Here's some more. I'll post again soon!
"They can share Kate's bed…if you don't mind," Kathy said as she put her granddaughter in the small toddler bed, pulling back the pink bedding. Kate was already in her pajamas and was back to sleep in no time. Noah on the other hand was getting more and more upset, fighting sleep.
"I forgot the diaper bag," Olivia sighed, dreading going back down for it.
"I'll get it," Kathy offered. "Kate's asleep anyway." She headed to the door, stopping when Olivia called to her.
"I'm gonna give Noah a bath," she said. "So can you bring it in there?"
"Sure," Kathy smiled.
Olivia was sitting on the floor in Elliot's upstairs bathroom, running warm water in the tub. She knew Noah would never go to sleep without his nightly bath, even though it was late and she wished he was already sound asleep. She put him in the tub, and his cries lessened. She smiled and whispered to him, "Mommy's good boy…you have to calm down now."
"Here's the diaper bag," Kathy walked in, watching Olivia with the little boy. She sat on the toilet lid and smiled at Olivia sitting in the floor, "You're gonna want to find an easier position for bathing him," she suggested. "It's gonna get harder…" Olivia looked up at her, placing her hand carefully on her stomach and Kathy gave her a knowing nod, "I used to sit on the edge of the tub. It's easier to get up from there when you get bigger."
"Elliot said no one would notice because I look chubby," she sighed.
"He said that?" Kathy rolled her eyes. "He's never been known for his sensitivity." She laughed, "You don't look chubby," she assured her. "I could tell you were pregnant about ten seconds after you walked in the door."
"Did you tell Elliot you know?" Olivia asked, unsure of how to proceed with the conversation.
Kathy nodded, "Yes…and I told him to tell the kids. That's what he's doing right now. I thought maybe you'd both want to tell Eli together later, but the older ones need to know. They probably already suspect something."
"Do you think they'll be mad?" Olivia asked, and Kathy shook her head. "Are you?"
"I don't think it's any of my business," Kathy said honestly.
"Kathy…you know Elliot and I…we never…I mean, he never cheated on you," Olivia felt the need to explain. "I know you always thought there was something between us…"
"There was," Kathy insisted. "But I know you weren't sleeping together then." She looked down at the floor, "Olivia…this isn't an easy conversation to have, and I'm not sure this is the right time for it."
"I just wanted you to know," she sighed. "He wouldn't have hurt you or the kids like that."
"He hurt you instead," Kathy nodded sadly. "Is that what you're saying?"
"I had no reason to be hurt," Olivia admitted. "No reason at all." She pulled Noah out of the tub, drying him with one of Elliot's bath towels and laying him carefully on the floor to put on a fresh diaper on clean pajamas.
"He loves you," Kathy said sincerely. "And I'm glad he's happy. He hasn't been happy for a very long time."
Olivia nodded, pulling herself up off the floor and carrying Noah in her arms. "I think I'll just lay down with him a while," she said, wanting nothing more than to remove herself from the uncomfortableness of the conversation. "I don't think he'll fall asleep otherwise."
"I'll go check on Paul and Eli," Kathy smiled. "It will probably take both of us and about a million stories to get him to sleep tonight."
Olivia watched as Kathy disappeared into Eli's room and then walked with Noah into Elliot's. She hadn't stayed there since the night she came to tell him their baby had Down syndrome. He spent almost every night at her apartment, or she spent it alone…but never back here. She lay across the bed, Noah snuggled in the crook of her arm and gently patted his stomach hoping he would fall asleep. Elliot was downstairs telling his kids about her…about their baby. She couldn't remember the last time she had spent Christmas with anyone other than herself, and right now she longed for the easiness and solitude of being alone.
Downstairs, Elliot was helping the kids pack up the unused decorations. He could hear water running through the pipes above his head, typical of the old house and the weak plumbing, and he figured Olivia had decided to give Noah a bath to calm him down. That was how she always got him ready for bed at home. He saw Kathy, out of the corner of his eye walking into the room and grabbing Noah's diaper bag. She looked at him, like she expected something, but he avoided her glance and she went back upstairs.
"What did you want to talk to us about?" Elizabeth asked as she sat the nativity set carefully on the end table. "Mom said you needed to talk to us."
Elliot looked at Elizabeth, and then at his son who was busy putting the lid on a storage container of ornaments, and then to Maureen who already knew what he was going to say. He was at a loss for words and wished she would jump in and say what needed to be said, but he knew he was being a coward. They deserved to hear it from him. "I wanted to tell you thank you for including Olivia tonight," he said sincerely. "She's never had a family for Christmas before."
"Really?" Elizabeth asked. "Why?"
"She's been alone a long time," Elliot told her.
"You should've invited her before, then," Elizabeth added. "You've been friends since we were little and you just let her spend every holiday alone?"
Richard looked at his sister, and shook his head at her naiveté, "He couldn't do that, Liz," he sighed. "It wouldn't have been fair to Mom."
Elizabeth looked confused at first, but then realization spread across her face and she felt stupid. Was she the only one who hadn't known her father's feelings for his partner all those years? "Dad…"
"Lizzie," Elliot began slowly. "I promise you…Olivia and I…this is a relatively new thing…"
"How long?" Richard asked. "Is Noah your kid? We have a baby brother and you didn't even tell us."
