Chapter summary: Part two of Olivia and Noah's weekend at Elliot's place. It's time for Richard and Elizabeth to make an appearance.

Author's Note: This chapter follows Chapter 5, so you should read that one first.

The story is now complete. Thank you so much for reading. I still don't have a beta, so please excuse any mistakes.

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Olivia is the first to wake, slowly and with a yawn, she stretches out her arm only to be shocked when her fingers brush against hair - soft, curly hair. She opens her eyes and stares at the back of her son's head, trying to figure out when, how, and why he was now in sharing the bed with her and Elliot.

She doesn't have much time to ponder the scene, before Elliot starts to wake. She quietly watches him slowly extract himself from the bed, careful not to jostle Noah, who was glued to his back, and stretch his large (and well-muscled, she thinks) frame.

"Morning," she mouths at him, when he finally turns around to look over the bed, and then points at Noah with a questioning look.

Elliot just smirks, returns her silent "Morning," purses his lips in a quick air kiss, and nods his head towards the door. He doesn't want to risk waking Noah, and he desperately needs coffee.

Olivia follows him from the room after gently pulling Noah to the center of the bed. She's afraid that his body won't recognize the limits of this new sleep space and that he might roll off the edge without Elliot blocking his path now.

"What happened? I thought he was fine on the couch?" She asks as she joins Elliot, Bernie, and Kathleen in the kitchen.

Elliot hands her a mug of coffee, already made to her liking. "Nightmare. Apparently, Eli played a scary movie last night and it gave Noah a bad dream."

"Oh no, I'm sorry El…" She turns her head back towards the room with worried eyes, as if she could see her sleeping son through the wall.

Brows knit, Elliot asks, "Why are you sorry? Eli's the one that picked a scary movie."

"I'm sorry that Noah woke you up and you had to handle his bad dream."

Elliot shakes his head, "He didn't wake me, I was already up because of your damn night-time tea-"

Olivia chuckles at this.

"-and it was nothing, he was easy to calm."

"But…"

Hearing enough, Elliot puts his hand up to stop her, signaling his interruption. "No buts, I was there, and he let me handle it."

"Dad's good at handling nightmares Liv, trust me," Kathleen adds, placing her hand on Olivia's forearm. Her and Bernie didn't even try to hide their eavesdropping - if you could call it eavesdropping when Elliot and Olivia were having the conversation in the kitchen. "I bet he had Noah laughing in no time."

Knowing that she was outnumbered for this conversation, she drops it. "Okay," she takes a sip of her coffee and changes the subject, "What's on the agenda for today?"

Several hours later the boys burst through the front door of Elliot's apartment, just steps ahead of Kathleen, still chattering excitedly about their day. Elliot and Olivia lagged behind toting in the boys' arcade winnings: an over-the-door basketball hoop; two small nerf guns: tub of bright green slime; stuffed Minion; and enough candy to call ahead to the dentist for a cleaning.

Elliot grinned at her and nudged her shoulder a few times as they walked to the front door, happy at the successful start of their family day. They could hear the boys, and Kathleen, still talking about the go-karts when they finally made it inside.

"-when you took that corner-"

"-wish they went faster-"

"-the red one was definitely the fastest-"

The day started as planned once the boys woke up. All of them, Kathleen getting her desired invite, filled up on pancakes, bacon, and eggs at the Stabler's favorite diner. Then they headed to the local family fun center after dropping Bernie back off at home (the center was too noisy for her tastes).

They started by blowing through a few hundred tokens in the arcade - Eli schooling them all in the free throw game, but Olivia getting the highest score at skee ball. Then the boys and Elliot went through the laser tag course and gravity ropes - Elliot choosing to walk behind Noah, but the boy fearlessly flew through the course without needing Elliot's help. Kathleen and Olivia decided to wait, electing to guard the boys' arcade prizes. And after a lunch of pizza and nachos and several soda refills, they finished their visit with the batting cages and go-karts. True to Elliot's word, Noah was able to drive his own kart, though the three adults had to take turns riding with him.

Once inside, the boys rushed off to Eli's room to play Mario Kart. He had a steering wheel controller and the boys weren't quite ready to give up on the high they had from the real go-karts.

