A/N: I don't own any of the characters except my own.
As soon as the plane landed, they got their luggage and then Hank went to get the SUV, so Olivia and Diana didn't have to walk. He helped them both into the SUV and then he drove home. Diana had texted Ed and he said they were at Hank and Olivia's.
"Ed said they're at your house."
"Ok."
When they arrived at the house, Hank parked in the garage and then helped Olivia out of the SUV and into the house. Everyone was there including Casey, Alex, Don, John and Melinda. Diana kissed Ed and the kids when she saw them. Stormy and Misty came to see them as well.
"Hello."
"Hey. How are you feeling?"
"Better than I was a few days ago. Jay's brother wanted to be sure I was ok to travel before I left."
"How's Erin?"
"She's feisty but I expect nothin' less from her. She was released on Friday and they're stayin' with Will, Natalie and the kids. She could be comin' home by next weekend at the latest. At least that's what they're hopin' for."
Olivia and Diana both sat down and Olivia took Camille from Meredith.
"Gama!"
"Was Jay able to get the time off?"
"Oh, yeah. I told him that if they gave him a hard time, to let me know and I would take care of it. He said they told him to take as much time as he needed."
"Rob Johnson is with Internal Affairs now."
"Oh, no kiddin'. How long has that been?"
"He said basically since Shauna left. They brought in someone new to take over Vice."
"Wow! That really surprises me."
"He said after we both left, the family vibe wasn't really there any longer. I told him about the thing with Ed that happened a few years ago and why you never said anything. He understands why you never said anything. He did say that Jackie and the kids miss Eddie."
"He misses them too."
"Where are Noah and Rachel?"
"Upstairs."
"Brandon didn't feel like playing with them."
"You can still play with your cast on."
"I know."
"How's your dad?"
"He's doin' good. He was moved to a Rehab facility to do his therapy and he'll probably be there a couple weeks."
"Are they still planning to stay with Erin and Dan once he goes home?"
"Yeah. Erin was gonna talk to Dan about seein' if this could be a more permanent thing. None of us really want Ma doin' the stairs to the apartment anymore either."
"That makes sense. They are a pain."
"If they agree to them movin' in with Erin, Patty is hopin' they'll be ok with havin' the other apartment for Dylan, so they have their own space with the baby comin'."
"The rest of you are ok with that?"
"Yeah, we are. They're close to all their grandkids."
The doorbell rang, so Hank went to answer it just as Noah and Rachel came downstairs. It was Patty, Erin and Colleen.
"Hank, welcome back."
"Thanks."
"How are Olivia and Erin?"
"Olivia is in the other room and Erin was released on Friday. She's stayin' with Jay's brother and sister-in-law. She and Jay should be comin' home by next weekend."
"Good."
"Come on in."
"Thanks."
They came in a followed Hank to the family room. Noah and Rachel were sitting with Olivia
"Hey, Ma."
"Hey, Mom."
"Hi Grandma. Hi Aunt Erin and Aunt Patty."
"Hey."
Colleen them all on the cheek and then she kissed Olivia on top of her head.
"Olivia, these are for you and Diana, these are for you."
"Thank you, Colleen."
"Thanks, Mom."
"You're welcome"
"Nothin' for your favorite son though, huh?"
"Diana can share them with you if she chooses to. Same with you, Hank."
Olivia took a bite of one of the brownies and then gave the other half to Hank.
"That's all you're getting."
Diana did the same.
"What she said."
"Gee, thanks."
Olivia passed her plate of brownies around to everyone.
"Trev and Olive, how was your visit with Rick?"
"You heard about that, huh?"
"Yeah. The firehouse where Rick is was the other one that responded when Erin and I were shot. Gabby and Sylvie took Erin and the others took me. He stopped in to see how I was and he said they were headed here this weekend."
"It was good. They wanted to see Mom anyway."
"Where are the kids?"
"With Olive's parents, so we are enjoying some quiet time."
"So, did you guys get together Friday night?"
"Yeah. I had everyone over. Kara stayed over with Kelly, so it was just me and Brandon anyway. Jeff brought Eddie over and Al brought Noah."
"Trev, were you there?"
"No but I'm thinking I'll get back into it soon."
"How many were there?"
"Everyone but Hank, Trevor and Jay."
"Good."
"So, Ma and Pop decided they're gonna move in with us."
"That's good."
"It was basically between us or you."
"We knew it wouldn't be us, since we live in the same building. They're gonna allow Dylan and Hailey to live there."
"Good. If we had a full bathroom on the main level, we'd let you and Pop move in with us."
"At least we'll be closer to you though."
