A/N: Hey all, just a quick note before you start reading. This chapter is taken mostly from the episode Intoxicated in season six. It's one of my favorites, and it fit right with this storyline, though I have altered it a little. But as always all rights to Dick Wolf, yada yada.

Chapter Nine

Couldn't Be Happening

September 5th, 2004

Olivia walked into the Denise and Carrie Eldridge's apartment and looked around; the whole place was a wreck and not just from when CSU had been in to collect Denise's body. The mess in the kitchen with takeout containers and dirty dishes lying around haphazardly was all too familiar and it made her decision to come see for herself if Warner's findings were true that much worse.

Going on instinct she strode into the bathroom, took the top layers of laundry out of the laundry basket and sure enough there it was, a bottle of partly finished vodka. She inwardly cursed herself, how couldn't she have seen this, her of all people should have picked up on the signs of an alcohol abusing parent. The next thirty minutes consisted of her walking around the apartment, going to every place where she remembered her mother would have hidden alcohol. She was just pulling another bottle of the clear liquid out from behind a cabinet when she heard a knock on the door.

It was Elliot, and she shot him a self-deprecating smile, "No wonder I hated Denise so much. All along Carrie was just trying to get me to protect her."

"What are you doing here?" He asked walking further into the apartment.

"Wanted to see what else I was wrong about." She paused, her glance moving to the bottles that took up almost half of the counter space in the kitchen, "How could I have missed this? I was in the exact same situation as Carrie and I missed all the signs."

"Liv, what are you talking about?" He asked, taking her hands in his.

She sighed, "You know that my mother was an English professor, right?" He nodded, so she continued. "When I was sixteen I started dating one of her students. He was a senior, he was twenty-one, and he asked me to marry him and I said yes, because I wanted to get away from my mother."

"Okay." He said, the look on his face still confused.

Olivia turned around, wrapping her arms around herself, knowing the next part was hard, "She found out and she told me if I didn't stop seeing him she would have him kicked out of college and I told her that I was moving out. She was halfway through a bottle of vodka and she dropped it, it shattered all over the floor and then..." She paused, her throat already getting thick with emotion. "And then she picked up the jagged edge of the bottle...and she came at me...screaming...'I'll never let anyone else have you.' "

She felt Elliot's hand on her shoulder, and she covered her mouth to quiet her sudden sob. "And so I kicked her, hard. And then I kicked her again and she went flying across the room, into the wall and she slid down to the floor." She shook her head, remembering the horrible feeling that had crept into her stomach that night. "I'd never hurt her before. I ran out...I was so afraid."

Elliot turned her around, pulling her into his arms as she began to sob into his chest. He smoothed his hand over her hair comfortingly and after an indeterminable amount of time she pulled away from him, wiping at the tears on her cheeks.

"So I should have seen this." She said looking up at him. "I should have recognized Carrie's love for Justin as an escape from her mother. If I had, then maybe she wouldn't be facing murder charges right now."

He shook his head, "Just because you know how something feels, doesn't mean you have to be on the lookout for it 24/7."

Olivia rested her cheek on his shoulder, enjoying the comforting feeling that surged through her when he wrapped his arms around her waist. "I know, but it doesn't make the guilty feeling go away."

He rubbed his hands up and down her back, "I know."

They were quiet for some time, before she suddenly pulled back a little to look at him, "You haven't yelled at me yet."

"What? Why would I yell at you?" He questioned.

"I'm not supposed to be out in the field, let alone by myself." She explained.

"Ohhh." He smiled in understanding. "I trust you not to put yourself or our child in any danger, I came here because I talked to Warner and figured out that you must've come here when you didn't show up at the precinct after court. I wasn't planning on yelling at you, unless you wanted me to-?"

She laughed, "No thanks, I'm good."

They stayed in the apartment a little while longer, continuing to look for bottles until Elliot found a pack of birth control pills prescribed to Carrie, under the sink. Realizing that they disproved the PMDD because they showed that Carrie was already on day six of her period when she killed her mother, Olivia took them and left to go talk to Carrie and Simone.

Halfway through the interview there was suddenly an odd fluttering in her stomach, it felt like morning sickness, but there was something different about it. She did her best to ignore it and focus of getting the rest of the information she needed from Carrie. After Simone confronted her in the hallway she called Casey and asked if they could meet and when the ADA arrived at the bar, Olivia was intently studying her stomach.

