Chapter 19
AN: Thank you so much for the support. You honestly have no idea how much It means to me.
I really hope you like my take on 'the intervention' I wrote it differently to fit the universe this story is in.
The next morning Olivia is the first one in her apartment awake. Due to the fact that she has been given a couple of days off Olivia doesn't get up, she stays in bed, and watches Alex sleep in her arms; feeling beyond happy.
After a while of watching Alex Olivia notices her eyes open.
"Morning," Olivia greats.
"Morning," Alex says, smiling up at her. "What time is it?" Alex asks curious.
"Still early," Olivia explains. "What time do you have to head into Vita Nova?" Olivia asks curious.
"I don't," Alex admits. "When I was texting with Rafi last night, he said that if you have today off, I should take the day too," Alex admits. "He said he can handle things," Alex explains.
"And you're actually going to let him?" Olivia asks amused, as she knows how much of a workaholic Alex is.
"If it means spending the entire day with you, I am," Alex admits, and once she does, she leans up and kisses Olivia.
"I like the sound of that," Olivia says as they break apart. "And we've got a bit of time before Noah wakes up," Olivia reveals.
"Oh? We do, do we?" Alex asks before kissing Olivia again.
Hours later Alex and Olivia are both enjoying a lazy day around Olivia's apartment, but they have also checked in to see how things are going at their respective works.
"I never imagined we would get here," Alex admits. "I was too scared to dream," Alex admits.
"Me too," Olivia admits. "Ally, I'm so happy with you, the way we are now; what we're building," Olivia reveals.
"Me too," Alex says, and the two of them kiss, but before they can do more Olivia's phone rings, so they are forced to break apart while Olivia checks her phone. "What's wrong?" Alex asks, noticing the look on Olivia's face.
"I don't recognize the number," Olivia admits. "Captain Benson," Olivia answers, then she gets a worried look on her face. "Wait Eli, slow down," Olivia requests. "Are you okay?" Olivia asks, clearly worried.
"What's wrong?" Alex asks concerned.
"Are you sure?" Olivia asks, and she pauses. "Good, that's good. You're with Liz?" Olivia asks, and she pauses again. "Good, Alex is going to text Liz my address, I want you both to come straight here, okay?" Olivia asks, and Alex, not needing an explanation, text's Liz. "Good, we'll see you both soon," Olivia says, before hanging up.
"What's going on?" Alex asks concerned.
"Apparently Elliot got into an accident with Eli in the car and he went straight to work, leaving Eli with Liz, even though Eli is shaken up," Olivia explains, clearly annoyed, and worried.
"Is Eli okay?" Alex asks concerned.
"He wasn't hurt," Olivia answers. "Multiple cars were damaged," Olivia explains.
"What the hell is Elliot playing at?" Alex asks annoyed.
"I don't know," Olivia says, with a sigh. "Being reckless on his own is bad enough, but getting his kids involved, Eli especially…" Olivia starts to say angrily.
"I know," Alex says, taking Olivia's hand and squeezing it, as this cannot be easy for Olivia. "So Liz and Eli are coming here?" Alex asks.
"Yeah, I want to talk to Eli myself, find out exactly what happened," Olivia admits, and as she does Alex's phone goes off with a message which she checks.
"Liz is wondering if it's okay for her to pass on your address to Richard, Kathleen and Maureen; they're all worried about Eli too," Alex explains to Olivia.
"It's fine," Olivia assures her, and Alex texts back.
"Liv, I can see your mind turning; what are you thinking?" Alex asks.
"That Elliot needs to realize that he's not the only one grieving before he has nothing left," Olivia says, as if Elliot continues the way he is going she can see him not only losing his kids, but losing the job he has now as well. Having no idea what to say to that and knowing how difficult it must be for Olivia Alex hugs her.
A little while after Eli called Olivia, she and Alex are still sitting on the couch together, when there is a knock on Olivia's door. Both knowing what that means Alex and Olivia exchange looks and Olivia gets up to answer it.
