A Waiting Game

The Ocean

Elliot's POV

"How you feeling babe?" I ask from the kitchen.

"Big." She says.

"I meant how are the Braxton Hicks..." I say laughing.

"They don't hurt really." She says, "It's just uncomfortable."

"I can't believe the baby's gunna be here so soon." I say smiling.

"I would really like him to get here faster." She says sighing.

"Your only 34 weeks Liv, it'll be okay." I say softly.

"Elliot I swear to god this baby boy is going to be 12 pounds by the time he comes out, I am never going to be the same down there." She says frustrated.

"First of all it's definitely a girl, and she isn't going to be 12 pounds." I say.

"El would you stop it with that." She says, "It's a boy, I can feel it."

"It's a girl Liv I'm telling you." I say laughing.

"El it's a boy I promise." She says, rubbing her belly, "We are going to meet Derek Mason Stabler in just a few short weeks."

"It's a girl Liv." I say adamantly. "Alisan Charlotte Stabler."

"I love you and your very wrong." She says getting up.

"Where are you going?" I ask.

"I want to take a walk on the beach." She says.

"Okay." I say standing up.

She walks out onto the deck and sits down in the porch swing.

"I thought we were walking?" I ask sitting next to her.

"We were and now we're sitting because I by the time we walked to the 12 steps out to the deck I was tired." She says.

"Come here..." I say softly.

She rests her head on my shoulder and I pull her closer to me.

"I'm sorry we're doing everything like this." I say quietly.

"Like what El?" She asks looking up at me.

"We've been living in a safe house for 11 weeks and you have to give birth in what's supposed to be a bedroom, it's just not how I imagined our life." I say.

"El we'll get back to our life, and I actually don't hate the idea of giving birth here." She says.

"What?" I ask confused, "Why?"

"Think about it..." She says, "Melinda will deliver the baby, this way I'll know that she's going to take care of me and she's going to listen to me, and this place actually feels like home, it's not some sterile hospital with strange people."

"I get it." I say, "But the next baby will be born in a hospital, no home births."

"The next baby?" She asks, raising an eyebrow.

"I mean unless you don't want more kids." I say quickly.

"I honestly just don't know if my body could take this again." She says.

"But you want more kids?" I ask.

"I don't know El..." She says softly, "All I know is that I don't ever want to be pregnant again."

"Okay..." I say, holding her close to me.

"Are you disappointed?" She asks.