It was four in the morning, though the city was far from quiet. The sounds of cars, trucks, semis, music, people and the occasional sound of the familiar siren filled the city air. Normally, the sounds did not seem as piercing, but ever since the pregnancy- she demanded to sleep with the window cracked; but at the end of the day- it was the least he could do for her.

Elliot and Isobel had come across each other quite a few times along their jobs. She worked at Mercy as an ER nurse and Elliot had to make countless trips during his own day job.

Of course, he'd never been interested, really. He'd been married- with kids of his own. But once Kathleen had finally demanded a divorce, he had to do it. He knew it was a sin, but he owed that to Kathleen- all that he'd done to her over their 15 years of marriage.

It took Elliot a while to get back on the horse- even though the divorce finalized he still felt like he was being unfaithful. Until, one night- Elliot sat in the ER, waiting on the results of a rape kit. Isobel was walking by and Elliot was a right mess. So she detoured- got him a cup of coffee and returned.

The rest was history.

4am…

"Sorry…" Elliot mumbled as his phone went off. He leaned over, trying not to disturb his 9 month pregnant fiancé, and grabbed his phone. The conversation did not last long, but it was urgent.

Once he hung up, he swung his legs over the side and flew to change his clothes.

"What's going on?" Isobel grumbled.

"Nothing…one of our previous victims…I'll be back as soon as I can…" Elliot leaned over and kissed her forehead before he grabbed his badge and gun. "Go back to sleep…"

11am- Stabler Residence

Isobel was on bed rest during her last month. Though, with her dealings as a nurse, she should've seen it coming. However, nothing she could tell herself…and nothing Elliot told her, made her feel any better about having her ass in bed 24/7. Normally- she was lucky if she spent four hours a night in bed…and now? She just wasn't used to it.

She was flipping through channels aimlessly when she heard the metal click of the lock at the apartment door. Seven hours on the job and it was only 11am…what a man her Elliot was.

But when she didn't hear the sound of his keys hitting the counter- or the sound of his voice greeting her…well, more often than not complaining about what he'd just been through, she got worried. Her heart seemed to pound in her ears. "Elliot?" she asked, muting the television.

Finally, he came into view.

But he wasn't Elliot.

Approximately 11am- SVU Squad

"You need to stay here and question this victim. She has been violated twice already by the same perp that we know of…" Craigan demanded, "And she's taken a liking to you, Elliot…"

"I know, Captain…but I've been gone since four this morning," he checked his watch, "And you know Isobel's stuck in bed…besides, she's got an appointment in an hour and I've gotta take her…"

Craigan paused. Normally he did not accept excuses, but Elliot's was pretty legit. Craigan was just afraid that their victim would not open up if Elliot wasn't there.

"I'll take her," Olivia had entered the room. She set a manila folder on Craigan's desk. "Because that victim sure as hell isn't gonna talk to me…" she said, well-spirited.

Craigan looked to Elliot for his final word. Elliot sighed, "Fine…" he headed for the door, "But Is is going to have my ass for this," he smiled a little.

"It'll be fine," Olivia smiled. She headed for her desk, grabbed her jacket and was out the door- to go to Elliot's apartment.

Approximately 11:45am- Stabler Residence

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Hey, Is? It's Olivia. I'm here to take you to your appointment," she rapped. But when she looked down, just as a habit of waiting at the door- she noticed that part of the lock on the door was broken. But when she tried the handle, the door wouldn't budge, "Isobel?"

"Olivia?" she heard crying from somewhere in the apartment.

"Isobel!" Olivia exclaimed. She looked around quickly, but she knew her only option was to break down the door. She backed up, gathered her strength and kicked the door in. "Isobel?" She called, rushing in. Finding Isobel nowhere in sight, she rushed back into the bedroom, "Oh God…" She whispered.

Looking at the scene in front of her, Olivia didn't know where to begin. Isobel was on the ground in a mass of blankets, clutching her stomach. There was blood everywhere. However, Olivia did not know whose blood was whose…because a few feet from Isobel was a man Olivia had never seen before- or, she didn't think so, splayed out on the floor with a bullet wound between his eyes.

"Isobel, are you okay? What happened?" she knelt down by the sobbing girl. She pulled out her walkie-talkie and called for a bus and told them to alert Elliot and gave them his shield number.

"He…he…came in…and," Isobel then groaned loudly and grasped her stomach, "Olivia…I'm having contractions…"

Olivia took a firm hold of her hand, "How far apart are they?" she asked. She lifted up Isobel's shirt and tried to get a good luck. Somewhere in the struggle, Isobel had lost her yoga pants.

"Three minutes," Isobel sobbed. She was under a lot of stress and she had gone into labor.

Olivia got back onto her walkie to see how far the bus was as well as to alert them to the current situation.

The bus was stuck in traffic.

"Why didn't you call anyone?" Olivia asked, moving some blankets around beneath Isobel to try and get her comfortable, but also to be inductive to Olivia in watching Isobel's progress.

"He broke m-my cell phone and cut the phone line…but I can't get up, Liv…" she cried. "He…he wanted to take my baby…"

Olivia looked horrified, but since the perp was already dead- they'd have to sort that out later. She held fast to the shaking girls' hand and nodded, "It's okay now, you're fine…the ambulance is on its way…we're going to get you to the hospital and you're going to have a healthy baby…"

"I don't…don't know if the baby's okay…when he dragged me off the bed…I landed on my stomach…" she cried. "Oh God…please let my baby be okay…" her speech was rounded off by another loud groan and Isobel was breathing quickly, "Liv….Liv…this baby's coming…I can't….Liv…I can't give birth here…."

Olivia had been in plenty of emergency situations, but having to give birth to her partner's child on the floor of an apartment by herself with a dead guy in the room- was a first.

But Olivia threw it into action mode. "Here's what we're going to do," she helped slide Isobel over to a wall, hiding the dead perp from view. "If you need, you're going to push against the wall. I'm going to help you deliver this baby, Is…"

Isobel nodded. Though it was not ideal, Isobel knew this baby was coming, like it or not. "Okay…okay…" she cried.

"I'm going to need you to push on the count of three…ONE….TWO…THREE…."

A while later…

Elliot had made it to the apartment building just as the ambulance had. But they were pulling out the gurney when Elliot rushed past them and bounded up the stairs towards the third floor. He was skipping two steps at a time. He could hear the blood rushing in his ears. He was sweating and from time to time he forgot how to breathe. Running down to apartment 3F, he was able to run right in- someone had kicked in the door.

When Elliot got to the bedroom, he had much of the same reaction as Olivia, except Olivia was sitting next to a disheveled Isobel- who was holding a baby. "Isobel?" he called out, rushing to the girls and kneeling in front of them.

"El…" Isobel's eyes welled with tears again.

"I'm here…the ambulance is here…we're going to get you to the hospital…" Elliot did not even asked about the dead man in the room until the medics had hoisted mother and child onto the gurney and wheeled them out. He and Olivia followed.

"What happened?" he asked. His jaw was tense, his fists were clenched.

"I don't know…I didn't have time to ask Isobel what happened…she was already in labor when I got there- but she did say one thing…" Liv replied as they raced down the steps. Elliot was going to ride along.

"What?" Elliot demanded. He wasn't being mean to Olivia but he did not like not knowing what was going on…and he did not like what he'd just witnessed.

"She said…he wanted to take the baby…" Olivia told him. But they were unable to share any other words because Elliot hopped up into the ambulance and it sped off.