Epilogue

Early one morning, Stabler tentatively walks up the steps to a beautiful Brownstone home. There are Halloween decorations on the front porch; a small black cat, clearly made by children and some other decor that appeared store bought. The front door has a stained-glass oval window. The glass is opaque on his end, and he cannot see clearly inside but he can detect some movement. He wonders if they already saw him as he approached; so consumed by his nerves that he never notices the camera on the doorbell. He takes a deep breath in anxious wait as the door opens.

A very attractive blonde woman opens the door, holding a cute little toddler that looks no older than two.

"Hi, can I help you?" Amanda asks this knowing exactly who he is. For one, Olivia had shown her pictures and secondly, Fin had warned them that Stabler may come by.

"Yes, hi. I'm here to see Olivia. Olivia Benson, I'm her old partner, Elliot Stabler. You must be the nanny." He smiles politely as he extends his hand to shake.

Amanda looks aghast, "The nanny?"

Stabler holds a confused expression on his face.

Olivia, who had been busy making chocolate pancakes for breakfast comes around the corner. Never looking up as she wipes her hands clean, she calls out, "Honey, who's at the door?"

Stabler stands bewildered as a tiny smile begins to creep at Amanda's lips, "Clearly you don't know who I am, but I know exactly who you are. And no, I'm not the nanny."

But the blonde doesn't get a chance to say anything else as Olivia reaches her in one stride, instinctively putting her arm around Amanda's waist, as she finally looks towards the entrance.

They'd received a call from Fin the night before. Olivia never thought he would appear so soon. Least of all at her house. She figured, if anything, he would eventually stop by the office. Yet still, Olivia couldn't help the angry shock upon her face any more than she could help the cold and heavy freeze that settled over her body. It was like seeing a ghost.

"Elliot." It was one word. A statement that only acknowledged his presence. For the moment she couldn't mutter anything else.

Just then, Jessie comes running from the back and crashes into Olivia. Breaking up the tension and giggling as she buries her face into her, "Our ball went over the fence," she mumbles.

Olivia picks her up smiling, "I see. And Noah sent you to disarm us with those dimples?"

Jessie giggles even more.

Amanda opens the door fully, letting Elliot in as she, herself whines, "I'll go call the neighbors."

Olivia puts Jessie back down.

"Hello, who are you?" Jessie is an inquisitive child.

Elliot bends down kindly, "I'm a old friend of your mom's."

"Which one?" Jessie asks matter of fact.

Olivia continues to direct her attention at her young daughter, "Go and get your brother for breakfast. Tell him the coast is clear. For now." Olivia adds with a wink.

Amanda gives Liv the look. That special gaze that says I'm here if you need me. But Amanda knows Olivia would never forgive her if she actually said it out loud in front of him. She ushers Jessie away, "Let's go, you little rascal. Which side of the fence did it go over?"

Olivia and Stabler stand in awkward silence.

But Stabler can't help but continue to run his mouth, "Brother? How many kids do you have?"

"Three." Olivia says this almost defensively which takes him aback.

"Look Liv, I…"

But she interrupts him, "I need to go change upstairs. You can have a seat." She gestures to the living room as she quickly disappears. She decides wearing her pajamas makes her feel too vulnerable to have whatever conversation he came over to have.

As Stabler slowly walks towards the living room he notices all the family photos on the wall and in the foyer. He doesn't know what he was expecting when he decided to pay her a visit in her home, but it wasn't this. There are happy family photos of Olivia and the blonde woman with their children everywhere. Also, some individual pictures of them at different stages within the children's lives. There's some of Olivia holding a baby boy. The woman is with her, as well as Fin and Cragen and some others he doesn't recognize in what appears to be a church. He wonders, maybe a Baptism, and deducts that the boy was their first. Next, he pauses over a picture of them in a delivery room. Olivia holding up two kids with the blonde woman's big belly taking over most of the picture. And a follow-up picture of them smiling with tears in their eyes with a newborn baby. There are other photos of the little girl that came to the door with the blonde woman alone as well.

He gazes over family vacation photos, one looks like a camping trip, the other looks like Disneyworld. He deducts that Liv must be the biological mother of the boy. The blonde woman clearly gave birth to the youngest. The middle child, he wasn't sure which woman gave birth to yet.

He felt that he had entered a parallel world. Knowing that he had been absent from her life for so long that surely there would be things he had missed. But he never realized nor thought he could've missed so much. And these were only the good things in her life.

These photos and what they meant were all difficult for him but the photo that was the most difficult, the one that was now engraved in his mind forever was a picture of their wedding. Olivia was standing with the blonde woman with the harbor behind them. She looked radiant with a glow in her eyes as they exchanged rings. And in the follow up photo they were embraced in a passionate kiss. He understood this was all too much for him and walked away to sit in the living room. Over the fireplace mantle there were candles with monikers A and O. His brain would not let him rest as he now began to flip through A names in his mind. He was incredibly frustrated. Why hadn't Fin told him that his ex-partner was a woman. That was the only way he could refer to her in his mind, Fin's ex-partner.