"Grandma!" Kathleen shouts through the apartment, "just let me fix a drink and we can go to the store." Then, as she's moving around the kitchen fixing an iced coffee - a much needed caffeine boost - she thanks Olivia, again, for letting her crash the boy's family fun day, "The boys had a blast. Heck, I had a blast!"

"Me too. We will have to go back soon."

"Yea, really soon!" Noah adds as he darts into the kitchen, snags the bag of candy, and rushes back.

"Just a few pieces!" Olivia calls, knowing full well that she will have to retrieve the bag in a few minutes or the boys will eat half of it and make themselves sick before dinner.

Elliot pulls his card from his wallet and hands it to Kathleen as she's shaking her to-go cup and calling for her grandmother again, "We have brats, burgers, and steaks, so we just need buns and sides. And don't forget that Rich and Liz are joining us so make sure we have enough for eight."

"Buy out the store - got it," Kathleen smirks at her dad and shouts again "Grandma, let's go!"

"Calm your horses, Kathleen," Bernie calls, "I'm coming."

Once they are out the door, Elliot joins Liv on the couch.

"I'm exhausted," he sighs as he flops down dramatically, and then leans over to peck her cheek, "and I'm going to be so sore tomorrow. I should have stretched before hitting the batting cages."

"Oh, my poor baby," Liv croons, rubbing his chest and over his shoulder, before leaning back in for another peck, this one on the lips. "Are you sure it wasn't the fall you took when you tried to jump the wall playing laser tag?" she teases.

"I told the boys not to -"

"I saw it," she laughs. It's like Elliot to pull the boys aside and make them swear not to say anything, you know male bonding and whatnot.

"How?"

"They had video of the arena playing in the exit room."

"Damn," he says with a chuckle of disbelief.

"I'll rub your back and shoulders later," Olivia offers, knowing full well that Elliot is going to be sore tomorrow. He didn't hold back today, running around with Eli and Noah like he was 20 years younger. She smiles at the thought, thankful that Elliot is willing to be so active with her young son.

"Mmmmm," he kisses her hand and counters hopefully, "or now?"

She eyes him narrowly, but nods and adds, "Fine but just for a few minutes."

He taps her thigh and tells her to move to the end of the couch. When she scoots down, Elliot tosses a pillow in her lap and stretches out on his stomach and lays his head on the pillow. He turns his face into her soft belly and wraps his arms around her middle. Her lips curl into a sweet smile.

Off and on through the years when they were partners, Olivia wondered what it would be like to be in a relationship with him. It was a side of him she wasn't exposed to. Was he romantic, sentimental, and touchy, or was he stoic, dispassionate, and reserved with his physical touch. Was just as hard to live with as he was to work with? What would he be like with me?

From their working relationship and friendship, she guessed that he would be obnoxiously corny, brash, and unapologetic. She was right. But she was pleasantly surprised at how cuddly and touchy he was. He wasn't crude about it, forcing grotesque displays of affection on those around them, but he would always find a way to be in her space and touch her - her back, arm, waist, cheek - if he could manage it without being overbearing. He liked to speak softly in her ear, telling her that he loved her, she looked beautiful, and on occasion, when they were out of earshot, make insinuations about what he'd do if they were alone.

As her mind wanders, Olivia lightly trailed her fingers over his head, down his neck, and across his shoulders, alternating between her nails and the tips of her fingers.

"Mmmmm, that feels nice," Elliot mumbles into her stomach.

"I'm sorry you are so tired, I know you didn't get much sleep last night."

"'S okay," he exhales, his warm breath spreading over the skin of her belly.

"I can't believe that Noah had a bad dream and wanted to sleep with me, that hasn't happened in several months. I'm sorry you had to handle him and …"

Elliot flips to his back, looking straight up at Olivia's face, his head still on the pillow, "We already discussed this. There is no need to apologize to Liv. And I will talk to Eli tonight about his movie choices."

"El, no," her hands rubbing over his chest, "Noah told me this morning that he picked out the movie. He didn't tell me why, but I'm certain that he was trying to impress Eli. Noah thinks he's so cool."

"I'm still gonna tell him that those movies are off limits, even if Noah picks them."

"Okay," she waits a few moments before continuing, "but if it happens again, you can wake me, you don't need to…."

Elliot reaches up and gently covers her lips with two fingers, stopping her. They'd already covered this ground this morning. She's trying to lessen the load of dating a single mother, keeping the burdens of child rearing to herself, and Elliot wasn't having that. He loves Olivia and Noah and wants everything that comes with being with Olivia - even midnight wake up calls by a scared child.

