Same Time

St. Vincent's Midtown Hospital

Elliot helped Olivia into the wheelchair, and everyone left her room. The nurse showed them to the neo-natal ICU, where the four family members had to put on scrubs, rubber gloves, and masks. They didn't want Benson catching any germs or getting sick.

Cragen, Casey, Fin, and Munch waited near the viewing window for the family to come forward and show them the baby. Sophia held Ella back a few paces behind the couple, so that Elliot and Olivia could have a moment alone with their son.

Elliot wheeled Olivia up to Benson's incubator. "He's so tiny…" Olivia observed, trying to keep her tears back. She stroked her son's tiny hand through a whole in the incubator. "He's perfect…" she said, counting the number of fingers and toes he had.

"He beautiful, just like his mother," Elliot said, kissing Olivia lightly.

Olivia smiled up at him with tears in her eyes. "Thank you," she whispered.

Sophia took some pictures of the family and of her new little brother. "His hair's dark like ours," she observed.

Ella stood next to Olivia and put a small hand to her own head. "Not like mine," she said with a pout.

Olivia smiled and kissed her. "But it's blonde like Maureen's, Lizzie's, Katie's, and Dickie's. You're beautiful and we love you," she said, consoling her youngest daughter.

Ella smiled. "I know, I love you too Mommy. And I think you are bee-yoo-tee-ful too," she said as she gave Olivia a sweet but sloppy kiss on the cheek.

A nurse walked up to Olivia. "Dr. Hudson said that he thinks it would be alright if you nursed your son. We can give him oxygen through a nose tube, but that way you can nurse and hold him," she told Olivia.

Olivia beamed at the nurse and wiped away her tears. "Thank you," she said. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

The nurse smiled as she gently changed Benson over to the nose tube, and carefully handed him to Olivia. All the while, Sophia snapped photos for a scrapbook she planned to make, before taking Ella outside to leave the couple alone.

Elliot pulled up a chair next to Olivia, and put his arm around her, holding her close as the nurse instructed her on what to do.

Olivia, scared but excited to be nursing for the very first time, undid her hospital gown. She gently pulled her son close to her, and he latched on to her breast and began to nurse readily.

Olivia smiled as a tear ran down her cheek. She watched her son open his dark blue eyes for the first time, and gasped as he looked her in the eyes.

"El…" she said quietly.

Elliot squeezed her shoulders, and gently held his son's hand. "I know Liv…he's perfect…you did a wonderful job," he said as he kissed her lovingly on the lips.

"We did a wonderful job," Olivia corrected him, smiling.

Elliot nodded. "God Liv…you're even more beautiful than I remembered," he said, as he looked at her and caressed her bare shoulders.

Olivia blushed. "Thank you…" she said shyly, lowering her eyes.

Elliot put a hand under her chin, and lifted her head so that he could look into her eyes. "I love you…" he said as he kissed her forehead.

"I know…" she said. "It's just I haven't liked my body in such a long time…it's been quite large for the past 7 months...and…we've just got so much to talk about."

Elliot nodded. "I know…later…we'll talk about it all later. Right now," he said as he smiled down at his son, "Right now I just want to watch my beautiful son nurse on his gorgeous mother…God Liv, you have no idea how amazing this is," he said to her, as he wiped a tear out of his eye.

Olivia leaned over and kissed him softly on the lips. "I do know…" she said smiling. "I'm so glad you were there with me El, I don't think I could have done it without you…I was nervous…but you got me through it…" she told him honestly.

"And you did a great job. Look at him, he's perfect," Elliot said, as they looked at their son.

Benson was looking up at his parents peacefully with dark blue eyes. As if on cue, he stopped nursing, and gurgled happily.

Olivia and Elliot smiled. Olivia placed a kiss on her son's dark head of hair and leaned back in Elliot's arms. "Do you think he'll be okay?" Olivia asked as Benson fell asleep quietly in her arms.

"Yes," Elliot said without hesitation.

"But how can you be so sure," Olivia asked.

"Because we're going to love him and take care of him," Elliot said as he helped Olivia put her robe back on.

"Yes…yes we are," she said as she held Benson close to her heart. "Can you wheel me up to the receiving window so that we can show him off to everyone?" Olivia asked as she stroked her sleeping son's tiny hand.

"Sure," Elliot said as he stood up and pushed her over to the window where everyone was waiting anxiously.

Olivia turned Benson around gently, and held him up so that everyone could see him. Benson opened his dark blue eyes, and looked around at all of the people. He blinked a few times before falling back asleep. All of their friends oohed and aahed over Elliot and Olivia's precious little son. He was a miracle indeed.

Elliot took him from Olivia and held his son for the first time. Olivia watched with a look of love and pride as the same looked crossed Elliot's face. She rested her head on Elliot's side, and smiled up at him.

