A/N: I swear to you guys, when these stupid alerts are working again, I will reply to all of your reviews like I always do!! For now, just know that I appreciate the reviews SO SO much. They are my crack! By the way, MAJOR FLUFF ALERT!!! But I know you guys don't mind because you all love Kelli so darn much!
Disclaimer: Only my overactive imagination is mine!
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"MOMMY! DADDY!" I shoot up in bed at the screeching of my six-year-old. I glance over at Elliot who is sleeping soundly.
"Hi, baby, what's up?" I ask her, running a hand through my disheveled hair, holding the sheet tightly to my breasts.
"Its time to get up, guys," she says with a grin.
"Okay, well why don't you go sit in the living room and put in a DVD. We'll order some breakfast and then we have to have a grown up talk, okay?"
"Okay Mommy. Can I wake Daddy up?" she asks.
"Sure, honey."
She tiptoes across the room to the side of the bed where Elliot is sprawled on his back. Thank God we've got a huge down comforter. Because if I remember correctly how Elliot used to wake up… our daughter would have gotten one hell of a surprise. She crawls up on the side of the bed and kisses his cheek. "Daddy," she whispers. He doesn't move.
"Maybe he needs another kiss," I suggest.
She kisses him square on the nose. "Daddy," she says a little louder. "DADDY WAKE UP!" she screeches. Elliot still doesn't move, but I can see a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. I think I just figured out where my daughter got her natural "faker" abilities.
"Maybe you should jump on his tummy," I suggest again. Kelli grins and stands up on the bed, waiting to drop onto her dad's solar plexus. Just as she's about to let herself fall, he reaches up and grabs her around the waist and pulls her down between us in the bed.
"WHADDAREYOUDOING?!" he growls at her playfully as he tickles her.
She squeals in surprise and starts giggling. "Daddy, you were faking!" she says.
"Kinda like someone else I know," I tease from the other side of her.
Elliot kisses the top of her head. "How'd you sleep, babe?"
"Good."
"Good," he replies, kissing her again. "Go put in a DVD and then we'll go eat breakfast, okay?"
"Okay," she crawls to the end of the bed and slides off, heading for the door. When she's closed it behind her, Elliot turns to me.
"Good morning, Mom," he teases, kissing me lightly.
"Mmmm. Morning, Dad."
"Were you really going to let her jump on me?" he asks, faking offense.
"Yeah, I was," I deadpan with an eye roll. "Go get in the shower," I request, sliding out of bed and crossing the room to grab my robe.
He lets out a deep wolf-whistle at my naked form. "Only if you come with me."
"Nice try. Your six year old daughter is watching TV in the living room. As I recall, you're kind of a noisy shower taker."
"Only with you," he pouts.
"My point exactly. So go get in there. Alone," I laugh.
"Fine," he whines, stomping to the bathroom like a petulant child.
"You act just like her," I mutter playfully. He sticks his tongue out at me right before he shuts the door.
I shake my head and laugh to myself, finally happy to be secure in the knowledge that my daughter comes by her attitude quite naturally.
I pull on a pair of panties and my robe, heading out to the living room to catch up on the latest adventures of the cute little Latina explorer with my daughter. She's curled up in the chair-and-a-half with her blanky, her thumb securely in her mouth.
"Kelli," I say warningly.
She pulls her thumb out of her mouth and looks at me guiltily. "Sorry," she says.
"You're sorry you got caught," I remind her.
"Sorry, Mommy."
"It's okay, baby. You're trying really hard to stop, I know. But all three of your big sisters had to get braces because they sucked their thumbs."
Kelli nods for a second and then stops. "I don't have any sisters, Mommy."
"Um, yes, actually. You do. Maureen, Kathleen, and Elizabeth. You also have a big brother. His name is Richard."
Her eyes widen like saucers. I'm so glad I haven't waited longer to tell her all of this. She'd hate me forever for keeping it from her, but at the age she is right now, she's just excited about these new family members. Just like Dana had said.
Crap. I forgot to call Dana when we found Kelli. Note to self: call Dana.
"I have SISTERS?! And a BIG BROTHER?!" she screeches. "Can we go see them?"
God this is such a mess. "Um, well, two of your sisters, yes, because they're here in New York. But your other big sister is a teacher in Alaska, and your big brother is in college in California."
Her eyes continue to widen. "They're in college?!"
I nod. "Mhm. And your big sister Maureen lives here. She's a doctor. And Kathleen is going to law school to be a lawyer like Aunt Casey."
