Chapter 8

Fin groaned a bit but obligingly rolled off his woman, "I guess I gotta go get it then." He sighed a bit but stood and walked out of the room, collecting Olivia's clothes as he went. Checking the locks and the gun case he grabbed the restaurant bag and Olivia's travelbag and brought the whole kit and caboodle back into the bedroom.

He dropped the bag on the bureau, draped her dress over the chair with his clothes and dropped her shoes by the clothes. The restaurant bag he put on the bedside table and grinned as he noticed Liv eyeing him like he was a steak and she was starving. "Woman I am not that pretty," He teased her. "You look like you've been given passes to an all you can eat buffet."

"Hmm... you never let me," Liv said nodding at his cock. "You always distract me, but you never let me go down on you."

"After what that son of a bitch did?" Fin shook his head, "I'd rather be inside you. Never cared much for that particular act anyway," He admitted. "A woman's mouth just can't compare to where I wanna really be."

Olivia was looking at him speculatively, "Will you let me sometime..." She looked down and then directly into his eyes. "I'd like to see if I can. And I know I can trust you not to do anything I don't want. Besides...it isn't something I usually like but...I don't like thinking there's something I can't do, because of him."

"I will happily be your practice dummy Babygirl," Fin smiled at her and nodded at her bag. "So where's this present?"

"It's right on top of the clothes, in the blue paper," Liv was grinning at him as he moved towards the bag and unzipped it. Sure enough, in dark blue paper was a four by three inch package.

Fin took a seat next to her on the bed and couldn't help grinning back at her as he tore the paper open to reveal...plastic underneath, like a sandwich bag. Taking off the rest of the paper he found it was a sandwich bag sealed around a white oblong stick. He frowned down at it and turned it over to see a little screen on one side...with...a plus sign inside it... "Oh my God, Liv? Is this for real? We're really gonna have a baby? Babygirl?"

"I took the home pregnancy test a two weeks ago," Liv was shaking she was so happy, "And I got Warner to run a medical test for me. She got the results in today. We're really going to have a baby Fin."

He couldn't say anything, all he could do was stare and blink and then stare at this beautiful, wonderful woman who loved him and she was having his baby, "How far along?" Fin set the test aside and grabbed her, pulling her into his arms and petting her belly.

"Warner isn't sure, I'll have to go to an actual Obstetrician for that," Liv smiled. "But that was why I asked for water tonight. And why I haven't been drinking coffee for a couple weeks, which explains my snapping at Elliot today."

"Elliot deserved it," Fin dismissed that thought in favor of kissing her. "So do you wanna wait a bit, make sure every thing's smooth sailing before we tell anyone? I mean I'd like to tell Kenneth, but at work I mean."

"Let's wait a couple of months," Liv said softly. "Happy as I am...there's always the risk..." She shook her head and Fin nodded his understanding. Neither of them wanted to even think the word miscarriage but it was all too common in women past thirty who were trying to have a baby.

"I guess we'd better get looking for apartments," He said instead. "Why don't I get the laptop and bring it in here? We'll see what fancy desert Jon packed up for us. From the weight of it he grabbed everything in the kitchen."

"I'll hang up our clothes before they get too wrinkled," Liv agreed.

When he brought the laptop in Liv was still taking care of his suit, more to the point, holding his shirt and practically hugging it, breathing it. "Babygirl, you don't gotta hug my shirt, got the real deal over here," Fin had teased her affectionately.

"Yes," Liv smiled at him over the shirt collar.

"I miss asking a question?" Fin had been bewildered until she wiggled her left hand and most particularly her left ring finger at him.

"Yes," She just kept smiling. "Whenever you want. Tomorrow, in two weeks, two months, just...yes."

"Oh Babygirl," Fin had nearly dropped the laptop he'd been so eager to kiss her. "Keep thinkin' I can't get any happier and then you go and say something like that."

"I love you Odafin, and I want to be your wife, and give you children and be your family," She whispered softly into his ear. "And I want you to be my family."

Fin chuckled as he walked into the precinct carrying the carton of coffees. He and Liv had spent a very enjoyable Friday night eating Jon's dessert and deciding the little bottle of champagne could wait until Liv could drink it. They'd found a line on a couple of apartments, and spent Saturday looking at them and then Sunday teasing each other about baby names before they'd gotten called into work Sunday afternoon. Liv had been aggravated with him because he'd lost his mind and nearly given her a hickey over her collarbone. If he wasn't so damn happy he'd have been embarrassed about acting like a teenager and that she'd spent her time in the car making sure that between makeup and her shirt no one could tell.

Olivia had also dragged him back over to her apartment after they'd gotten done with house hunt and gone through the jewelry her mother had left her. Among a lot of old and probably valuable if really ugly pieces had been a pretty ring, a little too big for her. It had been her grandmother's engagement ring. "I never met her, my mother didn't talk about her much," Liv had told him. "But I remember my mom...she did talk about her mother's engagement ring. Would you mind...if we used this? For my ring? Instead of buying one I mean?"

