SVU Squad Room – Friday – 10:30am

Elliot and Olivia walked in the swinging doors of the squad room. Cragen had given them the day off since Olivia needed her rest after the standoff and Elliot needed to be with her. Under the captain's orders, Olivia had to talk to Dr. Huang about what she had gone through with the standoff yesterday. She went upstairs to see George and get this over with while Elliot stayed downstairs to chat with Cragen.

"So, was everything all right with Liv at the hospital last night?" asked Cragen, folding his arms to his chest.

"Yeah, the doctor gave her a pill for her light-headedness and to keep her calm," replied Elliot.

"Did everything check out with the baby?"

"The baby is fine. Her doctor did an ultrasound. She got on to Olivia about putting herself in danger like that from still working and threatened to make her take off work. Aside from that, she starts going for her weekly visits in two weeks."

Meanwhile, Olivia was sitting on the couch in the lounge room upstairs reading American Baby when Dr. Huang came up there and sat in the chair across from her.

"How are you feeling today, Olivia?" asked George.

"I guess I'm doing fine for someone who is eight months pregnant," Olivia replied sarcastically. She looked at George apologetically and added, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound like that."

George nodded, "It's all right." He changed the subject. "Tell me what you were feeling yesterday when Michael Perry handcuffed you to what was supposed to be a bomb."

Olivia looked at him and took a deep breath. She placed on her hand on her belly where her baby was resting on her ribcage and shifted from her place on the couch to get more comfortable. "To tell you the truth, I was frightened."

"Frightened about what?" he asked with concern.

"I was scared for myself and the baby." Her lips began to quiver and she started to cry. She placed her hands on her face. "I didn't know what was going to happen. There were so many things going on in my head the whole time during the standoff and at one time, I didn't know if I was going to come out alive."

"But you're here now and acknowledging how you were feeling."

"He was so nice, but I thought that the bomb was going to go off at any second or that he might let me go. I wanted to be brave for myself and for Elliot. He didn't need to see me being afraid and stressed out, but I know he did and he was scared for what would happen," she continued, wiping her eyes with a Kleenex. "I've been doing this job for so long and there's a lot of danger and risks involved. Working in the unit, Elliot and I see so many things that are unimaginable—rapists and child molesters. Some of them get off, but others are put away forever where they can't hurt anyone ever again."

She paused for a moment, looking down at the floor. She then turned back at George, "You know, ever since I first learned that I was pregnant and becoming a mother, I was scared. God, I was scared, but excited. I promised to myself that I would do anything for this child and protect her and keep her from harm."

"You're doing great, Olivia," reassured George.

Tears began to stream down her face again. She hated crying in front of Dr. George Huang, but she was hormonal and vulnerable and knew that she needed to talk about this incident instead of bottling everything up inside her.

"How can I bring a child into a world like this that is so cruel and uncaring?" she stated. "I'm due next month and I still don't know how I'm going to be as a mom. I mean, I'm going to be so overprotective over my child when I'm in this line of work, but I'm a cop and that's what I am. It's in my blood and I know that I'm going to worry about my child even though down the road, I'll be working cases involving kids and it will affect a lot because of my baby."

George smiled at her, "It may be impossible with the way the world is, but it will work. You will make it work, together with Elliot. I can tell right now from your feelings and emotions that you already love this baby and you will make a great mother. You're a very strong person, Olivia, inside and out, and a dedicated cop. So is Elliot. This baby is going to be lucky to have great parents like the two of you."

"I was starting to have a lot of doubts at first, but I think everything will be fine. You make things so much easier, Doc," said Olivia, smiling as she stood up slowly and picked up her magazine. "Thank you so much for listening. I think I may need to be shrinked every once in a while."

George nodded, "It's what I'm here for."

George walked downstairs with Olivia to meet with Elliot and Cragen. When they came down there, Munch, Fin, and Elliot were talking and Cragen had already gone back to his office. Olivia excused herself to go to the bathroom and when she left, Elliot walked towards Dr. Huang to see how his session was with Olivia.

"How is she doing?" Elliot asked George.

"She was traumatized from the standoff, but other than that, everything seems to be all right with her," explained George. "As long as she is surrounded by her family and friends, especially you and the kids, she will be fine. Just let her stay busy and focus with other things such as preparing for the baby's birth."

"Yeah, she's definitely getting excited about that. She can't wait for her to get here." Elliot gave George a pat on the back, "Thanks a lot, man."

"No problem."

About that time, Olivia had walked back into the squad room. She and Elliot visited with everyone for a few more minutes and then they left to go spend the rest of their day off together."

Stabler Residence – 3 Weeks Later – Saturday, February 5th

Elliot was in the nursery putting the white-finish crib that Olivia had picked for the baby. He had done this numerous times before with the other kids so he had a lot of experience getting things together, especially anything baby-related. After this was done, with Dickie's help, he put the Winnie the Pooh mobile over the crib and turned it on to hear the theme music. Elliot and Dickie looked at each other and smiled.

"I can't wait for my little sister to get here," said Dickie.

"Me too, buddy," replied Elliot, grabbing his son in a bear hug. "Only three more weeks left."

They went back to working on the crib to make sure it was sturdy and put the mattress in there. After that was done, Elliot worked on the changing table, baby swing, bouncing seat, and the playpen.

Downstairs, Olivia, Kathleen, Maureen, and Elizabeth were in the living room sorting out baby clothes, blankets, and towels that were to go in the dresser.

"I'm so ready for her to get here," Olivia told the girls as she sat on the couch going through clothes that she wanted to put on hangers, some stuffed animals, a rattle doll, and a Precious Moments blanket.

After they were done going through everything, Kathleen decided to do pedicures with her doing Olivia while Maureen did Elizabeth. She grabbed a bottle of light pink nail polish and began to paint them when she noticed how Olivia's feet were swollen.

"Liv, your feet are swollen," announced Kathleen, examining her feet.

Olivia shook her head and assured Kathleen, "It's supposed to be swollen like that. Dr. Morris said that it usually happens during the last few weeks because I'm retaining a lot of fluid and have slow circulation."

Kathleen nodded and felt better after Olivia told her that and began to paint her toenails, "When Mom was pregnant with the twins, her feet were swollen a lot, but I was so young to remember to ask her what caused it."

A couple hours later, Elliot called out to everyone from upstairs so they could see the work that he and Dickie had done with the nursery. When they got upstairs with the clothes and necessities with the girls helping Olivia carry the boxes, Elliot opened the door and took Olivia's hand, leading her in the room with the rest of the gang following behind them.

They couldn't believe their eyes when they saw all of the furniture in the room. It went really well with the light pink walls with the ladybug and butterfly trim.

"Oh El," said Olivia, beaming. "This looks great. You guys placed everything exactly where I wanted it."

Elliot and Dickie looked at each other and grinned. He went over to Olivia and pressed a kiss to her lips, "I knew you would love it."

"I love it," announced Elizabeth.

"It looks great," agreed Maureen and Kathleen in unison.

The girls and Dickie went through the basket that was brought in. They started with hanging up the clothes in the closet, and placing the blankets and other clothes in the dresser.

Olivia sat in the rocking chair with Elliot standing beside her. They watched as the kids were fixing up the room with the stuffed animals and toys. Everything was beginning to come together as they were anxiously awaiting the birth of their daughter. Olivia's weekly doctor visits showed that everything looked healthy and it was all that mattered now.

TBC