"Something wrong?" Casey asked, taking a seat beside her and ordering a beer.

"I'm not sure." She answered taking a sip of her water before looking at her stomach again. "When I was talking to Carrie I thought my morning sickness was back because I got this weird feeling in my stomach, but I don't feel like I have to get sick and it hasn't stopped."

Casey smiled, "Is it like a flutter?"

Olivia nodded looking up at her, "Yeah, why?"

"It's the baby." She answered with a smile. "It's a little early for you to be feeling it, but it's still possible."

"How-how do you know that? Are you sure?" She asked, eyes wide, her hands now covering her stomach.

"I've got a three year old nephew and my sister called me every time something big happened when she was pregnant with him, which was about every day in her mind." She explained with a laugh. "Oh and you won't be able to feel it from the outside for a while, at least a couple more weeks."

Olivia was quiet for a long moment, focused on the feeling in her stomach, "This is the weirdest and most amazing thing I've ever felt."

"That's about the same reaction my sister had." Casey said, taking a swig of her beer. "So, you ever gonna tell me who the father is?"

Olivia moved her hand back up to cup her glass, rolling it between her palms. "I already told you that I didn't know who he was, it was just a fling."

The redhead chuckled dryly, "Yeah and what I didn't tell you, but will now, is that I know you Olivia and that is complete bull."

Olivia debated the pros and cons of trusting Casey with their secret, she did trust her friend, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to ask someone else to risk their job for them. "Okay, you're right, I know who it is. He knows and we're together and are doing great, but if I tell you...you can't say anything."

"Alright so it's someone in the precinct then?" Casey asked, and Olivia nodded her head. "So how's Stabler feel about having another kid?"

"Seriously? I mean, is it really that obvious?" She huffed, taking a sip of her water.

"Eh, only if you've been around you two for a while and by a while I mean an hour." She laughed and nudged Olivia's elbow. "But I'm happy for you guys, and I promise your secret's safe with me."

"Thanks Casey." She sent her a grateful smile.

"You're welcome, Liv." She answered smiling back. "Now, back to why we're really here, what did Carrie say?"

They talked for a while, Olivia told Casey the same story she'd told Elliot earlier that afternoon and it convinced her to give Carrie a deal. Once they'd worked that out they stayed a little longer just to catch up, something they hadn't done in a while. At about nine Elliot called and nicely (and over protectively) suggested that Olivia come home, and it took all of her control not to get hormonal on him.

Casey laughed lightly at her red face when Olivia hung up, "Curfew?"

She sighed shaking her head, "He just gets worried and sometimes it's hard for me to remember that it's not just me anymore."

"I bet." Olivia got up and hugged her. "See ya tomorrow."

"What time is court again? I'd like to be there." She asked.

"Ten." Casey answered, signaling for her check.

"Alright, I'll see you then, goodnight Casey." Olivia said.

"Night, Olivia." She replied.

Once outside Olivia hailed a cab and gave them her address; lately Elliot had been spending more time in her apartment then his and it was likely it would stay that way until they found a house. After the initial decision to move in and buy a house together, they hadn't done a whole lot of house hunting and now that she was four months along she decided they would need to do something about that soon. She absentmindedly rubbed her stomach, the odd fluttering already becoming familiar had picked back up as they got closed to her apartment and she wondered if the baby somehow knew who they were going to see.

After paying the cabbie, Olivia took her time walking up to her apartment, trying to fully absorb this feeling. It finally felt real, that she was going to be a mother, that the life growing inside her was really there and not just a figment of her imagination. It was a surprisingly happy feeling and she didn't feel scared or nervous at all, though there was definitely more time for those feelings to change in the coming months. But for now she would hold on to this blissful feeling and make it last as long as she could.

The next morning when Olivia's alarm went off at eight, she quickly turned it off and rolled over to snuggle into Elliot, but was only met with more mattress. She sat up and listened for him in the kitchen but she heard no noise and was extremely confused; after she came back from her meeting with Casey last night he decided that he would go with her to court. Ignoring her need to pee, she walked into the kitchen and looked around for a note; something they had both agreed to do whenever they left unexpectedly.

