Part 11
Olivia had tucked the twins in bed, both of them curled up with their new toys. Caroline had a tiger and Andrew had a gorilla. She put a load of washing on, still amazed at how much the twins could go through.
She heard the knock at the door and wondered why there were butterflies in her stomach. "Hi," she smiled, opening the door to Elliot.
"Hi," he said back. "The twins asleep?"
Olivia nodded. "They were exhausted."
"I don't blame them," Elliot smiled. "They had a big day."
Olivia sat down on the couch and gestured for him to sit beside her. "You wanted to talk."
Elliot sat beside her. "Yeah, I do."
"Let's talk then."
"I love you." Elliot watched her take a deep breath. "I just need to know how you feel."
"I love you too," Olivia began, "but…"
Elliot cut her off. "That's all I need to know. That's all that matters."
"How can you say that? It's not all that matters. There are so many complications."
"I've never known you to be afraid of a challenge, Liv."
"I'm not," she replied stubbornly.
Elliot raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Really."
Elliot shrugged and leant over, kissing her gently on the lips. When he pulled away, he grinned at her. "So, there's no problem with this, then?"
Olivia let out a groan of exasperation and stood up. "You're such an ass, Elliot."
Elliot frowned and stood up next to her. He placed his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to turn to him.
"What's going on with you? Are you still upset with me about the night I left?"
"I'm past that," Olivia said, trying to get out of his grasp.
"Then what is it? I love you. You love me. What's the problem?"
"Problems. There are problems, Elliot, and all the love in the world isn't going to make them go away!"
"So let's get them out in the open. What problems?"
"For starters, Kathleen. I don't want to make her unhappy."
"Kathleen has to understand that I'm not going to get back together with Kathy."
"And you think being with me is going to make that transition any easier for her?"
"No, but I don't think us not being together is going to help either. What's the next problem?"
"Our jobs."
"I'll transfer."
Olivia almost wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all and she pulled away. "You're just going to transfer, throw away the great partnership we have?"
"You're just going to ignore the great partnership we COULD have?"
"That's the point, Elliot. Could. How do we know we're going to be together in a year or even six months?"
"I love you," he told her adamantly.
"Forgive me for the cliché, but sometimes love isn't enough."
Elliot decided to try a different tactic. "Who was the last person you made love with, Liv?"
Her eyes widened, wondering how this conversation had gotten so rapidly out of control. "I'm not answering that."
"Why not?"
"It's none of your business."
Elliot's eyes narrowed. "Tell me."
"No!"
"Liv…"
She let out a sigh. "Fine. It was you, okay? Are you happy? It was you."
His eyes widened. "Me?"
"Do I need to keep repeating myself here?"
"You haven't dated in two years?"
"I said I haven't slept with anyone in two years. I dated. Occasionally."
He walked closer to her. "Good dates?"
"Why are we all of a sudden discussing dates?"
"Because I want to take you on one."
Olivia let out a growl of frustration. "God! You're being impossible!"
"Because I don't care about these problems. I care about you and I'm sick of discussing all the things that might happen!"
"Will happen," Olivia corrected him. "Inevitably will happen."
"Again, so what!"
"It's complicated."
"No one said that being in a relationship was supposed to be easy."
"Surely it's supposed to be easier than this."
"What? We don't have a relationship yet, remember?"
Olivia bit her lip, not knowing what to say.
"Olivia, please. Just…give us a chance. I want to be with you." He took her hands and squeezed them gently. Elliot smiled at her slightly. "Don't make me beg."
She was silent for a moment, thoughts and emotions racing through her mind at breakneck pace. There were so many reasons why they shouldn't….and yet so many reasons why they should. Lose a work partner, gain a romantic partner. Lose one kids happiness, gain a group's happiness. Why couldn't her life be simple for a change?
"And you'd be happy not working together anymore?"
"Olivia, have you been at work lately? We're not exactly at our peak performance as it is." He stroked the skin on the back of her hand. "I love working with you, Liv. You're the best cop I've ever worked with. But I would rather go spend a day working with some overweight, smelly, ratty cop and come home to you every night."
