**Hi, ya'll! This story takes place in sort of an AU, but not really...if that makes any sense. Elliot only has Maureen and Kathleen, no twins or Eli, and they're both a little older...18-20ish. Olivia moved away from the SVU crew three years ago, but now...it's time for her to come back. I've read some other stories sort of like this, so I'm REALLY hoping I can keep this unique. Hope ya'll enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own them.
Looking down some something crashed into her leg, Olivia chuckled as she saw the small face looking back up at her. "Hi, momma," the little girl grinned up at her.
"Hi, baby," Olivia greeted, bending down and scooping the three-year old up into her arms. The girl's curly brown hair swayed as her mom tickled her, earning a squeal.
"Stop it, momma! I not wanna be tickuhed!" the girl tried to speak between her bouts of laughter.
Resting the girl on her hip, Olivia smiled, kissing her forehead. "Did you have a good nap, Emmabug?"
The little girl's blue eyes beamed back at her as she smiled and rested her head on her mom's shoulder. "Yes ma'am," she told Olivia politely. Kissing her again, she put the girl down on the floor.
"Go wash your hands, it's almost time for dinner, okay?" Olivia chuckled as Emma scampered down the hallway, alternating between skipping and running. Turning back to the pot of pasta on the stove, Olivia stirred it and turned the fire off.
As she reached for the pot holders, her cell phone rang. Without looking, she hit the button and held it to her ear. "Hello?" she answered nearly cheerfully. She didn't hear anything. "Hello…" she repeated, emphasizing the O at the end.
"Liv?" a man asked.
"This is Olivia Benson, yes, who is this?" she asked, resting a hand on the counter, her eyes pinched together.
"It's Fin, baby girl," he spoke.
Her eyes widened and her heart stopped. "Um…what's going on?" she asked cautiously. She had left New York three years earlier and hadn't spoken to any of the SVU crew since.
"I just wanted to call to tell you that…um…" he paused.
Emma came running back into the kitchen. "I washed my hands, momma! Smell!" she offered her hands up towards Olivia's face with a smile spreading across her own face.
Olivia held up a finger. "Go sit down, baby, we'll eat in a second," she spoke after she covered the phone receiver.
"Who are you talking to?" Fin asked, confused.
"Nobody. Why'd you call, Fin?" she asked sharply.
"I just wanted to let you know that…" he took a deep breath. "Elliot was shot today."
Her heart stopped at the sound of his name. "Oh…god…" she fell into a chair, earning a concerned look from her daughter. "Is…is he…is he okay?" she studdered.
"No, baby girl," Fin replied with a sigh. "He's in a coma, Liv. I just thought, ya know…you might of wanted to know."
"Thanks, Fin," she spoke softly, tears already rolling down her cheeks. As she laid her phone down on the table, Olivia stared off into the kitchen wall of her small apartment.
"Momma, what wrong?" Emma asked, patting her mom's hand.
Shaking her head, trying to snap herself out of the daze she was in, Olivia looked down at her daughter. "After we eat, we're going to go see somebody," she told Emma, wiping tears from her own cheeks.
"Who we goin' to see, momma?" the little girl asked, confused. She wasn't sure if she had ever seen her mom cry.
"One of mommy's friends isn't feeling very well, so we're going to go see him, okay?" Emma nodded as Olivia stood up and quickly finished fixing their dinner. Once dinner was over, Olivia threw a few pairs of clothes for each of them into a couple of bags and loaded everything into her SUV. "You ready, baby?" Olivia asked, looking back in the rear view mirror.
"Yes ma'am," Emma replied from the backseat. Olivia flipped on the small DVD player in the backseat and Finding Nemo soon occupied the little girl, leaving Olivia time to think and drive.
"Come on, baby, time to get up," Olivia spoke, pulling Emma out of the car-seat. The little girl clung to her mom, resting her head on Olivia's shoulder. Rubbing her back, Olivia shut the SUV door with her foot, pulled her purse onto her unoccupied shoulder, and walked towards the hospital.
Emma's eyes wandered around as they entered the hospital, raising her head as Olivia stopped walking. "I need Elliot Stabler's room number, please," she asked the front desk receptionist.
The lady smiled and nodded. After a few clicks, she looked up. "He's in room 612."
"Thanks," Olivia replied with a half-smile.
