A/N: Wow! Oh my goodness the number of reviews for this story skyrocketed last chapter! Thank you all very much. I'm so glad you like it so far! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!

Thanksgiving Day

Elliot awoke with a start when he heard what sounded like a loud bang echo around him. It was strange. For a split second everything was different. For a moment—a small, blissful, miniscule moment—he forgot where he was and why.

He couldn't see because the sleep from the previous night was still in his eyes. Right now everything was a blur of colors and shapes. He was at home—his old home—of course he was, why wouldn't he be? He hadn't been sleeping on his old friend's couch, but rather in his own bed. He was a father and husband who had to protect his wife and three kids who were still living at home.

He especially had to protect the baby. His baby. His three year old son, Eli.

At the thought of his youngest child, Elliot sprang into action. He rolled over and unexpectedly hit the ground which managed to knock the breath right out of him. He was in a panic. His heart began to race and he instinctively called out to his wife, Kathy.

Where was she? Was she okay? What the hell was going on?

Elliot sat up and blinked once, twice, three times before his brain finally started working again.

This was not his home, this was not his bed, and the laugh that he heard off in the distance did not belong to his wife. It was Olivia. That's right. This was Olivia's home and he had spent the night here last night. He was also going to continue staying here for the foreseeable future.

He then heard the pitter patter of bare feet against hardwood floors approach him.

It was her.

She leaned her arms over the couch and smiled down at him. A set of pink and black flannel pajamas covered her body. Her hair was parted into two braids on either side of her face, while her bangs remained off to the side. She had no make-up on and Elliot couldn't help but think that she looked freakin adorable. She looked like a little girl, so innocent and happy.

It was nice to see her like this since she was usually so…tough.

The one thing that he couldn't quite figure out though was why she was so damn happy. She wasn't a morning person, so what was going on?

"Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey, sorry! I dropped a pot in the kitchen on accident. I'm going to make some mashed potatoes, but keep in mind that this is me we're talking about here, so I took some pre-cautions. I bought some chocolate chip cookies from the market so then if I mess up I'll at least have something to take. Even Munch is bringing something, isn't that great? Oh, man. You have no idea how excited I am! Nothing can bring me down today, nothing!"

Elliot nodded sleepily and stretched out his body while he was still on the floor. A loud and obnoxious yawn escaped his lips and Olivia waved a hand in front of her nose. She could smell his morning breath all the way from where she stood. Elliot then scratched his chest and smacked his lips together a few times before he finally responded to what she had just told him.

"Mashed potatoes, huh? For what? Are we having dinner with Munch or something? Do I have to go? Or is staying here and ordering a pizza an option?"

Olivia scoffed and placed a hand on one of her hips while the other remained on the couch.

"Dude, its Thanksgiving! Tonight is the annual Thanksgiving feast at the Captain's house. You know, the one that you never go to because you usually have dinner at your in-laws place. Didn't Kathleen tell you? She's meeting us there later tonight."

Elliot chuckled and rubbed his hands over his face.

"Okay now I know you're messing with me."

Olivia crinkled her brows together in confusion.

"What? Elliot I'm serious! It's Thanksgiving. Oh my God," Olivia's eyes widened as a sudden thought occurred to her, "El, what are you going to wear?!"

"Liv, stop it. I know you're messing with me, okay? I'm not stupid."

Olivia rolled her eyes then threw her hands in the air out of frustration.

"Ugh! What the hell are you talking about?"

Elliot looked at her then.

This was a joke. It had to be, right? If it was November already then Maureen would have given birth like…what? A month ago? Wow. That was still crazy for him to think about.

I'm going to be a grandpa! Jeez. I'm only forty-two, what the hell? Ha!

But if it really was November then…wait…had he missed it? Did he miss the birth of his grandsons? Had Kathy been there? Did Maureen have to go through it alone?

Elliot's eyes widened and he quickly jumped to his feet.

If he had missed something as important as that, then he had some serious apologizing to do. He had to see them. He had to see his grandsons! Did they look like him? Did they have his nose or eyes or chin or anything? Were they identical or fraternal twins? Jesus Christ! He didn't even know what their names were! He had to find out! He just had to.

"Liv! Liv, where's your phone? I need to borrow your phone, or…no what am I saying? I have my own phone!"

