May 25th, 11:15 AM.
"I'm so glad that's over," Olivia said through a sigh of relief as Elliot drove out of the parking lot.
"Me too honey me too, you were so brave though and I'm proud of you for that."
Olivia nodded slightly "you know now I understand why all the women I've ever been in the room with were so scared. I mean I always had sympathy for them, compassion too but now it's like... It's like I understand their fear in a whole knew way now."
He nodded slightly "it's empathy, what your feeling is empathy b-because now you've been through what they went through," he said softly.
Olivia nodded her head slightly "I-I just wanna forget, I-I wanna forget and plan that trip to Florida like we were gonna do... T-That's not gonna happen now is it?"
Elliot nodded slightly to her statement in sympathy "we'll go somewhere sweetheart, it might be to fort Lauderdale, it might end up being somewhere else me and you can figure that out together... As for you forgetting I don't know that you'll ever completely forget but in time it'll fade, it'll fade and become a distant memory I promise," he gently rubbed her arm "I promise..."
She slightly nodded her head as a couple tears slid down her cheeks "I-I hope so El, I-I really hope so."
He continued gently rubbing her arm right above the cast "it will sweetheart it'll just take a little time. It's been less than 48 hours honey," he said softly as Olivia nodded and sniffled, drying her eyes with her right hand as Elliot's phone rang as he spared it a quick one eyed glance. Crime lab, the screen read "I have to take this honey," he said through a sigh as he moved his hand to answer his phone, his left still on the wheel.
Olivia nodded her head "okay," she said understanding and wanting him to drive safely as he gave her an apologetic smile "Stabler," he answered.
"Yes hi Elliot, this is Brian Cassidy, I'm calling for captain Siper of CSU, she's the one who sent me to Cragen's house to deliver the bag."
Elliot sighed and nodded his head "okay."
Cassidy sighed "apparently they've lost the paper which they were writing their findings on and wanted to know if you have it?"
Elliot sighed "yes I have it but it's not with me right now we're out at the moment."
Cassidy nodded "you didn't read it did you? You weren't supposed to see it."
"Yes I did read it, it was by mistake but I did read it, maybe next time you should check things that your delivering before you drop them off huh?"
Cassidy sighed "don't be an ass Elliot it was an honest mistake."
"Your telling me not to be an ass? You've got some balls pal," he said as Cassidy sighed "this has nothing to do with Olivia or what happened last year I just need to get that paper back."
Elliot sighed "I'll drop the paper off but it'll be a little while we have some things we need to do first."
Cassidy sighed "fine but we need it by 1 o'clock today."
Elliot glared "I'm not gonna bend over backwards for you and rush taking care of my wife to fix your screw up. If you wanted it earlier you should have called this morning before we went out."
Cassidy sighed "w-we didn't know it was missing until just now though, please do me this favor I-I was the one who bagged the stuff and I could get fired if I don't get it back to them."
Elliot chuckled slightly "like I owe you any favors, look you'll get the paper back I don't wanna keep it but I'm not promising you a time because I don't know when we'll go out again. It could be an hour from now it could be tomorrow, it could be a week from now. If you don't like that or want it faster then you know where we're staying and your welcome to come get it," he said as he pulled into Cragen's drive way.
Cassidy sighed heavily "if I were someone else you wouldn't be acting like this man, I said I'm sorry please stop holding a grudge."
"Yes I would be," Elliot said through a sigh as he got out of the truck keeping the key out of sight as he lowered his voice "I don't have a lot of patients right now and I need to give Olivia every last bit of it meaning I have no time or energy to fix screwups that someone who has been a cop for 15 years should know better than doing. You made your bed by being careless and not watching what you were doing so now you'll have to lie in it. Weather you keep your job isn't my problem but weather Olivia is in pain or gets infections is so like I said you can either a: come to Cragen's and I'll give you the paper back or b: wait patiently for me to come by and drop it off on our way to Jersey you got that?"
Fucking dick, Cassidy thought to himself as he sighed heavily "yeah I hear you loud and clear but don't ever expect any favors from me or my friends in the future."
Elliot chuckled "like I'd ever ask for a favor from you, I've got to go," he said as he saw Olivia standing at Cragen's front door trying to work up the nerve to take the spare key from underneath the mat and use it.
