Kathy stood there, with her head down, waiting for it to come, whatever "it" was. She expected a scream, a yell, a rant, cursing, anything displaying Elliot's fierce rage but the rooftop was silent. When she finally chanced a look at Elliot, all she saw was his back disappearing through the rooftop door.
Elliot barreled down the concrete steps until tears blurred his vision. His chest ached, he mind spun and he stomach was somewhere near his toes. He stopped on the 7th floor landing and slammed his fist into the drywall leaving a significant Elliot-sized hole. He didn't care. He didn't care about anything right now. He had put his life, his career, everything on hold for Kathy when she suddenly became pregnant with Eli. They had been in the middle of a separation. He was going to file divorce papers. He was going to move on with his life and then everything came to a halt. Elliot had moved back home to be with her. He had done the right thing and he loved Eli with every atom of his being.
Elliot pounded his fist into the wall over and over again until both sets of knuckles were torn and bleeding. Sinking down to the floor, he dissolved into a ragged pile of sweat, blood, and tears.
Elliot had no idea how long he sat there but as soon as he heard the roof door open above him, he stood up and made his way to the bottom floor. The last thing he wanted was for Kathy to see how she had destroyed him.
The first floor stairwell door opened to the parking garage. Elliot walked until he was out of site of the door in case Kathy had decided to follow him. He leaned his back against the concrete wall in a darkened corner of the garage and forced air until his lungs until they couldn't expand anymore. Releasing the breath he brought his hands up to his face and rubbed vigorously. Fuck. What had his life just dissolved into? He had been betrayed, badly, and if the Marines had taught Elliot anything it was to value loyalty above all else. He couldn't, no, wouldn't stand for this and neither would his children.
Loyalty was everything to him.
Finding his car, Elliot hopped in, placed the gumball light on the dash and sped off towards the city.
Olivia awoke a couple hours later to an empty room. The shades had been drawn making the room much darker than the bright afternoon sky, the television was now playing a muted episode of Jerry Springer and a cold and forgotten lunch tray sat on her bedside table. She looked around the room and noticed that Elliot's leather jacket was still lying haphazardly over the back of the chair by her bed. She sighed, and rested her head back on the pillow. Her eyes fell shut and her face became etched with worry. He still wasn't back from speaking with Kathy. That couldn't be good.
"Liv?" A small voice brought her out of her hazy reverie.
Olivia squinted in the direction of the door and watched as Maureen's worried face came into focus.
"Hey, Mo! What are you doing here, honey?" Olivia tried to sound as upbeat and healthy as possible.
"I called mom to ask if she had seen dad. He hasn't been returning my calls over the past two days and I was worried. She said he was here with you. What happened?! Are you okay?!" Maureen had tears in her eyes now and was slowly walking towards Olivia's bed. Olivia stretched out her hand and waited for Maureen to take it.
"I'm fine, honey. Nothing I won't bounce back form in a couple months. I'll be back and better than ever soon." Olivia offered Maureen a closed lip smile and tried to convey as much confidence with her eyes as she could. Maureen was going through enough without worrying about her.
"I just…I just was so worried." Maureen was visibly crying now with tears falling down her cheeks and on to her purple blouse. "I'm not sure what we would do without you. Kathleen and I would be a mess, Dickie and Lizzie love you, and Eli thinks you're the greatest. Dad…dad would never recover if something happened to you. You know that, right?"
"Maureen, I'm okay honey. You don't even have to think like that. Nothing is ever going to take me away from you guys. I'm tough, remember?" Olivia tried sitting up in the bed a little more and winced in pain as she accidentally pulled one of her stitches a little too much. Maureen was instantly at her side, worried hands trembling as she tried to help Olivia get comfortable again.
"Okay, so maybe it hurts a little." Olivia shyly confessed. "Don't tell your father that. He's driving me nuts waiting on me hand and foot. He doesn't need any more excuses to fluff my pillow or hover over me." Olivia winked at Maureen who smiled.
"Dad's a softie? Huh." Maureen smile grew. "You know, Olivia. He's only like this with you."
"Gee, that makes me feel so much better." Olivia rolled her eyes sarcastically.
"No, seriously, Liv. He's not even good with us when we stay home from school. It's kind of funny actually. Mom sucks at it too but dad is worse. He would just pat us on the forehead from a safe distance and tell us to get better before he ran off to work."
Olivia chuckled. "Yeah, this one time a suspect threw up all over the interrogation room. Your dad ran out of there so fast and didn't come back for an hour. When he finally stumbled back in to the bull pen he was white as a ghost. I think he had gotten sick as well but he would never admit that to me."
Maureen sat down next to Olivia on the bed. "Have you seen dad lately? I assumed he'd be with you. I wanted to check on him and see how he's doing with the whole 'mom' thing."
"He left a few hours ago to speak with her. They probably decided to grab lunch or something." Olivia tried desperately to hide her worry.
"No, mom's out there at the nurse's station. She said she hadn't seen him in a while."
Olivia's brow knitted together on its own accord. She was definitely concerned now. If Elliot had flown into a rage, there's no telling where he was. She suddenly found herself hoping that he didn't find Greg or Craig or whatever the hell Kathy's "fiancé's" name was.
Elliot held his finger down on the buzzer for Liz Donnelly's brownstone much longer than necessary. Apparently, Liz thought so too because as she threw the door open her eyes bore into Elliot like lasers.
"Stabler, what the hell do you want?" Judge Donnelly snapped, standing with one arm on her hip and the other on the door frame.
Elliot slapped a packet of folded papers against her arm and shot her a desperate look as he brushed passed her and into her foyer.
"Please, do come in." Liz said sarcastically to the empty space now in front of her. Judge Donnelly turned swiftly on her heels and slammed the door behind her. "Elliot, you know I cannot discuss cases with you. What do you want?" Her tone softened some.
"I need you to sign these." Elliot said, bringing his head up to meet Judge Donnelly eye to eye.
"And what, pray tell is this?" Liz asked, eying Elliot and taking the papers from him and gently unfolding them.
"A paternity test? This is a bit uniform for you, isn't it? Can't you just run the DNA through your lab?" Judge Donnelly inquired, still reading.
"It's not a case." Elliot uttered flatly.
Liz had apparently reached the part where the DNA order listed Eli's name because she raised a hand to her lips and her eyes grew wide momentarily before narrowing again and raising to meet Elliot's nervous gaze.
"Elliot, what is going on?" Judge Donnelly had always had a soft spot for Elliot though she would never admit that. He was all business and no bullshit like she was and didn't screw around in her court room. He had always done right by her and the victim and that earned him a great deal of respect in her eyes. It pained Liz to see Elliot so apparently distressed and fragile. She and Elliot may not have been close but she knew him well enough to know his intense devotion to his children.
"I just need to know if he's mine, Liz." Elliot said quietly, holding out a pen for her.
She took it gently and rested the papers on her foyer table. Singing in them quickly and with a flourish, she folded them and gently handed them back to Elliot.
"Let me know how this turns out, please?"
"Yeah. Thanks—thank you." Elliot uttered, moving towards the door. Judge Donnelly stood on her stoop and watched him walk down the front steps and to his car. Closing the door behind her, Judge Donnelly closed her eyes briefly and sighed. She walked to her office and picked up the phone. She had an important call to make.
"Captain Cragan, Special Victims Unit." Liz barked into the phone when the receptionist picked up.
A few seconds ticked by and then Cragen picked up his end of the line. Liz was steely and gripping the edge of her desk by this point. Anger and sorrow for Elliot flowing through her.
"Don. We have a problem."