It's two days before Christmas in this story, so we're almost at the Christmas finale. You have one guess what Elliot is getting for Christmas :)) (Okay, two guesses ... I know how your minds work ...!) First, let's see what happens at the big family reunion.

...

71. The right time

"I'm sorry Olivia."

Elizabeth had whispered very softly, but it was loud enough to have an impact on Olivia. Elizabeth's arms were still around her, and she patted the young woman's back.

"It's okay honey. I don't blame you or Richard."

She really didn't. She understood why the children had seen her as a threat to their parents' marriage. And when Elliot had confirmed their fear, storming out of his party to see her, it made sense that they would support their mother. They had only been eighteen at the time and probably didn't even remember what Elliot had been like before he joined the SVU or before he partnered up with her.

Elizabeth sat down next to Olivia and looked at her brother and father, who were just releasing each other. Richard smiled shyly and wiped his eyes, and Elliot did the same. Richard looked at Olivia then, and stood up, smoothing his hands down his pants.

"Olivia," he started hesitantly, and Olivia blinked a few times, looking up at the younger version of her former partner. He'd really gotten tall.

"I ehm, I know we never really got to know each other and ... I've always been wary of you because ... well, I guess I can understand why my dad liked to hang out with you but ..."

Richard's cheeks turned a little pink and Olivia realized that he wasn't exactly being hostile towards her. She stood up as well.

"Richard, it's okay," she started to say, but Richard held up his hands and shook his head.

"No ... I just need to say this. I guess I never really wanted to see that my parents weren't happy together, and it was so easy to blame you. I ... it wasn't fair. It's like Liz said earlier. Everyone just got hurt more, including you, and ... I'm very sorry."

Olivia wanted to step closer to Richard but Elliot's cast was in the way. They smiled at each other, looking down at Elliot's leg, and then both stepped closer to it, until they were face to face.

"It's alright Richard."

"No, it's not. And now you're the one who's bringing our father back to us. We ... we owe you."

Olivia reached for the young man and rubbed his upper arms.

"You don't, Richard. Neither of you," Olivia added, looking at Elizabeth. "You were just kids."

"Did you know about the letter?" they suddenly heard Elliot ask, and all three of them looked at him.

"What letter?" Richard and Elizabeth asked in unison.

Elliot smiled at Olivia.

"Never mind," he said.

He was right. Knowing the twins hadn't know about the letter was enough. Apparently, Maureen had been the only one of the kids all along who'd known about it. Olivia looked up at Richard again and smiled.

"You're always welcome here, Richard. Like your dad says these days, we need to live in the present. The past is just that: the past."

Richard swallowed hard and looked down at his feet - or rather the cast separating him from Olivia. Olivia pulled him in and they hugged over Elliot's leg, both breathing out slowly, finally able to relax in each others' company.

"Thank you," Richard said softly. "For everything."

When they broke apart, Elliot was wiping his cheeks furiously again, and grinned when he saw they'd caught him. He shrugged.

"No filter, remember?"

They all laughed out loud and Elizabeth, who had rounded the table, wrapped an arm around her brother's waist. Richard gave his twin a kiss on the forehead. Just then, Jessie and Noah came back into the room, probably wondering what the laughter was about. Jessie looked at her girlfriend and smiled a relieved smile. All was well now. Noah immediately became the center of attention again when he started babbling innocently, telling his mother how he and Jessie had played with his dinosaurs and his toy cars. The adults all smiled and listened to the little boy while processing what had just happened between all of them.

...

A new batch of Stabers arrived a little while later, and Noah crawled into Elliot's lap with his sippy cup while Olivia greeted everyone at the door. Elliot wrapped his right arm around Noah protectively. It had to look like an invasion to the little guy. Five more people. His other three kids and two sons-in-law. His family was huge compared to Noah's. But hopefully, this would become Noah's family too. He already loved the little boy as his own.

His eyes landed on Eli, who was peeking at him and Noah from behind Kathleen, who was currently introducing Terrence to Olivia.

As his own. Just like Eli.