"Fine whatever," Cassidy said through a huff as he hung up and Elliot locked the truck then walked up to Olivia as she didn't see him, to focused on the doormat in front of her "honey I'm here I'm here you want me to take over?" he asked softly.
Olivia nodded slightly "I-I thought I could do it but.."
He nodded his head slightly "it's okay sweetheart it's still soon, hey look. You see the gardenia's over there? They're really beautiful."
Olivia turned her head slightly to look "yeah I do your right they are," she said as while she was distracted Elliot quickly grabbed the key and unlocked the door "maybe I can pick you a couple before we leave I bet Cragen wouldn't mind."
She smiled some "I'd really like that El, what had you so pissed? All I got out of what I heard was somebody wanted you to fix their screw up?"
He sighed slightly "it was the idiot, turns out when he dropped all the stuff off yesterday he left an incomplete CSU report too, wanted me to drop every thing and take it back to the crime lab before 1 o'clock today. I'd tell you what I told him but you heard most of it already."
She sighed slightly "when is he gonna learn?" she said as she shrugged her shoulders.
"That's a good question," Elliot said as he sat down on the couch.
Olivia slightly smiled and sat down beside him "when do you wanna go to Jersey?"
"I don't really have a preference honey just whenever your comfortable going."
She nodded slightly "I'm good with going tonight I mean I know I'm still in bad shape but Izzabella's missing us, she's told us so and we're missing her too."
Elliot nodded his head "that's true I'm just worried it's gonna be to loud over there, when we go it'll be us, Izzabella, my mom, Kathleen, Maureen, Carl and possibly Lizzie too."
Olivia nodded slightly "wow... I-I mean I love them all and appreciate all the support but where will they all sleep?"
Elliot sighed slightly "I have no idea, she's got a couch, love seat and 3 bedrooms."
Olivia nodded slightly "it'll be a tight fit but it seems manageable, I-I wanna at least try I mean they're all adults except Izzabella so I'm sure they'll be respectful."
He nodded "ohh they will be I promise you that, if they aren't they'll here about it."
Olivia gave a small smile but shook her head "don't be to hard on them El they're young adults and aren't mellow like us. Respectful is one thing and loud is another."
Elliot nodded slightly "you have a point I just want your recovery to go as smoothly as possible."
She nodded slightly "me too but I don't wanna hide out here forever either, they're our family and we should be with them, I just ask for one thing when we go."
Elliot nodded slightly "anything," he said softly.
She slightly smiled "all I ask is for the option for us to come back here with Izzabella if it gets to be to much, and for the record I don't think it will."
He nodded "of course sweetheart, you say the word and we'll come back here for as long as you need."
Olivia smiled some and they hugged "what time do you wanna go?" Elliot asked.
"Maybe we could leave here around 1:30? That would give us time to take care of the burns and let my morphine kick in for the drive."
He nodded "sounds like a good plan sweetheart, I-I hate to ask but what do you wanna do about toiletries and clothes? Kathleen packed a really small bag and we're gonna need more stuff."
Olivia sighed slightly "I-I don't know if I can go in there today El."
He nodded slightly "I could do it but would you be alright by yourself in the car?"
She nodded slightly "yeah I should be, I might pick some veggies from the garden or something that shouldn't be triggering."
Elliot nodded "sounds good sweetheart," he said with a slight smile as after a few more minutes of snuggling together on the couch they pulled apart and stood up in sync to head to the bedroom and tend to the burns.
20 minutes later every burn had been treated except the one in between her legs and Elliot had kept his composure better this time "h-honey how do you wanna do this? I don't want you to be uncomfortable but I don't want you to feel like you can't ask me for help."
Olivia nodded her head slightly appreciating how he was going about this "m-maybe you can just help me get my pants and panties down and squeeze the cream onto my finger for me? A-And I can apply it to the spot myself I-I watched how you treated the ones on my chest so I understand how."
Elliot nodded "I can do that sweetheart," he said softly as he did what she asked then turned around while she carefully applied the cream to the effected area and worked to get her clothes back up as since he wasn't watching she took advantage and used her left hand to help "okay you can turn around now," Olivia said softly once she was covered as she cradled her wrist.
