Stabler home, 3:15 AM.
Since the 3 of them had settled back in bed a little over an hour ago not much sleep had been had. Izzabella would fall asleep for a few minutes at a time then wake up and throw up into the trash can that was now just sitting on the bed with them. "Is it usually this bad?" Olivia whispered to Elliot in horror as he just nodded his head grimly while cradling their daughter in his arms.
She nodded sadly "I know this isn't the right time for me to say this but I wish you would have called. I would have come home to hell with what Cragen said."
Elliot nodded "I know you would've and I thought about it a lot but..."
he said as before he could finish his sentence Izzabella quickly lept out of his arms "hey hey honey what's the matter where you going?" he panicked.
He soon understood though as they saw her fall near the toilet due to her trembling and overall weakness "Liv..." Elliot said as she nodded and went to tend to her and clean her up while Elliot cleaned out the garbage can.
"D-daddy c-can we go sit on the swing?" she asked once every one was back in bed again.
He nodded "of course baby," he said as he slowly stood up with her in his arms as Olivia gave him a puzzled look "sometimes when it's this bad the only thing that gives her any relief is taking her outside and sitting out there in the fresh air."
Olivia nodded her head understanding "please let me know if you guys need anything El, I doubt I'll be going to sleep anytime soon," she said as he nodded his head "I will and if you can't end up falling back asleep feel free to join us, the sun'll be rising before to long," he said quietly as he stepped out of the bedroom.
"C-can I have some chocolate milk?" Izzabella asked weakly as he walked.
Elliot shook his head and rubbed her back "that'll just make this worse honey your not supposed to drink milk on an upset stomach. I'll fix you some gingerale though," he said softly as she slightly nodded her head and he expertly poured her a glass with 1 hand while holding her gently and steadily in his other arm.
Pretty soon they were sitting outside in a large lounge chair as Elliot decided the movement of the swing would only make it worse as after Izzabella took a few sips of the gingerale she fell back asleep with her head on his chest.
"The sky is so beautiful, I don't think I've ever really taken the time to look at it until now," Olivia whispered to Elliot as she sat in the other lounge chair.
He nodded "yeah it is, I have to say my mom was right about so many things, about me having missed so many things but I just wouldn't hear her back then."
She nodded "do you like retirement El?" she asked keeping her face as neutral as possible.
Elliot nodded "honestly yeah I do... I mean I miss working with you don't get me wrong but I'd be lying if I told you that I missed the cases."
Olivia nodded her head as she leaned over slightly and placed her hand on his free shoulder "that makes sense.. I told cragen yesterday that I'm reaching my burnout point too.. I guess there's just only so much of this work that we can take before we have to take a breather."
Elliot nodded "isn't that the truth, I sorta wonder if things would maybe be different now if I had just taken Huangs advice more back in the day and taken some mini vacations every now and again like your doing now."
Olivia nodded "I don't think it would have changed anything El. I mean after Jenna did what she did..." She sighed slightly and shook her head closing herself off before she said anything else as she glanced up at the moon and stars.
"Honey what else were you gonna say? I just watched your walls come up like the old days."
Olivia shook her head slightly "it's not important."
Elliot frowned and put his free hand on the hand that was touching his shoulder "tell me?"
Olivia sighed "sometimes I just wonder how different things would be now if Jenna wouldn't have brought that gun into the precinct that night, maybe..." as just then it started pouring down raining and they quickly raced inside, the conversation abruptly ending.
"W-what's going on?" izzabella asked panicking at their quick movement.
"Every things alright honey it's just raining we don't want you to catch a cold, are you feeling any better?" Elliot asked softly.
Izzabella nodded "yeah a little," she said groggily as liv and el both sighed simultaneously in relief as Elliot climbed into the bed with her in his arms, Liv not far behind as they all fell into extremely deep sleeps, pure exhaustion taking over them all.
8:45 AM.
Elliot woke from his deep slumber hearing pounding on their door "what the hell?" he mumbled to himself as he gently laid Izzabella down beside Olivia and got out of bed to go investigate.
"What's going on El?" Olivia mumbled sleepily as they could hear more pounding as Elliot shook his head "I have no idea that's what I'm going down there to find out, I woke up to that."
She shook her head "unbelievable, here take this," she said handing him her gun from the lock box on her bedside table.
