Prompt #25: Elliot gets all the kids involved in a Valentine's surprise for Olivia


A Baby Valentine

•••

Elliot Stabler rolled his eyes as he heard the two youngest Stablers, now 15 and 10 years old, arguing. He knocked on their bedroom door and opened it, looking at the two boys, who both were just a couple inches shorter than him after their growth spurts.

"Can you two be a little quieter, please? Callie just went to sleep and I don't want her waking up."

Elliot pointed towards the other room, where the toddler he and Liv had found during a joint operation. As Olivia was still a registered foster mother, they had been allowed to bring the one-a-half-year-old home with them.

"Dad! Do you know when mom will be home?" Noah asked him.

Even though he and Olivia had only been together for a little over six months they had moved extremely fast or extremely slow as their friends joked. Noah had started calling him Dad around three months in and they had moved in together around the four-month mark.

"Soon. She was finishing up paperwork when I talked to her last," Elliot said as his phone buzzed with a text. He looked at it and smiled at the message from his oldest son.

"You want to see your brother?"

"Yes!" both boys said in sync.

Ever since Dickie had made Detective and joined SVU, he had become an almost constant presence in their household. Just then, Elliot heard the tell-tell sign of Olivia's keys in the door.

"I think that's mom," he said to Noah who immediately took off for the door. Eli followed him and Elliot was about to as well when he felt his phone go off in his pocket again.

Got the official paperwork. We're due in family court on Valentine's Day actually.

He read Kathleen's text quickly as he heard Callie start crying in the other room. He quickly replied back and went to the pink and white room across from his and Liv's.

"Hey, Calla Rose, what are you doing up already? You've been down barely 30 minutes." Elliot picked up the baby, cuddling her and she instantly stopped crying.

"Is that all you wanted, baby girl? Just some cuddles? Let's go see your brothers and your mommy."

Elliot put her on the changing table and quickly changed her into a fresh diaper and sleeper. He rolled his eyes at the onesie Dickie had got for her. My big brother is better than yours. But he put her in it anyway, scooped her up, and walked out to the living room.

"There's my baby girl," Olivia cooed with a bright smile as soon as she saw Elliot and Callie coming down the hall. Seeing the joy their kids brought Olivia, made him so thankful they had chosen to give Callie a home and that in a few days' time Callie would officially be a Benson-Stabler.

Elliot handed Callie off to Olivia, dropping a quick kiss to her lips before making his way to the door where a knock had just sounded. He opened it to find his oldest son standing there. He could tell that Dickie had just gotten off work, given that he still had his badge and gun on as well as a handful of files in his hands.

"Hey, Dad."

"Hey, Dickie." Elliot waved him in. They walked into the kitchen where Elliot and Liv kept their gun lockbox.

Elliot watched and listened as Olivia and the boys played with Callie on the living room floor.

"So Katie texted me. We go to family court on Valentine's Day."

"You still want all of us there?"

"Yeah, if possible. I'm already taking the boys out of school."

"Sure. I'll tell Mo and Liz. And if you want, I can keep the boys that night so it can be just the two of you and Callie on her first official night as one of us."

"Thank you, son."

That night, after Dickie had left and the two other boys were in their rooms, Elliot and Olivia were with Callie in their room.

"Today at work, Amanda told me that she and Carisi are expecting a baby. We got a laugh out of once again having kids close in age," Olivia said from where she was lying on the bed with Callie on top of her.

"Are they excited?" Elliot asked, coming out of the bathroom, shutting the light off in the en-suite.

"Yes, especially Sonny," she said as Elliot laid down beside her.

"Kids are a blessing even when they come primarily out of left field," Elliot said, causing both him and Olivia to laugh.

•••

The next morning, Elliot was out the door before the rest of the house was awake. He had a 9 am interrogation but needed to get to Queens and back before that. He quickly made his way back through his old neighborhood and pulled into his old driveway. As their firstborn, Kathy and Elliot had offered their house to Maureen and Carl when they decided to move to Rome.. He knocked on the door, an odd feeling to him but this was no longer his home. His home was with Olivia, Eli, Noah, and Callie.

"Dad! Thank you for coming over."

"It's fine, sweetheart! Thank you for the help!" Elliot followed her in the house and through to the kitchen.

"Liz and I are picking up the party decorations and I'm calling everyone about the invites. Dickie is going to help set up everything. Also, he and Uncle Fin are going to get Liv to the courthouse. I still can't believe you're not telling her!"

"Honey, this is probably the last thing I'm going to be able to surprise her with. Plus her adoption with Noah was very stressful and down to the wire."

"Most people surprise their significant others with engagements."

"Mo, we told you we don't see ourselves getting married we don't need a piece of paper to be committed."

"Which is stupid."

"It might be, but that's how we feel about it," Elliot said as his phone buzzed with a text from Olivia.

