Three months later.

"This is the 4th hearing she's missed, guys, this is absurd!" Eli said angrily as he stood in the kitchen with his parents long after Noah and Nate had gone to bed.

"Eli calm down," Elliot warned and he shook his head. "This is shit."

Eli looked like his father, but 99% of the time had his mother's calm and gentle personality and his adoptive mother's rational thinking and understanding of the world around them.

The 1% that was his father when he got angry or upset, however, wasn't to be trifled with.

When Elliot tried to make him relax, or vice versa, they only riled each other up. And while they were getting better at that as father and son, Liv knew when they were both passing the point of no return and she had to step in.

Approaching their oldest, she rested her hand on his shoulder and felt him physically sink into her touch.

Placing the other hand on her husbands arm, she smiled when she felt him do the same.

Three months into their new journey as a family with three kids and wedding rings on their fingers, the couple was exhausted and beginning to struggle a tad.

They were both skilled in working together, suffering through long hours and insane schedules and after school activities, but always managing to make time for one another.

However, the new baby at home and the stress of not knowing how or if life with him would play out had made them both easily irritable with the other and left no time for any intimacy.

Her Elliot's looked back at her, their faces softening, and she nodded. "Eli, let dad and I worry about this… okay? You're 16- you don't need to be the parent or take that on your shoulders."

"O-okay…" he nodded.

"Go get some sleep, it's late." She said, kissing his cheek.

"Love you, Liv," he sighed, hugging her.

"Love you, honey."

"Night dad… sorry I got upset," he sighed and El shook his head, hugging him tightly. "No need to apologize. I love you bud."

"Love you," he nodded, going into the room he shared with Noah and shutting the door.

Liv groaned softly, leaning over the counter with her head in her hands. "I'm gonna shower before he wakes up," she mumbled, heading towards their room without another word.

"Olivia," he groaned, following her. "Stop shutting me out," he pleaded.

"I'm not shutting you out Elliot I'm trying to cope with all of this shit and just need a minute," she said, frustratedly.

"What is going on with us?" He asked, shaking his head and following her Into the bathroom.

"I don't know Elliot but I'm sick of fighting with you!" She said, turning to face him with tears in her eyes.

"I'm sick of fighting with you! Olivia, I love you, you're my person. Please," he whispered, his eyes welling up to match hers.

Her lip quivered and he rushed her, backing her into the wall and kissing her slowly, a strong hand cradling her jawline.

Pulling back just a bit, he used his other hand to gently encourage her to look up at him, and she did.

"We have a lot going on. Everything with Nate, Noh and Eli's activities, our own jobs. They're all things we love. But they're also things we have cause we have one another and Liv, I feel like we're losing sight of that."

She nodded quickly, leaning into his hand that was brushing her tears away.

"I'm sick of letting that happen. I wanna set a night aside each week just for you and I after we put Nate down. No disruptions or anything, just you and I. Can we do that?"

Answering him with a passionate kiss, he smiled small and returned it, dropping one hand down to the small of her back. "Can we start tonight," she whispered and he nodded, pressing against her.

"Absolutely," he whispered as his hands found the spot where her toned legs met the curve of her ass.

She jumped into his arms and he carried her to their bed, setting her down and kissing her with a passion he'd not gotten the chance to exude in the past few weeks.

"Door," she mumbled as he started to kiss down her neck.

He nodded and ran like the wind to lock their door before making his way back to her.

She'd moved to lay against the pillows, and when he turned, he stopped dead in his tracks to admire her.

Curves perfect under that damn old T-shirt of his. Her long legs that went on for miles, bent at the knee and shit… when did she take off her pants?

Slowly spreading them to reveal the sliver of fabric covering her, she let out a soft moan as he licked his lips and dove head first into her awaiting lips, inhaling her scent and kissing her over her panties.

Usually, when it had been awhile, she begged to feel him, all of him, inside of her. But right now, the sounds she was making told him she was begging to be worshipped with his tongue.

So he did.

Leaning over her, he pulled her useless thong down and tossed it aside, setting his mouth on her in an instant.

Her eyes rolled back as his teeth scraped the length of her folds, and his tongue followed suit to sooth the stinging flesh.

Snaking his arms under her thighs and back around, he spread her legs wide and put his hands flat on her belly to hold her already writhing body down.

"El," she whispered, her hips bucking as wildly as they could into his mouth.

"Hm…" he hummed against her clit, sending a shock wave of pleasure up her spine.

"Like that?" He mumbled, wrapping his lips around the bundle of nerves that was already pulsating in his mouth.

"Mhm," she gasped as he began the viscous and hungry assault.

When his fingers entered her, she moaned, and when they started working her in that way, she shook her head.

