One Heart

Summary: See ch1

Disclaimer: Not mine

A/N: Love the reviews, as far as all the questions go, you'll see!

Sick Day

"Alright Elliot, spill, what's the matter?" Olivia asked as she placed a plate of food in front of him.

It was the Monday after Elliot had bought Olivia's ring. He had big plans for that ring that weekend.

He already had reservations for dinner at her favorite restaurant. Then he was going to bring her to central park for a carriage ride that would bring them to a gazebo in the park, that he had already made plans to be filled with candles and roses.

Tonight though, Olivia had offered to cook dinner for him. She made marinated chicken with salad and noodle-roni on the side.

"What are you talking about?" Elliot asked.

"Don't pull that crab with me Stabler." Olivia warned him as she took a sip of her wine. "You have been preoccupied all day. What's going on?"

"I haven't been preoccupied all day." He argued.

"Elliot, when Munch asked you if you'd go to a Roswell convention with him next month you said yes." She countered.

"I did?" He asked, knowing that he had been caught.

"Yeah, ya did." She smiled. "Then you put your apple in the microwave and your soup in the refrigerator at lunch." She continued.

"Alright, fine, I guess have been a little preoccupied." He finally admitted as he took a bite of his dinner. "Mmmm, this is good." He commented.

"Thanks." Olivia smiled, "But don't change the subject."

"Lizzie hates Kathy's new boyfriend." He told her sipping his own wine.

"Who, Brian?" Olivia asked. "What's not to like about him. He seems pretty nice." She said. She had met him on the night she, Elliot, Kathy, and Brian had all gone to dinner together.

"I don't know." Elliot sighed. "Personally, I just think she that she doesn't like the idea that she now has to share her Mom."

"But she didn't seem to have a problem when we started dating." She offered.

"Yeah, but that was different." Elliot answered. "You've been in her life for practically all of it. She's known you, and has had to share me with you since she was a toddler.""

Olivia simply shrugged; silently thanking God that Elizabeth had accepted her so willingly into her life.

"What do the other kids think?" She asked through bites.

"They all like the guy. They think Lizzie's just being childish." He answered.

"What does Kathy think?" She asked.

"She thinks that Lizzie is just trying to be difficult." Elliot sighed.

"Well, she is a teenager." Olivia offered. "As I'm sure you know, sometimes teenage girls just don't like people for no other reason than because they can."

"I just hope she gets over it." Elliot chuckled.

"Don't worry to much abou… abou… ahh choo!" Olivia suddenly sneezed. "Excuse me." She apologized. "About it." She finished.

"Bless you." Elliot said. "You okay? I noticed you seemed a little run down all day."

"I'm fine." Olivia assured him. "I think I'm just getting a cold."

"Alright, but you better be okay for this weekend, I want you to be one hundred percent!" He said, silently praying his big plans wouldn't fall through.

"Seriously El, don't worry about it." She assured him.

Unfortunately for Olivia, he did have something to worry about. By that weekend Olivia had a cough, stuffed nose, sore throat, fuzzy head, nausea, and a headache. Needless to say, Elliot forced her to stay home from work.

Elliot was upset that his big plans had fallen through, but it was more important to him that Olivia got better. He hated seeing her sick. And it worked out for the better because he had been called in for a case.

Olivia was sitting on her couch wrapped in a blanket and propped up on pillows. She was surrounded by used tissues that she was too weak to throw in the garbage, had a glass of ginger ale next to her to calm her queasy stomach, the thermometer on the coffee table, and a pharmacy's worth of medication.

She was in the middle of watching Dr. Phil when she thought she heard a knocking at her door. At first she thought it was pounding from her head, but soon realized that a person was knocking from the hall.

She slowly pulled herself off the couch and trudged to the door with moans and groans the whole way.

She peered through the peep hole, ready to kill whoever was on the other side, until she saw Elizabeth. She looked like she was very stressed out.

Olivia pulled her robe around herself and opened the door to let the young teen in.

"Lizzie, what's wrong? Are you alright?" She asked concerned through a congested nose. She knew that it wasn't Elliot's weekend, so that meant that she had to have come into the city alone, and for 13 year old Lizzie to get on a train by herself had to mean trouble.

"Liv, relax. I'm fine." She assured her as she made her way into the apartment. "I'm sorry to barge in like this. I didn't know you were sick." She apologized.

"No, it's fine sweetheart." Olivia told her. "Come on in and sit down. Can I get you anything?"

"No thanks, I'm fine." Elizabeth smiled as she sat on one of Olivia's chairs.

"Now, sweetie, don't take this the wrong way, because I love seeing you, but if nothing's wrong, why are you here?" Olivia asked as she took a seat opposite Elizabeth back on the couch.

"Daddy probably already told you that I don't like Brian." She stated bluntly.

"Yeah, he mentioned it. Is that what this is all about?" She asked, wiping her nose with one of her tissues.

Elizabeth just nodded. "I don't know what it is about him, but something's not right." She continued, not even waiting for Olivia to ask. "I mean, he's never done anything bad or anything, but I can tell, he's shady."

"Okay." Olivia answered. She wasn't sure if Elizabeth was speaking in code, or if her head was fuzzier than she had thought, but she was utterly confused as to what Elizabeth wanted her to do about it.

"Look, everyone thinks I'm just being a brat, that's why I came to you." Elizabeth answered. "I took this from breakfast this morning." She explained, holding up a coffee mug in a plastic bag. "Brian drank out of it. I figured it has his fingerprints and stuff on it." She paused for a moment, but could tell Olivia was still confused. "Would you just, I don't know, check them? Just to make sure. If there's nothing there then I'll drop all this, I swear. I just need to know." She finished.

"Lizzie." Olivia began, but stopped when she saw the desperation in the girl's eyes. "Alright, I'll do it." She sniffed. "Just, don't tell your father."

"Oh thank you Olivia!" She squealed jumping out of the chair.

"Speaking of your dad, does he know you're here?" Olivia asked suddenly.

Lizzie just grew silent. She lowered her head, and then decided to confess. "No." She stated flatly.

"What about your mom?" Olivia continued.

"Not exactly." Lizzie answered quietly.

"And by 'not exactly' I can assume you mean no." She corrected.

Lizzie just nodded. She was busted.

"How did you get here?" Olivia asked.

"I took the train." Lizzie confessed.

"Elizabeth!" Olivia scolded. "Do you know how dangerous it is for a 13 year old girl to ride the train, by herself, from Queens into Manhattan!"

"Liv, it was important." Elizabeth tried to defend. She knew she was in for it. Even though Olivia was still only her father's girlfriend, she knew that she loved her and her siblings like they were her own, and she could yell at them like they were too.

"Don't give me that!" Olivia continued. "Where is your mom?" She asked.

"Working." Lizzie answered. "We were off from school for teacher conferences, so I figured now as good a time as ever." She offered.

Olivia just shook her head. "Give me a minute to get dressed, I'm taking you home." She finally ruled.

TBC... the next chapter will answer questions about Brian, and begin the action!

the third story in this trilogy is taking a LONG time, but it will come out as soon as i can get it once this story is complete.

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