Olivia woke up to see the empty space beside her and convinced herself that everything she thought had happened was a dream. That the man that she loved was still six feet under ground and that the only way she could communicate with him was through a picture on a tomb stone. She dragged herself out of her warm cozy bed because it seemed a little less warm and inviting now. A part of her was scared that she was right. That this was all a dream and her Elliot hadn't come back to her at all.
Olivia made her way to the kitchen and started prepping herself a cup of coffee. She still had a half hour or so before Ellie would get up so she decided to use this time to clean up the scatted toys in the living room. She had been trying to teach Eleanore how to pick up her toys after she was done playing with them, but it wasn't going to well.
Then she saw it. The thing that solidified that her fears were false. There in the corner was the Dora costume Elliot had gotten her for their first meeting. Olivia picked up the thin material and held it close to her and let a tear slip. She always tried to put on a facade that she was strong, but when it came to Elliot all of her walls would deteriorate. There was something about him that calmed every flight or fight reaction in her body. If she were superman he would be her kryptonite.
"Mommy," Olivia looked over to see her toddler rubbing her blue orbs and yawning.
"Morning, Ellie Bug. I thought I had a few more minutes before you got up."
"Elliot coming today?" Olivia smiled and nodded. She set the Dora costume down and went over to her daughter and grabbed her hand. Olivia sat down on the couch and then pulled her daughter onto her lap.
"Ellie, I have an important question to ask you, okay." Ellie nodded and Olivia continued, "What would you think if your daddy stayed here with us?" Olivia watched as her daughter went quiet. Olivia scolded her self because she should have fed the four year old and let her wake up a bit more before she sprang the question on her. Honestly, Olivia wasn't sure if the four year old completely understood what it truly meant.
"It would be a big change for the both of us. I know it has always been just you and me. If you aren't ready, I will understand and I am sure he will too. Ellie bug just know that your daddy loves you and me so so so so much. There isn't anything he wouldn't do to protect us." Olivia watched her daughter as she snuggled further into her mother. "What is going on in that pretty little head of yours Ellie?"
Ellie shrugs and begins to distract herself by playing with her mothers hair. She tot staying quiet. Olivia sighs and embraces her daughter in a tight squeeze.
"Are you hungry?" Olivia feels her daughters head move up and down against her chest. The pair silently get up from the couch and go to the kitchen. Eleanore watches from the counter as her mom whips them up some scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, and some toast. Once the eggs are cool enough Olivia moves her daughter to the living room and sets her plate on the coffee table in front of the TV and turns on Dora.
Olivia begins to make her self a plate when her phone begins to ring. She grabs the device from the kitchen island and sighs. She was supposed to be off, but it doesn't seem like her co workers know that.
"Hey, Amanda. What's up?" Olivia made sure her daughter was still distracted by the TV before she walked into her bedroom to make sure her daughter doesn't hear whatever she is being called about.
"Liv, I know you are supposed to have the day off, but we are swamped. There is a girl who is giving us nothing to go by and none of us can get through to her. We could really use your help. You just have this special ability to talk to victims that none of up possess apparently. " Amanda sounded like she was exhausted. Her breathing was labored and full of tension.
"Okay, you don't have to butter me up Rollins. Let me see what I can do. Give me an hour or so and then I will be there." Olivia hung up on her co worker and debated on calling Lucy, but last minute decided against it. Instead she called him just for the simple reason she missed his voice.
"Hi, Liv." He sounded as if he hadn't even climbed out of bed yet. She loved the way his voice sounded in the morning; gravely and deep.
"Did I wake you up?"
"No." Olivia heard the bed spring squeak as he moved off of the mattress she knew was uncomfortable. His voice sounded strained as he tried to stretch out the knots caused by the uncomfortable furniture. He sounded tired and she could only figure that he wasn't sleeping well. "Is it still okay if I come over today?"
"That is actually what I wanted to talk to you about. They need me at work and I was wondering if you would watch Ellie." Olivia bit her bottom lip. She knew her daughter wasn't completley trusting of him yet. She knew the toddler adored him, she was just scared that he was going to disappear. She truly was Olivia's daughter.
"Yeah, of course. That isn't even a question Liv." She sighed a breath of relief.
"Okay, just come over as soon as you can. I told them to give me an hour or so."
"I'm already dressed and on my way." Olivia rolled her eyes.
"It must be so nice to be a man," she laughed out. She started getting ready by pulling out one of her typical outfits that she likes to wear to the office. A plain navy blue button down, a light gray blazer, and black pants with a black belt. She connected her badge to her pants before walking into the bathroom to add a touch of makeup and a few curls to her hair.
Olivia heard a knock on the door and immediately called out to her daughter to not even think about opening the door on her own. She grabbed her necklace off of it resting place and put it around her neck before checking herself in the mirror and making her way out. She walked straight to the door and took a peek through the peep hole. She let herself smile before opening the door.
"You got here just in time Mr. Stabler." Olivia leaned forward a little bit and pecked his lips. He seemed a little surprised at first, but he smiled into the kiss and kissed her back.
"Elliot, you here!" Ellie exclaimed. She wormed her way between her parents unaware of the intimate moment between them. She grabbed her fathers hand and dragged him past Olivia and into the living room. Eleanore made him sit on the floor as she made herself comfortable on his lap.
"Eleanore, you know there is such a thing as a couch." Olivia stated. She could tell Elliot was a bit stiff and being on the floor wasn't helping him at all. She planned to make a crack at his 'old age' later, but for now she needed to head to work. "Alright, I have to head to work. Eleanore already had breakfast this morning. You have my number in case you need anything and don't be afraid to call. I will make sure my phone is on me at all times."
"We will be okay, huh Eleanore." Eleanore just nodded in response.
