SVU - elliot/katie - you'd be surprised - rated M
title: you'd be surprised
fandom: Law & Order SVU
pairing: elliot/katie (ofc), contains Matt Vaughn, OC of ciaimpala, and mentions Jordan Vaughn, OC of jacquelin825 - thanks to both of you for letting me borrow your ppl.
letter: n for name-calling - table # 11 for a_to_z_prompts
summary: Katie gets a surprise visitor as she prepares to farewell a friend.
rating: M.
word count: 2089.
warnings/spoilers: none really ;)
a/n: Katie Summers is an original character of mine who I'm pairing with Detective Elliot Stabler for my fic's in this challenge. You'll get to know more about her as you read :) SVU timeline wise is set during the time Elliot is separated from his wife, and in my fic he divorced her, around seasons 5-7.
disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Law and Order SVU. This is purely written for entertainment only.
You’d Be Surprised
Katie always knew that the day she came face to face with Kathy, Elliot’s ex-wife, would be nothing short of utterly humiliating. But she was prepared for that. She was prepared for Kathy to insult her, call her a home wrecker or a whore, or whatever name that came to mind. She was even ready for a drink, or possibly a slap, right in the face.
She only hoped that it wouldn’t happen on a day she looked and felt like crap. So of course, it did.
Acadia was home for good now. She was still small, size-wise, in comparison to the other babies in the nursery, but she was breathing on her own, didn’t need any medication, and sleeping for a few hours at a time, at least she had at the hospital. Now home, Acadia cried; a lot. She cried to be fed, and then cried to be burped. She cried to be changed, and then wailed while Katie changed her diaper, every time she smiled, she just ended up crying.
Katie had been up all night with her cranky niece, hadn’t had time to shower or even eat, her apartment was a mess, and she was still in her dressing gown. Acadia was fussing in her car seat; she was more comfortable in that than in her bouncer, sitting on the floor surrounded by toys and a half-eaten plate of toast that had been Katie’s breakfast.
There was a knock at the door, and Katie thought it might be Alexis, who even after all their years of friendship still felt the need to rap her knuckles on the door instead of just letting herself in. She didn’t think it was Elliot; he announced himself while knocking - a cop thing - so preparing to just see the face of her friend, Katie yanked open the front door without checking the peephole; immediately regretting that snap decision.
Kathy stood at her doorstep looking both beautiful and intimidating.
Katie had always thought Kathy was gorgeous; she had a classic beauty to her, shimmering light blonde hair that flowed halfway down her back, pale blue eyes, laugh lines, and a fantastic figure for a woman who had delivered four children. She oozed a natural, maternal glow that Katie immediately envied, moreso now that she had Acadia; and Katie was rendered mute when she saw the woman whose marriage she had broken up standing right before her eyes.
“Hello, Katie.” Kathy said through a nervous, tight-lipped smile.
“Kathy...” Katie replied, not really sure what to say. Sorry for screwing your husband? She assumed that wouldn’t go down well... “What are you doing here?”
“I heard about your sister.” Kathy said, presenting a brown paper bag out to Katie. “I’m sorry.”
Before Katie could even take the bag, Acadia started to scream. “Sorry,” Katie dashed from the front door to find her niece wailing in her car seat, face red and little hands balled into angry fists. “Hey, Screamer, it’s ok, it’s ok,” She knelt down and scooped Acadia up into her arms. “You’re okay, little love, you’re okay...”
“She’s beautiful.” Kathy had let herself into the apartment, and now stood just by the kitchen.
“Thank you,” Katie answered, suddenly very self-conscious of her own, and her apartment’s, appearance. “Forgive the mess; I don’t have time to do anything...”
“She sounds a little colicky?” Kathy asked with raised eyebrows.
“Yeah; she is, but nothing I do helps,” Katie vented tiredly. “I pick her up, she screams, I put her down, she screams, I feed her, she spits up and then screams...”
Kathy gave her a pitiful look and held out her arms. “Can I?”
Katie was hardly going to decline; and almost laughed with relief when she laid Acadia into Kathy’s arms and she immediately quieted down. Kathy held her firmly but not too tight and swayed her back and forth on the spot; bouncing her as she did so. “This helped with the twins,” she said as she jiggled Acadia. “The movement soothes them...”
“I tried that; it didn’t work for me...”
“You’re stressed.” Kathy said with a simple shrug of her thin shoulders. “She feels that. If you’re stressed, nothing will calm her down.”
“So I’m making her unhappy...” Katie said, stifling a yawn. “Great.”
“No one is natural at this,” She said, settling the now calm baby down into her playpen, she gurgled contentedly. “Along the way you just figure it out.”
“Why are you here?” Katie asked, sitting herself at the table. “Why now?”
“Oh, right,” Kathy presented Katie the brown paper bag again. “It’s just... when the twins were born, they were premature. This helped.”
Out of the bag, Katie pulled a stack of CD’s with titles like Soothing Your Infant, Naptime Songs, and Lullabies for Little Ones. “Thank you.”
“Is Elliot here?” She asked, stiffening as she spoke.
“No.” Katie replied. “Look, Kathy, I’m so-”
“Don’t.” Kathy held up her hand. “I didn’t come here for an apology, I didn’t come here to build a bridge... what you did... what you both did? Unforgivable. It was weak, spineless and you should be ashamed of yourself.”
“Did you come here just to berate me?”
“I came here... because despite what you and Elliot did... your sister was murdered. And now you have a baby.” Her face softened. “None of that is your fault, and as much as I don’t like you... I would not have wished this on you. And I wanted you to know that.”
