Olivia stood behind Elliot in the doorway to his bedroom. His three younger children were asleep together on his bed, Kathleen's arm protectively draped over the twins. "They finally out?" Olivia whispered. Elliot nodded. "Did…did he hurt Lizzie or Dickie?" Olivia quietly asked after giving Elliot a minute.

"I…I don't think so. Kathleen…Kathleen protected them." Olivia nodded.

"Fin and Munch went to pick him up. He's not going to get away with it." She wasn't sure if he heard her or not; he had his back to her and would not turn around.

"My God," Elliot finally whispered, and when he faced his partner, she saw the tears running down his face. She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him over to sit down on the couch.

"They're going to be okay," she whispered. "They will, I promise. You'll make sure of it."

"Dad?" Elliot started at the voice, and looked up to see Elizabeth and Dickie standing by the couch. "What's for breakfast?" Dickie asked.

Elliot looked down to see that Olivia was still asleep beside him, her head on his shoulder. He gently shook her as he got up. "I'm not sure, buddy," Elliot told his son. "I think I've got some bagels and cereal."

"Morning, Olivia," Lizzie told her.

"Morning, sweetie."

"Where's your sister?" Elliot asked the twins.

"In your room. She won't come out." Olivia smiled at Elliot.

"How about you get breakfast and I'll get Kathleen?" Elliot started to protest, but Elizabeth and Dickie each already had one of his hands and from their grips, he didn't think they were letting go. He finally nodded to his partner and headed for the kitchen.

Olivia knocked on the doorframe of Elliot's bedroom, and Kathleen looked up at her. "I don't want to go to school," she told Olivia. "Everyone will see my face and know what happened." Olivia smiled.

"Not necessarily," she said. She went into the living room and came back with her purse. She then pulled out her makeup bag. "I've gotten pretty good at covering up bruises over the years." She covered up the mark as best as she could, and when Kathleen let her hair down from the ponytail she'd slept with, it was hardly noticeable. "There," Olivia told her with a smile as they stood in front of the bathroom mirror. Kathleen nodded.

"Thank you," she told her.

"No problem. Now, I think your dad and the twins are making breakfast. How about we go get something to eat?" Olivia started to leave, but Kathleen grabbed her hand.

"Olivia…" Tears welled in her eyes and threatened to spill. "It wasn't our fault, was it?" Olivia hugged her until she had stopped crying.

"You did nothing wrong," she said. "Nothing."

"Dad." Elliot looked away from Munch at the sound of the voice of his eldest. Maureen came over and hugged him. "I just got out of class," she told him. "Mom called me. She was completely freaking out. What happened? Are Kathleen, Lizzie and Dickie okay? Where are they?"

"They're at school," Elliot told her. "They're coming here afterwards. They oughta be here soon, actually" Elliot looked up as one of the clerks handed him a folder with reports. Elliot shook his head angrily as he read through it.

"What is it?" Maureen asked him.

"I never should have listened to your mother."

"What?"

"She told me not to run a background check on this guy, and I trusted her judgment. He's got a rap sheet." Maureen's eyes were wide.

"Maureen!" she turned around when she heard her siblings call her and somehow managed to hug all three of them at once.

"Hey, guys. I missed you."

"Olivia's going to take you upstairs until we're ready for you, okay?" Elliot said. They were getting statements from all of the children. Olivia took them up to the crib and Cragen came out of his office behind Elliot.

"Elliot, let Olivia, Munch, and Fin handle the case." He turned.

"What?"

"The last thing we need is for this thing to get screwed up because you go and beat the crap out of the guy. Let the others work the case."

"They're my kids, Captain," Elliot told him, trying to keep his tears at bay and his voice from cracking. "This…this happened because I wasn't there to protect them. You've got to let me make this right for them."

"They're family to all of us," Cragen assured him. "And we're going to do this right; you have my word on that. Let the others handle the case."

"What time did your mom leave last night?" Munch asked Lizzie as they sat in the interview room. She thought about it.

"Around 8:30. We'd had dinner, but Mom said she had some things she needed to get and that Tom would stay with us."

