I'm back. 

0o0o0o

Olivia's breath hitched in her throat and she swallowed hard, absentmindedly rubbing her stomach. Elliot could tell that she was silently praying that the baby didn't look like his father. He hoped that as well. It was bad enough that the hospital made a mistake at the lab, pretty much forcing her to be pregnant. However, not only did she become pregnant nearly exactly like her mother, but now the baby will be a boy, possibly looking like the man that raped her. 

Elliot placed a hand on her knee, looking serious at her. "You okay?" he asked in a hushed whisper. 

She looked at him, but her eyes were confused. "I'm not sure," she whispered back, voice quivering. 

The lady started printing pictures for them, oblivious to the seriousness of the situation. After all, it was a supposed to be a happy time. She handed the pictures to Elliot and helped Olivia down from the chair. The ride back to the squad room was quiet. Elliot handed the pictures of the baby to Olivia while he drove back. She stared at the pictures like a deer in the headlights. 

"Liv," Don called happily as he saw her sit down at her desk, "what is it?" His face fell when he saw her stunned expression. "What happened?" He looked from her to Elliot, who had come in with a bottle of water for her. 

He took a deep breath and juggled his words. "Liv's having a healthy baby boy," he announced with a slight smile. Don immediately knew why she was stunned. He looked over at her looking at the picture. "I know you're mostly keeping her here to satisfy her need to be here, but is there any chance that we can head home?"

Glancing back at Liv again, he nodded sadly. "Yeah." As Elliot started to gather their things, Cragen pulled him back and said, "Take care of her, Elliot." 

Elliot watched Cragen leave to his office without a second glance at him. He didn't know exactly what Cragen meant by that. Shrugging it off, he turned to Liv who hadn't moved or spoken since the announcement. "Liv, Captain said we can go home for the day," he said, ushering her up. 

She followed him silently. It worried him that she hadn't spoken a single word since they left the doctors office. When they got home, Elliot tossed their stuff on the table near the door and watched as Liv just sink into the couch and bury her head into a pillow. He sighed and went over to wrap his arms around her. 

"Liv," he started, "what are you thinking?"

He didn't think that she would answer. When her mouth opened and closed several times, he almost asked the question again. "What if the baby looks like him?" Her voice had gotten hoarse from not speaking for a moment. 

Elliot pulled her close to him, letting her let out all her tears she'd been holding in since the news broke into his chest. She tightened her grasp on his shirt that he didn't actually realize she'd grabbed a hold of and buried her head into his chest. He lightly kissed the top of her head. "It won't be him, Liv," he said tenderly. 

"My mom hated me because she had to have me. I looked so much like my father. I don't want that to happen to this boy as well." She sniffed and sighed, trying to get control of herself. 

"You're not going to hate this baby, Olivia. Once you hold him in your arms, everything will melt. Your fears, your worries. It will all disappear once you hold him." Elliot knew exactly how she felt. When Maureen was first born, he was worried that he'd not be a good father. However, once he held her in his arms, everything melted away. All he cared about was this child that he had to protect. It was as if he knew exactly what to do already. 

She looked at him, red eyed and puffy. "What makes you so sure I won't end up hating this baby like my mother hated me?" 

He cupped her cheek and wiped away a stray tear. "Because she didn't have a choice in having you, you could have aborted." 

They cuddled on the couch for a couple of hours before Liv brought up the fact that she was hungry. Elliot quickly called for delivery of their favorite pizza place and put on a movie. While Elliot could tell that Liv was still worried about her relationship with the baby, she was looking up baby names. She wanted to change her own mentality of the baby, so she was looking over names that meant 'miracle'. 

She kept going back to the name Jesse. She looked over at Elliot putting some pizza on plates for them. They weren't together, but he'd already promised that he'd be there for her. She kept going back to naming the baby after Elliot himself. Elliot Jesse Benson. However, she wanted it to be a surprise at the baby shower for him. She already knew that he'd be there as the father for her, supporting her in every way possible. 

He brought over the plates and she shut her book of baby names and thanked him. He sighed in satisfaction as he sat beside her and pushed play on the movie. It was a random sci-fi movie that neither of them had seen, so they agreed to see how bad it would be. While Liv wasn't happy with the choice of pizza, the baby sure was. Meat lovers with mushrooms. Normally she didn't like her mushrooms on pizza, but every bite of her slices hit the spot. 

o0o0o

I'm cutting it off tonight. Has anyone watched Quiet on Set from MAX? Its a documentary series about what happened in the early 2000s at nickelodeon.