Title: Twist of Fate
Author: Rachel
Series: Hmm. I guess since this is a sequel, it makes it a series. Haven't got a name for the series yet. Any suggestions? Rating: PG13 so far I guess
Category: angst, romance, drama, yadda yadda yadda. Whollota shippiness. Olivia & Elliot (duh).
Disclaimer: Mine the characters are not! To Dick Wolf and company they belong. Hey, man, didn't anyone ever teach you how important sharing is? Come on, get with it! Summary: How will Olivia deal with the aftermath of the Livingston case and how will it affect how she handles Elliot's proposal? And when Olivia's health takes a turn for the worst, how will Elliot react?
Spoilers: A tiny one from "Slaves"
Feedback: Yes please. Feedback is what keeps me writing.
Archive: Wherever, just email me.
Author's notes: This takes place a couple of days (yes, a couple of *days*) after "Chicago Hope". So you might wanna read that first. Elliot's still divorced. Boo, Kathy. Boo! Oh, and keep in mind that I'm not a doctor, so if there are inaccuracies in medical conditions (even though research has been done) and procedures, don't yell at me. (Not that you would, of course) Just bear with me, I'm doing my best. OH, and since I did not put dates on Chicago Hope, we'll just say that it took place May 29-May 31. Okie dokie? And another thing-ain't I sneaky sticking myself in my fic? The part about Olivia having a friend from college named Rachel? Yup, that's me! It's always been a dream of mine to design clothes, and I actually did design what is my "dream wedding dress". But I'm willing to let Liv borrow it. ;-) Character thoughts will be between the *'s. Many Thanks to my Perfectly-Gracious-Beta, Caillean! You're the bestest! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SVU Squadroom Monday June 9th, 2003 7:05am
Olivia entered the squadroom, glad to finally be able to get back to work and back into the swing of things. She was happy to have something to keep her mind from wandering back in time to the traumatic incident that had taken place a little over a week ago. She was restricted to desk duty, but at least she could keep busy. Most of her week long sabbatical was spent sleeping and moping around, because she saw no purpose in doing anything else. Besides, everyone that she would actually enjoy being with, or talking to, was at work. Plus for some reason, she just did not feel all that great. She had been getting headaches and becoming dizzy more and more frequently. *It's probably just from not getting any exercise, and not eating enough, and the pain meds. I mean, I just spent a week lying in bed doing nothing. Of course there is going to be SOME physical symptoms. I'm sure it's nothing* And on top of everything else, she still had her cast. *Great, only 21 more days of being crippled* she thought sarcastically.
Olivia spotted Munch at the coffee machine and walked over. She gave him a friendly "Hey" and began to get herself some coffee.
"Hey Olivia, what are you doing here? I thought you were taking time off?" Munch asked, shocked to see her back so soon.
"What do you call that last week I wasn't here?" she said defensively.
"Right." was the only thing that Munch actually said out loud. *Well, she seems to be back to normal. Back to her stubborn self again. Great.* "So I'm guessing the captain's got you riding a desk, since you're still 'disabled'."
"Of course." Olivia said with a hint of bitterness in her voice. *Thanks Munch. Rub it in.*
"Well, welcome back." Munch said with a slight smile.
"Thanks. It's good to be back." She took a seat at her desk and began to filter through the relatively huge pile of paperwork Cragen had given her to keep busy. She attempted to read a report, but all the words seemed to blur together, making hard for her to focus. *Hmm. I must just be tired* she thought and shrugged it off figuring it was no big deal. *Like I said, it's probably from the pain meds for my foot. Stupid foot!* She rubbed her eyes which seemed to make it a little better. She read file after file until it was finally time for a lunch break, at noon. She perked up at the thought of it, because she had plans to eat lunch with Elliot, whom she had yet to see, since he was busy at a parent teacher conference with Dickie's teacher. Supposedly his only son had gotten sort of hostile, insisting that everyone stop calling him Dickie. She smiled at the memory of the conversation that she and Elliot had had about it when he had called that morning to confirm their plans for the afternoon. "Yeah, the teacher said she went to hand back one of his papers, said 'Good job, Dickie' and he just all the sudden stood up and shouted 'DON'T CALL ME DICKIE!' and ran out of the room and hid in a janitor's closet. So I have to meet with his teacher and figure out what's up with him." Elliot had explained. The whole 4 and a half hours of time were spent negotiating with the young man what he was to be called, why he no longer wanted to be called 'Dickie' and so on. She could barely contain her laughter. It felt good to laugh after a week of such depression and sadness.
