In a Flash
by RoadrunnerGER and Obsessedwithstabler
Same ole song: don't own anything!
A/N: As Obsessedwithstabler already said on her profile, this story was moved from her to my account. Her muse left her considering this one, so I'll try to keep it running. Thanks for the first reviews. Hope ch2 will follow soon.
Chapter 1
Standing in the line in front of the teller's counter, Alex moaned. She gently rubbed over her proud stomach. Soon they would be there...
"Mike, could you get me chicken with whipped cream?" she asked.
Mike Logan, accompanying her because it was his day off and Bobby had to work, looked at her in shock. "You want to eat that?"
She frowned at him and said, "Yes, chicken with whipped cream."
He lifted his hands in a sign of surrender and said, "Yes, ma'am. What the pregnant lady wants, the pregnant lady gets."
She slapped his shoulder and rested her hand over her belly again.
"I'll get it for you as soon as we're done here," he promised. "You know, I promised Bobby to take care of you... so that's what I'm gonna do."
"You can go, Mike. We'll be okay. It's not as if we're alone here."
"I promised! He'll tear me apart if you go into labor and I'm running off on a hunt for chicken with whipped cream!"
She smiled sweetly at him and patted his chest, saying, "And I'll tear you apart if you don't. Capice?"
"Capice," he murmured reluctantly, more afraid of the five foot four inch hurricane of a woman in front of him. In this instant he spotted the solution for his problem... in the line two counters to the left was Elliot Stabler.
"Hey! Elliot!" he shouted, gesturing him to come over.
Elliot glanced around, then when he saw the source of the noise, walked over to the two Major Case detectives.
"Hey, Logan," he said, shaking Mike's hand. Once he was finished with Mike, he stood in front of Alex and smiled warmly at her. "How are you, Alex?" he asked, and Alex smiled and motioned to her stomach.
"Go ahead, you know you want to," she said, and he grinned and laid his hands on her growing belly. She knew that he loved children, and she didn't mind when people asked her questions or asked to touch her stomach.
Elliot grinned stupidly when he felt the soft flutter against his palm.
"Twins?" he asked, regarding her unusually large middle. "I have twins. It's an adventure."
She nodded somewhat nervously.
"I thought Bobby was going to pass out in the doctor's office when we got the news. But after that, he couldn't stop talking about twins this, and twins that."
Elliot nodded understandingly. "I remember when my ex wife was pregnant with our twins. It was twice the work, but it was also twice the hugs, kisses, and 'I love you, Daddies.'" He ran his thumb along her stomach, then said, "Do you know what the sexes are?"
"Um..." Mike mumbled. "Elliot, Alex asked me to get her something to eat... could you stay with her while I'm gone?"
"Go ahead," Elliot replied without to even glance at him. He was totally marveling in the touch and talk with Alex.
"Okay, I'll be right back." Mike frowned. Neither of them would notice if he were to blow up right beside them now... so he turned and left the bank.
"We decided not to ask," Alex answered Elliot's inquiry. "It's gonna be a surprise. The main thing is that they're healthy."
He smiled and reluctantly took his hands away, then reached into his pocket. "These are... my kids," he said, producing a wallet that contained several pictures. "Maureen's the oldest, then Kathleen, and Lizzie and Dickie."
She admired the pictures, then pointed to one of a bright blue eyed baby smiling toothlessly at the camera. "Who's that?" she asked, and he grinned.
"My son, Elliot Jr. He's mine and Olivia's."
"He's a cute little fellow," Alex said. "I hope that they'll have Bobby's eyes. I love his eyes. They're a perfect shade of chocolate, and they're as mesmerizing as yours."
Elliot laughed softly at this compliment.
"They all are my pride and joy. I'm lucky that Olivia also has a very good relationship with Kathy." His smile became a mischievous grin. "You'll see... nothing will make you happier than these kids."
"They already do," Alex smiled warmly, caressing her belly. When she looked up again, her view went past Elliot to a man standing at a pillar across the room. Her cop mode kicked in, and she frowned.
"What's wrong?" Elliot asked.
"That guy there," she nodded towards the man. "He looks suspicious."
"Suspicious?"
A split second later, another man at the door pulled out a machine gun and fired a shot in the ceiling.
"Everybody, get down!" the man shouted.
Once he realized that they were unnoticed, Elliot slipped his arm around Alex and guided her behind another pillar. It was all she could do to keep from screaming, and the desperation in her eyes reminded Elliot of the dire circumstances that his own twins had been born under.
"Alex, just relax," he whispered, his eyes flitting between her and the gunman.
"Where do you think you're going?" a man snarled, appearing beside Elliot and Alex behind the pillar. He pressed the muzzle of his shotgun against Elliot's temple. "Go back to the others," the man growled. "It'll be better for you."
The detective froze, an icy lump forming in his gut. He grabbed Alex's arm gently and stepped in front of her, using himself as a shield to protect her. Swallowing his fear he asked, "You see that she's pregnant, right?"
"Yeah, I see," the man answered condescendingly. "Now go back and get down on the ground."
Reluctantly they followed his order and joined the group of frightened people on the floor. Elliot helped Alex to toe floor down near one counter and to rest her back against it. Her heart was pounding furiously against her ribcage as the severity of the situation sank in.
