"Dad!" three kids cried, racing up to Elliot.
"Hey guys, I've missed you so much!"
"We've missed you too, Dad," Kathleen said, resting her head on his shoulder.
"So who's bright idea was it to take the really early flight?" Elliot asked, hugging them all.
"We thought we'd take an early one so we'd be here earlier and spend more time with you," Dickie explained, picking up a bag.
"Sounds good to me," Elliot replied, putting the last bags on the trolley.
"Any ideas what you guys wanna do this week? Oh, but Sunday night is taken."
"What have you got planned, dad?" Lizzie asked excitedly. "Are we going to a show?"
"A movie?" Kathleen asked.
"Wrestling?" Dickie asked hopefully.
Elliot raised an eyebrow at the last one. "Uh, no, we're going to Olivia's."
Kathleen looked confused. "Olivia? As in Olivia Benson? Your old partner?"
"She's my partner again now," Elliot explained. "We should talk about it when we get home."
Lizzie sat in the car. "Talk about what?"
"Just things. Things that have happened."
Dickie snapped his seatbelt on. "You're not dating her, are you?"
"No," Elliot replied truthfully.
"Good," Kathleen said.
#################################
Olivia peeked around the door to Andrew's room. He had had his breakfast and then disappeared back into his room. She was worried that he was being so quiet.
"Little man?"
"What?" Andrew growled.
"You want to come to the park?"
"No!"
"We could go to the zoo."
"No! Want Daddy."
"He can't be here now, Andy. He has to spend some time with some other people."
She walked in the room and sat on the bed, watching him as he built with his blocks. "Andy, please don't hate me."
"Want Daddy," Andrew stated again, turning away from her.
Olivia sighed. Maybe this was her payback from keeping the kids from Elliot. Her son hated her.
######################################
Elliot wasn't doing much better. He'd finally managed to get his kids home, and showed them around his house. Now they sat in front of him, eyes wide open in shock.
"Olivia has two kids," Dickie said slowly. "And they're our half-brother and half-sister?"
Elliot nodded slowly. "Yes."
Kathleen crossed her arms. "How old are they?"
"Two years and nine months," Elliot replied.
"So you cheated on mom," Kathleen said. "Why did you bother coming to Miami then? Just to see us off?"
She rose up and stomped out of the room. The slam of her door came soon after. Elliot sighed and glanced at the twins, who stared at him. Lizzie glared at him and followed Kathleen out of the room, slamming the door once again.
"You hate me too?" Elliot asked his son.
"They don't hate you and neither do I," Dickie finally said. "But they're hurt. And I'm confused." He shrugged. "We thought this was just going to be a holiday with you."
"It still is."
Dickie shook his head. "Things have changed now." He stood up and walked down the hall to his room.
###################################
Olivia picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"I need to talk to you. I need…I just need you."
"Elliot?"
"I told the kids and Kathleen and Lizzie hate me. I think Dickie's on the fence but I just need…I need to talk to you. Please."
"Um, sure," Olivia finally said.
"See you…" Before she could finish, Elliot had hung up the phone. "Soon," she finished, putting the phone down.
#####################################
She opened the door, and Elliot strode in.
"Where are the twins?"
"Playing in Andy's room. Why?"
He pulled her to him, kissing her quickly, but deeply. "I'm sorry, I just needed…I needed to see you."
Olivia's eyes were wide. "I can see that. But that's not talking. That's kissing and that just opens up a whole other problem."
"DADDY!" Andrew cried, racing into the room, Caroline close behind.
"Hey guys," Elliot smiled, bending down and pulling them into a hug. "You have no idea how great it is to see you."
"Wanna yive with you," Andrew said. "Don't want Mommy no more."
"Don't say that, Andy," Elliot told him, seeing the hurt look on Olivia's face. "Your mom is a fantastic lady. You've very, very lucky to have someone like her looking after you. And I can come visit you all the time."
"Not same," Caroline said, leaning in closer.
"Yeah, I know. Hey, would you like to come have dinner at my house on Sunday? You guys, me, your mom and my kids."
"What kids?" Andrew asked.
"Maureen, Kathleen, Dickie and Lizzie."
"Yike Mauween," Caroline grinned.
"Yeah, I know you like Maureen. She's pretty special."
Olivia sat on the chair. She wanted some time with Elliot. Some alone time. She wanted to talk, about the past, the present and perhaps the future. She wanted to know why he had that intense need to see her and kiss her. And why she had the intense need to kiss him back, and just let him hold her.
"We come," Andrew decided, wrapping his arms around Elliot's neck.
"I come too," Caroline reminded them.
Elliot looked up at Olivia. "What about your mommy? Will she come too?"
"Want Mommy to come too," Caroline told Olivia.
Elliot smiled. "Yeah, I want Mommy to come too."
"Sure, Mommy's coming too," Olivia nodded.
################################
Elliot prepared dinner in silence. Kathleen and Lizzie were in their room, ignoring him studiously. Dickie sat on the couch, his eyes on the ballgame. "Good game?" Elliot asked, desperate for conversation with anyone. "Not bad," Dickie replied. He peered over the couch at his father. "Didn't know you could cook. Are you any good?" "Why don't you come over here and find out?" Elliot entreated. With a sigh, the boy got up and strode over. Elliot was amazed at how much Dickie had grown since he had last seen him. Then again, his son was now fifteen; not a kid anymore. "Looks good," Dickie murmured, peering into the oven. "Thanks," Elliot smiled. "So, how's school been? We haven't had much chance to talk since you arrived." "School's fine," Dickie replied. "The girls are doing fine in school as well. At least, I think so." Elliot narrowed his eyes. "You haven't been spying on them, have you?" Dickie shifted in his seat. "Not lately." Elliot chuckled. "Good to see things never change." He stared at the girl's closed door for a moment. "Do you um…do you want to see if they're coming out for dinner?"Dickie glanced at the door and finally nodded. "Sure."