She met Elliot at the entrance of the squadroom. "Hey El, how'd it go?"
"Hi Liv. It went alright I guess. It was pretty hilarious actually. He told me the reason he didn't want to be called 'Dickie' anymore was because he thought it 'sounded like a pedophile name'."
"A pedophile name? I'm guessing he got that from you."
"Yeah. Guess I bring home a little more of my work than I thought."
Olivia started to think about how Elliot had always tried so hard to keep his work separate from his family. He doesn't let that world touch his family. Audrey Jackson had told him that "that world" was everywhere. "But that doesn't mean I have to be their window into it." Was his reply to the shrink. She also couldn't help but giggle at the sound of the only Stabler son saying something like 'pedophile'. "Guess so. What name did you guys decide on?"
"Rich. He wants us to call him Rich from now on." Elliot answered, not bothering to hold in the giggle that had been buried in him for the last 4 hours.
They got into the car and Elliot headed towards a deli that was a quite a few blocks away. Olivia sat in silence, staring out the window. She finally spoke when a throbbing pain overcame her right temple.
"Hey Elliot, can we stop and get some aspirin or something?" she asked quietly. "Sure Liv, what's wrong?" Elliot answered, his voice full of concern.
"Oh, I just have a headache. Not that big a deal." She said. She was trying to convince herself it was the truth, and trying to keep him from worrying.
Elliot parked in front of a small store and jogged inside. He returned a few minutes later with aspirin in one hand, a bottle of water in the other. "Here you go." He said, holding out the items. Then he realized her eyes were closed, and she was slumped over in an awkward position. "Liv?" No reply. "Olivia?" his voice got louder. "LIV?" She jumped, hitting her head on the ceiling of the car.
"Geezus, Elliot, what's the problem? I was trying to take a nap." she questioned, sounding annoyed.
"Sorry. Here you go." He said again, handing her the items in his hand.
"Thanks." She replied, downing a couple pills with a gulp of water. *Okay, now hurry up and kick in*
"Alright, ready for lunch?" Elliot inquired.
"Yeah. Let's go." She told him, returning to staring out the window.
Sabena's Deli
Monday June 9th, 2003 12:20pm
Olivia sat in the booth, elbows on the table, chin resting in her hand. She moved her salad around on her plate with her fork, since her appetite had disappeared all of the sudden.
"What's the matter? Why aren't you eating?" Elliot asked, getting concerned. He had never known Olivia to have a fresh Greek salad in front of her and not eat it.
"I'm fine. I'm just. not very hungry I guess." She explained.
"Alright, well I'm done, so do you want to head back?" Elliot asked, not at all convinced that she was fine.
"Sure" was all that she said as she stood and put on her coat. They walked out and got into the car. To lighten the mood, Elliot decided to bring up the plans for the wedding.
"So, we still need to pick a date." He mentioned as he started to drive toward the precinct. He wasn't quite sure how else to start this conversation. His comment broke Olivia out of what he guessed was a daydream.
"Huh? Oh yeah. Well, actually I have been thinking a lot about that."
"You have?" he said, starting to get worried. *What if she wants to call it off? Maybe she just wants to wait awhile. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. MAYBE I should let her finish*
"Yeah. I decided that I want an early summer wedding." She said, as a smile began to form on her lips and the sparkle returned to her eyes. "So I was thinking about June 15th."
"Liv, that's less than a week away!"
"Um. yeah. I can count. I mean June 15th of next year. Duh." She told him as she rolled her eyes.
"Oh. Okay, that sounds great. Have you thought at all about the actual ceremony?" *She'll probably want a huge wedding, in a church, hundreds of people. I mean, she's a woman after all. Kathy needed a big wedding. But that was Kathy*
"Yes, I have. I want a small, romantic wedding. I already have it all figured out. First of all, I want to have it on the beach in Hawaii."
"Hawaii?"
"Yeah Hawaii. Now let me finish. I only want our closest friends and family there. And when I say family, I don't mean every single cousin, uncle, nephew that married into the family, or every ancestor that is still alive. I mean siblings, parents, and maybe grandparents, aunts and uncles. Close family. Family that you've talked to more than twice in your life."
"Alright, go on." *Thank God. Hey, we'll save money on the amount of invitations. Of course, that's going to go to the flight to -Hawaii-*
"Okay, flowers-lilies and white roses. Dress-a friend I've known since college, Rachel, is a clothing designer, and she designed a special wedding dress just for me. Now, for the really good part. At the end of the ceremonies, cages of butterflies will be released." She concluded, a big grin on her face. She sighed, imagining the event.
