Semper Fi

Oops...he did it again

And what about you?

"Liv? Liv did you hear me?"

Olivia stared straight ahead borderline panicking. She didn't know if she should act like she was asleep or not to avoid the conversation altogether. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Yeah," she said softly. "I heard you."

"Do you plan on answering?"

She turned to face him all signs of her exhaustion now faded away.

"You want me to be a Stabler?" she asked.

"More than anything," he answered genuinely. He could tell she was still processing and he rubbed her hair and caressed her face while he continued. "Liv, this..us is everything to me. I have been thinking about us getting married since the day you walked back in to my life and if I'm being honest I thought about it a lot earlier than I should have. I know it's soon and I know we have so many changes going on right now between the adoption, the baby..." he was rambling on and the more he talked the more the tears welled up in her eyes and her panic started to dissolve. "I just...I know it's a lot. Just promise me you will think about it. Ok?"

"Ok. I promise."

He leaned over her and turned off the lamp while taking his place behind her and settled his body into hers to go to sleep.

"Elliot?"

"Yeah"

"I love you." It was all she could think of to say.

"I love you too."

He drifted off to a peaceful slumber satisfied that he said everything he wanted to say and that the ball was in her court. Olivia on the other hand was wide awake.

XXXX

The next morning he was up and moving about as normal. She was groggy and dragging. She watched the clock most of the night with her thoughts racing until around 5am she finally drifted off and it was an hour before her alarm went off.

Elliot could sense that she didn't sleep well so he took care of getting Noah ready and fixed her some tea since she couldn't have coffee. He was afraid that his proposal is what kept her up all night so he tried to tiptoe around her to find out if it in fact was the real reason.

"Good Morning," he said entering the bathroom while she stood near the sink with her head in her hands. "Are you sick?"

"No. I just didn't get much sleep and I'm exhausted. I'm sorry I'll be out of here in a second so you can use the bathroom to get ready."

There were bags under her eyes and she looked drained.

"I'm ok. I don't have to be on a conference call until later so take your time," he stood at the door threshold trying to think of what to say next. "Did the baby keep you up last night?"

"No. I'm fine," she snapped and didn't make eye contact with him.

He recognized that patented response from years of working with her and decided to back off. He knew it was the thought of marriage that kept her up last night and he didn't know how to feel about it. He knew that relationships scared her and so did commitment but he never thought that the idea of being with him forever would cause so much distress to her.

"Good Morning," Lucy said as she entered.

"Morning," Elliot responded in a clipped tone. "He's already been changed and ate a banana, he's still working on the cereal. I'm going to go ahead and head on out."

"Umm ok, is Olivia still here?" she asked slightly confused.

"Yeah she's still in the bathroom."