"What did you do after your mom left?" Fin asked Dickie in the interrogation room.

"I had homework, and then I was reading comic books. Me and Lizzie are supposed to be in bed at nine, but we can read until nine thirty."

"Did you go to bed on time?"

"Yeah, Kathleen nags us about that. She thinks she's so special 'cause she can stay up later than us."

"Where was Kathleen when you went to bed?"

"In her room. She had homework, too."

"And where was Tom?" Dickie looked up at him, a mix of sadness and worry on his face.

"I don't know."

"I was working on my precalc homework," Kathleen told Olivia as they talked in the crib. "Tom came in. He wanted to know if I needed help. I said yes; I hate trig."

"Then what happened?" Olivia asked her, making notes.

"He was standing over my shoulder. I remember thinking that he was really close, but I didn't really think that much of it. He started playing with my hair. He said I looked a lot like my mom. I didn't…I didn't like how he kept looking at me. It was scaring me. I told him I was going to check on the twins, since they were supposed to be asleep. He grabbed my arm to keep me from leaving. He told me he'd do to Lizzie what he was going to do to me if I ever said a word. I remember fighting him, but I don't know if I actually hit him or kicked him or not. He finally let go in order to hit me, and I ran. I went to Lizzie's room and locked the door."

"I was still awake when Kathleen came in," Lizzie told Munch. "I was scared 'cause she was crying, and the side of her face was all red. Tom tried to open the door, but he couldn't. He banged on it, and I was scared it was going to break and he'd come in. I guess he heard me scream, and then he stopped. He said 'not a word' and then it was quiet. I asked Kathleen what he was talking about, but she wouldn't tell me. She was really scared, though. Dickie knocked on the door, and she nearly jumped out of her skin."

"When did you leave your house?" Fin asked Dickie.

"I went to Lizzie's room, and Kathleen was there, too. She told us to put on our coats. We keep them up in our rooms, but Kathleen had left hers downstairs, and she wouldn't go get it. We went out my window and climbed down the tree."

"How did you get to Manhattan?"

"We walked to the subway station at Main Street. I'd never taken the subway all the way to Manhattan before, but Kathleen read the maps and told us where we needed to go. It was really late, and me and Lizzie were scared, but she told us everything would be okay again once we got to Dad's apartment."

Elliot turned away from the window, shutting off the intercom into the room. His frustration and anger boiled to the surface as he banged his fist against the wall.

Elliot didn't know what he would do without his eldest daughter. Maureen took Kathleen, Dickie, and Lizzie to get hot chocolate and brownies at a bakery down the street once everyone was done with them. She currently had her siblings up in the crib, helping with homework.

"Those are three amazing kids," Fin told Elliot as he came into the main area of the squad room. Elliot didn't reply.

"El," Olivia said, and tipped her head towards the doorway, which Kathy was coming through. Elliot stood up to meet her.

"Where are they?" she asked him.

"Upstairs. We need to talk."

"No, I need to see my children." Elliot looked up the staircase and saw all four of his kids waiting at the top. He nodded to them, and they came down the steps, the twins in the lead. Kathy hugged them both, and noticed that Kathleen was hanging back. "Sweetie…I'm so, so sorry." Kathleen nodded, but didn't move any closer.

"Why don't you go and get your bags so you can go home, okay?" Elliot told the children. Lizzie turned to him, worried.

"Is Tom going to be there?!?"

"No, he's not," Elliot told her, kneeling down next to her. "You're never going to see him again."

"Promise?" Dickie asked.

"Yes, I promise."

"I don't want to go back home," Kathleen said. "Can't I stay with you, Dad?"

"Me, too?"

"Me, too?" the twins quickly echoed. Elliot looked up at Kathy, who refused to look him in the eye.

"There's nothing to be afraid of anymore," he told the three. They didn't look convinced.

"Please, Daddy?" Kathleen asked him. He looked to her, surprised. She hadn't called him Daddy in years.

