It only took a matter of minutes for the vibrant, bustling restaurant to become flooded with uniformed NYPD officers, each of the patrons being escorted in to the far corner of the sprawling dining space while the bathrooms were meticulously cordoned off by the crime scene technicians who had appeared seemingly out of thin air shortly after the first patrol car turned up.
With Matthew bundled into the back of an ambulance with their terrified victim clinging to his hand as though her life depended on it, Kate stood on the sidewalk and watched the red lights fade into the darkness before heading back inside, eyes scanning the chaos for the restaurant manager. The squirrelly-looking man was darting backwards and forwards between groups of unimpressed diners, his mouth twisted into a rictus smile as he muttered a string of apologies for the inconvenience.
'Of course he's worried about business when a young woman's life has just been irreversibly altered.'
Feeling far less tolerant than she had been a moment before, Kate collared the manager with a tap on the shoulder and jerk of her head, not bothering to check if he was behind her as she strode off towards a quiet corner.
"That was incredibly rude! Do you know who I a-"
"I want every piece of surveillance this place has." Kate interrupted, her eyes narrowed as the manager righted his shirt with a haughty sniff, looking Kate up and down with an air of contempt that did nothing to improve Kate's slowly fraying temper.
"Is that really necessary? I mean, my customers-"
"A young woman was assaulted on your premises." Kate seethed, once again halting his arrogant diatribe before he could really get going. The manager must have caught the dangerous glint in her eye because he involuntarily took a step back when Kate moved forwards, his entire demeanour suddenly becoming anxious and fidgety as she boxed him in to the corner. "So I suggest you quit being part of the fucking problem and get me that footage before I haul your ass in for obstruction."
With a jerky nod of assent, he wriggled out from beneath her burning stare and hurried off towards the rear of the restaurant leaving an infuriated Kate in his wake, her chest rising and falling as she fought to quell the overwhelming desire to put the insensitive, arrogant prick on his ass.
"I see your husband's no-nonsense method of interrogation has rubbed off on you Detective Meadows… or is it Detective Voight now?"
The corner of Kate's mouth tugged into a grin at sound of the familiar voice, turning on the spot to see one of New York's finest approach with her squad following close behind her.
"I don't think CPD could cope with two Voights on the payroll." Kate replied with a laugh, extending a hand that was taken in a gentle but firm grip. "Thank you for coming Captain Benson."
"Well, as thrilled as I am to see you looking so healthy, I much prefer catching up over a bottle of cabernet for future reference." Olivia muttered with a pointed look, turning her attention to the two men stood at either elbow. "Sergeant Tutuola, Detective Bruno, this is Detective Kate Meadows. Formerly NYPD Intelligence and now Chicago PD Intelligence."
Kate shared a quick nod of greeting with both SVU detectives and, with the introductions out of the way, Olivia got straight down to business.
"Alright, what have we got?"
"Victim's a teenage girl. Multiple contusions on her face and body, all consistent with sexual assault. Couldn't get an ID but she was able to confirm that she was raped." Kate said, recounting every piece of information swiftly and accurately. "She's on her way to Mercy with my brother…he's a neuro attending at New York Pres."
Olivia dipped her chin into a nod of acknowledgement, her long chestnut curls bouncing with each movement as she turned towards her squad.
"Fin, work the scene with Bruno and, if Meadows hasn't scared the restaurant manager into a cardiac arrest, get whatever footage he has over to Velasco."
With their orders given and received, the two men disappeared into the throng of people still crowding the restaurant, both Kate and Olivia watching the them split off to co-ordinate with the other units on the scene.
"Well, looks like it's you and me." Olivia said with a quirk of her lips, gesturing for Kate to follow her as she turned on her heel and strode through the crowd towards the exit.
The ride to Mercy General was filled with easy conversation, the New York City streets predictably inundated with late evening traffic as Olivia gushed about Noah's most recent dance recital and Kate chuckled her way through one of her favourite stories of a sleep-deprived Hank arriving at the district with Kate's badge clipped to his belt and baby sick on the collar of his shirt.
