Coming Home Chapter 3

Olivia Benson lay in her bed staring at the photo that sat on her nightstand, her mind all over the place bouncing from the child she had found in a dresser drawer to the little boy who was currently in Italy. She ran her finger over the E that was tattooed on her left ring finger. She reached over and picked up her cell phone, quickly finding the number that she called multiple times a day.

"Hi baby." She heard the love of her life say from Italy.

"Hi Sweets." She said quietly.

"You're still thinking about the little boy aren't you?" Elliot asked she could hear him shifting around in their bed in Italy. The bed she hadn't been in for six months.

"I am, he's so small and helpless El." She said as her tears got the better of her.

"Don't cry baby."

"I just keep thinking what if that Uni hadn't recognized Eli that night that Kathy abandoned him in that cab, we could have lost our son."

"We could have but we didn't babe….. I have a surprise for you." He said

"What?"

"Starting tomorrow Fin is taking over for 3 weeks and you have a ticket waiting at the airport for you."

"El we had agreed we couldn't afford another trip right now!" She said

"I know but I think this is just what you need, what we need plus it's somebody's birthday. I think the countdown was 3 days, 10 hours and so many minutes." Elliot said with a laugh thinking of their son who would be 6 soon..

"What time does my flight leave?" She asked not even trying to fight.

"4am."

"I guess I need to go pack!" She said with a happy smile.

"I'll see you soon Baby!" He said.

The next day, Olivia quickly made her way off the plane and to the baggage claim. Once she made her way there she saw the man that she was lucky enough that she was getting to spend the rest of her life with.

"You are a site for sore eyes." Elliot said as Olivia launched herself into his arms.

"I've missed you so fucking much!" Olivia said, kissing him hard on the lips. A few minutes later after they got her bags Elliot and Olivia walked out hand in hand.

"I only have like one small thing for Eli for his birthday." She said,

"We'll go to the local toy store and pick up some stuff for him, but I think I already got him the best present ever." Elliot said as they got into his SUV.

"So Eli has Soccer practice after school so we have about 6 hours without our kid." Elliot said as he pulled out into traffic and headed towards the villa him and his son lived in. They quickly made their way up the steps to the villa. Elliot pulled her to him so that her back was against his chest, he covered her eyes with his hands.

"Sweets, what are you doing?" She asked as he guided her through the house, he finally dropped his hands from her eyes when he got her to the door of what was the extra room in the villa.

"El what did you do?" She asked looking at the room that at one point was just the junk room but now it was clearly something else.

"I was talking to Eddie the other day after you had called me crying, and he brought up the idea of you could run your unit remotely while you're here so that you could stay for longer or come over more."

"I never thought I would see the day that Ed Tucker was trying to help us." Olivia said, taking in the room that now had a large desk with a framed photo of Olivia and Elliot hanging behind it.

"He's actually trying to get them to change it but so far it's his bosses blocking it. "

"At least he's trying." She said it was then that she noticed the crib against the wall.

"Um baby, why is there a crib?"

"I still had it in storage since Eli was still using it when we moved. And well i've been thinking I know biologically we can't have a baby but i was thinking what about adoption? It's just something to think about, okay?" Elliot asked, kissing her neck.

"Okay we'll think about it." She said, turning in his arms and kissing him.

"Eddie did tell me with the new arrangement he put in place, you could stay for a month to 3 months at a time.Or you could come home more."

"So we could spend three whole months together?" She said in between kisses as he walked them to their bedroom.

"We could and I kinda told you a fib." Elliot said in between kisses he laid her down on the bed.

"Elliot Joseph Stabler, what did you do?" Olivia asked as they kept kissing with clothes coming off.

"Eddie said if you wanted for the next month you could try the remote thing."

"Fuck yes." Liv said as the last of their clothes came off. Afterwards they lay together in bed, Olivia staring at the photo of her and Eli that sat by the bed.

"You're still thinking about that baby boy doe aren't you?" Elliot asked quietly

"I am, I just keep thinking he's so small, what if he's alone forever." She said as a tear fell down her cheek.

"How about this you keep track of him and we'll see what we can do." Elliot said kissing her

"Okay." She said as he pulled her closer. That afternoon they had finally pulled their sleeves out of bed and made their way to the local school to pick up Eli. Elliot parked in the parent parking lot and reached over to take Olivia's hand.

