Chapter Seven
Us
August 23rd, 2004
Olivia woke later that night to find herself alone in her bedroom; confused she got up, both to look for Elliot and to pee, the latter being done first. After relieving herself she grabbed her robe off the back of the bathroom door and padded out into the living room, finding him standing at the window in his boxers, his chest bare. She walked up behind him, snaking her arms around his waist and resting her chin on his shoulder.
"Whatcha doing?" She asked, watching the cars pass by her window, wondering what he found so interesting.
"Just thinking." He replied turning around in her arms to give her a kiss. "Thinking about those two months I wasted."
She shook her head, reaching up to caress his cheek, "Don't do that to yourself El. Things happen, and maybe we needed those two months to realize how much we needed each other."
He sighed and rested his forehead against hers, "How come you're always right?"
"Eh, I guess it's a girl thing." She smirked giving him a peck on the lips, "I do have one question though?"
"Hmm?" He asked leaning down to kiss her neck.
"How did I get in my bed? The last thing I remember was falling asleep on the floor." She tried to ignore him as he planted a few kisses along her collar bone, but let out a small gasp when he squeezed her breast through the thin material of her robe.
"Didn't think it was good for you to be sleeping on the floor. Took you to bed, but I couldn't fall asleep so I came out here to think." He answered slowly untying the belt that kept her bare form hidden from him.
Seeing where this was going and happy to indulge him she put her lips to his ear and whispered, "I always have trouble falling asleep after waking up in the middle of the night, think you could help me with that?"
Suddenly her feet were pulled out from under her and he was carrying her back to her bedroom bridal style. She laughed lightly at his eagerness, but couldn't deny that she was already aroused as well and was maybe even just as eager. Unlike earlier that night this time was slower, they both took time exploring each other, finding and remembering specific places on each other's bodies that sent goose bumps zinging down their arms.
Afterwards they lay side by side, Elliot spooned up against her, his arm resting over her abdomen were their child grew. "I love you, Olivia Benson."
"I love you more, Elliot Stabler." She whispered, a smile on her face as she slowly drifted off.
Olivia awoke a few hours later, this time the sun greeted her instead of the moon, but she was once again alone. She grabbed her discarded robe from the floor and slipped it on, walking into the bathroom to use the toilet and brush her teeth. Just as she was approaching her bedroom door the knob turned and Elliot stepped in with a tray of food.
"Good morning?" Her greeting came out as more of a question, causing him to laugh. "I was just coming to look for you."
"I was just bringing you breakfast." He smiled, gesturing to the bed, "Go sit down."
"That an order Stabler?" She asked as she slid back under the covers.
"What do you think Benson?" He smirked setting the tray of food down on her lap, before joining her on the bed.
Olivia looked at the food then back at him, "None of this came from my apartment, did it?"
"Nope." He gestured to the Danish, fruit cup, and orange juice. "I woke up about an hour ago planning on making you breakfast, but then I remembered that you never have any food so I went down the street to that bakery you like."
"Thank you, but you didn't have to do that." She said picking up the glass of orange juice and her prenatal vitamins that he had put in a little cup in the corner of the tray.
"I know, but I wanted to." He smiled kissing her forehead.
She handed him the pastry after swallowing her juice, "You should eat that, if I even try it will end up in the toilet."
"Speaking of, has that gotten any better?" He asked taking the plate from her.
She shrugged her shoulders, "I guess. I mean I'm still figuring out what makes me get sick, but for the most part it's almost gone. I'll be out of the first trimester this week and then hopefully I'll be able to eat whatever I want."
"Which after four kids I know that means me running out in the middle of the night for weird food combos." He replied taking a bite of the Danish.
"El, your kids," she said suddenly remembering dinner the night before, "this was your weekend with them, and now you're here at my apartment."
"Don't worry about it, Liv. I talked to Maureen this morning and she said that we should have the day to ourselves and that she was going to take Kathleen and the twins out to a movie. We're going to meet them somewhere for dinner later." He explained, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.
"Oh, so she knows then?" She asked taking another sip of orange juice.
"In a manner of speaking." She looked at him confused and he continued. "She saw us talking before you left and basically shoved me out the door after you. She said she didn't hear what you said, but that whatever it was looked important."
"Smart girl." Olivia smiled and kissed him. "Just like her father."
"No disagreement there." Elliot smiled.
"A whole day to ourselves, whatever shall we do with it?" She questioned with a quirk of her eyebrow.
"I can think of a few things." He responded removing the glass from her hand, putting both it and the tray on the ground. He peppered her shoulder and neck with feather light kisses as he adjusted her so they were lying side by side.
"As much as I like that idea," she paused as his teeth grazed over the sensitive flesh of her earlobe, "I was thinking more along the lines of doing something outside of my apartment."
He looked at her clearly disappointed. "Like what?"
"Well I'm starting to run out of things to wear to work, unless sweat pants are acceptable." She answered.
"Oh come on Liv, you're barely three months I'm-" she interrupted him by placing his hand on her slightly rounded stomach. "Oh."
She laughed, "Yeah."
"Wow." He breathed, caressing the little bump, and then looked back up at her with a smile on his face. "We made that."
"Him." She corrected firmly. "We're not referring to our baby as a that or an it."
"Well what if I think the baby is a girl?" He countered.
"You can think whatever you want, doesn't mean you'll be right." She said with a smile. "Now I suggest that we both shower and get ready, I'm in the mood to shop."
Elliot groaned, "I love you and all but please promise me that you won't be the typical indecisive shopper that all the women in my family are."