She found two yellow post-it notes stuck to the counter and quickly read them both.

LIV-

HAD TO GO IN EARLY, CAP CALLED AND SAID HE NEEDED ME FOR SOMETHING. MEET YOU IN COURT AT TEN.

LOVE, EL

She smiled widely when she picked up the second one and read who it was addressed to.

BABY-

YOU WOKE MOMMY UP TWICE LAST NIGHT TO PEE AND ITS COOL THAT YOU CAN MOVE NOW, BUT TAKE IT EASY TODAY, OKAY?

LOVE, DADDY

Olivia laughed at the note, not realizing how much of a softie he really was. He had been extremely excited when she had revealed the newest development in her pregnancy when she had arrived home last night, and even though he'd already had four children he still tried to feel the movement and was still disappointed when he couldn't. The pout that had appeared on his face made her feel sorry for him and she promised she would tell him every time she felt something in case he would be able to feel it.

She grabbed a banana and both of the notes and walked back to her bedroom, peeling the banana after she had stuck both notes on the top of her dresser mirror. She quickly ate the piece of fruit and jumped into the shower and when she was washing her body she noticed that the baby was being rather calm this morning and her mind wandered back to Elliot's note.

It was only nine when she was done getting ready, but she figured it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and leave for court, she might even get a chance to talk with Carrie. The only problem with this plan was that she couldn't find her keys, but after ten minutes of searching around her apartment she finally saw them poking out from under a magazine on the coffee table. She heaved a sigh and leaned down to grab them but drew in a sharp breath when there was a sudden stabbing pain in her abdomen.

Olivia tried to stand back up but the pain was growing increasingly stronger and it was all she could do not to completely collapse on the floor. She slid down against the front of the couch and pulled her knees up to her chest, scared to death because it felt like period cramps times ten and her mind could only think of one possible explanation and she couldn't accept it. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and sent Elliot a quick text, but she couldn't bring herself to get up, paralyzed both with fear and pain. After a few minutes she felt something wet pooling between her legs and she started to sob when her hand came back covered with blood. This couldn't be happening.

Elliot walked up to the courthouse just as Casey was walking out, he'd gotten tied up with paperwork he had yet to file on the case and had missed the plea hearing.

"How'd it go?" He asked her when they reached each other.

"Fine, where's Olivia?" She asked looking around.

Worry immediately crept into his mind, "What do you mean?"

"Well last night she told me she was going to come and she never showed up." She answered.

"We were supposed to meet here, but I got tied up and figured I would just meet her afterwards." He said quietly, his mind going off in a thousand different directions.

"Okay, we don't need to start freaking out, did she call?" Casey questioned, seeing his distress.

"No, but-" he stopped just as a new text from her appeared on his screen. It was sent an hour ago, but he assumed he'd been in a dead spot when she had originally sent it.

SOMETHING'S WRONG, NEED YOU.

"Shit." He whispered, starting back down the steps.

"What happened?" Casey asked, right behind him.

"I don't know, she just said something was wrong, but she sent the text an hour ago and I just got it." He explained unlocking and getting into his SUV, surprised when he saw Casey sitting in the passenger seat next to him. "Don't you have more cases?"

"None that can't wait." She replied buckling her seatbelt.

Elliot nodded and turned on his sirens, making it to her apartment in record time. He took the stairs two at a time and could hear Casey right behind him, and he briefly wondered how she was running like that in heels. He stuck his key in her door and his nervous hands fumbled with it for a second before Casey pushed him out of the way and unlocked it for him.

"Thanks." He muttered, pushing passed her into the apartment. "Olivia?"

He looked around and his eyes caught sight of the back of her head in front of the couch, hanging limp against her shoulder. He rushed around the piece of furniture to find her sitting in a puddle of what he assumed was her own blood. Ignoring the sick feeling in his stomach he quickly checked for a pulse and was relieved when he found one.

"Casey, could you-"

"Ambulance is already on its way." She interrupted, laying a hand on his shoulder. "She's going to be fine."

"She better be." He whispered, stroking Olivia's face. "Don't leave me, Liv."

A/N: See what I meant about things getting more interesting? Thanks again for all of you that continue to read and review!

-Katie

Guest: Thanks, I'm glad you liked it!

Tiffany: Hope this update was fast enough for ya!