Part 15
Olivia awoke the next morning, a pleasant ache running through her body. She realized that for the first time in ages, she hadn't been woken up by two small bodies jumping onto her bed and poking her, asking "Are you awake?"
"Are you awake?"
Olivia chuckled, the noise quickly turning into a gasp as she felt Elliot's lips caressing over her breast. "If I wasn't earlier, I am now."
The movement stopped and she let out a small sigh of disappointment, until his face came into her view, looking concerned.
"I didn't wake you, did I?"
She shook her head. "No. I was just thinking about how nice it was to wake up without a twin running in, jumping on the bed, poking me and then asking if I was awake."
Elliot finally understood the joke and he laughed.
Olivia glanced at the clock beside them and smiled. "I can't remember the last time I slept in like this."
"Maybe you'll get more a chance to do it now."
Olivia turned to face him. "What are you talking about?"
"Things aren't going to go back to the way they were, Liv. They can't."
"I know that."
"Then things are going to change."
"What kind of things?"
"I want to spend more time with you. Take you out on a proper date."
Olivia smiled. "Don't you think we're way past the first date stage?"
"No," Elliot replied seriously. "I've wanted to take you out on a proper date for years, Liv."
"You don't have to do…"
"I want to."
"Okay," Olivia relented, pleased. She paused for a moment. "I hope the twins were good last night."
Elliot smirked and kissed her gently. "You miss them."
"No I…" Olivia stopped. "Yes. It's weird not having them here."
Elliot leant over her, his hand stroking down the bare skin of her body. "How about we take a shower, and then you can call them while I make you breakfast?"
A small smile spread across her face. "You're going
to make me breakfast?"
Elliot grinned. "You'd like that, huh?"
"Well, you're not a bad cook," Olivia replied.
"I'm glad you think so," Elliot answered. He kissed her again. "Come on. Let's have a shower."
Watching with amusement as Elliot rattled around with pots and pans in her kitchen, Olivia dialed the number for his apartment.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Maureen."
"Hi, Olivia! How was…actually, I don't think I want to know."
Olivia rolled her eyes. "Were the twins okay? Did they behave themselves?"
"I'll put them on." There was a scuffle and finally Caroline's voice came onto the line.
"Hi, Mommy!"
"Hi, sweetheart. Did you have fun with Maureen?"
"Yeah! Kathleen, Dickie and Lizzie were here too!"
"That's great. How is your brother?"
"Fine. Where's Daddy?"
"He's here with me. He misses you too. Wanna say hi?"
After an exuberated agreement, Olivia handed the phone over to Elliot. She watched with pleasure as his eyes lit up while he chatted with Caroline. Olivia headed over to the stove, checking that their breakfast didn't burn.
When he'd finished with the twins, Elliot handed back the phone for Olivia to say goodbye. After she hung up, she turned back to him, a smile gracing her features.
"They sounded like they had fun," she said.
Elliot nodded, facing the stove. "Sounds like everyone had a good time last night."
"A very good time," Olivia reiterated.
Elliot flashed a quick smile and grabbed the plates he had previously set out. He set their breakfast onto the table and sat down beside her.
"I could get used to this," Olivia murmured, her eyes trailing across the plate of pancakes. "Very used to this. Plus, if you ever cook these for the twins, you might have to cook them every morning."
"We have pancake fiends?"
Olivia grinned. "They love them."
"Good. Then I'll have to make them more often."
After finishing breakfast, Elliot noticed that Olivia had a look of concentration on her face. It looked like she was thinking about something and she wasn't happy with the conclusions she was drawing.
"Liv?"
"Hmm?" she asked, breaking out of her reverie and glancing over to him.
"Did breakfast taste funny or something?"
Her look changed to confusion. "No, of course not.
They were fantastic. Why would you think that?"
"Because that look earlier, I know that look." He finished the last bite of his pancake and sat back, surveying her. "What's on your mind?"
"We have two children."
Elliot blinked. "I'm glad you noticed."
"And you have another four."
"Yes, I'm glad you noticed that too."
"Granted, three live with their mother and one lives at a college dorm, but that's still a lot of kids."
"Once again, I'm glad you've noticed all this information, but I'm not entirely sure where you're going with it all."
"Where are we going?"
Elliot was beginning to think it was too early in the morning for this kind of discussion. "That's what I just asked you."
"No, I meant where are we, as in you and I, going?"
"Um…nowhere?"
Olivia's eyes widened. "Nowhere!? Jesus, Elliot, of all the…"
As she began to rant, Elliot realized he had said something wrong. "Liv, I think we're talking about different things. I meant we're going nowhere today, because Maureen is bringing the twins home."
Olivia stopped mid-sentence, her eyes softening a
little. "Oh."
"I'm guessing that by your reaction, you meant where are we going long-term in this relationship that affects another six people?"
