When the alarm rang the next morning, Olivia tried to roll over to turn over to make the incessant beeping stop, only to find herself restrained by an arm over her stomach. She opened her eyes and found herself staring into Elliot's deep blue eyes. "Morning," she whispered with a small smile.

"Morning," he echoed. "Did you sleep well?"

"Better than I have in ages," she smiled. "But I wish we didn't have to get up."

Elliot laughed. "We don't. Don told us to take the day off, remember?"

"That's right!" Olivia grinned. "What should we do today?"

"How about we wait until the kids get up, then decide?" he suggested. "Until then, we can sleep in."

Olivia groaned. "The kids. Brian has school today."

"There goes sleeping in," Elliot sighed, flopping back against the pillows, one arm over his eyes. "Unless…we can still sleep awhile, then drive Brian straight to school, instead of daycare and keep the little ones with us today."

"That sounds like a brilliant idea," Olivia smiled as she reset the alarm, then snuggled back into Elliot's arms.

Sleep didn't last long as first Maggie padded into the room but she quickly snuggled in between the two of them and fell back to sleep. Less than fifteen minutes later Brian burst into the room, still in his pajamas. "Olivia!" he exclaimed. "We're late for daycare!"

Olivia sat up, hair tousled and eyes sleepy. "No sweetie, you're not going to daycare today."

Before she could say anything else, Elliot sat up and rubbed his eyes, giving up on sleep. Brian's eyes grew wide when he saw Elliot. "No!" he yelled, spinning around and running out of the room. A few seconds later the sound of Brian's bedroom door slamming echoed through the house.

Olivia and Elliot exchanged confused looks. "What was that?" Olivia asked.

"No idea," Elliot sighed. Jacob began to cry and Elliot rubbed a hand over his face. "You wanna take Jay and I'll try to figure out what's wrong with Brian? He wasn't upset until he saw me."

Olivia nodded and swung her legs over the side of the bed as Elliot began making his way to Brian's room. Elliot knocked gently on the door. "Brian? It's Elliot."

"Go away!" Brian yelled, tears obvious in his voice.

"Brian, I'm not going away. Please let me in?" When there was no response, Elliot pushed the door open and watched as Brian curled on the bed, sobbing. "Brian," he said softly, sitting on the edge of the bed and reaching out to rub his back.

"I hate you," Brian whispered, moving away. "You shouldn't be here. Olivia's not like that."

"Not like what, buddy?"

"Not like my mom. She used to have men over, all night. They did bad things to her and they paid her to be with them. Mrs. Gutierez next door said that she was a whore. Olivia's not a whore!"

Elliot sat, stunned. This was the last thing he had expected. He wasn't even entirely sure how to handle Brian's reaction. "Brian," he said softly. "I know that Olivia's not a whore. Sometimes, Brian, a man and a woman spend the night together. They do it for different reasons. Last night, I spent the night here because Olivia and I were both really sad about something that happened at work yesterday. But if I spend the night here, I'm doing it because Olivia said that I could. That doesn't make her a bad person." He breathed deeply. "Bri, when a man and a woman are together, when they spend the night together, it's different if they love each other. Then it's okay."

Brian rolled over and looked at Elliot carefully. "Mrs. Gutierez said it was bad for men and women to be together."

"Sometimes it is. But most of the time, when the man and the woman know each other and love each other, then it's a normal thing. Do you understand?"

"It's not always bad when a man spends the night with a woman? It doesn't make Olivia bad that you're here?"

"No, it doesn't make her bad. When the men used to spend the night with your mom, where did you and Maggie go?"

"We had to stay in our room. We couldn't leave, even to use the bathroom. Sometimes, the men hit me and did bad things to Maggie. They were bad men."

"Have I ever hit you, Brian?"

"No."

"Have I done anything bad to Maggie? Or to hurt Olivia?"

"No," Brian sat up, bringing his knees to his chest. "But you're not bad."

Elliot smiled. "Can I let you in on a little secret Brian? Man to man?"

Brian nodded, a small smile appearing on his face. "I won't tell."

"Well, you know how when you're upset you want to be with Olivia because she makes you feel better?"

Brian nodded. "Because I love her."

"Well, I was pretty upset about work last night. And being here with you and Maggie and Jacob and Olivia makes me feel better too."

"How come?" Brian asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Because," Elliot grinned. "I love Olivia too. And you and Maggie and Jacob. And being with you all makes me feel better."

Brian grinned at that. "Do you really love Olivia?"

"A whole lot," Elliot answered. "But she doesn't know yet, so this needs to be our little secret, okay?"