"Wow," Kelli breathes. Elliot walks out of the bedroom, his hair wet from his shower, wearing the same clothes as yesterday.
"Okay ladies, I'm going to run home and get some clean clothes and then I'll come back and get you for breakfast, how's that?" he asks, oblivious to the discussion we've been having.
"Daddy I wanna meet my big sisters!"
Elliot looks shocked for a second and glances up at me.
"I used the girls' braces story to get Kelli to stop sucking her thumb," I explain.
He laughs. "Okay, honey. I'll call Katie and Maureen today and see if they have time, okay?"
"Yay! Can they come to breakfast?"
"We'll see, pun'kin. It's pretty short notice. Maybe we should do something this weekend instead. How would that be?"
"Yeah! We can go to Chuck E. Cheese again!"
Elliot smiles and in that instant I know he'll be tolerating "the overgrown rat" again for the happiness of his youngest child.
"Sounds good, honey." Elliot crosses the room to kiss me quickly before he leaves. "Missed you in there," he whispers.
I roll my eyes and give him a soft shove. "Go get some clean clothes, Daddy. You stink," I laugh, holding my nose playfully.
"Okay, Mommy," he grins.
"I'll be back in a little while, okay princess? I love you," he asks, kissing the top of Kelli's head as he heads for the door.
"Okay Daddy. See you in a little while. I love you too," she agrees.
"Kelli, I'm going to go take a shower okay?"
"Okay Mom."
"Remember the rule," I say automatically.
"Don't open the door without checking," she responds. Elliot beams proudly at what I've taught our daughter.
"That's my girl," I say, smiling as she sticks her thumb back in her mouth reflexively.
"Kelli," Elliot warns.
"Sorry, Dad," she pulls her thumb out.
He smiles. "I'm going to make your sisters tell you how much they hated braces."
"Okay," she pouts for a second. "I have sisters," she says in the next breath.
Elliot and I both laugh and he kisses me quickly. "Love you," he whispers.
"Love you," I whisper back, resting my forehead against his. He kisses me again and turns to go, ruffling Kelli's hair on his way out the door. I walk behind him to be sure the deadbolt is flipped. We get to the door and he draws me into his arms again, looking over my shoulder to make sure we're out of sight of Kelli. He holds me to him and presses his lips to mine. We kiss sweetly for a second, and then he turns up the heat by quickly undoing the belt of my robe and sliding his hand inside. I raise an eyebrow at him as his fingers graze over the soft skin of my breast.
"What?" he says innocently.
"Nothing," I smile. I crash my lips to his and slide my tongue into his mouth. He grins against my kiss and wraps his arms around my back, pulling my hips to his, his hands resting on my butt. I slide my arms around his neck, pushing my fingers through the short hair at his nape. Our tongues are dueling, battling for control when I hear Kelli.
"Mommy, come watch with me!" she calls from the living room. I pull back from Elliot with a grin.
"I'll make it up to you later," I smile.
"I'm gonna hold you to that," he says.
I kiss him quickly and reach down to trail my fingers over his erection. "Hurry back," I sing-song.
"I'm going to spend the day in pain, aren't I, you tease?" he asks.
I laugh and press my lips to his again. "Go on, get outta here."
"It's hard to love a woman like you, Olivia Benson," he smiles, pulling his cell phone out of his jacket pocket and turning to go down the hall.
"I love you!" I say cheerfully.
"Sure you do," he teases. "I love you, too," he calls back over his shoulder. I see him press a couple buttons on his cell phone and hold it up to his ear. "Yeah, hi. Is Dr. Stabler in by chance?" he asks. I shamelessly stare at his ass while he's walking down the hall waiting to be connected to Maureen. "Hey, Reen. It's Dad. I have to talk to you about something…"
Oh boy.
I turn and head back into the shower that is waiting for me, closing and locking the door behind me. I poke my head into the living room to check on my daughter. "I'm going to take that shower, k babe?"
"K, Momma," she replies, not turning her attention away from Dora and Boots.
I shower quickly and move to the bedroom to get dressed. Pulling on a pair of low-rise jeans, I dig through my shirts to find a cute one. I smile to myself, thinking about how good it feels to be dressing with Elliot in mind again. I pull out a long sleeved v-neck tee shirt and slip it on, tucking it in and belting my jeans with a wide brown leather belt.
"Okay, Kellibean, go hop in the shower please," I request, sitting down on the ottoman to put on my socks and shoes.
"This one is almost over, Momma," she pleads.
"Pause it. And get in the shower please," I smile.
