Elliot toweled off and heard Kathleen talking to his mother in the other room. He groaned and wondered if he could sneak out without them noticing. He sighed. But then he would look guilty of something. It was better to just get the interrogation over with.
He hurried through getting dressed. He really didn't have time for a long drawn out conversation. He needed to get to work so he could log a few hours before he needed to pick up Noah.
He came around the corner to see two sets of blue eyes waiting for him. He thought about sitting, but that would elongate the conversation and he didn't have time for this.
He headed into the kitchen to search for a bottle of water. "Alright girls," he said while his head was in the refrigerator. "Let's get this over with." He pulled out a bottle of water and cracked it open. "I think we established I argued with Liv and I went over this morning to get things sorted out." He took a swig from the water bottle. "There wasn't much else to it."
"See Dad, that's the thing, whatever you think "wasn't much else" is probably what we're asking about."
"And," Bernie piped in, "I know for a fact you left late last night not this morning." She shook her head, "You should know you can't lie to your mother."
She was right. She knew all his tells. At this point he needed to get out of here with only sharing a minimal amount of truth. "How would you even know what time I left?" He knew this attempt to shake her would fail, but it was worth a shot.
"I'm old, not dead Elliot. I heard the front door shut sometime around 11:30 or 12." Her eyes gleamed with victory. "So try again my boy," she smirked, "where did you run off to so late?"
He drank his water and considered where to go from here. "Fine, he admitted, "I went to Olivia's. And before you let your imaginations run wild, I went over to talk," Truth. Do you need to go to confession if you lied by omission? He'd worry about that later.
"Okay." Bernie accepted, but he knew it wouldn't be that easy. "What kept you so late into the morning?" His mothers eyes were doing that thing where she decoded his every facial expression.
Damn . His mother could have made an excellent interrogator. "It was late," he defended. "I slept on the couch." Also true. Sort of.
"And you just slept on the couch until the late morning?"
"We had breakfast and talked some other stuff out." He hesitated, "We needed to talk about things that happened when I…" he swallowed the lump in his throat, remember her short description of her abduction. "When I was gone," he finished.
His mother's eyes softened at his obvious emotional discomfort. Thank God. Maybe this interrogation could end.
"I really need to go to work" he tried as he inched towards the door.
"Elliot," his mothers voice lacked the light teasing quality it had earlier. "Don't hurt her." He opened his mouth to respond but she cut him off, "she doesn't trust easily and for some reason she graced you with a second chance." Her eyes held his with intensity, "Don't screw this up."
Elliot gulped back the rising emotion. His mother harped on his worst fear. That he would screw this up. She was right, of course. Olivia wouldn't give him a third chance. His second chance was a miracle, and he could not squander it.
He closed the gap between them and took his mothers hand before quickly kissing her cheek. "I won't," he promised. "I love you Mama."
Her hand cupped his cheek, like she hand done when he was a child. "I love you too my boy."
He grasped her hand, giving it a light squeeze. "I gotta go," he said softly.
Bernie nodded, and he turned his attention to Kathleen who had quietly sat through most of the conversation. He pointed a warning finger, "No more gossiping," he joked, knowing that they would be talking about him the second he left.
"No promises," Katie smiled.
He dropped a kiss on the crown of her head, and turned to leave but he remembered something. This wasn't going to help the gossip. "You can stay through tonight right?"
"Yeah," Kathleen eyed him suspiciously.
"Olivia was called in. I told her I'd help with Noah."
Kathleen shook her head with a smile, "Get outta here Dad."
He spun around, taking the out while he could. Just as the door was shutting he heard, "Oh, they're totally sleeping together." He shook his head, and rolled his eyes. He wondered how long it would take Katie to inform the whole family. Knowing her, she probably already did.
-000-
Elliot tried to get as much work done as possible in the two hour window before he needed to get Noah. The vibe in the office was weird to say the least. Ayanna kept glancing up at him contemplatively and Whelan kept watching him like he was some sort of puzzle. Reyes and Jet were actively avoiding eye contact. It was weird, and he just wanted out of there.
His phone pinged and he had a message from Rollins.
A: Hey! Liv said you were going to pick up Noah for her?
E:That's the plan.
A: Would it be okay if I brought him to your office in a half hour? I need to run Sonny some documents and he wanted to spend some time with the girls.
E: That's fine. Trial prep?
A: Yeah. He's got a few witnesses he's worried about in this case. He's going to be prepping all weekend.
E: Lucky him
A: Not sure lucky is the right word.
He put his phone away, thinking the conversation was over, but it suddenly pinged again.
A: I take it things are good with Liv? I don't need details or anything, but things are good?
Finally, Someone with a reasonable sense of personal boundaries.
E: Really good.
A: I'm glad
-000-
As expected Amanda popped in with Noah a half hour later.
"Hey Elliot!" Noah greeted him with a bear hug.
"Hey bud!" He pointed out his desk, "Go hang out at my desk for a minute so I can talk to Aunt Amanda for a sec."