"No no no no no," she whined, already feeling her explosion building. "Just…" she trailed off as pleasure took over her body.

"Just what," he asked devilishly, and she shook her head. "J-just… um… Elliot…" She whined, losing control of her hips.

"Just changed our sheets?" He asked, pushing his fingers harder against the spongy wall on the front of her tight canal.

"M-mhm… Elliot… fuck baby yes right there right there!"

"Tell me what you need, Olivia," he hissed, alternating the pressure he was applying with his fingers and the swirls and sucks to her clit.

"C-c… Elliot," she mumbled as her body tensed and contracted, pushing both her orgasm and a strong rush of fluid at the same time, and screaming into her pillow.

"Ellioohhhhhhhhhh," she groaned, back arching and fists pounding on the bed next to her. "Yes yes," she whined.

The grip on his fingers pushed them outward and he eventually pulled off her clit as he kneeled forward and admired her ruined and shaking body.

"Knees," he commanded and she moaned as he helped her move to her stomach. Pulling her hips towards him and angling her ass upwards, he pushed into her still contracting walls.

"Ellll…" she whined. "El you're so big… you're so big!" She gasped as he steadily pumped into her bent over body.

Her whimpering and whining was replaced with a deep and guttural moan when he grabbed her hair to pull her upwards.

"Look at me," he grunted, and through heavy and tired eyes, she angled her head backwards to look up at him.

"I love this pussy… I've waited 23 years for this pussy," he said, somehow fitting himself deeper as she lunged forward to bury her face in their sheets.

"Always wet for me… always… even when you wanna kill me you're always ready to take my cock. Huh?" He questioned and she nodded, desperate to look back at him but struggling.

"I want to look at you. I want to look at you while you come for me again… while I fucking spill everything I have into you, cause it's yours."

"T-turn," she mumbled, and he obliged her request, flipping her to her back and raising one leg over his shoulder while the other wrapped around his waist, begging for him to be inside her again.

Her eyes rolled back as he entered her, taking her at a slower but still forceful pace.

"Look at me," he said and she did, causing him to smile. "I love you. No matter what. No matter how much we get caught up in our lives with our kids I fucking love you Olivia," he said, and she let a tear escape her eye as she clenched around him and watched his defined stomach muscles tighten.

"I love you E-El… m-more… I'm gonna…"

"I can feel you.. can feel how bad you wanna come…"

She could only nod, and when his thumb touched her clit, he knew it was all over.

"Come Liv," he mumbled and she did, arching her back up and rolling her head to the side as her second and more power orgasm ripped through her and squeezed down on him.

"Fuck," he grunted, cumming into her with several more hard thrusts that made her breasts bounce and her jaw drop.

"That's it baby," he moaned as she continued to contract around him, prolonging his orgasm and making his eyes roll back. "That's it," he said as she finally relaxed around him and he collapsed, rolling so she could lay flat on his chest.

Her eyes closed and she snuggled into him as she tried to steady her breathing and he softened inside of her.

Like clock work, Nate whimpered on the monitor and she smiled against his chest.

"I got him," he whispered. "Get comfy and relax."

"Honey if I were any more relaxed right now I'd be dead," she teased and he chuckled as she rolled off him.

She watched him slip on his tight briefs and then his sweats, before retreating from the room.

Lifting the video baby monitor, she smiled sleepily as she watched him life their baby and hold him to his chest. "Hi big man…" came his muffled voice in the small device.

"I know I know… you're hungry huh? Let's get a bottle and go snuggle with mommy? That sound good? Yeahhhh that sounds good," he whispered, bouncing him lightly and taking him from his sleep sack to change him.

By the time he gently wrestled a fresh diaper and pair of PJs onto his son, got his bottle, and brought him back to their room, Liv was sleeping soundly.

He smiled, getting comfy with his boy and starting to feed him. "Oh boy… we are never gonna stop fighting for you. You know that right?" He whispered, smoothing his fingers over his blonde eyebrows.

His eyes began to drift closed as he drank hungrily for a few more minutes before pulling his mouth away and snuggling into the crook of his dad's arm.

"Mommy is asleep so… I think you can snuggle dad a little longer huh?" He cooed before catching a whiff of something of and laughing. "Dang bud…" he chuckled as he laid him down on the bed and the little one pouted.

"I know… I know but I gotta change that diaper and then get you back in your sleep sack huh? Then you can cuddle. Where's your paci?" He asked, looking around and finding it on his night stand tucked under some diapers.

"Here, boy…" he whispered, setting it in his mouth and changing him, before getting him back in his sleep swaddle sack that made him look like a starfish and laughing to himself.

"Our little starfish man, huh," he smiled, picking him back up and laying back against his pillows.

