"This place looks so cool!" Izzabella said with a bright smile as they walked past some uniformed officers who gave shocked looks when they saw Elliot and Izzabella with Olivia.
"I'm really glad you like it sweetie! This is called a police station, when people do bad things it's mine and my friends jobs to find them, bring them here and make them tell us what they did wrong, it's like timeout for grownups" Olivia explained with a smile as Izzabella smiled and nodded her head as they entered the elevator.
"Can i mash the button?" "Sure kiddo it's number 3" she said as she then pushed it with a smile "is that why you have these? So that the bad people know your a police officer?" She asked pointing at her gun and badge.
"That's part of the reason sweetheart but not all of it. I also have them so that good people will know that i'm safe and can be trusted." "Ahh that's right stranger danger", she smiled remembering as they exited the elevator
"If it isn't Elliot Stabler back in our neck of the woods! It's damn good to see you back here man, I never thought I'd see the day," Fin said as he walked up and gave him a clap on the shoulder
"It's good to see you too Finn I just wish I was here under better circumstances. I'd much rather be here bringing my wife flowers or lunch rather than the current reason I have."
Fin nodded and frowned "what's going on man?"
Elliot sighed "some gossip has been started and it got out of hand, I'm here to put a stop to it. Like I said I'd much rather be here with lunch or flowers for Liv but instead I'm here to be an ass."
Fin sighed "I take it Liv told you.."
Elliot nodded incredulously "of course she told me Fin, you shouldn't have expected anything less from her" he said as he then stepped away from him and further into the precinct.
"I tried to stop them man!" Fin called but it was on deaf ears as Elliot was already gone.
"Hey Elliot, good to see you I take it your here because of last nights incident?" Cragen asked knowingly.
"Yep that's right" Elliot said, eyes hardened as he nodded his head.
Cragen sighed "you guys are to protective over each other for your own good."
Elliot chuckled "we're married don that's how its supposed to be, and there wouldn't be any problems if your newbies hadn't shot their mouths off."
Cragen sighed "try not to start a seen okay Elliot? And I know it's hard to remember sometimes but Olivia can take care of herself" he said as he then went over to Izzabella and scooped her up."
"Hey Elliot good to see you" Munch said with a small smile, sparing him a quick glance as he then focused back on the crime board.
"Hey John, It's good to see you too , hey cap would it be alright if Izzabella sat in your office while i talk to every one? This isn't really umm kid friendly as you already know." Elliot said as Cragen just nodded his head "yeah sure just heave my warning, izzi, would you like to come into my office with me for a few minutes? I'll let you use the copy machine and you can color."
"Ok grandpa Don, that sounds fun" she said as she went in there with him just as Nick, Amanda and Barba walked into the squad room with coffees in hand.
"Morning Liv," Amaro said to her placing her coffee on her desk.
"Good morning detective Amaro, thanks for the coffee," she said as she was turning her computer on and keeping her eye on Elliot.
Nick frowned slightly "hey Liv why so formal? And whose that?" He asked noticing her gaze.
Olivia smiled brightly "that's my husband" she said as she took a few sips of the beverage.
"Morning Fin whose that?" Amanda asked fin pointing at Elliot while handing him his coffee with her free hand.
"That's Elliot Stabler, word traveled to him regarding what you said last night, I hope your ready for the fallout."
Amanda frowned "why would he care what I said? He's her old partner who retired with out saying goodbye right?"
Fin sighed and frowned "Rollins for a detective your awful dumb when it comes to this. Elliot, or maybe he could be called El for short... You get it now?"
"Oh shit..." was all she could manage to say as her face went pale.
Fin just nodded "yep... I wish both you and Barba luck, and speaking of you Barba what happened to your face?" Fin asked.
"Well I'll just say Liv packs a nice punch and for the record Fin, I can't speak for Rollins but I didn't say anything to her that I didn't think might be true."