"I'll help out with what I can, like takin' Pop to therapy once he's home or if you need to do errands, since Erin will be at the Pub."
"Ok. If you need someone to watch the kids, I will be more than willing to help out with that."
"Deal."
"I can't say no to that."
"When do you go back to work?"
"Next week as far as I know but I'm ready now. I do have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, so I'll see what he says. I probably shouldn't have gone to Chicago but I'm glad I did."
"What did Internal Affairs say?"
"It was a good shoot. Erin shot him in self-defense. If it hadn't been a good shoot, then probably someone from my office would have to further investigate her. It wouldn't be me because I have history with Erin and she's family. Just like if something happened with Olivia and she had to be investigated, I couldn't do it. I probably couldn't investigate Jay either."
"Then how come the Internal Affairs guy in Chicago could investigate Erin?"
"He knows her but he doesn't have the history with her that I do."
"I guess that makes sense."
"Those bar rapes quit after we arrested that guy?"
"Yep."
"Good. They stopped in Chicago as well."
"That's a good thing. You comin' back to work tomorrow?"
"Yep. Can I get a ride with the two of you?"
"Of course. Chief Dodds said he was planning to stop by sometime this morning to check in on you."
"I can hardly wait for that."
"Are you goin' anywhere for your birthday and anniversary this year?"
"We talked about it and decided not to this year. We have the trip to Disney World coming up in the spring anyway. I may take a few days off but I know Shauna will be off by then. I would love to be able to spend some time alone with Hank. He got a suite when we go to Florida, so that should give us a little time to ourselves. We managed it when we went to Paris last year."
"How many suites did you have to get?"
"Three. One for us, one for the Halsteads and one for the Langans. We're staying at the Hilton, which isn't that far away. I didn't want to spend all that money to stay at one of the resorts."
"When I took Eddie there this year, we stayed at the Hilton as well. I looked into one of the Disney resorts but they are expensive."
"I did the same thing when I took the girls. It worked out great, since my parents took all the kids for a while and we could spend some time alone. That's when our little guy got his start."
"Yep. I'm glad I did it right this time. Eddie missed out on so much by not having a dad. My idiot ex was the one that took off on me. I don't regret not telling him about the baby. He probably would have tried to get custody of him. It was hard raising him on my own."
"If anyone gets that, I do. I never expected to have to raise my girls on my own. I also never expected Amy and Beth to take to you as quickly as they did, especially Amy, since she was really the only one that remembers their mother."
"I get that too. It was my choice to do what I did but Kara did miss out on a lot."
"I still had Uncle Hank and I think it is so awesome that he's actually my uncle now. I love all of my new family."
"We love you too, kiddo. Jack and I are really looking forward to both of our grandsons being born."
"I can tell you one thing, I won't miss peeing all the time."
"I hear ya."
"Speaking of which."
Shauna got up and headed to the bathroom.
"Did she have a baby shower when she was pregnant with Eddie?"
"Not that I know of. That was just before I knew her. I don't know if her friends did anything for her or not."
"I'll work on something."
Then Shauna came back and sat down again.
"My turn."
Amanda then got and went to the bathroom.
"Daddy, I'm hungry."
"Me too."
"What would you like?"
"I don't know."
"What do you think, Babe?"
"I kind of have a taste for spaghetti but it doesn't have to be tonight."
"Maybe I can do that tomorrow."
"That works for me. Maybe you could go pick up Subway or something."
"That works."
Amanda was back from the bathroom. Hank found out what Olivia and the kids wanted and if others wanted anything. Patty, Colleen, Erin, Jeff, Shauna, Trevor and Olive all left but everyone else stayed. Ed and Al went with Hank.
"Meredith, thank you so much for taking care of them."
"It was no problem at all. I miss when Lexi was this young."
"Were Lucy and Jesse here during the day?"
"They were. The only day Jesse wasn't here was Friday."
"I take it she's with your parents this weekend?"
"Yep. We'll go pick her up later."
"And thank you for cleaning the house too."
"You're welcome."
"Fatherhood looks good on Langan."
"It really does. He loves every minute of it and he is so actively involved with everything. He even gets up with her during the night and lets Olive sleep. Hank loves that Olive is so happy."
"Not too many dads do that."
"Jay did and from what Natalie has said, Will does too."
"Liv, are you available for lunch at all this week?"
"Probably."
"We'll let you know when and then we'll come pick you up."
"Ok. That sounds like a plan. I'm not driving for another week."
"Are you back full-time or will you be there half days?"
"I'm back full-time. I'm doing better but my foot still hurts a little."
"How long will Erin be off?"