"Hey, come in," Olivia says, letting Liz and Eli into the apartment. "Are you sure you're okay?" Olivia asks concerned, as she looks Eli up and down, looking for signs of injury on the young boy.
"Yeah, I'm okay, I wasn't hurt," Eli answers, as Liz walks over to Alex and hugs her.
"Are you sure? Does anything feel stiff if not sore?" Olivia asks concerned.
"I'm sure," Eli assures Olivia.
"Okay," Olivia says with a nod. "What exactly happened?" Olivia asks, as she wants all the details, so she knows how bad things are.
"Dad and I were in the car, we were in an on street parking spot, and Dad asked me to check Instagram for photos geo-tagged with where the car blew up," Eli explains, pain in his voice. "Dad started to pull the car out, then he started to look at my phone. Other cars were beeping their horns, and Dad started to drive, without looking, he swerved to miss a cyclist and hit another car," Eli explains.
"What the hell was he thinking?" Liz asks angrily.
"My guess, he wasn't," Alex admits.
"Probably not," Olivia admits, and as she does there is a knock on the door. Being pretty sure that she knows exactly who it is Olivia walks over and answers it, letting Richard, Kathleen and Maureen into the apartment.
"Eli? Are you okay?" Maureen asks as Kathleen hugs her little brother.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Eli answers, as he and Kathleen break apart and then Maureen hugs him while Dickie walks over to Liz and Alex.
"Are you sure?" Kathleen asks, wanting to make sure.
"Yeah, It freaked me out but I wasn't hurt," Eli assures his sisters.
"That's it. He can't keep doing things like this," Dickie says annoyed, as he doesn't want to Eli to keep going through this. Dickie knows that he and his sisters can handle Elliot acting like this, even with how worrying it is, Eli can't, and he shouldn't have to.
"Mo and I think we should hold an intervention," Kathleen admits.
"Dad's not on drugs," Eli says.
"Not that kind of intervention," Maureen tells her brother. "One where we all talk to him about how he's behaving," Maureen explains, stressing all.
"I appreciate that you want to help your dad, but that's a bad idea," Alex says, causing everyone to look at her. "If too many people confront Elliot, he'll just feel like he's being attacked, he won't listen, he'll just be defensive, probably even lash out," Alex explains, as she spent enough time around Elliot to realize that, even if it has been a while, and his PTSD won't help the matters.
"Alex is right," Olivia says, as she remembers all the time where Elliot has gotten defensive and what they have in common.
"We have to do something!" Liz exclaims.
"We will, Sweetheart," Olivia assures her. "I'll call Fin. The two of us talking to him has the best chance of actually getting through to him," Olivia says, as she suspects that would be the best chance, they have to get through to Elliot as if it's just them they'll be able to push back. "But before I do that, I want hear all of your concerns, everything he's done recently and how it makes you feel," Olivia explains, looking between the Stabler children. "Can you do that?" Olivia asks curious.
"Definitely," Maureen says, as Kathleen nods, as they both trust Olivia, and Alex's, judgement about this.
After getting the conformation from the oldest Stabler child Alex, Olivia, and the kids all head over to the couch where Alex and Olivia listen to all the concerns that they have.
A while after the Stabler children arrived at Olivia's apartment Noah has arrived home, and Antonio, who got a text from Richard, have joined them.
"Fin's downstairs," Olivia says, after checking her phone. "I've got to go," Olivia explains.
"Olivia, make sure Dad knows we're so worried because we care," Maureen requests.
"I'll make sure of it," Olivia says, giving each of the Stabler children, Noah, and Antonio a hug before leaving. As she wants a chance to talk to Olivia Alex follows her out into the hall.
"Liv," Alex says, and Olivia turns back around. "Do you want me to come with you?" Alex asks, as she wants to help.
"No, stay with the kids," Olivia requests. "I don't know how Elliot is going to react, it will be better if it's just Fin and I," Olivia explains, honestly wanting to protect Alex from how cruel Elliot can be when he lashes out.