"How is Hank anyway?" Olivia asked, her eyes darting to Kate before returning back to the road as she waited at the busy junction of 23rd and Madison, the volume of red lights on the road steadily increasing the closer they got to Manhattan. "It's been a minute since we've spoken."
"He's good…much better now he's getting a full night's sleep anyway." Kate replied with a snort of amusement, fondly recalling the days where they would both wander around in a state of dazed exhaustion, trading a squalling newborn and mugs of coffee in an effort to stay awake. "And loving every damn second of being our daughter's favourite person."
As much as she griped about Alexis favouring Hank as opposed to the woman who had given her life, Kate couldn't deny that her heart would expand to twice it's size every single time she watched the two of them together. They were inseparable; just as she had been with her own father.
Some of Kate's earliest and most treasured memories were of Philip Meadows perching her on the centre of the huge oak desk in his office as he told her elaborate stories about the men in space suits that he was helping on their mission to the moon. She would peer up at him with wide eyes and a slack jaw, completely enraptured by his soft, melodic tone and, as time went by and she outgrew the otherworldly fables, she came to realise that the topic of discussion was irrelevant. Her dad emanated a gentle serenity that had soothed her soul like a balmy summer breeze. A serenity she realised she had been missing until a certain sergeant had loved her in a way that was oddly reminiscent of the unwavering and unconditional love of her father and it suddenly occurred to her that perhaps the scientific research wasn't as crazy as she thought. Maybe women are attracted to men who remind them of the man who loved them first?
She was pulled from her thoughts when Olivia rolled to a stop in the emergency bay outside of Mercy General Hospital, cutting the engine and sliding from the front seat of her SUV with an air of feminine, bad-ass authority that had Kate biting back a grin at the realisation that her husband very clearly had a thing for strong, independent women and, as she watched Benson stride into the emergency room with her badge aloft, she really couldn't find it in her heart to blame him!
The nurse in charge shepherded them through the chaotic ER towards a set of glass cubicles where Matthew was standing guard outside of the last room on the left with his arms folded across his chest, his face a picture of concern.
"Hey, how's she doing?" Kate asked, reaching out to give his bicep a firm, comforting squeeze.
"Doc's just gone in to do the rape kit." Matt replied quietly, his warm eyes filling with empathy as he glanced between his sister and Olivia, the latter introducing herself before swiftly resuming Kate's line of questioning.
"Did she say anything else?" Olivia pressed, visibly deflating when Matt shook his head. Whilst it was true that trauma often prevented victims from being able to recall every detail of a harrowing ordeal, experience told her that the human brain had a magnificent capability of forcing painful memories into the abyss in an effort to protect itself; hence why it was vital to take victim statements as soon as possible after an attack.
"But judging by the colour and size of some of those bruises, I'd say they're at least a few weeks old." Matt added, his mouth pulling in to a thin line as Olivia and Kate shared a knowing look. Clearly tonight wasn't the first time their victim had been assaulted.
"That's really useful Doctor Meadows, thank you." Olivia said with a tight smile, jerking her chin into a nod before they were interrupted by the attending who had slipped out into the hall undetected while the Kate and Olivia had been interrogating Matthew.
"Captain Benson and Detective Meadows, Manhattan SVU."
Kate couldn't help but lift an eyebrow at Olivia's introduction but she figured that explaining Kate's lack of jurisdiction was likely to be the very last thing on the SVU Captain's mind. The doctor gave them a brief overview of their victim's injuries, the vaginal tearing and various lacerations unfortunately not coming as a surprise but the final diagnosis the doctor gave them did stun both Kate and Olivia into momentary silence.
"She's twelve weeks pregnant."
"Pregnant?" Kate breathed after a beat, the two syllables rolling off her tongue like molasses. "You sure?"
"Absolutely certain. But that's not all." The doctor jerked her head towards a nearby nurses station, striding towards the desk and dropping own into the chair with Olivia, Kate and Matthew all hovering behind her. "We took some x-rays as soon as she arrived and, from the external rotation of her pelvis, this won't be her first child."
"Any idea how old she is?" Kate asked, having spent enough years in the morgue with medical examiners and unidentified victims to know that a decent x-ray could narrow down a person's age with startling accuracy.