"You okay?" Elliot asked as she attempted to make herself comfortable against the counter.
"No," she sniffed, wishing that Bobby was there with her.
"Shh… They'll take the money and go. We'll all be okay," he murmured, resting his hand over hers. She laid her hand over her stomach and flinched, and the move didn't escape his eye. He turned to face her, concern etched in his features. "Alex, are you having contractions…?" he asked softly, and she looked up at him with wide, frightened eyes.
"I'm… not sure…" she mumbled.
Behind him he heard a commotion, and someone shrieked. When he turned he saw a young man attacking one of the robbers.
It was a reflex that made Elliot move. He launched himself at the boy, to bring him down before he could put any of the others at risk. They crashed to the floor, a jumble of arms and legs. Elliot managed to pin the young boy to the ground.
"What the hell?" the teenager roared. "Get off of me!"
"He better not!" one man shouted, hitting Elliot in the back of his head with the butt of his shotgun, instantly knocking him out. "He just saved your life!"
The man stood over the boy menacingly, pointing the shotgun at the boy's forehead.
"Move your scrawny ass back to the rest of them, and don't move," the man snarled.
"But…"
"Keep talking, and you'll get a bullet right between your eyes. Now move!" the man shouted, waving the gun.
So the boy pushed Elliot's dead weight off of himself. As he did, Elliot's jacked slid to the side to reveal the holster with his service piece on his left hip. The boy's eyes widened when he touched it. The man over him tightened his finger over the trigger menacingly.
"Go!"
So the boy reluctantly moved away and joined the group of frightened people.
"And what do we have here?" he asked, bowing down to get Elliot's weapon out of the holster. "Fine gun."
The robber put his booted foot under Elliot's shoulder and pushed to turn him on his back. Then he sat down on his hip, pinning him down, even as he still was unconscious. The man patted down Elliot's body, careful not to miss anything.
Alex held her breath as she saw the man reach into Elliot's inner jacket pocket and produced a dark leather wallet.
Oh God, no. No, Alex thought desperately, biting her lip to keep from crying out as another pain shot through her abdomen.
The man whistled through his teeth as he opened the wallet and examined the detective's gold shield, turning it over in his hand.
xxx
When Mike stepped to the counter of the diner and ordered Alex's lunch, the woman first looked at him with amusement. Then she grinned and asked, "Your wife's expecting a baby?"
"Yeah," he said as he grinned lopsidedly.
"I'll get you the whipped cream," she said, winking at him.
With some amusement Mike noticed that all the women around him smiled knowingly and looked at him with mild admiration. He grinned.
Let them believe I'm the father, he thought. Doesn't hurt.
"Here you go," the cashier said as she handed him a Styrofoam box. "And here's the whipped cream."
"Thanks," he said, handing her the cash. He picked up both and turned to leave.
He was coming out of the Standard Diner with Alex's lunch in his hand when he heard the sirens wailing. He looked around, and a knot formed in his stomach when he saw several police cars speeding around the corner of the street.
He watched them, and his heartbeat pounded in his ears as he thought, Please don't go to the bank. Please...
His heart dropped to his feet as he watched the police cars skid into the parking lot of the bank, and he dropped the lunch and sprinted to the bank, praying to a God that he didn't believe in that Alex was unharmed.
xxx
Olivia Stabler sighed as she picked up her son in her arms, rocking him gently to quell his screams. Finally he calmed down, and she sat down on the couch and said, "Well, that's better, huh?"
The baby gurgled and smiled up at her, and she began bouncing him gently. As he laughed, she smiled and wondered if Elliot had been such a happy baby. A knock at the door disrupted her thoughts, and she rose to her feet and walked over to the door. She opened the door, and Maureen smiled at her. "Hey, Olivia."
"Hey, Maureen," Olivia greeted her stepdaughter. Maureen smiled at her, then turned to her little brother.
"Hey, sweetheart," she cooed at the baby, and Olivia offered him to her. She took the baby into her arms gladly, and they walked into the kitchen. Maureen looked around the house, then asked, "Hey, Liv? Where's my dad?"
Olivia paused, then said, "He had to go run a few errands, but he should be back soon. You want to hang out until he gets back?"
Maureen smiled warmly at her and said, "Sure, Liv."
"So, what's dad doing for you for your anniversary?" Maureen grinned as she sat cross legged on the floor and held her brother's hands as he attempted to take a few wobbly steps. Olivia smiled and leaned back against the couch, crossing her legs beneath her.
"I don't know, Maur. He won't tell me."
Maureen was laughing softly, catching EJ as he dropped forward. "Sure he won't... I really wonder where he is so long." She got out her cell phone. "I'll call him."
Maureen placed EJ in her lap, then pulled her cell phone out, dialing her father's cell phone. She hit enter, then waited as it rang once, twice. With each ring, her dread grew, and when she received his voicemail, she closed the phone and looked at Olivia. "He's not answering," she said in a small voice, and a frown creased Olivia's forehead.
"I'm sure he's fine," Olivia said confidently, picking up her son. But in the back of her mind, she wasn't nearly as confident as she sounded.
tbc...