"Okay; I'm here, no matter what," Alex assures her.
"I know, I love you," Olivia says, before kissing Alex.
"I love you too," Alex responds, once the two of them break apart. Once Alex and Olivia break apart Olivia heads downstairs while Alex heads back into Olivia's apartment.
A little while after Olivia left her apartment she is waiting in Elliot's apartment with Fin, the two of them having used Eli's key to get in. Finally, after waiting a little while the door opens and Elliot walks in.
"Fin? Olivia?" Elliot asks, sounding confused. "What are you doing here?" Elliot asks, looking between them.
"We're here to talk to you," Olivia explains. "Because you're not okay and you're either going to listen to us or your kids," Olivia informs Elliot, clearly giving no choice.
"I'm fine," Elliot says, clearly brushing them off.
"No, you're not," Fin says, standing up. On the way to Elliot's Olivia explained enough to him for him to know that they cannot let Elliot get away with just brushing them off.
"Elliot, you're in pain, you've been through trauma, and it's effecting you; everything you've been doing," Olivia explains.
"You don't know my pain, or anything about trauma," Elliot says angrily, lashing out just like everyone suspected he would, and his words cause Fin to winch.
"El…" Fin starts to say, but Olivia gives him a subtle hand signal to say it's okay.
"You've been gone ten years Elliot, you don't know everything about me anymore," Olivia says, as even though it may be painful for her, she knows that this is the best way to make Elliot see that she understands. "I've gone through incredible pain, and trauma that you can't even imagine, and the only reason I'm standing here talking to you is because I got help; I put in the hard work so I know that everything I'm telling you to do works," Olivia explains, and Fin is watching carefully as he knows how painful this topic is for Olivia, while Elliot is incredibly curious about what the hell Olivia is talking about .
"Liv…" Elliot starts to say.
"It's not the way it used to be," Fin says, taking a few steps forward, partly because he wants to save Olivia from needing to explain. "There's no shame in getting help. It's the opposite, it takes strength to admit you need help," Fin explains.
"Elliot your kids are worried, they're scared for you; worried about how you're doing," Olivia informs Elliot.
"They have no reason to worry," Elliot comments, as he doesn't want his kids to worry about him.
"Really? That cut on your eye and the hole in the wall are what, decorations?" Fin asks.
"I know what happened in the car today, I know about the nightmares, and the insomnia," Olivia explains. "You need help Elliot, and if you want get it for your sake then get it for your kids. They've just lost Kathy; do you want them to lose you too? Because that is where the self-destructive path you're on leads to," Olivia asks, trying to get Elliot to see sense, and knowing that she wouldn't have been this blunt if the Stabler children were present.
"I'm not listening to this anymore," Elliot says, turning to head out of the door.
"Elliot if you walk out of that door you need to know that Eli won't be staying with you anymore," Olivia reveals. "You've made it perfectly clear that he isn't safe around you, and his safety matters to me, and his siblings, even if it doesn't matter to you," Olivia informs Elliot.
"Of course, I care about my son," Elliot say angrily. "But you're right, he is safer if he's not around me," Elliot says before leaving, basically slamming the door behind him.
"That went well," Fin says sarcastically.
"Hopefully we gave him things to think about," Olivia says, as that is probably the best they could do, and she also knows it would have been a lot more painful for the kids if they were present.
Not long after Elliot walked out of his apartment Olivia is walking back into her apartment where Alex, the Stabler children, Antonio and Noah are.
"Olivia? How'd it go?" Kathleen asks worried, standing up as she sees Olivia walk back in.
"Not well," Olivia admits.
"Dad won't get help?" Maureen asks concerned.
"Not at the moment," Olivia answers. "I'm sorry," Olivia admits.
"I knew he was too damn stubborn to admit he needs help," Dickie says annoyed, and Antonio puts his hand on Dickie's shoulder and squeezes it in a comforting way.