Elliot nodded and turned back to face her as he immediately noticed her holding her wrist "I should have known you'd do that..." he said softly as he used a baby wipe to get the access cream off his fingertips then got her morphine out for her "here," he said handing it to her along with her water as he slid in beside her and took over cradling her wrist.
"Thanks El," she said with a slight smile taking the pill "and your right I couldn't help myself."
He chuckled a bit and slightly smiled "I'm not gonna say anything or give you the lecture about how you shouldn't have because I would have done the same damn thing, I just hate seeing you in pain that's all."
She nodded slightly "I understand, hopefully the more I use it for small tasks the less it'll hurt."
He nodded "maybe so just please be careful honey I want you to be able to get that cast off in 6 weeks not 8."
She nodded "I will I promise. E-El can I ask you something?"
He nodded "of course honey what is it?"
She sighed slightly "h-how long did you know for? T-That I had been hurt down there?"
He sighed slightly "s-since we went to bed last night, I-I was stretching out, getting comfortable and my foot kicked the evidence bag. I reached down to toss it off the bed, planned on going through every thing else in it with you today but that's when I saw the paper and read the report from CSU."
Olivia nodded her head sadly "n-no wonder you couldn't sleep Elliot, I-I'm so sorry I didn't ask more questions.. I-I'm so sorry you found out that way at all."
He rubbed her back slightly "you didn't ask more questions because I made sure you wouldn't feel like you needed to, t-that was my choice I was trying to protect you from my hurt and grief because I knew you weren't ready for me to know yet."
She nodded slightly "i-if I had just told you sooner this could have all been avoided."
Elliot nodded slightly not denying her words "you were protecting yourself honey and I understand that, I'm sure I would have done the same thing."
She nodded slightly "maybe so but I didn't need to protect myself from you t-that's the thing."
He nodded "your right you didn't but you know as well as I do when people go through trauma like you have they're skittish for a while, and you said it yourself you weren't scared of me you were scared of the flashback you might have had and protecting yourself from a flashback is completely normal and understandable."
She nodded slightly "y-your right Elliot I just wish I had told you myself instead of making you find out by reading a report, I-it wasn't right of me."
Elliot pulled her closer to him "you didn't make me do anything honey, you didn't say hey Elliot, you should pull out the CSU report in the plastic bag and read the bottom 3 lines that was my doing so please don't blame yourself for that."
Olivia couldn't help but smile slightly at his wording "I'll try not to El."
Elliot smiled, nodded and gave her a gentle kiss and she returned it as their silent understanding was to put it behind them as as their kiss grew in intensity his phone rang and Olivia shook her head "nnhnn," she said as she continued the kiss, enjoying this romantic moment with her husband as at this moment she didn't feel like a trauma victim.
"Wouldn't dream of it," Elliot said softly as they let the call go to voicemail, only pulling apart to take breaths as they'd then resume kissing again, both knowing that for the time being passionate kissing was as far as they could go.
The phone rang again 2 minutes later as they both sighed in frustration and pulled apart as Olivia lid her head near Elliot's racing heart and he grabbed his phone "S-Stabler," he answered slightly out of breath.
"Hey man am I interrupting something?" Cassidy asked.
Elliot sighed heavily "that's none of your business, what do you want?"
He sighed "I just wanted to find out when I can expect to get that paper back? It's 12:30 and captain Siper and her team really need it."
Elliot sighed heavily "your wearing my patients extremely thin Brian, we'll be leaving here a little after 1:30 so if traffic's good I should be there around a quarter till 2."
He sighed slightly "okay fine but please no later than that they're on my ass."
"I'll be there when I get there unless you'd like to come and pick it up yourself, which I'd really prefer by the way it'd save me some gas money."
He sighed "I can't leave this building."
Elliot nodded "then I'll be there when I get there and also unless there's really something you need don't call this number again, I'm not in the mood to fight with you," he said as he hung up and put his phone back on the table and Olivia rubbed his back as he exhaled deeply.
"You know what I wanna know? I wanna know how the hell he got your number," Olivia said through a sigh.
Elliot sighed "I haven't got the slightest clue when I retired we changed it, disconnected my old one and that's the only number he ever had of mine. Did you give it out to anyone?" he asked as his tone and expression wasn't accusing just curious.