###################################
"He's cooking," Dickie said, sitting on the bed. Kathleen frowned. "He never cooked for us." "Yeah he did," Lizzie reminded her. "Pancakes sometimes." "Compared with a dinner. Get a clue, Elizabeth," Kathleen growled. "He wants to know if you guys are coming to dinner," Dickie asked. "Are you?" Dickie shrugged. "Sure, why not. I mean, I gotta eat." "It doesn't bother that he had an affair while he was married to mom, and he got the woman pregnant?" "Her name's Olivia, Kathleen," Dickie reminded her. "And she was always nice to us. And yeah, I do care. But there's nothing we can do about it now." "Yeah, now we know why she was so nice to us." "Look, are you coming or not?" "I'll decide later," Kathleen replied. Dickie looked at his twin. "What about you, Lizzie?" Lizzie looked back and forth between her brother and sister. "Is Maureen coming?" Dickie nodded.Lizzie turned to Kathleen. "I do want to see Maureen."
#######################################
Elliot grinned as he opened the door to Maureen, Caroline, Andrew and Olivia.
"Hey, guys."
"Daddy!" Andrew cried, squirming out of Maureen's arms. "Yay!"
"Hey guys," Elliot said, hugging them warmly. He stood up and smiled at Olivia. "Hey, Liv." He turned to his daughter. "Hey Maureen. Kathleen and Lizzie are in their room. Dickie was headed that way last time I saw him."
Maureen nodded and headed off in that direction.
"Can we go 'xporing?" Andrew asked.
"Be careful and don't break anything," Olivia warned them.
When the twins had disappeared into the lounge, the two stared at each other. They both started to speak at once and laughed at the absurdity of it all.
"You first," Elliot said.
"No, you," Olivia replied.
"I was just going to say it's nice to see you," he murmured. "You look great."
She flushed slightly. "Thanks." She fidgeted for a moment. "I better go check on the twins. Make sure they haven't broken anything yet."
Elliot nodded. "I'll go get the kids and dinner ready."
##########################################
"Tis Daddy!" Andrew said, crawling on the sofa next to Olivia and thrusting a picture frame at her.
"Yeah," Olivia smiled, seeing the photo. "That's Daddy."
Caroline tried to reach over her mother to grab it. "Wanna see!"
Olivia took the photo off Andrew in case he broke it, and showed Caroline before putting it on the table beside her. Then, with a wicked grin, she grabbed her two kids and tickled them.
"Gotcha now!" she chuckled.
The twins squealed and giggled, climbing around and trying to tickle her back.
And that's how Dickie and Elliot found them.
Elliot grinned. "Are we going to tickle Liv?"
"Absolutely not," Olivia replied, smiling as Elliot swooped Andrew up in his arms. She turned her attention to the other boy. "Hi, Dickie."
"Hi, Olivia," Dickie said shyly.
"Dickie, I want you to meet Andrew and Caroline. Guys, this is Dickie." Elliot introduced.
"Hi Dickie!" Andrew cried enthusiastically, waving from Elliot's arms. Caroline waved slightly from her position beside her mother.
Dickie smiled slightly at their enthusiasm. "Hi. Nice to meet you."
"Dinner's ready," Elliot murmured. "Dickie, you want to see if your sisters are coming out?"
"They're coming," Maureen said, entering the room.
Olivia sat the twins on either side of her. Andrew sat next to "Daddy" and Maureen sat on the other side of Caroline. Dickie sat at the other end of the table. Elliot brought out the food and placed it down, valiantly stopping Andrew from sticking his fingers in it.
Finally, Lizzie came out and sat in between Dickie and Maureen. "Hi, Olivia," she said quietly."
"Hi," Olivia smiled. "It's good to see you again."
"Lizzie, this is Andrew and Caroline," Dickie said, surprising everyone by making the introduction. "Lizzie's my twin, just like you and Caroline are twins."
"Cool!" Andrew cried enthusiastically. He waved at her then clapped his hands together. "Hung'y!"
"Mind your manners, Andrew," Olivia reminded him. "We have to wait for Kathleen."
"Who Kathyeen?"
"She's our other sister," Dickie explained.
"I'm gonna go see what's keeping her," Elliot murmured.
############################################
"Kathleen," Elliot said, knocking on his daughter's door. "Are you coming out?" There was no reply so he knocked again. After the third no answer he opened it, seeing his daughter reading on the bed.
"You can't just walk into my room anymore," Kathleen murmured, not looking up. "I'm not a little kid."
"Technically, it's my room, considering I own it," Elliot replied, closing the door behind him. "Everyone's waiting for dinner out there."
"So feed them. I'm not stopping you."
"Don't you want to meet your little brother and sister?"
"Half," Kathleen corrected.
"Okay, half-brother and half-sister. Don't you want to meet them?"
"No," Kathleen answered curtly.
"Don't you want dinner?"
"No."
"Kathleen, you're behaving like a child."
Kathleen turned to look at him, a look on her face that reminded Elliot of Kathy when she was really pissed.
"Go take care of your other children and your mistress and just leave me the hell alone!"