A/N: I don't own any of the characters except my own.

Olivia woke up after having a restless night and realized where she was. She was scheduled for surgery in just a few hours. Hank was asleep in the chair with his feet up on the bed and Erin was sound asleep on the sofa with her hand on her belly.

"Hank?"

"Huh?"

"You awake?"

"I am now. You ok?"

"No. I'm scared."

Hank tried to get up but he was stiff from sleeping in a strange position. He moved closer to Olivia and kissed her.

"Everything will be ok."

"How can you be so sure of that? What if I'm not back to the way I was before the accident? What if we can never make love again?"

"Babe, just stop! I love you and nothing is ever going to change that. We got through your last surgery and we will get through this."

Olivia had tears running down her cheeks.

"What if I'm not able to do my job again?"

Hank started kissing Olivia to shut her up and then Diana, Ed and Kara came in. Ed cleared his throat.

"Good morning."

"I wish it was. I can't do this."

"Olivia, I know you're scared but getting so upset about it isn't going to make it go away."

"She's worried she won't be able to do her job again."

"I can relate to that."

"I know you can."

"Wait, what?"

Erin woke up and tried getting up. Ed and Hank helped her up.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

Erin headed to the washroom.

"This happened when Kara was a baby. I was chasing someone and I fell down the stairs. I ended up breaking my leg in several places and my arm. I didn't need surgery but I needed a lot of help. Kara was a couple months old. I had no one, so I had to get someone stay with me 24/7 because of Kara. I was nursing her but I couldn't do that. I had to pump. It was bad enough that I couldn't hold her and comfort her. Trudy helped out, Al and Meredith helped out, Hank and Camille helped out and Erin helped out. That was when Kara bonded with Hank. She has always had him wrapped around her little finger. I never thought I'd get back to the way I was but I did. It took a while though. You at least have a family to help you through it. It was my choice to have a baby and not a relationship but honestly, men can be such jerks, which is why I really had no interest in getting involved with anyone. I didn't want to bring someone into our lives that could have done something to me or my daughter. The only men I basically trusted were the ones I knew through work. I knew that when the time came and I did finally meet someone, he'd be a cop. I was right about that. Ed and Kara had an instant connection to each other and that was important to me."

Erin came back and Olive was with her.

"Look who I found."

"Hey, Olive."

"Hey."

"How were they?"

"They were good. Everyone else is in the waiting room. They told me only family was allowed into the room before visiting hours. Jay is still at the house though."

"Olive, are you free for lunch today? I would love to hear about you and Trevor."

"Yeah, I'm free. He has several meetings with Clients and then he has to go to court, so he said he will be out of the office most of the day."

"How's married life been treating you?"

"Great. Jay is still a pain in the butt though. I told him we need to sign up for birthing classes but he doesn't want to. I have a feeling he is going to pass out in the delivery room. The entire unit is placing bets on that."

Hank shook his head. Hank's phone rang and he noticed it was Jay. The 3 kids video chatted with Olivia again. Hank told them that he would let them know when Olivia was out of surgery before he ended the call. Then the doctor came in.

"We should be taking you to pre-op soon."

"Ok."

"Everyone else can come into see you before you go in."

"Ok.

The doctor left and Diana, Ed, Kara, Erin and Olive all hugged Olivia before they headed to the waiting room. Trevor, Fin, Amanda, Sonny, Jeff and Rafael all came in first. They all hugged her and then the group from Chicago came in to hug her. Hank went with her until she was ready to go in.

"Hank, I love you so much."

"I love you too. You'll be fine. I'll be there when you wake up."

"Promise?"

"I promise. You have my word."

Olivia had tears running down her face.

"Don't cry. We'll get through this."

They came in to get Olivia ready to take her in to the OR and told Hank about how long it could take. Hank kissed her and then he went to join everyone else in the waiting room. Mostly everyone was gone except for Ed, Kara, Amanda, Erin and the group from Chicago.

"Go grab some breakfast and a shower. Kara and I will stay here."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely."

"I promised her I'd be here when she wakes up."

"I'll let you know if I hear anything."

"It'll be several hours yet. Did you two eat?"

