Disclaimer: There is no way I own them.

A\N: I am so sorry that I am really late in updating, it's just school, so until summer it will most likely take me a while to get new chapters up.

Ages of Elliot's children:

Maureen- 24

Kathleen- 19

Elizabeth and Richard- 13

Ellie- 5

"Daddy, I missed you so much," Kathleen said as she made her way across the room. She ran to him as more tears slid down her face.

"I missed you too Katie," Elliot said after hugging his daughter. He truly had missed each and every one of his children, but when Kathy filed for custody of them he knew the rare odds of him winning, since almost always the mother won court feuds as such.

"How are you feeling, Dad?" Kathleen asked her father.

"I'm fine," Elliot said as usual in disguise. Olivia rolled her eyes knowing that was the total opposite of the truth. Once again the silent brooding, too tough to cry Elliot Stabler. At least I know something hasn't changed, Olivia thought to herself. She was all too familiar with the cover up term 'I'm fine' that they had so completely over used. They had both known each other too well to ever fall for it, and immediately knew if something was actually wrong or if the other was in fact telling the truth.

"How are the others?" Elliot asked. Leave it to Elliot to be worried about everyone other than himself at the time when he was the hurt one, Olivia thought again using their conversation as time to compare the old Elliot to the new Elliot.

"Well Maureen is parking the car, Lizzie and Dickie are doing pretty well in school, I'm teaching Ellie how to tie his shoes, and well Mom is … well you know how she is," Kathleen answered.

"Hey, Liv," Maureen greeted Olivia as she walked into the room and gave her a hug. She had the same golden hair as her mother and sister and the same blue eyes as her father. Every Stabler seemed to have that special glow in their eyes.

"Hey Maureen," she answered," How's everything?"

"Good," Maureen replied," I'm studying to be in the law field, although I'm not sure specifically what I want to do yet." Maureen then went to her father's side at the bed and joined in their conversation, followed by Olivia who took her seat on the chair beside his bed as the two Stabler girls found their seats on opposite sides of Elliot's bed.

An hour filled with catching up, laughing, and watching TV for all four of them had quickly passed and left all of them asleep. Olivia opened her eyes just as the credits signaled the end of the movie. She looked around the room. It was now nearly five o'clock and Elliot along with his two eldest daughters was sleeping as soundless as could be. Elliot had fallen asleep with one strong arm around Kathleen and the other around Maureen. All three Stablers looked so peaceful and she knew they all needed to rest, but she knew they probably hadn't eaten anything all day and neither had she, so she nudged Kathleen softly until she woke up.

"Hey Katie, I'm going to go see what food I can in here, Do you want anything?" Olivia asked her. Olivia was positive that they would want to spend as much time around their dad as possible since they hadn't seen him in such a long time.

"Sure, anything sounds good, thanks for everything, Liv," Kathleen said sleepily, as she yawned and rubbed her eyes. Knowing that Elliot would be fine with his daughters made her feel okay to leave him… at least long enough to get some food for all four of them. Walking swiftly down the hallway, Olivia decided to buy food that she knew that they would all enjoy, so she chose to get pizza.

When Olivia got to the pizza part of the hospital food court, it was quite crowded, and Olivia wanted to get back as fast as she was able to. Ten minutes later Olivia had four slices of pizza in two take out bags, and was on her way to Elliot's room. Reaching the door to his room Olivia saw that everything was just as it was when she left the room and was immediately relieved at the sight. She put the bags down on the chair and quickly awoke Maureen and Kathleen, while at the same time being careful not to wake Elliot.

"Guys wake up, I got you some pizza," Olivia whispered while consciously moving her hands up and down their arms to try and wake them. They both yawned, stretched, and carefully moving out of their father's embrace sat up. Olivia grabbed the bag andtook a slice of pizzas out and gave one to Kathleen.

"Thanks again, Liv," Kathleen thanked Olivia. Olivia just smiled warmly and said, "You're welcome." She then gave Maureen her slice and when thanked she again did what she had done before.

"So did you guys rent a hotel yet?" Olivia asked them as she took out her own pizza.

"Actually, not yet we got here, rented a car, and came here," Maureen answered. "We'll probably only be here in New York for another couple of days since we have to get back to school." They both got up from Elliot's bed and sat at the two seats near Olivia's chair.

"So what-"

"Liv?" asked a worried and fearful voice from across the room. All heads turned to the source and Olivia hurriedly got up and dashed to his side. "Hey, it's okay, I'm here," she said while grabbing his hand in her own.

Kathleen and Maureen remained in their seats watching and amazed at the sight before them. The way he responded to her was like they had never seen him with anyone. They exchanged glances and observed the pair in awe as she took him into her arms and comforted their father who had gotten divorced because shut everyone out. Even after he had left her the way he did, all her actions were out of genuine care. In a matter of minutes he was back asleep and Olivia laid him back down.

Olivia returned to the seat and let out a gloomy sigh. "You never did stop caring did you?" Maureen asked Olivia. Olivia knew the response to that question like she knew her name. She nodded. No. She never did stop caring for him. Not when she left to Computer Crimes. Not when she left to Oregon. Not when he left her. Never.