Missed you at breakfast, daddy and she had sent a photo of the three kids at their kitchen table.

Missed you three, sorry I had to leave early. had something I had to take care of.

It's fine. god knows I've had to run out a lot

"Thank you again, Mo," Elliot said as he stood up.

"You're welcome, Dad."

•••

That night, Elliot was again on his own with the three kids as Olivia was catching up on paperwork so she could have the full weekend off.

"Hey boys, can you pause the game for a minute," Elliot asked Eli and Noah as he came into the living room, picking up Callie who was munching on cheerios.

"We didn't do it," both boys said at once, causing Elliot to roll his eyes at them.

"I need to tell you something that's happening on Valentine's Day but you can't tell mom."

"Dad, we don't want to know what you two of you are going to do on Valentine's," Eli said, making a face.

"It's not that, Eli. Katie let me know that Callie's adoption will be made official on Valentine's. So I've enlisted the help of your siblings and all the older kids will be at the adoption ceremony and then we're going to have a party," Elliot said.

"So we only have to wait one more day till Callie is officially our sister?" Noah asked.

"Right. I'm telling the two of you because you won't be going to school on Monday. Plus, I figured since the other kids know, you two deserve to know already as well," Elliot said as he sat Callie back on the floor to play.

That night, Elliot stood in Callie's doorway after he had made sure the boys were in their rooms. He watched as Olivia leaned over the crib, watching Callie as she slept. He pushed off of the doorway and walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Y'know in the ten years you were gone, I always thought what it would be like to raise a baby with you."

"Now you don't have to wonder anymore," Elliot said, kissing the top of her head and leading her out of the room after making sure the night light and baby monitor were on.

•••

Valentine's Day dawned and the Benson-Stabler household acted like it was any normal day even though it was anything but.

"I'll take the boys to school," Elliot said as they were getting ready that morning.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. I don't have to be in till later," he said, hoping she would buy his white lie.

"Okay, my love," she said, kissing him goodbye.

"I love you. Happy Valentine's Day." He gave her another kiss.

Once Olivia left for the day, Elliot sent a text to his older kids making sure everything was in place while he rounded up the younger ones.

"Okay, there are suits on your beds. Please go change while I get your sister ready," Elliot said after they finished breakfast.

"A suit? Do we gotta?" Noah moaned.

"Yes, you gotta. Now go," Elliot said with a small smile.

While the boys went to get ready, Elliot took Callie into her room and pulled out the dress that Kathleen had gotten her for the day.

"So, Calla Rose, you will officially become a Benson-Stabler today," Elliot said as he changed her into the outfit and then sat down with her in the rocking chair.

"Your mommy and I, we love you so much, baby girl. And you have six siblings who would die for you and kill for you, and you have aunts and uncles who would do the same."

"Da!"

"Yeah, baby girl, I'm your daddy," he said, kissing her hand that she waved around. An hour later, he gathered the boys and Callie and got them to the courthouse. He found Kathleen outside of the courtroom.

"Hi, baby sister!" Kathleen said, taking the little girl from her dad.

"Is Liv here?"

"Dickie just texted they are on the way, Mo and Liz just pulled up."

Elliot kept checking his watch till he finally saw Olivia approaching with Dickie and Fin in tow.

"What did you do, El?"

"I kinda have been keeping a secret from you," he said with a smirk.

"I can see that," she said, a curious look in her eyes.

"Callie's adoption hearing is today."

"She going to be ours today?"

"Yes, Baby, she'll be ours today," he said, kissing her quickly.

"Callie James," the court officer called out, causing the group to fill into the courtroom.

Olivia smiled and tears filled her eyes when she realized it was Judge Linden sitting up on the bench—the same woman who had entrusted her with Noah all those years ago.

"Captain Benson, I see you're back again, and this young man must be Baby Noah."

"Yes, Your Honor," Olivia said as Elliot took her hand in his.

"And now you've found another baby?"

"Yes, we have. Our Callie."

"It looks like all of your paperwork is in order but I do need to ask some final questions. Do you understand that this is a lifelong decision and that for Callie to be your child, she is to be treated no different than your biological children?"

"Yes, Your Honor." Olivia and Elliot said in sync.

"Do you acknowledge that this is now your child, that you are responsible for her care, and that you are given the responsibility to love and nurture this child?"

"Yes, Your Honor."

"All that's left is this then. I hereby sign Callie James over to the care of Captain Olivia Benson and Sergeant Elliot Stabler. Congratulations."

A few minutes later, the group made their way out of the courthouse, heading for the surprise party the kids had sat up. Olivia, Elliot, and Callie went in Elliot's SVU on their own.

"Thank you for the most amazing Valentine's Day, El. This will go down as the best one ever." Olivia said after they had gotten in and he started driving.

"You're welcome, Baby. I love you."

"I love you too," she said with a smile on her face.

They drove in silence, both listening to Callie coo in the backseat.