She hasn't really said. My guess would be sometime next week if not the following week. They're planning to come home either Friday or Saturday. She's planning to take off when they close on the house and when they do the big move. Once they close and get the place cleaned, they'll start moving stuff over gradually. Fin, Sonny and Jeff are planning to help as is Hank. Trevor said he'd help too. Will and Natalie, the group from Intelligence and 51 offered to come out to help as well. I think he said some of the guys in his unit offered to help too. There was no point in getting a moving company when they're just moving next door. They will need to rent a truck to get the stuff out of storage though"
"That's good that they have as much help as they do."
"Alvin will help I'm sure and I'll help with cleaning."
"Edward will too and I'm sure he can get his brothers and brothers-in-law to help too."
"Ok, good. I can help with cleaning too."
"I'll help in any way I can also."
"Me too."
"If I'm not on call whenever they're doing this, I'll help too."
"We appreciate that. Thanks. Hank already said he'd go over there during the day while Lucy is here with the kids. They want to make the basement into a playroom."
"It's amazing how everyone has the basement for something different. Hank has his man cave, ours is mostly Kara's and Erin and Jay want theirs as a playroom."
"Jay is going to have a lot of stuff to put together once the room is done."
"The joys of having kids."
"Yep."
"Ed and I have been talking about putting a pool and maybe a hot tub in. That way we can alternate who has get togethers and Kara can have her friends over to go swimming."
"That makes sense."
Olivia's phone rang for a video call, so she answered it. She still had Camille on her lap, so she got to see both Erin and Jay. She was still on the phone with them when Hank, Al and Ed got back. Hank gave everyone their sandwiches and they sat and talked as they ate. Amanda and Sonny left first, so they could go get Jesse at his parents'. Alex and Casey told Olivia they would call her about lunch. Olivia kissed the kids goodnight and went to get ready for bed, while Hank put the kids to bed. Once everyone was in bed, Hank went to get ready for bed and joined Olivia. He then wrapped his arms around her.
"Is this what it's going to be like when we finally have our house to ourselves even if they'll be living next door?"
"Oh, probably. I had a talk with Jay about the baby thing. He said he does understand Erin's point of view about it but he doesn't want Camille to be an only child, which I completely understand."
"That is understandable. I didn't necessarily want Noah to be an only child but he loves both of his sisters now. Diana said Kara loves being a big sister."
"I know she does just like she loves havin' a dad. I think Justin would have loved Noah and you too even as close as he was to Camille."
"I would have loved to have met him and that was mostly my fault. I have to say that Ed is a great dad to those kids. I didn't really see what a good dad he could have been when we were together because I just didn't love him that way. A lot of that was because I was fighting my feelings for you. I'm glad he's my brother-in-law now though. I wouldn't change my life for anything now and I love you more and more every day."
"I love you too."
Olivia kissed Hank and then he wrapped his arms around her before they fell asleep in each other's arms.
The next morning, Olivia got up and went into the bathroom to take a shower. In the meantime, Hank woke up and went to join Olivia in the shower. He came up behind her and kissed her neck.
"Morning, my love."
"Morning, Beautiful."
Olivia turned around and then they started kissing. She finished up in the shower and got out, while Hank finished up. Once Hank was done, he got out and dried off before he went downstairs to let the dogs out, feed them and fix breakfast. When she was dressed, she went downstairs.
"Smells good."
"If you decide you don't want to stay all day, call me and I'll come get you."
"I will do that."
Hank finished making breakfast and gave it to Olivia along with her cup of coffee. He had the baby monitor and Camille was babbling, so he knew she was up. He went up to get her. He changed her diaper and took her downstairs.
"Gama!"
"Good morning, sweet girl."
Camille gave Olivia a sloppy kiss and then Hank put her in her high chair. Noah and Rachel had gotten up. They both went to the bathroom and came downstairs.
"Morning."
"Morning."
The kids sat down and Hank gave them their breakfast. He then sat down and ate his breakfast. Then Lucy came in with Jesse and Jeff and Shauna were with them.
"Morning."
"Hey."
"How are you feeling, Liv?"
"Better."
"Good. How's Erin?"
"She's doing better too. She hopes to be back here by the weekend at the latest."
"That's good."
"I'm almost done and then we can go."
"No rush."
"I'm guessing we don't have to worry about being late."
"No. Not if I'm with you."
Olivia finished up and went upstairs to brush her teeth. She also got her gun and badge. Hank got her another coffee to go and then once Olivia was ready, she came back down.
"Here's your coffee to go."
"Thank you."
"Lunch later?"
"Sure. 11:30 work or after you pick him up from school?"
"I was going to take them to the Zoo after Noah was done with Preschool, if that's ok."
