Chapter Eleven

"What are you doing here? Where are the kids?" Elliot asked, confused.

"They're fine. They're in the car, Noah left something here. What are you doing here?" Kathleen said, looking around searching for Liv.

"She's in bed," Elliot said.

"Dad, I know you don't have any moral obligations anymore, but seriously?"

"Kathleen, me and Liv didn't-"

"But you want to? You know what, don't answer that." Kathleen walked into the apartment, grabbed Noah's blanket and walked out. "Bye dad." she said hugging him, "Don't do anything stupid." she said walking out the door.

A few weeks had passed and they were now getting ready for family court. Emma had started her senior year at the same school as Eli, who was starting 8 grade. Noah had also started school as well. He was excited that he got to be missing a day of school.

Noah was the first one to testify, Olivia was nervous on what kind of questions the defense would ask, but Elliot assured her that he would be fine.

"Noah, how are you today?" Lagan asked.

"I'm good, the boy replied."

"Noah, how long have you been Captain Benson's son?"

"For my entire life."

"So it's been going well?"

"Sure has. Except for that one time I saw mommy and grandma Sheila fighting." Olivia wished he hadn't said that.

"And who's grandma Sheila?" Trevor asked.

"She's my real mom's mom. But mommy tells me that she's sick and is getting help."

"Sick how?"

"She says she's sick in the head, that something isn't right. Which is why I saw them fighting."

"Noah, tell me, what kind of stuff does your mom do for you?"

"She cooks, cleans, tucks me in at night, we do fun stuff too when she can."

"Does your mom work a lot?"

"Sometimes, she tells me that I'm more important than her work, and she'll always put me first."

"Thank you, nothing further."

"No questions, your honor." Buchanan said.

Next it was Emma's turn. She thought that Buchanan would have a field day with her, but she was wrong. He asked some pretty basic questions, but not at all what she was thinking. Kathleen had picked up Noah and Emma and took them back to school. It was now Liv's turn to testify. Trevor went easy on her, considering he knew that Buchanan would have a field day.

"Captain Benson, isn't it true that you originally put in a question for adoption back in '08, but was declined because of your work hours?" Buchanan said.

"Yes,"

"Why?"

"They told me, I was unfit parenting material."

"So how'd you get Noah?"

"Noah was the daughter of Ellie Porter, a rap victim who had been pimped out by Noah's father. During our investigation, Ellie had been murdered, leaving Noah going from foster home to foster home. After which I had attended his family court hearings, where the judge had suggested that I foster Noah for a year, then if all went well I could adopt him."

"But isn't it true that you withheld the information from Noah's father?"

"I was advised not to tell him, by our ADA at the time, ADA Barba, but decided against that."

"And isn't it true that your old partner, Nick Armaro, shot and killed T-Bone? Noah's father."

"It is true, but-"

"But what?"

"But he had shot fire first. Nick was only doing what he was trained to do."

"And isn't it true you never told Sheila Porter, his grandmother."

"It is, but I was told by Ellie she was dead."

"Even your own son said he saw you two fighting."

"We were but-"

"And didn't Noah's school accuse you of child abuse?"

"Yes, but I was pulling him out of the way before he got hit by a car."

"So what makes you think you can be a better parent, than Mr. and Mrs. Wheatley?"

"I'm not be convicted for murdering a cops wife, owning my own drug business, and conspieracy to comit murder against a cop, need I go on?"

"No, thank you Captain."

It was now Wheatley's turn to take the stand, but just after he took his hand off the bible, Fin came barging through the doors.

"Sargent Tutuola, what is this about?!" the judge yelled.

"Sorry your honor, but it is an imgerancy. I highly suggest taking a break from your owner."

"On what grounds?!"

"There was a shooting," Elliot and Olivia both stood up and turned around facing Fin. "At the school, Emma-" Both Elliot and Olivia looked at the judge.

"A court is agerened, we'll meet back at 9am sharp tomorrow morning."

Elliot and Olivia quickly followed fun, running down the hallway. Fin drove the car with the lights. Traffic was pretty heavy as they got closer to the school. Elliot and Olivia could only think of the worst possible outcomes. They got to the crime scene.

"Detective Stabler, Captain Benson." He told the uniform officers as they entered the crime scene.

"Dad!" Eli said, running up to Elliot. Elliot grabbed Eli in his arms.

"Elliot!" Fin yelled.

"Hey, take my son to the 1-6 precinct." Elliot told a uniform officer. "Eli go with this nice lady, she'll take you to Liv's office, I'll let Bell know you're there and she'll come get you." Elliot quickly put Eli in the car and closed the door, not too long after that the cop lights went on.

"Fin what's up?" Elliot asked, running over to him.

"She's at Manhattan Children's." Fin said.