"Hey buddy," he called out to his youngest, ignoring the question gnawing at him whether or not Eli really was his son, and Eli finally approached him. Elliot realized that Eli was hesitant because of Noah, and he quickly moved Noah off his lap to greet his son.

"Come here Eli," he said, opening his arms for the eight-year old.

"Dad," Eli sighed. "I missed you. You getting better now?"

He hugged his father carefully, aware of his cast and probably of his other injuries as well. Elliot patted the space next to him, and asked Noah if Eli could sit with him.

"Noah? This is Eli. My son."

Noah was just staring at the boy next to him, and Elliot wondered if he should clarify. Then Eli asked him,

"Who's Noah dad?"

"Noah is Olivia's son. You know this is Olivia's place right?"

Eli nodded.

"Yeah. Mom told me. She's your friend from work."

"Right. Well, this is her son, so he lives her too."

"Oh. Hi," Eli said to Noah, who was still staring at him.

"Eewy play dino's?" Noah asked and Elliot smiled.

He hoped the two youngest in the group would hit it off, and when Eli asked him if he could go play with Noah, he nodded happily.

"Just go easy on him, okay buddy? He's getting a bit tired."

"Okay dad," Eli said and then said to Noah, "Let's go. Show me your dino's."

Olivia raised an eyebrow when she saw her son slip his little hand in Eli's and started tugging him along to his room. Her eyes found Elliot's and he winked at her.

"They'll be fine," he mouthed at her just when Maureen and Steve approached him.

"Mr Stabler, you look ... like hell, to be honest," Steve said, and Elliot chuckled.

"I've been better but it could have been much worse, so," he told his son-in-law with a slight shrug.

"It is what it is," Steve said, and Olivia could tell that the two men had had similar conversations before. It was nice to see Elliot interact with the younger man, who he was clearly very comfortable with.

"Daddy," Maureen said when she leaned over him to kiss his cheek, and father and daughter exchanged a look of understanding. They would still need to talk about things, but for now, Maureen's apology over the phone had been accepted, by Elliot as well as Olivia.

Next up were Kathleen and Terrence and once everyone had greeted each other and especially Richard, and they were finally seated and provided with coffee or tea, Olivia looked at Elliot. The room was filled with happy chatter but Elliot was quiet. He seemed to be studying all of his children's faces. He remembered Elizabeth in a way and he'd regained some very clear memories of Richard, but she hadn't heard him about the other children yet. She would have expected him to remember Kathleen first but so far, he hadn't, although he'd gotten very fond of the young woman he'd gotten to know over the past four years.

After everyone was all caught up on Richard's adventures in the military, they discussed Elizabeth and Jessie's new living arrangements. Everyone was glad that their little sister had come out and they welcomed Jessie into the family. Kathleen was the one, to no one's surprise, to broach another subject.

"Speaking of living arrangements. Dad, does this mean you're going to be shacking up with Olivia permanently?"

Everyone chuckled softly and Terrence nudged his girlfriend, but Kathleen just gave him a pointed look and then looked at her father again.

"It's not a strange question, is it? You practically gave your own place to Liz and Jess."

Elliot glanced at Olivia and she knew he felt a little awkward, since they hadn't really discussed anything yet. But Olivia was actually glad that she had the opportunity to talk to all the adult children at once, so everyone would know where she stood. If they had been in this situation four years ago, she wouldn't have felt an ounce of confidence to face the entire Stabler gang and admit that she was in love with their father. Things had been so different then and she'd felt so guilty of having those feelings for a married man.

Despite all the pain she'd suffered, those four years apart had also allowed her to grow out of that insecurity. She and Elliot had basically made a fresh start, and like Elizabeth had already said, when Elliot and Kathy's marriage did end, she wasn't in their lives so in the end, it wasn't something she felt guilty about. She was confident now and their lives had been un-complicated.

She smiled and looked around the group. They were all looking at her now because Elliot was looking at her.

