Expect the Unexpected

**A/N: This is how episode 14 (and I guess the beginning of 15 since Dean's not in 14) would play out if I was one of the writers. I'm hoping we get something similar because I will probably die if this is just an awful trick and there is no baby. Hope you like it. Reviews are always welcome. You can follow me on twitter too Dimonkey17 if you feel inclined.**

Olivia Benson sat silently on the edge of her bathtub staring down at the small purple box with the Wexton Pharmacy logo stamped in the corner, that she held in her hand. Her other hand lay across her toned abdomen, absentmindedly rubbing it while she thought about the baby that could be growing inside of her. Her pulse was racing and she had a million butterflies in her stomach. The only sound in the whole apartment other than her rapidly beating heart was the obnoxious ticking of the clock in the hallway, a constant reminder of her own biological clock that was ticking away. The room, which was usually large enough for Brian and her to both get ready comfortably, felt small and suffocating tonight.

Olivia turned the box over in her hands again. She had read the instructions at least ten times already. She just couldn't bring herself to slide the small plastic stick from the box and do what she needed to do to get a result. As much as she wanted to know for sure, a part of her was afraid to know. Once she knew, there was no going back. If it was negative, all her hopes would be dashed. She'd have to face the realization that there was no baby. That she and Brian were not going to be parents after all. And that was a pain she wasn't sure she could bear.

As long as she sat here, just fidgeting with the box, she could continue to believe it was true. That the missed period and nausea weren't just symptoms of all the stress she'd been under lately. She could dream of baby names and colors for the nursery. She could imagine Brian's reaction when she told him the good news. They had talked about babies a couple of months ago. And while the timing wasn't exactly perfect right now, what with his new job and her promotion, she knew he'd still be as ecstatic as she was. That thought alone brought a small smile to her lips.

It quickly faded though when reality hit her and she remembered she still didn't know anything for sure. The test was still in her hand, unused, silently taunting her. She stole a quick glance at her watch. 10:30. Brian had called earlier and said he'd be home by 11. She knew she needed to bite the bullet and take the test now or be forced to wait until tomorrow morning. As stressful as peeing on the stick and waiting for the results was going to be, it would be magnified tenfold if Brian was hovering in the bathroom with her. She couldn't stand the thought of getting his hopes up for nothing too.

Olivia blew out a deep breath and pushed herself up from the edge of the tub. "Come on, you can do this," she muttered the encouraging words to herself as she finally slid one of the two sticks out of the box.

A few minutes later Olivia had reclaimed her position perched on the edge of the tub. The used pregnancy test sat on the counter, at the opposite end, as far away from Olivia as she could get it in the confines of the small room, with a timer slowly ticking down the three painstakingly long minutes. Three minutes that felt more like three hours to the nervous possible mother-to-be. She anxiously drummed her fingers against the side of the tub, all the while trying to brace herself for the bad news that would inevitably come with the dinging of the timer.

Olivia had lived a lifetime of heartache and was used to bad things happening to her. That's what happened when you were born to a rapist and an alcoholic. You were cursed from the get-go. Doomed to live a life of disappointments. At least that's what she had told herself every time another relationship failed. Except things had turned around recently. Ever since she reconnected with her old colleague and one-time lover Brian Cassidy. They had been together for almost two years now. They even lived together which was something she'd never done with another man. He'd stuck by her through her abduction and the subsequent trial. And most importantly she had fallen in love with him and she knew he felt the same way about her. So maybe she was finally getting her happily-ever-after.

She was starting to feel a little better when the negative voice crept back in and reminded her that she was 45. Even if she had finally found the man of her dreams, she had probably found him too late. The likelihood of her getting pregnant at her age was slim to none. And if she was indeed pregnant she would be considered high risk. Her baby could be born with any number of genetic anomalies, if she could even carry it to term. Tears started to form at the corners of her eyes as she realized she had probably just been kidding herself and had wasted her time, energy, and fifteen dollars even taking the test.

Olivia was just about to stand up and throw the test in the trash can without even looking at the results when the timer sounded alerting her that the three minutes were finally up. Her heart felt like it had plummeted to her feet when she heard the noise. Now was the moment of truth. Whether she wanted it to be or not, her future was staring up at her from the counter, waiting to be looked at.

Olivia gave herself a few more seconds of ignorant bliss before running her hand through her hair and uttering a silent prayer to a God she wasn't even sure she believed in. Then she slowly got to her feet. Crossing the small room, she felt as though she was wading through quicksand, each step more difficult than the one before. When she reached the test she closed her eyes, counted to ten, looked down, and opened her eyes. Her first reaction was to let out a small gasp and grab onto the edge of the counter. She had read that stupid box so many times she knew immediately what the sign staring back at her meant.

