Coming Home [A Bensler Fan Fic]

One

Elliot sighed as he flipped through the local newspaper. He usually stopped before the obituaries, but he continued to them, anyway. He looked over the faces and wondered if he knew any of them, before stopping when he recognized one person.

"Ma!" Elliot called as he stood and quickly walked towards the kitchen. Bernie looked up from her cookbook and focused her eyes on her son.

"Yeah? What's wrong?" Bernie asked.

"Look who passed away." Elliot frowned as he moved over to the counter. He laid the newspaper out before watching as his mother looked it over quickly. Then she stopped. A few tears slipped down her cheeks, and she quickly wiped them away.

"I'll make some food, and you can take it over tomorrow. Give them our condolences and see if she's back. Okay?" Bernie spoke, and Elliot nodded before drawing his mother into a tight hug.

"I love you, Ma." Elliot breathed.

"I love you too, honey. But don't worry, I'm not leaving you anytime soon."

///

Bernie was up most of the night, as she cooked many dishes that could be frozen and warmed up when needed. She wrote a note and tucked it into place before helping her son pack the bags up and put them in his truck. Elliot then drove across town and parked behind a small blue car. He sat there for a moment before deciding that it was time to go in and face the family. He grabbed the bags and walked up the path before ringing the doorbell.

"Hello?" The woman spoke once she opened the door. Elliot looked at her with wide eyes before smiling.

"Liv?"

"Elliot." Olivia smiled. She quickly stepped forward and hugged him tightly. Elliot couldn't hug him back because he was holding the bags.

"I would totally hug you back, but I really don't want to drop this food. My mother would smack me if I did." Elliot chuckled. Olivia laughed a bit before stepping back and nodded.

"Sorry for attacking you like that. I just haven't seen you in so long, and it's so nice to see such a kind face." Olivia replied. Elliot sat the bags down before hugging Olivia. They stood there for several moments before Elliot finally let Olivia go.

"I'm sorry about your loss, Liv." Elliot frowned.

"Thanks, El. It means a lot." Olivia breathed.

"So my mom sent me with a bunch of food to help your father out. He can just toss them in the oven and then he and the girls should be good for a few weeks. Maybe a month." Elliot smiled.

"She didn't have to do that." Olivia spoke as she leaned down and grabbed a bag before stepping back into the house. Elliot followed her with the other bag, and he looked around the house he hadn't been in since he was eighteen.

"It hasn't changed much." Elliot spoke.

"No, not really. There are fewer toys in this house since all of my sisters are teenagers now." Olivia spoke as she moved into the kitchen. Elliot helped her shove things into the freezer before they went into the living room.

"Where'd you go?" Elliot asked, since he couldn't help himself.

He hadn't seen his best friend in four years, and he hadn't even heard from her in the same amount of time. It was like Olivia fell off the face of the Earth after school, and no one heard from her. Not even her parents.

"Um, I went to college in Seattle."

"What? You never told me about that." Elliot replied, as he looked over at Olivia. She was busy playing with her bracelet and didn't even try to lock eyes with Elliot.

"Y-yeah, I got accepted to their community college, and I took classes to help me get closer to becoming a lab tech." Olivia spoke before she stood and quickly grabbed something from the table.

"Liv-" Elliot started, but he was interrupted when the sound of a baby sounded in the room. He quickly turned and saw a baby monitor, and Olivia quickly grabbed it in her hands.

"I think it's time you go home. Tell your mom that we are incredibly grateful for the food and the thoughts and prays I'm sure she was been sending our way. I'll see you at the funeral." Olivia spoke before moving up the stairs.

///

Elliot waited for a bit before heading upstairs. He was sure that Serena and Trace never expanded their family after Penny was born, so he didn't really know who's baby was crying upstairs. He walked down the hall and stopped outside of Olivia's old bedroom. The door was barely open, but he could still hear as Olivia tried to calm down a baby.

"Letty, it's okay. Mama has you, sweet girl." Olivia cooed as she swayed with her baby in her arms.

"Mama?" Elliot asked, surprised, as he opened the door. Olivia jumped a bit and turned around to look at the door.

"I told you to leave." Olivia whispered as Elliot looked at her before glancing at the toddler that sat on the bed with a few rag dolls.

"You have kids?" Elliot asked with wide eyes. Olivia swallowed hard before nodding slowly.

"Yeah, I do. Is that a problem? Do you think I'm a bad person now? Because I'm already not feeling great being back, my mother just died, and I don't need you to being a dick to me too." Olivia huffed.

Elliot shook his head as he walked into the room and smiled at the little girl on the bed before looking at Liv.

"You aren't a bad person, Liv. But now I'm really wondering what sent you to the west coast, and if your mother passing was the only reason you came back."

"You don't need to know why I left, Elliot Stabler. I came back because my father is trying to raise four teenage girls while also mourning the loss of my mother. I should have come back sooner, but better late than never, huh?"