Brian nodded and scooted closer to Elliot, sliding under his arm. "I won't tell. I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"I understand why you did," Elliot whispered, kissing the top of his head gently. "It's okay. Do you think it might be okay with you if I spent the night over here again?"

Brian paused, then nodded. "Does Olivia like it when you stay here?"

"Yeah, she does."

"Then it's okay if you stay over." Brian twisted and wrapped his arms tightly around Elliot's waist.

"I love you, Brian," Elliot whispered, kissing the top of the small blonde head again.

"I love you too, Elliot," Brian whispered fiercely.

Elliot sat, just holding onto Brian, rubbing his back and letting him calm down before he looked down with a smile. "Wanna head down for breakfast?"

"I hafta get dressed first," Brian answered, scrambling off the bed to pull clean jeans and a sweatshirt out of the closet. "How come we're not going to daycare?"

"Captain Cragen gave Olivia and me the day off."

"No school?" Brian asked, eyes lighting up.

Elliot chuckled. "Sorry buddy. You still have to go to school. I thought you liked school?"

"I do. But it'd be more fun to spend the day with you and Olivia."

"How about Olivia and I picking you up after school instead?"

Brian nodded as he pulled his sweatshirt over his head. He held out a hand which Elliot took and they walked together down to the kitchen. Maggie had woken up and was sitting at the table, playing with Cheerios while Jacob sat in his bouncy seat, cooing and waving an arm at the plastic key ring hanging above it. Olivia turned from the stove with a smile.

"Everything okay?" Olivia asked.

"Yep," Elliot grinned.

"Brian?"

"I'm okay. What's for breakfast?"

Olivia laughed as she held out her arms. Brian hugged her tightly. "How's scrambled eggs and bacon sound?"

"An' peanut butter toast!" Maggie called as she lifted her arms to Elliot.

"Yum!" Brian exclaimed.

After dropping Brian off at school, with a promise to pick him up at 3:30, Olivia looked over at Elliot. "Where to now?"

"What do you think?"

"I think that a quiet day at home with the kids sounds like a nice idea," she sighed then. "But Jacob's already growing out of his clothes and Maggie and Brian need summer clothes."

"Mall?" Elliot asked, somewhat resigned.

"If you don't mind."

"Nah, I'll keep the kids entertained. Is the stroller in the trunk?"

"Yep."

When they walked into the mall, Olivia headed towards the nearest department store, Elliot following and pushing the stroller. Maggie chafed at being confined. "I wanna walk, Elwiot."

"Sorry, sweetheart. Stroller for now, but you can walk later." They arrived at the baby department only a few minutes behind Olivia. She looked up from a rack of baby clothes, beaming. Her arms were already full of clothes.

"Look how cute these are!" she exclaimed.

Elliot chuckled. "What sizes are you getting?"

Olivia's brow furrowed. "Sizes? These are all three month. He's finally big enough to wear them."

Elliot stepped over to her and gently took some of the clothes out of her arms. "Liv, sweetheart, if you buy all of these clothes in the same size, Jacob will out grow most of them before he wears them. Babies grow fast."

She sighed. "How do I do this then?"

"Buy some clothes in three months, then buy stuff for later in the summer in six months. I'd even get some nine month clothes, just in case."

Olivia bit her lip and began sorting through the clothes. Spring clothes were bought in three months, summer clothes in both three and six months. She moved quickly through the store, stopping first in the boy's department. She found shorts, t-shirts, swimming suits, and a spring weight jacket before turning to nicer clothing. When they stopped in the girl's department though, Elliot watched Olivia's eyes light up.

"Liv," he warned. "Don't go overboard."

"I won't," she said, but he could tell she was only half listening. "Mags, wanna pick out some summer clothes?"

Maggie nodded and Olivia lifted her from the stroller. Elliot stood, holding Jacob and rocking back and forth. "She's teaching her early, son," Elliot chuckled at the baby. "Yep, your mama's gonna turn your sister into a shopper. And you and I are just along for the ride."

"I heard that," Olivia called from a few racks away. She didn't mention that it had made her stomach lurch with longing to hear Elliot call her Jacob's mother.

"I know," Elliot chuckled. "I can just imagine what's going to happen the first time you take the girls shopping with you. There won't be enough room in the car for all of your packages."

"Maybe you can take Brian and Dickie to do some manly bonding those days," Olivia teased.

"Livvy, I'm stuck!" Maggie called from inside a dressing room.

Olivia laughed as Maggie managed to exit the dressing room, a light purple dress over her head, arms in the air. "You sure are stuck. Let's see if we can get you out."

She unzipped the sundress and helped Maggie back into it before zipping it up again. "Perfect," she grinned.

"We done yet, Liv?" Elliot asked hopefully.