"I only gave it to Fin when you told me it was okay," she slightly shuddered "a-and to Lewis when he shot his gun above my head."
He nodded slightly and quickly started strumming his fingers through her hair "your safe sweetheart, it's just you and me here," he said softly, desperately trying to prevent her from going into a flashback.
Olivia nodded slightly and took a couple deep breaths "I-I know," she said after a couple minutes.
Elliot cont stroking her hair "I-I shouldn't have asked it was just.-
Olivia shook her head slightly "no Elliot you did nothing wrong you just asked me a question and my brain went somewhere I wish it hadn't when I answered it. I don't want you to feel like you have to treat me like I'm fragile Elliot b-because I'm not, I want you to treat me like normal."
Elliot nodded slightly "okay," he said softly knowing how important it was to her that she was seen as strong as he thought for a minute "you think Fin would have given him the number?"
She sighed slightly "maybe? I mean I didn't tell him about what happened so he might have if he was asked for it."
Elliot nodded slightly "well maybe he'll heed my warning if he doesn't and keeps picking fights with me I'll block him for a while, neither 1 of us need the stress."
Olivia nodded "I agree with that, hey you hungry? Maybe I could try and fix a small lunch?"
Elliot smiled slightly "yeah I could eat but are you sure your up to that? I mean I don't mind fixing it."
Olivia smiled "yeah I can fix something easy I figured since I wasn't able to make dinner the other night I could do this instead."
Elliot nodded and smiled "sounds amazing honey, I'll pack while you do that, if you need any help though please just call out."
She nodded "I will," she said as she headed into the kitchen and put a frozen pizza in the oven.
While she did that Elliot packed their bag and made up the bed as he let Kathleen know they'd be headed that way soon as when he hung up with her he saw a text from Lizzie.
Lizzie: Hey dad, just got off the plain, Kathleen said you guys would probably be heading to Jersey today and I don't have the money to take a cab there so is it okay if I ride with you?
Elliot sighed slightly seeing the message as he stepped into the kitchen "something smells good," he said with a smile.
Olivia smiled "I hope it'll taste good too, it's a frozen pizza."
Elliot smiled and nodded "ah I'm sure it will, Lizzie just texted, apparently her plain just landed and she wants to ride with us to Jersey , doesn't have the money to take a cab there you alright with that?"
Olivia smiled and nodded "of course, it'll give me a chance to find out how college is going for her before every one's attention is divided 8 ways."
Elliot chuckled and nodded "true," he said as he sat down at the bar and responded back Elliot: that's fine with us, the address of where we are now is 2101 Lindsey Lane, have a cab drive you here and we'll drive you from there.
Lizzie: Thanks dad, love you, see you guys soon.
Elliot: Love you too honey, he sent as he sighed slightly and twiddled his thumbs "I don't feel right just sitting here like this I should get up and help with something," he said as he watched Olivia put together a fruit dessert for them.
Olivia smiled slightly "honey your always the one cooking and doing for us let me make your lunch for once El please."
He nodded slightly "a-alright.." he said as after a few more minutes every thing was through and she carefully pulled the pizza out with an oven mitt "this isn't quite the roast I had planned to make before but."
Elliot shook his head cutting her off "honey this will be great I promise it's the thought that counts more than anything," he said as he gently put his arm around her "baby I wish you didn't hold yourself to such a high standard."
She sighed slightly "I can't help it it's just how I'm wired."
He nodded slightly and gently kissed her head "it'll be great," he said as they fixed their plates and began eating as Lizzie arrived half way through the meal and she ended up eating with them.
By the time the 3 of them finished eating all the dessert was gone and there were 2 slices of pizza left "why don't we leave the rest of the pizza here for Cragen?" Elliot suggested.
Olivia smiled "that's a good idea, you don't think he'll mind that I used all his grapes do you?"
Elliot smiled and shook his head "nah I doubt he'll care honey they're on sale anyway."
She nodded "good," she said relieved as they threw their paper plates in the garbage and Elliot went to grab their bag "how are you doing Liv?" Lizzie asked softly once they were alone.
"I'm hanging in there sweetie thanks for asking. You?"
"I'm doing good, made A's and b's on all my exams, I've just been staying away from the clicks and parties and focusing on my schooling."
