Alaskan Nights (A Law and Order: SVU fanfic)

Ch.24

He wasn't there three days later when Olivia was discharged from the hospital, though Rebecca had tried her hardest to convince him to attend the homecoming. He also hadn't found it within him to see her again in that hospital bed, so he stayed away. In the end, he knows that he's made the right decision because the time away gave him the time in order to process the events of the past days without adding more weight to his already burdened shoulders. And while Olivia never seemed to far from this thoughts, those four days had afforded him some semblance of an escape in eye of the tornado.

However, Rebecca made sure that he wasn't fully out of the loop because even with his absence, she offered him daily updates on Olivia's condition and while he could hear the frustration in her voice build day by day, he knew that he needed those days away or else he wouldn't know how to survive.

On the second day, he finally managed to muster up the courage to call Maureen and somehow get the entirety of the recent developments out to her. He mentally prepared for it to go south by rehearsing answers to all the possible questions that she could have but what he couldn't prepare for was what she said through the phone after a brief pause.

"Well that makes sense....I mean I know that you're probably expecting me to freak out but I can't say that I'm surprised, Dad."

Wait what?

She was quick to shed some light on her own enlightenment and revealed that she'd somehow learnt of the tryst that he and Olivia had though she couldn't remember how exactly she'd come into that information. He then asked if her siblings knew as well, to which she assured him that they were none the wiser and that they all pretty much believed the narrative that he's tried to paint that Liv had "had enough and needed a change.".

"So because I knew about that night at the ball..."

"...You saw the full picture and not just what I wanted to share with you guys."

"Exactly."

"Why didn't you ever tell me that you knew?" he asked softly.

"It's such a weird thing to bring up, I guess. I thought about it but you were finally turning the corner and I didn't wanna mess you up."

"Oh, Honey...."

"Hey, Dad?" Maureen said after a long lull.

"I'm here."

"I don't know if it's weird, but my mind would wander to Liv sometimes and I'd wonder why she left."

"Me, too."

"After I found out about that night I knew that you guys probably kept more secrets because it never seemed like she's just up and leave because of what happened between you guys. I even thought about there being a baby or maybe an abortion but I knew that you'd never keep anything like that from us...and I never thought that she could either."

He closed his eyes, "Me either, babe. Me either."

Elliot made her promise to keep the secret from her siblings a little bit longer and she agreed. She then asked about his plans for the day.

"A birthday party?" she repeated as she popped her horn and cursed lowly.

"Do you want me to call you back? You seem busy." he laughs, switching the phone to his other ear.

"Nice try." she laughed. "Whose birthday is it? I thought you said that the baby was only 19 months old?"

"He is. It's for Rebecca's twins."

"Rebecca...Rebecca...Is Rebecca the caretaker or the doctor?"

"Both, I guess. But Susie is the caretaker and Rebecca is the doctor and her friend."