Suddenly unsure of her ability to stay in an upright position, she grabbed the test before sliding to the floor. As the tears began to stream down her face, she just sat staring at the tiny + sign. The beautiful little + sign that meant she had been right about the symptoms. She, Olivia Benson, was pregnant. After all the many years of people telling her she couldn't understand because she wasn't a mom, she was going to get her chance to prove them wrong. _I'm really having a baby,_ she thought as a smile spread across her face. She placed her hand on her stomach as the magnitude of the moment sank in, her smile growing bigger and bigger the more she thought about it. She was having Brian's baby. In just a few short months she would hold an infant in her arms; an infant that was half her and half Brian. A child that she wouldn't have to give back to its parents because she would be the child's mom.

She was so absorbed in the moment she almost didn't hear the front door open. And even when she did, it didn't quite register through the joy-filled fog what it meant. It wasn't until she heard Brian call her name that she realized he was home.

"Be there in a minute Bri," she called as she got up from her spot on the bathroom floor. She quickly dried her tears as best she could with her sleeve and threw the box and directions for the test in the cabinet under the sink. Wrapping the test in a tissue, she slipped it into the pocket of her sweater before exiting the bathroom and heading down the hallway in search of her boyfriend. She found him in the bedroom taking off his shoes and tie.

He looked up from his task when he heard her enter the room. "Liv, what's wrong?" he asked after seeing her puffy red eyes and tear stained cheeks.

She gave him a tentative smile before saying in a small voice, "I have something I need to tell you."

A worried expression came over Brian's face. "Are you okay? Did something happen at work today? Or at therapy?"

Olivia just shook her head as she walked across the room and sat on the edge of their bed, watching as Brian continued to get more comfortable, untucking his shirt and removing his belt.

"Well then did something happen to Cragen? Munch? Nick?" he tried again, listing off people he knew she cared enough about to have been brought to tears.

"No, nothing like that," she replied, patting the empty spot on the bed next to her, indicating that he should join her.

Out of other ideas, he tried one more option. He hoped he was wrong but he needed to know. "Is it something I did? Are you mad at me? I'm really sorry I was late again."

"No Brian. Now sit down and stop worrying. I just have news. Good news." She paused for a moment before adding, "I think." All of a sudden Olivia came crashing down from the euphoric high she had been riding, just minutes before. Who was she kidding? They didn't have time for a baby right now. They barely saw each other anymore so as it was. And when they were home together it was usually just long enough to fill each other in on their day's events and crash into bed completely exhausted. Clearly, based on the results of the test, there had been a little time for extra-curricular activities, but that was a rarity and not the norm. Was she really about to throw their lives into an even bigger tailspin?

She dipped her head forward, letting her hair fall in front of her face to hide the few tears that had started to make their way down her cheeks. Brian quickly spanned the short distance between them and knelt down in front of her. He tipped her chin up and looked deep into her dark brown eyes. "Babe, what's the matter?"

Brian strained to hear what she was saying as she quietly choked out the words, a few at a time, in between sobs. "I just…. What if…you don't…think…it's good news?"

Brian wiped a few tears off her face with his thumb, before reaching down and taking both her hands in his, giving them a gentle squeeze. "How about you let me be the judge of that? If it makes you happy, I'm sure I'll love it, whatever it is," he reassured her with a small smile.

Olivia tried to smile back but instead just dissolved into another round of tears. Brian stood from his spot on the ground and took a seat on the edge of the bed next to her. He gathered Olivia in his arms and just held her close for a few minutes, tenderly rubbing her back. "Take all the time you need, hon. I'm not going anywhere."

When she felt composed enough to continue, she pulled herself from his embrace and shifted a little on the bed so she was facing him, tucking her leg underneath her. Brian grabbed onto her hands again and waited patiently for her to begin.

She had spent the entire day contemplating all the eloquent ways she could tell him the good news, if in fact there was good news. Using any downtime she had to practice her exact wording. But now in the moment, she couldn't remember any of them. So instead she just blurted it out. "I'm pregnant, Bri." Even as nervous as she was about his reaction, she couldn't completely suppress her own enthusiasm, and the corners of her mouth turned up ever so slightly as the words exited her mouth.

For a moment time seemed to stand still, the words just hanging in the air between them. Brian couldn't believe he had heard her correctly, but one look into her eyes and he knew he had. She was waiting expectantly for him to say something, anything to ease her anxiety and let her know that this baby meant as much to him as it did to her. But Brian needed a minute to process it all; time to wrap his head around the fact that after fifteen long years of wanting to start a family with the beautiful woman sitting in front of him, his dreams were finally coming true.

After Olivia didn't get a response from Brian, other than a mesmerized stare, for what felt like an eternity, the tears started to well up in her eyes again. Apparently she had been right. A baby was just too much right now. He was probably just searching for the best way to tell her that this was more than he signed on for. She began to rise from the bed, intending to lock herself in the bathroom, not wanting him to see her break down, when he pulled her back down and finally broke the silence.