"Yeah. We ate with Diana before we came here."

"Do you guys want to come by the house? I can get a shower and change and then we can grab something to eat?"

"Sure."

"Thanks for staying."

"No problem."

Hank, Erin and the group from Chicago left. Erin went with Hank and they all headed to Hank and Olivia's house. When they arrived, they all went inside through the garage.

"Hello."

"Hey, Hank."

"Hi Daddy."

"Hey. Buddy."

"Hi Daddy."

"Hi Princess."

"Hi Papa."

"Hi."

"Erin!"

"Auntie!"

"Hey, you 3! Where's Jay?"

"In the shower."

"Ok. I'm going to go up there then."

Erin headed upstairs and grabbed some towels before joining Jay in the shower.

"Who's at the hospital?"

"Ed and Kara are. I'm going to grab a shower and then we're going out for breakfast. Did they eat yet?"

"Actually, they did. They ate with Olive, Amanda and Sonny before they left for the hospital."

"Ok."

Hank went up to take a shower and then he got dressed. Erin and Jay were ready at about the same time.

"Jay, thanks for calling Olivia and letting them talk to her before she went in."

"No problem. They wanted to talk to her."

"Did you eat yet?"

"No. I figured I'd wait to see what Erin was planning to do first."

"I'm having lunch with Olive though."

"Ok."

The 3 of them went downstairs.

"Ok. Let's go."

Hank kissed the kids and then everyone except Amanda left for breakfast. When they got to the restaurant, they got out of the cars and went in to get a table.

"So, do you miss us?"

"Yeah, I do but I love being with Olivia. These last 7 months have been amazing."

"Tucker was telling us about what happened yesterday."

"I'm glad he was with her when it happened. He feels so bad that she is as bad as she is and he walked away without a scratch on him. Diana is investigating it because she doesn't believe it was an accident."

"From what she was saying, she's helping out SVU?"

"She mentioned it to Olivia and Olivia told her she needed to talk to Fin."

"From what Fin was saying though, he is taking her up on her offer since Rollins is off for a while."

"Yeah and she told Olivia that she wants to go away with Carisi and Jesse. Jesse wants to go to Disney and has since Olivia and I took Noah and Rachel."

"Any plans to come see us?"

"Not really until Erin has the baby. My main concern right now is Olivia's recovery."

They had their order taken and then the server brought their coffee and Erin's juice.

"Meredith sends her love."

"Thanks, Al."

"So do Gabby and Matt."

"Randy does too. We're thinking about coming out here for a vacation. He was fine with me coming out here now."

"Al, how's Lexi?"

"She's a pain in the ass as always but you know how that goes. She's rebelling so much lately."

"Yeah, I know. Justin was that age once and so was Erin."

"Hey!"

"What's with Olive and Langan?"

"I'm fine with it honestly. He's good for her and he really loves the kids. Daniel is crazy about him."

"Are they dating?"

"They have gone to the next step and he has told her he loves her. She kind of panicked but I told her that it's ok for her to have feelings for someone else. She cares deeply for him but she's not sure what she wants right now and she's afraid that he's not going to be around when she finally decides she ready. He has assured her that he will be. Just before we got back from Paris, someone tried attacking her in the garage at work. If Trevor hadn't shown up, who knows what might have happened. He stayed with her until we got back and then when the guy was hanging around outside the house, he took her back to his condo. I want a good guy for her and the kids and I truly think he's it. She's a smart girl and the age thing doesn't matter to either of them. Their connection is definitely more than sex. She has talked a lot about him to her family and Nicole's one sister is married to someone 20 years older than her. Nicole said Olive is a lot like this aunt."

"Olive's happiness is ultimately all that matters, right?"

"Oh, yeah and it's her choice. I support her 100%. When we went to Chicago and LA and Lucy ended up being sick, he took time off to take care of the kids. She feels safe when he's around, so I don't think he's going anywhere anytime soon. She has said she wants more kids and he wants them too. They do spend quite a bit of time together and he makes her smile again. If anyone knows about that, I do. I never thought I ever feel that way again but Olivia changed that for me."

