunnels, bridges, and creepy clowns. Liv leads the way this time with her former partner right on her heels, his hand gently resting on her shoulder. Every time something unexpected jumps out at them, Elliot's grip gets a little tighter. Pushing their way through a room filled with huge inflatable barriers, they are then funneled into a small room, the door ominously closing behind them.

Liv surveys the room. A solitary lightbulb sways from the ceiling, giving off the dimmest of light. The wall behind them appears to be padded, covered in some type of soft material. Feeling around the other walls, the only door seems to be the one they came in through. Glancing over her shoulder, she can just barely make out the silhouette of Elliot leaning back against the padded wall, his arms crossed across his solid chest.

"What is this? Some type of Escape Room?" Liv questions out loud.

"Mom," Noah whispers, coming to stand tight against her right leg. "I'm kinda scared."

"Here baby, take my hand. Remember what we talked about though–this is all just pretend."

"What are we supposed to be doing?"

"Maybe there's a trap door."

"How do we get out of here?"

"Uh, guys, did anyone else feel the wall move?" Elliot's voice booms above the chaotic chatter.

"Dad, come on. The wall's not moving."

"Elliot, you can take mom's other hand if you're scared."

"I'm pretty sure I felt it move," Elliot faces the wall, placing both hands on the soft cloth. "Oh yeah, It's definitely moving."

And he's not wrong. The wall is indeed pressing in towards them, forcing them to huddle close to each other on the opposite side of the room. Just as it feels like there isn't another inch of unoccupied space left, a hidden door slides open in front of them, flooding the room with light. Noah runs into the adjoining room, dragging his mom behind him.

And of course, they are immediately met by two more gruesome characters, each wielding a large chainsaw. The shrill sound of the chainsaws coming to life fills the air just as the clowns begin to chase the group. Kathleen spots the exit, grabs Noah's hand, and runs, Eli quickly catching up to them. While one of the clowns follows the trio, the other hovers around Liv and Elliot with its chainsaw raised high above their heads.

There is no way that Liv is running from this ridiculous clown. Elliot, sensing her mood, loops their arms together and casually leads her to the exit, throwing a final don't-you-dare-follow-us glance over his shoulder. The clown gives up, evidently getting the message loud and clear.

~oOo~

Once outside, they gather off to the side and wait for the second group to exit the building. Noah, Eli, and Kathleen huddle together, obviously still taking great joy in Elliot's earlier antics.

But Elliot's eyes are focused on Liv, trying to gauge her thoughts. She has yet to even glance his way since he led her out of the building into the chilly night air.

Liv begins to shiver as the wind picks up, blowing her unbuttoned wool coat wide open. Elliot moves closer wanting nothing more than to wrap his arms tightly around her and share his warmth.

Unfortunately for him though, she has a semi-strict "No PDA" rule, especially when Noah is present, so he settles for lightly brushing the backs of his fingers against hers instead, causing her to finally make eye contact with him.

"Liv–I'm…" Elliot begins but is quickly interrupted when all of their attention is drawn to the distant sound of whirling chainsaws and the shrieking laughter of Kieran and Seamus as they burst through the door, full speed.

"That was the coolest thing ever!" they shout in unison as they run to meet up with Noah.

Mo and Carl head over to where Elliot and Liv are standing. "Dad, are you feeling alright? You look really pale."

"That's because he was scared shitless in there!" Kathleen's voice sounds from behind them, followed by another round of hysterical laughter.

"You're not gonna believe what happened," Eli chimes in.

"For the last time, I wasn't scared," Elliot says curtly. "I just reacted."

"Oh, we need all the deets!" Dickie says, trotting over to his siblings, nephews, and Noah.

"We'll tell you all about it in the car," Eli quips. "It's freezing out here."

Everyone starts heading toward the parking lot when Elliot feels Liv gently grab his forearm, guiding him around to face her.

"Elliot, it's really not that big of a deal," she wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him in for a quick kiss while no one is looking. "You and I have been in much scarier situations, and you always had my back. But, if it's going to keep you up at night, I'll let you make it up to me when you come over next week."