Fin just nodded as Elliot slightly smiled "I'll give you 1 thing, your mighty bold and yeah I know Liv can pack a punch, I was on the wrong end of 1 once" he said slightly chuckling as he then walked over to her desk and put a gentle hand on her shoulder "to the people who don't know me my name is Elliot Stabler, and I am Olivia's husband. No i haven't come around the precinct at all in 3 years, yes I retired from the force and yes those actions were my choice. Although it is absolutely none of you guy's business why i made those choices and i do not appreciate you guys harassing my wife about her personal life to the point that she came home and cried in my arms I'm here to set things straight and explain things so you'll stop."
"We weren't harassing her mr. Stabler we were just being concerned friends and we deffinitely weren't trying to make her cry" Rollins said defending herself and her actions.
"Amanda the first part's not true and you know it. You asked me at least twice a month when you could meet my husband although I kept telling you and telling you that things were complicated, that he wasn't comfortable coming here yet. Hell I even told you once that he's been through a lot! but you wouldn't take that for an answer! You had to cross the line and insinuate that he was hurting me! I don't know if I can ever completely get passed that."
Amanda sighed "Liv, tell me what was I supposed to think?"
"Anything but that Amanda, anything" Olivia said as the anger was gone from her eyes and hurt had taken it's place. "As for you Barba, damn you for what you said last night, just damn you."
At this point pretty much every one in the room was speechless as Elliot gently rubbed her arm "calm down honey calm down... I know your hurt and that you feel betrayed... but lets let them hear the hole story once they hear it they'll realize what idiots they've been being," he whispered to her softly.
Olivia nodded , Elliot's words calming her as she put her hand on his shoulder as support and he cleared his throat and faced the group again "as you probably all know 3 years ago there was a shooting in this precinct which took place almost exactly where I'm standing now. A sixteen year old girl named Jenna Fox came in here with a gun, she started opening fire on a few men who were in our holding cell who were responsible for the death of her mother. Once she shot them though she started to wildly wave her gun around, she shot sister Peg, a nun who helped us solve a few cases who was standing right beside Olivia, before she could shoot anyone else i fired my gun. I only intended to shoot her in the left shoulder to wound her...
Elliot started to tear up and Olivia gently rubbed his shoulder "but she anticipated my shot , moved the slightest bit and my bullet pierced her heart. She died in my arms. After that I... I simply couldn't show my face around here anymore, i was responsible for the death of a girl who was right around the age of my daughter Elizabeth, I just ... I just couldn't do the job any more with that guilt plus as Fin, Cap and Munch already know, Olivia went into labor with our daughter Izzabella while trying to stop sister pegg's bleeding so for me that was the perfect out. We didn't have the money for a nanny, we didn't want a nanny and taking care of her while Liv went back to work after her maternity leave was up was just what i needed to get through my depression. No it might not be orthodox, no i might not look like a person who would enjoy or even consider being a stay at home dad..." Elliot's face was bright red now as his grief turned to anger and he stepped away from Olivia and closer to Barba and Amanda "but i love my daughter, all of my kids and my wife more than life itself and for anyone to have the balls! to say that i could hurt my wife or intentionally make my daughter sick to make Olivia come home more doesn't know me at all!"
Amanda was almost in tears realizing how horribly wrong she was as Barba's face was pale "I'm sorry mr. Stabler... I didn't know... w-we didn't know." Amanda said as Barba nodded his head quickly too "we were out of line the both of us, I'm always honest about what I think but I'll always admit when I'm wrong a-and I was terribly wrong... I'm very sorry for what I accused you of" he said as he and Amanda walked over to shake his hand.
Elliot sighed seeing their sincerity "I believe you guys and I forgive you. Hell I even understand your need to be protective of her and watch her back. I share that same need, have sense I've known her but trust goes a long way too and your actions haven't proven that you trust her. If anything they've proven the opposite to her. My advice to you both is to think before you judge from now on because there's always 2 sides to every story and judging to soon makes it impossible to see both sides. Have you ever once solved a case in this unit by just looking at 1 side of a situation?" He asked Rollins.