"I emailed Fin earlier, he suggested instead of the month that I take 2 months since like he pointed out I haven't actually taken much time off except for the Lewis of it all. And since I'll still be working, apparently Dodds already approved it." Olivia said with a bright smile.

"That is amazing baby!" He said as the kids started coming out. Elliot let go of her hand and nudged her out of the car.

"Mommy!" Eli squealed as he ran toward her. Elliot watched as little Eli launched himself at Olivia.

"This is the best birthday ever ever ever!" Eli said, crawling into the back seat.

"Well champ, we have another surprise for you too." Elliot said once everyone was in the SUV and he was pulling away

"What?"

"Mommy is going to be here for two whole months!"

"Yes!" Eli said, his dark eyes shining with happiness.

That night Eli was curled up against Olivia doing his reading homework when Elliot's phone rang.

"Oh no! I have to go to the sitter" Eli said, pouting.

"Buddy even if daddy has to go to work you get to stay here with me." Olivia told him running her fingers through his hair.

"Really?" He asked

"Really!" She said, kissing his forehead.

2 weeks had passed since Olivia had made her way to Italy and she was enjoying the time with her boys but she felt her joy come crashing down when her phone started ringing at 6am. She reached for it and was finally able to wriggle free of Elliot enough to reach the phone.

"Benson"

"Sergeant Benson, this is Judge Linden."

"Your honor, good morning." Liv felt Elliot's arm tighten around her.

"I was wondering if you will be at the hearing for baby boy doe they are pushing us to place him with someone permanent."

"When is the next hearing?"

"In 3 days time, Sergeant I do believe you would be a possible good fit for baby boy doe."

"I'll be there, your honor." Olivia said, hanging up her phone and turned around to see Elliot staring at her.

"You have to go home?"

"I do Sweets, that was the Judge over the baby's case, she talked like there's a chance i could get him."

"Then you have to go." Elliot said, running his hand up and down her back.

"How are we breaking it to Eli?"

"We'll just tell him that Momma has to go to work."

That was how the next afternoon Olivia found herself saying goodbye to her boys in hopes that baby boy doe would soon be part of their family.

"Mommy I don't want you to go!" Eli said with tears

"I know buddy but I promise we'll see each other soon." She said hugging him close before Elliot wrapped them both in a hug.

"I love you both so much." She said as she kissed Elliot one more time before hugging them both before heading toward her plane's gate.

3 days later Olivia Benson stared down at the baby in her arms. Baby Boy Doe who was now Noah Porter and would hopefully one day be Noah Benson-Stabler. She felt the tears rush to her eyes as she thought about the way her life had once again changed. She grabbed her phone and scrolled till she got to Elliot's number and hit facetime. She laughed at the video of upside down Eli who had no clothes on.

"Mommy!" He yelled which made the baby in her arms jump in his sleep.

"Hi baby, is Daddy around?" Olivia asked

"Elliot Joseph Stabler Jr, get your butt in the bathroom now!" She heard Elliot's voice yell. She watched with a small smile as Eli ran through the house and to Elliot.

"Mommy is on the phone." Eli said, handing the phone to Elliot before running into the bathroom.

"Hey baby."

"Hey sweets I got somebody who wants to meet you." Olivia said keep her voice soft as she turned her phone's camera to Noah.

"You got him?"

"I did for a year. I'm his foster mother then after that we can adopt." She said with tears welling in her eyes

Present day

"Hey cap, your phone has been ringing for a few minutes, Everything ok?" Kat asked causing Olivia to look at her phone

"Um yeah sorry. Hey Dickie what's up?" She asked, answering the phone.

"Hey Momma, we have a Lizzie problem." She heard the sadness in Dickie's voice, while all the kids had dealt with Kathy leaving in their own way Lizzie had ended up dealing with it in a very destructive way

"How bad?"

"She's about to get transported to the tombs. I couldn't do it this time momma. I couldn't get her out of trouble." He said

"It's okay sweetheart." She said

"Is it okay if I come hang with the boys tonight after my shift?"

"Sure, why don't you bring Jax with you."

"Momma!" He said reminding her so much of the little boy he used to be. Jax was the detective he had been partnered with, Elliot and Liv were pretty sure a romance was already brewing between the two.