"Wow. How long ago did you plan all this?" Elliot asked, bewildered that she had already planned almost their entire wedding ceremony.
"When I was 15. I used to read all kinds of romantic novels, watched romantic movies. I just took ideas from different things and put them together."
"Really. 15 huh?"
"Yup. I know, it's totally pathetic, isn't it?" she asked, an embarrassed expression overcoming her features.
"No, it's not pathetic. It's really sweet. And absolutely perfect, so that's how it's going to go." Elliot said sincerely as they approached the precinct. They arrived and walked to their squadroom, Olivia smiling the whole way. That was the happiest she had been in a while. They walked over to their desks, and sat down. Olivia automatically went back to tackling the never ending stack of paperwork while Elliot started to work on his computer. "So what does this "special wedding dress" look like?" Elliot asked curiously.
"Well, it's kind of hard to explain. It's sleeveless. The top of the bodice comes to a point, where there is a satin ribbon that goes around my neck. It has a really long train, diamonds positioned in lines down the bodice, as well as diamonds connected the neck ribbon of the dress to the back of the dress. Alright. that made A LOT more sense in my head than it did just now." Olivia explained while trying to sketch the dress on her notepad. "Here, THIS is what it looks like." She said as she handed the notepad to Elliot.
"That's really beautiful, Liv. Your friend Rachel is extremely talented."
"Thanks. We actually worked together on it. She just put it all together." Olivia told him as she admired the dress for a few more moments and then returned to her paperwork.
SVU Squadroom Monday June 9th, 2003 3:45pm
Three hours later, Olivia was still doing paperwork, and Elliot was still on his computer. Olivia's eyes started to droop and her head began to fall forward. Automatically her head popped back up and her eyes snapped open.
"Liv, why don't you go catch a couple hours of sleep in the crib. This paperwork can wait." Elliot said, noticing the dark circles under her eyes, and finally deciding to let the image of them contrasted against her pale skin sink into his brain. She didn't feel much like arguing. In fact, she felt like crap. So she stood up, rubbing her eyes, and disappeared up the stairs. *Good thing she didn't fight with me. Probably doesn't have the energy to* Elliot thought as he returned to his work.
Author: Rachel
Series: Hmm. I guess since this is a sequel, it makes it a series. Haven't got a name for the series yet. Any suggestions? Rating: PG13 so far I guess
Category: angst, romance, drama, yadda yadda yadda. Whollota shippiness. Olivia & Elliot (duh).
Disclaimer: Mine the characters are not! To Dick Wolf and company they belong. Hey, man, didn't anyone ever teach you how important sharing is? Come on, get with it! Summary: How will Olivia deal with the aftermath of the Livingston case and how will it affect how she handles Elliot's proposal? And when Olivia's health takes a turn for the worst, how will Elliot react?
Spoilers: A tiny one from "Slaves"
Feedback: Yes please. Feedback is what keeps me writing.
Archive: Wherever, just email me.
Author's notes: This takes place a couple of days (yes, a couple of *days*) after "Chicago Hope". So you might wanna read that first. Elliot's still divorced. Boo, Kathy. Boo! Oh, and keep in mind that I'm not a doctor, so if there are inaccuracies in medical conditions (even though research has been done) and procedures, don't yell at me. (Not that you would, of course) Just bear with me, I'm doing my best. OH, and since I did not put dates on Chicago Hope, we'll just say that it took place May 29-May 31. Okie dokie? And another thing-ain't I sneaky sticking myself in my fic? The part about Olivia having a friend from college named Rachel? Yup, that's me! It's always been a dream of mine to design clothes, and I actually did design what is my "dream wedding dress". But I'm willing to let Liv borrow it. ;-) Character thoughts will be between the *'s. Many Thanks to my Perfectly-Gracious-Beta, Caillean! You're the bestest! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SVU Squadroom Monday June 9th, 2003 7:05am
Olivia entered the squadroom, glad to finally be able to get back to work and back into the swing of things. She was happy to have something to keep her mind from wandering back in time to the traumatic incident that had taken place a little over a week ago. She was restricted to desk duty, but at least she could keep busy. Most of her week long sabbatical was spent sleeping and moping around, because she saw no purpose in doing anything else. Besides, everyone that she would actually enjoy being with, or talking to, was at work. Plus for some reason, she just did not feel all that great. She had been getting headaches and becoming dizzy more and more frequently. *It's probably just from not getting any exercise, and not eating enough, and the pain meds. I mean, I just spent a week lying in bed doing nothing. Of course there is going to be SOME physical symptoms. I'm sure it's nothing* And on top of everything else, she still had her cast. *Great, only 21 more days of being crippled* she thought sarcastically.