"Kay," the boy replied as he bounced over to Elliot's desk. He immediately plopped down into the chair and began spinning it.
He smiled and shook his head. Kids and office chairs. He turned back to Amanda. She handed him Noah's overnight bag. "This is all his stuff. How much longer do you have to be here?"
"Twenty minutes or so. I have almost everything wrapped up." He responded.
Amanda gave him a knowing smile. "Well, hopefully Liv doesn't take too long so you can actually see her tonight." Her next comment was laced with a cheeky tone, "Although I heard you were there all morning so…" she let the thought drop off suggestively and he laughed lightly.
"Fin?" Elliot asked.
"Who else? He isn't a gossip, but you better believe he keeps me in the loop now that I'm not working there." She grinned.
"I'm happy for you guys," she gave his shoulder a slap. "Don't screw it up."
"Why does everyone keep saying that!?"
Amanda chuckled darkly, "Maybe because you have already screwed it up once, epically."
"I guess that's fair," he admitted.
She smiled sadly, but quickly recovered. "I gotta go. The girls are probably arguing over which DVD to watch and will demolish your lobby."
He laughed out loud, "Good luck with that."
"I'll need it," she muttered. She gave him a quick wave before heading down the stairs.
He hurried back to his desk, and dropped Noah's bag on the floor next to them. "I need about 20 minutes to finish a couple things, but…" he glanced up at Jet who was obviously trying not to watch them, but was failing. "My friend Jet," he said louder, "probably has a game or something you can play while you wait."
"Yeah of course." She waved for Noah to come to her desk. Noah looked to Elliot and he nodded. That was enough for him and he darted up to where Jet was clicking through a few screens.
He pulled up his laptop to print off a few more things. He glanced up and noticed Noah chatting happily with Jet who seemed surprisingly engaged in the conversation. With Noah occupied, Elliot dove in to the never ending paperwork. He wanted to get out of here quickly so he could spend some time with Noah before Olivia came home.
Beyond the drive back from the McCanns, Elliot hadn't spent a lot of time with Noah. He knew he liked dance, and pizza. He laughed exactly Olivia, and made the same face she makes when she's concentrating. He seemed to be a pretty happy, polite, and smart kid. He wouldn't expect anything different from Olivia's child.
He tried to ignore his coworkers who seemed to be trying to figure out whose kid that was and if Elliot had a sixth kid no one knew about.
He made a pretty good dent his paperwork, and showed his face at the office, which accomplished both of his goals for the day. Just as he was going to flag Noah down, Ayanna leaned against the desk.
"That Benson's kid?" She asked.
"Yeah, Noah."
"He's cute." Her eyes questioned his. "You babysitting?"
"Liv had a case come in and I told her I'd hang out with Noah so she didn't have to find a sitter."
Ayanna seemed slightly surprised, but continued, "Are you sure you can handle a ten year old kid?" She teased.
He leaned back in his chair and shot her an amused smile. "Five kids, remember."
"Damn. I always forget about that." She paused and then said, "Thats a pretty big deal. Her letting you spend time with him."
"It is." He agreed.
Ayanna slapped her hands in her knees and pushed herself off of his desk. "We'll get out of here then." He hated how even Ayanna's eyes held an air of caution. It seemed like every person in his life wanted to tell him to not screw up, and it only made him more worried that he would .
"Hey Noah," he called. A head of bouncing curls popped up from Jet's computer. "Let's get out of here, bud."
He hopped up, and turned towards Jet, "Thanks," he smiled, "can you show me more of the coding stuff sometime? They only teach us the boring basics at school."
"For sure, kid." Jet smiled, and Elliot wasn't sure he'd ever seen her be that nice to anyone.
Noah bounded down the stairs, and Elliot picked up Noah's bag, handing it to him while he grabbed his own. He gave everyone a quick wave before following Noah down the stairs.
-000-
Jamie spun his chair towards Reyes. He didn't even form the question before Reyes cut him off. "I don't know nothin." He kept his eyes on the computer screen.
Okay then. He'd chance it with Bell. She was reading a folder over Stabler's desk. "Hey Sarge, was that one of Elliot's kids?"
She didn't even lift her eyes from the folder, "Nope." She said simply.
He could have been one of Stabler's. He was pretty sure the two daughters he had met had blue eyes just like that kid. "One of his grandkids?"
Bell lifted her eyes from the folder and looked at him quizzically, "No. if you must know that's Captain Benson's kid. And before you board the crazy train, he's not the kid's dad. And I know you have been snooping for info, but I would cool it if you don't want Elliot to kill you."
"Understood." Jamie felt a little sheepish.
After Bell was out of earshot Reyes leaned in towards Jamie, "I'll give you 100 dollars if you ask Stabler if that kid is his and Benson's."
"Oh hell no. 100 isn't worth the bullet I'd have in my ass for asking."
Reyes laughed, "So true."