Elliot quickly picked up the blankets that he had used last night and shook them. He felt like he was going to have a nervous break-down any second now. God, his daughter must hate him.

Olivia's eyes widened at Elliot's frantic movements and she quickly stood in front of him and grabbed his hands. He paused and looked at her with a terrified expression on his face.

"Elliot, what's wrong? What happened? Talk to me."

Elliot's eyes started swimming with tears and he blurted out:

"I missed it! I'm such a fucking ass hole, Olivia. I missed it!"

Olivia shook her head in confusion.

"Missed what? What did you miss?"

"Maureen! She gave birth and I missed it. The one thing I was actually excited for and I missed it. God I'm such a fucking loser."

Elliot dropped down to the couch and sat down with his head in his hands. He was such a shitty dad. His kids deserved better.

Olivia didn't really know what to say to that because honestly what was there to say? So rather than say anything at all, Oliva instead went into action. She broke away from him so that she could find her phone. Once she found it she then tapped him on the shoulder and held it out in front of her. He didn't take it at first, instead he just stared up at her in disbelief.

Right now he felt so embarrassed and ashamed because in his mind, he wasn't any better than a dead-beat dad. He wasn't sure if he could actually go through with it and call his oldest child to apologize.

He felt like he was an inch tall, but Olivia didn't seem to give a damn about that. She didn't care if his ego was bruised or whatever the hell this was. He was going to call her and he was going to do it right now.

When Elliot continued to stare dumbly at her cell phone, Olivia's gaze hardened. She was giving him a nasty glare and he instinctively looked away from her. She was treating him like a common criminal rather than a friend, which wasn't something he appreciated.

Olivia then rolled her eyes and smacked him on the back of the head.

"Call her you idiot before I do it for you."

Elliot let out a heavy sigh before he reached for that phone, found his daughter's name, and hit the 'call' button. He needed to man-up for his daughter's sake, but that didn't make him feel any less terrified of what her reaction might be.

He tapped his foot impatiently and waited for her to pick up.

Olivia smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up. She then made herself scarce so that he could have some privacy.

Elliot smiled nervously at her in gratitude.

Ring…

Was she going to answer?

Ring…

What the hell was he even going to say?

Ring…

Fuck! She wasn't going to answer.

Ri-

"Olivia?"

Elliot's eyes widened and he swore that his heart stopped for a second. Maureen remained silent for a moment then tried again.

"Hello?"

Elliot coughed once before responding.

"Hey baby girl."

Her response broke his heart. It really did.

"Um…Who is this? I think you have the wrong number."

She was going to hang up if he didn't say something, he just knew it.

"Maureen it's me. It's your dad!"

Maureen gasped once then froze. Elliot may not have known this, but now she was just as nervous as he was. She had missed her dad like crazy, but she also knew that he needed time to get better. Was he better now? Is that why he was calling? That would be amazing if it were true.

"Hey daddy," she whispered. "How are you?"

Elliot let out a breath that he hadn't even realized he'd been holding in.

"I'm good babe, very good. You?"

"Um…I'm doing good too." Maureen's voice cracked under the sudden wave of emotion that she felt. It felt so nice to hear from him.

"What have you been up to? Are you getting help? Are you better now?" she asked.

Elliot smiled and nodded his head when he answered her. From that point on it seemed that the bond between father and daughter was once again mended by nothing more than a phone call. He told her about everything that had happened since they last spoke. He told her about what was going on now with Olivia.

He apologized for not being in that hospital room after the twins were born. Maureen cried, he cried. It was a very long phone call, but it had definitely been needed. Maureen filled him in on everything that was going on with her as well.

The twins were named Charlie Manuel Garcia and Gabriel Antonio Garcia.

Their father is Alejandro Garcia, a man whom Elliot had only met on a few occasions none of which were very pleasant. According to Maureen, Alejandro's family had helped them both out a lot. Since Kathy had left sometime during the birth of the twins, Alejandro's mother and grandmother stepped up to help her through it.

They made it bearable.

Also one thing that Maureen found absolutely insane was that her sons were born on different days. Charlie was born first on October 3rd at 11:45pm and his brother Gabriel was born on October 4th at 12:02am.

"Isn't that crazy?!" she said "I mean what are the odds of that happening?"