"Noah isn't Dad's kid," Maureen argued. "Dad hadn't even seen Olivia in years before I started to work for her…and Noah was already eight months old by then. She adopted him. Just let Dad explain…"
"You already know what he's trying to tell us, don't you?" Elizabeth asked…then she looked at her father, "Just spill it, Dad."
"Olivia and I have been talking about me possibly adopting Noah with her," he said, hoping to ease into the conversation.
"You want to adopt a baby?" Richard asked with a slight laugh. "Are you gonna marry her?"
"We've been talking about it," Elliot admitted.
"Really?" Elizabeth asked. "You've been talking about getting married and you didn't even tell us you were seeing her?"
"I didn't want to upset you…I wasn't sure how you'd react," he admitted.
"I love Olivia," Elizabeth replied. "I always have…but I didn't know you were lusting after her while you were married to Mom either."
"They didn't do anything," Richard told her. "Mom's the one who filed for divorce and got remarried, Liz. You can't blame Olivia for that."
"I don't," Elizabeth insisted. "I said I've always loved her. I just feel weird about all of this now."
Maureen looked at her father, reminding him that he hadn't really said all the needed to be said. He'd only touched the surface. "Just tell them…" she whispered, and her brother and sister turned to look at her and then back at their father.
"Olivia's pregnant," he said quickly.
"She's pregnant?" Richard asked. "Did you do this on purpose? You…want more kids…really?"
"Dickie it's none of your business if we did this on purpose," Elliot sighed.
"Well that answers my question," he rolled his eyes in disbelief. "God Dad…you can't just keep it in your pants once in a while? You shouldn't need the safe sex speech at your age…"
"You are way out of line!" Elliot looked furiously at his son.
"And so are you!" he yelled back. "You think its okay to mope around here, act like we're not enough for you…for years. And then you just randomly go knock up your best friend and decide you want to raise her kids with her? How is that fair?"
"I never thought you weren't enough," Elliot looked sadly at his son. The words stung, and he didn't know how to make things right. "I loved you…I still do."
"Yeah," Richard sighed.
"I'm sorry," Elliot reached out and hugged his son in a way he hadn't done for years. "I never wanted you to think you weren't enough, son. I love you…all of you."
"Does Mom know?" Elizabeth asked. "About you and Olivia?"
Elliot nodded, "Yeah…and she knows about the baby too. She's the one who insisted I tell you tonight. And she was right…I should have told you sooner. I'm sorry…"
"Is Mom okay?" Elizabeth asked.
Elliot smiled gently, "She's fine, Lizzie. She loves Paul and she's happy…she doesn't really care how I live my life now…and she likes Olivia too."
"When's the baby due?" Richard asked. "I guess I could tell she looked pregnant…but I just thought maybe she was getting fat."
Elliot laughed, "Don't say that to her. I swear she'll bite your head off." He smiled, "I learned that one from experience."
"You told her she was fat?" Maureen asked. "Nice Dad…"
Elliot shook his head, "I just said she looked chubby so I thought maybe no one would notice she was pregnant."
"Wow," Elizabeth sighed. "Way to make her feel good about herself, Dad." She laughed. "So, when is the baby due?"
"In June," Elliot nodded. "It's a girl…"
Elizabeth smiled, "I bet she'll be really pretty…she probably won't look like the rest of us though. She'll probably look like Olivia."
"A Stabler that isn't blonde and blue-eyed," Richard laughed. "That'll be a first."
"What's her name?" Elizabeth asked eagerly.
"We haven't decided yet," Elliot smiled. "But if you have some thoughts I bet Olivia would love to hear them."
"We need to get this stuff put away," Maureen looked around the room and started picking up more things to put in boxes.
"Everything okay down here," Kathy said as she and Paul walked into the room. "The kids are asleep."
"I told Olivia I'd bring her presents in from the porch," Richard grabbed his coat. Then he hugged his mother and kissed her on the cheek, "Everything is fine down here." He looked at his father and shook his head sadly. He wasn't really mad, he was more disappointed. His father had changed everyone's lives in one moment of weakness...and he didn't seem to understand that.
"Where's Olivia?" Elliot asked, wondering if she was too afraid to come down and face his family now that they knew the truth.
"She's asleep," Kathy smiled. "On your bed, with Noah…she's exhausted, Elliot."
"Maybe I should let her sleep then," he said. "She's always so tired."
Kathy shook her head, "She'll never forgive you if you let her sleep through Christmas Eve. She wants to put out Noah's presents…remember?"
"I can do that," Elliot offered. "She needs to rest."
"Go wake her up," Kathy insisted. "Trust me…you won't want to face her wrath in the morning if you don't. Don't take her first Christmas as a mommy away from her."
Elliot knew Kathy was right, and as he walked up the stairs he wondered how he could always be so wrong about everything. He opened the bedroom door, smiling when he saw Olivia and Noah snuggled together in his bed. He walked over, sitting on the edge of the bed, placing his hand on the warmth of her skin where her sweater had shifted up over the swell of her stomach, rubbing gently. "Liv…" he whispered and she slowly opened her eyes. "Wake up…"
She sat up, pulling her sweater down to cover her exposed skin and yawned, "I didn't mean to fall asleep." She looked at him questioningly. "How did it go with the kids?"
He smiled, "They want to know what we're going to name the baby." She wondered if he was keeping their real feelings from her to spare hers, but decided to just be happy for once. "Let's go put Noah in Kate's room and then we can go play Santa." He picked up the baby and carried him toward the door.
Olivia climbed out of bed and followed him, "I call dibs on Santa's cookies," she laughed.