Author's Notes: Nothing belongs to me, well, actually, I just made my final payment on my car, so that's now mine.

Both parts of this epilogue are dedicated to all caught up in the Californian fires – my thoughts and prayers are with you all. God Bless!

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The final chapter

After shaking his head vigorously Fin caught up with Elliot as he headed back to the waiting room. As they passed the labour room Olivia rushed out and embraced them both at the same time.

"We have our baby," she grinned, before kissing the cheeks of both men.. She spun around, link her arms through theirs and led them in. Casey lay in the bed holding the tiny bundle tightly. Her blonde hair was messed, her face blotchy and eyes red rimmed but she had never looked happier or more beautiful.

"Come on in," she said quietly when they paused at the door. "Come and meet Jonathan Munch Novak." They moved in quietly, took their turns to congratulate her and kiss her and then stepped aside.

Olivia wrapped her arms around Elliot drawing him closer to her. "You had enough of babies for one day, El?" she whispered quietly so no one else could hear. He shook his head, he'd never have enough of newborns, they brought with them hope, dreams and a million possibilities. "Good," she continued. "I want to go home and make one…with you."

He drew back slightly and stared at her. "You know we actually have make love to have a baby." Olivia nodded. "And we may not fall pregnant the first time." She nodded again.

"That's okay," she whispered, "I'm sure we'll have a good time practising. Besides we've got a lot of lost time to make up for." Olivia couldn't believe she'd let so much time pass without consummating their relationship. When the doctor had said sexual intercourse was off limits she was very disappointed, after all she'd waited so long for him and the thought of waiting longer frustrated her immensely. But after the check-up where the doctor said yes, everything changed. As she was walking to her car she spied Kathy, with her baby bump, walking into the hospital alone. Olivia began to cry, not just because of the baby, but what it represented.

It represented the end of a long relationship. Elliot and Kathy had been together forever, had four amazing children, with one on the way but the relationship was all over. She contemplated whether what she and Elliot had would end the same way, whether one day, five, ten, twenty years from now she'd wake up and find the relationship was over. The very thought scared her; if she was going to lose him someday, then perhaps embarking on such a relationship wasn't worth it. By the time he'd arrived home, she had a tremendous headache, felt unbelievebly ill and told him the doctor had said no.

Without reason to doubt her, Elliot believed her and did everything he could to be gentle and loving and to make their relationship about something more than a physical expression and the months moved on. Then, one day, two months ago, Elliot had been at Mercy General with Fin to talk to a rape victim and he had come across Dr Andrews while waiting for Fin to return from the bathroom. Elliot asked when they might consider a more physical relationship and to his surprise the doctor informed him it could have started two months before.

When Elliot had returned to the squad room, George had been there and he had drawn him aside and ran through the scenario. George just smiled as he had recently had the same conversation with Olivia. His advice to Elliot had been to love her unconditionally and wait for her to be ready.

Now, with everything in the past, Olivia was finally ready to look to the future, her future and one which definitely included Elliot Stabler.

Elliot moved in and kissed her passionately with urgent yet tender kisses which sent electric waves through them and the room.

"Hey guys," called Casey, "cut it out, there's a baby in the room."

"There'll be another on the way by the looks of things," Fin commented and they all laughed.

Casey yawned and her eyelids drooped. "What's say we go and let you get some sleep?" Fin said, kissing the top of her head, she nodded wearily.

"Before we do, and while we're all here," Don said, grabbing his bag, "there's something I'd like to do." He took three items out of his bag, aware he had their undivided attention. "Firstly, I like to give Jonathan this." He handed Casey John's Badge which he had encased in a beautiful frame with Munch's photo. She smiled and tears began to fall softly. "Secondly, we didn't know if was going to be a girl or boy but I had this done." He handed Casey an infant's baseball outfit in the precincts' strip, and she turned it over to see the name Munchkin emblazoned on the back – more tears fell. "Lastly, there's this." He showed her a small snow globe with a tall ship inside, it bobbed happily up and down on the small waves movement had created. They all looked back at Don, they could understand the sentiment behind the badge and the outfit but the snow globe had them baffled.

He looked at each one of them. "It wasn't that long ago when we on the rocks, like a ship caught in a storm we had hit the rocks and were being battered quite severely, not just professionally but personally. For a long time I didn't think we'd make it. I drew up my retirement plans and waited for the ship to run aground and wondered what we'd be able to salvage. Luckily the storm abated, the ship righted itself and we moved back into calmer waters. We lost a crewmate but we gained our newest recruit and I wanted this recruit to know just how much he means to me …to us." He placed the snow globe beside the sleeping baby.

"What about those retirement plans?" Olivia asked,through her own tears, when nobody else had spoken.

"I think I can stick it out another three or four years and by then I'll be able to spend the days looking after my grandchildren, taking them fishing or hiking or…" he replied quietly.

"Grandchildren?" Elliot asked.

"Yep, this little Munchkin here and the one you and Liv are going to give me," he paused and watched their faces. "Of course with your record El, I may have to sell the sedan and get a minivan." They all laughed, strong, healthy belly laughs; it had been a desperately long time since laughter surrounded them.

In turn, they kissed Casey, Munchkin and the photo of John Munch on the bedside table and left. Life's circle complete.

The End!

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Thanks you for all your support and encouragement with this story...I have no idea when the next story will be but I look forward to catching you all then.