Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, whatever your celebration, I wish it well. Picking up where we left off so let's jump to it, thanks guys, for being awesome! Enjoy!
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While Olivia had been so engrossed in her phone calls with Barba and then Amanda, she paid no mind to Brian who had gone to the bathroom to grab aspirin for his headache.
He immediately turned on the light switch upon entering from her bedroom and went straight for the medicine cabinet, finding the aspirin and shook two out into his hand before returning the bottle to its shelf in the cabinet and closed the mirror, then tossed the pills into his mouth. He was reaching for the glass that sat beside the sink when he noticed the test stick in the sink where Olivia had dropped it and absently forgot to retrieve.
"What the hell?" he asked himself as he picked it up knowing exactly what it was, his mind flashing back to just last July when Olivia told him she was pregnant with the child she would eventually miscarry, but why does she have a pregnancy test? He wondered. Especially since she'd told him that she couldn't conceive again after complications from losing their son.
He dry-swallowed the aspirin in his mouth as he reached into the sink and picked up the test, turning it so that he could read the result window and feeling himself become lightheaded when he saw that it was positive.
"You gotta be fucking kidding me!" he exclaimed disbelievingly, closing his eyes as he let out a sigh of exasperation. "Is this what she wanted to talk to me about?" he wondered, taking a seat on the tub when it felt like he would collapse under his own weight at any moment.
"We're havin a kid!" he was too stunned to say much more. After making his way back to the living room, he interrupted Olivia who was still on the phone with Amanda and gave her some excuse about needing to get back to work, she had no clue that it was his day off and thought nothing of it, just kissed him goodbye and continued talking to Amanda, never suspecting that he'd seen the test.
Brian went back to his apartment after leaving Olivia's, his mind reeling. To say that he was shocked was a huge understatement; he didn't even know where to begin but he knew one thing, he needed a drink and he headed to his kitchen to grab the whiskey from the cupboard. He was raising a glass filled with the brown liquid to his lips when he realized how insanely early in the morning it still was and poured it down the drain instead. He rain his hands over his short-cropped hair and took a deep breath that he let out very shakily as his mind went back to the test.
"She's pregnant again... How did we let that happen?" he asked himself as he absently picked up the bottle. "Oh, I don't know... could have something to do with the way you and her have been fucking without protection like rabbits on ecstasy since you been back!" he took a swig from the bottle, feeling the burn in his chest before he realized that he was drinking and quickly closed the bottle and put it back in the cupboard.
"I'm gonna be a father."
***
Olivia's apartment, later that morning...
"You are just the sweetest smellin thing on earth!" Amanda cooed to Noelle after planting a barrage of feather-light kisses on her daughter's tiny cheeks and now kissed her little nose eliciting a grin from the baby.
"We won't have much more time together Babydoll" she said to Noelle who now lay contentedly in her arms, her huge blue eyes looking up at Amanda while she sat in the nursery rocking chair holding her. Amanda had just given her her morning bath and dressed her and now sat contentedly talking to the infant.
"Two more weeks and I'm gonna be leavin to start my new life in Virginia... I'm gonna miss you peanut. I wish that I could have been a better momma to you but I think I more than made up for what I couldn't give you. I gave you the best because it's what you deserve. Always remember that; and always remember that I love you!"
Noelle smiled at Amanda and let out a happy gurgle while continuing to look up at her mother
"You know, you break my heart when you look at me that way" she said as she stroked Noelle's cheek with her finger. "and when you smile that beautiful smile... no matter where I go in the world I'm gonna keep your smile with me so when I'm sad, all I need to do is think about my baby girl and I'll be okay"
She ran her fingers through Noelle's mass of thick black waves just as her phone buzzed and she quickly reached over to the small table that sat beside the rocker to grab it.
"Rollins"
"Amanda Jean Rollins, I get it, you're busy up there in the big city but would it kill you to call?" Maggie Rollins asked in her slow southern drawl. Amanda's eye's went wide, she hadn't talked to her mother since before Noelle was born and now it just seemed weird. She almost felt like her mother could see her holding the grandbaby she never told her about.
"Momma, I...how've you been? Everything okay?" she stammered nervously
"Everything's fine, I just miss my eldest child. I never hear from you. I could be down here dine and you'd never know cuz you never call!"
"I'm sorry momma, I been meanin to call I just been a lil sidetracked is all" Noelle looked up at Amanda, sensing her uneasiness and tried to offer comfort with a smile and a coo.