"Alright, I love you Ellie bug." Olivia leaned down and kissed her daughter on the cheek.
"Love you, mommy."
"Love you, Liv. Be safe out there," Elliot stated.
"I love you, too." Olivia leaned down and kissed him on the lips. "I will see you and our girl later."
"Thank you for coming in Liv, you really don't know how much we appreciate it," the blonde detective stated.
"Where is she at?" Olivia questioned as she walked into the precinct. It almost felt foreign. All she wanted was to go home and spend time with her husband and her daughter. That was where she was meant to be, but she would never be the one to not protect a victim at any cost.
"Over there. She is terrified and won't talk to anyone." Olivia nodded before going into the small room they reserved for victims.
"So Eleanore, what do you want to do today?" He watched as his wife's mini me shrugged in response. Not wanting to lose the contact with his daughter he pulled her onto the couch with him. They had been on the floor for at least an hour and it was really starting to take a tool on his back. The mattress he was currently sleeping on was causing more harm than good when it came to his body. He knew he needed to get back to work so he could put himself up somewhere nice. He just couldn't figure out what his work should be quite yet.
"I say we get you dressed and go do something. How does that sound?" Not waiting for a response Elliot stood up and walked to Eleanore's bedroom. "What do you want to wear today?"
"You pick." She watched as her dad made funny faces and pulled out various different clothing options. He even made her laugh a couple of times. Her heart was expanding as he wormed his way into it. "Daddy, no." Eleanore felt herself pause. She waited to see her dads reaction. He had a big smile on his face and it made her smile too. He continued to go through her clothes until he found something he figured she would be comfortable in. Eleanore appreciated that he didn't make a big deal out of her slip. She wasn't sure if she was quite ready to call him dad yet.
Elliot helped his daughter get dressed into the outfit he picked and then brushed her brown wavy locked and gathered her hair into a pony tail. He added a green bow to match the white 'lets avocuddle' shirt with an avocado on it with green polka dot shorts. After he was done he picked her up and let her see herself in the mirror.
"How did I do Eleanore?" She looked at how proud he was and gave him a shrug. "Thats all I get for my hard work?"
Eleanore couldn't help but laugh at him as he tried to be sad. She nodded and smiled as he flipped her onto his shoulder and started running around the house. At the end of it he started spinning her around in circles.
"Down. I need down," she managed to squeeze out with a fit of giggles.
"Down you say?" Elliot gently tossed her onto the couch which earned him even more of the cutest little laugh he had ever heard.
"Alright miss Eleanore, how about we go to the park for a little bit."
"Ice cream?"
"As long as you don't tell your mother." Eleanore nodded excitedly and grabbed her fathers hand as she dragged him to the door.
When Olivia finally managed to leave the precinct she was exhausted. Amanda wasn't kidding when she said the victim was a tough nut to crack. The girl was so scared that there was radio silence for the first few hours she was there. It took a lot of convincing to get the girl to finally speak out. She didn't expect to be as long as she was and the few times she called Elliot and Eleanore they both seemed to have been doing good. A part of her missed seeing them bond together, but another part of her knew that they needed this time alone together in order to bond even more.
"I'm ho-" she began, but then froze. She let a smile grace her features as she saw Elliot and Eleanore asleep on the couch. Eleanore sleeping right on top of her father. Her head placed so delicately on his chest as small snores escaped from between her lips. Olivia figure the four year old couldn't have been asleep long as her hair was still somewhat wet from what she assumed was from a bath. The smell of the tear free shampoo permeated off of her sweet girl.
"I did pretty good for being out of practice, huh," Elliot rasped out. It only slightly startled Olivia.
"Hey you," Olivia said to him and she crouched down in front of him. She let her right hand move to his cheek. He turned his head a little so he could kiss the palm of her hand. "How did today go?"
"It went pretty well. She was a little quiet at first, but I think once she warmed up we had a lot of fun. I gotta tell you this girl can talk. She is so smart for her age." Olivia nodded. She loved how much affection he already felt for their daughter. She was quite the drug. Even Olivia couldn't get enough of her.
"That she is. Do you want me to move her to her bed?" Elliot shook his head.
"I can do it. I was just enjoying her being here with me," Elliot admitted. He slowly began to sit up and adjusted the petite four year old acoordingly. Olivia watched as he disappeared behind their daughters bedroom door. She wasn't sure what was taking him so long but just as she was about to find out he came back into her line of sight. "Sorry, I got distracted." Olivia smiled in understanding.
"That's okay. Honestly, I'm just glad that I finally get you all to myself." Olivia wrapped her arms around him and let her head rest against his chest. She needed to hear his heart beat in his chest. She needed that proof that he was there with her. That all of this was in fact not a dream. She needed to know that she wasn't just nestolgic from sharing the pictures in the picture book with her daughter and dreaming this all up.
"Stay." It wasn't a questions exiting her lips. It was a demand. He put his hands on either side of Olivia's face and turned it up so that he could kiss the lips he would never grow tired of. Olivia deepend the kiss and started backing Elliot up until they both fell backwards onto the couch.
"What about Eleanore?"
"She will be fine. Elliot, please. Stay?" Her voice was so small and fragile that Elliot knew he couldn't do anything other than what she asked.
"Okay, I will stay. My toothbrush isn't here so I'm going to have to use yours." Olivia buried her face in his chest and laughed.
"You can use my toothbrush anytime you want as long as you stay with me forever."
"Even if I have stinky morning breath?" Olivia pretended to ponder for a moment.
"Even if you have stinky morning breath. I want your face to be the first face I see everything morning and the last thing I see every night."
"I want that too." Elliot brushed her dark locks out of her face and recaptured her lips with his. It was a simple sweet kiss that held so many promises between them.