"Guys. You know your father and I go back a long way and it was only logical that I'd take him in after the accident. We hadn't seen each other in four years as you know, but when we met again at the hospital, our old friendship was revived, as well as some other feelings. Feelings that we tried to deny and ignore for a long time, but that we don't need to deny anymore. You have to know that I have always had the greatest respect for your parents' marriage and that I never tried to interfere with it. Your father fought hard for your mom and you guys as well. But sometimes things don't go as planned, and we start to care about someone in a way that we can't really control."

Olivia paused to take a deep breath. So far so good. They were all listening and didn't seem to disagree with her.

"I love your father very much and we are going to stay in each others' lives this time. And I sincerely hope that you will all want to be part of our lives as well. I don't want to and will never try to replace your mother in any way, but I am going to be the woman at your father's side from now on, and I'm contributing another child as well. My son, Noah."

She looked behind her.

"Who is currently playing with Eli in his room."

The Stablers nodded and hummed in agreement.

"So yes, as far as I'm concerned, Elliot can move in with us permanently if that is what he wants. We haven't actually discussed it," she admitted, smirking at Elliot.

Elliot simply held out his hands, palms up.

"She's already running my life. It's a done deal."

They all laughed and Olivia knew that everything was going to work out for them. This would never have worked four years ago, but now, it was the right time. She had cleared the air with Kathleen, Elizabeth and Richard, and she knew that Maureen was coming around already. Elliot's firstborn was sitting next to her father and exchanged a look with her husband Steve, who nodded at her.

Maureen stood up and told everyone that she would like to say something. Just then, Eli and Noah came back into the room, Noah with bright red cheeks. Olivia held out her arms and Noah climbed in her lap, snuggling against her chest. He was so tired. Eli looked around the group and walked over to his big brother, who hauled him in his lap.

"Okay, now that everyone is here, I'd like to say something," Maureen started. "Olivia, I ... I hardly know where to begin. I do know that I speak for all of us when I say we're grateful that you kept our dad alive all those years you two worked together."

"Hear hear," Kathleen said, and the others nodded.

"Also, I want to apologize for shutting you out after our dad retired and then lost his memory."

More nodding, and Elliot put a hand on Olivia's knee.

"If we had known you were the key to unlock his memory ..." Maureen sighed and shook her head. "We were so wrong about you and I can't apologize enough. We should have known that someone who had meant so much to dad, someone he'd missed so terribly, needed to be allowed to be there for him. I'm grateful that you are being so gracious about all of this and that you are taking such good care of our father. Again."

"Yeah, you're awesome Olivia," Kathleen added and the others added their own yeahs and thanks.

Olivia had told herself that she and Elliot were going for what they wanted now, regardless of what anyone thought of it, but it moved her deeply to get so much support from all Elliot's children. She pulled Noah closer to her and kissed the top of his head while trying to breathe through the enormous lump in her throat.

Elliot felt the same way and he wished he could wrap his arms around the entire group of people in the room. This was his family, Olivia and Noah included and although his memory was still fragmented, he felt so blessed. He was so filled with all kinds of emotions that it was almost overwhelming, after having felt completely empty for so long. He pushed himself up and set his cast down on the ground, and all eyes were on him instantly. Maureen, understanding that her father wanted to stand up, supported his arm and the others also started to stand up.

"What's up dad?" Richard asked his father, and Elliot locked eyes with his son.

His son, that he was now remembering. He looked around the group and sighed, at a loss for words.

"I think we need a group hug," Kathleen announced and Elliot smiled at his middle daughter. She really was a part of him.

Steve and Terrence grabbed the coffee table and moved it aside carefully and then they all huddled around the injured head of the family. Elliot pulled Olivia, who was still holding Noah in her arms, close to him. Eli and Noah didn't understand what was going on but joined in happily in the eleven-person hug that formed around them. Olivia closed her eyes and hid her face in the crook of Elliot's neck. This was the family that she had watched from the outside for so long and suddenly she was a part of it. She'd told herself it wouldn't matter what anyone said or thought of her and Elliot but this was so much better. This mattered, a lot. Family was everything and hers had just grown from two to eleven. It was the best Christmas gift she could ever have asked for, and she hand't even asked.

...

Almost there. Leave your thoughts in the review box?