"Yeah, that's fine."
"11:30 works for me."
Olivia kissed Hank and then she kissed the kids.
"You three be good for Lucy, ok?"
"Ok, Mommy."
Camille smiled at Olivia.
"You be good too, Miss Jesse."
"I will."
Olivia also kissed Jesse on top of her head and then she left with Jeff and Shauna to head to the Precinct. After she left, Lucy went to get the Camille dressed, while Noah and Rachel went to get dressed. Olivia, Shauna and Jeff arrived at the Precinct and they all went up to SVU.
"Morning."
"Mornin' Liv."
"Lucy said she was taking the kids to the Zoo after Noah is done with Preschool."
"That's what she said she was plannin' to do."
Olivia went into her office and did the pile of paperwork that was on her desk. They got a call, so the guys left and Amanda and Shauna did what they could from the Precinct before they left to head to the hospital. After they left, Chief Dodds came in.
"Lieutenant."
"Chief."
"How are you and Detective Halstead?"
"I'm better and so is she. She is planning to leave Chicago by this weekend. They are staying with Jay's brother and sister-in-law, who are both ER doctors. His brother was the one that wanted me to stay in Chicago as long as I did, since he's the one that saw me in the first place. I just need to follow up with my doctor here.
"I take it you both had to speak with Internal Affairs in Chicago?"
"Yes and it was ruled a good shoot. Captain Edwards was there for support, so she knows about what went on but if Erin had to be investigated further, she would have to recuse herself from the case."
"That makes sense. I'm glad you're both doin' ok. Did your husband come back with you?"
"He did. Jay is off another week, so he can stay with Erin. I'm glad we are able to video chat though. I talked to the kids multiple times before we came home and Erin and Jay were able to see their daughter. Two weeks is a long time for them to be away from her."
"That must be hard. How's the new baby?"
"She's doing great. We love seeing Olive so happy and Trevor loves every minute of being a dad."
"I'm really gonna miss out on bein' a grandpa. Right now, Matt doesn't have anyone in his life. Mike really wanted kids."
"Hank is grateful for his grandchildren, since they are his constant reminder of his son. The twins are a handful though. Hank really wanted Olive to be happy, which she is but he still wanted to have a relationship with the kids, which he does. Trevor wouldn't have it any other way."
"I've told Alice that I want her to be happy and if she wants to get involved with someone else, I'm fine with that. Mike would have wanted her to be happy too."
"That's how Hank felt. All he cares about is that whoever she ended up with is good to them. He told her Justin would have wanted her to be happy."
"Does the pain ever go away?"
"According to Hank and Olive, no. Justin died around the same time Mike did and sometimes Olive feels guilty for falling in love with someone so fast. Trevor knows a part of her will always love Justin, just like I know a part of Hank will always love his first wife. If you ever need to talk to someone about it, I'm sure Hank will talk to you, since he's been through it."
"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks. I've been workin' on it though. I'm sorry for how I treated you after Mike's death."
"I've been blaming myself ever since. Right after it happened, there were many times I wished it had been me instead."
"Don't blame yourself for it anymore. I'm just glad Munson is locked up."
"Yeah, me too."
"I spoke with Tucker too."
"That's a good thing."
"Yeah, it is. I'm tryin' to work on my relationships with people and I wanna have a good workin' relationship with SVU."
"I'm sure something can be arranged."
"Good to know."
Olivia and Chief Dodds talked for a little while longer and then he left. Not too long after he left, Diana and Ed came in.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"How is everything going here?"
"Not too bad. I had a long talk with Chief Dodds and he apologized for how he treated me after Mike's death. He said he talked to you too."
"He did. I was at the Pub and he had come in to grab a bite to eat, so we talked for a bit. We ended up clearing the air between us."
"He said he wants to have a good working relationship with SVU."
"That's what I want to hear."
"How'd your doctor's appointment go?"
"Pretty good. I'm officially back tomorrow."
"Wow! Was he mad that you traveled?"
"Not really. I admitted that I had though. I probably would have gone to Chicago anyway."
"A part of me wishes I hadn't gone to Chicago but then then another part of me was glad I was there because of what happened to Erin not just as her CO but as her mom."
"Hank and Jay were both hoping nothing was going to happen, since you and Erin were there and they were here. I told them they needed to stop with that. I guess they had every right to worry."
"That's Hank though."
"Yeah, I know. I've known both of them a lot longer than you have."
"That's kind of scary when you really think about it because I've known Ed a lot longer than you have."
"Exactly. It's weird how things work out."
"That's for sure."
