Give a Little Bit Chapter 5, a law and order: svu fanfic

After their first day of 'vacation,' Elliot decided to invite his children over. Maureen would pick up her siblings and be there for dinner. He didn't tell them anything more than Pizza and a movie with Dad. Dickie was really excited about more time at his father's house. He rarely showed it, but he loved being there with Elliot, Olivia and Allie. He felt better about himself when he was there because it was just calm. No one ranted about dirty clothes on the floor, homework, or no TV. Dad was just Cool now in the boy's opnion.

Liv ordered the pizza while the girls played with Allison in the nursery.

"Hey Dad?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I live with you and Olivia for a while?" he asked softly. "Just this next semester of school?"

"Dickie, what's going on?"

"Mom's psycho. She's got more theories than Munch. She says you two were sleeping together since I was like...5 or something. You're Allie's dad and Liv lied about James. She doesn't believe us when we told her we met him. She hates Liv. She's always saying how big of a bitch she is and how much of a whore. Mom is just so mean now." Elliot rubbed the bridge of his nose. "We're not even allowed to call her if you aren't home. She says shit like Our family wasn't good enough for you that you went out and got a new one! She's complete crap, Dad!"

"Don't tell Liv anything you just told me, son."

"Hells no! Olivia is the nicest person I've ever met. Liv never yells at me when I mess up, she just helps me fix it, grounded or not, she helps me fix it."

"She's grounded you?"

"Yeah, when you were on some undercover deal a few months back. I called Kathleen a bitch to her face. Liv made me tell her I was sorry. Grounded me from video games for the whole week. That was After she explained how much it hurt her when someone called her that name. Liv was all, 'Someone called me that when I was 16, and it broke my heart. Someone called me that last week, and Elliot tried to break his nose." Elliot smiled, remembering questioning a suspect. He'd called Liv a fat bitch, and spat at her. Munch and Cragen ran in before Elliot jumped, but he's still gotten a little love tap in. "Anyway, Olivia doesn't pressure me to be anything but myself. She's really cooled you down, too, you know." Elliot laughed. "You're all chill-axed now, Dad. You talk to us instead of over us. You listen a lot better now. Jesus you and Mom were terrible together."

"Alright there, Freud. I'll give your mom a call after I talk to Olivia."

"We all want to live here. Kathleen and Lizzie want to move in, too. We're more of a family here."

"They do?" Dickie nodded. "All right. We'll talk."

"Thanks Dad."

"Hey guys," Liv said, leaned up against the door frame. She'd been there long enough to know there had been a serious discussion going on, and didn't want to intrude. "You all right, Dickie?"

"Yeah. I'm going to go work on my algebra."

"Need any help?"

"Yeah," Dickie admitted. "Give me a minute to get my stuff set up." Liv nodded and sat with Elliot. Dickie went back to his room, hoping his father wouldn't discuss it now. He wanted to be there to tell his side of the story.

"Liv, how would you feel about the kids moving in?"

"I would be fine with that, El. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," he lied. Liv didn't move her eyes from his. "Okay, Kathy's been bad-mouthing you, and the kids are all sick of it. She had an affair, left me, and my fiance is apparently evil. Either way, Dickie has a lot more respect for you than I thought he had for anyone." Olivia smiled at him. "Um, when were you going to tell me you grounded him?"

"He's not grounded."

"What about a few months back, Liv?"

"Oh, that. He called-"

"He told me the story. Now, can you tell me why you didn't tell me?"

"Didn't come up. I left it up to Dickie to tell you, and he did when he was ready." Elliot thought it out a moment.

"I can accept that," he said. She stood to leave the room. "How 'bout from now on, I'll tell you when I ground them, and you tell me when you do? I promise I won't question or unground them. I just would like to know." She nodded.

"I told him I 'd help with his homework." He smacked her behind playfully. "Hey! Watch it!"

"Believe me, I'm watching it! I'll be back after while. I think I need to pay a visit to my ex."

"Leave your weapon," Liv reminded him.

SVU

"Kathy, its me." The door opened. "We need to have a little sit-down."

