There were problems with this chapter, so I reworked a few bits here and there. Hope you like the changes
Don stood, leaned against the door frame looking out into his squad room. For the first time in 8 months, his squad room looked normal to him. Everything looked and felt like home. He sighed happily and sipped at the horrible, but highly effective, coffee from his favorite mug. His squadroom looked good.
Benson was parked at her desk. Dani left the unit after a case got too close to home for her. As Elliot was without a partner, Olivia wanted to go back to work more, at least until a new partner could be found for Detective Stabler. Benson and Stabler. Don loved the sight of them at their desks, exchanging little looks, friendly professional banter, harrassing Fin and Munch with paper footballs...a beautiful sight indeed.
Olivia was the desk jockey; paperwork, phone calls, computer work. Her eyes met with the captain's, and she smiled briefly before looking back at the computer monitor.
"Liv, go home. Its late, you're tired, and that baby isn't going to be as forgiving as I am."
"Can't, I'm digging up info for Munch."
"She makes a great research assistant." Olivia chuckled and typed as her partner threw a paper football at Munch for his comment. "She's a big girl. She can handle it."
"I'm keeping an eye out for her, Cap," Fin offered. "Goin on a pregnant lady food run now. Everyone want their usual?"
"Sure," Elliot said, fishing a couple of twenties from his wallet.
"I could kill for a double cheese burger, extra onions, big fries, and the biggest, coldest Mr. Pibb you can find."
"Mr. Pibb? You don't want Dr. Pepper?" Olivia gagged at the thought.
"Still makes me sick. Baby hates it. Mr. Pibb." The men rolled their eyes and Fin set off.
"So, you picked out any names yet, Stabler?" Munch asked, flipping through the latest file.
"Its hard. All the good names were taken by victims. Ryan, James, Edward..." John snorted.
"This job just makes life difficult some times, doesn't it?" Elliot nodded and picked up his own file.
"Looks like we can take Kyle off our list," he said.
"Kyle was never on our list."
"Look," Don said. "Name your kid later. Now isn't the time or the place for that." Olivia looked up. He was trying to be a hard-ass boss, but she saw through that cover. He wasn't able to keep from smiling. "Just get to work. Welcome back, Liv." With that, he turned and went back into his office. Life had gotten back to abnormal; just how Don liked it.
"Its freezing in here," Olivia said, pulling her jacket on.
"This is a first. You okay?"
"Just cold. I know I can't have too much coffee, but there has to be something warm I can have...?" Her eyes were pleading, and Elliot sighed and caved.
"Anything you want, Ms. Benson," he gushed, teasing. "You melt my heart," he sang loudly.
"I'll send your partner for a hot chocolate after we mop him off the floor." Elliot looked up.
"Hot chocolate." He dashed from the room. "Be back," he hollered over his shoulder.
"Olivia," Cragen said smiling. "How the hell did you train him so well so quickly?" Olivia laughed in response and went back to typing. "Take a break," Don said, seeing his favorite detective yawning. Olivia nodded and headed up to the cribs.
Elliot hurried back into the squadroom with his prize for Olivia. Why he didn't think of it before, he can't understand. The hot chocolate was something between the two of them. It was the last thing she had before the fall. They shared so many moments over hot chocolate. She would remember if she just tasted it. She had to.
"Liv?"
"She's sleeping in the cribs. What's that?"
"Hot chocolate. Save one for me," he said, bounding up the steps to the cribs. He peeked in, and spotted her on a bunk, eyes closed. She wasn't asleep yet; she snores softly when she sleeps. "Olivia?"
"Whm?"
"I brought a gift for you, babe. Taste this and tell me-"
"El," she whined lightly. "I don't want to."
"Please, Olivia?" She could hear the desparation in his voice and sipped from the cup.
"Its good."
"And?"
"Its...its not like the hot chocolate I had with Maureen."
"What's different?" Elliot ask, leaning close. 'C'mon...you know this Liv...'
"Honey..." she said looking at the cup.
"Honey, you'll never get it out of me. Stop Trying!"
"You put Honey in it," she said, the memory flashing through her head.
"I think I figured it out!" Olivia said, tossing the cup into a garbage can outside of the apartment building where the suspect lived. "Every time I ask, you say the same thing, 'Honey, you'll never get it out of me.' Its Honey! You put a little honey in it!"
"Gee, great detective work, Benson. I've been waiting for you to get it for 8 years."
Memories of them in the squad room flooded back with a vengance.
"Liv?"
"Jeremy...the stairs..."
"You remember?"
"My mother fell down the stairs in the subway...drunk. I fell down the stairs. We were...Elliot, I was in Oregon." Olivia dropped her face in her hands in pain. Her head was pounding. "El..."
"Olivia...Liv?" She fell limp in his arms. "CAP!" he screamed. "CAPTAIN! GET A BUS!"
Olivia looked up. She was in a hospital room, but why, she had no idea. 'Wait...I fell...I think.'
"Liv?"
"Hey, Stabler. You look like hell." Elliot wrapped his arms around her. "Settle down...what-"
"I thought I lost you again."
"What happened?"
"What is the last thing you remember?" Olivia thought for a long five minutes.
"Jesus...I don't know...its a pretty big mess."
"Anything...anything at all. I just want you to think What is the last thing you can clearly remember?"
"I remember clearly you going to arrest Rivvan, and then its pretty hazy." Elliots heart sank. "I feel huge..."
