Prompt #4: Through either Olivia or Elliot's job, or even another way, the two of them end up fostering a little girl. Writer determines the age of the child, but no older than age 4. They can be an established couple or one of them can help the other out, but the little girl ends up bringing them together as a couple and they adopt her.
En julvälsignelse (A Christmas Blessing)
~oOo~
Chapter One
It was a busy day. The squad had caught a case of a girl who had been assaulted by her father and brother. Liv was disgusted and knew it needed to go to trial but Carisi was having a hard time getting the 8th floor to allow it to go to court, them claiming there was a lack of evidence of the abuse.
On top of it all, Liv and the rest of the squad were getting ready to go to her award ceremony tonight. She was being recognized by the NYPD for Women in the Task Force committee. It had been a tough year for both her and the NYPD but this was the last thing she had time for. Fin was the only one who was able to convince her that it was important to go.
"So, you're sure Liv is going to the ceremony?" Carisi asked Amanda as they were getting on the elevator.
"Yeah, she wouldn't miss her own ceremony," Amanda replied.
"I'll see you later Liv," Fin said walking out of her office, joining his colleagues on their way out of the precinct.
~oOo~
Having finished up her paperwork, Liv grabbed her things and headed down to her car. Lucy had picked up Noah from school and would meet her there.
As she was driving, the snow picked up and it was becoming harder and harder to see. Over the radio, Liv got notice that there was a car accident on 6th Ave and West 47th Street. She had already passed the block where the accident had happened but she still decided to take a quick detour before heading to the ceremony.
~oOo~
"Where's my mom?" Noah asked Amanda, looking around the foyer of the venue.
"I'm not sure, I'll go check." Amanda got up and walked over to Fin. "She is coming right?" she asked.
"That's what she said. I'll call her and see where she is."
~oOo~
Olivia had just turned the car around as her phone rang. "Benson," she answered.
"Liv, where are you?" Fin asked.
"There was an 11-80 called, I'm going to check it out."
"You're still coming right?"
"Yeah, I'll be there after I check the accident out."
"Alright, be safe Liv, it looks like it's snowing."
"Thanks, Fin." She hung up the phone and parked the car on the side of the road. There were a handful of ambulances, fire trucks, officers, and people standing across the street checking out what was going on.
Liv made her way towards the scene and showed her badge to be let behind the tape. As she was walking closer to the cars, she saw two bodies in body bags. She passed an ambulance and saw someone pushing a stretcher into it. The woman on it looked familiar.
"Kathy?" she said, wondering if Elliot was anywhere in sight. She picked up her pace and saw a little girl getting pushed into an ambulance as well. Could they have had another child? she thought to herself.
She kept roaming the scene but saw no sign of Elliot. Is he in one of those body bags? she wondered, which brought horrific images into her head.
"Excuse me," she said to one of the uniformed officers. "Can you tell me what happened?"
"And you are?" he said.
"Captain Benson, SVU," she said, holding up her badge.
"T-bone collision. The SUV was going straight, the Sedan hit them on the side. The two in the sedan were killed instantly. The driver in the SUV was pinned inside the car and taken to Mercy, along with the little girl. The man in the car was also taken there."
"Drunk driver?"
"We're not sure."
"Alright, thank you," Liv said, running back to her car.
It took her 40 minutes to get to Mercy. Parking her car, she walked into the very busy and hectic hospital.
"Hi, excuse me. Can you tell me anything about Detective Elliot Stabler?" she asked the lady at the front desk.
"And you are?"
"I'm his—" She paused for a minute. What was she to him? A friend, a co-worker, acquaintance? She wasn't sure. "I'm his friend."
"Whatever," the nurse said, not having the time to deal with her. "He's in room 2-03."
"Thank you." Liv got on the elevator and stepped off on the second floor. Walking to his room, she knocked on the door.
"Come in!" she heard him call.
Liv opened the door and saw Elliot putting on his shirt. "Oh sorry," she said.
"Olivia?" Elliot asked, fasting his last button. "Wh— wh— what are you doing here?"
"I got a radio call about the accident and thought I'd check it out. When I saw Kathy, I knew you were around. When I didn't find you, they said you were here."
"Oh my gosh, Kathy. Is she ok?"
"I'm not sure. I'll go find someone and see if they can tell us anything. Are you ok?"
"Yeah I'm fine, they just wanted to make sure nothing was wrong."
They walked out of the room together, Elliot signed his discharge papers and Olivia asked if there was any update on Kathy Stabler.
"I'll go see if I can find a doctor who is on her case," the nurse explained. "In the meantime, you can take a seat in the waiting room."
Sitting down next to each other, Liv took the chance to text Fin that something came up and she was no longer going to make it. Afterward, she told Amanda what had happened and asked to meet her at the hospital.
"Elliot, what happened?" she asked, turning her attention to him again.
"We were on your way to your ceremony. Fin called and mentioned it, Kathy overheard and wanted us to go. But out of nowhere, a car hit us, and here we are."
"And you have a daughter now?"
"Oh no, Aaliyah is our foster daughter. Well, she's only been with us for a few days. Is she ok?"
"She was being put into an ambulance when I saw her."
Elliot got up, walked over to the reception desk, and asked if there was any information on Aaliyah.
Giving him some privacy, she let her gaze wander through the foyer, catching Amanda rushing through the sliding doors.
"Liv, what the hell? One minute you're on your way and the next you're sitting here in the hospital with your ex-partner?" she called out.
"Yes, I know. I'm sorry to have kept everyone waiting. Look, I need you to investigate the accident. I believe it was a targeted hit."
"Alright, I'll call if I find anything."
"Thanks, I'll be at the precinct as soon as I can."
After a few hours of being at the hospital with Elliot, Liv made her way back to the precinct. Amanda had found a few suspicious text messages on the Sedan driver's cell, Carisi had gotten Fin a warrant for the security footage from the street cameras and they had brought in someone for questioning.
"Is this the guy?" Elliot asked walking into the squad room.
"Elliot, you can't be here." Liv tried to stop him.
"She's right," Carisi added.
"Oh, good, a lawyer," Elliot replied sarcastically.
"Elliot you can't be here," Liv repeated.
"Look Liv, I know, but please just let me hear this."
"Liv, I got a— Oh," Amanda said, walking in and seeing Elliot.
"And you are?" Elliot asked.
"Detective Amanda Rollins," she replied.
"Elliot, go back, you should be with Kathy and Aaliyah."
"They haven't even told me anything yet."
"C'mon," Liv said, grabbing her things. "I'm driving you back to the hospital."
"You stay. I'll take him," Fin offered.
~oOo~
On the way to the hospital, Fin made them stop to get something to eat.
"Look man, I know you mean well, but you can't just think you can walk back into her life," Fin said once they were seated.
"I know. But she just showed up. After all this time—" Elliot explained.
"Well look, she moved on, it took her a while but she moved on. She has a son now and has had a few relationships, one was pretty solid."
"A son, good for her. Who's the guy?"
Fin scoffed. "You're gonna have to ask her that."
They finished eating and Fin dropped off Elliot at the hospital after.
Aaliyah had a few bruises from the crash but nothing too serious. But since Kathy took the full brunt of the SUV, her injuries were way more severe. She had some internal bleeding and head trauma, but they luckily couldn't find any brain damage. The doctors wanted to keep her overnight for observations and run a few more tests.
It was going to be a long night for them.