Elliot kissed his son's tiny forehead, before handing him back to the nurse. Olivia stood up carefully, and wrapped her arms around Elliot. Elliot stroked her hair and her back, as Olivia cried gently into his shirt.

"It's going to be okay Liv, he's going to be okay," Elliot said to her softly.

Olivia nodded and looked up at him. "I know…I'm just crying because I'm happy…and relieved that he looks and is acting healthy," Olivia told him.

Elliot kissed her softly on the mouth, letting his lips linger on hers for a while. "I love you Olivia Benson," he said, looking into her eyes.

"I love you too," Olivia said as she kissed Elliot again before yawning.

"Let's get you back in bed," Elliot said as he helped her back into her wheelchair.

Olivia had fallen asleep by the time they got back to her room, and Elliot had to rouse her and help her into bed.

He crawled under the covers next to her, and held her close to him. "I've wanted to do this for such a long time," Elliot whispered to her.

Olivia opened her sleepy eyes and smiled at him before falling fast asleep in his safe embrace.

Three Days Later

St. Vincent's Midtown Hospital

10 o'clock in the morning

Olivia was dressed and sitting on the edge of her hospital bed, her bag packed. Elliot was taking her home today – back to his apartment. Benson would be staying in the hospital for at least another week, but they were allowed to visit him every 3 hours, which they were planning on doing.

Elliot came down the hallway, whistling happily. He walked in the room and gave Olivia a big hug, and swept her off of the bed into his arms. "Ready to go home?" He asked.

Olivia smiled. "Very much so. I just wish Benson could be coming with us," she told him truthfully.

Elliot nodded. "I know. But he's doing so much better. He'll be home with us in no time," he assured her.

Olivia nodded and got into the wheelchair a nurse had brought. "I know. Let's go home," she said to him.

Elliot kissed her lovingly on the lips and his eyes smiled at her. "I love you Liv," he told her.

Olivia smiled back. "I know. I love you too."

After saying goodbye to Benson and making sure the hospital had enough of Olivia's milk to feed Benson in case he got hungry before she came back, they left.

The drive home was quiet, but enjoyable. Olivia held Elliot's hand, and looked out the window at the familiar sights that she had missed for so long. "I can't believe it's been 7 months since I last saw you and New York," Olivia told him.

"Believe me, it felt like so much longer," Elliot commented. "But I'm glad that you're back now."

"Me too," Olivia said squeezing his hand as they pulled up in front of his apartment.

Elliot helped her out of the car and up the stairs, carrying her bag for her. "Welcome home," he said as they walked into the apartment.

Olivia smiled and sat down on the couch tiredly. Elliot dropped her bag in the bedroom, and sat down beside her. "Want a foot massage?" He asked kindly.

Olivia nodded. "Please…I've missed them…" she said.

"I hope that's not the only thing you've missed," Elliot said smiling at her.

Olivia shook her head. "It's not. El…do you think we could talk now? I've got some things I want to tell you."

Elliot nodded. "Sure, go ahead."

Olivia closed her eyes and breathed deeply for a moment before beginning. "I'm going to start from the beginning of my story. I don't quite know how to say this, so forgive me if I fumble it a bit, but just hear me out," she started slowly. "Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted my own prince charming to protect me, love me, and take care of me. When I was young, my prince charming would have been my father. As I grew older, he would have been my husband, or boyfriend. I always pictured him as being strong, tall, dark hair, but with piercingly blue eyes. He would take care of me when I was sick, and help me through my hard times. He would protect me from all of my fears. He would cheer me on, and believe in me. Most importantly, he would love me and give me the life that I wanted. A part of me was afraid of finding my prince. Afraid that he might end up hurting me, or stop loving me. Afraid that we would have children, and that I would fail as a mother. When I started working for SVU, I hadn't found my prince. When I walked in that first day, I was so incredibly nervous. I thought that I was going to throw up and faint right there. But when I saw you, something inside of me calmed. I felt at ease, but I also felt very…connected…to you. You were gorgeous, and you look exactly like my prince. But you were married…so I kept searching. I never found my prince charming," she said quietly.

Elliot started to interrupt her, but Olivia put her fingers on his lips, quieting him. "So when you got divorced, I felt that maybe I had a chance with you…because you were already my best friend, my mentor, my rock, my everything. I wanted you to be my lover too. But I was also scared. Scared that maybe you wouldn't want me…scared of rejection. But you didn't reject me. God…we had some good times didn't we? But I got afraid again. Everytime I start to get serious about a relationship, I have second thoughts and back out. I knew that I loved you…god how I loved you. But I was afraid that maybe you didn't love me too…I know that it was stupid of me to think that…it was so obvious that you did. But I didn't want to be rejected, and then to have to sit across from you every day and be reminded of what I couldn't have. That's why I left," she told him.

