Chapter Three: A Few before Two

Elliot Stabler paced around the center of the bullpen, looking at his watch every five seconds. Olivia and Abbie both sat at Olivia's desk, their eyes following the man back and forth. He looked up at the women and winked then all three of them nodded to Munch, Fin, and Cragen as they walked in the room from three different doors.

"Okay, Elliot," Fin said, grabbing the slightly taller man by the shoulders. I think you have kept us all guessing long enough. What the hell are you planning?" Elliot turned to Fin and winked at the younger man, a twinkle in his blue eyes.

The phone on Elliot's desk rang and he jogged over to grab it. Setting it to speaker, he said, "Hey you. The gang's here." Munch's eyes snapped to his co-worker as he recognized the female voice that answered. "We're stuck in traffic, but we should be there in about ten minutes." The two hung up as Munch grabbed Elliot's jacket and drug him out the door.

Once outside of earshot of the bullpen, Munch let Elliot go and turned the shorter man around. "How could you do this to Liv?" Elliot stared at Munch trying to figure out what the older man could be talking about. Munch saw the question in Elliot's eyes and rolled his own brown eyes towards the ceiling, noticing a hole in the process.

"Olivia fell in love the last time she had that family around," Munch explained. "When they went to move and she had to stay in New York, it broke her heart Elliot. That's why she broke up with her boyfriend and just stayed at home alone for those few weeks. She even called and begged Abbie to come over."

Elliot glared at his friend. "What does that have to do with this then? She should be happy that they're coming by. Why did she even need Abbie anyway?" Munch looked Elliot in the eye and continued his story.

"That's what I wondered when Abbie told me we had to finish a discussion about a book we both happen to like on a later date. That Olivia needed her. At first, I thought they were dating but I bugged Abbie enough that she told me what was going on. Olivia called Abbie and told her that she needed someone to talk to or she felt like she'd have to take her gun out of the drawer and shot her self."

Elliot stumbled backwards a couple of steps at the words. He had never believed he could have possibly hurt his Olivia like that. "Why...I mean…I never...WHY?" Elliot asked Munch, turning around to look back in the pen and see Olivia and Abbie apparently having a battle of wits, and having a great time.

Munch patted Elliot's shoulder and Elliot looked back at him. "Elliot. You left the case to avoid become to close to Aden. That left Olivia to handle the case. When those girls moved, she didn't just lose another case or another friend. Elliot, she had lost her latest love." Elliot shook his head. "If she was so in love she should have recognized her voice on the phone. She could have mentioned it," Elliot snapped at Munch, turning to meet Munch's strong gaze.

Munch shook his head and went to walk away, Elliot at his heels. As they neared the door to the bullpen, Munch turned around and said, "Elliot. I said she loved. I never said she loved Aden. She knew the whole time it was wrong, but just the same she was falling in love with Krysten and Lena. Both of them. She won't recognize Aden's voice, but get one of those girls on the phone and she'll probably pass out."

Munch turned around and walked into the bullpen and Elliot turned and walked out of the door. Cragen looked surprised as the doors swung shut behind Elliot, but Munch dismissed it as a typical Elliot.

Munch stayed to hear the ending of the battle in the pen before going to talk to Fin. The battle ended with Abbie telling Olivia, "Insanitytown called the other day. Seems their mayor has been missing for a while and they would like her back." Olivia threw the final jab in, saying, "Well, then, Abs, you should really quit this walking out thing and get back to work shouldn't you?"

Olivia and Abbie both burst out laughing and called a truce to their war. Abbie sat down in Elliot's chair that Munch had just vacated.

Elliot walked back into the room after explaining things to Aden and making her promise to not tell her girls. He walked into the pen, followed by Aden and her two girls, and Olivia felt her heart stop.