Olivia smiled "that's great honey, your dad will be really proud," she said as Elliot walked back into the kitchen "you ladies ready?"
"We are, I can't wait to see grandma B it's been to long," Lizzie said with a bright smile as Liv was quickly pulling on her shoes not wanting to hold them up.
Elliot smiled a bit "yeah I know it has been, she misses you 4 a lot, talks about you often."
Lizzie sighed slightly "I make plans to come up here then something always comes up, either a test, an event or I just straight up don't have the money so after a while of making plans and them falling through I finally gave up."
Elliot nodded sadly "honey no matter how old you get you'll always be my daughter and your welcome up here anytime, if money is the issue just let me know and I'll pay for your flight I don't want you to ever want to come up here and visit and feel like you can't you hear me?"
She nodded slightly "yeah I do dad," she said as Olivia smiled in approval of the conversation as she was standing beside Elliot and soon they all headed outside and to the truck.
"Whose sitting where?" Lizzie asked Elliot.
Elliot slightly smiled "take which ever side in the back you want," he said while picking Olivia a few gardenia's as once every one was buckled up they hit the road as Olivia reclined her seat slightly and fell asleep from the morphine.
The ride was pretty quiet until after Elliot dropped the paper off at CSU as once he was back in the truck Lizzie couldn't stand the quiet anymore "you know we got the new xbox 4 in our dorm room in college and all of us love it, I swear we're either in class, studying, practicing for dance line or playing on that thing. You should see all the games we have."
Elliot smiled "that's cool," he said quietly.
She nodded "mmhmm, I can't wait until July comes around, we'll get to learn our new dances for football season, you and Liv'll have to come see one of our shows! You'd really love it!" she said excitedly.
Olivia slightly stirred in her seat waking up since Lizzie wasn't being that quiet "shhhh," Elliot urged to Lizzie "maybe it'll work out to where we can, if your school plays anywhere around Nu York you'll have to let us know," he said quietly.
She nodded "I will dad for sure! I know you guys will love it!"
"Honey honey easy.." Elliot said, again quietly as Olivia looked to him "it's okay El she's excited, rightfully so she's in the dance team of a very popular school I'd be thrilled about it too," she whispered as she raised her seat up a bit and looked to Lizzie "we'd love to go see one of your performances, when you get the schedule send it to us and we'll try okay?"
Lizzie smiled brightly "I will, sorry I woke you up I didn't mean to I just get excited sometimes and don't realize how loud I get."
Olivia smiled slightly "it's okay sweetie it's 2 in the afternoon I shouldn't have been sleeping anyway."
Lizzie smiled and chuckled "true," she said as they all talked about various things until they arrived at Liv and El's house in Queens "were you still wanting to go to the garden Liv? If so Lizzie can help you pick some stuff."
Olivia smiled some "yeah I was still hoping to I think I might grab some tomatoes and cucumbers."
Elliot smiled "that's a good idea honey, will you guys grab some carrots too? I might make a stew tomorrow night."
Olivia smiled slightly "sure," she said as Elliot nodded and parked close to it as he then leaned to whisper in her ear "honey if you need me or feel like you might be getting triggered by something have Lizzie come get me okay? I'll be in and out then I'll help you guys."
Olivia nodded slightly "I will El, try not to worry about me so much honey I'm fine, I'll be fine."
Elliot nodded his head slightly with a knowing smile as he kissed her head then helped her out of the truck as he went inside the house and Olivia and Lizzie headed to the garden.
"So we need tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots?" Lizzie asked to confirm.
Olivia smiled "that's right, the veggies from our garden make the best food."
Lizzie smiled some and nodded "I've heard dad learned how to bake when he retired is that true?"
Olivia smiled and nodded "yes it is, he can make cheese cake, caramel apples and a few other desserts you'll have to try whatever he makes tonight."
Lizzie smiled "I definitely will," she said putting some veggies into a bag.
Olivia smiled and nodded as she bent down to pick some veggies of her own as she ended up tripping over her shoe laces that no one noticed were untied as she fell head first into the flower bed, scratching her arm and getting a couple splinters on the way down from the wooden divider "shit!" she cursed as she managed to get up from the ground but was in pain because of her bruised ribs she had just aggravated "my god Liv are you okay?" Lizzie asked panicking.