"You know he never forgave himself for leaving you," Kathleen began, "He would have never left you to begin with if it weren't for Kathy. For a week he locked himself in his room and didn't come out even for food. He would just wait for someone to come up and leave something for him. He would just stare at the wall and wasn't willing to speak to anyone especially Kathy. By this point Kathy had literally throw away his phone because she was tired of reading your name on the caller ID." Kathleen stopped to roll her eyes and continued, "Anyway, two weeks after the shooting my mom divorced dad and I guess it was too much for him to handle when Kathy took us to Florida so he subsided to alcohol for a while. We found this out when we called him for the first time in Florida."

"Wow, I'm not surprised that he was pushed over the edge that's a lot to go though at once and even worse by himself," Olivia said. But he could have called me, I would have been there for him. As if she was reading her mind Maureen spoke.

"He should have, Liv, but he didn't. I don't know why, no one knows why, honestly I don't even think he knows why, but I do know he never wanted to hurt you. After the shooting he was just constantly shutting people out. Liv, I'm so sorry he did that and I bet my life that he's even sorrier," Maureen said intellectually. Olivia just stood there listening.

"I still remember the day you called us when mom and dad were separated and asked us if we could come to the precinct for his birthday," Kathleen said beginning to laugh at the memory," Dad couldn't have been any happier on his birthday, and the next day he told me it was the best one he had ever had." They all shared an amused laugh.

"Back to what I was trying to say, Liv, he needs you, and don't let him fall any further then he did when he left you. As stubborn as he is, don't let him shut you out again because if he shuts you out again he's gone," Maureen said and stood up. "We probably should get going, we need to book into a hotel, rest, and the worst part is mom will probably be calling to see where we are and she doesn't know we're here."

"Bye, Liv," the both said as they hugged her one last time. "Tell him we said bye and we'll be back in the morning."

"Okay. Bye girls," Olivia said.

Olivia went toward Elliot and sat down on his bed and waited. She knew eventually he would wake up and most likely rather soon from either another nightmare or just needing her. Only this time they were finally going to talk. As if knowing she was leaving his side, as she went to get up to sit in the chair, he moved closer to her slightly. Olivia smiled, of course he would even be stubborn in his sleep. She moved even closer to him and massaged his arm with her soft fingers. His eyes twinkled open. "Liv?" he asked.

"Hey, you hungry?" Olivia asked him.

"A little," Elliot answered," Maureen and Katie left?"

"Yea, they went to find a hotel and said they'll be back in the morning." Olivia said. She held up the bag with the last slice of pizza. "Want pizza?" she offered. He nodded and saw him struggle to sit up so she gave him her right hand as she slid her left arm around his shoulder blades and lovingly helped him up. Elliot flashed her a look that said thanks and in return Olivia just smiled, not needing to speak. Grabbing the slice out of the bag, Olivia gave it to him. "Elliot, why didn't you call me?" she asked him just above a whisper, her wandering thoughts overwhelming her and winning her inner battle.

"I'm sorry, Liv. Trust me when I say I never wanted you to be hurt," Elliot began, knowing full well this conversation was coming. "Liv, I just couldn't do anything, I wasn't in control, I needed help, but I didn't want it." Elliot's eyes had already filled with an abundant amount of tears and she could tell he meant every word, but the hurt she had felt for the past four years could not just vanish especially after Lewis.

"What about me, Elliot? I went through hell and back and I really did need you, you were nowhere to be found, no call, no nothing. Elliot, it really burns to think that the one person I couldn't stop thinking about never seeing again and the one person that I couldn't keep my mind off during the time I spent fighting for my life, didn't care about me. All I could worry about was if you were okay, if you forgot about me already. El, the first months after you left I refused to work with anyone else and almost got fired for it." Olivia could not hold back the tears and did not try to because she knew it wouldn't work.

"Liv, I don't know what to say other than I'm so sorry," Elliot said and Olivia stood up. "I know you don't want to get hurt again and I know it'll take a long time, but I don't ever wanna lose you again, Liv." Elliot then looked down, miserably, with tears falling from his blue eyes.

Olivia, not wanting to cry anymore, both because she was mentally exhausted, and because she was sure this would take a toll on his health if it continued she grabbed a tissue from across the room and sat down on his bed. "El, don't worry, even though I'm mad I'm not going to leave you, okay? I promise you that I will never leave you like that, El," Olivia told him as she sighed. Olivia threw out the rest of the pizza. She then took the tissue and leading it with her thumb, she traced under his eyes, absorbing all the self-frustrated tears. Before she understood what was happening, Elliot threw his arms around her and she put her arms around him pulling each other into a close hold embrace.

"I'm really glad you're back," Olivia said repeating the exact words she had said to him four years ago.

"I should've come back sooner," Elliot said, also remembering the same conversation as if it were yesterday. They each squeezed the other tighter, as they smiled sadly with unshed tears in their eyes.

A\N- I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Thanks for reading and please continue to review, follow, and favorite. Also, if you have any ideas feel free to let me know. Until next time, bye (: