Disclaimer: Darned it. They still ain't mine.
Author's Note: Okay. This is just a really really random chapter with absolutely no purpose whatsoever. I know we all need some EOness after "Annihilated" with the bedroom scene of shudders Kathy and Elliot. So therefore...I know you'll love it! Read it! Love it! AND REVIEW IT! Thanks a ton kiddos!
"What now, Bre Bre? What now?" I taunt my three year old daughter and she giggles in delight. I am currently holding her over my shoulder with one hand one her waist tickling her in the place she is most ticklish.
"Daddy! Queet it! Daddy!" She squeals and I laugh some more then shift her to wear she was straddling my neck, sitting on my shoulders and we head togeher to the kitchen.
"What's up Mom? Bry?" I ask as I plop Breanna into a barstool in front of the island in our kitchen.
"Nothin much in here. I'm making spaghetti and Bryce is coloring his new Diego book. What were you two doing?" My wife answers me beaming over our son's head that popped up when his sister and I came in.
"We just got done watchin' Spongebob Squarepants didn't we Brown Eyes?" I ask, using one of the many nicknames my daughter has.
"Yep! And den I told Daddy dat Mr. Krabbs was cooler dan him an' he tickeldled me! Isn't dat mean?" She giggles and wiggles down from the chair to sit on the counter beside her brother and in front of Liv.
"Oh! That is just awful! Elliot Stabler how could you be so MEAN?!?!" Liv mock-scolds me and grins when the twins start cracking up.
"Momma! Ya know Daddy was jus' kiddin' wit Bre!" Bryce exclaims with an exasperated look on his face and we all laugh even harder.
"I know, Bryce. So what do you all want to drink?" She asks as she pulls the pan of spaghetti off the stove and the sheet of breadsticks out of the oven. She sits them on the counter and we all gather around the island.
"I wan' Sprite, Momma!" Bryce tells her and she grab a small cup from the cabinet and the bottle of Sprite out of the fridge, leaving the door open to grab whatever Breanna and I want.
"I wan' cherry koow-aid Mommy!" Breanna calls and Liv grabs the container from the fridge along with another cup.
"I'll take a Coke, babe." I finally tell her and she grabs a can of coke for me and the tea jug for her.
She pours the drinks and sits them in front of the twins and then sits herself down and loads up Breanna's plate with spaghetti and breadsticks. She grins at me and I smile back at her as she hands over the bowl of spaghetti so I can fill Bryce's plate.
"So kids, what'd you do at daycare today?" I ask, smiling through a mouthful of spaghetti.
"My class wroted our names in finner paints and den we maded pretty pickers wit 'em. It was sssooo fun!" Breanna tells us and we laugh as she waves her hands around in a dizzying way to show us how she painted her picture.
"And what did your class do Bryce?" Olivia asks our son and he grins in satisfaction as he thinks over his day.
"Well ya see... it was Jaylen's burtday an' we gotta have chocey cupcakes an' fruit punch 'fore you camed and picked us up! It sure was good you camed durwing lunch an' not before. I woulda beened mad at you!" We all laugh at that.
Breanna has always told us about writing and drawing or learning new things in her class. But unlike his sister Bryce always tells us about playing basketball, football or soccer at recess or whatever he had at lunch or snack time. They were very normal and well adjusted toddlers. They were very used to the hectic schedules Liv and I keep and went through their days easily.
A hectic day was their daily routine. Get up at 7. Get dressed and ready. Go to daycare. Dickie and/or Lizzie pick them up and bring them home. The two sets of twins stay together until Liv gets home. Liv makes dinner and it's done about the time I get home or a little after. We talk about their day at the dinner table and then sit in the living room and watch about an hour or an hour and a half. Bre and Bry go to bed at about 8:30 or 9. We read them a bedtime story. It's usually a Dora the Explorer book for Breanna and a Go Diego! Go! book for Bryce. Then they start over.
It was different today though. It was a Friday and a rare one. Both Liv and I had the day off. Liv almost always has Friday through Sunday off but I only have one a month off. The older twins are off at Kathy's parents house for the weekend because it's their grandmother's birthday. So we decided to make it a Dad, Mom and the, as Liv calls them, "Littlest Stablers" day.