The doctor took a moment to turn back to the screen, clicking through a number of black and white images until she had two identical films side by side, dragging brightly coloured lines across the bones.
"Comparing your victim's films to the standard atlas, I'd say she was fourteen, maybe fifteen years old." She eventually concluded before she was summoned to the other side of the emergency room by a shrill buzzing.
"What the hell have we stumbled on to here?" Kate muttered, her mind spinning as she processed the shocking threads of new information. "She's clearly been abused for years resulting in at least two pregnancies…"
"You think she's being trafficked as a human incubator." Olivia supplied, more than slightly impressed that the younger detective was so quick to reach the same conclusion.
They could have speculated and theorised between themselves for hours on end but, ultimately, there was only one person who could give them the truth. Leaving Matthew to grab himself a cup of coffee, Kate followed Olivia back across the hall, the SVU Captain knocking softly on the closed door before easing the heavy wood open far enough for the two women to slip inside. Nestled in a sea of starchy white fabric was their young victim, stringy stands of brunette locks a stark contrast to both the sheets and her ghostly pale complexion. While the scarlet streaks that had once painted her cherub-like features had been deftly removed by the team of doctors and nurses, no amount of hydrogen peroxide was going to remove the splotches of dark purple littering her painfully thin arms and legs.
"Hey, my name's Olivia and this is Kate…you remember her from the restaurant?" Olivia said with a warm smile, her voice barely above a whisper. "How are you feeling?"
Dark brown eyes flitted from Olivia to Kate and back again, a flicker of recognition passing across her face as Kate moved towards the end of the bed, bracing both hands on the plastic-covered railing. When the young woman failed to respond, Kate felt an almost irresistible impulse to fill the seemingly never-ending silence but, respecting Olivia's position, she managed to bite her tongue just long enough to allow Olivia to tentatively push a little further.
"The doctor said your cuts and bruises will heal just fine but…"
"I'm pregnant."
Her voice was just as angelic as her face, soft and sweet but with a note of resignation that had no place leaving the mouth of a child.
"You knew?" Kate blurted, instantly kicking herself for her uncharacteristic lack of finesse when she found herself under the scrutiny of not one but two sets of brown eyes.
"Wasn't sure." The girl said quietly, her attention dropping to where her fingers were picking at the hem of the sheet covering her tiny body.
Being pregnant was probably the most terrifying nine months Kate had ever experienced in her entire life. For forty long weeks her body wasn't her own, each and every cell instinctively diverting their focus from self-preservation to ensuring the new life growing inside of her was safe and thriving. She had been reassured of her baby's continued growth when the little flutters of movement turned into what felt like choreographed dance routines that Hank would follow with his palm, his warm russet orbs filling with excitement as they tracked the rippling flesh of her ever-expanding belly. Then as she bought a squalling pink bundle with a mop of dark hair into the world, she watched the man she adored fall in love with another woman right before her very eyes.
Just as it was supposed to be.
She could hardly imagine how it must have felt to have the tiny human you had spent nine months nourishing and protecting brutally snatched away the second the cord tying you together had been severed. Yet this was likely the heart-wrenching reality of the young woman before her.
"But it felt like it did before, right?" Kate supplied softly, the indirect reassurance that they already knew about her past drawing her sad, doe-like eyes back to Kate's face. "Banana milkshakes were my thing."
While Kate's attempt at lighthearted humour didn't garner anything close to a smile, it did just enough to relax the girl's tense shoulders, her upper body almost folding in on itself, making her seem even smaller than she already was.
Questioning victims was never an easy task. More often than not they were in a state of traumatic paralysis and, in many cases, that made them completely unreliable. Yet, just as frequently, they were the source of vital information that could crack cases wide open and, with her guard finally lowered, the precious intel began to flow.
Their victim's name was Elsie Graham, the missing daughter of Paula and Scott Graham who had been snatched from her bed in the middle of the night when she was five years old and, for the last ten years, she had been kept in a locked basement until she was old enough to bear children.