"Just about. We need shoes."

"Oh God, women and shoes," Elliot moaned.

"Like Livvy's!" Maggie exclaimed as they reached the shoe department. She immediately raced towards the women's shoes and grabbed a black boot.

Elliot laughed. "She's a clone Olivia. A tiny little blonde clone of you."

"Maybe we should try finding shoes in your size," Olivia suggested, taking the boot and placing it back on the shelf. She couldn't resist though and bought Maggie a pair of little black boots with half inch, if that, heels along with a pair of dress Mary Jane's, a new pair of pink sneakers, complete with pink sparkly shoelaces, white dress sandals, and a pair of little pink play sandals.

By the time Olivia had picked out two impossibly tiny pairs of shoes for Jacob, Elliot still didn't understand WHY a baby who couldn't crawl yet much less walk needed shoes, Maggie was tired and hungry, Elliot was hungry, and Jacob had fallen sound asleep in the stroller. "Lunch time?" Elliot asked almost hopefully.

Olivia laughed. "Lunch time. You wanna do sit down or food court?"

"Sit down, I feel like being served today."

Olivia laughed as Elliot slipped an arm around her waist, kissing the top of her head. "Sounds good. Mags, what do you feel like for lunch?"

"Ice keem!" Maggie squealed from Elliot's other arm.

"How about ice cream when we pick Brian up from school?" Olivia suggested.

"K. Grill cheese!"

"That we can handle, baby girl," Olivia chuckled.

While they sat waiting for their lunch to arrive, Maggie colored on the kids menu, Jacob slept in the stroller, and Elliot and Olivia sipped their sodas. "Anything else we need?" Elliot asked. "I can't imagine the kids need anymore clothes."

Olivia took a sip of her diet soda. "I realized last weekend that the kids need more books."

"Oh, you did?" Elliot chuckled. "So we're stopping by Barnes and Noble I take it?"

"Was thinking about it. But just a short trip, Maggie needs her n-a-p."

"You might want to look at public libraries for books."

"I want things they can keep," Olivia explained, opening a package of crackers and handing them to Maggie.

"I know, but the library in Queens has a book sale twice a year. It's something like two dollars to fill a brown paper bag."

"Wow," Olivia's eyes grew wide. "Sounds great." Their lunch arrived and Olivia cut Maggie's sandwich into little pieces before turning to her own fried chicken salad. They left the restaurant forty minutes later, Maggie starting to fade in the stroller and Jacob now awake and cooing. "Are they gonna ever sleep at the same time?" she chuckled.

"Well, give it about a year. Then maybe." He let out an 'oof' as Olivia elbowed him in the stomach. "What, it took forever for Dickie and Liz to get their sleeping coordinated."

Olivia rolled her eyes as they began to poke around the Barnes and Noble. She really wasn't sure what young boys liked to read. "Hey El? Gimme a hand with Brian's books?"

Elliot surveyed the books, then picked out a couple. "Dickie liked these. Plus, there's a nice mixture here."

"Wanna go look at picture books for Maggie?" Olivia suggested.

"Sure." Elliot looked over the section and noticed the display of Easter books. "Hey Olivia?"

"Hm?" she asked, half turning from the bookshelf, a book of Mother Goose rhymes in her hand.

"Easter's in two weeks."

"It is? Wow, seems like Christmas was just last week."

"Yeah, I was wondering if you and the kids would want to spend Easter with me?"

Olivia smiled, turning. "That sounds fun. Do you have the kids?"

"No, I had them for Christmas so Kathy gets them for Easter and I'll have them back for Thanksgiving. But the church has a big Easter Egg hunt after the service and the Easter Bunny comes."

"Isn't that a little sacrilegious, having the Easter Bunny at church?" Olivia smirked.

"Maybe," Elliot smirked back. "But the kids enjoy it." He grabbed a couple books on the Easter story, including The Legend of the Three Trees which he'd loved when his own children were little. He searched until he found another book that Liz in particular had loved. "What do you have, Liv?"

Olivia turned, showing him Mary Had a Little Jam which was a parody book of Mother Goose rhymes, it looked more entertaining than traditional Mother Goose. She also had a book about sheep who go shopping, and a copy of Eloise. "I loved Eloise when I was a kid."

"Yeah, she's a classic. I grabbed a couple of Easter books, figured the kids would appreciate the Mass more if they knew the Easter story."

"Probably true. What's that other one?"

"Um, I thought Maggie would enjoy Olivia the Pig."

"Excuse me?" Olivia asked, eyebrows arching.

"It's a book!" Elliot backtracked quickly. "About a little pig, she's really cute, a lot like Eloise actually…I didn't name her!"