Olivia was touched by his admission. "But one of us would have to leave the precinct and…"
"I'll go to Queens. They're nice guys there, and some of them are burning out." Elliot sighed and pulled her closer. "Liv, try and get this through that beautiful but stubborn head of yours. I want to make these changes. I need to make these changes. I love you, and I just want to be with you." He smiled sadly at her. "I want to fight for us."
"You don't think I want us too?" Olivia asked him. "I'm trying to be realistic here, Elliot. Once we make this decision, everything changes. Everything. And it won't be easy, or even possible, to change our minds and go back to the way things are."
"I'm not satisfied with the way things are," Elliot replied. "I don't want to go back to my apartment every night after spending a day with you and the kids. I don't want to not be able to kiss you when I see you. Do you understand any of this?"
"Yes, but…"
"No buts. Something has to change, Olivia. Now."
"Why are you pushing this? Why are you giving ultimatums?"
"Because I can't wait for this anymore. It's driving me insane. Knowing that you love me, and I love you…I don't see the problem."
"Problems."
"Fine, problems. I don't care. We can work things out."
She chewed on her lower lip, something she did when she was nervous. "You'd really be happy to transfer?"
"Yes."
"And we could take it slowly, ease Kathleen into the idea?"
Elliot barely allowed himself to hope. "Yes."
"And we'll talk. A lot. About a lot of things."
Elliot nodded and let his arms circle her waist. "Yes."
Olivia nodded back at him. She leant up and gently pressed her lips to his.
"Is that a yes?" Elliot asked, as she pulled back.
"That's a yes."
Elliot grinned and pulled her body flush with his. Their lips crashed together and Olivia sighed in satisfaction, her arms encircling his neck as his mouth assaulted hers.
The kiss deepened, their bodies trying to get closer to one another. Her lips parted and he took advantage of the movement to slip his tongue inside, finally tasting her again. Olivia moaned and pulled him closer.
"Mommy?"
The two parted quickly, Caroline's voice shocking them out of their desire. Elliot looked over Olivia's shoulder at the little girl, giving Olivia the time she needed to regroup.
"Hey, little lady. Shouldn't you be in bed?"
"Andy trew up."
Olivia turned around her eyes wide. "Andrew threw up?" She headed into her son's bedroom, leaving Elliot with their daughter.
Caroline nodded and sneezed.
"That doesn't sound too good," Elliot said, walking over to her. He felt her forehead. "You're a little warm." He picked her up. "Let's go take your temperature."
###############################
Olivia had finally cleaned Andrew's bed and remade it. Andrew was now out of the bathtub, and clean again.
"Here you go baby," she murmured, gently laying him in the bed. She pulled the covers up and kissed his forehead. "Mommy will come in and check on you all night and we'll see how you feel tomorrow, kay?"
Andrew nodded slowly and closed his eyes. Olivia turned the light out and pulled the door to, leaving it ajar so that she could hear him if he called for her. She wandered into Caroline's room where the light was still on.
"Maybe it was one too many treats today," she began, before she saw Elliot take the thermometer away. "Uh-oh."
"Must have picked up a bug," Elliot said, tucking Caroline in. He kissed her on the forehead. "Baby Tylenol?"
Olivia nodded. "Cabinet above the sink." After Elliot left in search of the tablet, she sat down on the bed and stroked her daughter's forehead. "Never mind, sweetheart. We'll get rid of this nasty bug."
########################
After making sure the twins were sound asleep, Olivia walked into the lounge room, finding Elliot picking up some of the stray toys.
"You don't have to clean."
Elliot looked up and smiled. "You think they're okay?"
Olivia nodded. "It might be a flu bug. If they're no better or worse tomorrow, I'll take them to the doctor." She walked over and touched his arm. "I'm glad we had that talk tonight."
"You won't change your mind by the morning?"
Olivia shook her head and kissed his lips gently. "No."
Elliot cupped her face in his hands. "I love you, Olivia."
"I love you back," she smiled, hugging him.
Elliot held her close, his head resting on hers. Finally he pulled away, kissing the top of her head. "I'm going to pull out the mattress in Andy's room."
"I can't make you sleep on the floor."
Elliot grinned. "I'm their dad. Dad's do these kind of things." He kissed her gently. "Night, Olivia."
Olivia smiled back at him. "Night, Elliot."
TBC