It was only as Brian began to speak that Olivia noticed there were tears forming in his eyes as well. "We're having a baby? You and me? I'm gonna be a dad?" he asked her, his voice filled with awe.

She just nodded at him, not trusting her voice, as a single tear escaped her eye and made its way down her face.

He released one of her hands and slowly reached forward until his hand was resting against her still flat stomach. He gave Olivia a genuine smile that reached all the way to his eyes before continuing, "This is the best news anyone's even give me. Well besides the time I was laying in a hospital bed and you told me you weren't the same person you used to be." This earned him a small chuckle from Olivia. "Or the time they told me you had been found. Alive," he added wistfully.

Not wanting to ruin the moment with the sad memories though, he quickly continued, "But this definitely ranks right up there."

"So you're not upset?"

"Are you kidding me? No I'm not upset," he replied. To show her how serious he was, he leaned forward and gave her a deep kiss, the passion so intense it sent sparks of electricity shooting through both of them. "I'm so excited I could scream it from the rooftops right now. In fact…" Before Olivia knew what was happening, Brian jumped up from his spot on the bed, scooped her up in his arms bridal style, and twirled her around, while yelling, "We're having a baby!" He spun her a few more times before collapsing onto the bed, both of them laughing uncontrollably.

When the laughter had died down, Brian scooted up to the head of the bed, pulling Olivia with him. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. She rested her head on his shoulder, relishing the warmth and love she felt in his embrace.

"So when did you find out," he asked her.

"Just twenty minutes ago, actually. I mean I had been feeling nauseous for a couple days but at first I just thought it was the stress at work or that I was coming down with something. But then I realized my period was really late, which I thought could still just be stress related. I had to know for sure though, so I stopped and picked up a test on my way to work and finally worked up the nerve to take it right before you got home." As she spoke she removed the test from her pocket and proudly showed him the tiny + sign.

"So you don't know how far along you are yet?"

"Nope, not yet. If I had to guess, I'd say about 2 months."

A sly smile spread across Brian's lips as he thought back to a particularly fun night they had enjoyed together a couple months ago that would fit Olivia's suspected timeline perfectly.

Olivia playfully batted at Brian's chest. "I know exactly what you're thinking," she said with a laugh. "The thought already crossed my mind. And you're probably right."

"You were a boss that night, babe," he teased her with a cheeky grin.

Olivia just blushed and buried her face in his chest.

"Hey, it's nothing to be ashamed of hon. It totally rocked my world," he whispered against her hair. "And it gave us our little miracle."

She looked back up at him, her eyes sparkling. He always knew just what to say to make her feel like the most special woman in the world.

"I guess I should call my GYN tomorrow and set up an appointment to confirm that the test was accurate. Do you think you'll be able to come with me?" she asked hesitantly, afraid that he would once again be undercover when she needed him.

"You tell me when and where, babe, and I'll be there. Tucker can go to hell if he thinks I'm gonna miss out on seeing our baby for the first time." He laughed when he said it but Olivia could tell he was completely serious.

"And that goes for all future appointments too Liv. I am not going to miss a single minute of this pregnancy. I have been waiting fifteen years to have a family with you and I am not going to let my job cheat me out of one moment of the experience."

The gleam in Olivia's eyes and the smile on her face grew even brighter at Brian's declaration. How could she ever have doubted him? Of course he was excited about the baby; he had wanted a child and a life with her long before she was ever willing to entertain the idea. As she tossed that around in her mind for a minute, Cragen's departing words to her intruded into her thoughts. It was then that she realized, she too was getting her "Hail Mary". She may have given the NYPD most of her life, but they hadn't taken it all. She still had a few more chapters to write and this baby and Brian ensured that they were going to be the best ones yet.

"Thank you, Bri. I love you so much." As she spoke she climbed onto his lap, facing him, her legs straddling his legs. She leaned forward and captured his mouth with her own. They shared several passionate kisses before she sat back up.

"I love you too Liv. And little baby Benson-Cassidy," he said with a grin, as he kissed his fingertips and placed them on her belly.

"Now what do you say we do a little celebrating," he suggested as his hands began to roam over her body.

"I think I can handle that. Do you want me to be the boss again?" she asked, giving him her signature eyebrow raise, as her fingers reached under his shirt and began to trail their way downward.

Brian let out a low growl before responding, "That is exactly what I had in mind, Sergeant Benson."

The two lovers played out their erotic fantasies until the wee hours of the morning. Brian allowed Olivia to have complete control and they both experienced a satisfaction that they had never felt before. When the finally fell asleep wrapped in each other's arms, there were tiny smiles on both of their faces.


End file.
