Ehh... another short, kind of annoying/stupid chapter. But I wanted to try and get something up before I leave. Tomorrow I'll be busy packing and whatnot. Quite honestly, I'm not looking forward to the trip. But no one needs to know that.

And it's off to bed for me. They're showing a repeat on NBC tonight... one that we've all seen 596879457 times.

Disclaimer: -sigh- I tried. Didn't work.

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Buzzing. An obnoxious buzzing sound was filling the room. A crying sound soon followed. What the hell? Olivia slowly came to life, realizing that the buzzing was coming from her door, and the crying was Mary, lying next to her on her bed.

"Oh." She'd established where she was, but how did she get rid of the annoying sounds?

Her mind slowly returned as she stood, carefully lifting Mary from her spot on the bed and walking to the door. She pressed the intercom button. "Hello?"

"Olivia? It's me." Elliot. "Hey, if you were sleeping, I can come back la-"

"No, no. Come on up." She mentally slapped herself. She was in no condition for what was coming. Six hours earlier, she'd arrived home and her fatigue caught up with her. However, Casey ended up making the baby nervous, which caused her to spend three hours trying to calm her down.

Three hours did not give her enough energy to fight.

There was a knock at the door. "Daddy's here," Olivia said softly to Mary, who was still whimpering. She opened the door. Elliot stood awkwardly, hands in his pockets.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi." She looked at Mary and rocked her arms gently.

"Is she okay?" Elliot asked, concern flooding his face.

"Yea. The buzzer woke her up."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"It's okay... Shh, Mary. Shh..."

"Here, let me."

Olivia looked at Elliot. "I don't know. When Casey took her earlier, she got upset. She's not good around strangers."

"I'm her father. I'm not a stranger. Trust me, I've been through this four times."

Olivia sighed. "All right." She carefully put Mary into Elliot's arms.

"Hi sweetie," he said softly. "Hey baby... shh, it's okay."

Mary quickly settled down. Olivia's mouth opened slightly at seeing Mary's interaction with Elliot. Just hours before, Mary was throwing a fit over being in a new set of arms. Now she was settling down quickly, drifting off to sleep.

"Elliot, if you go put her in her little bed, we can talk." Olivia looked down at her hands and twirled her thumbs awkwardly.

"All right. The bed in your room?" he asked, walking toward Olivia's bedroom.

"Yea."

Olivia waited while Elliot put Mary in her crib. When he emerged from her bedroom, she stood there staring at him, sitting on the arm of the couch.

"What?" he asked, unable to read her eyes.

"You. I can't believe how happy Mary was with you," she replied.

"Well, I am her father."

Silence followed. Olivia looked at her feet dangling off the side of the couch. "You know, you haven't really been much of a father," she said quietly.

"Olivia, I'm sorry about that, okay? It's like I told Casey- I wanted to be there, but I was still angry."

"With who?"

"With you."

Olivia glared at him. "You sure about that?" she challenged.

He looked thoughtful. "Yes, I'm sure."

"I don't know." She jumped up from the couch.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Olivia walked to the entrance to her room and looked at her sleeping daughter. "She's so sweet when she's sleeping, isn't she?"

"Don't change the subject." Elliot reached out and grabbed her arm. She pulled away and walked back to the living room.

"Elliot, the day I gave birth was supposed to be one of the happiest days of my life." Her voice was rising. "I wanted to share it with the father of my child." Tears stung her eyes. Don't cry. Not in front of him. "And you weren't there." Her voice became soft and full of emotion as her tears spilled.

"Liv, I'm sorry." He stepped closer to her.

"Sorry? Sorry?" Her tears of sadness suddenly turned into tears of frustration and anger. "Elliot, you are the father of that beautiful baby girl in the other room. And you were too afraid and angry to be in the same room as me when she was born." She took a deep breath. "What am I going to say when she asks about her father, years from now? 'Oh, about that. That was a mistake and never should have happened.'"

"No." Elliot put and hand on her face and wiped a falling tear away.

"I don't want to be like her."

Elliot felt tears in his eyes at the mentioning of Olivia's mother. It was a subject she tended to avoid.

"You don't have to be."

And he kissed her.