She then continued to fill him in on the baby shower and how much fun that had been. That was the first time she had seen how huge her boyfriend's family really was. They were also very welcoming and brought a ton of food and presents.

"I'll have to show you pictures," she said.

She then went on to tell him that a large portion of his family kept on insisting that she learn Spanish because it was ridiculous for her not to know. Now she was learning the language, ha! His little Maureen, the girl who couldn't even roll her "R's"

Maureen was suddenly interrupted by someone (probably Alejandro) telling her that she needed to start getting ready.

"Babe it's getting late. Who are you talking to anyways?"

"My dad. Don't worry I'm almost done I promise."

"Oh shit, you're dad's on the phone?" he paused "Hello sir! Happy Thanksgiving!"

"Kiss ass."

"What? Not even! Alright anyways I'm gonna jump in the shower."

Elliot heard some shuffling on the other end of the line before Maureen spoke up again.

"Okay dad I gotta go. The twins are going to wake up from their nap any second now. It was nice talking to you. We should meet up sometime, so I can properly introduce my sons to their grandpa."

At that Elliot smiled so hard, his face hurt.

"Yes! Yes! Anywhere, anytime, yes!"

"How about next Saturday? We could meet up at the park if you want."

"Sure! Yeah, what park?"

"Central, duh."

Elliot chuckled.

"Okay Central it is. I'll see you then."

"Okay cool, bye dad!"

"Good-bye sweetie, I love you."

"Love you too, dad."

And with that the call ended.

Elliot jumped to his feet and started doing a little victory dance. That phone call had made his day. He felt great!

Maybe I'm not such a bad dad after all?

.

.

Elliot and Olivia stood just outside of captain Cragen's home with the same worrisome expression on their faces. The reasons behind this expression however, were different.

Elliot was worried because he was about to enter a room filled with all of his old colleagues dressed like a slob. A fat, unemployed, depressing, nasty-ass, slob. Olivia had tried to reassure him several times on the way over here that he "looked fine" and that "no one was going to care". Yeah, bull shit. He looked embarrassing!

I mean come on, next to Olivia he looked like one of those guys from the Mucinex commercials. She looked sexy as hell, underneath her long black coat she was wearing a short navy blue dress and high heels. Navy blue and red were her colors! He knew that, shit everybody knew that. She looked hot, okay? He didn't. In fact he was wearing that same joke of an outfit from yesterday! He had washed it three times, but that was completely beside the point.

Everyone in there was going to look at him with pity which was the last thing he wanted to happen. Ah! This night was going to suck turkey ass, he could already tell.

Olivia on the other hand was worried about something a little less superficial and that was Elliot's infamous temper. What if someone brought up his past? She had warned everyone to stay away from that subject. She had even gone as far to say that if anyone so much as mentioned the name Kathy then she would shoot them in the foot.

Twice.

What if they started hounding both him and her with questions that neither one of them were comfortable with answering? Ugh! She just wanted to eat and have a good time. Was that too much to ask?

Elliot and Olivia turned to each other when the same thought occurred to them.

"If either one of us starts to feel uncomfortable," Elliot started.

"We grab as much food as we can then leave," finished Olivia.

They both nodded in agreement then took deep breaths and headed towards the front door.

Olivia bit her lip and rang the doorbell. Her stomach was twisting and turning with nerves which caused her palms to sweat as well.

"It's open!" she heard someone holler from inside the captain's house.

Olivia quickly twisted the knob and entered the familiar home. A sudden ambush of sound filled her ears while the mouth-watering smell of food penetrated her nostrils.

Her mouth began to salivate, a small smile transformed her face, and suddenly she felt warm all over. These people were more than just colleagues to her.

They were family.

Everyone waved to her in greeting and Munch who was standing nearby offered to take her coat.

Hmm…perhaps tonight won't be so terrible after all?

While Olivia handed Munch her coat she failed to notice the looks that everyone was directing at Elliot. Their expressions ranged from surprise to annoyance.

Cragen had warned everyone to be on their best behavior, but would they actually live up to his expectations?

It was too soon to tell.

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry this took me so long to write. I'm not sure why, but I had a really hard time putting this chapter together.

Oh! And also what are some of your favorite Thanksgiving dishes? Let me know so I can include them in the next chapter.

Thanks for reading!