"Nah Babygirl," Fin had looked at the ring and smiled, it was a pretty thing, a simple white gold circle with filigree and little diamonds in the band. There were a couple of smaller stones on either side of the main diamond that were nice but the biggest rock looked a little cloudy to him. "John's almost an expert at this stuff...why don't you show it to him. Looks like someone might have replaced the big stone at some point."

Liv had nodded and smilingly put the ring back in its box and into her purse, "I was thinking, the rest of this stuff... I don't like it, and my mother never wore any of it accept a few pins and the pearls. I thought about selling a lot of it. The stuff I like I could keep but most of this is real...we could get it appraised and sell it to get a nest egg for the apartment and the baby..."

"If that stuff is real you might have enough to buy a brownstone," Fin had smiled at her. "If that's what you want...we can do that. It's your jewelry Babygirl. If you don't want a house you could set up a college fund for the baby."

"It'd be a good start for both," Olivia had nodded and closed the jewelry case back up. "I'll ask John about a good jeweler when I show him the ring."

Fin handed Liv her decaf latte with the vanilla shot in it and repressed his grin as she sighed, his poor little caffeine addict woman was seriously jonesing for coffee. Stabler got his cup of coffee regular and Munch his green tea. Cragen was in his office and greeted the arrival of his extra large cappuccino with a sigh of relief.

"Cap'n, can you do me a favor?" Fin muttered quietly and Cragen looked at him sharply.

"What's up Fin," Cragen fixed that thousand yard stare on him and Fin fought the urge to squirm.

"Just...never mind," Fin shook his head. They'd promised to keep their relationship out of the precinct and asking the captain to make Liv wear a vest was not keeping that promise. "I'll figure something out."

"Close the door and tell me what's bothering you," Cragen frowned as Fin obeyed the order implicit in his Captain's tone.

"Liv and I...we're engaged," Fin said first. "We're keeping it on the down low for a while. But she's pregnant. Just found out for sure on Friday. We're not telling anyone, until we get past the three month mark."

"And you're worried about her going into the field," Cragen surmised. He sighed, "Fin I won't lie, this is part of why I worried about you two. But I understand your concerns. Just don't let it affect your job and don't let Stabler get to you."

Fin nodded and left the office, heading for his desk, and trying to hide his concern. Liv was looking a little pale and John was giving her a look like he knew something was up.

Stabler got up to check on something and John slid his chair over towards Liv, "Hey Liv, you all right?" The much older detective asked quietly. "Lookin' a little pale this morning."

"Feeling a little queasy is all and I'm getting dizzy spells," Olivia gave him a half smile as she replied in an equally quiet voice. "But if you've got a minute I do need to ask you something."

"Shoot," Munch grinned and blinked as Liv reached into her desk drawer and pulled a ring box out of her purse. "Uh, if this is a proposal Liv..."

That got a laugh out of her, and Fin grinned down at his desk as he pretended to concentrate on his paperwork, "No John. I'm afraid my boyfriend wouldn't like me proposing to you." Liv opened the box and showed it to him. "It was my maternal grandmother's and I was wondering if the center stone looked off to you. I remembered you had some friends in the diamond district and was hoping you'd know something."

"Well I can tell you that you're right, the center stone does look hinky," Munch frowned down at the ring. "Nice ring though, thinking of wearing it?"

"Its something I'm considering, if my boyfriend likes it," Olivia smiled; a secretive little smile of joy and Fin saw Munch grin.

"Let me make some calls," He said after a second of thought. "I might know somebody who could help you out."

"I also need a lot of old jewelry appraised, to either sell or for insurance purposes," Liv added.

"The stuff you said your mother left you?" Fin asked as if he was just tuning into the conversation.

"Yeah, a lot of it is ugly and old," Olivia explained as if Fin hadn't just seen it a day or so ago. "And the pieces I do want to keep, I need to know how much to insure them for, in case of theft."

"Well let us know when you wanna head over to the jewelry district," Fin told her trying to act casual. "Don't like the idea of you carrying a fortune in diamonds around without back up."

"Seconded," Munch nodded and kissed Liv's hair. "You're my girl Olivia, can't have anything happening to you."

Fin push a hand over his head and scrubbed at his face, wishing he could do the same as Munch, but he'd promised the captain and he wasn't going to break his word. It wasn't like him to miss Stabler's re-entrance to the squadroom but he couldn't miss the Detective's voice asking, "Hey what's with the ring Liv?" Fin's eyes jerked up to Olivia's desk as Stabler picked up the ring box and looked at it, "Nice."

"It was my grandmother's," Olivia held out her hand for the box. "I was thinking I might start wearing it."

"Trying to give the boyfriend a hint," Elliot grinned at her in a way that made Fin want to punch him. "You've only been dating...for how long? And you want to start wearing a ring?"

"I've been dating him for almost four months," Olivia said mildly. "And he knows about the ring, and that it was my grandmother's." She took the box from Elliot and tucked it back in her purse, "Now if you're through, can we get back to the case?"