"What happens now?" Eli asks confused, and as he does Olivia walks over and sits down in front of him.
"I told your Dad that he's on a self-destructive path," Olivia admits. "I said that he needs to get help for your sake, all of your sakes," Olivia says, looking between the Stablers.
"And he didn't care?" Liz asks, as that's wat it seems like.
"I'm not sure," Olivia admits. "I think he hasn't comprehended everything," Olivia admits. "Eli, I told Elliot that you will not be staying with him anymore; it's not safe for you right now," Olivia explains. "I know it's not want you want, and I was hoping that it wouldn't get to this, but it's for the best," Olivia explains, trying to be as gentle as possible.
"I get it," Eli says. "This is where we are, even if I don't like it," Eli says as he would much rather stay with his father, but he understands why that Is not a possibility at the moment.
"Carl and I have a room for you," Maureen tells her little brother as she saw this coming.
"Right," Eli says, with a nod. "How long will I stay away from Dad for?" Eli asks, as he is hoping it won't be for long.
"I don't know, but it will be until he's willing to get help," Olivia admits, and seeing that Eli looks disappointed Kathleen hugs her little brother, while Olivia feels bad that she wasn't able to give Eli, or the other Stablers, better news.
A little while later everyone but Olivia, Alex and Noah have left Olivia's apartment. Having just put Noah to bed Olivia is walking back into the living room where Alex is sitting on the couch. Without a word Olivia walks over and sits down next to Alex.
"You okay?" Alex asks concerned as she knows that tonight must have been difficult.
"I'm not sure," Olivia admits. "I'm pissed at Elliot, worried about his kids, happy for us, and beyond thrilled about where we are," Olivia admits. "I'm just feeling a lot," Olivia admits, leaning against the couch, and in response Alex reaches out and takes Olivia's hand, and rests her head on Olivia's shoulder.
"I'm not surprised," Alex admits. "Liv, I know you want to help Elliot, but if he won't see that he needs help, if he won't accept he needs help…" Alex starts to say.
"I know," Olivia says. "It just feels wrong watching him self distract and not being able to do anything," Olivia admits.
"You've done everything you can," Alex assures her.
"I don't want to talk about Elliot anymore," Olivia admits, before kissing Alex, as she would much rather enjoy her evening with her girlfriend rather than worry about her spiraling ex-partner.
"Me either," Alex says, once they break apart, before pushing Olivia back and continuing to kiss her.
A little while later Olivia and Alex are in bed, but neither are asleep as Olivia's phone keeps ringing. As it is Elliot Olivia doesn't want to answer as she doesn't want to deal with him, but her curiosity about why he is calling is keeping her awake.
"Liv, just listen to the message. You're not going to get any sleep if you don't," Alex says, as she knows Olivia too well.
"Okay," Olivia says, picking up her phone and putting it on speaker as she presses on the voicemail.
"Liv, he knew. He was there. He activated the bomb from across the street. It was Sacha Lenski. He saw everything. He knew it was Kathy getting into the car. I wasn't the target. Kathy was the target. Why would anyone want to kill Kathy?" Elliot's voice says, and even Alex can tell that Elliot doesn't sound too good.
"That's not going to help his PTSD," Alex realizes.
"It's really not," Olivia realizes, and she presses to call back, as she feels concerned that she is going to have to talk Elliot off a ledge, but Elliot doesn't answer.
"That's not good," Alex says concerned.
"Maybe he's finally getting some sleep," Olivia says, though she isn't sure about that, then the beep to leave a message plays.
"Elliot, it's me. I just listened to your message," Olivia says, and then she sighs. "I'll call you back in the morning, okay. Or call me back, please," Olivia requests, before hanging up, and putting her phone back on her bedside table. Once Olivia has put her phone on the bedside table she puts her arm around Alex. "Let's get some sleep," Olivia says.
"Okay," Alex says, kissing Olivia's cheek, and before long both of them are fast asleep.
