Sweet Relief

Safe

"Mommm..." Emma whines, standing in the doorway, her arms crossed.

"Yes, Emma." Olivia says with a sigh, exhausted by the little girls constant pestering. She looks up at her daughter and sees a familiar scowl on her face.

"I asked when Elliot's gonna be back." She says, irritated with her mother's non answer.

"Honey, I told you I don't know." Olivia says, beginning to grow frustrated with her daughter, who's been asking the same question over and over again for the last two days, "Please let me finish this."

She rolls her eyes. "He said three days. That was like.. forever ago."

"I don't know that a week and half counts as forever, Em." Olivia says with a smirk. Her earlier frustration dissipates as she reminds herself that if she misses Elliot, of course Emma does. This is the longest stretch of time they've gone without seeing each other since they met and it's disrupted their routine. He's missing from soccer practice and her games, he's not here to help with homework, or to read with her before bed, and his chair is empty at dinner. Of course she wants to know when he'll back.

She stares at her mom, her arms still crossed, refusing to leave the bedroom. Olivia stares back, an eyebrow arched, amused that she's not backing down. Emma's stubbornness has always rivaled her own, something she seems to have inherited from both parents. "Baby, I'm sure he'll call as soon as he's done working." Olivia says finally.

Emma gives her a pouty look, still standing in the doorway, arms crossed as if she thinks her refusal to leave will elicit a more satisfying response. "You miss him?" Olivia asks, trying not to give her too much attention, knowing that Emma has recently entered the preteen stage of being too cool for her own emotions.

Emma rolls her eyes, "No. He's just more fun than you."

"Oh, ouch." Olivia says with a playful laugh. Emma tries not to smile but Olivia can see the corners of her mouth turning up ever so slightly.

"I just.. like it when he's around." She says with a shrug, "That's all."

Olivia does her best not to react because she knows all too well that any overt display of emotions will be met with a fake vomit noise and Emma won't share any more with her. "Me too, Honey." She says softly.

Emma stands quietly, looking down at her feet and Olivia waits patiently for whatever's coming. She turns her attention back to the work in front of her, knowing she has to let Emma get there in her own time. She is so much her and Elliot that it's infuriating. "You didn't break up or anything did you?" She asks quietly.

"No, no, honey of course not." Olivia says, looking up from the case file in her hand to see Emma with tears in her eyes. "Come here, sweetie."

Emma walks into her room and Olivia pulls her onto the bed, as close to in her lap as her daughter will let her. She wraps both arms around her tightly and kisses the side of her face before she rests her chin on the top of her head, fighting the urge to rock her like a small child. "Elliot will be back as soon as he's done working, love." She whispers, "I know you miss him, I miss him too."

Olivia holds onto her daughter as tight as she will let her... All of the things she's been worried about, all of the things she and Elliot need to to figure out seem so small as she holds Emma. They will get figured out. They have to. She's given her a daughter a family and she can't take that away.

Emma's quiet for a minute. "I like him better than Brian." She says, "And Ed. I didn't mind so much when Ed wasn't here anymore. But I don't want Elliot to go anywhere."

It both warms Olivia's heart to know that Emma feels connected to her father, and hurts her because she knows this undercover operation will not be the last. She hates to think that Emma will grow up like her siblings, constantly missing her dad and wondering when he'll come home.