Season 1, 2, 3 4 and 5 The Originals

Chapter 4

"Oh God..." Olivia groaned when she woke up the next morning.

She was getting used to the miserable feeling she awoke to every day, but she wasn't used to being tangled in Elliot's arms. She twisted and turned, trying to free herself from his hold without waking him up, but when she felt the now-familiar stomach pangs and acid and rising in her throat, she threw his arms off of her and rushed out of the room, not caring if he woke up or not. She clutched the sides of the toilet, leaning over it while her dinner from the night before came up in violent heaves.

She hadn't heard him come in behind her and his voice startled her.

"Liv?" He asked as he carefully came up and knelt behind her. He had never seen her so sick and it scared him more than he wanted to admit. "Liv... can you hear me?"

Olivia nodded, moaning painfully as she threw up once more.

"I'm okay..." She said between heaves.

"Like hell you are." He said as he grabbed a washcloth from the counter and moistened it with cool water, kneeling back down and holding it to the back of her neck while she vomited yet again. "How long has this been going on?"

He suddenly remembered her mentioning that she had the flu when he'd talked to her on Noah's birthday. The baby started to cry and he looked towards the door. There was no way Olivia was going to be able to tend to her son and he hated to leave her alone when she was so ill.

"Can you go get the baby?" She asked, her voice tired and weak... interrupted by another bout of sickness.

"Yeah... I'll go get him." He reluctantly left her on the bathroom floor.

He walked into Noah's room and picked him up from the crib.

"Hey buddy." He smiled at the little boy. "Mommy doesn't feel well this morning, so you're stuck with me."

He kissed the baby on the cheek and then puts him on the changing table and changed his diaper. Looking through the dresser at all the tiny clothes, he picked a pair of jeans and a shirt, dressing him quickly.

"Do you know how long it's been since I've picked out clothes to dress a baby? If your Mommy is anything like my ex wife, she'll make sure to tell me I picked the wrong thing." He tickled the baby's stomach and the little boy grinned at him. "Nah... she wouldn't do that, would she? Besides, you look pretty darn cute in this."

He picked the baby up and walked back toward the bathroom to check on Olivia, but he heard the shower running. At least she wasn't still hanging over the toilet. So he took the baby to the kitchen, sitting him in his highchair and giving him some banana chunks for breakfast and filling a sippy cup with milk.

"Thanks..." Olivia's voice was weak as she walked slowly into the room a few minutes later, sitting at the table. Her hair was wet, sticking to her head and her skin was ghostly pale. "I'm glad you fed him."

"Are you feeling any better?" Elliot asked her with worry.

Olivia nodded.

"Yeah... I think so." She looked like she might cry, but she was determined not to. "This is so embarrassing, El. I'm sorry you had to see that."

"People get sick, Liv. You've seen me after a night of heavy drinking right?" He gives her a slight smile to let her know he was teasing.

He puts a plate of toast in front of her along with a steaming cup of tea and saw the look of disgust on her face.

"Try it." He insisted. "Nibble the toast and sip the tea. You'll feel better."

Olivia looked at Noah.

He looked at her and his voice was serious. "You need to go to the doctor."

"I already did." Olivia admitted.

She looked at him, trying to gauge his reaction... determining how much he already knew... not unlike what she did when she was interrogating a suspect, but all she was certain of was that he was looking her over the exact same way.

"What did the say?" He asked, unable to hide the nervous crack in his voice.

Olivia sipped her tea, not wanting to look him in the eye.

"She said... it's probably just a bug and I'll feel better soon." She lied. "We keep passing it back and forth at work."

She didn't know why she couldn't tell him the truth, especially since she suspected he already knew.

Elliot nodded.

"I need to get to work." He said.

He kissed her on the top of her head.

"Feel better." He said, his voice flat as he walked out of the room.

She sighed, knowing he was hurt she'd lied to him. He always knew when she was lying and she realized she should go after him, but she just sat there, nibbling her toast and watching Noah smear banana all over his highchair. She needed to call the perinatologist first, find out if she was really going to be able to have this baby. If she told him now, all of her options would be gone, and she'd realized that about five seconds after she'd decided to tell him in the middle of the night. She was grateful he had been asleep. He would expect her to have this baby, regardless of anything that could be wrong with it... anything that could go wrong with her. He'd never consent to the generic testing, and in her heart she needed to know if there was something wrong with her baby.

She heard the front door open and slam shut as he left the apartment.

"I'm so sorry, El..." She whispered tearfully, and she really and truly was, but there was nothing she could do about it.