Chapter Twenty One
That night Olivia told Elliot they needed to talk. Liv insisted that they eat at her place, but Elliot was so keen on trying this Italian restaurant that had just opened up, not too far from his apartment. The waitress finished taking their order when Liv decided to tell him her news
"Elliot look," Liv started. "I don't really know how to tell you this. But-"
"Oh yeah, Eli wants you to come to his soccer game." he said interrupting.
"El, this is serious."
"Well, will you come? It's Saturday."
"Elliot, I'm trying to tell you something."
"Oh right, sorry. Go ahead."
"The other day, when you asked Emma if she was pregnant, then whose test that was.
Well, it was mine." Elliot didn't say anything. "Hello? El? Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm ok. Just seven kids… Wow... That's a lot."
"Actually, it's eight… It's twins…"
"Wow…" Elliot said. "I don't know… I don't know…"
"Look, El, if you don't want this we have other options."
"I'm Catholic."
"I'm not. But there's always adoption."
"Liv, I just, I just never thought I'd be this old and have almost eight kids."
"Almost?"
"Well Emma, she's technically not really mine biologically."
"Well then add Noah into the mix, that makes ten." Liv said jokingling. Elliot just froze for a few moments. "Elliot?"
"I just need a minute." he said, and got up and went outside. Olivia followed.
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah, it's just a lot to take in." He said pacing.
"I know," Liv said, putting her hand on his shoulder.
"It's just, I never thought after the twins we'd have another child. Then came Eli. I honestly thought I was done. But now-"
"I know, I never thought at our age it would be possible, but here we are. Why don't we go back inside and talk." The two of them walked back in and sat down.
"So what are you going to do?" Elliot asked, taking a sip of his water.
"I have no idea. I mean adoption is always an option if we don't want to keep them."
"That's always true. Have you told IAB yet?"
"No. I was waiting to talk to you."
"Liv, I know what I want, but if that's not what you want, then we'll do that."
"El, I think we want the same thing." Elliot smiled. "I'll tell IAB tomorrow."
The next morning Olivia made her way to IAB and told them her news. Word got out pretty fast when everyone at the precinct was congratulating her. Liv told them it wasn't a big deal and she didn't want to be treated any differently than before.
Later that night they told the rest of the family. They invited everyone over for dinner at Liv's house which eventually turned into them going out, because of the lack of space. The kids took the news quite well considering that they would all be quite older than their new brothers or sisters. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary until dinner conversation started.
"So are you guys like together now?" Eli asked.
"Yeah, are we moving in?" Emma asked jokingly.
Elliot and Olivia hadn't thought about any of the questions yet. "We haven't decided." Elliot said.
"Oh, who's last name are the babies going to have?"
"I guess both," Elliot said.
"Sounds good to me."
After dinner Olivia had offered to drive Elliot home. The car ride was pretty silent, for they were trying to ignore the conversation they were going to have to have eventually.
"Elliot," Liv started, "We can't just ignore it."
"Ignore what?"
"What are we? Are we together? Are we just two friends who happened to sleep with each other and are now expecting twins? C'mon El, we're too old for this."
"I have no idea. They both sound pretty good to me."
"I'm serious."
"What if I don't offer my hand in marriage, are you gonna sue me for child support?"
"Exactly." Liv said with a laugh. "Look, if you don't want to-"
"Ok, let's give it a try." Elliot said, interrupting Liv.
"Try what?"
"Us."
Olivia dropped Elliot off at his place. Eli was spending the night at Maureen and Carl's. He spent most of the night awake, thinking about what his future would look like. But also thinking about all the answers to the questions the kids had asked earlier.
The next morning Elliot woke up to the beeping noise of his alarm clock. He got dressed and went off to work. He had only gotten an hour or so of sleep, so it was quite clear that he was pretty tired.
"Morning Stabler," Bell said. Elliot didn't hear her, for he was still thinking about the night before. "Elliot are you ok?" she said.
"Uh,yeah." Elliot said, sitting in his desk chair.
"Man you look like hell. What's going on?"
"Hey Stabler!" Washburn said, walking into the office. "Heard you knocked up Captain Benson! Nice." he said, putting his hand out for a high five. Everyone stared in their direction.
Elliot stood up, "Alright, before rumors start flying, and thanks to Freddie's announcement. Yes, I slept with Captain Benson, yes she is pregnant, no I will not be answering any further questions."
"Nice that you can still do it!" Jet said.
"Thanks Jet," Elliot said, sarcastically.
"So you guys like dating now?" she added.
"Yeah sort of."
"Whatever that means," she said, sitting at her computer.
Later that week Liv and Elliot had their next ultrasound. Elliot picked up Olivia from the 1-6 and made their way to the appointment.
"So what do you think we're having?" Elliot asked.
"Mmm, I'd say one of each. You?"
"Well, you know whatever I think it is we're gonna have. I've never been wrong."
"Yet,"
"Hey, five kids later and I've never been wrong and I don't intend to start now."
"Well lucky for you we're gonna have to find out this weekend."
"Do we really have to go to that party?"
"Yes, Amanda and the girls have been planning it for weeks. Just put on a smile and act happy."
"Fine. But I know I'm right."
"You didn't even answer the question."
"Fine, I think it's two boys."
"Great, just what we need, two more Elliot Stablers running around."
That weekend Amanda had been planning a gender reveal and baby shower with the Stabler girls and Emma. They knew Elliot and Olivia didn't want this, but it was just so much easier than guessing on what they wanted for a baby.
"Alright I'm here, can I go now?" Elliot asked.
"Just pretend that you're enjoying yourself." Kathleen said.
"I see that you're team boy?" Elliot added.
"And girl, but mainly boy."
After Elliot greeted everyone he started to enjoy himself.
"Alright everyone, it's time to reveal the gender!" Amanda said, getting everyone's attention. "So what we have here are two balloons. One has baby A and one is baby B." she said, handing them the two balloons.
Elliot and Olivia took the balloons and nails. Elliot popped his balloon first. Baby A is a boy! Olivia took her pin and stuck it in the balloon. Baby B is a girl. "Looks like I was right." Liv said
