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Chapter 5

1 day earlier

Thankfully no one had been killed in the shoot out. A few people had been injured and the building was a mess; which in all meant Olivia's neighbours and landlord had another reason to dislike her.

She had spent the night in the cribs. Elliot had ended up staying in there too and Olivia was now listening in to a call in which she guessed Kathy was yelling at Elliot for not coming home.

"Okay baby. I know Kath I'm sorry. I will be home tonight. Yeah I promise. See you soon. Give Eli a kiss from me. Bye." he said before finally being able to hang up.

"Trouble's at home?" Olivia asked him.

"Nothing I can't handle." he said with a smile.

She smiled back at him although she felt like doing the total opposite. Right now it would have suited her just fine to go hide under some rock and not come out till this whole mess was over with but she couldn't do that; she wouldn't do that to Emma. She was gonna get Derek for what he had done if it was the last thing she did.

- - - - - -

As the day passed by slowly Elliot noticed the slower Olivia got. He could tell she was in pain, but he knew her well enough to know that she would never admit it. He opened one of his desks drawers and pulled out some aspirin and reached over and put them down on her desk. She smiled and happily took some. "I don't suppose you have just got a brand new body for me in that drawer?" she asked him with a smile.

It was the first real smile he had seen from her in days and it was one of the few jokes she had cracked recently. "No sorry I must have misplaced that." he joked back.

She smiled then looked at the time on her watch. It was late and there was only them two in the squad room. "Shouldn't you be getting home?" she asked him.

"I suppose." he said unenthusiastically. "I just thought that after Eli was born things would go back to how they were when Kathy and I were younger and Maureen had just been born but it's not. We're just housemates who have a baby together and…I'm sorry I shouldn't be whining about this to you. You have your own stuff going on."

"El you're not just my partner you're my best friend and you've also saved my life a few times in the last few days. I think I kind of owe you a shoulder to cry on."

"Thanks. Although I won't be crying." he said laughing.

"Okay your choice." she said, also laughing.

His cell phone suddenly started to ring. Caller ID told him it was Kathy. "You still staying here tonight?" he asked Olivia.

"Yeah." she replied. Where else did she have to go?

"Why don't you stay at our place? You can stay in Maureen's old room." he offered.

"I don't think that's such a good idea." she said.

"Come on. Besides Eli wants to see his godmother." he said, knowing that mentioning her role in Eli's life would twist her arm. Her smiling told him she was staying.

- - - - - -

Olivia followed Elliot in as he walked through to the kitchen where Kathy was stood at the cooker. Eli was sat in his highchair playing with some noisy baby toys. The moment he saw his father he squealed with delight. Elliot danced over to him and pulled him out of his high chair before throwing him up in the air and catching him a few times before giving his giggling son a kiss on his soft blonde hair.

Olivia watched them as she walked over to Kathy. "You want any help?" she offered.

"No thanks Olivia I just about got it covered I think." Kathy said and smiled.

Olivia loved the way Kathy managed to cook, clean and be a mother and a wife and then work as a nurse. Kathy was an inspiration to her. She envied her, great house, great kids, and a great husband. She was pulled out of her thoughts as Elliot placed Eli in her arms.

Eli put his chubby little hands on her face and looked at her with a great big smile. "Hello handsome. Do you still remember me?" she asked him.

"Are you kidding, he'd never forget you. You saved his life, and mine." Kathy said smiling at Olivia.

"It was nothing." she said modestly. Eli rested his head against her chest and held onto her shirt as he began to drift off to sleep. He was all ready in his baby pajamas and had been fed, changed and was all ready for bed.

"Would you mind putting him to bed Elliot?" Kathy asked.

"I'll do it." Olivia offered

Elliot nodded, happy to let her play mom tonight. He walked over to them and stroked his sons head and gave him a kiss. "G'night buddy." he said to him.

"Night sweetie." Kathy said as she too gave him a kiss.

Olivia walked out of the kitchen and carried Eli upstairs. As she walked along the corridor she couldn't help but look at all the pictures of the Stabler clan. There were loads of the kids at different ages and at different times of the year; Christmas, summer vacations, birthdays. It made her happy to see it but it also made her a little sad. She never had summer vacations nor did she really celebrate her birthday, most years she just prayed people would forget; and Christmas consisted of her sitting at home alone with a microwaveable turkey-dinner meal. She didn't get up early to open presents and bored by family movies she was usually in bed asleep by nine. If she couldn't work that is. The last few years she had stayed at the precinct till the whole day was over with.

She came to the nursery and walked in only to be met by more pictures. It made her smile to see one of her holding Eli at the hospital on the day of his birth. She still had nightmares about that day, thinking about if she had done something wrong and ended up being responsible for both Eli and Kathy's deaths.

She was so busy gently swaying with Eli and looking at the pictures that she never heard Elliot come up behind her. "You planning on holding him all night, because he would happily let you." he said.

She just smiled at him, "He won't let go of my shirt and I don't want to wake him up." she told him, it was half truthful.

"Yeah I got a trick that works every time." Elliot said. He grabbed one of Olivia's hands and put it under Eli's little foot. "Tickle him." he said.

"That's cruel he's sleeping." she protested.

"Just do it."

Knowing Elliot knew best she did. Eli fidgeted about and let his grip on her shirt go before nestling back against her and going back of to dreamland. Olivia just smiled, amazed at how cute he was. She walked over to his crib and laid him down in it before pulling the blankets over him and fixing a little blue bear next to him. She couldn't resist the urge to stroke his head. His hair was so soft. "He's so perfect." she thought out loud.

"Just like his daddy." Elliot said.

"You're so vain." Olivia replied.

"Come on Carly Simon foods ready." Elliot joked.

- - - - - -

After they had eaten they sat around the dining table for hours just talking about all sorts, mainly the kids when they were little. Well past midnight Olivia decided her aching body needed sleep so Elliot showed her up to Maureen's room. It was a nice room with a great big double bed in the middle.

"You gonna be okay?" Elliot asked her.

"Actually do you have a night-light." she asked him, looking and sounding serious.

Elliot just looked at her.

"I'm kidding." she said as she broke out into a smile, "I'll be fine. Now go to bed."

He walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the side of her head, quickly taking in the smell of her shampoo. "Night Liv." he said as he walked out.

She smiled and watched as he left, then she turned to the bed. It looked incredibly comfortable, but she doubted that she would sleep. She hardly ever slept anymore.

TBC

Not a very eventful chapter but the next involves the car crash so that will be pretty action packed.