"Why? What the hell is going on? Where are the kids?"

"Liv's with them at our place. Right now, they should be eating dinner." Kathy shut the door behind her as she stepped out ont the front porch. "We need to talk."

"Oh, Good Lord, what did she tell you now?"

"She? Which she?" Elliot shook it off. "Dickie talked to me tonight."

"What did he do, Elliot?"

"None. He's a good kid." He took a deep breath. "He wants to come live with us."

"He's not going to-"

"Kathleen and Lizzie say the same thing."

"You and your girl friend have a kid. Why do you want to take mine?" The need to punch something was rising inside him.

"You trash-talk Olivia, Allie, and talk down to our kids like they're nothing, Kath. Liv and I have been together about a year now. She was pregnant for 7 months before we ever even kissed. Allison's not mine! Deal with it, babe!" He sighed and stood. The vein in his forehead pulsed. "Kathleen's 17. You don't have much choise where she lives. She wants to live with me and my fiance, and yes, we're getting married, than she is always welcomed in our home. They want to be in Manhatten with us." Kathy stood and walked into the ouse, leaving Elliot out in the cold. "Nice." He knocked on the door loudly. "We can talk here or in court, Kathy, you pick!"

"I'm on the phone with my lawyer now!" he heard yelled through the door.

SVU

The drive home was long and quiet. With the amount of input Kathy had put in, he might as well have just called her. As he pulled into his building's parking garage he saw something that made him smile lightly. He saw a minivan, full of kids in sports uniforms. He could picture himself driving the van with his children. Hell, he could picture Olivia with the minivan as well. Elliot pulled out his cell phone and dialed his divorce lawyer's number.

"Its Elliot."

"Hey, what's up?"

"The kids want to move in with me and Olivia. How can we make that happen?"

"Jeeze, you need to slow down at work first off, and prove you're the more fit parent."

"How?"

"Like I said, slow down at work. Also, a house outside of the city would be helpful." Elliot sighed. "You need to prove out right that the kids are happier, safer, and more likely to succeed in life with you as the primary care-giver and parent."

"That's easy. Liv helps the kids with homework, we always have dinner together when they're hrer unless I need to go talk to Kathy about her trash-talking Liv. They actually get along with each other at my place. The girls just...they take care of each other and Allison. Dickie told me he feels like we're an actual family here." Elliot pulled into his parking space and turned his car off. "Hang on, I'm getting in the elevator. I may cut out. So...should I buy a minivan? Y'know prove I can hadle 5 kids?"

"Maureen wouldn't live there-"

"Kathleen, Lizzie, Dickie, Allie, and we're hoping to have another one soon. We're trying."

"That's wonderful, Elliot. Listen. We can talk more later, my wife just made dinner; you know how they hate work mixed with dinner time." Elliot laughed.

"Yeah. Yeah I do. Take care, Mike." Elliot snapped his phone shut as the elevator let him out on his floor. He found his apartment door unlocked, and could hear laughter with-in. It was Olivia and Maureen. The two were laughing wildly at something that Dickie was apartently doing. "Hey guys!"

"Hi Dad," Lizzie said, looking up from Dickie's stand-up routine.

"We gotta talk. Can you wrap it up, Carrot Top?" Dickie Took a bow and found a spot on the couche between Olivia and Maureen. "Just left you're mother's place. We're going back to court, kids. I need to know if you want this. You may be called up to tell the court if you really want to live with us and why."

"We talked plenty already before I came to you, Pops. We want this."

"Yeah, Mom is crazy. Total melt down over little things," Kathleen said.

"Elizabeth? How about you?"

"Don't make me go back there, Daddy," she whispered. Elliot jumped into cop mode.

"Honey, what happened?"

"Nothing! I'm just...I'm not going back!" Maureen looked at her father and back at Lizzie.

"Sweetie, you need to tell us why you're scared," Olivia said soothingly. Elliot loved how gentle she was. "Are you hurt?"

"Liz, show them-" Maureen urged.