"Where your fwiend, momma?" Emma asked, her blue eyes wide as she saw all the people.
"He's upstairs, baby." Olivia looked over at Emma and smiled at her. "When we get there, I need you to behave like the big girl you are, okay?"
The little girl nodded her head causing her auburn curls to bounce. "I will, momma. I pomise."
As the elevator dinged letting them know they were at the sixth floor, Olivia kissed her daughter's forehead and took a deep breath. Rounding the corner, her heart stopped beating as she saw several people that she hadn't seen in years. She quietly and slowly walked towards them, her brown eyes wide and observant. She saw a head poke out from behind one of the guys. "Oh…my…GOD," Casey's eyes were huge as she pushed Cragen out of the way. "OLIVIA?" she squealed and walked quickly towards her.
"Hi, Case," Olivia spoke as Casey squeezed her tight, embracing the little girl, too.
"BENSON!" she heard another woman's voice.
Looking around Casey's head, Olivia smiled as she saw Alex. "Hey, Cabot," she greeted as the blonde and redhead continued to squeeze her and Emma. After a few seconds had passed, Olivia turned her head towards her daughter and smiled. "Guys, we can't breathe…" she chuckled.
"Right…You look fantastic!" Casey said with a chuckle, backing off with Alex.
"Thanks," she replied, trying to fight the overwhelming feeling.
"And who is this beautiful little girl, Benson?" Alex asked, smiling at Emma.
Emma looked at her mom with a confused look. "Why dey call you dat, momma?" she asked, getting a chuckle from the entire group.
"Guys," Olivia said after taking a deep breath, "This is my daughter, Emma. Emma, say hi to mommy's friends." With seven unknown people staring at her, Emma hid her face in Olivia's shoulder. Running a hand over her back, Olivia kissed her forehead. "She's a little shy," Olivia chuckled.
After saying hi to everybody – Cragen, Munch, Fin, Casey, Alex, George, and Melinda – Olivia sighed. She knew she had questions to answer, but she knew her friends wouldn't grill her at the hospital. "We're both going to go," George told everybody referring to himself and Melinda.
"Bye, guys," everybody replied, waving. Before long, the only people left along with Olivia and Emma were Cragen, Munch, and Fin.
Sitting in the waiting room, Olivia took a deep breath as they all watched Emma play across the room with some blocks. "She's beautiful, Liv," Munch observed, sitting back in his chair.
"Yeah, baby girl," Fin added, "She looks just like you. Except for her eyes," he noted, pinching his eyes together as it hit him.
Olivia smiled as she watched Emma put all of the blocks in different colored piles according to colors. "How old is she?" Cragen asked, leaning back in his chair.
"She's three. She'll be four in June," Olivia told them.
"Momma!" Emma called out from the corner. "Momma, come look!" Olivia got up and walked to where the girl was, squatting down when she got there. "I putted dem in colors, momma!" the little girl bragged.
Chuckling, Olivia nodded. "You sure did, baby. Very good!" Olivia clapped and hugged her daughter. "Keep playing," she told Emma, kissed her on the head, and walked back to the chairs. "Hey, uh…do you guys mind, watching her? I, uh…" she nodded her head towards Elliot's room.
"Of course not, baby girl," Fin replied with a smile. He had always loved kids, especially ones that would play games with him.
Olivia smiled and walked back to Emma, bending down again. "Emma," she called the girl's name. Her daughter ran to her with a smile, knocking Olivia over onto the floor, sending everybody into a laughter. She pulled her daughter into her arms and kissed her cheek, making a sucking noise as she pulled back.
"Quit it, momma!" Emma laughed, standing in front of her mom.
"Remember my friend that I said we were coming to see?" she asked. Emma nodded and tilted her head. "I'm going to go see him for a minute." Fin walked over to where they were and smiled as he sat down in the floor by Emma. "Uncle Fin," Olivia pointed, "Uncle Munch, and Grandpa Cragen are all out here, okay?" she asked. Emma looked them all over, her eyes wide, and got closer to her mom.
"Look, Uncle Fin wants to play blocks with you!" Olivia pointed out as Fin stacked the blocks up.
"Can you help me, Emma?" Fin asked. "I dunno if I can do it by myself."
The little girl's grin slipped out Olivia pulled her into another hug. "I'm going right around the corner. I'll be back, okay, baby?" Olivia asked, kissing her cheek.
