Stork (SVU Fanfic)

Chapter Nineteen

I...I passed.

"I passed?"

"With flying colors," Cragen tells me. "Congratulations, Liv."

My name is Sergeant Benson now. That sounds so weird.

"Take good care of this place, Liv. And remember, I'll still be around."

With tears in my eyes, I hug the man who accepted me as his daughter from the minute I started working for him. It's been so many years. And now I'm doing his job.

I'm not ready to do his job.

But he believes that I am. It must be true.

He takes his last box out and I lean against the desk. My desk.

So I guess that war inside my head is over. If I'm in charge of everything here now, I won't have to have a partner. But I can still have the job I love.

That night, I'm sitting on the left side of the couch, watching CSI reruns. I hear the door open and I know it's Elliot with Eli. They just went shopping for who knows what, but I'm glad they're home.

"Wivvie!" I hear Eli call and I force myself to the floor so he can hug me. I then pick him up and give him kisses.

"What's up, Little Man?" I ask.

"Daddy got me twains!" he yelled excitedly, showing me his new blue and red trains.

"Wow!" I exclaim, picking him up and putting him in my lap.

"Aaaaaand," I hear Elliot say. He pulls Eli into his arms to continue talking. "you're going to get to play with them with...who tonight?"

"Dickie!"

"What? Livvie can't play with you?" I ask.

"No!" Eli replies, smiling.

"Why not?"

"Because you and I are going out," Elliot says matter-of-factly.

"Where?"

"Luciano's?" he asks, knowing I love that place.

With a smile on my face, I look up and reply with "okay".

~•~

"Maureen, I don't know what to wear!" I tell her, using my hands for emphasis.

"Liv," she replies calmly, "it's my dad. Not the president."

"But it's your dad!"

She rolls her eyes, laughing a little.

"What?" I ask defensibly.

"Again, I say. It's my dad. He's been in love with you for a long time, how do you not know that?"

"No, he hasn't."

"Yes, he has. And you saved his family. He-"

"I, A: didn't saw all of them, and B: so? I-"

"So...his family means absolutely everything to him! If he lost Kathy and his kids? He would've offed himself. And you kept us together. Which means you molded into the family with no means of escape."

She says it all so seriously, the end makes me laugh. "So...back to what I'm supposed to wear?"

She sends a good whack right to her forehead. "Liv. Come on. You look good in everything. He has seen you sick, puking, dressed in sweats. He has seen you in tears, red faced. I doubt that picking a red dress over a black one will really make him regret his choices. Pick something you like to wear."