Alaskan Nights (A Law and Order: SVU fanfic)

Ch.31

Quinn Benson-Stabler.

Elliot immediately refocuses on the conversation between Olivia and the airline desk attendant when he hears the name leave the woman's mouth. Olivia had rattled off the name so casually that it didn't register at first and it was only when the teller repeated it back to herself that it truly sunk in that she had given their son his last name. The question of the child's last name had crossed his mind in passive thought earlier in his stay but when the shit hit the fan with Olivia's condition he quickly shoved the thought aside as he couldn't let such trivial questions occupy his thoughts when there was so much more to contend with.

But now, with the unasked question answered, he couldn't help the smile that creeps onto his face at the fact that she'd cared enough to give his son even that most basic part of him. And while the sentiment brings him joy it also furthers the dichotomy which she had previously created in him because even though she'd given him his name in one breath she still kept them apart in the next one. So as much as it stirs a sense of pride within him, it also furthers his feelings of betrayal. So much so that a part of him wishes that maybe she had kept his name off so that there was only one overarching emotion ebbing through his mind and not the circus that is currently in town.

Olivia fixes her documents back into her bag and turns from the counter. The desk attendant motions for Paul to advance just as Olivia begins to step aside while attempting to guide Quinn out of the line by his head. The boy begins to whine but before Elliot could move to help Paul scoops him into his arms and began transferring him to Olivia. Elliot averts his eyes when she spots him and instead busies himself with helping Rebecca guide her children to the front of the line where their father stands talking to the attendant.

"Are you in the line?" a soft voice asks behind him. Elliot turns to find an older man pointing toward the space in front of him.

"No, no," he starts, stepping aside and ushering him and the few other persons behind her in.

The woman nods and smiles and leads the group of people into the line just as Olivia comes walking along the side of the lane divider with a settled Quinn in her arms. As she approaches, the boy stretches her arms to him and they share a chuckle at the boy's newfound love for Elliot. He hadn't noticed the depth of the connection until this morning when upon trying to return the boy to his mother after getting him dressed, he stunned them all by whining and clinging to him tightly. And while at the time they all laughed heartily at the adorable protest, he couldn't help but notice Olivia's forced smile when she thought that no one was looking. It was clear to him that it had stirred some kind of negative emotion in her but when he'd tried to talk to her about it as they walked out to the cars, she shrugged it off with a tight smile and steely stare that warned him to back off. So he did.

Olivia releases the squirming boy from her arms this time wearing a genuinely bright smile as he runs the short distance to his father. Elliot picks him up and adjusted him in his arms just as Olivia closes the rest of the space between them. She reaches out and adjusts his teeshirt over his round belly, tickling it a bit as she tucks the material into his pants before turning her attention back to Elliot. He loves seeing this side of her because along with her smile, her eyes were different, too. They were now soft and bright for her son but still pierced him with a thousand spares. They make him wonder if she was happy to see him holding their son, or if deep down she wishes that she had never had to face him and instead of that she would slip away without his scrutiny. He wonders why she'd even given him his name and if she regrets that, too. He could ask her. She is standing right in front of him now with that same tight smile, daring him to say something but he doesn't dare, not knowing if he could handle the answer. Instead, he smiles tightly when she nods her head towards the small dining space in the distance, "You hungry?"