Nate snuggled back in on his belly with his head turned into his neck and cooed softly in his sleep.

"Oh buddy… if it's the last thing I do you're gonna be a Benson-Stabler," he whispered. "I promise."

A week later, Elliot and Olivia sat in court with Nate in the carrier between them.

Liv had a hand rested on his chubby cheek as court officers escorted his birth mother in.

She was in a daze and had been all morning, once they got word that the woman was actually on the move from jail to the hearing.

Tensing when she finally laid eyes on her, El placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as the pair watched Trevor check his phone for what seemed like the 20th time in the last several minutes.

Judge Linden made her way to the bench and everyone stood.

"Ms. Connors. So glad you could finally make it," she said, with sarcasm dripping like venom, after everyone sat back down.

"I-I've been struggling um with," she trailed off when Judge shot her a look.

"With… contraband and two overdoses?"

The young woman looked down.

"Ms. Connors I understand you still have not made a decision on signing away your parental rights, despite the recommendations by both your sentencing judge, your attorney, and numerous state psychiatrists."

The woman, who had the shakes, nodded slowly. "H-he's my baby," she said, her voice raised a bit, turning her head towards the other side of the court room. "I want to see him," she called, jumping when the judge banged her gavel.

"He's sleeping," Olivia said curtly, her hand moving to the pacifier that was slipping out of his mouth as he woke from the commotion.

"Your honor, I have a gentleman here who would like to read a statement on behalf of my clients," Trevor said, finally putting his phone down as the door in the back opened slowly.

Confused, the Stablers looked at each other, before back at the entrance. Their jaws dropped at the sight of their middle son, dressed in a suit and tie.

"I assume this is him and that his parents don't know?" She said a bit more gently, nodding towards the familiar teenager who had just entered her courtroom.

Trevor nodded as Maureen came in behind him, gently placing a hand on his shoulder.

"You may approach," she said, motioning to the witness box.

Eli took a deep breath and made his way to where he was told to go, clutching a sheet of paper in his hands.

"Please state your full name for the court," the bailiff said as all eyes turned to him.

"Elliot Joseph Stabler, Jr… but I go by Eli."

"Eli, can you tell us your relationship to my clients?" Trevor asked from where he sat.

He nodded. "Yeah, uh, they're my mom and dad, uh and Nathan is my baby brother."

"And you called me and Maureen, your oldest sister, two days ago and begged us to let you do this without your parents knowledge… why?"

Taking a steadying breath, he nodded. "Cause I wanted to stand up for my baby brother and my parents, who've sacrificed so much over the last three months, and I think his birth mother needs to hear a different perspective."

"And you've prepared a statement?"

"Yes sir."

Trevor motioned to him and, taking a deep breath, the young man held up his paper and began.

"Hi, uh my name is Elliot Stabler, Jr. I'm the biological son of Elliot Stabler, Sr. and the adopted son of Olivia Benson-Stabler. Three months ago, my mom and dad were on a case in which they raided a child trafficking den. After processing over 12 children, they heard a baby cry from a closet. The baby was two weeks old, malnourished, freezing, and still had his umbilical cord attached. That night, and every night since, my mom and dad have saved him," he paused, looking up at his parents who had tears in their eyes.

"The facts of the case are known to the court and your honor, so I wanted to give a different perspective. When Nate came home, he had no name. Mom and Dad chose Nathaniel, to keep with the N name like my other little brother who was found under similar circumstances, and John after our uncle. Nater was put on a strict feeding schedule, that, up until like last week, had my parents waking up every two and three hours to feed him special and expensive formula, packed with the nutrients he had missed in the first two week of his life... and he's absolutely thrived."

"More so, and most importantly I think, is that he's bonded with our family. The smile he gets on his face when any of us walk into the room is amazing."

His voice began to crack, and he took a moment to steady himself. "Before uh… before he came home to us he'd never had any connection with anyone. The first person he'd bonded with was my mom when she held him after she found him, and then my dad who I'm pretty sure is his all time favorite person," he smiled, looking up to make eye contact with him.

"Except for Noah, his big brother who is literally the best. The point in this rambling is…" he paused and looked up at the birth mother sitting on the other side of the room. "We love your baby. He's become our baby. The perfect piece to complete our family. We know him. His favorite people and way too sleep. That he loves to cuddle on our chests so he can hear our heart beats. His favorite toys and the funny faces that make him belly laugh. That he loves when I read to him, and will sit for an hour with me and look at the pictures and listen to my voice. But that he'll only stay still and cuddle Noah during a family movie," he smiled and laughed little, looking down and wiping a tear away.

"He's ours. He's more ours than he ever was yours. And what you're doing right now?" He looked up again. "It's not admirable. It's just cruel and selfish. To us, who've taken in your boy, and to him, for even considering taking him from us by the time you get out in however many years."

