"Stabler, Whelan, I need you to go sit on that old warehouse tonight. We need to see what their drop off schedules look like." Elliot glanced at his watch. He was supposed to pick up Eli from the airport in an hour and a half. He scanned the squadroom, to see if anyone could take his place. Reyes went home to help with a sick kid, and Jet already had a big project. He scrolled through his phone. He knew he could have Eli just take an Uber or something, but this was his first trip home from Colorado, and he didn't want him to feel like an afterthought.

He mentally went through his kids' whereabouts. Maureen had the kids, and wouldn't be able to pick him up. Liz and Kathleen had late shifts for work, and Dickie was out of state. Scrolling through his contacts he came across Olivia's name. The odds were miniscule that she wouldn't be busy, if she wasn't busy with work, she probably wanted to spend time with Noah. It's not like he had a lot of options so he pulled up her contact and hit the call button.

"Benson," she answered.

"Hey, you busy?" Elliot asked, knowing what the answer was.

"Always," she chuckled. "But I have a quiet evening tonight. What's up?"

"I need a favor, but if you can't do it, don't stress. I don't want it to take away time from Noah or anything."

"Noah's actually at the McCanns house for a few days since the school is on break. I pick him up Sunday. I don't mind helping. What do you need?"

"Eli is flying in tonight, but Bell just assigned me to stake out a warehouse with Whelan."

"Need me to pick him up?" She asked.

"Yeah, could you? He just needs dropped off at my place."

"Of course, text me his flight details." She added, "I'm almost done here for the day."

"Thanks Liv. I seriously appreciate it."

'It's no problem," she responded, and ended the call.

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Olivia made it to the airport a little early, giving her time to park and find the baggage claim where she was supposed to meet Eli. She found the text Elliot sent and noted the flight number and checked which baggage claim he'd be at.

She found the claim easily and found a place to sit while she waited for his flight to come in. Her phone pinged and she answered a work related message. She drummed her fingers nervously on the chair's arm. Despite her best efforts, Eli hadn't taken to her like the other Stabler children had. She figured it was because he was so little when Elliot…left. The other kids grew up with her, but to Eli she was a stranger.

In another ten minutes she saw him walking towards the claim, backpack slung over his shoulder. She waved and stood up, meeting him to look for his bag.

"Hey Liv." His smile felt forced, but at least he tried.

"Hey. Sorry your dad couldn't make it." She was. Then she could have avoided some of this awkwardness.

"It's fine," Eli responded. "Part of the job," he shrugged. Noah was the same. They didn't know anything different than the unpredictable schedule of 'the job'.

His bag was one of the first to emerge so they were able to get out of the airport pretty quickly. They walked in silence most of the way to her car.

"Are you hungry?" She asked as she opened the driver side door. She hopped and clicked her seatbelt in place.

Eli slipped into the passenger seat, "Nah it's okay. I'll just eat at my dad's place."

Liv nodded, knowing he probably wanted this awkward drive over with as quickly as possible. She could relate.

Traffic crawled and Liv tried to fill the silence with small talk, but Eli only provided one word answers, making the conversation as painful as the traffic.

They finally survived the stop and go traffic and Olivia breathed a sigh of relief. They weren't too far from Elliot's place.

They entered the next intersection and Liv felt a strange sense of deja vu at the sound of crunching metal before all went black.