A Preschool Promise [A Bensler FanFic]

Twenty-Four

"They terminated us for some money donated by a woman who tried to kill my wife," Elliot spoke.

"Have you talked to your Union reps yet?" One of the several lawyers that wanted to rip the NYPD a new one, asked.

"No, we haven't. Between coming here and decided to sue them to getting home and having to break the news to my wife... I haven't been able to find the time." Elliot spoke.

"We will contact them for you. They can help in regards to termination. Now, where is your wife?" Another one of the lawyers asked. Elliot sighed as he looked down at his hands.

"She is scared to sue them. She is freaking out and thinking that we will have to move to Buffalo to live with her parents. See, we have a baby on the way and she thinks that we won't be able to afford him." Elliot frowned. He hated to hear his wife so upset about the tiny human that they couldn't wait to meet.

Elliot was hoping and praying that Josiah would come into their lives after everything has calmed down. And once they won the lawsuit against the NYPD.

"We will win this, Mr. Stabler." 

"Are you sure? Because we need something more concrete."

"I said we will, not that we probably will or might. You will have over $3 million in your bank account before you know it."

"$3 million dollars? Like with 6 zeros?" Elliot asked, and they all laughed at his amazement by that.

"Plenty of money to get a bigger hou-"

"For college funds for our kids. That is what we will use it for."

///

4 Weeks Later

For being 6 months pregnant, Olivia was more stressed than she thought she'd ever be at this point. Between a spot on one of her sonogram pictures that caused some worry with her doctor, to Maureen starting to feel as if she is useless because kids make fun of her for her slow reading, then there was the lawsuit. Olivia had to prepare herself for the several hours she spent in the courtroom every day with Elliot as the lawsuit went through the court system.

"She refuses to get out of bed today." Olivia breathed, as she walked downstairs. Denise had gone back to Buffalo, and she was still offering, daily, for Olivia's family to move up there and live with them.

"Babe, I think Maureen needs to be homeschooled." Elliot frowned, and Olivia nodded as she sank down onto the couch and leaned back.

"I do too, but I don't think we can afford to have a real teacher come to teach her. I might have to." Olivia replied, before looking down at her swell.

"You'll be busy if you teach Maureen here and take care of Josiah all by yourself. We could see if Denise would help..." Elliot trailed off.

"I'm not asking for more help from my mom. Her and my father have helped us too much already. I think that it's time for us to just give up on this lawsuit and have you go back to work. I know I don't want to say this, but you could enlist again." She breathed. Elliot looked over at his wife and saw the pain on her face when she said that.

"I'm not enlisting for active duty, Olivia. Now, I'm going to go shower and shave before heading to court. I'll just tell them that you have to stay home with Mo."

///

Elliot sat in court as the lawyers argued with the ones supporting the NYPD. Chief Dodds sat on the NYPD side and he kept glancing at Elliot, anger covering his expression.

"Your honor, my clients would like it if we could finish this within the next 4 months." One of the lawyers spoke. Elliot didn't realize the hate for the NYPD until he got a pro bono case where pretty much a whole firm worked on it.

"Why is that?" Judge Neal questioned. They had started to work the case in just meetings where the two sides tried to settle, but then it got nasty and they needed a judge to look it over and decide who won.

"Mrs. Stabler is currently pregnant, and she won't be able to attend court and neither will Mr. Stabler, after their son is born."

"Alright, well, I feel like I could decide right now." Judge Neal spoke, as he glanced over at the NYPD side.

"You could?" Elliot asked, shocked.

"I could because I was also the judge that ruled on a case about 25 years ago." He spoke, and Elliot knew. He had been the one to rule on the criminal case where Serena tried to kill Olivia.

"Your honor, we demand that you stand down." One of the NYPD lawyers spat.

"Why? Because you know that I will rule that the Stablers should win the lawsuit because you accepted money that was spotted with blood. Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin might be powerful and have lots of money, but you should've known that accepting their money was wrong. Now, give me to the end of the week and I'll review everything that has been sent in. We will meet up here again and I'll give you my ruling. Court dismissed."

///

Elliot walked out to his car and heard his name called. He turned around and saw Serena walking towards him.

"What do you want, Serena..." Elliot groaned. He was exhausted and drained. He just wanted to get home to his family and tell Olivia about what was happening.

"How is she?" Serena asked, quietly.

"Who?" Elliot replied.

"Olivia... is she okay?" She asked, and Elliot shook his head.

"You told the NYPD that if they didn't fire me and Liv, that you'd take your money back. So she isn't good. She's 6 months pregnant and freaking out that we won't be able to afford bills. We are pretty much draining our accounts to pay bills and to make sure Maureen has what she needs."

"Ellio-"

"Don't try and make it seem like you hadn't asked. You picked our precinct just to fuck with her. You made it seem like Olivia used force when finding Jackie, but the only way we could keep her in the car was to cuff her. Olivia was scared to death that the house we found Jackie in, that instead of finding your daughter alive, she would've been one of the bodies on the floor." Elliot sighed.

"Let me help with the bills. To make sure that you want for nothing." Serena spoke, before reaching into her bag to grab her checkbook.

"No. I don't want your money. And the lawsuit is being ruled over by the same Judge that worked the case of when you tried to kill Liv. We are going to be getting the money we deserve and our jobs back. Well before Olivia has our kid."

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