"The pig's name really is Olivia?" the human Olivia asked suspiciously.

"I swear," Elliot promised solemnly, holding out the book for her inspection. "Liz got a kick out of it when she was Maggie's age."

Olivia studied the book, then nodded. "Okay. Just so long as you're not implying anything."

"And what would I be implying?" Elliot asked. He set the books down on a shelf and wrapped his arms around her.

"Just making sure." Olivia grinned, reaching up to brush a kiss over his lips.

They were interrupted by giggling next to them. "Me too!" Maggie exclaimed.

"You too, huh little lady?" Elliot asked, lifting her into his arms.

"Me too," Maggie demanded again, puckering her little lips.

"You got it sweetheart," Elliot chuckled, kissing her waiting lips.

Maggie leaned down from Elliot's arms and kissed Olivia too. "Elwiot kiss Livvy," she crowed.

Olivia half laughed, half groaned. "There goes keeping anything a secret."

They paid for the books, including some little board books which they'd picked up for Jacob, and started heading home. As they pulled in front of the brownstone, Olivia muffled a yawn.

"I heard that," Elliot teased. "How about while the little ones here nap, we take a nap of our own?"

"I think I could handle that. We just have to make sure we're up to pick up Brian."

They exited the car, Elliot carrying the sleeping Maggie and Olivia carrying Jacob in his carrier. They balanced the bags between them. Elliot tucked Maggie into bed and found Olivia in her room settling Jacob in after a quick diaper change. He grinned and held out his hand. "Come here, babe."

Olivia accepted his hand and laughed as he pulled her onto the bed. "Thanks for spending the day with us," she grinned. "We had fun."

"So did I," Elliot smiled, leaning over to kiss her gently. "Even if you did spend an hour looking at pink frilly dresses."

"It wasn't an hour!" At Elliot's arched eyebrow she blushed. "Almost an hour."

"Alright, almost," Elliot agreed generously. "And you're going to do it again for Easter clothes, aren't you?"

She moaned. "Easter clothes, I didn't even think. I have to go buy Easter baskets, candy…what else do you put in them?"

Elliot smiled and stroked a hand over her hair. "You don't need to start worrying about it now. Easter isn't for two weeks yet. This weekend, we'll let Maureen or Katie watch the kids and we'll go shopping. Ready for a nap?"

Olivia grinned. "Always." She reached up and kissed his cheek. "You staying tonight?"

"I could be convinced," Elliot smiled, kissing her back. "But I don't have clothes here."

Olivia sighed. "You're right. We could swing by your place and pick them up after we pick up Brian?"

Elliot grinned and leaned over to kiss her gently. "I love your mind Liv." He began nibbling gently down her neck. "And your neck, and your very sexy collar bone," he murmured, kissing the areas as he named them.

Olivia arched into him, raking her fingers through his hair. She dragged his lips back up to hers and slanted her mouth expertly over his. She slid her hands down, catching the hem of Elliot's shirt and drawing it up and over his head while her nails ran slowly up his chest. "God, you're hot," she moaned.

"So are you," Elliot murmured, unbuttoning her shirt slowly. He hissed out a breath at the red lace bra she was wearing. "God, are you trying to kill me woman?"

Olivia laughed, a deep throaty sound. "You like?"

"I like you in anything," Elliot answered, kissing her soundly. "And out of everything."

"Funny, I feel the same about you," Olivia murmured, kissing him back. She slipped her hand down his stomach to his pants and was working at undoing the button when a cry erupted from next to the bed.

Elliot groaned, burying his face in Olivia's neck. "Welcome to parenthood," he moaned.

Olivia laughed dryly. "I'm a package deal these days, El."

"I know. And I love them. But that doesn't mean that I'm not looking forward to having you all to myself on Friday."

"Does it make me a bad mother if I say that I'm looking forward to having you all to myself too?"

"No, it makes you human Olivia." He kissed her forehead gently. "Go get our boy before he gets really impatient for a snack."

Olivia sighed and rolled out of bed. She picked Jacob up, nuzzling his neck before heading downstairs to get the bottle. When she padded back upstairs, Elliot was sitting up in the bed, leaning against the headrest. He grinned at her and patted the space next to him. Olivia sat next to him on the bed, leaning back against him as Elliot's arms came around her, holding the baby while she did. As Jacob finished his bottle, Maggie padded sleepily into the room and climbed up onto the bed, snuggling onto Elliot's lap as if he'd always been there.

Elliot stroked a hand over Maggie's hair and leaned over, pressing a gentle kiss to Olivia's temple. "Looks like we've got a family here, Liv."

"Yeah. It does," Olivia smiled softly, kissing his cheek, then looking at the children in their arms.