"Let's play. Everyone knows the rules to Bullshit". Elliott asked to the table, receiving a round of yes' and nods from the table. Dickie started to hand out the cards to play. "So I am keeping score". Dickie asked with a smirk. "Nope, Dickwad, I will keep score so that we can avoid another argument," Lizzie said to the table. Grabbing a notepad and pen from the middle of the table, Lizzie started to draw up a tally board to keep everyone's points.
The first two rounds, they all took it easy. Olivia tried to figure out how everyone played. She could tell that Elliott was lying. Dickie and Eli had easy tells. The three of them were surprisingly similar in so many ways. But she had no clue about the girls. Round three kicked off with Olivia calling Elliott out twice in a row and winning the round, and the girls were beyond excited. "Dad always wins, so this is a nice change". Lizzie said with a giant smile across her face. Olivia. The next few rounds were a mix of winners. They all decided on the last round of bullshit. Olivia thought that she had the tells down this time around made a call on everyone with the only person she went wrong with was Carl.
"You are good at the Liv". Eli said to her across the table. "I am good at reading people; that is what 30 years as a cop will get you., the ability to pick a liar". "It is also years of going round for round in an interrogation room with criminals". Elliott said as he grabbed the empty bottles from the table and headed to the kitchen. Walking back in, he placed beer and soft drink on the table for everyone".
"Having been on the end of Liv in an integration room, I will say it is not something that I would want to do again". Dickie said with a look on his face that was apologetic. Smiling at Dickie, Olivia knew precisely what had been said. She also knows how upset he was at the time. "Well, be thankful that I wasn't in the room. What you said was out of line". Elliots said to his son all these years later. "How do you know what he said? I never told you…You were listening". "Yeah, I was, and so was Cragen". Olivia's eyes widened, and then she and Elliott both looked at Dickie. "What, it was years ago, it isn't like you can ground me for it now", came Dickies cheeky response.
The stabler girls look between the three of them to try and see what it was that Dickie had said all those years ago. "Olivia, I would like to apologise for the inappropriate question and attitude I gave you as a 16-year-old boy". "It would mean more if you were not smirking, and it wasn't dripping in sarcasm Dickie". Olivia responded with a smile. "It is fine Dickie water under the bridge". "So that you know I almost shit my pants as I said it, I thought you were going to knock me out". He said to Olivia with sincerity this time. "Don't worry about it. I was surprised you had the gust to say to my face everyone was thinking".Olivia and Dickie exchanged a look that said that it could be left there and they would not need to talk about it again.
As if saved by the bell, Olivia's phone started ringing. Grabbing her phone from her back pocket, she was able to see Lucy's face-timing her. "Sorry, I need to take this. It is Noah". Standing up from the table and moving to the loungeroom, Olivia answered the video call from her son's beautiful face grinning, "Mom, can we get a dog". "Not a chance Noah", .came the immediate response. "I told you so", Came Lucy's voice from over Noah's shoulder. "We are going to head out to the party soon, so figured we would call you now to say goodnight. I hope you had a great day off, Liv". "Thanks, Lucy, I did".
"Mom, about the dog". Noah asked again, "Where are you? You are not at home". Olivia always loved how quickly her son was able to be distracted. "No, I am at Elliott's place with his kids". She answered and honestly. "You didn't tell me you were going to a party. I would have gone with you". Noah said with a sad tone in his voice. "Sweet boy, I am not at a party, I promise you". "I can see heaps of people, so you are at a party, you said no lying. How many kids are there". She laughed lightly. "I am not lying, Noah. There are no kids here, just adults". "Really? How many kids does Elliott have? They can't all be his kids?". Walking back toward the table, Olivia kneeled on the couch and turned the phone view to show everyone at the table. The whole table waved and said their hello's to Noah at the same time. "Umm, ok, so we are doing this. You are right. Not everyone at the table is Elliott's kid. The only person who isn't is Carl". She said as she showed Carl to Noah, who waved to Noah.
Olivia panned the phone around the table as she introduced everyone to Noah, and they waved at him. "You already know Elliott". "We meet at the park and your office. Hi Elliott," Noah said politely. "Now, this is Maureen, Carl is her husband. This is Kathleen, Lizzie and Dickie. They are twins, and this is Eli. So as you can see, there are no kids, and I am not lying to you". Flipping the phone back around to face herself, Olivia smiled at her son. "Elliott has five kids mom, that a lot of kids". Olivia smiled at the innocence of her child, and everyone at the table tried not to laugh. "Yeah, Noah, it is a lot of kids. So are you satisfied now?" She asked him. "Yes, the party I am going to has kids, so it will be better than where you are". "Ok, Noah, with that, go finish getting ready and be good for Lucy and her mom. Use your manners, and I will see you tomorrow afternoon. I Love you". "You can't say that in front of people, mom", Noah said as if she had just said a dirty word to him. With the last second shouted "Bye," the screen went back to the home page. Olivia locked the screen, put the phone back in her pocket, and climbed back off the lounge, coming around the table to retake her seat next to Elliott.
Picking up a new beer, she opened the top of it and took a long pull of the drink and saying. "If you want to make sure you don't have a big ego, have a kid". "Do you know what else is good for an ego"? Dickie said to the table, and everyone shouted at this at the same time an onslaught of "No's, don't you dear Dickie and don't even think about it". Dickie roared with laughter, thinking that he was the funniest person in the world. "I am not in on the joke clearly". Olivia said to the table. Before anyone could say anything, Mo said," I am not telling it". And put her finger to her nose, the whole table immediately made the same action, including Elliott, who touched his nose with his left index finger and Olivia's nose with his right index finger.
Carl let out a groan being the last person to make contact. "No, I refuse to tell the story. It was bad enough that it happened at our wedding, Dickie should have to tell it". He said almost petulantly if he had stamped his foot, it would have been fitting. "Like Dad says rules are rules, Carl", Eli said. "I'm not a Stabler, so it doesn't count". "Yes, it does, Liv isn't either, and dad covered her". Eli smugly replied. "Liv doesn't even know the story, so there is no possible way she can tell it". Eli responded for the group, "It does not matter if the rules make sense Carl, what matters is". Then all of the Stabler kids finished together "Rules are Rules". They all laughed hysterically. Olivia was unsure if it was because of the rule and Carl had lost or because of the story he was about to tell.
"Oh for fucks sake," carl said under his breath as he launched into the story that they had all taken upon themselves not to tell. "It was our wedding, everyone here had a part, Kathleen was maid of honour, Lizzie and Dickie did a speech, and my siblings did reading at the ceremony. I can't believe I am telling this". Carl took a deep breath and continued. "We should have known to give Dickie the reading at the ceremony, and we all know that he is good with a comeback. Dickie got up and said I would like to say a few words and went on about how intelligent, kind, attractive, loving, and caring are all different things. Everyone assumes he is speaking about Mo, not our Dickie. In the next breath, Dick says, "Enough about me". My brother then heckles Dick that he forgot to include that he also had a big ego. The response from Dick in front of our families is, 'Well, with a big dick comes a big ego' Without a missing a beat, he then launches into his actual speech". "Don't be like that everyone laughed even Father Mitchell". Dickie said, laughing.
"So now it is Dickies motto". Carl finished. Olivia looks at Dickie. "You didn't, did you?". "It was right there in front of me, so I took the opportunity that was in front of me". Dickie responded. Looking around the table, at least Olivia could see that everyone could now see the funny side of the joke. Eli went and grabbed cards against humanity, which they played for the rest of the night, stopping for pizza halfway so they could all eat. Olivia was pleased that she had ended up coming over to spend time with everyone.
The night came to an end when Mo rounded up those giving a lift to around 10:30 pm. "Eli, don't forget your soccer bag. Your game is at early tomorrow morning". Kathleen and Dickie were heading to the subway to get themselves home, and everyone else was going to stay and Mo and Carls for the night. They all said goodbye to Olivia in the apartment before making their way to the door. "I will just walk the kids downstairs. Do you want to come?'. Elliott asked Liv. "No, you go ahead, I will sort this out," she said, waving her hands over the dining table as a way of explanation.
Olivia Packed up the final bits of the game and stacked them on the end of the kitchen bench. Grabbing the empty bottles and cans, she added them all to the pile in the kitchen for recycling. Placing the dirty plates on the kitchen bench and a few coffee mugs. She looked under the sink to find something to wipe down the table. After that was all done, she started to fill the sink, remembering that Elliott said the dishwasher had broken and the repair guy wasn't coming until this week to fix it.