Their breakfast arrived and they kept talking. Once they were done, they paid the bill and headed to the hospital. They parked and then headed to the surgical waiting room. Kara had fallen asleep on Ed's shoulder.

"Haven't heard anything."

"I figured you would have called or texted me if you had. I promised her I'd be here when she woke up. You see her every day. Have you noticed how down she seems lately?"

"Yeah, kind of. Even more so after we got back from Paris."

"I think part of it is that if she hadn't had the miscarriage, the baby would have been born last month. I get she's still upset about that because that was probably her one and only chance to have a baby but thinking about it, I would have rather lost the baby via miscarriage than have him or her be a stillborn. I already had to go through that."

"I can see your point. If she had carried the baby full-term, could that have caused more problems for her with her cysts?"

"It probably could have. She's worried about not being able to get back to normal after this surgery. I was more anxious after her last surgery because I already went through that once. I could not imagine having to go through that again. I saw what that did to Camille. She was so exhausted after her chemo treatments and she just kept getting weaker and weaker. The last thing I wanted was to have to go through the same thing with Olivia. Justin was at least old enough that he understood what was going on with Camille. Noah and Rachel would not have been able to understand any of it. I thought of having to raise them by myself scared me too."

"At least you didn't have to worry about that and you weren't the only one. My grandma died from ovarian cancer and that hit me pretty hard because I was so close to her. I have this one aunt who smokes like a chimney and she's still kicking. I sometimes smoke when I'm stressed but I ended up quitting cold turkey when I was with Olivia because of Noah's respiratory issues. It's been over a year. The last time I smoked was during that case I was being investigated for."

"His lungs seem pretty clear now, even when he runs around a lot. You don't see your family much, do you?"

"Not really. They do occasionally text or call me to see what's going on. Every time I get together with them, they start pushing me about finding love again. I was hearing from them left and right with that case I was being investigated for and my cousin ended up being arrested for. I didn't tell any of them when I was seeing Olivia nor have I told any of them about Diana and Kara."

"Are your parents still around?"

"Oh, yeah."

"Siblings?"

"I'm the oldest of 6. I have 2 brothers and 3 sisters. I grew up in a typical Irish-Catholic family and had way too many cousins. My parents own a pub but it's now run by my brothers and one of my sisters cooks."

"I take it that wasn't your thing."

"Pretty much. We all worked there at one point whether it was bussing tables, tending bar, waiting on tables, washing dishes or whatever."

"What did you do?"

"Believe it or not, I tended bar when I was old enough. I was pretty much the black sheep of the family because I wanted to do something different with my life but I worked there while I was in college. After college, I went into the Police Academy and had to concentrate on that. I married the girl I dated in college after I had been working a few years. She wanted a family right away and I wanted to focus on my job. I wanted to take the Detective's exam, so I did that and passed. She still kept bugging me to have a baby. We had had this conversation that led to an argument in front of my mother. I never really saw myself as a father and I never really envied my siblings when they had kids. I love my nieces and nephews but at the time, being a parent wasn't for me. I came home one night from my shift and she was in bed with someone else. We got into it of course and after I packed some stuff, I went to live with my parents until I got another place. She filed for the divorce but she tried to say that I was physically and verbally abusive to her. That ended up being my first experience with IAB and I had to clear my own name to keep my job. That was the first complaint against me and I told them that my soon to be ex-wife was just trying to drag me through the mud. If anything came up again, then they would have to take action. A few years later, I had taken and passed the Sergeant's exam but I had started not trusting anyone after what had happened with my ex, including my partner. IAB had asked me if I would let them know when he did certain things and I said I would. Later, I was asked if I wanted to join IAB and I thought, what the hell? My former partner lost his job because of me but I was getting a comfy desk job with a huge pay increase. After my divorce, I pretty much became a hermit, I just didn't care anymore and I really could have cared less about what people thought of me. I was probably the most hated cop in the NYPD for years. I knew when anything happened and I would show up without any warning. I battled SVU quite a bit, especially Stabler and Amaro with their tempers. I arrested both Olivia and Rollins for things they didn't do. I think it was after what had happened with William Lewis that I started seeing Olivia differently and after Amaro retired, I cut SVU some slack. Like Tutuola put it, he never realized I had feelings until I helped Olivia when she was being held hostage by Joe Utley. That was basically a true statement because for the longest time, everyone knew me as a cold-hearted individual, who headed the Rat Squad. Truth is, I was starting to become lonely and Olivia was the first person within the Department that I learned to trust. I never expected things to go the way they did with us but I actually enjoyed her company and the more time I spent with Noah, the more I realized what I had missed by never having children of my own. At this age, who the hell wants an infant? I'm glad I met Diana and Kara and now, they're my family. Kara and I may not be blood but I love her just as much."