Ed and Diana stayed for a little bit and then once everyone came back, they left and went to see Ed's dad. A few hours later, Hank came in to take Olivia to lunch. He headed towards her office.
"Hey."
"Hey, yourself."
Olivia got up and kissed Hank.
"Diana is coming back tomorrow."
"That's good. You ready for lunch?"
"I am."
Olivia got her jacket and purse and then she and Hank left for lunch. After lunch, Hank took Olivia back to work and then he stopped at the store before he headed home.
The rest of the day went quickly. Lucy and the kids had come back from the Zoo. Lucy left with Jesse and then Hank had started dinner once Camille was in the high chair, so he could keep an eye on her.
"Daddy, what's for dinner?"
"Spaghetti and meatballs. How's that sound?"
"Yummy!"
"Can we help?"
"You wanna set the table?"
"Ok."
Hank got the plates and silverware out and gave the plates to one and the silverware to the other. Noah and Rachel set the table. By the time Olivia got home, dinner was ready.
"Hello."
"Mommy!"
Noah and Rachel ran to give Olivia a hug and the dogs came to see her as well. Olivia took her coat off and went into the kitchen. She kissed Hank and then she kissed Camille on top of her head.
"Gama!"
"Hi sweet girl! Honey, it smells so good in here."
"Thanks. It's just about done. Sit down and relax."
"Thank you. I just need to get rid of my gun first."
Olivia went up to lock up her gun and take her badge off before coming back downstairs. She sat down at the table and the kids did too. Hank brought the salad out for himself and Olivia and then he brought the rest of it out, along with the drinks. He had already set aside some noodles for Camille, so they could cool. He set her bowl in front of her and then he put noodles and sauce on Noah and Rachel's plates, along with the bread. Olivia took what she wanted and then Hank put some on his plate. Everyone ate.
"Mommy, how was work?"
"It was ok. We had a case but the others worked on it and I stayed in my office most of the time. I did listen in to the interrogations though."
"Did you see Uncle Rafa?"
"I did. How was Preschool?"
"Good."
By the time they were done with dinner, both Noah and Rachel had sauce all over themselves.
"You can tell these two liked dinner."
"It was so good."
"You both need a bath. You clean up and I'll give them a bath."
"Ok. There's cookies for dessert but we can do that after their bath."
"Ok."
Olivia took the 3 kids upstairs to give them their bath, while Hank cleaned up from dinner. When he was done, he came up with the stain remover and sprayed their clothes before putting them in the hampers. He went back upstairs and stood in the bathroom doorway.
"Now I'm all soaked."
"Most of that I'm sure came from Camille."
"She's as bad as Nikki and Justin at the same age."
"They're still like that."
"True. I think the little peanut is clean."
Hank got Camille's towel and took her out of the tub. He dried her off, wrapped her in her towel and took her into her room to put a diaper on her and get her ready for bed, while Olivia finished up with the other two. While Hank was getting Camille dressed, Erin and Jay wanted to video chat. He talked to them while he finished up getting Camille ready for bed. Once he was done, he picked her up, so she could see her mom and dad and she was babbling away at them. Noah and Rachel had gone to get ready for bed, while Olivia was cleaning up the bathroom. Hank appeared in the bathroom doorway again and had her say hi to Erin and Jay. The kids came out of their rooms to say hi to Erin and Jay as well.
After they were done talking and both Hank and Olivia were ready for bed, they went to have cookies and watched a movie. Hank had given Camille her milk and then not too long after she finished it, she was asleep. He took her up and put her to bed. By the time the movie was over, it was time for Noah and Rachel to go to bed. They went up to go to the bathroom and brush their teeth. Hank and Olivia tucked them in and said goodnight to them. Olivia went to finish getting ready for bed, while Hank went down to let the dogs out and make sure everything was locked up. Hank let the dogs in and they headed up to the kids' rooms. Hank checked in on the kids before he went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth. He then joined Olivia in bed.
"Are they asleep?"
"Yep and Stormy and Misty are at the foot of both beds just as they always are."
"Good. Erin definitely seemed like she was in better spirits today."
"Yeah, she did.
"Once they move, this will be the first time since before Olive and the kids moved in that we will have the place to ourselves with just Noah and Rachel."
"I know. The Halsteads will probably be here all the time though especially when the weather is warm."
"Diana said they were thinking about putting a pool in."
"That would be good for Kara."
"Yeah, it would."
They kissed each other and then they fell asleep in each other's arms.
The rest of the week went quickly and SVU had a lot going on. Diana was back and by the middle of the week Olivia went out to lunch with Alex and Casey. Erin and Jay had made arrangements to come home on Saturday.
Stay tuned for more…
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