Rollins shook her head some n-no I haven't... I didn't think about it like that.."
Elliot nodded then looked to Barba "mr. Barba have you ever prosecuted anyone blindly with out considering all of the evidence in the case first?"
He shook his head quickly "no that's absurd."
Elliot smiled and nodded some "yeah it is but it's what you guys did here, you guys accused me of unthinkable things with out even knowing me and like I said I understand and forgive you but i donno if it'll be that easy for Liv." He said as he shook their hands then stepped back over to her desk and sat on the edge of it.
"Why would it be harder for her to forgive us than it is for you?" amanda asked as at this point she was just plain curious.
"Because you never saw Olivia and Elliot together as partners, they were always protective of each other to a fault , if 1 of them ever got suspended lord help whoever came up with the idea, once Olivia was suspended for going out to nu Jersey to help clear her brother of some charges filed against him and Elliot gave Cragen absolute hell until she was back, the same exact thing would happen when El got benched for roughing up a perp" Munch shared.
Amanda was stunned "they did that? Risked their jobs for each other even when they knew that the other 1 was in the wrong?"
Before Munch could answer Liv and El beat him to it and smiled "yes we did because that's how we roll, partners for life for better or worse," they said in unison as Amanda, Barba and Nick just gaped "where was that loyalty when I got suspended last month Liv?" Amaro asked with a small smile.
Olivia smiled as she was holding Elliot's hand under her desk "I like you Nick and we're friends but your not Elliot, besides me and El were already together when the suspensions that John was just talking about happened."
Nick chuckled and smiled "I'm surprised you guys were even allowed to stay partners with loyalty like that."
They nodded agreeing as Elliot smiled small "it came with challenges and IAB tried to split us up more times than I can count but we always ended up managing to stay together until that day."
Amaro nodded , smiled and looked away as Amanda then looked up at Munch "that's insane John and I can tell they were insanely close..."
"Are," Liv and El corrected in unison.
Amanda smiled "are then, but what point are you trying to make by telling us about this?"
Munch smiled "the point is that they care more about each other then they care about themselves and they have for as long as I can remember. That's why it's gonna be harder for Olivia to forgive you guys."
She just nodded her head and sighed finally completely understanding the deep hole that her and Barba had dug themselves into with them "I know we've hurt you guys and I have no right to ask but would you guys maybe like to go out with us for drinks sometime? We can all get to know each other better, maybe become friends in time or at the least Liv maybe we can earn your trust back?"
Olivia and Elliot glanced at each other for a long moment as Olivia then spoke "we don't really go out very much sense we have Izzabella and never know when she's gonna get sick, and yes you guys do have some making up to do but maybe 1 night soon you guys can come out to our house for drinks and we can see how it goes."
Amanda, Nick and Barba smiled "we'd really like that Liv, maybe Izzabella and Zara could become friends," Nick said.
"Yeah maybe so" Olivia said as her face softened completely and she smiled fully for the first time sense they had arrived at the precinct that day.
"Lets all get back to work guys, I'm sure we still all have reports to type on the Lewis case" Fin said taking charge for a moment.
Liv sighed a bit "yeah I know I do I lied to Cragen last night so I could get home I was to pissed off to work."
Elliot chuckled and lightly smacked her thigh "you didn't..."
"I did," she said with a smirk on her face and began typing "are you alright El? Being in here I mean?"
He nodded "yeah I am honey I've gotta say I love our kid to death but I've missed us in here, as for the flashbacks you've kept me grounded."
"good I'm glad, I have too El, you don't have to but I'd love it if you stuck around for a little while, I'm sure Izzi's content in there with her grandpa, we can share my coffee and you can annoy the hell outa me while I type."
"Sounds good my love" he said as he kissed her on the lips softly and a throat cleared "obviously you guys made no progress last night in finding any new evidence against Lewis, not that I think there's anymore to find so I'm gonna head on to the trial hearing."