"Yeah sweetie I-I'm fine I promise," Olivia said as she bent down again and tried again to pick the vegetables.
Lizzie frowned slightly "your in pain, your hurt I'm gonna go get dad."
Olivia went to say something but Lizzie was already gone as she sighed slightly and gathered a few more carrots then sat down and waited on Elliot to arrive.
Elliot was out there with in 3 minutes "L-Lizzie said you fell into the flower bed and hit your head? A-Are you alright? D-Do I need to take you to get looked at?" Elliot asked rushing to her side.
"Easy Elliot easy I didn't hit my head, I promise you I didn't you can look for yourself if that makes you feel better, my arm got scraped a little, I've got a splinter or 2 and my ribs hurt but I'm fine she didn't need to get you for that."
Elliot quickly scanned her head for new injuries as he sighed in major relief when he saw none as he pulled her into his arms and tried to calm down.
"Elliot your heart's racing. I'm honestly more worried about you than I am about myself right now," Olivia said as she took his wrist and checked his pulse.
"I-I'm fine honey I promise I-it's just adrenaline it'll ware off shortly, Lizzie!" he called.
Lizzie ran over quickly "s-she okay? She looked like she was in pain a-and she fell in head first a-and."
"Shhhh, shhh, calm down honey she's gonna be fine it wasn't as bad as it looked, I need you to go inside though and grab the tweezers, a pail with warm water, can't be to hot cant be to cold, a rag with some soap on it, a dry wash cloth and a couple bandaids."
Lizzie nodded slightly "o-okay dad," she said as she ran off "we don't have to do this now El I'd be okay waiting I want your heart rate to get back to normal."
"It's getting there sweetheart I promise the longer we wait though the higher chance there will be of an infection and the deeper the splinters could get."
Olivia nodded slightly "I-if your sure your alright t-then okay."
He nodded "I am I promise baby, why don't we go sit on the deck I'll have better access to get them out over there."
She nodded slightly "okay," she said as they helped each other off the ground then made their way to the deck at a leisurely pace since Olivia's ribs were still sore.
"I have all the stuff you asked for dad," Lizzie said as she sat it on the table.
Elliot slightly smiled "thank you honey," he said as he kneeled in front of Olivia who was sitting in a lounge chair "tell me if anything hurts okay?" he said softly.
Olivia nodded "I will," she said as he nodded and got to work gently cleaning the small scratch as after he was done with that he gently cleaned the skin where the splinters were as one was sticking out slightly and one wasn't "Lizzie were these tweezers clean when you got them?" Elliot asked.
she nodded "yeah I don't think they had ever been used before."
He nodded "okay good," he said as he looked to Olivia "I'm just gonna pull this out okay?"
Olivia nodded her head slightly as Elliot slightly smiled and had it out first try "seems like you have a lot of experience with this," she said with a smile.
Elliot smiled and nodded "yeah I do I have 5 kids and I used to get splinters quite a bit when I was a little boy, I'd usually have to pull them out myself."
She frowned slightly and nodded "these are the first splinters I ever had I didn't play much outside as a kid."
He nodded slightly and rubbed her arm for a minute in sympathy as they stared into each other's eyes, conveying sympathy to each other for the other's bad childhood as he then sighed and looked at the second splinter hoping an end would pop out so he wouldn't have to use a needle.
After a minute he sighed "honey I'm gonna try something, it's against every rule in first aid but I don't wanna have to use a needle so I'm hoping this will work, it might hurt though," he said as after she gave him a nod of consent he gently squeezed the area.
Olivia winced slightly "sorry sweetheart," Elliot said softly as Lizzie ran over "I just texted mom since she's a nurse, she said you should pour peroxide over the splinter, that that'll make it come out easier."
Elliot nodded slightly "A-alright I'll try it, there should be some in the guest bathroom."
Lizzie nodded slightly "okay," she said as she ran off to get it "so how many veggies were you guys able to pick?" Elliot asked Olivia.
She slightly smiled "quite a few it should be enough for 1 stew."
He nodded "that's great, you want me to make hamburger stew or chicken stew?"
She smiled "I'd like chicken stew we haven't had it in a while."
Elliot smiled "that's true, hey why'd you pick cucumbers? They don't go in stew."