He nodded and took it "thanks honey, I'll be right back," he said as the pounding continued and Izzabella started to cry , frightened of the noise "shhh, shhh, shhh it's alright sweetheart, every thing's gonna be okay," Olivia soothed while rocking her gently as Elliot left the room.
"CUT IT OUT!! I'M COMING!" Elliot shouted as he made it to the front door and opened it to see Amaro and Rollins standing there "what the hell is your problem coming to our home and banging on our door like that! You scared our daughter to death! Why not have the fucking decency to call!!"
"Mr. Stabler, Mr. Stabler easy we called Olivia's phone over 10 times, she never picked up," Amaro said as Rollins nodded "yeah we need her to come in and since she wasn't answering and that never happens we were worried that something was wrong."
Elliot sighed, nodded and took several deep breaths "c-come in, it's been a bad night we didn't get any real sleep until a quarter after four. I'm sorry she scared you but neither 1 of us heard the phone."
Amanda sighed "it's fine we just really need for Olivia to come with us now."
Elliot frowned "hold up a minute you can't just rush her out like that Cragen is only supposed to be calling her in for emergencies and she's been awake for less than 5 minutes, she's gonna need a chance to get dressed."
She sighed "it was Cragen's call to call her in our victim from yesterdays case wants to change her statement."
"that's not considered to be an emergency detective Rollins you guys should just interview her yourself," Elliot said slightly frustrated at the trivial reason.
Rollins glared "the victim will only talk to her is that emergent enough for you?!"
Elliot glared back at her "do not take that tone with me in my own home. I'll go get Olivia for you but I suggest that you guys make yourselves comfortable on the sofa because she's gonna need a few moments to get ready," he said as he shot Rollins 1 last glare before heading upstairs.
"Nice going Rollins, really nice going," Amaro said sarcastically as he sat down on 1 end of the couch.
She sighed "he deserved it, regardless of what happened at the precinct 3 years ago he's an ass," she said as she texted Cragen, letting him know that Olivia was safe and would be in shortly as she then put her phone down.
"Is every thing alright El? Who was at the door?" Olivia asked seeing him walk into the bedroom as Izzabella was sleeping soundly again in her arms.
He nodded "yeah every thing's okay honey, it was detectives Amaro and Rollins apparently they tried to call you several times, you didn't pick up and they got worried."
She nodded and sighed "at least it was just my worried colleagues and nothing was wrong, the way they were pounding on the door you would have thought something was wrong. What'd they want?"
He sighed "you've been called in, Cragen's orders apparently your victim from yesterday wants to change her statement."
She nodded and sighed "I saw that 1 coming I told Cragen that I thought she was hiding something yesterday, I also told him to send Rollins to talk to her today what good that did me."
He smiled slightly "a for effort right?"
She nodded "yeah and an f for execution, what time do you need to leave here to get Izzabella to the doctor on time?"
"With Nu York traffic? No later than 12:30. Honey I know you'll try your best to be here but if you don't make it it'll be alright. Every thing's gonna be alright you just focus on getting justice for that girl."
She nodded "I'll try but that's hard to do when your mind is on literally every thing under the sun besides work."
He nodded "I know it is, you can do it I have faith in you," he said as he gave her a quick kiss as Rollins walked in to the bedroom seeing her still on the bed with her pajama's on "Liv , girl we've gotta go."
Olivia shot Rollins a glare which caused her to step out of the room rather fast as She gently laid Izzabella down and started getting dressed.
Elliot stepped out of the bedroom as he went to the kitchen and quickly microwaved a cream cheese bagel as once it was done cooking he wrapped it in a couple napkins then put it in a paper sack.
"That looks really good," Amaro said as Elliot smiled and nodded "thanks," he said as Olivia then walked downstairs with her gun and badge on her hip "well I'm ready when you guys are."
Amaro nodded "alright lets go partner, nice medallion I never noticed it before."
She nodded "I don't wear it often, El gave it to me when I went undercover a few years back."
"Ahh," Amaro said as he slightly sighed to himself as Elliot handed her her bagged breakfast "if you can't make it let me know and I'll bring you lunch, I love you."
"I love you too El, I'll see you guys later," she said as they kissed a final time then the 3 detectives left the house.