Chapter Thirteen
Emma, Noah, and Olivia all went out to dinner to celebrate their good news. Elliot took Eli to their favorite New York City style pizza. Elliot and Eli also went for a walk in Central Park.
"Dad," Eli started with.
"Yeah?" Elliot asked.
"Does this change anything?"
"What do you mean?"
"Like, do you get visitation rights? What does it mean for our family?"
"You know, it's out of my control, Eli."
They drove home. Elliot allowed Eli to watch a movie in his room. Elliot spent the rest of the night staying up, thinking about what Eli had asked. He was curious as to why Emma decided on "Benson-Stabler", whether or not that would change anything between him and Liv, and if he would ever be able to have her over again. He and Liv had settled on a good "Co-parenting" plan, not one where lawyers were involved, but one that they agreed to. They agreed that Emma would spend every other weekend at his place and any longer weekend she may have as well.
The next morning Olivia went to work, and saw a bunch of balloons on her desk. "Guys, you didn't have to do that." Liv mentioned, as she walked into the precinct.
"They're not from any of us." Fin said.
"Yeah, I was going to get you something small, but Fin said not to." Amanda stated.
"I got you this," Kat added, handing Liv a small card that just said "congrats". "But it does look like there is a card." she added.
Olivia walked into her office with a big balloon that said "congratulations" and a bouquet of flowers. They were pretty. Liv saw the card and opened it, it read:
"Congrats Liv, you're a great mom. Kathy would be proud. Semper Fi. -El." Of course it was Elliot who sent her these.
The day had gone by pretty quickly, a stressful day with a stressful case. "Hey Cap," Fin said, knocking on her door. "The squad wants to take you out for drinks, to celebrate."
"Thanks Fin, but I think I'm just going to go home." Fin gave Olivia a sad look. "He planned it, didn't he?" She asked.
"Yeah, he and everyone's already there." Fin replied. Olivia rolled her eyes.
When she got to the restaurant, there was a big sign hanging that said "Welcome Home Emma" and a few balloons here and there.
"Elliot, you didn't have to do this." Olivia said, walking into the room.
"It wasn't me," he said.
"It was me," Kathleen said, coming over. "Thought we should celebrate our new half sister, and step-mom?" Elliot and Olivia looked at eachother, they never thought of the fact that by her adoption Emma would, in theory, make her Elliot's other kids "step-mom".
"Let's just stick with 'Olivia'." Liv mentioned.
Everyone started to come in one at a time, first the rest of Stabler's kids, then Carisi came in, even Elliot's squad came to celebrate. Emma and Jet must've already known each other. Carisi tapped his knife on the glass, getting everyone's attention.
"Hey everyone, I just wanted to say a few words. Just a congratulations to Captain Benson, and Emma Benson-Stabler. To the Beson-Stablers!" He said and everyone clapped and took a sip of their drinks. Everyone returned to their conversations.
"Hey Elliot, can I talk to you?" Emma asked Elliot.
"Um, sure." He said, following her outside. It was quite cold outside, even snowing, but it was the only place they could talk in private. "What's up?" Elliot asked.
"Here, I don't know what it is, or what's even inside. But it has your name on it. Not sure why I have it, but here." Emma said, handing Elliot an envelope that had Kathy's hand writing on it. Elliot took it from her hands. "Well I'm cold, so I'm going to go back inside." Emma walked back inside, rejoining the party. Elliot watched as she mingled with his friends and family.
Elliot looked down at the envelope wondering whether or not to open it. He took a deep breath and decided to open the letter. The letter read:
"El,
I want to apologize for packing up and taking the kids with me. I needed time to think and I needed space from you. I know that's no excuse for what I did. Look, El, I have been seeing a man, he's nice, his name is Richard, loves the kids. I don't know how else to tell you, but I'm pregnant. I know you might be mad, but I am not sure what I'm going to do with the baby yet. I haven't even told Richard yet. I need you to know that if you don't want me to have this baby I will get rid of it. I know some of my options go against our religion, but I will break my beliefs if that's what you want. I'll wait until I get an answer from you.
Elliot, I want you to know that if you want to be with Olivia, the kids and I have talked it out, and we all agreed that we would love to welcome her into our family. We all know if it weren't for the one drunken night we wouldn't have gotten pregnant with Maureen and we wouldn't have gotten married. But I know that you're happy when you're with her. So it won't hurt us if you wanted to be with her. Just know that no matter what you decide to do, we understand, and we'll make things work. I love you El.
Kathy."
Elliot folded up the letter and put it in the inside pocket of his jacket. He looked inside the window and saw Liv, laughin, Fin talking, and his kids talking to everyone. He walked back inside and overheard a conversation between Carisi and Emma.
"So you decide on a career path yet?" he asked Emma.
"Criminal law with a pre-law track." Emma said.
"That's my girl!" Carisi said, giving Emma a high five.
Just then Elliot walked back into the room. Not wanting to talk to anyone. Fin tried speaking to him, but he just walked right past him. Elliot made his way across the room where Olivia was. He grabbed her by the hand and turned her around, making her face him, he pulled her close and kissed. She was shocked by the sudden events but eventually enjoyed herself.
Everyone was shocked as to what just happened. After they pulled away Fin said, "About damn time!" followed by a remark made by Emma, "Told you, you'd cross the line." It had just now hit Elliot that everyone had just witnessed what just happened