"Do you know who the baby's father is?" Kate asked gently, edging slowly around the foot of the bed in the same way one would approach a terrified animal but, despite her caution, the unexpected movement had Elsie's knees jolting upwards beneath the sheets as she curled herself into a tiny ball.
The abject panic that flashed across her features had Kate closing the rest of the space between them, instantly recognising the soft, shushing sound that left her mouth as the very same one she instinctively used every time Alexis' lower lip quivered.
"It's okay." She whispered, hesitating for a brief moment before reaching out to place a comforting palm on the Elsie's trembling shoulder. "Nobody's gonna hurt you anymore."
Even by her own admission, it was a bold statement. The second the words left her mouth she could feel the heat of Olivia's gaze burning holes into the back of her head, the SVU Captain watching the experienced detective breach the police officer's golden rule.
Never make promises that you weren't absolutely certain that you could keep.
That rule was all-encompassing, ranging from promising to find someone's missing child to swearing up and down that you'd put a bullet in a sadistic murderer the very first chance you got. In fact, most cops operated under the 'don't promise anything at all if you can help it' method of policing. But Kate never made promises lightly and, regardless of whether or not they found whoever had done this to her, she was going to make sure Elsie would never be subjected to the emotional and physical trauma she had already been forced to endure ever again.
Kate waited with bated breath for a few long beats, wondering if she had pushed just a little to hard but, before she could retreat and let Olivia take over, deep, soulful brown eyes lifted from the sheets to meet her gaze.
"He says I'm helpin' them have a family…that the wives of the men he sends can't give them babies of their own."
Her voice was barely above a whisper, forcing Kate to lean a little closer to make sure she didn't miss a single detail but the tortured whimper that escaped Elsie's throat when Kate asked who 'he' was was nothing short of harrowing. Glancing across the bed at Olivia, Kate could tell by the tight line of her mouth that she was also forcing down the blind rage burning inside of her as thick tears gathered along Elsie's lashes before slowly tracking down her cheeks.
"Sir."
'Jesus Christ.'
As Elsie continued with her story, the pieces fell into place so fast it almost made Kate's head spin. Whoever 'sir' was, he had spent at least the last decade abducting little girls only to treat them like breeding stock until they no longer served a purpose. And he'd been doing it in Olivia Benson's city.
'Well more fool him.'
Kate gave Elsie's shoulder a gentle squeeze, her eyes softening when she gazed up at her with relief etched across her face, finally free of the suffocating secrets she had been forced to keep.
"You did good, Elsie. You did real good."
Leaving her in the care of the genial nurse who had interrupted them with a quiet knock on the door, both Kate and Olivia slipped back in to the corridor where Matthew was waiting with a cardboard tray containing three cups of coffee.
"Looks like your hunch was right. This is definitely not your standard rape case." Olivia sighed, her lips pulling into a tight line as she took one of the proffered cups with a quiet thanks.
"Sometimes I hate being right." Kate muttered in response, easing the last paper cup from its holder and taking a quick sip, wincing at the lingering sour taste of burnt coffee grounds. But despite being terribly brewed, the coffee had the desired effect of refocusing them on the task at hand.
"We don't know how far reaching this is but do you think we'd better loop in Bell?"
Olivia pondered Kate's question for a few long beats before she jerked her chin into a nod of agreement and, with Matthew safely in a cab on his way back to his apartment, Kate and Olivia made their way across town to the OCCB headquarters. Unsurprisingly, the entire squad were already assembled upon their arrival, already burning the midnight oil to close a number of contract hits that they had tenaciously linked to John Coonan; the only son of none other than James 'Jimmy' Coonan, founder of the prominent Irish syndicate known as the Westies.
Jet was curled into an oversized computer chair that swallowed her tiny frame, a bored expression on her face as Ayanna and Elliot stood on either side of her, clearly engaged in a heated discussion that was temporarily stalled by Olivia and Kate's arrival.
"To what do we owe this pleasure?" Bell asked, rounding Jet's desk to meet Kate and Olivia halfway across the bullpen.