"I'll drive," Liv said, both of them ran to the car and turned on their lights. There was a lot of traffic getting to the hospital, so the lights weren't very useful.

When they arrived at the hospital they quickly ran up to the trauma unit.

"Hi, we're Detective Stabler and Captain Benson," Liv said entering the waiting room.

"You must be Emma's parents," A doctor said walking up next to them. They followed the doctor towards the waiting room, full of chairs. They both looked at each other.

"Emma is fine, one bullet went through and through right above the knee, the other was lodged in her thigh. But she'll be fine, no tissue or muscle damage, just will be sore for a while." the doctor explained.

"Is she awake?" Elliot asked.

"Yeah and she's already asking to go home. Room 205, Peds unit." he explained.

Elliot and Olivia walked back towards the elevator. "I'll let Fin know she's ok." Liv said.

Elliot's phone buzzed. He got a text from Bell. "Everything ok?" Liv asked.

"Yeah just work," Elliot said, putting his phone back in his pocket. "Why'd she tell them we're her parents?" he asked.

"Not sure," Liv said. They both looked at each other. "You know she gets that from you?"

"Get's what?

"Wanting to go come so soon."

"She's not biologically mine."

"Doesn't matter, you rubbed off on her." The elevator doors opened. They got off.

Liv knocked on the door before entering. "Hey Emma," Emma smiled. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm good, can I go home?" Liv laughed a little.

"Why'd you tell the doctor we're your parents?" Elliot asked.

Emma gave him a look Kathy used to give him when it came to Olivia. "What was I supposed to say? My mom's dead, killed by my own father, so you can call my mom's former husband, now widowed, who doesn't have any legal authority over me, so you can also call my foster mom Captain Benson." Elliot had a smug look on his face. "So you see why I just told them you were my parents?" Liv and Elliot both made eye contact. Elliot's phone buzzed. He got up and looked at his phone.

Sargent Bell: Elliot, Eli told me this was the kid who had the gun. Ask Emma if she's seen him before.

Elliot: Copy.

"Liv," Elliot said, gesturing for her to follow him. They stepped outside for a brief moment. "Ayanna just texted me these. Eli said he saw the boy with the gun."

"Alright, we'll see if she remembers, or even saw the guy." They walked back in. "Hey Emma," Liv said sitting on her bed. "Did you see the guy who shot you?"

"Yeah, he had an afro kind of, just curly hair."

"You think you'd remember him if he saw him?"

"Probably," Olivia pulled out her phone and started swiping through the photos Bell had sent Elliot. "That's him." Emma said. "That's Ryan, he goes to my school."

"Thanks Emma." Liv walked back to Elliot.

"Liv, can you show me that photo again?" Elliot asked. Liv showed him the photo of the boy Emma had identified. "Son. Of. A. Bitch." Elliot said.

"What? Who is it?" Liv said.

"Wheatley's youngest son." Elliot said. "I have to go." Elliot ran to the elevators, "I'll text you when I know something!" He yelled towards Liv. Liv walked back into Emma's room.

"Can I have some ice cream?" Emma asked.

"Sure," Liv picked up the phone and called the hospital kitchen, asking for two chocolate sundaes. About 10 minutes later the ice cream arrived.

"Can I ask you a question?" Emma asked, taking a bite of her ice cream.

"Um, sure." Liv said, taking a bite of her own ice cream.

"You and Elliot are close right?"

"You can say that,"

"I mean, you were partners for 12 years. From what I heard the average is 2. What was different about you two?"

This took Olivia to a surprise, but she wasn't too sure how much she had heard from any of the Stabler kids. "Well, we grew pretty close, not just in our partnership, but also our friendship. We always chose each other over the job, which made things a little more difficult, but we made it work."

"So why'd he leave?"

"That, I don't know." Liv said, taking another bite.

"You guys, ever cross the line?" Emma said, shoving a big spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.

"The line?" Liv asked, knowing what she meant, but wanted to make sure she understood her.

"You know, the fine line of friendship to relationship." Emma said with a smirk.

"He was a married…"

"So? People cheat on their spouses all the time."

"Still I wouldn't have done that."

"You're not answering the question."

"Man, you'll make one good lawyer one day." she smiled, " No, I did not sleep with him. The only time we had to kiss, or act like a couple was when we were undercover."

"Ok, ok. Let me ask you this." Emma said. Olivia was scared to know what the next words were. "Do you want to cross the line now?" Liv gave Emma a very surprised and concerned look, yet laughed it off. "I mean it's not like he's married now or anything." Emma said, pointing out the obvious.

"What are you a match maker now?" Liv asked, laughing. "No, I think Elliot and I are just good friends. I don't think he sees me like that."

Emma shrugged, "You never know." she shoved more ice cream into her mouth