Chapter Text
Apparently, hormone shots make her angry.
Her duties as Sergeant may add extra stress, but he watches silently as she snaps at everyone for the smallest things, wound up and eager to get them out of her sight.
He knows Olivia, he loves Olivia, and she doesn’t behave like that. The doctor had told them the hormones would make everything more raw, her feelings more prominent. She may overreact or get overly emotional positively or negatively, and it would be completely normal.
As he silently approaches the bathroom stalls, he checks if anyone occupies the rest of the room before he slips inside and joins Olivia.
“Are you ready?” he asks while he watches her bite her bottom lip.
“Are you sure you’re okay doing this, El?” she lets out, her voice filled with doubt.
“I’m more than okay, Liv. I already did your shot the previous times, and we managed okay, didn’t we?”
She nods while giving him the syringe containing the hormones needed for her estrogen levels to remain high.
She’s been injecting these for a week now. Initially, she had left work every day, gone to her doctor, and let the nurses do it, but the last two days were swamped with cases, and she couldn’t leave the precinct. Instead, she asked Elliot, and he offered, saying yes without a single ounce of hesitation.
He promised her on the rooftop and later, when this whole thing started, that he would be there for her through everything. She’s glad to realize that he meant it, he proves it every day with his actions. He's helping her make her dream a reality with no strings attached, which makes her fall in love with him even more.
Elliot observes as she unbuttons her work pants, dropping them in the middle of her thigh as she grips the toilet in front of her. Taking a deep breath, taking in the smooth alabaster skin of her caramel thigh, he unscrews the syringe cap and presses it quickly and painlessly on her hip.
During their entire process, their eyes are locked. His blue orbs shine as he takes in the slope of her nose and the curve of her cheekbones. Her brown eyes glitter when the lights of the bathroom fall on them, and Elliot desperately wishes that their baby, the one that they are about to make in a lab (he doesn’t care one bit about the lab part, he will love it all the same) will come out looking like her.
He hopes the tiny beautiful creature that will bless their lives will be her spitting image.
Olivia seems equally transfixed by him, and he wonders what she is thinking about in that brilliant brain of hers.
Afterward, when she buttons her pants and he picks up the trash, she lowers her gaze avoiding his curious expression.
If Elliot could have seen inside her brain at that moment, he would get the full picture of a tiny baby wrapped in a blanket with brilliant blue eyes, a mirror image of his own.
~oOo~
“Everything okay?” he quips as he enters her office.
She sighs, a deep breath filled with responsibility and weight leaving her lungs.
“I saw Rollins, she seemed pretty upset,” he mentions, seeing the heartbroken blonde leaving Olivia’s office like someone had announced to her the end of the world.
“It’s tough El, it’s hard, exercising my authority. You know the truth, but I had to lie to Amaro and Fin about her. Murphy covered for her. The worst thing in all this? I don’t know if I can trust her anymore,” she says with a sad voice as she drops her head on the desk.
His steps are quick, practically running as he circles his office and drops in front of her, laying a comforting hand on her neck and caressing her arm, drawing smooth circles over it.
“It’s hard I know, but you don’t have to do it alone. I’m always here, Olivia. Everything you need, you come to me. You want to fight, I’m right here. If you want to vent about your detectives, I'll always be happy to listen. It’s me and you always, partner.”
Her lips curl into a big smile, he watches enraptured by her irresistible mouth. He aches to kiss her and confess his feelings, the infinite love locked deep inside his chest.
He doesn’t do that, instead, he sweeps her in a hug and changes the subject to the appointment happening tomorrow.
“Are you ready? About tomorrow?”
She tucks her head into the crook of his neck, whispering low words full of importance.
What’s about to happen tomorrow means everything to them.
“You mean the insemination?”
He nods unconsciously, the contact of their bodies already giving her affirmation, by sensing his movements.
“I’m ready, El, couldn’t be more ready. I hope it works. I want it so much.”
He tightens his hold.
“You’ll see, it’ll happen. Soon, you’ll have that baby in your arms.”
He’s going to fight like hell to give her that happy ending.
~oOo~
“Where are you off to?”
“Court.”
He drops the green tea and fruit salad in front of her. The doctor had given straight orders to take care of herself, especially after the process of insemination.
Twenty days ago they inserted three embryos in her uterus and now they were just hoping – and Elliot praying — for a miracle. He takes care of Olivia every chance he gets when he’s not off to cases with Amaro.
“I thought you didn’t have cases today,” he mentions curiosity getting the best of him.
“I don’t. I’m going with Langan. It’s about the placement of Baby Boy Doe.”
A soft look takes over his face, an adoring expression painted all over him. Olivia may not talk about it but since the moment she had found that baby boy in the drawer she hadn’t stopped caring for him and doing the absolute best in finding him a proper foster home.
There’s a bond there, he doesn’t know if it’s because she’s trying for her own family or if the little guy curved himself a place in her heart but he can see the myriad of emotions spread over her face when she talks about his case.
“Want me to come with?” he enquires, trying to be there for her, help her in any way possible.
She raises an eyebrow.
“Someone has to be in charge here, El, and the only other person I trust is you.”
She gulps down her tea as she takes a bite of her salad. Afterward, she hastily grabs her bag and walks straight out of the office.
