Elliot and Liv worked all evening tracking down any male family members of Hannah Douglas. One brother dead, father in jail, no uncles, two male cousins were too little. The only thing they could think of was a half brother somewhere on the mother's side. The only problem with that was her mother was in a home with Alzheimer. 

Cragen had to tell them to go home to Ethan and Eli since he knew they would work into the night to try to get a lead. Even a wrong lead. They hated cases where they were basically flying blind. Liv and Elliot started to leave, but not before Elliot turned to ask, "Any news on Crates?"

"He's asked for his lawyer," was all Cragen said. Elliot looked towards the interview room where he knew Crates would still be sweating. "No, Elliot. Go home!" 

Elliot looked Cragen in the eyes and gave an angry sigh. He nodded good bye to Cragen before jogging to catch up to Liv at the elevators. "Any word if Crates fessed up?" Liv asked as they got into the car to head home. Elliot shook his head without saying a word. Liv knew what that meant. He lawyered up. "If it goes to trial, the DA will get him, El." 

As they walked into the house, they heard screaming. Ethan must be upset about something. Eli was also yelling about not wanting to take a bath. Maureen had Ethan on her hip, bouncing him and patting his back while Kathleen and Liz argued with Eli about his bath time. Ethan's chubby face was contorted and red, tears streaming down his face. When he finally saw Liv at the door, he cried louder and held his short arms out for her to take. 

Liv rushed to take her boy and he buried his face into her chest, crying still. "What's wrong baby?" she asked in a soothing voice, bouncing him and humming. 

Elliot looked at Maureen who looked stressed to the max. "Maureen, you okay?" She shook her head. 

"No, dad, I'm not. Ethan hasn't stopped crying for an hour, Eli refuses to take a bath, and I tried really hard to make dinner for everyone, but I burnt the casserole," she said in one one breath, tears falling down her face. "I burnt the casserole, dad." She hid her face in her hands and silently cried. 

Elliot went to hug her. "Hey, its okay, we can order something." After several moment, Maureen gave a shuddering sigh of relief and smiled to her father. "Go relax in your room, okay?" 

Liv was taking to Eli while Kathleen and Liz went to start Eli's bath. "Eli, why don't you want to take a bath?"

He looked from his father to Liv. "I want daddy to help me in the bath!" 

Liv nodded to Eli. "That's fine, Eli. But next time, instead of arguing with your sisters, how about you try to explain why you didn't want to have them help you with your bath? That would be a lot better than just making them think you didn't want to take a bath, okay?"

Eli thought about it for a moment, taking in Liv's suggestion. He think nodded and said, "Okay, that sounds good."

Elliot ruffled Eli's hair as he picked him up and took him to the bathroom for his bath. Liv grabbed the phone and looked at the take out menus. She decided since everyone was in a slight mood to boost it as much as possible by getting pizza. Ethan had stopped crying, but was still sniffing. After ordering, she took Ethan to his and Eli's room to change him into his pajamas and clean his face. 

She didn't realize when she went to the park that day that she would come out of it a mother to a sweet boy like Ethan. She had completely fallen in love with the little boy, and he being Elliot's son only made her love for the boy grow more, if that was possible. She couldn't wait until they finally had their own kids to add to the crazy around them, though. 

Halfway through dinner, Elliot got a call from Cragen. "Cap, what's up?" Elliot listened for a while, munching on his pizza at the table with everyone staring at him. He then nodded as if Cragen could see it before remembering that he was on the phone and cleared his throat. "Yeah, that's fine, Captain. Thank you." He quickly hung up and closed his eyes for a moment. 

"Everything okay, El?" Liv asked, feeding Ethan his baby food. 

Elliot looked at everyone at the table. Dickie, who had finally moved to a cane instead of a walker, said, "They finally caught the guys?" 

"Yeah, Crates took a deal. He's gonna do 30 years for attempted murder and assisting rape." Elliot smiled at Liv, who looked less than impressed. 

"Why didn't they try to take on more time? He caused so much grief for us," Liv argued. 

Elliot shrugged. "I guess they took into account his military past. All that matters is that Cragen said its over."

Maureen and Kathleen grinned wide to each other. They couldn't wait to get back to college with their friends. "I can't wait to go back to college with my friends," she breathed, taking a drink of her wine. She had asked her father for a glass with them. Since she was of age, he allowed her one glass to relax. Kathleen still had a year to go. 

"I'm gonna go call Daniel and Vivian," Kathleen said, quickly taking her empty plate to the kitchen. 

Dickie swirled his water before finishing it and struggling to get up. He winced at the pain before stacking his glass on his plate and headed to the kitchen also. Elliot watched him go before starting to eat again. "Can you believe we will have an empty house once again?" Elliot asked in a deeper voice. 

Liv smiled as she cleaned Ethan's face. "I know, its going to be amazing." 

Elliot and Liv took the next morning off to see Maureen and Kathleen off to college by themselves for the first time in around three to four months. Liz had already got to school on her own about an hour before while Dickie was still home with his wound. They'd spent the entire summer break basically on lockdown in the apartment that Elliot and Liv didn't have a babysitter. 

School had crept up on them and with Dickie not able to go to school, they needed someone to take care of Elie and Ethan as well as Dickie. Eli, while he went to half days at kindergarten, still needed someone to watch him in the afternoons. Cragen had come up with a system that let them both work, while finding a nanny for the smaller kids. 

Why didn't Kathy just take Eli back? She was pouting still from everything that had happened. In her defense, she did have a lot going on. First her husband fathered a baby with a random woman, then goes to live with his partner. Then her son and her end up getting raped while the rest of the kids are in mortal danger. Then her son chooses to cuddle with Liv at the hospital instead of her. Then her son was stabbed and she was told to give him space. 

Cragen's idea was Liv would stay home that morning until Eli got out of school, then Elliot would come home and change spots with Liv. At least until they could find a decent nanny that they trusted. 

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Hey I had to find a stopping point. Lol.