23.

For some reason, Elliot had expected the hospital to be a disorganized flurry of activity but when he and his parents arrived late that afternoon, what hit him first was the eerie silence. The few people they met in the hallways were all but whispering, and when they got to Kathy's room, it was quiet there too. But it didn't stay quiet for long.

Kathy's parents had been expecting him and Elliot had had no choice but to go and visit the girl. They still believed he was their grandchild's father, simply because Kathy had said so. Him standing in their living room announcing that he'd been sleeping with Kathy hadn't helped much either, of course. He was just relieved that his dad had been able to convince them that a test was needed.

When they entered the room, Kathy's parents both stood up, a very serious look on their faces. Elliot looked at the girl sitting in the hospital bed between the two adults. She was white as a sheet, even paler than usual, with a big bruise on her forehead, a smaller one on her jaw and what looked like scratches on her nose. Her right arm was in a cast and he couldn't help wondering what other bruises were beneath her hospital gown.

"Hey," he said, nodding at Kathy.

"Hey," she whispered, then looked down at her hands in her lap.

There was an awkward silence in the room then, until Bernie spoke up, approaching the bed.

"How are you doing dear? Is the baby okay?" she asked.

Kathy's eyes filled up with tears instantly and her mother answered for her,

"The baby's fine. It's Kathy we're worried about."

"I understand," Bernie nodded.

She patted Kathy's leg over the covers and smiled at her.

"It's going to be alright," she told the girl.

Kathy bit her lip and Elliot chewed on the inside of his cheek. Then Joe spoke up, saying out loud what everyone in the room had been thinking.

"Were you trying to kill yourself or just your baby?"

The look in Kathy's eyes screamed guilt but she didn't answer Elliot's father. She just tried and failed to suppress a sob. Her mother sat down next to Kathy, wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders and told them,

"She's so upset about all this. We got a call from another parent, who also wants a paternity test done."

"My daughter's not a fucking whore!" Mr. Malone spat then, unable to contain his emotions any longer.

"Nobody's saying she is," Joe answered. "But my boy has a right to know if he's the father, because he caught her with that other kid."

"How many more of these phone calls are we gonna get?" Mr. Malone yelled, looking at his daughter, who finally burst out in tears.

Mrs. Malone wrapped both arms around her daughter to console her, her eyes shooting daggers at her husband.

"This is our daughter you're talking about," she hissed.

"Exactly my point! I thought I raised your right, Katherine. But …"

The man threw his hands in the air in despair. "I'm betting the baby really isn't Elliot's after all, Joe."

Elliot swallowed, looking from Kathy's father to Kathy, who was crying her eyes out now, her head leaning against her mother's shoulder. She wasn't going to give them any answers. She probably wasn't even sure herself about who the father was. He got that that was embarrassing but to just say that he was the father? That wasn't fair.

"Why'd you say it was me?" he asked her, unable to keep the anger out of his voice.

Kathy continued crying and her mother made a helpless gesture.

"It makes sense, Elliot. You were dating her."

"I was careful," Elliot stated and he was glad that in this whole mess, his father was backing him up all the way.

"Right. My son knows what he's doing," Joe stated firmly. "So while we're here, can't we get someone in here to do those tests right away?"

...

Much to Olivia's surprise, Serena had been a little concerned the next day when Olivia had come home after school, and she had wanted to inspect her cheek. Olivia had told her not to bother, but Serena seemed genuinely sorry for throwing her glass at her.

"I never meant for it to hit you," she said. "I was just …"

"I know, mom. I know," Olivia said dismissively.

She wasn't in the mood for her mother's explanations. When she was like this, actually acting like a normal person, she always tried to gain Olivia's sympathy. But things were getting out of hand. Beth was starting to catch on and with Melinda watching her, she knew it would only be a matter of time before the girls would put two and two together. And her mother was still a teacher at their school. Neither of them needed a scandal.

Besides, Kathy was creating enough scandal for the time being. They learned two days later that she had actually tried to kill her baby - maybe even herself. Olivia didn't know what to make of that. She understood that having a baby at 17 wasn't every girl's dream but still … to risk your own life to get rid of it? Maybe Kathy really did feel like she wanted to die and that was not okay. Olivia didn't like the blonde but she didn't want to see her hurt either.

Her friends all had their own theories about why Kathy had thrown herself down the stairs but Olivia tried to focus on the one thing that mattered to her: how Elliot was dealing with all of this. He couldn't be the baby's father after all. She knew she'd lose him if he was. He would want to take care of his baby, and even if he wasn't in love with Kathy anymore, he would have to marry her. It's what their Catholic parents would demand. The thought of losing Elliot made her sick to her stomach.

On top of that, her mother, who had been very sober all week, almost as if the incident with the glass had been a wake-up call, had a few words to say about the situation.

"Even if that boy is not the baby's father, he's still no good, Olivia. And neither is that Amaro kid. Having sex in a bathroom. It's disgusting."

Olivia knew better than to argue with her mother about this. While she agreed that a bathroom stall wasn't the most romantic place to have sex, she knew what it felt like to be desperate to be together. She and Michael had gotten creative themselves, finding places where they could be alone together. And from the looks of it, history would repeat itself with Elliot. Her mother couldn't know about him. She'd either die from a heart attack or try to kill him. And while the first option might not be the worst thing in the world, she feared that it would be the second. Serena had used her position as Michael's superior to force him out of her life, but once Elliot had graduated, she would have no power over him at all. Olivia was genuinely beginning to think her mother would be capable of murder in a drunken haze. But that would be manslaughter, she thought, correcting herself. She was always reading a lot about the law and about the police, wanting to know as much as possible even before going to college. She figured that even the fact that her mother was a traumatized rape victim who had never gotten proper help, would be considered a mitigating circumstance.

