**I should've probably mentioned before that this story is taking place 7 years after Olivia and Elliot met. Elliot and Kathy only have the twins, who are 12 but almost 13. No Kathleen or Maureen. I love them and all, but 4 kids was way too many for this story :)
I don't own them sadly. But ooh the things they would be doing if I did...bwahaha! :) **
"You are so full of shit!" Elliot grinned, earning a strange look from the woman lying against his chest. "Oh come on, you should know by now you can't get away with lying to me. Cancer? You really thought that would work?" He laughed again.
As her eyes lowered, Olivia's lips pressed together while she inhaled deeply. "Elliot, I'm not joking," she assured him, her brown eyes finding his.
She watched as Elliot's face went through a range of expressions. First, the "yeah right, you're still kidding" face. Second, the "no…seriously…tell me you're kidding" face. And third, the "shit, you're not kidding" face.
"Wha…what? How? You're not joking?" he jumbled his words. "Please tell me you're joking, Liv…"
Her eyes lowered again as she shook her head. "I'm not joking, El."
Without another word, Elliot pulled her into his arms, taking a deep breath as he rested his chin against her head. He decided to just hold her. He had to take this in before he made any pathetic attempt at consoling her and ended up screwing things up.
They both watched the flicker of the tv as neither of them knew what to say. Neither of them moved. Hell, neither of them wanted to move. They both wanted to stay in that moment. They wanted that moment to be perfect. Perfect until his phone began ringing in his pocket.
He leaned his head back against the headboard and rolled his eyes. "Give me a second," he whispered, gently moving off of the bed. Despite him attempting to be quiet and him being in another room, Olivia could hear every word that he said.
"Stabler," he answered. Olivia loved his typical answer. Kathy, not so much.
"Where the hell are you?" she yelled from the other end.
"Kathy…" he took a deep breath. "Something's happened. I'll just have to explain when I get home."
"Yeah? And when's that gonna be, Mr. Adulterer?" she snapped.
Elliot ran a hand through his short hair and shook his head. "I don't know, Kathy. I'm not leaving her right now." Olivia's heart fluttered from the other room.
"Like that's a surprise," she mumbled. "Elliot, I'm getting sick and tired of this shit. Actually I'm past sick and tired of this shit."
"I'm sorry, Kathy," he rolled his eyes again as the words fell off of his tongue, like the habit that they had become.
"We need you at home, too. You know that, right? That your family needs you?"
"Kathy, you need me to run by the store so you don't have to get your ass off the couch to get the twins their posters. Olivia has cancer. Your definition of 'need' is completely different than the actual definition. And you can kiss my ass." He snapped his phone shut, immediately opening it back up and holding the power button down.
Once the lights had disappeared, he shoved it back into his pocket and resumed his place beside Olivia, their shoulders leaning against each other. Olivia smirked as she looked down at the ring on her finger. "Did you really just tell her to kiss your ass?"
Elliot chuckled and looked over at her, his Stabler-grin flashing. "Seems to be that way," he mumbled, leaning over and pressing his lips into hers.
"You know I'm still not joking about this whole situation, right?" she asked, his forehead pressed against hers.
Reaching up, he cupped her cheek with a simple smile. "We'll get through this. Like we always do." Kissing him one more time, Olivia took a deep breath and sighed. "So what now?" His thumb caressed the back of her hand.
"I meet with an oncologist tomorrow to see what they're planning on doing. They didn't even tell me what kind of cancer it is other than something to do with my blood," she sighed again.
"I'll be there," he kissed her cheek.
"No, Elliot. You can't miss work. If you miss work, they'll start to get suspicious."
He smiled, putting his arm around her shoulders. "We've hidden it for 3 years. I think we're doing good."
Olivia fell into his side. "I'm tired of hiding this, Elliot. I'm tired of taking off my ring every time I go into the station. I'm tired of being the other woman." Tears started to make their way to her eyes again.
"Hey," he pulled her chin towards him. "First of all, you're not the other woman. You're the woman. I just met the other woman before you." She faked a smile and nodded. "Second, you know I was waiting until the twins were 13 before I left. That way, they can freely choose to live with me instead of Kathy. I don't want a messy custody battle."
"Well, they turn 13 in two months," she reminded him with a grin, holding her left hand out in front of her, letting the diamond shine in the dim light. "Does that mean I get you all to myself when you sign the papers?"
Elliot leaned over, pressing his forehead to hers. "Baby, you've had me all to yourself since the first time I laid eyes on you." With a simple kiss, he leaned back against the headboard.
Olivia's fingers traced along his strong hand, intertwining them with his fingers as she settled into him even more. "I don't think it's hit me yet."
"Hey," he gently lifted her chin towards him again as he smiled the smile that she fell in love with. "I promise. We'll make it." As he stared into her with his blue eyes, Olivia's heart broke a little more. She had seen what cancer does to people. And she wasn't ready to leave Elliot like that.