"Yeah sure," Stabler said with that avuncular humor that made Fin want to grind his teeth. "But don't you think we should meet this guy? How can we be sure he's good enough for you?"

"Some of you have met him," Olivia said absently. "He's a cop." She was clearly focusing on her work, "Have any of you looked into these calls to a number in Queens?"

"Yeah, it's a nail salon near the victim's mother," Fin told her concealing his smile over her easy dismissal of Elliot's concerns. "Girl would make an appointment to take her mama and get mani-pedi's bi-weekly," He shook his head. "Gonna be a while before she's up to doing that."

"Who's met him then?" Elliot was still on the top of Liv's boyfriend and Fin just rolled his eyes and ignored the detective.

"Where are we with the other witness? The live one?" Cragen came out of his office to demand.

"I got nothin'," Fin confessed closing his file. "But I got a guy used to snitch for me in that neighborhood. I buy him coffee and a sandwich he might have something for me."

"Everybody who goes into the field wears vests until we find this son of a bitch," Cragen decreed. "Ballistics came back on the bullets. This guy's using some nasty stuff and he's already killed one witness. Let's not let him add a cop to his list."

"You got it Cap'n," Fin stood up and headed for his equipment locker.

Olivia watched him go and took a deep breath, "Whoa." She muttered as her head seemed to swim for a moment. "Weird," She held herself still for a moment and then went back to her paperwork.

"Liv, you okay?"

Munch was looking at her again and she forced a smile. "I'm fine. Just cutting back on the caffeine and I think I'm in withdrawal."

"You're cutting back on caffeine?" Elliot was being superior again, "You sure you wanna do that?"

"Yeah my doctor says I need to cut back," Liv shrugged. "Hey I'm gonna put on my vest in case we need to go out too."

"Good idea," Stabler nodded. "I've gotta make this call and I'll do the same thing."

Olivia moved to the locker room and began pulling out her vest, vividly aware of her lover in his wife beater undershirt, strapping his vest on. "Fin, are you..." She concentrated on unbuttoning her shirt, glad she'd automatically worn a camisole beneath it. "You're...you'll be careful right?" She knew it was unprofessional, the last thing he needed but she just couldn't...

"I'm not going anywhere Babygirl," Fin's big hands squeezed her shoulders gently. "I'm not about to leave you alone." She felt her system reel with dizziness again and took a deep breath, "Liv you all right?" He sounded worried; she didn't want him to worry.

"Yeah," She turned and smiled up at him. "Between the caffeine withdrawal and the...other thing, just getting a few dizzy spells is all. Nothing serious."

"You shouldn't be out in the field until they pass," Fin frowned at her. "And you need to hydrate."

"I'll talk to the captain," Liv couldn't help but agree. If these spells kept up she'd just be a liability to anyone she was on the streets with.

"Keep your vest on though; just in case," Fin told her and held out his arms, "Can you check me?"

"Sure," She concentrated on making sure his vest was secure, tight to his body, but wouldn't restrict his breathing. "You look good babe," She kept her voice low. "Will you check me before you head out?"

"Yeah," His hands lifted the heavy vest easily, helping her put it on and tightening the buckles, knuckles gentle as he snuck in a caress to her cheek. "You be careful too my Livia."

"You make me sound like that old Roman Empress," Liv grinned at him and clutched at his shoulders as another dizzy spell hit her just as Stabler and John were walking into the room. "Whoa."

"Liv, you okay? Olivia?" Fin's voice was worried as she clutched at him and she shuddered and opened eyes she hadn't realized she'd closed. Elliot and John were behind him, Elliot obviously trying to figure out what was going on, and John with an all too knowing look on his face.

"I'm fine, just...glad you were checking me when that one hit," Olivia offered him a smile.

"Another dizzy spell," Elliot asked with a frown and she nodded.

"Fin if you don't mind, I'll just sit to put my shirt on, if my vest is good," She suited action to words and sank onto the bench. Fin gave her a worried look and went back to getting dressed. Around her she was aware of the men stripping down to their undershirts and putting their vests on. She managed to rebutton her shirt and began to push herself up from the bench.

Stabler's hand slipped under her elbow and helped her up, "That's it, I'm takin' you to the captain. Cragen's gotta tell you that you can't do field work."

"I'm fine Elliot," Liv shook her head and regretted it as the dizzy spell returned in force, only Stabler's grip keeping her steady. She still didn't like men besides Fin touching her though John and the Captain were somehow better than her partner. "Stop..." She tried to shove away and couldn't loosen his grip. "Elliot stop manhandling me damn it!"

"Stabler you'd better let her go," Fin's voice was dark and full of promise as to what he'd do to the former marine if Stabler didn't obey.

"She can barely stand on her own," Elliot argued, still not letting go of her.

"Elliot, so help me if you don't stop," Olivia managed to push away from him and stand upright. "Now I will go and talk to Cragen."

Author's Note: Okay so someone said they could guess what the present was. Were you right? We're going to have a little drama in the next chapter and then we'll have John's point of view in the chapter after that I think.

So what do we think? Is this okay still?