"It's not a social call unfortunately." Olivia replied, casting a furtive glance towards Elliot who had remained rooted to the spot, his mouth slightly agape and his eyes locked on the SVU Captain's form as though soaking in every single detail.
"You coming Detective?" Bell asked with a raised eyebrow and a jerk of her head towards the floor-to-ceiling glass box that served as her office.
Recognising the heated look in his icy blue eyes, Kate struggled to contain a snort of laughter when Elliot simply stared at them blankly, forcing Jet to covertly jab him in the thigh with a sharp elbow to draw his attention back to the three women on the other side of the room who were watching him with a mixture of amusement, confusion and mild frustration.
Disguising his discomfort behind an awkward cough, he squared his shoulders and strode across the bullpen, oozing an air of masculine confidence that very few were able to pull off without looking like a cocky asshole. Ayanna and Olivia were already on their way to Bell's office deep in conversation when Elliot reached Kate who had remained where she was in favour of letting the SVU Captain brief the OC Sergeant and her second in command alone.
"One day you'll come and visit without bringing a wave of chaos with you." He muttered quietly, the corner of his mouth tugging into a grin when she hiked a casual shoulder in response.
"Ehh, chaos is kinda my style."
She allowed herself to be drawn into his warm embrace, her body being entirely enveloped by towering frame and familiar earthy scent; a scent that was somehow a simultaneous source of comfort and anxiety.
"Good to see you kid." He murmured quietly, giving her one final squeeze before releasing her in favour of joining Olivia and Ayanna, leaving Kate and Jet alone in the bullpen.
"Hey…no Reyes?" Kate asked, scanning the expansive space in search of the fourth and final member of the OC Task Force, the soles of her sneakers clinking on the metal steps as she approached Jet's desk.
"Out chasing a lead. Pull up a chair."
With a roll of her eyes at Jet's characteristically blunt demeanour, Kate did exactly as instructed, rolling a nearby chair to settle alongside Jet, dropping down onto the semi-comfortable cushion with a quiet groan of relief.
"So, what've you got for me?" She asked, bracing an elbow on the desk and turning tired, bleary eyes to the array of screens before her, praying the tech genius would keep her explanations succinct.
"Every time somebody logs in to a computer with a unique ID, it leaves a trace."
She tapped on the keyboard a handful of times, logging in to the national database containing all police records before showing Kate a separate command box that displayed her login credentials along with an IP address. Kate wasn't an expert by any stretch of the imagination but the principles of tagging and tracing were pretty basic by today's standards and it certainly wasn't anything Jet couldn't have told her over the phone.
"Okay." She said slowly, turning her attention from the screen to the detective at her side. "Why'd I need to travel seven hundred miles for you to tell me that?"
"Because whoever accessed the files did so out of 1PP."
Kate blinked slowly, her brows pinched as she struggled to understand why anyone at 1PP would be even remotely interested in her father's case. Perhaps her old Sergeant had looked it up when she joined the NYPD? After all, it wasn't as though her father's murder had been a secret.
"You know who it was?"
"Can't say for sure but they used the credentials of one Brian Kelton, former-"
"Wait, what!?"
Jet visibly jolted at Kate's sudden outburst, turning startled brown eyes towards the closed door of Bell's office, ever-thankful for the sound-proofing glass as she placed a hand over her racing heart and cast Kate a withering stare.
"You sure it was him?" Kate pressed, ignoring Jet's hissed request to keep her voice down.
"As I said, I can't tell whether or not it was actually him without 1PP surveillance footage but it was definitely his ID and, before you ask, I already checked the archives and the tapes for that day are missing."
Instead of getting the answers she had been desperately searching for, all she was going to leave New York with was even more questions. Why had key pieces of evidence been removed from the case file? Who the hell had tampered with the video footage and, most importantly, what the fuck was Brian Kelton doing looking into her father's murder?
Before Kate could articulate any of the burning questions zipping around in her head, the appearance Fin and Bruno at the OCCB precinct halted any further conversation about Kelton's potential involvement in her father's case. Spotting her Sergeant through the glass, Olivia made a beeline for the bullpen with both Elliot and Ayanna following close behind her and, with the focus on the new arrivals, Jet was able to surreptitiously slip a simple black USB stick containing every file she could find across the desk.