~oOo~

Life has been ridiculously hectic since the night of the haunted house. Noah had an out-of-town dance recital that took up an entire weekend. SVU caught a high-profile, all-hands-on-deck child abduction case that required most of Liv's time and attention. Eli tested positive for Covid and had to quarantine. Then poor Seamus comes down with a stomach bug Halloween night, so instead of driving across town to Elliot's, Liv and Noah decide to just go door-to-door trick-or-treating in their own apartment building.

Two weeks later, things finally seem to work in their favor, and Elliot finds himself at Liv's for dinner and a double feature; Hocus Pocus and Hocus Pocus 2. With a full wine glass in each hand, Liv makes her way from the kitchen to the living room where Noah and Elliot are already stretched out on their blanket pallet in front of the TV, movie queued and ready to start.

Handing Elliot his glass, she settles herself in between the two most important people in her life. Taking a large swig of Cab, Liv revels in the light, relaxed mood of the evening. Judging by the contented smiles of both Noah and Elliot, she's not the only one that needed this night.

~oOo~

"Hey Noah, is there any popcorn left?"

Noah slowly hands the bowl over to Elliot, careful not to jostle his mom who has been snoring softly for the last two hours, curled tightly into Elliot's side. She lasted all of fifteen minutes into the first movie before falling fast asleep, succumbing to utter exhaustion.

"Who knew your mom was such a lightweight?" Elliot whispers with a smile, glancing over at Liv.

Truth is, in all the years he's known her, she's never been able to stay awake through an entire late-night movie. He learned of this early on in their partnership, after an especially heinous case. The tough cases were hard on them both, but Liv wouldn't sleep for days, obsessing over the what-ifs; What if they had just put the pieces together quicker or asked different questions during interviews. She often questioned why they even bothered when every time an assailant was put away, ten more popped up in their place.

So, he would show up at her apartment under the guise of dinner and a classic, and make sure she got at least a few hours of rest under his watchful eye. It would never be more than a couple hours before she startled awake and ushered him out of her apartment, but he did what he could to take care of his partner.

~oOo~

Like clockwork, Liv stirs beside him just as the ending credits start rolling. After ushering her off to bed, Elliot and Noah clean up a little. While El is rinsing off the dinner dishes and wiping down the kitchen counter, he watches as Noah loads his arms with the pillows and blankets from their floor pallet and begins to head towards the hallway.

"Hey, Bud," Elliot calls out to him. "I'm going to crash here tonight. Would you mind putting those on the couch for me?"

Noah hesitates for a minute, but then walks back into the living room. He stands in front of the couch for a beat before finally tossing the contents of his arms down onto the cushions. Slowly making his way to the opposite side of the kitchen counter, he looks up at Elliot with wide eyes.

"Elliot, you don't have to do that," he says nervously, watching Elliot place two empty wine glasses in the dish drainer.

"I don't mind. Just gotta wipe down the counters real quick and then your mom will wake up to a clean kitchen."

"No, I mean, you don't have to pretend you sleep on the couch."

Elliot chokes out a surprised laugh but says nothing as he stares blankly at Noah, completely dumbfounded.

"Look Noah, I—uh-…" he stutters, rubbing his hand nervously over the back of his neck while he feels a heated flush wash over him.

"Elliot, it's ok," Noah interrupts. "I know you're Mom's boyfriend, and I've known for a while that you sleep in the bedroom with her."

Elliot could not have envisioned the evening would end like this. Him, silently frozen in place, having a stare-off with his soulmate ex-partner's ten-year-old son. He opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out.

Rubbing his hands up and down his face, Elliot attempts to collect his thoughts once more.

"Tell you what kid. How about we bench this conversation until the morning?" he says with a reassuring smile. Liv would kill him if he took it upon himself to have this chat without her.

"You remind me so much of your mom," he chuckles, shaking his head in disbelief at just how much alike those two are. "Nothing gets past you, does it?"

"What can I say? I'm being raised by cops," Noah says with a shrug. "I just know stuff."


Note: The author of this SVU: Fall in Love story will be revealed in November