"Show me what?" Lizzie rolled up her sleeves to reveile bruising; Elliot could see it was a hand that had grabbed her very hard. "Oh, Jesus, Baby, why did you tell me? Are there any more?" Elliot's little daughter just nodded.

"I need to see them." Lizzie shook her head hard.

"Will you show me, Liz?" Another nod. Olivia helped Lizzie into the bathroom. After a silent 5 minutes, Olivia left the bathroom, crying. "We need to get her to the hospital, Elliot. Now. She's been hit pretty hard." Elliot opened the bedroom door. Lizzie was sitting on the edge of her bed, crying, shaking, and scared.

"Lizzie, come on. We're going to the hospital. Its going to be okay, Honey."

SVU

"Mr. and Mrs. Stabler?"

"That's me. How's Lizzie?" The doctor looked him square in the eye.

"Whomever did this knew how to hit her where it would hurt. Nothing's broken, but she's pretty banged up. The bruises are between 36 and 48 hours old. We have an officer waiting to take your statement. Someone will be charged with child abuse for this." He walked off.

"Did you document with picture? We're filing charges."

"We'll let the officer talk to you about this."

"Olivia-" he choked out. Liv pulled him into a hug before he could say anything else and held him while he cried.

"We'll get through this. Let's just give our statement and it'll be okay. We know she was with Kathy from 3 days ago until a few hours ago. There's no way this can turn around on you.

"Detective, we need to talk."

"I know." Elliot sighed and sat across from the officer. "Lizzie is a quiet, good kid. I had no idea this was going on."

"We have the medical report. These appear to be over a day old. When did she last leave your care, and when did she come back into your care?"

"I dropped them off at their mother on Christmas morning after breakfast and presents. Maureen, my oldest, brought them back about 5 hours ago. Less than an hour after they got to my apartment, Elizabeth's twin brother told me he'd been voted in to ask me if they could live with us." Elliot felt himself tearing up again. He pushed them back. as well as he could before continuing. "I drove over to talk to Kathy. He told me she was crazy. I want her arrested for assault."

"Can you prove you were not with her for the last four days?"

"Yeah, I was working on a case. I made an arrest the day after Christmas, questioning him for 14 hours before we got a confession. Olivia took some time off to be with Allison; her 10-month-old daughter. I stayed at the office. You can check the logs. I was living in the cribs. My captain, and the guy I arrested, and about 40 other officers can put me there."

"Where are your other children?"

"Dickie, Kathleen, and Maureen are babysitting Allie." The officer looked up at him. "Maureen is 23." A look of relief came over him. "I wouldn't leave children alone, ya-"

"Elliot."

"Sorry."

"Thank you. Can I speak with Elizabeth?"

"Let me ask if she's ready."

"I can't let you. You know that, Detective." Elliot nodded.

"May I ask her? You can come in with me, and you'll know I'm not coaching her." The officer nodded and follow Olivia into the girl's room.

SVU

"Is she okay, Elliot?" Casey asked as she strode into the waiting room.

"Yeah. Nothing's broken. Thanks for coming. Going crazy waiting for the statement to be taken from Lizzie."

"I've already got the paper work started," Casey said, resting a hand on her friend's shoulder. The officer finally came out followed by Olivia.

"Well?"

"She did great," Liv said, wiping her cheeks. "She's asking for you, El." He nodded.

"Detective, the medical report supports her story. We'll send someone over to make an arrest, if you'd like to press charges."

"Damn right I want to press charges." Elliot stalked into his daughter's room. "Hey honey."

"Dad, do I have to go back to Mom?" Lizzie's eyes were blank.

"No, baby. You might not have to see her again for a while. Elizabeth, will you be able to talk about this in court? There's going to be a lot of people there, and you'll have to tell them what happened." Lizzie nodded. "They're going to keep you over night while they work on the case, okay, princess? If you want, I'll stay here with you." She nodded, eyes still blank. "Do you want Olivia here, too?" She nodded again.

"Dad, I just asked her if I could live with you. She went crazy and-" Lizzie started crying. "She told me I couldn't call her Mom anymore." Elliot hugged the 13-year-old to his chest. "She told me I don't have a mother anymore, and I was a basterd child like Olivia."