"Let me talk to your mom," he finally said. "Go get you stuff together." They hurried back upstairs. Maureen exchanged looks with both of her parents before following her siblings.

"The kids have nothing to worry about anymore," Kathy told Elliot.

"Kath, they got attacked in their own house!"

"Damnit, Elliot, don't you think I know that?!?" Elliot pulled her into the interview room before they made a scene. He did not need to be adding more fuel to the rumor mill.

"Okay, there are three kids upstairs who are terrified of their own home, so can we put our little spitting contest aside for five minutes and figure out what is best for them?"

"You live in a two bedroom apartment where you're tripping over your furniture. What are you going to do with three kids?"

"I'll work it out."

"You're serious about this?" Kathy asked, surprised. "You seriously think you can take care of the three of them by yourself? When was the last time you were with any of them by yourself?"

"We will work it out," Elliot repeated. "Look, you can drag the three of them out of here kicking and screaming, or you can listen to them and try to help them. That's all I want to do." Kathy just stared at him for a long minute, but finally stormed out. Kathleen, Lizzie, and Dickie were waiting at Elliot's desk. She stooped to hug and kiss all three of them, and then left.

Elliot's first dilemma was cooking dinner, which he did not know how to do. Luckily, Olivia had come home with him to help get the kids settled, and she got all three of them to help her make lasagna. For right now, the kids were in sleeping bags. Lizzie and Kathleen were in the spare bedroom, and Dickie was with Elliot in his room – for now. Elliot had taken the rest of the week off from work, and they were going shopping for furniture and decorations in the morning.

Elliot and Olivia talked for a while once the kids were asleep, but he finally walked her to the door, since she did have to get up for work in the morning. "Thank you," he told her. She smiled.

"It's no problem, really."

"Yeah, well, you're still a lifesaver."

"Mmm-hmm. We baked two pans of lasagna. You guys can eat the second this week. Kathleen knows what to do with it."

"Thanks."

"Bye, El."

"Bye." Elliot shut and locked the door behind her, and was startled to see Kathleen in the doorway to her room. "Hey, sweetie, what are you doing up?"

"Bad dream." Elliot pulled her down to sit on the couch with him. "Dad, are you and Olivia dating?" He turned to her, fast.

"Why would you say that?" Kathleen shrugged.

"She came home with you last night and tonight."

"We're just really good friends, sweetie. We like hanging out together. Olivia's been a really big help for me since your mom and I separated." Kathleen took that in.

"It wouldn't be that bad if you were dating her," she told her father. "You seem really happy when you're around her. You weren't happy like that before." Elliot was stunned. Is her imagination in overdrive, or…

"Well, thank you for your approval," he told his daughter. "Why don't you head on to bed, okay? We've got a lot to do tomorrow."

"Okay," Kathleen said, standing up. "Night, Dad."

"Night."

Elliot had allowed the kids the day off of school to get their rooms in order, so once they had finished at the house, they headed out to get something to eat. Elliot was surprised when he saw Olivia enter the diner they were sitting in. "Hey, what's up?" he asked her.

"I got a lunch invitation," she replied, looking to the kids. Kathleen pulled out her cell phone.

"I called her," she confessed. "I thought we could treat her to lunch since she made dinner for us." Elliot nodded, moving over so that Olivia could join him and Lizzie in the booth.

"Have you guys ordered?" Olivia asked.

"Nope, you're right on time!" Dickie told her with a smile. She returned it.

After their waitress had taken their order, Elliot listened while the kids told Olivia all about the things they'd gotten for their rooms. Dickie had decided to take a corner of the living room instead of staying in Elliot's room, so he was proudly saying that he had the biggest room in the apartment. Kathleen and Lizzie had picked out linen that defined each of their styles, plus gotten a few posters and other things to decorate with.

Before they knew it, Olivia needed to get back to the precinct, and Elliot was taking the kids by the house in Queens to get clothes and everything they needed for school. The kids leaned conspiratorially across the table while Elliot paid the check at the counter after Olivia had left.

"Phase one: mission accomplished," Kathleen told the twins.

TBC...