When Olivia didn't respond, Serena added,

"Tell me you won't let that happen to you, Olivia. Please."

Olivia sighed softly and looked at her mother, who had sat down at the dinner table and was looking up at her with a look that seemed genuinely concerned.

"Mother, I don't have any plans to have sex in the bathroom or anywhere else, okay?"

Serena regarded her for a few moments and then asked her,

"Are you still hung up on Michael?"

Olivia didn't even have to think about the lie.

"Yeah," she sighed. "I'm sorry mom. It's going to take me a while."

"He took advantage of you."

Her mother wasn't yelling this time and she wasn't calling every single man on the planet an abuser. She was being serious and Olivia wasn't going to ruin this moment, even if she had to perpetuate the white lie about still missing Michael to do it.

"Maybe he did, but it didn't feel that way to me. He was very sweet. I don't feel like I was used."

"Well, that's something at least. I guess I got there in time then. Just stay alert, Olivia. Always."

"Yes, mother. I will."

Olivia suggested making them both some tea, and she thought things over while she busied herself in the kitchen. Part of her wished her mother would find someone to love, too, because it would all be so different then. But the woman was so damaged; so convinced that men were the scum of the earth; Olivia wasn't going to bring it up with her mother again. She had tried that once and it had been a disaster. Still, that was one of the reasons she wanted to be a cop so badly. She wanted to help people like her mother - and even kids like herself. Not only to make sure that the people who hurt them got what they deserved, but also that the victims and their families got the help they needed. She knew there were resources out there. It sucked that her mother had chosen the bottle instead. Moments like these reminded Olivia that her mother wasn't just a monster, but she was a human being too.

They drank their tea quietly and Olivia made sure not to say or do anything to annoy her mother. She knew better than to relax whenever her mother treated her normally for a change. After finishing her tea she excused herself, saying she had homework to do, and Serena let her go to her room while she got ready to start dinner. Olivia breathed a sigh of relief when she closed her bedroom door behind her. It looked like this evening would be a normal evening.

…

His blood had been drawn and Elliot wasn't sure what he was supposed to do now. His father and Kathy's father were talking outside Kathy's room while Mrs. Malone was trying to find someone who would explain the procedure Kathy would have to undergo. Bernie was sitting with Kathy for the time being and Elliot had perched himself on the windowsill of the room. Kathy had calmed down for the moment and was just staring blankly at the wall. His mother was being her fidgety self, but she did seem to have a calming effect on Kathy so that was something at least.

"Everything will be alright in the end, Kathy. You'll see," Bernie told the girl.

"You don't know that," Kathy said softly, almost whispering.

"I understand that it's difficult, but you know that Elliot will take care of you if the baby is his, right? And his father and I will help you."

Kathy nodded, biting her lip as if trying very hard not to start crying again.

"I do know that. Thank you, Mrs. Stabler. But … what if it's not Elliot's?"

Elliot slid off the windowsill and approached the bed, looking straight at Kathy, who was staring back at him with wide eyes.

"If you're not sure, why'd you say it was mine?"

He had asked her the question before but she'd been crying too hard to answer. But he needed to know, seeing how she herself was now having doubts. Kathy looked from him to his mother and back and then looked down at her hands in her lap once more, trying to shrug off the question.

"Why, Kathy?" Elliot insisted. "You know how careful we were."

She nodded then.

"Yeah. But you know these things happen. I just …"

She made a helpless gesture with her good hand, looking at Bernie for help, but Elliot had to know now, while her parents were out of the room.

"You just what, Kathy?"

"I just didn't want to do this alone," she admitted softly, her chin starting to tremble again. "I knew you'd take care of me."

Elliot closed his eyes for a moment, reigning in his anger. He had loved Kathy at one point, and it wasn't even that long ago. She would have tricked him into coming back to her for a baby, even if it wasn't his? He opened his mouth to say something, but he didn't have a clue how to respond. And then Kathy's parents and his father came back into the room, with a Doctor. Elliot moved back to his spot on the windowsill and listened while The Doctor explained to Kathy what they were going to do. He heard a lot of medical terms like ultrasound and amniotic fluid. He had a general idea about what they were going to do but he didn't really pay attention. Kathy's words were still ringing in his ears.

I just didn't want to do this alone.

So she had just decided he was going to be the one to help her out? Because he was such a nice boy? The way he remembered it, he hadn't really been exciting enough for her as a boyfriend, but when it came to taking responsibility, he was suddenly interesting again?

His thoughts drifted to Olivia. He wished he could go to her right now to tell her what Kathy had said. He was more sure now than ever that he wasn't the baby's father. Kathy probably knew who was, too, and she didn't think they'd take care of her and the child. He wanted Olivia to know that this would all be over soon and he'd be free to be with her. When they were all ushered out of the room except Kathy's mother, he had a mind to leave for Manhattan right away. He just had to see Olivia.

…

Disclaimer: I've looked up the history of prenatal paternity testing and while Amniocentesis existed in the 80s, I couldn't verify if it was actually used for paternity testing at the time. I am just going to pretend that it was. We can't have everyone waiting 6 months to see who the daddy is, can we?