Chapter Eight

A Peanut With Legs

August 30th, 2004

"Hey Liv?" They were in an exam room waiting on the doctor and she had been wringing her hands vigorously for the past ten minutes.

"What?" She asked looking at him from her seat on the exam table.

He vacated his chair against the wall and stood in front of her, taking her hands in his, "I know you're worried, but if you keep doing that you might not have any skin left by the time we get out of here."

"Sorry, I just...I hate telling people..." She trailed off sighing.

"I know you do." Elliot said planting a kiss on her forehead, "But like I said before, I think that she'll understand."

She leaned her head against his chest, wrapping her arms around his torso, "I told my mom once that I hated him for what he did to her, but I think I hate him more for what he did to me. Because of him I had a horrible childhood and now I have to worry about all the possible things that could get passed on to our child, he ruined everything."

He shook his head, resting his cheek against her hair, "What he did was horrible, but I can't hate him too much because he gave me you."

"You know, my mom said almost the exact same thing to me." She replied, pulling back to look at him.

"Smart woman." He smiled before kissing her, only pulling away when they heard a knock on the door.

He moved so he was standing beside her, his arm around her waist, as Olivia's doctor walked in. She looked to be about the same age as them and the smile on her face gave him hope that this appointment would go smoothly.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Cole, but you can call me Erin." She held out her hand.

He shook it and smiled, "I'm Elliot Stabler."

"Father?" She questioned as she took a seat on the stool in the corner of the room.

"Yep." He smiled proudly at Olivia who merely rolled her eyes at him. "I've also got-"

"Four more." Erin interrupted with a laugh, holding up the medical history form he had filled out earlier that week. "Busy man."

"So I've been told." He glanced sideways at Olivia who chuckled lightly at him.

Elliot watched as Erin looked back down at her papers and her brow furrowed, he felt Olivia tense beside him and knew what was coming next, "Olivia, you didn't fill out anything on your father's side and you have hardly any information on your mother's."

"Yup." She said her eyes pointed towards to floor.

"Is there a reason why?" She questioned, turning so she was facing them fully.

Olivia cleared her throat, "I um...I don't know much about my mother's side because...well to put it simply she was a fallen down drunk and my knowledge of her medical history is very limited."

"Alright, that's understandable, but what about your father's medical history?" She asked.

"Um...I...I mean he..." Elliot could hear her choking up and he squeezed her side, signaling that he would take over if she needed him to.

She nodded her head ever so slightly and he looked at Erin as he began speaking, "Her mother was raped and Olivia was the product of it. She doesn't know anything about him."

Erin was quiet for a long moment before standing up and hugging Olivia tightly. "I'm sorry Olivia, I had no idea."

Olivia pulled back a sad smile on her face, "That's kind of how I wanted it, I never know how people will react."

"Well I think that despite the cards life has dealt you, you're a wonderful woman and you'll make a great mom." She smiled and sat back down, grabbing another paper from Olivia's file. "Speaking of which, you'll both be pleased to know that the results of your screen came back normal and your baby is perfectly healthy."

They both sighed with relief and Elliot immediately noticed that upon mention of the baby that Olivia had considerably relaxed and her mood was brighter. They discussed the Quad screen that was available in the second trimester for a few minutes, but they both agreed that sense the first screen had shown no signs of abnormalities that the second test was unnecessary.

"Alright, now for the fun part." Erin grinned pulling the ultrasound machine out from the corner as Olivia laid back, lifting up her shirt and unbuttoning her jeans so she could push them down a bit.

Elliot laced his fingers through hers as Erin squeezed the jell onto her stomach and started moving the transducer around. It took her a few minutes but the whooshing of the baby's heartbeat suddenly filled the room and she turned the screen so they could both see.

"As I said at the last appointment now your baby will start to look more like a baby." She pointed to the impossibly tiny figure on the screen. "There's his head, arms, legs; and by the next appointment you might even be able to see fingers and toes."

"His?" Olivia questioned excitedly.

Erin laughed, "I can't tell that until you're at least five months, but I like many of the other moms I see, don't like to refer to my patients as it."

Elliot held back a laugh at the cute pout that now adorned her face, "C'mon Liv, it's just four more weeks."

"Easy for you to say, you've done this before." She responded, the pout melting away to reveal her playful smile.

Erin froze the image on the screen and put the transducer back on the machine, handing Olivia a towel to wipe herself off, "I'll go print off some pictures and be right back."

After she left and before Olivia had time to pull her shirt back down, Elliot kissed her small bump, "You are the most beautiful baby I've ever seen."

He looked up at Olivia who was smiling warmly at him, "El, he looks like a peanut with legs and arms."

He leaned back up so she could pull her shirt down and button her jeans, "Well than he's the most beautiful peanut I've ever seen."

"He? You've given up on it being a girl?" She questioned raising an eyebrow at him.

"Maybe," He answered smirking at her, "maybe not."

"You're such a tease Elliot Stabler." She groused, shoving him playfully.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her head, "Yeah, but you love me."

She nodded, "I won't disagree with you there."

Erin walked in a few minutes later with the pictures and after scheduling her five month checkup the two were in Elliot's SUV on their way back to the precinct. They drove in silence for a while, their hands laced together between the seats as Elliot kept his eyes on the road and she looked out of her window.