"Do I hear a baby?" Amanda froze, pausing for a moment before she spoke.
"My friend's baby. List-"
"Boy or girl?"
"Girl. Momma..."
"Bless! How old?"
"Seven weeks tomorrow." Amanda answered dismissively, wanting desperately to change the subject Momma I..."
"Aw, still new! What's her name?" Maggie was entirely too engrossed in the idea of the baby
"Noelle, Momma. Listen, I..."
"Sweetie, you know you ain't getting younger and look, your friends are already havin em. Don't you feel it's high time you start thinkin bout providin me a grandchild?"
"Momma, I love you but I am not havin this conversation again; do you need anything?"
"Just to hear from my Babydoll more often. I miss you." Amanda immediately softened at hearing the nickname her mother had called her by ever since she could remember, the same nickname she herself had unconsciously bestowed upon Noelle.
"I miss you too momma" She said tearfully while looking at Noelle. "and I promise, I will call more often"
"Thank you"
"You know, I actually have a little time to kill before I have to report to Virginia for training; why don't I book a flight and fly down for a few days,"
"I would like that very much. mother's day is next Sunday, it'll be nice havin my babies around."
"Yeah... Momma, I gotta go but I love you and I'll see you soon" she said and ended the call before her mother could say more. Quickly, she wiped her eyes before looking down at Noelle and giving her a smile. "How about we grab your stroller and you and I take a trip to the park?"
***
Chad's penthouse...
"Liv..." Fin called softly to her as she stood on the living room terrace staring absently at the city skyline while the team continued to comb the apartment. She'd been trying for the last hour to compose herself after they'd discovered Kathleen but she'd been more shaken than she realized and now grief, grouped with the shock of having just discovered this morning that she was pregnant, along with raging nausea, she was a complete mess.
"I'm sorry I just... I needed a minute, I..." she stammered without turning to look at fin, not wanting him to see the tears that she couldn't contain.
"You don't need to explain baby girl, take all the time you need. Just wanted to tell you that the ME is here for Kathleen." Olivia took a shaky breath and wiped her tears before turning to Fin.
"I still have to call California, I haven't called El... I don't know how. Fin what the hell was she even doing here? She has a fiancé!"
"I wish I had answers. Listen, if you want, I can call Stabler" Olivia swallowed hard and took another deep breath, suddenly turning a sickly shade of green and alarming Fin "Liv, you okay?" she shook her head
"I'm gonna be sick!" she said, rushing back inside. She remembered that there was a small bathroom in the foyer right by the stairs and she ran to it; slamming the door and dropping to her knees with just enough time to raise the lid before her stomach let go.
Out in the living room, Fin was on his way to check on Olivia when one of the CSU team came down the stairs
"Detective..."
"Yeah?" Fin answered looking toward the bathroom
"You might wanna see this"
...
Fin entered the bedroom t see the ME examining Kathleen's body and he suddenly felt as sick as Olivia was.
"Choke marks on her neck, bite marks to her nipples and labia... pretty much what you already saw. Can't determine the cause of death until we autopsy."
"Is this what I needed to see?" Fin asked the CSU tech
"No, this is" he said, holding up the evidence that had already been bagged for the lab
"What the hell, is that a tooth? "Fin asked
"Yep" the tech answered "root and gum tissue still attached and it's not the from the body."
"So where the hell did it come from?"
"We'll get it to the lab and see what the DNA gods tell us!"
...
While downstairs in the bathroom, her stomach having finally settled somewhat, Olivia stared down at the phone in her hand, dreading the call she had to make. She took a breath to still her nerves as she dialed the number then paused before hitting the call button.
...
In Los Angeles at a downtown federal office building, Elliot was making his way inside, briefcase in hand when his phone rang. he reached into his jacket to retrieve it while he kept walking but stopped when he saw who the caller was and smiled before answering.
"Liv, hey" he greeted, resuming his path to the building "It's been a while"
"I know and I'm sorry, I've just been busy" she apologized. He could hear the melancholy in her voice and worry quickly set in.
"Everything okay? You don't sound good"
"I'm not. El... this isn't a personal call, I..."she couldn't make the words leave her mouth
"What do you mean? Like department business?"
"No. El, I hate to have to do this, especially over the phone" he could feel the dread rising in the pit of his stomach. He knew that tone, something was terribly wrong.
"Liv, whatever it is just..."
"El, I'm sorry... it's about Kathleen..."
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Explosives coming.