Prompt #85: Their first Thanksgiving together is Thanksgiving from hell
Raw Turkey
~oOo~
"Mom? Mom. We're going to be late." Noah banged on her door, then clattered down the hall to his room. "Hurry."
With a tired sigh, Olivia flopped over on her back to stare up at the ceiling. Late? Oh shit. Elliot had invited her over to Thanksgiving at his place. The whole family would be there.
She'd agreed. They were dating. He'd spent time with Noah.
But this was going to be their first big family thing since they'd started dating.
Olivia had gone to bed early with a mild fever and headache. She woke up feeling like death warmed over. She forced herself to get up, take a shower and get dressed. "I am not going to ruin Thanksgiving."
It was the mantra she repeated to herself repeatedly while getting Noah and herself ready to go. They'd gotten all the way down to her Tahoe when she remembered the cookies they'd baked. She rushed back upstairs to grab them and a bottle of wine.
They were thirty minutes later. Olivia found the Stabler house in chaos. She quickly sent Noah and the twins into Eli's room to play video games, if nothing else, to keep them all out from underfoot.
"Okay. What's going on?" Olivia blinked at the wall of noise directed her way. She gave a shrill whistle, bringing everyone to a halt. "Lizzie?"
"Dickie burned his arm, and he won't let me put something on it." Lizzie grabbed for his wrist.
Olivia pinched the bridge of her nose when the twins began to pick at each other. "Can I remind you that you're both adults?"
"Debateable," Maureen added.
"Okay. Maureen? Take your brother into the bathroom and see if he needs more than some cold water?" Olivia breathed through her headache. She wanted today to be perfect. A nice, family Thanksgiving. "What else?"
"Dad forgot to defrost the turkey." Kathleen blurted out. She ducked out of the kitchen when Elliot glared at her. "I'm just saying. Bird's frozen."
"El."
"What?" Elliot snapped. He closed his eyes. "Sorry."
"I could be at home right now. In a warm bed with a feast from the Chinese place down the corner. Noah and I could watch the parade on TV." Olivia peered around the kitchen, noticing all of the things that had definitely not been finished. She spotted the turkey sitting in the sink. "Do I want to know why you're giving it a bath?"
"The twins dropped it while trying to help." Bernie stepped over to her and pressed a glass into her hand. "Have some wine. It'll help."
"So…to recap, raw turkey, one burned son, and nothing to eat?" Olivia pressed her lips together to keep from laughing.
"He wanted to do everything," Bernie whispered to her.
"Fuck." Elliot tossed a dishtowel on top of the turkey and stormed out to the terrace.
"Right." Olivia massaged her forehead, wincing at how warm her skin felt. She definitely should've stayed in bed. "Okay. Kathleen?"
"Hmm?"
Olivia fished her wallet out of her bag and found her credit card. "Order something. Anything. I wouldn't say no to soup. Just get enough for everyone."
"Chinese?"
"Fine. No tattoos this time." Olivia smiled when Kathleen rolled her eyes.
With food handled, Olivia made her way outside to where Elliot was muttering to himself. She stepped over to wrap her arms around him. He stiffened before relaxing against her.
"I'm sorry. I just…I wanted everything to be perfect."
"You've got five kids, El."
"Six."
"Fine. Six. I have no doubts that you've had at least one holiday go spectacularly wrong. Noah's definitely seen worse than a frozen turkey." Olivia rested her head against his shoulder, closing her eyes to try to ease her headache. "Kathleen's ordering food. I gave her my credit card."
"Living dangerously."
"Well, I said yes to you." Olivia tilted her head back a little.
Elliot bent forward to brush his lips against her forehead. He frowned before pulling back and placing his hand against her skin. "You have a fever. Liv?"
"I'm not feeling great."
"For…" Elliot lifted her into his arms and carried her through the house into his bedroom. He set her down on the edge of his bed, crouching down to remove her shoes and ease her up on the mattress. "You're going to rest."
"Elliot…"
"We'll take care of Noah…and everything else. You rest."
Olivia sank back against the pillows. She'd used all of her reserves of strength to get her to Elliot's. She didn't have anything left to argue with him. "I'm sorry that Thanksgiving is ruined."
"You aren't the one who forgot to defrost the turkey. You didn't burn Dickie or drop the turkey." Elliot helped her out of her jeans and pulled the blanket over her. "We're all in the same house together. And I love you. And we're together with our kids. Best Thanksgiving ever."
Note: The author of this SVU: Fall in Love story will be revealed in November