The next morning, Olivia and Elliot, much to Olivia's disagreement, sat in the waiting room of the oncologist that she had been instructed to call. Elliot nervously flipped through a magazine while Olivia watched people being taken back and other people who were leaving. Out of the seventeen people in the room, she counted that ten of them had hats on or were completely bald. She began to get an even deeper feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Miss Benson?" a petite lady called from across the room. Olivia and Elliot's hearts both sank as they stood up, crossing the silent room. "Hi, follow me please?" the woman asked with a smile.
After reaching out for her hand, Elliot followed Olivia behind the nurse. He felt her squeeze his hand as they entered the exam room. "Alright, Miss Benson…" the lady said, rummaging through a drawer. "If you'll just put this gown on, Dr. Ramirez will be right with you guys."
Olivia faked a smile as the door shut behind the lady. Slipping off her coat, Olivia reached out and took the gown off of the exam table. "I hate these things more than this stupid cancer," she mumbled. Elliot tried to hide his laugh as he sat on a small couch beside the table.
"I'm sure you'll look beautiful," he assured her as she shut the mini-bathroom door.
Within a minute, the door was opening again. Olivia flipped off the light with one hand while carefully holding the front of the gown together with the other hand. "No laughing or I will kick your ass," she warned, scooting herself up onto the exam table, her socked feet dangling over the edge.
Grinning, Elliot stood up and approached her sitting on the table. "Told ya that you'd look beautiful," he whispered, pressing his lips against hers.
"You are such a lair," she play-shoved him as she chuckled. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as someone knocked on the door and pushed it open.
"Miss Benson?" another lady in a white lab coat entered the room with a smile. "Hi, I'm Dr. Ramirez," she introduced herself, reaching her hand out to shake both Olivia's and Elliot's hands.
"I'm Olivia, this is Elliot," Olivia spoke politely towards the woman.
"Not meaning to pry," she replied as she pulled on a pair of latex gloves, "But are you boyfriend, husband, just a friend…"
Elliot chuckled and shook his head. "I'm fiancé."
"Well nice to meet you, fiancé," the doctor smiled, opening Olivia's chart. "It's always good for people to have someone close that they care about when going through something like this. I've noticed that it gives the patient something to work harder for."
"Great…now I'll forever be seen as a 'patient'…" Olivia thought, rolling her eyes to herself. She hated that word. Patient.
"Well, Miss Benson," the doctor glanced over the files. "Dr. Callahan has referred you to me because you exhibit strong signs of a form of leukemia." Elliot's heart momentarily stopped beating. "But, to be one-thousand percent certain, we're going to run some more tests that are quite a bit more detailed than the ones that were ran yesterday," the doctor assured. "No need in treating this for something if it's really not that at all, is there?" she chuckled.
"How long will we be here today?" Olivia asked, squeezing Elliot's hand.
"Um…" the doctor pulled out her stethoscope, pressing it to Olivia's chest and back. "You can probably figure a couple of hours. And trust me, I know it sucks. But I think you'd much rather find out an absolute answer than have us halfway do it and you only be half-sure that you do or don't have cancer." The doctor swiveled around on her stool and pressed Olivia's tongue down with a tongue depressor.
"Everything looks good from here," she stated. "But I bet you've been feeling a little more fatigued than normal?"
Olivia looked up at Elliot and grinned. "Well, we're both detectives with the NYPD so it's hard for us to really tell when we're actually tired and when something's wrong."
"She's lost quite a bit of weight in the last month or two," Elliot added. "And she used to eat anything that wasn't nailed down." He earned a funny look from Olivia as the corners of her mouth curved upward. "I've noticed her eating has slowed down, too."
"Well aren't you observant," the doctor chuckled. "Ya know, good men like this are hard to find," she talked more directly at Olivia.
"You're telling me. I've been trying to get rid of this one for a few years, but he won't go anywhere." Elliot grinned his Stabler-grin down at Olivia as she laughed at her own joke.
The doctor smiled as she pulled off her gloves. "Let me go get one of the nurses to come draw some blood," she informed the couple as she opened the door.
"Doctor?" Olivia asked, making the dark-haired woman turn around. Olivia rolled her arms to were the doctor could see her battle wounds from the day before. "Please make sure it's someone that knows how to draw blood. I already look like I've been shooting up."
Cringing, Dr. Ramirez nodded. "I'll see what I can do for you."
When the door shut, Elliot looked down at Olivia and raised an eyebrow. "Been trying to get rid of me for a few years, huh?" he asked.
With a smile, she looked up into his blue eyes and kissed him softly. "Only to make sure you actually wanted to stay around," she promised. "If you had left during all those crazy moments, you sure as hell wouldn't be staying by me now."
"I'm not going anywhere," he promised, cupping her cheek. "I love you," he told her, kissing her forehead.
"I love you, too, El."