"Rivvan kicked you down the stairs. You were in a coma for a few weeks. When you woke up, you had almost no memory of who you were. You lived with me. You aren't fat, you're 5 months pregnant with our son," he said, tears welling in his eyes. "Olivia, your fall was about 8 months ago." Olivia rested a hand over her belly. "I swear, I didn't take advantage of you-"
"Get out, Stabler."
"Liv-"
"Now," she said, turning away from him. Her voice was dangerous and low.
"I fucking told you."
"What?"
"You made the first move on me, Olivia. I told you, that when you came through this you would hate me for it."
"Didn't stop you from...Jesus, just get out!"
"Fine. But if and when you're done sorting out everything, I'll be here." Elliot left. Olivia couldn't believe it. A year of her life gone, and now she was pregnant, not married, and Elliot is in-love with her. A memory came to her clearly.
"You're in-love with me?" Elliot turned red again and turned and looked over the edge. "Elliot, how long?"
"Jesus, I don't know." he said, sighing. "Long time...long before Kathy left.
"I know you love me, I felt it the minute I looked in your eyes. But in-love? This changes things a bit, doesn't it..."
"Does it?"
"Not for me, hell we've been sleeping together for damn near a month now," she said seductively
Olivia shook that one from her head, but ten more replaced it, where she was holding Elliot while he slept, making love in the precinct gym, failed attempts at cooking for him. Every time she forced one away, more came to her, and Liv realized that they were all good memories. She played the piano for him. She held him every night.
"Olivia?" Don's voice echoed through the room. "May I come in?"
"Sure," her shaking voice replied.
"I just saw Elliot leave, and there are some thing that I think you need to hear."
"Now isn't the best time-"
"Olivia," he started. "He loves you. When you were here before, the man fell apart. We had a double team on him for three weeks. He took you home and brought you back to us, Liv. I don't know how much of the last 8 months you remember, so I'm going to tell you, and you are going to listen. You got that?" he said, voice booming. Olivia knew he wasn't kidding around.
"Yes," she replied.
"Let's start with the doulbe team." Don's voice was dangerous and low. "He talks in his sleep. Apparently his pillow's name is Olivia. He went catatonic for 2 weeks. Walked in on me and Casey making out in his kitchen-"
"WHAT!?"
"We'll get to that later. Back to Benson/Stabler. Everything was different. You were a different person. You were you, but you were free, you were happy, and peaceful. For a while, you had all the horror in your life removed. No idea what happened to your mother, no nightmares about victims, no blood stains on clothes. You played the piano for anyone who would listen. Olivia, you were so happy."
"I was happy before-"
"Liar."
"My happiness isn't for you to judge."
"Olivia Benson, you have more than just a chance at a family, and you're going to throw it away-" he yelled.
"I don't need a man to make me happy."
"No, you're stronger than that. But did you ever think that maybe you need a friend to lean on?" Don let that sink in for a moment. "You claim to not need a man, but what about family?"
"I have no family-"
"You have more family than most. You have been like a daughter to me, Olivia. You are probably the reason Munch hasn't eaten his gun. He'd given up on love, and on people, and you came in, so confident, but so kind. He said to me once, that while most people had been respectful to him, few people had ever been nice to him. Fin trusts you. Fin doesn't trust anybody...not even me. Casey looks to you for strength more than you can possibly understand."
"Why are you putting all of this on me? Its not my job to keep you guys in line! I didn't ask for that responsibility, Don."
"You have always been there when we needed you. Why can't you just accept that we were there when you needed us? When you didn't have an excuse to hide behind, you and Elliot were heppy together. You had nothing and no one. Munch went to every doctor's appointment that Elliot couldn't make it to. Fin goes on more pregnant lady food runs than Elliot did with his first four children. Casey and I decorated the nursery for you while you were out with Elliot. Before you toss him to the curb, just think about how much he loves his kids, and that one of them resides inside of you." Don turned and left.
Olivia was released a day later to go home and pick up the pieces of her lives. She looked at it like two lives. Before the fall, and after. Her post-fall memories were sorting themselves out slowly, and she was settling in with pregnancy. Casey had visited her, and gave her a similar chewing-out that Cragen had, only she added, "If you go back to being miserable because you can't open your mind to the possibility that you love him, than you and I have nothing to say to each other."
To her mild surprise, the key to Elliot's apartment worked. Her things were littered about. The cat lazily stretched and wandered up to Olivia, rounded her legs once, purring and went back to ignoring all living things. The apartment was clean, and well blended with his/her things, and the pictures of them over the years were properly framed. She'd kept them in an impersonal box. Now, they were on display for everyone to see. Every step she took through the apartment brought back more ofer the last 8 months and inserted it into its proper place.
She wasn't ready for their bedroom yet, so she went into the nursery. Elliot, Don and Casey had finished putting everything together and set up for their son. There was even a framed sonogram on the dresser. He was excited about their baby. In the next frame was a picture of Olivia with allof Elliot's kids from her birthday.
"Liv?"
"Elliot," she said, startled. "Why aren't you at work?"
"Didn't want you to come home alone. Look, Olivia, I never took advantage of you. I swear."
"I know. I remember a lot more now than I did before," she said gently.
"I didn't even make the first move."
"No, you didn't. The gym...I think we were in the gym-" She stopped. "Elliot, did you say you were in-love with me?"
"Yeah," he choked out. Olivia took his hand and smiled. She brought his hand to her lips and kissed it gingerly.
"Elliot?"
"What?"
"Did I ask you to tell me about me?"
"Every day."
"Elliot?"
"What?"
"Tell me about us?" Elliot choked out a laugh through tears.
"Well, you love when I rub your shoulders...and you play the piano for me every morning..."
END!!!!