Fall to Pieces

Chapter Twenty

Disclaimer: Well ... let's see. Um ... ok, those don't belong to me ... neither do they ... oh! oh! Olivia's kids are my property ... but oh, those people aren't ... neither is the show. Um, yeah ... that's it I think. No ... wait, I forgot about Chris. He belongs to me, too.

A/N: Grr, I don't get those test results back until after Christmas break. Alright, I'm not sure about their ages, so ... oh well.
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Elliot sighed as he rolled out of bed that morning. But, after he looked at the alarm-clock he noticed that he only had about five minutes until it went off, and now was as good a time as any to get up. Maybe Olivia could sleep a few extra minutes because of it. He turned the alarm off and lazily made his way towards the conjoining bathroom, pausing to make sure that the bedroom door was still locked. The last thing he needed was a three year old girl walking in the room with him standing stark-naked in the middle of it.

After showering quickly and then changing back into the clothes he had worn the day before he gently shook Olivia awake. Sleepily blinking her eyes open she smiled at him and stretched her arms out. "Morning," she greeted with a yawn.

"Good morning," he returned. "It's just after six, you go on and take a shower and I'll make something for you and the girls to eat for breakfast."

Nodding she yawned again and then crawled out of the bed, pausing slightly to kiss him before running off to the bathroom. After checking around for signs of the girls Elliot made his way into the kitchen, it was 6:10. Figuring that the easiest thing to make would be scrambled eggs he searched around her fridge and found a carton, there were six eggs left. Not sure how the girls liked their eggs he kept them plain, they could add anything extra if they so chose to.

Around ten minutes later Olivia emerged from her bedroom, clad in a pair of jeans and a three-quarters black shirt that was very nice-fitting. He took a second to admire her, which didn't go unnoticed to Olivia who blushed slightly and inquired about what he had made for breakfast.

"Oh," he replied, "just some eggs. I wasn't sure how you and the girls liked yours, so I just made them scrambled and plain."

"They like scrambled, anyway," she told him, "Becca will want some pepper on hers, but Cassie will eat them plain."

"When do they need to be waken up?" he asked, pulling a jug of orange-juice from the fridge.

"Cassie has about ten more minutes and Becca only needs to be waken up in enough time to dress, brush her teeth and hair, and eat. So, she's got about twenty before we have to leave for Heather's."

Elliot nodded, "Alright. You want to eat now?"

"Sure, why not?" Brushing past him she made her way into the kitchen and fixed herself a plate and then a glass of juice. "What about you?" she asked, on her way to the dinning room. "You gonna eat something, or is your cooking that bad?"

"Ha-ha," he said sarcastically. "As a matter of fact, I was just about to make myself a plate. But, you know, age before beauty."

She glared at him, "I'm only two and a half weeks older than you, Stabler."

He shrugged and started on making himself a plate. Thirty minutes later, after the girls had gotten ready and eaten something they headed out the door. Within less than ten minutes they were at Heather's apartment and five minutes before 7 o'clock they pulled up in front of the station house. The day promised to be an interesting one.

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The first thing the two detectives noticed was that, as they walked into the 1-6, all eyes were on them. Rumors spread faster in the precinct than in the girl's bathroom of any American high school. So by then everybody knew of Elliot's threat to Kingsley the day before, and many knew of the conversation between Cragen and Stabler, though none knew the actual content of said conversation to the full extent. Some people would have staked their lives on the fact that Cragen threatened to fire both detectives and had forbid any thing further between the two. Other's would swear that the man had congratulated the two on finally figuring things out. Which, the latter was a bit closer to the truth than the former, but still extremely far from it.

Both were relieved to see that their things hadn't been changed around, the Captain hadn't been lying when he said it would take a few days for everything to be fully official. For now, they would still sit face-to-face, though not for long. As they sat down they could tell that both Fin and Munch were watching them, further investigation showed that both had smart-ass smiles on their faces.

"What?!" Olivia barked, glaring at both men.

"Hey, Elliot," Fin asked, ignoring her question. "Didn't you wear that thing yesterday, man?"

Scowling Olivia turned back to Elliot, her glare now fixed on him. He'd better not say anything, it told him. The consequences would not be desired.

"Nope," Elliot lied, not wanting to try Olivia's patience. The last place he wanted to be was in the dog-house, especially since he had been there only twenty-four hours prior. "Why, does it look like it?"

"Just a bit," Munch informed him. "...So, you two talked with Cragen?"

"You know we did Munch," Olivia said with a sigh.

"You're right," Munch replied. "I do."

"So ... how long–" Fin began to ask, but Olivia cut him off.

"Not long," her voice was annoyed. "Could we not talk about this right now? It can wait for lunch."

"Fine," Fin said, holding his hands up in his defense. "I'll shut-up, Partner."

She didn't even have to look at him to know he had an idiotic grin on his face. She looked at him with a scowl, "Technically, I'm still Elliot's partner."

"I meant at work," Fin replied, that goofy grin still growing.

Scowling seemed to be something she was doing a lot that day, "So did I."

"Oh!" he exclaimed with mock-surprise. "You see, I thought that you were talking about rela–"

"Well, I wasn't." She said sharply, cutting him off mid-sentence.

"Got'cha, Partner." Fin replied, a cuckle in his voice and his eyes dancing with laughter.

Another scowl appeared on her face as she turned away from Fin and started on the stack of paper-work that had accumulated in her 'in-box'. And it stayed there for virtually the whole day.

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"I could kill Fin," Olivia exclaimed as she climbed into the passengers' seat of Elliot's car. "He doesn't know when to shut-up."

"You think Fin was bad you should have heard Munch," Elliot replied with a sigh. "He asked if I fall in love with all my partners, and If I do could I ask Cragen to work with Fin."

Olivia smiled despite herself, "That's Munch for you."

"I guess," Elliot said, turning the key in the ignition. "To Heather's?"

She nodded, "To Heather's."

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"Are you going to stay tonight?" Olivia asked Elliot after she had finished putting the girls to bed.

"I'm not sure if I should," he told her.

"Oh," she replied, trying not to sound hurt. "Alright, then."

"Not because I don't want to," he explained hurriedly. "Fin and Munch are really going to suspect something if I wear the same thing to work three days in a row."

"Right ... I forgot."

"I could always get a change of clothes from my place and then come back."

She nodded, "OK."

Elliot kissed her briefly, "I'll be back soon."

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A/N: Alright, I know it's not that long and ends at a kind of funny place. But, I didn't have much time to write since I've gotta go pack for a trip out of town this weekend. I just figured that since I had about an hour I could get something done. Anyway, let me know what'cha think about it.