"You aren't. You have two parents who love you more than anything in the world. You have me and Olivia. Kathy doesn't want you to be her daughter, but Liv does. Olivia loves you as much as I do. Screw Kathy," he told her, gently. "You are so much better than her. Never forget that, Love." Lizzie was shocked by her father's words. "We'll fight for you, and we'll win. You are safe, Honey. I promise."

SVU

The next week was a blur. Kathy was arrested and charged with assault. Being a cop, Elliot was able to rush preceeding and get them a court date less than a week later. Kathy had no idea what she'd gotten herself in to. Her children were together and wanted to stay with Elliot. She'd lost before the trial began. Casey had found a deal that would be acceptable to Elliot, and keep Kathy out of prison.

"You client can either spend 5-10 in prison, or she can walk free today."

"What? How?"

"She signs her children over to Elliot Stabler, her name removed from the birth certificates of Richard and Elizabeth, and Olivia Benson be allowed to legally adopt Richard and Elizabeth upon marrying Detective Stabler." Kathy's jaw dropped.

"That's a little extreme-"

"Your children never want to see you again. You'll have a restraining order from all four of them. So, either you can never see them again and go to prison, or you can never see them again and not go to prison." Casey smiled sweetly. "I think you should consider the deal. You end up with no criminal record, and your children will see that you are making an effort to make things right for them. You get to choose, Kathy." Elliot and Olivia watched from the other side of the glass. She leaned her back into his chest.

"Fine. Whatever. They hate me anyway."

"How did she become this?" Elliot whispered into Liv's ear. "She was sweet, kind, and protective of her kids. Some where in the last two years, she's gone from a woman who I still cared about to a woman I want put in prison." Olivia just shrugged.

"Elliot, she's signing them over to us," Liv said, sighing. "Lizzie's going to need a bit of therapy. It may have only been one beating, but its been two years of emotional abuse for all of them." Elliot took a sharp breath in as Casey entered the room with the paper work.

"Elliot, their all yours."

"Can I talk to the orange jump-suit in there?" Casey nodded.

"Give me the gun, Stabler," Cragen said. Elliot handed his weapon over and went into the room.

"What the hell do you want?" she asked, defeated.

"Why'd you do it, Kathy?" She just glared at him. "Why did you beat the hell out of a 13-year-old girl? Why did you verbally bash Liv and Allie? Why did you hurt them, Kathy?"

"They loved you, they loved her, and they hate me. All I would hear is "Elliot and Liv," and "Liv said I was grounded, and I'm going to respect that," They never respected me when I grounded them!" Elliot mentally gave Dickie 10 points. "Who gave her the right to ground my kids, Elliot?"

"Apparently, you just did." Elliot smiled smugly and left.

SVU

"Kids! We're home!" Four pairs of arms were around the two of them immediatly. "I have some news; hit the couch."

"I'm going to go check on Allie," Olivia said, giving them privacy.

"Hurry back. We'll wait." Olivia smiled, peeked into the crib in Allie's bedroom. Allison was asleep with her favorite blanket tucked tightly under her arm. She looked happy and peaceful. "Okay," Elliot said as she took a spot next to Lizzie. "Your mother said some pretty horrible things over the year or so, and did some horrible things over the last three weeks. So, she's not your mom anymore."

"What?"

"She's signed you over to me and Olivia, if you'd still like to live in this crazy house." Again, four set of arms held tight to him. "Maureen, Kathleen, this doesn't affect you unless you want it to; this is more for the twins. Kathy's name is being removed from the birth certificates, and she is now legally no longer related to any of you."

"How'd you manage that?"

"I have some legal pull as it turns out. Anyway, when Liv and I get married, she'd like to adopt you; all four of you. Would you consider it?" The younger ones nodded, but Maureen didn't. "Maur?"

"I won't consider it." Liv looked at Elliot. "I don't need to. You've been more of a Mom these last few years that my own. I'd be happy to call you Mom."

SVU

Sorry its taken so long to update. I was working on a rewrite of another fic, and its Hubbie's Birthday! (Happy 24 honey!)