Olivia spotted Munch at the coffee machine and walked over. She gave him a friendly "Hey" and began to get herself some coffee.
"Hey Olivia, what are you doing here? I thought you were taking time off?" Munch asked, shocked to see her back so soon.
"What do you call that last week I wasn't here?" she said defensively.
"Right." was the only thing that Munch actually said out loud. *Well, she seems to be back to normal. Back to her stubborn self again. Great.* "So I'm guessing the captain's got you riding a desk, since you're still 'disabled'."
"Of course." Olivia said with a hint of bitterness in her voice. *Thanks Munch. Rub it in.*
"Well, welcome back." Munch said with a slight smile.
"Thanks. It's good to be back." She took a seat at her desk and began to filter through the relatively huge pile of paperwork Cragen had given her to keep busy. She attempted to read a report, but all the words seemed to blur together, making hard for her to focus. *Hmm. I must just be tired* she thought and shrugged it off figuring it was no big deal. *Like I said, it's probably from the pain meds for my foot. Stupid foot!* She rubbed her eyes which seemed to make it a little better. She read file after file until it was finally time for a lunch break, at noon. She perked up at the thought of it, because she had plans to eat lunch with Elliot, whom she had yet to see, since he was busy at a parent teacher conference with Dickie's teacher. Supposedly his only son had gotten sort of hostile, insisting that everyone stop calling him Dickie. She smiled at the memory of the conversation that she and Elliot had had about it when he had called that morning to confirm their plans for the afternoon. "Yeah, the teacher said she went to hand back one of his papers, said 'Good job, Dickie' and he just all the sudden stood up and shouted 'DON'T CALL ME DICKIE!' and ran out of the room and hid in a janitor's closet. So I have to meet with his teacher and figure out what's up with him." Elliot had explained. The whole 4 and a half hours of time were spent negotiating with the young man what he was to be called, why he no longer wanted to be called 'Dickie' and so on. She could barely contain her laughter. It felt good to laugh after a week of such depression and sadness.
She met Elliot at the entrance of the squadroom. "Hey El, how'd it go?"
"Hi Liv. It went alright I guess. It was pretty hilarious actually. He told me the reason he didn't want to be called 'Dickie' anymore was because he thought it 'sounded like a pedophile name'."
"A pedophile name? I'm guessing he got that from you."
"Yeah. Guess I bring home a little more of my work than I thought."
Olivia started to think about how Elliot had always tried so hard to keep his work separate from his family. He doesn't let that world touch his family. Audrey Jackson had told him that "that world" was everywhere. "But that doesn't mean I have to be their window into it." Was his reply to the shrink. She also couldn't help but giggle at the sound of the only Stabler son saying something like 'pedophile'. "Guess so. What name did you guys decide on?"
"Rich. He wants us to call him Rich from now on." Elliot answered, not bothering to hold in the giggle that had been buried in him for the last 4 hours.
They got into the car and Elliot headed towards a deli that was a quite a few blocks away. Olivia sat in silence, staring out the window. She finally spoke when a throbbing pain overcame her right temple.
"Hey Elliot, can we stop and get some aspirin or something?" she asked quietly. "Sure Liv, what's wrong?" Elliot answered, his voice full of concern.
"Oh, I just have a headache. Not that big a deal." She said. She was trying to convince herself it was the truth, and trying to keep him from worrying.
Elliot parked in front of a small store and jogged inside. He returned a few minutes later with aspirin in one hand, a bottle of water in the other. "Here you go." He said, holding out the items. Then he realized her eyes were closed, and she was slumped over in an awkward position. "Liv?" No reply. "Olivia?" his voice got louder. "LIV?" She jumped, hitting her head on the ceiling of the car.
"Geezus, Elliot, what's the problem? I was trying to take a nap." she questioned, sounding annoyed.
"Sorry. Here you go." He said again, handing her the items in his hand.
"Thanks." She replied, downing a couple pills with a gulp of water. *Okay, now hurry up and kick in*
"Alright, ready for lunch?" Elliot inquired.
"Yeah. Let's go." She told him, returning to staring out the window.
Sabena's Deli
Monday June 9th, 2003 12:20pm
Olivia sat in the booth, elbows on the table, chin resting in her hand. She moved her salad around on her plate with her fork, since her appetite had disappeared all of the sudden.