"O-kay," she agrees reluctantly.
"Thank you baby," I smile, giving her a quick kiss as she scurries past me for the bathroom.
A few minutes later I can hear her singing off-key to a song on the shower radio and it makes me smile. I'm so glad to have my baby back. I hear Elliot knock on the door and that makes me smile too. We're going to get this all figured out.
"Coming!" I holler. I go to the door and check through the peephole to make sure it's him. Damn. Just the sight of him has my heart racing. Blue jeans, black tee shirt, his black leather jacket slung over his shoulder. I swing open the door and grin. "Hi."
"Hey, baby," he smiles, leaning in to kiss me like he didn't just see me forty-five minutes ago. "Where's Kelli?"
"In the shower. Don't even think about it, Stabler," I warn.
He smiles. "Well isn't your mind just in the gutter?"
"Oh shut up," I groan. "What'd Maureen say?"
He grimaces. "After she got done yelling at me for being a moron?"
"Yes."
"She's really excited to see you again… and to meet her little sister."
"Good. She up for the overgrown rat this weekend?" I ask.
He nods. "My girls love Chucky," he smiles.
"Speaking of your girls," I say as Kelli emerges from the bathroom wrapped in a towel, her hair dripping down her back.
"Hi Dad," she says nonchalantly.
"Hi Bean," he replies just as plainly.
I can't believe how much these two have warmed up to each other – like they've always been a part of each others lives and haven't ever known any different.
"Go get dressed, Bean, and I'll do your hair while we have our grown up talk, okay?"
"Okay Mommy." She scurries into the other bedroom and emerges a few moments later in a button down pink shirt with a white tank top underneath and blue jeans, her socks in her hand.
I grab a comb off the table and she sits at my feet in front of the TV. She moves to press play on the remote and Elliot stops her. "You can finish that after our grown-up talk honey. This is really important and Mommy and I need you to really pay attention, okay?"
"Okay Dad," she replies, turning her attention to him.
"Hair?" I ask.
"Piggy buns," she replies.
"Regular part or zig-zag?" I ask.
"Zig-zag."
I tip her head back to line up a zig-zag part in her hair. "El, can you go get me a couple of those pink elastics on the bathroom counter?" I ask.
"Sure," he smiles. He gets me the hair ties and sits down behind me in the chair, putting his feet up beside my hip on the ottoman.
"Kellibean… how would you feel about going home to Montana until after Christmas… and then going to school in New York this spring? We would live here and you'd get to see Daddy all the time," I hold my breath, waiting for her answer.
"I want to see Daddy all the time now," she begs.
"We know, honey, but you need to go back and finish the rest of the quarter at your school. You want to see your friends, right?" Elliot asks.
"Why can't you come there?" she whines.
"Honey, I wish I could. But I work here. I know it's hard to understand, baby, but you need to trust me and Mommy, okay? I promise I'll come visit lots, and I'll call you every single day, okay?"
Kelli sits quietly and considers our offer.
"Do I still get to meet my big sisters and my big brother?" she asks.
Elliot and I both heave a sigh of relief.
"Of course, honey," he says. "We're going to hang out with Maureen and probably Kathleen this weekend."
"Okay."
"Kelli, you understand what this means, right?" I ask. After Christmas, we're going to come out here. You're going to go to school here and we'll live here. You won't get to see your friends from home very much."
"Can Megan come visit?" she asks sweetly.
"We could go back and visit her," I say. "But you won't get to see her every day."
She nods quietly.
"I know this is a lot to understand, babe. We want you to ask us any questions you have," I explain.
"Where are we going to live?" she asks.
Elliot jumps in. "Your mom and I haven't really talked about that yet, but we'll figure it out later."
I wrap the elastic around the second bun in her hair and she grins up at me sweetly. "Thanks Momma," she says.
"No problem, baby," I reply, kissing the top of her head. She gets up off the floor and crawls past me into her dad's lap.
"You'll come visit me?" she asks sweetly.
"You bet baby doll. And call you. Every day," he vows. "I love you Kelli. I don't want to be away from you either, but there's some grown up stuff your mom and I have to take care of. I hope you understand."
"I think so," she answered.
Elliot smiled at me over the top of her head, both of us knowing she didn't quite understand, but that she would. And while she was trying to figure it all out, we'd be right there with her.
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A/N: I know there was a LOT of fluff in this chapter – and some boring dialogue with the hair and what not, but I wanted to point out how much they're trying to just be normal. Hope you liked how I did it! Let me know!! XO, KJ