Mouthing a silent 'thank you', Kate pocketed the device and forced the newfound information to the back of her mind in favour of listening intently to the SVU Sergeant's update on what they had managed to unearth at the restaurant.
"Restaurant cameras were a bust but we did manage to get surveillance footage from the bodega across the street."
"You got an ID?" Olivia asked, her shoulders visibly relaxing when her sergeant gave a sure, confident jerk of his head.
"Yep, we got the son of a bitch."
The thirty minutes that followed felt oddly familiar to Kate despite the change in personnel and the foreign surroundings. Following the OC and SVU units downstairs into what could only be described as an underground bunker, she watched the teams gear up with the same practised precision her own unit displayed, each of them instinctively moving through the motions of connecting ear pieces, donning protective kevlar and reloading weapons. It wasn't until Fin approached her with a plain black vest in hand did she realise she'd simply been watching the scene before her unfold like the spectator she supposed was. The cops surrounding her were good police and, more importantly, they were good people. But they weren't her people.
"Thanks…Sergeant Tutuola, right?" Kate asked, accepting the vest with quirk of her lips, tearing the velcro ends apart and sliding the heavy kevlar over her head.
"You can call me Fin." He replied, his dark eyes tracking her movements curiously as she secured the vest to her body. "So how'd you know Stabler?"
Kate's eyes flicked between the SVU Sergeant and the OC Detective who was on the other side of the bunker deep in quiet conversation with Benson, their foreheads almost touching as Elliot leaned in to whisper something in her ear. Their closeness wasn't necessarily a surprise given the length of time they had been partners but what did pique Kate's interest was the way Olivia's eyes fluttered closed as she gravitated towards him with an odd expression etched into her features; something between utter contentment and painful anguish.
She was almost certain that Olivia hadn't even realised that her body was moving of it's own volition because after a few moments, the SVU Captain's eyes snapped open and she backed away from Elliot's towering frame as though his proximity alone had burned her. Benson's reaction had Kate's brows pulling in to a puzzled frown and she found herself answering Fin's question before following up with one of her own.
"We briefly worked together on a UC gig before I moved to Chicago…hey, uh, is there somethin' goin' on between those two?"
Fin glanced over his shoulder towards his two long-time colleagues before replying with a light snort of amusement.
"Only twenty years worth of foreplay."
Kate's eyebrows lifted in surprise knowing that, even with a very limited knowledge of Stabler's past, he had been married for almost all of that twenty year window.
"Did his wife know?" Kate asked quietly, torn between satiating her curiosity while trying not to overstep the mark into invading her friend's privacy.
"Suspect she knew enough." Was Fin's simple reply. "He ain't said it in so many words but I think the move to Italy was Kathy's ultimatum."
His family or Olivia.
In her mind, all of Elliot Stabler's jagged puzzle pieces suddenly fell into place. The self-destructive behaviour, the desperate bid to assume the identity of somebody else, anyone else. Now she finally understood why Elliot had been so willing to become Eddie Ashes.
The good Catholic boy from Queens had spent an entire decade desperately suppressing his love for another woman only to spend the subsequent ten years shouldering the burden of remorse for abandoning her in favour of protecting his family. For the majority of his adult life, Elliot Stabler had been filled with shame for dreaming of a life that he simply couldn't have; hence the obvious relief it gave him to become a man who didn't believe in either guilt nor shame.
Kate couldn't imagine a scenario where she would be forced to choose between Hank and Alexis but, as much as it pained her to admit, she knew she would resign herself a lifetime of loneliness if it meant her child was happy.
"Heard you're the lunatic who settled down with Hank Voight."
She was pulled from her thoughts by Fin's blunt yet humour-laced observation and Kate couldn't quite prevent the wry grin that tugged at the corner of her mouth.
"Some say he's the one who booked himself a padded cell in Mount Sinai the day he married me."