She laughed at his dreading tone, "Have you not met me? I'm the furthest thing away from typical."
"And I thank God for that every day." He kissed her, pulling back with a smile on his face. "You said we should both get a shower..."
Olivia sat up rolling her eyes at him, "Mhmm?"
"Did you mean together?" He asked as she got up from the bed.
She sauntered into the bathroom, calling over her shoulder, "I don't know, why don't you come find out?"
"How on earth can one little person need this much stuff?" Olivia asked as they entered the Babies 'R Us.
They had made quick work of finding her work and lounge clothes for now and the rest of her pregnancy and because they still had a couple hours until they were meeting the kids for dinner, she had suggested they walk over to the baby store since they were only a block away. Although now she was second guessing her suggestion, the overwhelming feeling that overcame her as she walked into the huge store was making her a little queasy.
Elliot had somehow figured out how she was feeling and grabbed a basket instead of a cart and steered her towards the baby clothes, "We aren't going to pick out anything big right now. We have six months left to do all of that."
She sighed, feeling a little relieved, "Okay, but promise you won't let me forget about all of this stuff until the last minute."
"I promise that I won't let us, forget about anything." He corrected as they started to browse the racks of tiny outfits.
She looked at him apologetically, "I'm sorry, I keep forgetting that there is an us. I don't think I ever believed it really would happen."
He cupped her cheek and placed a kiss on it, stroking the side of her face, "I know, don't apologize. It's going to take some getting used to, but we'll get the hang of it. Now what do you think of this?"
He was holding up a little pink dress with a tiara on the front, and she couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that their baby would be small enough to fit into it, "Cute, if we were having a girl."
"You know, I haven't been wrong about any of my kids so far." He commented as she examined an unbelievably tiny New York Yankees jersey.
"That's right, you and Kathy never found out sexes." She said remembering a conversation they'd had a few years ago.
"Hey, Liv?" She looked up from a stand of multicolored onesies, surprised to find his expression serious.
"Yeah?"
"Just because I've done this before doesn't mean we have to do it the same way I did with Kathy. This is your first child and I don't want my experience to stop you from doing whatever you want to do." He said, taking her hand and gently squeezing it.
She smiled warmly at him, "Well first of all this is our child, we will decide things like finding out sex and what color to paint the nursery together. And I am glad to have your advice and experience. It makes everything less scary."
He returned her smile and they continued down the aisles of clothing, each periodically putting something in the basket.
"So do you want to find out the sex?" He asked as she put a pair of blue and green footy pajamas in the basket.
"I don't know, that's not for a couple months, right now I'm just worried about the next appointment." She confessed, having already told him her concerns on how Erin would react to finding out where she came from and that she was understandably worried about the results of the First Trimester Screen she had gotten that past Thursday.
"Don't worry, Liv. If she's as nice as you say she is I'm sure everything will be fine." He gave her a reassuring smile as they left the clothing department and continued to wander through the store.
"Yeah, I know. It's just I hate having to tell people, especially because other than you and the guys at the squad, I never really know what people think of me." She admitted, focusing her attention on the cribs they were walking by.
He laid his hand on her shoulder and turned her around to face him, "Look at me." She tipped her chin up and looked into his blue eyes that were full of love. "I don't care what anyone else has to say, because you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. If your past was any different we may never have met and I can't imagine not having you in my life."
Her eyes filled with tears at his words and she closed the space between them and gave him a kiss that she hoped would help him understand everything she was unable to put into words. "Thank you, El."
He rested is arm across her shoulders as they went further into the furniture section. She admired a few of the cribs and rockers, before realizing something that hadn't occurred to her before.
"Neither one of us has room for a nursery." She stated, while they were looking at a beautiful dark cherry wood crib and rocker set. "My guest room is tiny and you told me Kathleen, Lizzie, and Dickie have to sleep on the pullout and an air mattress when you have them for the weekend. Where are supposed to put a baby?"
"I was actually thinking about that last night." He looked at her, and then continued a bit hesitantly. "What if we bought a house...together?"
She was silent for a few moments, trying to process his question, "Move in together?"
"I'm sorry I shouldn't have said anything. We just started dating not even twenty-four hours ago-if you want to call it that, I'm not trying to-"
Olivia smiled, placing a finger on his lips, effectively cutting him off, "I do want to call it that and nothing about our relationship has ever been normal so asking me to buy a house and move in with you sounds great."
A grin broke out on Elliot's face, "Really?"
"Absolutely." She nodded, kissing him briefly before tugging him towards the checkouts. "C'mon, we've got a lot to tell your kids so I suggest we get to the restaurant early and figure out what we're going to say."
"Hey, Liv?" He asked as the cashier began ringing them up.
"Yeah?" She said looking at him.
"I love you." He wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed the top of her head.
"I love you too Elliot."
A/N: Hey all! So I forgot that by posting, deleting, and then reposting a chapter you guys were unable to review the actual chapter. Sorry about that and if you did try to review, thanks!
Now I have a quick question. Would you all like to know the sex of the baby before he/she is born or would you like to be surprised? I've got ideas for both scenarios, but I just wanted to see what you guys thought before I made any definite decisions.
I thinks that's about all, so thank you for reading and I love reading everyone's reviews, especially all the encouraging ones I got about the 'Not Chapter', haha :)
Thanks, Katie
Amanda4Meloni: Thank you! I was and as you can see the rest has been figured out in this chapter Hope you liked it and thanks for the review!