Elliot nodded. "And while you were gone?"

"I was extremely happy with my life…well what I had of my life; Ella and Sophia and being pregnant. I was nervous about telling you, but I knew that I had to. I knew that you would want to be a part of the child's life. I was so conflicted. I didn't know what to do. So I promised Casey that I would come up here to have the baby, because I couldn't do it alone. And I wanted to spill my heart to you, hoping that maybe you'd reconsider and love me too," she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"But then I couldn't find you, and I realized how much I had hurt you. I was going to apologize, and tell you everything. Then I got the call that the spouse of every detective fears; there was an accident. Except this time it wasn't Kathy or your spouse receiving the call, it was me. I was afraid that you weren't going to make it, everyone thought that you wouldn't make it. That's when Cragen told me that you loved me, that you wanted to marry me. So I knew that you loved me, but I thought that I wouldn't be able to have you…" Olivia trailed off as the story came to a close.

"But now you do. We have each other, and we have baby Benson, and we have the girls and my children. We have our friends…we have each other," he told her, pulling her into his lap.

She buried her head in his chest. "And it just seems to good to be true," she said quietly.

"Perhaps. But I know that we love each other and that we're going to do everything to stay together," he reassured her as he kissed her head.

Olivia nodded. "You didn't hate me did you?"

Elliot shook his head. "You broke my heart. I'd never experienced that before…I thought I was going to die," he told her. "I never got over you, and I don't think that I ever would have. But I could never hate you Olivia Benson, never."

"I'm sorry for hurting you," she told him.

"I know. And I'm sorry for hurting you too," he told her.

Elliot kissed Olivia passionately, running his hands through her hair. Olivia sighed and clasped her hands behind Elliot's neck.

A few minutes later, Sophia and Ella came into the apartment. "You know if you keep that up, baby Benson is going to become a big brother very soon," Sophia joked.

The couple blushed. "It's okay," Sophia said shrugging. Olivia lay her head happily on Elliot's chest. Ella climbed up on Elliot's lap, and Sophia sat next to Olivia, laying her head on her lap. "I'm glad you guys are happy," she said sweetly.

"Me too," Ella said, not knowing what she was agreeing to.

Olivia laughed. "So are we."

"So tell me about your kids," Sophia said to Elliot.

Elliot smiled. "Well my oldest is Maureen. She's 22 and is in her second out of 4 years of graduate school at NYU. She has a boyfriend named Zeb, and they want to get married once they finish school and find comfortable jobs. She's studying psychology, and loves to play shrink. Kathleen, or Katie, is 17. She's a junior at a Catholic school not far from here. She plays soccer, and has a boyfriend named Spencer. You'll get along well with her. The twins, Elizabeth and Richard, better known as Lizzie and Dickie, are almost 13. They are in seventh grade at a catholic school near here. Dickie likes to skateboard and play video games. He likes girls, but he's shy around them. Lizzie likes to dance, and takes a lot of classes after school doing ballet, tap, jazz, and a bunch of other things I can never remember. She doesn't have a boyfriend, but she always has a new crush. They spend Tuesdays, Thursdays, and every other weekend with me. Their mother, Kathy, has them the rest of the time," Elliot finished.

Sophia raised her eyebrows. "Wow," she said laughing.

"So tell me about yourself," Elliot said.

Sophia scrunched up her nose and thought for a second. "Well I'm almost 16 and a half. I can get my license in September, and I can't wait. I like to sing, read, write, talk to my friends, and watch TV if I have time. I'm a sophomore in high school, and I hate math, chemistry, and my world history class. I like French and English, but not my English teacher. Um…I'm active at church…I like to shop, eat, sleep, jog, do yoga, and go to the beach," she said.

Elliot laughed. "Wow yourself. That's a lot of stuff. How do you find time for everything?"

Sophia shrugged. "Late nights," she explained.

Olivia laughed. "And a chauffeur," she joked.

Sophia smiled at her. "A good one," she said as she kissed her mother. "Love you," she said happily.

"Love you too sweetheart," Olivia said affectionately.

Elliot smiled. "I think I like being a part of this family," he said.

Olivia pretended to smack him. "Well you better!"

Ella laughed. "Mommy don't hit Elly!"

Olivia smiled and stroked Ella's long, curly, blonde hair. "Ella sweetie, do you remember that I told you and Sophia that Elliot and I are going to get married?"

Ella nodded and cocked her head as she watched her mother.

"That means Elliot is going to be your Daddy," Olivia explained.

Ella thought for a second and nodded. She turned to Elliot. "Can I call you Daddy then?"

Elliot smiled and gave the three girls a big hug. "I would love for you two to call me Daddy," he said happily.

Sophia smiled. "Cool…Dad."