Amanda walked over, realizing Olivia was still upstairs. Noticing that it was now Stabler who looked like he'd seen a ghost, "Can I offer you something to drink?"

"No, no, thank you. I…" He kept looking at her incredulously. She was beautiful. As beautiful as Olivia, but in a different way. She also appeared younger than his former partner. "I'm sorry I don't know your…"

Suddenly, a dog jumped in front of the blonde woman as a little boy came running with the little girl holding the ball, "The neighbors threw the ball back. Thanks, Momma! Where's Mommy? I wanna show her my new trick!" He excitedly spat. As he saw Stabler there he drew back cautiously, "Who are you?"

Just then Olivia came down the stairs in a pair of faded blue jeans and a light brown v-neck sweater. She looked as incredible to him as the last time he saw her. She answered as she directed her son towards the kitchen, "Baby, why don't you and Jessie go finish your breakfast."

Noah was still agitated at seeing a stranger in their house. "Everything is okay. As soon as we're done I want to see that new trick with the ball." Olivia added.

Noah hesitated and Jessie followed suit as usual, so Amanda chimed in, "Come on guys, don't make your mother repeat herself…or your mother." As she pointed to herself.

"Ok Moms, but I'll be right over there if you need me." Noah strode away almost comically in his distrust.

Amanda turns to Liv, "I'm gonna put Billie down for a nap. I'll leave you to it." Liv kissed the baby's head and Stabler noticed the women let their hands linger as the blonde gently pulled away.

Olivia walks in with a solemn expression and sits down across the glass coffee table.

"Wow, Liv I didn't expect…" Stabler was already beginning in a way that Olivia was not having.

She raised her voice, "You referred to my wife as the nanny! Her name is Amanda. Amanda Benson-Rollins. And this is our home, with our children, on a Sunday, on our day off, Elliot."

"I'm sorry" He tried to smile and play it off. "I didn't mean to offend. When Fin told me that you were married to his old partner, who was now FBI…I just assumed."

"Elliot Stabler making assumptions about other people's lives. Nothing's changed with you, I see."

"That's not true at all. Many things have changed. That's why I'm here."

"Elliot, what do you want?"

"Come on, Liv. Eleven years of being partners."

"Wow. You're gonna lead with that? Okay, then let's go there. Eleven years of being partners and you disappeared without so much as one word. Not one phone call. Not one email. Listen, I'm not gonna sit here and pretend that it didn't hurt or sting for a very long time. But Elliot, you've been gone almost as long as we were partners. I haven't heard from you in ten years."

He looked down at the floor. He was just as disappointed with himself if not more.

She continued with barely a pause, "There is nothing here. There is no friendship, nothing other than the respect for a past partnership that happened so long ago. Something that I could have looked upon fondly and for years I felt you marred that with your actions. At the beginning I felt you stole that from me. But honestly, even though our past was something that had potential to be remembered with fondness in truth, I barely remember it at all. It's just not something I ever think of anymore." Olivia stood up. "I moved on a long time ago, Elliot. I think you should too."

"Olivia, I know I screwed up. But you don't understand. I had to get away. I had to…" He can't say it now. He can't tell her that her very presence in his life was ruining any potential to salvage his marriage. He couldn't tell her that he loved her more than he had ever loved Kathy and that he loved her still. He would do anything for her. But now it was too late. All he could do was try to redeem a friendship that Liv appeared to have no interest in whatsoever. He couldn't blame her. But he couldn't help but tell her just one thing, "Kathy and I got a divorce."

Olivia was halfway out of the living room when she turns around, "I'm really sorry to hear that."

And there it was. It was the final confirmation he saw in her eyes that read, 'You could be the last man on earth, and I would never…' He remembered when Olivia looked at him the way she now looked at her wife. In all honestly, she never looked at him, even quite like that. He understood there was no competition. He was happy for her, he was. But held so may regrets for himself. He should have attempted to keep a friendship with her all these years. Now it appeared he even lost the potential for that.

Amanda came downstairs just as Liv was ushering him out the front door. She wrapped her arm around Liv's waist.

Stabler turned to them both, "I'm sorry about earlier, Amanda. It's very nice to meet you."

Amanda turns to Liv then back to him, "Leaving so soon? Can we get you some coffee?"

He smiles sadly, "No, thank you. Maybe another time."

After a moment he turns back to Olivia, "You have a beautiful family, Liv."

She smiles and looks at Amanda, "Thank you. I know." It was the only thing she had said to him that made her appear serene and happy. "I hope your children are doing well." Liv added realizing they were not to blame for his actions and despite the years, she cared for their wellbeing.

"Thank you. They are." He turned away but then hesitated, turning back around, "I am truly sorry, Liv for any hurt I caused. But I hope in time, you could both consider me a friend.

See ya around." He gave a tight-lipped smile.

"See ya." Olivia replied as she closed the door. She turns into Amanda's arms and gives her a resounding kiss.

"Honey, are you okay?" Amanda knew how much Stabler once meant to her.

"Yeah, actually I am," Olivia confidently smiled at her wife, "Let's go have those chocolate pancakes."