Dessert went by quickly. The kids were back to playing in Noah's bedroom and the adults were sipping the remaining of the wine, chatting. Conversations naturally shifted to all of their times as partners. The kids were off playing in the living room. Carisi and Amanda recalled their first big partner fight and how the Captain had to separate them for a few hours. Fin and Phoebe talked about their (shorter) partnership saying they never really fought, which was surprising. Olivia and Elliot didn't add much, sensing that the topic would be sensitive for them. It was finally Phoebe that brought up their partnership.

"What about Benson and Stabler? Twelve years is a long time, I bet it wasn't all roses." She said, curious.

Their first response was to laugh uncomfortably. Fin joined in laughter as well. Elliot sent a quick glance at Olivia.

"No, not all roses."

"Understatement of the year." Fin added.

Olivia took another sip of her wine, her mind going to different times of their partnership.

"Well?" Phoebe pushed. "What was your worst fight?"

Elliot took in a breath and held it, maybe hoping it would tune out the rest of the conversation. This time Olivia tentatively looked at him, trying to read him. What moment was he thinking of? In her defense, she hadn't thought about their fights for a long time. And she never thought about them as "worst" than the others.

"I'm not sure…there were a few." Olivia tried to get them out of the subject.

"Oh come on! Give us something here." Carisi joined in, the wine having its full effect on him.

Fin helped by starting somewhere.

"From my recollection, it was the Sennet case."

The look on the partner's faces confirmed Fin had struck a nerve. He explained for the others.

"Olivia was siding with the woman who claimed to have been raped and Elliot with the ex-husband who allegedly did it. In the end though, it turned out both of them were victims, putting each other through the ringer during a nasty divorce."

The guests turned to Elliot and Olivia for more details.

"I remember you were at each other's throat all through the case, not even caring who heard you fight at that point." Fin added. "Munch and I just stood on the side, hoping not to get hit with anything." He finished and everyone laughed at the image.

"Yeah…I guess that was a hard case for us…we, uh, we weren't in the right mindset to take it. Cragen should have removed us from it." Elliot offered.

Fin snorted.

"What made you move on?" Amanda asked, as if seeking advice from the veterans. "I mean, if you were continuously fighting, what made you move pass it?"

This time it was Olivia who took a long breath. She and Elliot looked pensive together, reminiscing. Elliot spoke first.

"I remember just talking about it. You drank that water with a flower in it."

"It was tea, Elliot." She corrected him even though she knew he had said it on purpose.

"Whatever." He replied softly, teasing.

She smiled back at him. But then sobered and spoke about what she remembered.

"The last time we spoke to the wife, it was just before she got to be treated for severe burns on her body. It was horrifying. She died from it afterward. I think that we felt so bad for them, that it made our fighting not worth it."

Olivia looked up at her guests. They seemed to be waiting for another answer.

"So…that's it. Tea?" Amanda asked in disbelief.

"And conversation." Olivia shrugged.

Elliot saw their disappointment in the resolving of the story.

"I remember another fight where we made up by us offering each other's kidney." He turned to Olivia, proud to share the moment.

She laughed.

"Oh that's right. That was another hard case…I offered first, didn't I?"

"No, Benson, I offered first, and you just repeated."

"Whatever." She repeated his earlier answer, teasing back.

"Kidneys? Well that's another level of making up…" Phoebe said, impressed. "But you would have to be the same blood type to do it."

They both looked at her and shrugged.

"A-positive." They said in tandem and took a sip of their wine.

Fin was the one to laugh first, when everyone else was still shocked to learn this.

"Omg, *of course* they have the same blood type…" he shook his head in disbelief.

They all laughed eventually, Elliot and Olivia sharing another glance.

"Mom? What's a blood type?" Noah had come up to his mother in the last few minutes and had heard the end of the conversation.

"It the kind of blood that is in your body. Everyone has a type and it's not all the same." She explained.

"oh…what's my blood type?"

"B-positive." She replied.

"Oh! I'm B-positive. Yay!" he jumped, the sugar from dessert clearly in his system, as he ran back to play with the girls.

Everyone continued talking, except Elliot who frowned.

"What? How is that possible?" he asked softly to Olivia.

She knew he would do the math and question how Noah could have an unmatching blood type with hers. Fin heard his question and leaned towards Olivia.

"I thought you two were talking..?" he teased.

Olivia sent him a glare.

"We are."

"About what? Pixies and daisies?" he joked, standing up to go to the bathroom.

Olivia's eyes followed him until he disappeared from her view, avoiding Stabler's questioning stare as long as she could. The rest of the guests were talking amongst themselves, so that gave her and Elliot a moment where she could talk to him privately.

Looking into his eyes, he was patiently waiting for her explanation or a rectification about her son's blood type. Olivia couldn't keep it to herself now, and if she was being honest, she didn't want to. She wanted to share it with Elliot, let him know what happened during his absence. And if it started with Noah, that was fine with her.

"Noah's adopted, El." She said softly, awaiting his reaction.

He frowned at first, looked at her as if she was joking. He shook his head a little.

"No way." He stated, pretty confident.

Olivia smiled.

"It's true."

Elliot let out a quiet laugh in disbelief.

"That kid is *all* Benson." He said, still not fully believing her.

Olivia laughed at that, but took it as a compliment.

"Thanks. But it's not all about the blood." She said and that made him sobber up.

They were both sent back to that moment where he had uttered those exact words to her. His expression softened and his eyes went over her face.

"I'm so happy for you, Liv. So proud of you."

That last sentence wasn't really intended on his part, but he didn't take it back. Olivia felt the warmth hit her cheeks, not for the first nor second time tonight. She smiled tenderly at him.

Letting him in wasn't so bad, so far.