The woman was in tears now with her head on the table in front of her. "I'm begging you. To listen to what I've said and sign your rights. Give him up to us. A loving, safe, and healthy family who would move mountains for him, and truly already has."

He sat his paper down and stared at her until she sat up and looked at him. "Please." He said, voice cracking and a tear running down his cheek.

Looking to Trevor he nodded. "That's all…"

"Thank you Eli," he nodded and the boy stood, and joined his parents who wrapped his arms tightly around him.

"I'm sorry… I knew you wouldn't let me leave school so I had to be sneaky," he muttered into his dad's chest.

"It's okay… it's okay…" he whispered and Liv kissed his head. "I'm so proud of you son, that took so much courage."

El gently pushed him back and put his hands in his shoulders. "I love you so much, Eli... so much. "

"Me too," Liv echoed, rubbing his back as he leaned into them again, sniffled.

He nodded and they all looked to the carrier where the little one squeaked with joy at the sight of his brother.

"Can I…" he looked to Liv and she nodded. "Of course buddy," she smiled small and he nodded, unbelting him and lifting him to his chest, where he nuzzled into his chest, just as he told on the stand.

"So Ms. Connors. Anything else you'd like to add?" Judge Linden sighed at the sobbing woman.

"N-no…" she sniffled.

"Ms. Connors…" she said, more gently. "You have a lot to think about.. that boy is with a loving family. Everything that young man said was further confirmation of that. I implore you to please, please consider his words and make the best decision for the future of your son."

She nodded and Linden banged the gavel. "We're in recess."

The family headed home, allowing Eli to take the rest of the day off to hang with them. Liv got called into work around 2:30 and Luce said she'd grab Noah from school with a few of her other nanny kid, giving Eli and El some much needed father/son time.

"I'm so proud of you bud," El said for the 400th time as he watched him hold the sleeping baby.

"Thanks dad," he smiled and nodded. "Thanks for... for you know sticking by me when I had some issues after mom I... I know it wasn't easy." He nodded.

The older man stood and took a seat beside him. "You're my son. And I will always, always, be there for you. No matter what."

Eli nodded and smiled small before yawning. "I was up all night, nervous... I'm gonna nap is that okay?"

"Absolutely bud," he said, holding his arms out for Nate.

"No, no," he laughed, laying back against the couch. "He stays with me."

Eli was asleep on the couch with Nate on his chest when Noah got home from school. "How'd did it go?" He asked his dad, climbing up beside him on the couch and curling in.

"It went okay… I assume you knew Eli was going?"

"Mhm," he nodded, leaning against him as El noticed his congested sounding voice.

"Oh buddy… you feeling okay?" He frowned and Noah shook his head. "No," he pouted.

"You don't sound it and I think we're out of cold medicine. Let me call momma. Your lungs okay? Think we should have some inhaler?"

He nodded and inched to sit in his dads lap.

Reaching for his backpack, El found his inhaler and helped him take a few deep puffs in before he settled back against him as El took out his phone to call his wife.

"Hi baby everything okay?" She's asked as soon as she answered.

"Yeah I think our Noah man is getting sick… sounds terrible. Can you get some cold meds on the way home? Just had him do an inhaler and gonna get him set up in our bed."

"Oh shit," Liv sighed, "poor baby… yes let me see if I can leave here a little earlier."

"Thanks momma. I love you."

"I love you, tell the boys I love them."

When she arrived home after 6, Eli was feeding Nate on the couch and Noah was in his PJs and cuddled up with his dad in the big bed.

"Hi," she said softly, kissing Eli's head and then Nate's.

"Hi," he smiled small. "Dad and Noh are in bed."

She nodded and handing him a bag of Chinese food. "For when you're done. Thank you for helping, baby."

"Absolutely," he nodded and she smiled at him, moving to her room.

Noah was asleep and latched on to his dad.

"How's he doing?" She asked and he shrugged. "He's getting worse. Wanna wake him up for meds?" He asked and she shook her head. "Let's wait till 8. They're 12 hour and I want him to sleep through the night."

"Sounds good… I'd put him in his bed but," he nodded down and tried to move ever so slightly, which caused Noah to hug him tighter.

Liv laughed softly. "Daddy's boy," she smiled, kissing his lips. "I'll bring in dinner."

"Thanks babe," he nodded, kissing her back as her phone rang.

"Jesus," she groaned softly, ignoring it, only for it to ring again.

"Deep breathes," he teased and she flipped him off with a playful pout before answering.

"Benson. Oh hi Trevor. Uh.. okay... What…." Her jaw dropped and her eyes welled up as she looked at her husband.

TBC...