"What's the matter? Why aren't you eating?" Elliot asked, getting concerned. He had never known Olivia to have a fresh Greek salad in front of her and not eat it.
"I'm fine. I'm just. not very hungry I guess." She explained.
"Alright, well I'm done, so do you want to head back?" Elliot asked, not at all convinced that she was fine.
"Sure" was all that she said as she stood and put on her coat. They walked out and got into the car. To lighten the mood, Elliot decided to bring up the plans for the wedding.
"So, we still need to pick a date." He mentioned as he started to drive toward the precinct. He wasn't quite sure how else to start this conversation. His comment broke Olivia out of what he guessed was a daydream.
"Huh? Oh yeah. Well, actually I have been thinking a lot about that."
"You have?" he said, starting to get worried. *What if she wants to call it off? Maybe she just wants to wait awhile. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. MAYBE I should let her finish*
"Yeah. I decided that I want an early summer wedding." She said, as a smile began to form on her lips and the sparkle returned to her eyes. "So I was thinking about June 15th."
"Liv, that's less than a week away!"
"Um. yeah. I can count. I mean June 15th of next year. Duh." She told him as she rolled her eyes.
"Oh. Okay, that sounds great. Have you thought at all about the actual ceremony?" *She'll probably want a huge wedding, in a church, hundreds of people. I mean, she's a woman after all. Kathy needed a big wedding. But that was Kathy*
"Yes, I have. I want a small, romantic wedding. I already have it all figured out. First of all, I want to have it on the beach in Hawaii."
"Hawaii?"
"Yeah Hawaii. Now let me finish. I only want our closest friends and family there. And when I say family, I don't mean every single cousin, uncle, nephew that married into the family, or every ancestor that is still alive. I mean siblings, parents, and maybe grandparents, aunts and uncles. Close family. Family that you've talked to more than twice in your life."
"Alright, go on." *Thank God. Hey, we'll save money on the amount of invitations. Of course, that's going to go to the flight to -Hawaii-*
"Okay, flowers-lilies and white roses. Dress-a friend I've known since college, Rachel, is a clothing designer, and she designed a special wedding dress just for me. Now, for the really good part. At the end of the ceremonies, cages of butterflies will be released." She concluded, a big grin on her face. She sighed, imagining the event.
"Wow. How long ago did you plan all this?" Elliot asked, bewildered that she had already planned almost their entire wedding ceremony.
"When I was 15. I used to read all kinds of romantic novels, watched romantic movies. I just took ideas from different things and put them together."
"Really. 15 huh?"
"Yup. I know, it's totally pathetic, isn't it?" she asked, an embarrassed expression overcoming her features.
"No, it's not pathetic. It's really sweet. And absolutely perfect, so that's how it's going to go." Elliot said sincerely as they approached the precinct. They arrived and walked to their squadroom, Olivia smiling the whole way. That was the happiest she had been in a while. They walked over to their desks, and sat down. Olivia automatically went back to tackling the never ending stack of paperwork while Elliot started to work on his computer. "So what does this "special wedding dress" look like?" Elliot asked curiously.
"Well, it's kind of hard to explain. It's sleeveless. The top of the bodice comes to a point, where there is a satin ribbon that goes around my neck. It has a really long train, diamonds positioned in lines down the bodice, as well as diamonds connected the neck ribbon of the dress to the back of the dress. Alright. that made A LOT more sense in my head than it did just now." Olivia explained while trying to sketch the dress on her notepad. "Here, THIS is what it looks like." She said as she handed the notepad to Elliot.
"That's really beautiful, Liv. Your friend Rachel is extremely talented."
"Thanks. We actually worked together on it. She just put it all together." Olivia told him as she admired the dress for a few more moments and then returned to her paperwork.
SVU Squadroom Monday June 9th, 2003 3:45pm
Three hours later, Olivia was still doing paperwork, and Elliot was still on his computer. Olivia's eyes started to droop and her head began to fall forward. Automatically her head popped back up and her eyes snapped open.
"Liv, why don't you go catch a couple hours of sleep in the crib. This paperwork can wait." Elliot said, noticing the dark circles under her eyes, and finally deciding to let the image of them contrasted against her pale skin sink into his brain. She didn't feel much like arguing. In fact, she felt like crap. So she stood up, rubbing her eyes, and disappeared up the stairs. *Good thing she didn't fight with me. Probably doesn't have the energy to* Elliot thought as he returned to his work.