Chapter Sixteen

The clichéd golden ring band with a large diamond on it, the fancy and elegant restaurant, the small speech. All universally recognized symbols of engagement. Olivia's eyes remained focused on the small red velvet jewelry box in Elliot's hands. The band of the ring was gold. A large diamond was in the center. It was surrounded by two smaller diamonds, one on each side. She blinked. The scene was still there. This was for real. Elliot was actually proposing to her.

The corners of Olivia's mouth turned up. Her face blossomed with a large smile as she met Elliot's eyes. "Yes," she said simply. "Yes, Elliot, I'll marry you." She stood up and walked over to Elliot. He started as her partner. He became her best friend. Now, he was her fiancé. As Elliot stood up, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Let everyone else in the restaurant watch, she thought as her lips moved towards Elliot's.

Their kiss was sweet. Gentle, but passionate. Their lips remained locked for the next two minutes. The way Olivia saw it, it was two minutes of heaven.

"She said 'Yes'!" Elliot exclaimed loudly as he and Olivia pulled away from each other slightly. He hugged her. Some of the couples at surrounding tables clapped for the two of them. Elliot could not stop smiling. It was perfect.

Eventually, the two of them sat down. Elliot took the jewelry box and removed the ring. He grasped Olivia's hand. The two of them just smiled at each other for a moment before Elliot slipped the ring over her finger. "I love you, Liv."

Olivia nodded. "And I love you."

"Urg!" Casey exclaimed in frustration. It was her self-given day off. She did not have to be in court. She had an intern who willingly wanted to do all of her filing. She had no work-related reason for being at the SVU squad room at eight thirty on a Wednesday morning. However, she had a personal reason. She knew Olivia was going to say yes, but she was the only one who knew about the engagement already. She wanted the details. As Olivia's friend, she was entitled to know them. "Where are they?" she asked as she turned to Munch.

"Easy," Fin told her. "Take a seat." He eyed Casey curiously as the young lawyer walked over and sat down on top of Elliot's desk. He shrugged. Elliot's desk was clean. It had the least amount of stuff.

Munch leaned against his own desk and faced the other two people. Fin was standing behind Elliot's desk with a cup of coffee. Casey was now sitting Indian-style on top of Elliot's desk. He just continued leaning back against his desk and hoping that it would not actually move far. "So, here's a way to make this interesting," he noted. "I'll bet someone ten bucks that Liv's having a boy."

"What makes you say that?" Fin questioned his partner. Like practically everyone else Olivia knew, he had seen the sonogram pictures. The most accurate one was on Olivia's desk as they spoke. Personally, Fin thought it just looked like an alien-like blob on a black sheet of paper. It was something he would expect a child to draw, not something he thought was growing inside of Olivia. He barely could believe it was human. Determining gender was out of the question.

Before Munch could answer, Casey responded. "I'll see your ten and raise you to twenty," she noted. "The baby's going to be a girl."

Fin shook his head. "How can you tell?" he asked with the frustration Casey had only moments earlier.

"Lucky guess," Munch said. "Don't know about Lawyer Chick over there though."

Casey rolled her eyes. "I just have this feeling that it is," she told Fin. "And I like to stick to my feelings until I'm told otherwise." She shrugged. "Besides, it's fifty-fifty, so I have a good chance of getting an easy twenty dollars."

"I'll give you fifty to make out with Olivia for one minute," Fin offered.

Casey simply rolled her eyes at the gesture. Before she had time to think of some retort, the doors to the squad room opened.

Elliot and Olivia walked inside. Olivia was at Elliot's left, and their hands were joined. Both of them were smiling widely. As soon as they were closer to everyone else, Olivia began waving her left hand around at them.

"Elliot, I thought I told you not to let her come to work when she's this hormonal," Munch mock-scolded his friend.

Elliot leaned over and kissed Olivia's forehead. Olivia slapped Munch for his obliviousness. "I'm not all hormonal," she insisted. "We're engaged," she announced as she once again grasped Elliot's hand.

"Congratulations," Munch said sincerely. He was happy for them. He knew it would happen sooner or later. Frankly, he was surprised that Elliot did not ask sooner. He could tell that the other male detective wanted to. His statement was almost instantaneously followed by Fin's.

"Yeah, we're happy for you," Casey added as she hugged Olivia.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "You knew, didn't you?"

Casey shrugged. "What difference does it make?" she asked. "I'm still happy for the both of you."

"I hope you're still happy when you're up there wearing some weird bridesmaid dress that I pick out," Olivia teased. "'Cause you have to be my maid of honor."

Casey's mouth dropped open. She looked at Olivia then hugged her again. "Of course, Liv," she responded. "I'd be honored."

Cragen stepped out of his office. There was noise going on outside of it. All of his detectives and his ADA were gathered around Elliot's desk. There was hugging going on. "Did I miss something?"

Olivia smiled as she walked over to Cragen. "Kinda," she admitted. "Last night, Elliot asked me to marry him." She smiled as she felt Elliot come up beside her. "And I said yes," she finished.

Cragen smiled at the two of them. "Congratulations."

"Thank you," Olivia said sincerely. She smiled up at Cragen. "Now I know that this is normally a job for the father of the bride," she began. "But seeing as my father is a sick rapist that I never want to know, I was hoping that, well, that you would be the one to give me away."

Cragen smiled at her. Her words touched him. They brought a smile to his face. "Olivia," he said in a shocked but pleased way. "I'd be honored."

Olivia smiled back at him as she embraced him. "I was hoping you'd say that."

The rest of their day was filled with excitement. Olivia wanted to tell everyone that she was engaged. Her face glowed from the pregnancy and her own excitement. She was on the streets today, which made her happier. She told Warner about their engagement and snuck a bridesmaid request in the same sentence. Huang stopped in at the end of the day, so she and Elliot both told him the news. Like everyone else, Huang congratulated them. He then asked when the wedding was going to be. Olivia smiled and told him, "Soon".

Now she and Elliot were back at home. Olivia was sitting down at the kitchen table. On their way home, they stopped at a grocery store. Olivia now was searching through one of the many bridal magazines she had seen. She only purchased two, but Elliot knew that he would be going all over Manhattan until Olivia had all of them. He did not care though. He was finally marrying the girl of his dreams. There was no harm. It was all good.

As Olivia folded over pages of nice wedding dresses, Elliot was cooking dinner for the two of them. It was a simple meal (macaroni and cheese that was shaped like some cartoon character), and he did not mind cooking it. He actually enjoyed it. "Hey, Liv?" he asked her as he mixed in the cheese sauce.

"Hmm?" Olivia asked as she picked her head up from the magazine.

"How do you feel about me being this child's legal adoptive father?" he asked.

Olivia smiled at him again. She was engaged to Elliot. In her mind, she was carrying his baby. He was taking such good care of her. This was exactly the way things were supposed to be.