Part 6

"Hello?"

"Daddy?"

"Hey, Lizzie!" Elliot smiled, a big grin on his face. "How are you?"
"I'm fine, how are you?"
"I'm great, honey. So tell me, what's going on?"
"Kathleen, Dickie and me are coming to visit."
Elliot's smile broadened. "Really?"
"Yeah. Mommy and Luke have to go on a trip for his work, and Mommy said if it was okay with you, we could come stay for awhile."
"Of course you can," Elliot replied. He wondered if perhaps this would be a way to introduce the twins.
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Olivia pushed the shopping cart around, the twins sitting in the seat.
"Okay guys, how do we feel about Cornflakes?"
"Yeah!" the twins whooped.
Olivia smiled and put the box into the cart. Her mind kept playing back to scenes of that morning, with Elliot in her house. She missed him, and had missed him ever since he had left that first morning. She knew that things would never be the same again, but she wasn't ready to tell the twins yet. She was terrified they wouldn't understand.

And now the fact that he had seen the videos. He had seen her in one of her most vulnerable states. She snorted. Like making love wasn't vulnerable.

"Mommy?" Andrew said, waving a hand in front of her face.
"Yes, hon?"
"Can we get 'pops?"
"Will you wait till after lunch to eat them?"
The twins nodded eagerly.
Whooping with delight, the twins both picked a lollipop each, handing themover to their mother for safe-keeping.
"Alright, let's head to the checkout."
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Caroline giggled as she stuck clips in her mother's hair, then proceeded to try and braid it.
"You're lucky Mommy grew her hair out when you were born," Olivia chuckled. "Mommy used to have short hair, like in the picture beside her bed."
"Still pwetty," Caroline murmured, playing with it.
"Well, thank you. You're pretty too."
"Ew," Andrew said helpfully, from where he sat playing with his trucks.
"Hey, I found him lurking outside the door so I hope you don't mind me letting him in," Maureen said, unlocking the door with Elliot behind her.

She smiled when she saw Olivia. "Hairdressing school again?"

Olivia stood up, Caroline slid down onto her mother's lap.

"Elliot!"

"Hi, Ewiot!" Andrew cried, jumping up. "Wanna pay trucks?"
"Hi, Ewiot," Caroline smiled shyly.
"Hey, guys." He turned to Olivia. "Hey, Liv."
"Hey."
"Don't let me stop your hairdressing," he said to Caroline. "If its okay, I thought I might play trucks with Andrew."
"Kay," Caroline smiled. "Mommy! Sit pwease!"
Her eyes still trained on Elliot, Olivia sat down in her chair. With a sigh of contentment, Caroline began her styling again.
Olivia's eyes strayed over to where Elliot was playing with Andrew. The two were pushing trucks around the floor, making all the sounds.
Her heart ached. They should be a family. A real family. Yet their socially inept mother managed to fall in love with a married man. She cursed herself inwardly. If she hadn't made love with Elliot, she wouldn't have two of the most important people in her life.
He looked up suddenly and caught her looking. She jerked her head down, and, in doing so, got a hard tug on her hair from Caroline.
"Mommy! Not 'posed to move!"
"Sorry, sweetheart. I'll be good."
Elliot grinned to himself.
"Hey, Elliot! Wanna pay cops and robbers?"
Olivia groaned. "Andrew."
"I get to be 'Tective Benson!" squealed Caroline, ignoring the unfinished hair stylist.
"No fair!" Andrew whined. "My idea!"
"Guys, there is only one badge. That means only one Detective Benson," Olivia explained.
Elliot rooted around in his pocket and produced a badge. "One of you can be Detective Stabler if you want."
Olivia froze. Andrew Stabler. Caroline Stabler. Elliot had never seen their birth certificates.
"ME!!" Andrew cried, jumping up and down.
Olivia got up and went into her room for a moment. She handed her badge to Caroline. "Be careful, remember, honey?"
Caroline nodded and held the badge reverently. Elliot handed his to Andrew with the same instructions.
Olivia left the scene of the "cops and robbers" and went into her bedroom. She slowly began taking the clips out of her hair. She jumped as she heard the door shut.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."
"It's fine. What is it? Are the twins okay?"
"They're fine. I came to talk to you."
Olivia turned around. "Maureen said you were lurking on my doorstep."
"Like I said, I came to talk to you."
"So talk," Olivia replied, sitting on her bed.
"Lizzie, Dickie and Kathleen are coming to stay with me for a while next week. I was wondering if they could meet the twins."
Olivia froze. "I don't know if that's such a good idea, Elliot."
"Why not? They've got a little brother and sister."
"The twins don't even know you're their father yet!"
"Don't you think it's about time they should?"
"They're two years old, Elliot! They won't understand why their Mommy and Daddy don't live together! They're not going to understand anything about this situation!"
"The only way they're ever going to understand is if we tell them. I don't want to be their mom's friend anymore. I want to be their dad, and I want my kids to know they have a little brother and sister!"
"You think this is going to be a big family reunion, Elliot? Because it's not! Your kids will probably hate the twins, because it's just another thing that separates you from their mother!"
"Maureen doesn't hate them!"
"Maureen watched them being born! Maureen was there every step of the way while I was pregnant. She's seen them grow up. And she loves them, but she's older than the rest of your kids."
"I think I know my kids, Olivia, and I think they're going to be okay with it." He sighed. "The twins need their father. If anything, that picture they drew on Mother's Day proved it!"
"For god's sake, Elliot, they're two! You shouldn't take it to be some kind of gospel affirmation! I've been a single parent for two years, Elliot, and they've done just fine."
"Just because you turned out okay without a father doesn't mean they don't need one. And if this is punishment for something I did, they shouldn't be getting it."
Olivia glared at him. "That was below the belt."
"They're my kids, Olivia. I want to get to know them as a father, instead of as a friend." He looked at her. "Please."
Olivia looked at him, then down the hall to the living room, where her precious children kept flashing badges and saying "Under 'rest!" She looked back at Elliot. "Come for dinner on Friday."
He raised an eyebrow. "We're going to tell them?"
She sighed. "They deserve a real family. And they deserve to know their father. God knows it's not fair for me to punish them for something I'm hung up about."
"You have every right to be mad at me for what I did to you."
"Thanks for the permission," Olivia replied bitterly. "But they deserve a dad."
He sat down beside her and took her hands in his. "You won't regret this, Liv."
She nodded. "I know."
As she went to get up from the bed, Elliot tugged her back down to sit beside him.
"What now?"
"We need to talk about us."
"What us?"
"The us that was there that night. The us that is still there."
"Elliot, that night was...it was two partners saying goodbye."
"Don't lie to me!" he growled. "You know there was something there, Liv."
She shook his grip off. "It must have left when you did. See you Friday night."