"She missed out on a lot by not having a dad but that Diana's choice. She has done such a great job with her. Camille, Meredith and Trudy went with her when she had the procedure done and made sure that she chose a good 'father'. Olivia has said many times that Noah and Rachel may not be hers genetically but it's not blood that makes a family. Love is. For the longest time, that's how I felt about Erin until I found out that I was her father. Thinking about it, Camille probably would have laughed at me with this whole thing because she knew what a piece of work Bunny was."

"I'm just glad she's not around anymore."

"Did you ever tell your dad about you and Erin and the baby?"

"No. Will might have said something though. Nothing I ever did was good enough for him. Will wasn't around when our mom died but Dad was so proud of Will for becoming a doctor. I was there though everything and get treated like shit. On top of that, I went to the Middle East and fought for my country and I'm a cop. Who puts his life on the line every day? You and I may not have always seen eye to eye but you care more about me than he does. I'm fine with you and Olivia being our daughter's grandparents. You would have been anyway even if you weren't Erin's dad."

"I appreciate that. Thanks. Ed, as much as most of us never had any respect for people with Internal Affairs, I can understand what you went through. I also understand the loneliness. I never really wanted anything to do with getting involved with someone after Camille's death, mainly because I didn't want to have to deal with losing someone again. The first time I had come here for a case and Olivia threatened to arrest me, there was just something about her that intrigued me. Even more so after Yates' trial. Nothing ever happened and by the time I decided to tell her how I really felt about her, she told me she was involved with you."

"She talked about you quite a bit and I had asked her on several occasions if anything had happened between the two of you. She said no. After she had come back from Chicago after Yates had escaped, she seemed quiet and when I asked her what had happened, she didn't want to get into it. I'm fine with the way things turned out. You're a good guy."

"Diana could have done a lot worse. You've been good for both of them."

"I see her doing my former job and people actually like her. I don't miss it, nor do I miss getting up in the morning to go to work. It hasn't even been that long."

"I know. It's been over 6 months for me. I love being a stay at home dad but I'm glad we have Lucy around too."

"I love spending my day with Kara. After telling you about my family, I'm thinking that maybe it's time I introduce Diana and Kara to them. I would have loved to have been able to take you, Olivia and the kids but that may not be happening for a while."

Ed got a text from one of his sisters. She was just checking in with him to see how things were going, so he texted her back.

"What is the age difference between you and the youngest?"

"10 years. Mom had a baby every year and a half to 2 years. She and Dad are both 75 this year. I'm actually a junior. My sister Patty was born on St. Patrick's Day and she's the next one down from me. Mom had her and then Dad had to go work at the pub for the busiest night of the year. I was probably with Grandma. Patty was always Dad's favorite and not just because of when she was born."

Ed told everyone more about his family and then Kara woke up after a while. Erin left to meet Olive for lunch and after a while, everyone else went to the cafeteria for lunch. Hank had dozed off for a little while when the surgeon came in.

"Hank?"

"Huh?"

Hank opened his eyes.

"Oh, hey, Doc."

"She's doing great and everything looks good. I casted her elbow as well. They will probably start PT and OT tomorrow. You can go stay with her if you'd like."

"Great. Thanks."

Hank went with the doctor to where Olivia was and they ran into everyone else on the way, so he asked Jay if he could let Erin, Lucy and everyone else know that Olivia was out of surgery and everything looked good. Once Hank was where Olivia was, he pulled up the chair and sat down next to her. He kissed her forehead and took her hand.

To be continued…

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