"Go, momma," Emma instructed, standing up placing a block on top of Fin's building. "I gonna play wif Unka Fin."
Chuckling, Olivia got up and started walking, stopping by Cragen and Munch. "Where are um…you know…Kathy, Maureen, and Kathleen?" she asked, picking her purse up.
"Kathy bailed two years ago," Munch told her.
"Mo and Katie are flying in from Honduras in the morning. It was the earliest flight they could get."
"What the hell are they doing in Honduras?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow at him.
Cragen chuckled. "A lot has changed, Liv. Mo and Katie both joined a missionary type deal and are down there helping the less fortunate." The answer warmed Olivia's heart. She knew that they had always talked about helping people, but she was glad they finally did it.
"I'll be in there," Olivia told them with a final deep breath.
Stepping into the dim hospital room, Olivia's heart immediately sunk as she saw him lying in the bed, hooked to all the wires and tubes. Tears instantly filled her eyes as she dropped her purse into a chair and stood at the end of the bed. She raised a shaking hand to cover her mouth as her other arm crossed her torso. "Oh, god…" she gasped.
Elliot had stitches across his forehead and his visible skin was bruised up. Trembling, Olivia walked slowly to the side of his bed and let out a loud sob. Trying to stop herself from making any noise, she took several deep breaths. Her brown eyes looked his beaten body over as she stood beside the man that had protected her all those many times…the man that she could've killed for his cockiness many times…the man that held her heart all those many years.
Looking down, she placed her hand, still shaking, on top of his and squeezed as she sat down in the chair next to the bed. Choking back more tears, her bottom lip quivered. She put her head down onto their hands and let out another loud sob, her tears falling onto the bed.
Finally, she lifted her head up and looked at his closed eyes. She wanted so so bad to see his blue eyes. Taking a deep breath, Olivia stifled her tears. "El," she whispered, wiping a tear from her cheek with her free hand. "Elliot…it's me. It's Olivia." She took another deep breath. "And I really…REALLY…need for you to wake up," she told him, nearly pleading. "Please, El…" she finally begged, letting out another sob.
Squeezing his hand again, she sat back in her chair. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. "I know I don't do this often," she spoke out loud, "But I really need your help right now." She, by no means, was a religious person, but she really needed God's help at that moment.
After a while of just praying, Olivia inhaled and exhaled as she stood up. "I'll be back," she whispered to Elliot as she kissed his cheek. As she walked back out into the waiting room, Olivia saw Emma asleep in Fin's arms as they sat across from Munch and Cragen.
She smiled. "Thanks," she whispered, reaching out for Emma.
"No problem," Fin replied, carefully moving Emma from his arms to Olivia's. She took the little girl and smiled down at her as her blue eyes opened.
"Go back to sleep, baby," she whispered and kissed her forehead. The little girl's eyes fluttered back shut as Olivia rocked her gently. "You guys can leave," she told the three men.
Cragen simply shook his head. "We're here for the long-haul," he told her.
"You okay, Liv?" Munch asked, folding the newspaper that he was reading and laying it down.
Her brown eyes looked up as she took a deep breath. "I will be," she assured them. "How…uh…how'd it happen?" she asked.
"He went with his partner…Michael Lewis…to check out a rape in progress," Cragen started.
"His partner," Fin scoffed, earning a look from Cragen.
"While they were chasing the guy, Lewis was supposed to back him as he went down the fire-escape, but he didn't. The perp got off two rounds. One hit Stabler's leg and the other hit him in his chest, and it ran into his spinal cord."
Olivia's heart stopped as she nodded. She would never have let that happen. "Where's Lewis?" she asked softly, patting Emma's bottom softly.
"He called in the shots fired and got a bus there. After we all got there, he quickly informed us that that line of work "wasn't right for him," or something," Munch rolled his eyes behind his dark glasses.
"Straight out of the academy?" she asked with a cocked eyebrow. All three men nodded causing Olivia to shake her head. "Figures."
"So, baby girl," Fin asked, "Where have you been?"
Taking a deep breath, she tried to smile. "Well, after I left, I moved to Jersey. I had Emma and I've been working for their computer crime's unit."
"Is there a Mister Benson?" Munch asked, earning a chuckle from Olivia.
"No," she answered simply. "This little girl keeps me pretty busy," she said with a smile.