Fin's bark of laughter drew the attention of Elliot and Olivia who were now standing shoulder to shoulder with Ayanna Bell, the three of them a formidable force by anyone's standards but, with SVU running point, Olivia stepped forwards to brief both teams on the plan to capture Elsie's abusers. By the time Manhattan was bathed in a lazy, terracotta glow, Elsie had been reunited with her parents, the NYPD had three men and one woman in custody and Kate found herself perched on an island stool in Elliot Stabler's kitchen, a steaming mug of freshly brewed coffee cupped between her hands.
"So…you and Benson looked pretty cosy earlier."
Kate studied Elliot's broad frame as he finished pouring his own cup of coffee, the muscles in his back stiffening beneath the fabric of his light blue button down at her pointed line of questioning.
"You spying on me Meadows?" He grumbled after a beat, eyeing her with a tentative trepidation as he turned towards her with his mug of coffee in hand, casually resting his weight against the counter.
"It's kinda my job…besides, the fact that you basically tent your jeans every time you're in a room with her is a bit of a giveaway." Kate stated matter of factly, hiding her smirk at Elliot's obvious discomfort behind the rim of her mug. "I can't say I blame you." She added with a nonchalant shrug. "Liv's smokin'."
"Your husband aware of your inclinations?" He asked in a valiant attempt to divert the conversation away from his evident attraction towards his former partner with little success given Kate's pointed look for him to answer her question.
"I left her, Kate." He eventually admitted with a sigh, pushing away from the countertop to brace his palms on the kitchen island. "I was the one person who meant the most to her and I turned my back on her without a word for ten fucking years."
There it was again, a sheer unwillingness to show himself even a smidgen of forgiveness but before Kate could interject, Elliot continued.
"And now every time I look at Noah I can't help but think…"
"What could've been." Kate supplied, her heart clenching as she watched her friend nod briefly before hanging his head and it suddenly occurred to her that perhaps Elliot was grieving the loss of the life he could have had if he'd made a different decision all those years ago.
"You regret what happened between us?" He asked quietly, lifting his chin to meet Kate's gaze from across the expansive kitchen island separating them and, as she watched a torrent of emotions swirl around in his icy blue eyes, she found herself wondering if she did regret the few months she had spent with him undercover; both literally and figuratively.
After a few moments of deep consideration, Kate slipped her cellphone from the back pocket of her jeans and pushed the device across the smooth marble towards Elliot, the screen illuminating to display a recent picture of Hank and Alexis.
"How could I ever regret the path that bought me to them?"
Elliot's face softened as he stared down at the screen, taking in the cherub-like features of the little girl who was a carbon-copy of her mother before he spent a few long moments studying the face of the unlikely man who had given her everything she had been desperately craving.
"He treatin' you right?" Elliot asked gently once the screen had faded to black, something inside of him needing the reassurance that she was truly as happy as she seemed.
"Better than I deserve." She replied with a chuckle. "Put it this way, he didn't make too much of a fuss when I told him I was going to spend a few days with a guy who'd seen me naked."
"You told him?" Elliot asked incredulously, his deep timbre an unusually high-pitched squawk.
"Of course I did. I told him that day we saw you in Olivia's office." Kate replied with a hike of one shoulder, taking a casual sip of her rapidly cooling coffee.
With a quiet chuckle and a shake of his head, it finally dawned on Elliot the reason why Hank Voight wanted to tear his damn head off every time he saw him but, thinking back to how he'd had to ball his hands into tight fists to prevent himself from putting each and every one of Liv's boyfriends on their asses, it wasn't as though he could blame him.
Perhaps he and Voight had more in common than he thought?
Draining the last of his coffee, Elliot placed a warm palm on Kate's shoulder, his lips pulling in to a soft smile when she peered up at him look of contentment that he had always hoped he'd one day see her wearing.
"I'm so glad you're happy, Kate."
She considered him for a few long beats before her phone pinged signalling the arrival of her cab to take her back to the hotel to collect her bags before heading to the airport. Sliding off of the stool with a groan when her aching muscles twinged in protest, she paused in front of him for a brief moment before lifting up onto her toes to draw him in for a warm embrace.
"Life don't last forever, El. " Kate whispered quietly, pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek.