Olivia nodded "alright Barba good luck in there, please let me know what happens and umm sorry about your face."
He smiled "it's fine I deserved it" he said as he left the squad room.
About 20 minutes passed as steady typing and Liv and El's light banner could be heard through out the room "were they always like this?" Rollins asked looking at Fin from across her desk.
Fin shrugged "sorta I mean they bantered off and on , not this much though they're happier now though that he's retired and plus now they don't have to worry about crossing professional boundaries anymore."
She nodded "gotcha, I've gotta admit they're good together."
"Yes they are" Fin said with a smile as Cragen stepped out of his office with Izzabella in tow "I hate to break up this reunion/meeting/whatever it's turned into but we have a case. Benson , Amaro, head to mercy and get the victims statement, she was raped in central park, Fin Rollins go check out the crime scene, CSU's already there and umm Benson? I need your reports I didn't get them last night."
"They're right here" she said as she put the final touch on her last 1 "umm captain can I talk to you when we get back from interviewing the vic?"
He nodded "sure is every thing alright?"
Elliot gave her leg a gentle, encouraging squeeze from underneath the desk as she nodded "yeah every thing's okay I just need to get some furlough approved."
Cragen nodded "that shouldn't be a problem, now go you 2 the vic is waiting" he said as he grabbed her finished reports then walked off and Liv sighed "We'll walk you guys out" Elliot said as he took Izzabella's hand and walked to the elevator beside Nick "thank you for being a good partner to Liv and having her back I've only heard good things about you."
Nick nodded "it's an honor to be her partner Mr. Stabler I've learned a lot from her and your a good husband, I also only heard good things she always kept your struggles in confidence but at least once a week she has a new story to tell about something you 3 did together... Man she couldn't love you or trust you any more than she does, the way her face lights up even when she says your name... It's something me and my wife never had that's why I never fed into Rollins or Barba's bs."
Elliot nodded "it means a lot that you trusted her, please just keep doing what your doing, I'll be showing my face around here more from now on" he said as they stepped into the elevator and he went over to Liv gently putting an arm around her.
"I was hoping today would have been slow the last thing I need right now is to be the lead on yet another case" she whispered into his ear As Amaro pushed ground on the elevator and they started to descend.
He nodded "I know love but it'll be okay weather you get your furlough today, , next week or next month we'll be here and we'll be happy that your home" he whispered as he gave her a gentle kiss on her temple.
"I know El, I love you guys so much."
"We love you too my love", "I love you mommy! Here take this!" Izzabella said with a bright smile as she handed her the picture that she drew in Cragens office of the 3 of them together on a beach holding seashells.
"It's beautiful baby, I'll put it in my locker as soon as I go back inside" she said neatly folding it and putting it in her pocket as she then hugged her tightly to her chest "I love you so much sweet girl, thank you."
"Your welcome mommy" she said with a smile as they all stepped out of the elevator and out of the precinct as the 3 of them embraced into a love filled group hug while Amaro watched silently beside the Sedan along with another unseen person who watched and smirked behind some bushes.
Pretty soon Elliot pulled away "alright love go, go catch the bastard we'll see you tonight what would you like for dinner?"
She smiled , kissed Izzabella on the head then released them "you know I think steak sounds great" she said with a smile.
He smiled and nodded "alright steak it is" he said as they shared a passionate kiss then headed off to their separate cars to continue their days.
A/n: Hey y'all, I really hope that every one who is reading this is enjoying it. I know I've made Liv and El a little out of character in this story but my logic behind it is that marriage changes people. In this they've been together for 8 years so I think by now most of the walls that she keeps up on the show would already be obliterated in this universe, thus explaining their heightened loyalty to each other and her willingness to admit to herself and Elliot that she needs furlough leading her to try to take it. Reviews are always welcome, no overly rude reviews but I'm always open to suggestions, general thoughts and constructive criticism. Question for the readers, who do you think is behind the bushes? Until next time every one.