Slowly, Olivia nodded.
"Right."
There was a moment of silence.
"So, where are we going?" Olivia asked him.
"I want to spend the rest of my life with you and the twins, and anyone else that comes into our lives," Elliot stated plainly.
"Oh," Olivia said, her mind taking it in. "Right."
"You don't want that?"
Her eyes quickly locked onto his. "I want that, very, very much. But…we have a lot of things to discuss, El."
"Are we going back to the same problem that took us on the excruciating journey to get to what happened last night?"
Olivia cracked a smile. "Not all the way back, no. But there are things to consider."
"Like?"
"Seven small things."
Elliot knew six, but the seven had him
muddled. "Seven?"
"Caroline, Andrew, Maureen, Kathleen, Lizzie, Dickie and Kathy."
Elliot's eyes widened. "Kathy? What does she have to do with any of this?"
"She's the mother of your children."
"So are you," Elliot pointed out.
"True, but she was also your wife."
"And if we'd had half a chance, you would have been
also."
"Are you saying it's only my fault about what we've
been through together?"
"I'm not throwing blame, Liv. But I would have married you."
Olivia let out a groan and stood up. "How romantic."
"Olivia…" Elliot sighed and stood up also, putting his hand on her arm. "That's not what I meant."
Olivia nodded. "I know. I'm sorry it's just…it's still all a little sensitive."
Elliot smiled and pulled her into a hug. "I know. But you and me, we're going to work out. Things are going to be fine."
"MOMMY! DADDY!" came the squeals of two children, as they ran into the house.
A smile lit up Olivia's face as she went out to greet the twins. "Hey guys!"
Caroline ran straight into her mother's arms, as Andrew headed to Elliot. Olivia hugged her daughter, falling onto her back with her daughter's exuberance.
"Missed you," Caroline said.
"I missed you too," Olivia replied, looking over at Andrew. "Hey, Andy."
"We had candy!"
Olivia arched an eyebrow at Maureen, who stood innocently in the doorway.
"One piece," Maureen assured them. "As a special treat because they were staying with me. And as I've already explained to Andrew, they don't get candy if I stay here."
"Stoopid rule," Andrew muttered.
Olivia chuckled and hugged her daughter tight. "I'm glad you guys had fun."
"Kathleen, Lizzie and I were going to go shopping," Maureen said. "Dickie's free, so I was wondering if we were going to split up. You know, girls and guys and then all meet for dinner?"
Olivia looked over at Elliot, who shrugged.
"My daughter is organizing my social calendar," Elliot muttered.
Maureen grinned. "Dad, you've never had a social calendar."
"That's certainly true," Olivia agreed. "Can we meet you somewhere? Your dad and I need to organize a few things first."
Maureen smirked. "Sure you do."
Olivia was brushing her hair and she grinned, feeling a pair of lips press against her neck. "Hey, you."
Elliot spun her around in his arms, cupping her face in his hands and meeting her lips in a soft, deep kiss. "I love you."
"I love you back."
Elliot hugged her tight to him. "I'll miss you today."
"Miss you too. But you did have me all to yourself last night," Olivia reminded him.
"Mmm, I know. I've been reliving it."
Olivia chuckled. "We need to get going. It's quiet, and that's not always a good sign with our two monsters."
"Maybe Maureen could baby-sit again tonight," Elliot suggested, his hands moving to her hips as he kissed her again.
"Elliot, it's Saturday night. Your daughter is not going to baby-sit on a Saturday night. I won't allow it."
Elliot nodded. "True."
Olivia went to leave his grasp, but found herself pulled back against him.
"El…twins, remember?"
"I just wanted to ask you something."
"What?"
"Where do I sleep tonight?"
"On a bed," Olivia quipped.
"That's not what I meant and you know it."
She looked up at him. "You have three children who live in Miami. It's not fair for me to keep you here."
He nodded and released her. "We need to buy a house."
Olivia froze in the doorway to her room. Elliot noticed the pause.
"Liv?"
"What did you say?"
"We need to buy a house."
She turned around, her eyes meeting his. "Why?"
"Because, like you said this morning, we have six kids. And I hate having to travel between two apartments to keep everyone happy. I love you, I love Caroline and Andrew, and I love Maureen, Kathleen, Dickie and Lizzie. And I would rather have everyone under one roof instead of me missing part of my family when I'm in one apartment, and the other part when I'm in another apartment." He walked over to her, his hands resting on her shoulders. "So, I figure the logical answer to that is, buy a house."
"A house."
"Yes. One of those peculiar things that sometimes encompass a backyard, that generally have partitioned rooms. They have four walls, a roof, a floor..."
"I know what a house is Elliot."
"I'm glad." His hand caressed her cheek. "I want to buy a house with you, Liv. And I want to move everyone into it. Together. As a family."
She smiled softly. "Let's buy a house."