It was everything Kate didn't say that had his throat burning with emotion. The ten years he'd spent away from New York, away from her, were arguably some of the hardest of his life. He'd be walking through a bustling market in Rimini or an art gallery in Marseille and he would find himself subconsciously searching for a head of dark brunette curls. His heart would clench every time Kathy's bright blue eyes would fill with disappointment when his head would spin in the direction of a laugh that sounded just like hers but he couldn't help himself. Whether he liked it or not, Olivia Benson was ingrained in his very soul.
Kate gave his biceps a gentle squeeze and, with a comforting smile and a quiet farewell, she gathered up her things and made her way towards the door.
"What if she's not ready?" He blurted, watching as Kate paused with her hand on the doorknob. He hated that he sounded so desperate but, at this point, he found himself hard-pressed to care.
"You either move on or you wait until she is." Kate replied simply after a few beats of silence. "But you need to tell her how you feel. None of that talking in riddles shit you like to do."
As Elliot watched her disappear from view, the door closing with a quiet click behind her, he was struck by the realisation that he had never simply told Olivia how he felt. He had told her he loved her during an intervention his kids had organised when he was spiralling out of control for fuck's sake! It wasn't as though he could blame her for being cautious given the mixed signals he'd been sending in the hopes that she would be able to read between the lines. Maybe Kate was right? Maybe he should just come out and say it?
But all thoughts of Elliot Stabler's love life dissipated the moment Kate's feet touched Illinois soil, her eyes scanning the crowds of people at O'Hare's busy arrival terminal in search of her husband and, much to her relief, he was already waiting for her.
Hank was stood on the far side of the concourse with Alexis in his arms, her dark curls secured away from her face with the most adorable pink bow that was almost certainly Erin's work of art. He was busy entertaining the toddler in his arms when his eyes found hers from across the room and Kate felt her heart expand in her chest when the corner of his mouth tugged upwards into a grin, the little dimples on his cheeks becoming even more prominent.
"Over there, look. There's mommy."
Soon there were two sets of russet orbs tracking her approach when Alexis followed the direction of his pointing finger, her face splitting in to the most beautiful toothy smile the moment she spied her mother, chubby arms instantly reaching for her.
"Hi baby!" Kate exclaimed wrapping her arms around the two of them, leaning in to pepper a series of wet, smacking kisses to a giggling Alexis' cheeks.
Ignorant to the throng of strangers milling around them, Kate slipped a hand to the back of Hank's head, fingers carding through the short tresses as she lifted her chin to capture his mouth in a long, slow kiss with a low hum of contentment.
"God, I missed you." She breathed against his lips when they eventually parted for air, leaning as close as she could with Alexis' little body wedged between them.
"I missed you too…but people are staring." He warned softly, briefly glancing around the terminal yet, despite his warning, he found himself being drawn into yet another languid kiss.
"Don't care." Kate muttered stubbornly against his lips. "Let them watch."
"Maybe you should go away more often if this is the welcome I get." He said in between gentle pecks, his mouth tugging into a grin when she mumbled a quiet 'asshole' before reluctantly releasing him from her grip.
Transferring a wriggling Alexis into Kate's waiting arms, Hank grasped the handle of her luggage and led them towards the exit, more than ready to get both his girls home where they belonged.
"Heard you had a busy couple of days." He commented lightly, quirking a casual eyebrow when Kate peered up at him with wide eyes looking every inch the rabbit caught in the headlights.
She'd hoped she would've had the chance to give him an abridged version of events but of course Benson would have already briefed him on the fact that one of his detectives had caught a case while under her jurisdiction.
"Trouble just seems to follow you around doesn't it?" He observed with a smirk, the liftgate of his SUV slowly rising as they made their way out of the airport and into the midmorning sun.
Pointedly ignoring his gentle jibe in favour of pressing a soft kiss to Alexis' forehead, she found herself thinking back to the long list of debacles they'd endured over the last few years, idly wondering if it was just unfortunate luck or whether he had a valid point.
Either way, the 'trouble' she'd gotten into in New York would be nothing compared to the trouble facing them once she told him that Brian Kelton was somehow involved in her father's murder.