"I don't mind, honest," he pulls his fingers away from her mouth and pushes a piece of hair behind her ear, "I've done it a million times, and it gave us time to bond."

"I heard. Ice cream at 3:00 a.m., really?"

Chuckling, "Hey, it's a tried and true method, it's worked for five - now six - kids. I was just happy that he let me help him. Once I heard 'I want my mom,' I thought the night was over."

"Aww, he must have really been frightened."

"He was, but we handled it, checked behind all doors and flipped all the lights. And then had ice cream. Nothing is scary after ice cream."

"I'll take your word for it," she leans down to kiss him, whispering, "thank you," as she sits back up.

"No problem," he grunts as flips back over onto his stomach, "you can continue to thank me though," he taps his shoulders before snuggling back into her abdomen and wrapping his arms tightly around her.

The trip to the grocery store didn't take too long, but Kathleen and Bernie decided that the day called for cupcakes, so they made a detour to Eli's favorite bakery (in the States anyway) to pick up a dozen mixed-and-matched cupcakes. It didn't add more than half an hour to their trip, but that was long enough for Richard and Elizabeth to beat them back to the apartment.

"Hey Dad!" Rich calls as he and Liz make their way to the kitchen, but seeing and hearing no one he turns to his sister, "He did say 5, right?"

"Yea, where is…" she trails off as she sees someone on the couch, and points in that direction, "Rich, is that Liv?" She can only see the back of her head, but who else would it be?

They take in the scene standing in front of the couch. Olivia is hunched over, asleep, her head resting on her fist, pushing up her cheek, her elbow on the arm rest. Her other hand is resting on Elliot's shoulders, his face still cuddled into her belly.

"Do we wake them?" Rich asks quietly.

"Nah," Liz says over her shoulder as she walks back to the kitchen, "let them sleep. Dad told me that he'd planned a full day, they probably need a nap."

"Fine," nodding toward the hall, Rich adds "I'm gonna check in on Eli and Noah," he can hear their voices and laughter filtering out from Eli's room. When Rich rejoins Liz, she'd already popped the top off two beers. But just as he pulls out a stool to sit, Kathleen bursts through the front door, much like she did a couple hours before.

"I hope everyone likes spriiiinnnnkkkleesssss!"

"Shhhh," Liz scolds, her finger over her lips, then pointing towards the couch, "Dad and Liv are asleep on the couch."

Kathleen's shoulders shrug up apologetically, and mouths "crap," but it was too late - Noah comes running from Eli's room, "I LOVE SPRINKLES!"

Olivia wakes with a jump and a small yelp.

"Sorry Livvie! I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were napping," Kathleen starts apologizing, shouting across the apartment before Olivia had even turned her head to see what or who caused the racket. As soon as she realizes that everyone is in the kitchen while her and Elliot are napping on the couch, her cheek flush with embarrassment. Looking down she sees Elliot is still out.

"Mom! Mom! Mom!" Noah comes running, "Katie and Grand-B bought cupcakes!"

"Noah, inside voice," she reminds him pointlessly, he's too excited and running on a candy-fueled sugar high, "but that's great! Make sure you tell them thank you."

He's shouting his thanks before he's rounded the couch.

Elliot starts to move, rubbing his nose into her shirt, squeezing her tight, before he rolls over. "Hmmmm, what time is it," he asks, reaching up to touch her face, but she grabs his hand and holds it to her chest.

"I'm not sure, but your mom and Kathleen are back from the store, with cupcakes, and Rich and Liz are here." Olivia tells him softly, so those in the kitchen don't overhear.

"Oh."

"Yea, we need to get up."

Elliot sits up, looks to see everyone in the kitchen, who don't even pretend to look away. He leans in and whispers, "I'd kiss you, but everyone's watching, and I know how much you hate that." He gives her a cocky grin, pats her leg a couple times, and gets up.

While Elliot's greeting the twins and checking out the cupcakes, Olivia takes a few minutes to collect herself. She stifles a yawn, stretches, and heads to the bathroom to freshen up.

"Hello Liz," Olivia welcomes when she walks into the nearly kitchen, "where'd everyone go?"

"They are outside, Dad's firing up the grill."