"Do you think we should tell Captain?" Olivia asked while they sat at a stoplight still a few streets away from the 1-6.

He looked at her confused, but it didn't take him long to figure out what she was referring to, "About us?"

"Yeah." She confirmed.

The light turned green and Elliot turned his eyes back to the road, "I don't know. I hate to lie to him with everything he is doing for us, but I'm not ready to be split up yet."

She sighed heavily, "Me either."

"But?" He prompted hearing something more in her voice.

"I want everyone to know." She answered, still looking out of her window. "I've been in love with you for so long and now that I know you feel the same way I just..." She paused before continuing a few moments later in a quiet voice, "I want to stand on the tallest building in the city and scream it so everyone can hear me. I know you probably don't understand, you haven't-"

He squeezed her hand, "If you say I haven't known for six years then you would be lying."

They were in the parking lot beside the precinct now and when he parked, he looked over to find she was gaping at him, "What did you just say?"

He unbuckled and turned so they were facing each other, "I might not have known the very moment you walked into my life that I loved you, but I knew that there was something different, special, about you. I just didn't fully realize what it was until about four months ago."

"Mhmm?" She murmured wiping at a few tears that had made their way onto her cheeks. "I hate these damn hormones."

He chuckled lightly, wiping away the wetness with his thumbs. "I realized that, that something special was how I had unknowingly given you a piece of my heart the first time you smiled at me. It took me a few years and a few more pieces of my heart to realize it, but once I did I knew I wouldn't want it any other way.

She leaned across the console between them and kissed him deeply, which was the chosen communication for both of them when words couldn't express how they were feeling. When they pulled apart for air, his hand still cupped her cheek and the love he found swimming in her dark chocolate irises would've been enough to send him to his knees had he not already been sitting down.

"You're amazing, you know that right?" She asked breaking the comfortable silence.

He grinned, "Maybe, but I don't know why YOU think so."

"Fishing for compliments Stabler?" She joked, but continued before he could answer. "I've never had any man open up to me like that before, it means a lot to me to hear how you feel and know that I feel the exactly the same way."

He kissed her forehead and pulled her into his arms, "Good, you should get used to hearing it because I love you with everything I got in me."

"Love you too." She answered and hugged him back tightly.

Their lunch break would be over in a just a few minutes so after kissing a few more times to hold them over until after work, they walked back into the building. They somehow managed to get an elevator to themselves and it didn't stop to pick up anyone, so they held hands until they got to their floor where they reluctantly pulled apart and walked over to their respective desks. Elliot promptly pulled out his copy of the ultrasound and tucked it inside the frame that held a picture of a pre-school age Maureen on his desk.

They passed the rest of the afternoon in comfortable silence, the whole squad busy filling out paperwork from a case they had wrapped the day before. However after only a few hours everyone was done and when a game of trash can basketball led to a (thankfully empty) coffee pot being knocked over and almost broke, Cragen decided it was best that they head on home. For appearances sake Elliot and Olivia had driven separately and she left the precinct first to go get her apartment ready for when he brought his kids over. Kathy had something going on the next day and had asked him to take the kids, and Olivia had offered them her apartment to crash in since it was bigger.

Before he left he sent Kathleen a text that he was leaving and would be there soon. Elliot put away his paperwork, and was in the middle of shutting down his computer when Munch and Fin approached his desk with serious looks on their faces.

"You two need somethin'?" He asked standing up once his computer was shut off.

Munch gestured towards the locker room, "Got a minute?"

Elliot nodded and followed them, watching curiously when they made sure it was just the three of them in the locker room, "What's going on?"

Munch turned to him with a grin on his face and slapped his back, "You finally did it. So when's the wedding?"

"What the hell are you talking about John?" He asked, bewildered.

Fin rolled his eyes sighing, "What he meant to say was that we're glad you finally told Liv how you feel and that we're happy things are going good for you guys."

"Oh," he paused eyebrows drawn together in confusion, "Um thanks, but how did you even know?"

"Do you think we're really that stupid? You two have been giving each other these weird looks all week." Munch answered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Do you think Cap knows?" He asked, ignoring Munch's question.

"If he does he ain't sayin' anything." Fin replied.

Elliot rubbed a hand over his eyes, "Good. Do you two mind keeping this to yourselves. We hate to lie to him, but neither one of us is ready to be split up right now."

"Yeah, no problem." Fin answered grabbing his jacket from his locker before heading for the door.

Elliot followed and Munch brought up the rear, "I won't spill, but I do have one condition."

Elliot and Fin turned to the older man as they stopped in front of the elevators, "Alright?" Elliot asked warily.

John smirked, "You've gotta drink a whole pot of my coffee."

A/N: Hehe, I thought that would be a fun way to end this chapter :) This was kind of a filler chapter, got some stuff taken care of that needed to be, but I promise there are more interesting and intense moments coming in the next several chapters.

Now as some of you may have noticed there is a date at the beginning of a chapter, reason being that even though I knew the timeline of the story I keep forgetting to add it into the story itself so I'm going to go back and add dates to the previous chapters.

I guess that's all, so thanks for reading and I'm very thankful for all your reviews!