Liv and I woke up at 6:30 and made chocolate chip pancakes. We woke the kids up at 7 like normal and sent them to daycare. We picked them up at lunch time so they got to leave school about two hours early. We let the kids pick where we went to lunch. Of course we "got to" go to McDonalds and they played on the playground. When we got home we played Twister. We then taught the kids how to play Candyland. After almost an hour and a half of games we decided it was nap time. We all took an hour long nap. We then woke up and Liv and Bry went to the kitchen where Bry colored and Bre and I watched Spongebob in the livingroom.
Now here we are, sitting around the kitchen table and it's wonderful. The twins and Liv are all laughing like I haven't heard in months. Breanna and Liv are sharing a pint of Ben and Jerry's Half Baked and Bryce and I are sharing Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey.
As Liv and I tuck them into bed and read their story books to them I realize how lucky I am and how smart I was not to go back to Kathy when I had the chance. I see now that everything I could ever want has all been in this one house at the same time. The most important things in my life are my children and Olivia. You see, I say Liv instead of "my wife" because she's not just my wife. In fact, she's so much more.
Olivia is my best friend. She supports me at all times no matter if she thinks I'm being totally dumb. She just tells me what she thinks and goes with it. She is one of the protectors of all my children and the mother of two of my little angels. She is emphatic at all costs to herself. She lets me be totally open with her and has NEVER judged me. And one of the sweetest things about her is that she opens up to me whenever she needs it. And she only opens up to me. She has always been there for me and my children. Even when we were first year partners and just barely friends we were there for each other. I guess we have always been drawn to each other. No matter what obstacles came between us we were, are and always will be as close as two people can be. I love her more than I thought I could ever love one person.
"You ready for bed, El?" I hear my wife whisper as I am reminiscing and I smile at her then glance to my daughter. I have just finished reading her Lion King II: Simba's Pride and she is now sleeping peacefully in her little bed and looking remarkably like her mother. We rotate who reads to who each night so we get equal time with each of the toddlers. Tonight I read to Breanna and Liv read to Bryce.
I stand up and walk towards the door while my wife gives Breanna a kiss on the forehead and whispers "I love you" to her. I quickly head to Bryce's room and do the same to him. We meet in the hall and I grab her around the waist tightly which makes her gasp in surprise. I bury my head in her hair and breath in her unique scent as terrible thoughts run through my mind.
"Elliot? El? Baby, what's the matter?"
"I...Liv I...I love you so much Honey." She chuckles slightly and wraps her arms around my shoulders.
"I love you too, El. But I know that's not what made you grab me like you were drowning now talk to me and tell me what's the matter." She says running her fingers through my hair soothingly.
"I was just...thinking. Remembering and thinking about what I could be."
She raises a perfectly crafted eyebrow at me and says, "Elliot...Sweetheart...what in the world are you talking about?"
"I was thinking...about you...and suddenly Gitano just popped in my mind and I...I was just thinking about what would've happened to me if I would've...if I would've lost you. And I realized that now I'd be nothing." I placed a kiss on her forehead, breathing in her scent again. "I would be nothing without you by now, Liv. Nothing without you and the kids. I couldn't take it."
She let out a slow breath and wrapped her arms around my waist, burying her face in my shoulder. "Elliot you will never ever be nothing. You could never be nothing. You and the kids are my everything but it wouldn't matter if you lost every single one of us. You would still be important and you would still be something. So please El, please don't talk like that."
I took a deep breath and realized what my words could've sounded like to her and how deep they could've cut. "I'm sorry Liv. I'm sorry. I just meant...my life wouldn't be as...as meaningful and special without you and the kids. I love you all so much that I would have one sorry-ass life without you. You know what I mean?"
"Yea El. I know. I feel the same way." She says and smiles into my shoulder.
We walk with our arms around each other to the bedroom and lay down facing each other. "Liv?"
She smiled slightly at me, running her hand down my chest lightly, "Yea El?"
I place my hand on her forehead and run my forefinger down her cheek to her chin pulling her to me and placing a loving kiss on her lips. "I love you more than I've ever loved anyone in my life."
"I love you more than life itself El." I smile at her and pull her over me, kissing her on the lips sweetly but it quickly turned passionate and steamy.
We ended up having a night of the sweetest love we have ever had all the while reminiscing in the fact that we could always hold each other that way.