"Perfect, pizza and nachos weren't really what I wanted for lunch," she laughs, awkwardly.

Of Elliot's kids, she's spent the most time with Eli because he's still in the home, and Kathleen, because she's at the apartment so much that she practically lives there. Next would be Maureen, but their conversations always involve the kids.

Richard and Elizabeth are a completely different story. She's only spent time with them once or twice since she and Elliot started dating. They are always kind to her, but a little standoffish.

She can sense that Rich still isn't quite sold on the idea of her and his dad dating. Rich has never said anything to her, but next to Eli - who is still a child and lived with Kathy most recently - Rich was the Stabler kid closest to Kathy. Olivia believes that watching Elliot move on to Olivia, even over a year later, is probably hard for him to see.

She can vividly recall that day in the interrogation room: "How 'bout you detective ever sleep with your partner?" He'd asked it with so much force and near vitriol. She knew at the time that he was stressed about his friend and just angry at his dad. But to this day she suspects that he never quite believed her firm and unequivocal, "Never."

And although she's never had a pre-Elliot-fleeing-to-Italy confrontation with Liz, Olivia knows that her and Rich are inextricably linked. Even if Liz didn't, in her own mind, believe that Olivia and Elliot had an affair, she'd always have Richard's back.

She knows that Richard and Elizabeth aren't being intentionally reserved around her and Noah. It's just a natural side effect of the situation. Olivia hopes that evenings like this, spent with all or most of Elliot's kids, will eventually melt away the twins' last bit of apprehension.

Olivia didn't have to wait too long, however. By the time the entire crew was stuffed with burgers and brats and side - Kathleen and Bernie bought enough to feed a small army - everyone was getting along swimmingly.

Olivia watched Richard eagerly listening to Noah's play-by-play of the laser tag wars and Eli and Elliot planning a "boys' day" outing to a baseball game, when she heard, "Liv…Liv…"

"Yea, sorry," she turned to Kathleen and Liz who were trying to get her attention.

"Are you free next weekend?" Liz asks.

Then Kathleen adds, "We want to check out this new shop."

"Oh, I don't know, after taking off this weekend…"

"Don't worry, maybe you can meet us for lunch or drinks after," Liz proposes.

Olivia smiles, "That sounds nice, I'll make it work."

"That was a great idea, making a fort in the living room," Olivia applauds as she walks Elliot back to the bedroom late that evening.

After Kathleen, Rich, and Liz left, Elliot determined that the evening call for Shrek - his favorite children's movie - and a fort made of pillows and blankets. By the end of the movie all the boys were asleep in the fort.

It took a few minutes for Olivia to coax a semi-conscious Elliot out of the makeshift tent, but he eventually agreed that the floor would not be good for his back and that he'd much rather sleep with Olivia in his bed.

Once they are in bed, Olivia snuggles into Elliot's side. He pulls her tightly to his chest and he kisses the top of her head, "Thank you for staying over this weekend."

"I've had a really good time, Noah too."

"I wish every weekend could be like this."

"That would be nice." Olivia murmurs sleep already starting to come over her.

"Let's do it then."

Her eyes snap open, "Do what?"

"Be together every weekend…every night."

"El…" she starts. This is not the time and place to have this discussion. It was too soon. And it would be a long discussion. There were too many things to address. Not just the living space, but the kids' - all the kids' feelings, schools, work, Bernie, and so much more.

He interrupts, "I'm serious."

"I know you are, but…" She moves to sit up. He tightens hold on her, halting her movements. He'd been thinking about this for a while. But he regrets blurting it out just now, realizing that he might have ruined a perfect evening as he can feel anxiety rise in her body and tell that she has a lot to say.

"No, I'm sorry Liv, I shouldn't have said that."

"El…" she tries again.

"Liv," he mumbles against the crown of her head, "I didn't mean to ruin the moment or start something tonight. I know it is still soon and there is a lot to discuss."

He exhales as he feels her start to relax back into him, but he doesn't want to drop the subject completely, "Just promise me you'll think about it."

She has to take a few breaths to fully shake the panic that rose in her body, but breathing in his scent and feeling the comfort of his arms around her, a feeling that she had wanted for so long, she knows that he has a point, it would be nice to sleep like this every night, "Okay. I'll think about it."

"Hmmmm, thank you," he squeezes her and kisses her head again, "now sleep."