She chuckled "I know I thought I might make a cucumber salad one day while we're there," she said as Elliot smiled and nodded understanding and Lizzie walked out with the peroxide.
"So did your mother tell you how I was supposed to do this?" Elliot asked Lizzie.
Lizzie shook her head "no I didn't ask her that."
Elliot nodded slightly "can you get directions from her please? I don't wanna do it wrong."
Lizzie sighed "why don't you just call her yourself?"
I thought that was obvious, Elliot thought to himself as he sighed "I thought maybe you could do it to prevent an awkward conversation besides my hands will be busy."
Lizzie sighed "dad she remarried a year and a half ago you know that, you guys should be able to have normal conversations with out freaking out."
He sighed heavily and glanced to Olivia as she nodded slightly "I'm fine with it El really."
Elliot nodded to Olivia then sighed slightly "okay just give me her number I don't have it."
"Really dad?" Lizzie said shocked at the fact that he didn't have it as she then gave it to him and he dialed her, putting the phone on speaker and laying it on the table.
"Hello," Kathy answered on the third ring as Elliot sighed slightly "hi Kathy it's Elliot, Lizzie said that you told her I should use peroxide to remove this splinter and I was wondering how I'd go about doing that?"
She nodded a bit "yes I did, using a needle is faster I told her that as well but she said using a needle isn't an option."
Elliot nodded "no it isn't, at least I don't want it to have to be."
She nodded slightly "I see, I'll talk you through how to do it with peroxide, how is Olivia doing? I saw the news."
"I'm hanging in there Kathy thanks for asking," Olivia said with a slight smile.
"Of course, I've got to say your little one seems calm to have a splinter ours would always be distraught until it was gone."
"Oh umm Izzabella isn't here," Elliot said as Kathy nodded slightly "oh.." she said understanding "your sure you wouldn't rather just use a needle then? This could take a few minutes and the pain really isn't bad enough to warrant."-
"Yes I'm sure Kathy I'm ready for the instructions."
Kathy nodded slightly "okay then, take her arm and hold it above either your sink or your bathtub and pour the peroxide over the area where the splinter is and let it bubble."
"We're actually outside on the deck would holding it over a pail do?"
"Yes that'll do, is it bubbling yet?"
"Not yet, how much should I pour? A little or a lot?"
Kathy sighed slightly "not a tun just enough to cover the splinter and the area of skin around it."
Elliot nodded slightly "okay," he said as Olivia held her arm above the pail and Elliot gently poured the peroxide "that feels weird," Olivia commented.
Kathy nodded "it's supposed to," she said with a slight smile.
Olivia nodded with a slight smile "it's bubbling what do I do now?" Elliot asked.
"You wait until the bubbling stops then check the splinter and see if the end has popped out, if it has sterilize your tweezers and pull it out with them."
Elliot nodded slightly "I can do that Kathy, thanks for the help, how are things down there in Florida?"
She smiled slightly "it's warm and sunny, the beaches are crowded you know how Memorial day weekend is."
He nodded "that I do, I imagine the hospitals will be slammed."
She nodded "they definitely will be, I'm taking advantage of my 1 day off while I still can."
He smiled slightly "I don't blame you there," he said as Liv nodded in agreement "same I guess the 1 silver lining of what's happened to me this week is 1pp is finally giving me some much needed time off."
Kathy smiled "that's great Olivia you deserve it and I'm sure your daughter will be glad to have you around more."
Olivia smiled some and went to speak as the end of the splinter popped out and her smile grew "El look," she said pointing.
Elliot smiled "I see that sweetheart," he said as he grabbed the tweezers and gently pulled it out "did you guys get it?" Kathy asked listening.
"We did Kathy thanks so much for your help," Elliot said as he handed Lizzie the stuff and she took it all back into the house.
"It wasn't a problem, hope you all have a good rest of your day," she said as she hung up the call.
"That went better than I expected," Elliot said with a slight smile.
Olivia smiled some "I knew it would or I wouldn't have given you the nod, it's been nine years El, your glad she's happy and she should be glad for you too. There isn't room for jealousy or resentment anymore."
Elliot nodded and smiled "I agree with that, you ready to hit the road?"
She smiled and nodded "yeah," she said as they all loaded back up and they made the rest of their journey to Elliot's mom's with out incident.