Rejection [A Bensler Fan Fic]

Twenty-Two

After yet another successful talk with Bernie, Olivia finally felt at ease. She realized that even if she had a plan when she was younger, life will always have other things in plan. The baby she was carrying was planned all along, even if she didn't understand that from the start. Olivia was really feeling excited about carrying a new life, and she was going to have such a hard time waiting to meet the little human that has already survived some tough shit.

 "It's so hard to hug you, Mama!" Miles giggled as he stepped away from his mother.

"Blame it on the baby." Olivia laughed back as she ran her hands over her bump. It didn't take long for her to start officially showing, and she didn't mind it at all. She loved knowing that her child was growing.

"No! I love the baby!" Miles exclaimed, before hugging his mother again and placing several kisses to her belly.

"I do too, Miles. This baby is a blessing. Just like you are." Olivia spoke, as she squatted down to her son's level. She kissed his forehead softly before smoothing his blonde curls.

"I'm a blessing?"

"You will always be a blessing, Miles Wade Stabler. God brought you into this world and eventually led you to us. You are just as special as the baby that makes hugging me incredibly hard already." Olivia smiled softly.

"I love you, Mama." Miles sniffled. Olivia quickly pulled her son tightly to her body as he cried. 

///

Elliot came home from work that night, and he found his fiancee waiting for him downstairs. Elliot was working late every night to make sure he could get back on track since he was gone for so long.

"What are you doing down here?" Elliot asked as he shut and locked the front door to his parents' house.

"I was waiting for you." Olivia smiled. She pushed herself off the couch before moving to Elliot. They shared several soft kisses and a hug before moving back to the sofa.

"You gotta be exhausted, Liv. Spending the entire day at home with Miles and then growing our kid... that is a lot of work." Elliot spoke as he sank down beside Olivia.

"I'm not exhausted, surprisingly. Miles and I had a great day, and we got a lot of lessons out of the way. He is going to be more than ready for preschool in the fall."

"Are we ready for him to go to school in the fall?" Elliot questioned, and Olivia shrugged as she glanced at Elliot.

"I don't think I will ever be ready for our son to go to school, but at least we can enroll him at our school. You'll have him for gym, and I will be only a few doors down from his room. Then the next year, I might have him in my class." Olivia smiled.

"That sounds pretty good, honestly... are you ready to go back to work?"

"Going back to work this fall will be incredibly hard, especially because I will be leaving this one with your mom ... he or she will only be a few months old, not even, by the time I return." Olivia sighed.

"If you ever change your mind and decide to just stay home, I will not be upset about that."

"I will see after we meet this baby... if I change my mind, at least I can homeschool all of our kids." Olivia yawned.

"Speaking of the baby... do you want to find out the sex tomorrow at your appointment?"

"I'd really like to start planning!"

"Then I guess we can find out tomorrow night. Just get it written down and bring it home. We can do it together as a family."

///

Olivia's twenty week check up went great. Bernie stayed home with Miles, so Olivia thought she'd be alone. But instead, Joseph showed up on his lunch break to be there with her. Olivia realized in that moment that her in-laws were way better than her own parents. They loved her no matter what.

"Sorry that I'm late. A student got smacked today with a baseball bat, so I had a ton of paperwork to do. But I'm here now, and I can't wait to eat some pizza." Elliot smiled. He kissed Miles's hair before sitting beside Olivia and kissing her several times.

"Is the kid okay?" Bernie asked, and Elliot nodded.

"He's got a black eye, and the student that hit him did it by accident. But still, a shit ton of paperwork had to be done." Elliot sighed. He reached out and grabbed a piece of pizza before listening to everyone as they talked about their day. 

When it got to Olivia, she smiled like crazy as she showed off the sonogram pictures from today.

"Our baby is getting so big." Olivia smiled as she passed the pictures to Bernie.

"I can't believe you are halfway there, Liv. It's incredible." Bernie grinned.

"The baby was being stubborn during the scan, though." Joseph spoke, and Elliot turned to look at his father.

"What?"

"Your father surprised me and showed up for my scan. You had to work and your mom was home with Miles, so he took his lunch break with me." Olivia smiled.

"Dad, that means a lot... thanks for doing that for Olivia." Elliot breathed, and Joseph gave him a small nod since he was a little embarrassed by getting praise for something he didn't think twice about.

Olivia gave her family an update about the baby, before getting the envelope out. It had a few scribbles on it since Miles thought he could doodle on it, but Olivia caught him not long after he started.

"This tells us what the baby is?" Elliot asked as he wiped pizza sauce and grease onto a napkin.

"Yeah, it does. Are you ready to know?" Olivia questioned.

"I'm so ready... so how should we-"

"Just open it, Daddy!" Miles exclaimed. Laughter sounded for several long moments before Elliot opened the envelope. He pulled the small piece of paper out of the envelope before reading it.

He let out a small gasp before turning and looking at Olivia.

"What? Is-"

"It's a girl, Liv. We are getting a daughter."