“I’ll watch over the kids, honey!” he yells teasingly from behind her as she throws him a menacing look from over her shoulder.
He smiles. He hopes the pregnancy test she’s going to take in ten days comes out positive. No one deserves to be a mother more.
~oOo~
He’s terrified when he receives a phone call from Olivia in the middle of the day, she’s shaking, scared because the beast that tormented her the first time is roaming the streets again, hunting for her.
He won’t let him come close to her this time. He’ll die before it happens again especially while she may be in a delicate position.
He would lay down his life regardless for her, his best friend, the woman he's so desperately in love with, but to think, comprehend, that she actually may be pregnant and Lewis wants her under his evil clutches, it makes him angry, rage blossoming with nowhere to go.
He drives her to her apartment, and he stands vigil alongside with the twenty-four-hour detail assigned to her. Thank God he’s there to be honest, taking in the two lovesick detectives on the couch makes him sick, realizing Olivia could have acted differently in her despair and done something irrational like escaping and going after him.
Thankfully, none of this happens.
She’s in the bathroom for a few minutes when his cell rings, Murphy’s name flashing on the screen.
As he hears the man's voice on the other line, his heart in his throat, he listens to the life-changing news whispered on the receiver. Turning around, he listens to Olivia’s footsteps as she comes out, all watery eyes and slow footing.
Their eyes meet, and he assumes from the shaken look on her face she had heard part of the conversation, but he wants to announce it to her all the same.
They talk at the same time.
“He’s dead.”
“I’m pregnant.”
Time stops, his gaze sliding lower, zeroing in on her hand that grasps a pregnancy test.
She sniffles, a tear trailing down her cheek, continuing to try and explain.
“I was anxious, couldn’t sit still and… I thought I’d do it. I know it was supposed to be after this mess was solved but I needed to do something. I needed to know.”
He walks slowly towards her, his eyes no longer containing the tears that flow in abandon.
She’s going to have a baby. Olivia is pregnant. The insemination worked. His partner, his best friend, the love of his life, is expecting his baby.
Nothing matters at this moment except putting his arms around her.
She has the same idea only she’s putting a different part of her body against his.
As his arms slip around Olivia’s waist and he goes to embrace her, she places her limbs around his neck, pushing towards him and pressing her lips on his.
The kiss is one full of passion, realization, and love. It feels like coming home and finally becoming one.
When they break it off, she smiles gently, and he can’t help it, he confesses everything.
“I love you, Olivia. I’m in love with you. I always have been.”
Her eyes sparkle as she admits the same.
~oOo~
When another hearing for the infant, which he now knows is named Noah Porter, happens, he tags along with Olivia, insistent on coming, not letting her leave his sight since she announced her pregnancy.
He sees the sad expression as Judge Linden declares Noah a ward of the state, an orphan .
Olivia is distraught.
Judge Linden surprises the hell out of them when she notices the connection between Olivia and the infant.
“Sergeant Benson you rescued the infant, isn’t that right?”
Something important is about to happen, he can feel it in his bones.
“Yes, your Honor,” she answers immediately.
“You are the only one who has taken a consistent interest on his behalf. Is there any chance that you’d like to become a foster mother to this baby?”
Her palm in his hand is sweating, her eyes are painted with hope, a beautiful shine to them.
She tilts her head to the side, asking for reassurance about what she heard.
“Excuse me, your Honor?”
“I have a feeling about this, Sergeant Benson. Call it a judge’s hunch. If you agree, I will order Noah Porter into your care as a custodial parent for one year, at which time you will be given the option to permanently adopt him. Do you agree?”
Olivia’s eyes are two pools of liquid gold. He can sense the electric current through her body, her hands trembling uncontrollably.
He knows her like the back of his hand, and deep in his bones he knows that Noah is supposed to be hers, theirs , to care for and love.
“She agrees, your Honor. She and I will become his foster parents and adopt him.”
She squeezes his palm harshly, and when her head turns, she mouths, ‘I love you.’
Olivia is three months pregnant when they become parents for the first time together.
~oOo~
The house is filled with ribbons and a banner that spells: Welcome home Noah Porter Benson-Stabler .
The kid will have a name on him, but Elliot wouldn’t have it any other way.
“El, put the champagne and hors d'oeuvres on the table!”
“Can’t!” he yells from the living room, as she comes out dressed in a gorgeous light blue dress.
“Why?” she asks as she fixes her earrings in the mirror.
“I’m carrying precious cargo, baby.”
The brown-eyed baby girl grins as she kicks her feet in his arms.
Turns out he was right, Hope Benson Stabler came out looking like the spitting image of her mom. Since the moment he held her in the delivery room, he was in love with her, another Benson woman to have him wrapped around her finger.
Olivia shakes her head, and after she brings the beverages to the table, she comes close, taking the baby from his arms, Hope’s face scrunching as she releases a wail.
He grins in satisfaction. These days Dad is her favorite person.
“The girls, Dickie and Eli are coming in a few along with the guys from the precinct. Can you wake up the guest of honor?”
“Consider it done.”
When he slips inside the nursery, he wakes up his son, hugging him tightly to his chest as he sends a prayer to the universe for making Olivia’s dreams and his a reality.