"She's just like you," Fin told her. "Just a younger, mini-Badass Benson," he laughed.
Smiling, Olivia nodded. "I've tried to teach her right," she spoke softly as she looked down at the sleeping toddler in her arms. Running a hand through her soft curls, Olivia smiled down at Emma.
"I'm going to get coffee, guys," Munch told them. "What do you want?" he asked. Fin and Cragen gave him their orders as Munch turned to Olivia.
"Want anything Benson?" he asked.
"Nah, I can run down to my vehicle in a little bit and get Emma's bag."
"Nonsense," Fin told her, holding out his hand. "Gimme the keys and I'll run down and get it."
Olivia looked up, her brown eyes wide. "You don't mind?" she asked.
Fin rolled his eyes. "Gimme the damn keys, Benson," he chuckled. She dug them out of her pocket and tossed them to him. "Which bag is it?"
"The pink princess one," she chuckled softly. "You can't miss it."
After Fin and Munch left, Olivia sighed and looked over at Cragen, noticing he was staring down at Emma and smiling. "She's Elliot's, isn't she?" he asked bluntly.
Kind of taken by surprise, Olivia took a deep breath and smiled down at Emma. "Yeah," she admitted softly, brushing her hand through Emma's hair. "But, nobody…"
"Knows," he finished with a nod. "Don't worry, I'm not going to say a word." She nodded and sighed. "It's great to see you, Liv. Of course, it's horrible under these conditions. But it's really great to see you."
Smiling, she nodded in agreement. "I'm not going to lie, it's kind of weird being back. But I'm glad I've gotten to see everybody."
"You know…when you left…everybody was just lost." Olivia bit her bottom lip and looked down at the floor between them.
"I had to," she confided in him, looking back up into the Captain's eyes. "I couldn't take it anymore." Most people would've assumed that she was talking about work, but Cragen knew otherwise.
"I understand," he nodded.
Looking up, Olivia chuckled as she saw Fin carrying the hot pink bag across his chest proudly. "That look is good on you," she told him as he put it down beside her.
"I was hoping it would. I chose this over the lime green on," he said in a preppy-boy accent.
"Thanks, Fin," she told him, taking the keys from him.
"No problem, baby girl."
"Liv, there's an extra bed in Elliot's room if you want to go put her down," Cragen told her. "We've requested that it remain a private room, so nobody's going to need in there."
She nodded and stood up. "Thanks," she told him, holding on to Emma and grabbing the pink bag. She carried her daughter into the room and sighed again when she saw Elliot. She put the bag down on the extra bed and smiled down at Emma.
"Wake up, baby," she whispered, kissing the girl's forehead. She heard Emma groan as she tried to bury her head in Olivia's chest. "Emma, wake up, sweetheart," she gently shook her arm.
"What, momma? I's sleepin'," Emma groaned at her, squinting her eyes open.
"We need to get you into your jammies. Can you stand up for me?" she asked, lifting her onto the bed. The girl nodded and braced herself against her mom's shoulders. "Arms up," Olivia instructed. Sleepily, Emma lifted her arms. Soon, her shirt was replaced with a sleep gown covered in multicolored butterflies. Olivia pulled the little girl's jeans off of her and laid them to the side. "Do you need to potty?" she asked quietly.
Emma nodded. Olivia picked her off of the bed and slipped her shoes back on her feet, not wanting her to walk on the germ-infested bathroom floor. Emma used the bathroom and stood back up, her mom helping her back up into the extra bed. Olivia pulled her pink blanket out of her bag as Emma looked up. "Is dat your fwiend?" she asked and pointed.
Olivia smiled at her daughter and nodded. "Yep. But you have to be quiet so he can sleep, okay, baby?" Emma nodded and laid her head back down as Olivia covered her up with the blanket. "Go back to sleep, Emmabug," she kissed her daughter on the top of her head.
"Momma," the girl clung to Olivia's shirt. "Don't leave me, pwease…" she begged. Smiling, Olivia climbed into the bed and pulled Emma into her arms. In return, Emma sweetly pulled her little blanket partly over her mom.
"I love you, Emma Katherine," Olivia told her, staring into her blue eyes.
"I luff you, too, momma. Lots and lots," she promised, earning another kiss from Olivia.
"Go to sleep, baby. I won't leave you." The girl quickly dozed back off in Olivia's arms, and Olivia soon followed her lead.