Katie bit her tongue to stop herself from replying. She was the bad guy in this situation; there was no way around it. Kathy being here was for herself. She was a kind woman, a loving mother, and to her this was proper social protocol in the wake of a tragic death. She was doing it to cleanse her own mind, so Katie wouldn’t think she hated her so much that she was glad this happened. In one way, it was sweet. In another way, it was passive aggressively vicious.
“You didn’t ruin my marriage.” She continued. “Elliot and I have been together since we were teenagers... I guess, some things just... end.” Smiling down at Acadia, Kathy caught Katie’s eyes once more as she turned around. “She’s very beautiful. I think you’ll do fine with her.”
Katie muttered a thank-you she wasn’t sure Kathy heard, but that was probably for the best, because Acadia had fallen asleep.
xxx
Matt was headed to Australia, and it made Katie nervous because she had been relying on him heavily since she’d brought the baby home. He knew about this, this sudden shock to have to raise a child, it was the same with his own sister, Jordan. He’d had to raise her, and he was so good with Acadia; she adored him. Katie was always calmer with Matt was with her.
The day before Matt left, he stopped by Katie’s once more, refusing her offer to take care of Jordan while he was gone. He would only be a week, and Katie was a walking insomniac with the baby right now.
“Why now?” Katie mumbled selfishly as she settled into her sofa chair with a hot coffee in her hands, Matt was sitting on the floor with Acadia in his lap, feeding her her afternoon bottle. “Why Australia, and why now? I mean I get the whole vacation thing; but...?”
“It’s for a week, Katie,” Matt reminded her. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
“I highly doubt that.”
“Elliot comes back from Quantico tomorrow, doesn’t he?”
Katie nodded; Elliot had been at the marine base for a week helping train some of the new recruits who were looking to get into the police force after their tours of duty ended. He’d sent her emails every day, and called her when he could, but it wasn’t as good as having him there. He had four kids; he seemed to know immediately what Acadia wanted, like Matt. Everyone was better at it than she was.
“His wife came by.”
“Kathy?” Matt’s eyes widened. “Oh God, what did she do?”
“Nothing incriminating.” Katie played with the end of her ponytail, sipping her coffee. “She was pissed... but she was... accepting, I guess. It was weird. It’s weird to know she hates me. I mean, I don’t care that she does hate me, but... I dunno... it’s just a weird thing to know.” She shook her head, eager to change the subject; she didn’t need to wallow in the guilt. “So, why Australia? Could you have picked a place further from New York?”
Matt didn’t look at Katie; instead keeping his eyes on Acadia as she sleepily drank her formula. “You remember Jason? He worked homicide for awhile? We were...”
“Together, I know.” Katie finished for him, the clandestine affair between two gay cops had been the talk of the precinct water coolers in the past, not that anyone would call Matt or Jason on it, as was the way of gossip; it was only interesting as long as it was all still conjecture.
“He used to hit me.”
Katie almost choked on her coffee, and felt a wry smile tug at her lips. “What?” Matt was over six foot tall and took very good care of his body; Katie couldn’t imagine anyone hitting him.
“First time he thought I was flirting with this guy... he apologized... I forgave him... he got better at where he hit me. I stopped bringing him around to my place, I didn’t want Jordan to know... but I think she did. Well, she knew something was wrong. And she saw him hit me once, rushed to protect me... and he almost slugged her. Right then and there I ended it.”
“What...?” Katie was sure her insomnia was making her hear things; because this was completely bizarre news to her ears. “You’re... you’re both cops... how did... I mean... you work for Special Victims and you’re telling me you were a special victim?”
“I wasn’t a victim, Katie.”
She let it go; not wanting to fight. He was leaving tomorrow. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
He shrugged, finally looking at her. “I didn’t feel like talking. It’s not something I wanted broadcast... an SVU cop who lets his boyfriend beat the crap out of him? How could I come into work?”
Katie’s brow was knotted tightly together, she remembered Jason being transferred from New York, and recalled that not a lot of people missed him, but since he wasn’t in her precinct and she didn’t know Matt that well at the time, she hadn’t given it that much thought. It was only after Jason left that she and Matt had really bonded... which Katie could see making sense now. He was a coward.
“Anyway,” Matt let out a huge sigh and set Acadia’s bottle on the floor. “My parents always talked about going to Australia, and they never got to... I guess this is me going in their honour.”
He got to his feet without waking Acadia, an act Katie was unable to harness as of yet. “I’m... sorry.” She said uselessly, feeling numb as he set the baby in her arms and squatted before her.
“It’s not your fault.” He smiled and ran his hand over Acadia’s darkening brown hair. “It’s in the past, just a bad flashback now.” He retrieved a note from his breast pocket and held it out between his fore and middle finger to Katie. “My flight info, in case Jordan calls asking about it. I left it for her but, y’know,” He shrugged. “Leaving tomorrow on Oceanic 6-6-6, back in a week, in Oceanic 8-1-5.”
“6-6-6?” Katie repeated with a raise of an eyebrow.
“Don’t give me the bad luck spiel,” He rolled his eyes, leant over and kissed both Acadia and Katie on the cheek. “I got enough of that from my sister. I’ll see you in a week,” He rose to his feet and headed for the door. “I’ll bring you back a boomerang.”
“Wow; don’t you know what girls want.” Katie replied sarcastically as she watched him leave.
“Well, I am a ladies’ man,” He winked as he ducked out the front door. “Be good...”
Katie let her smile gradually fall from her lips, gently pressing them against Acadia’s forehead eliciting a contented sigh from her. The apartment was quiet, and it was the most alone Katie had felt since the day Bonnie died.
xxx
fandom: Law & Order SVU
pairing: elliot/katie (ofc), contains Matt Vaughn, OC of ciaimpala, and mentions Jordan Vaughn, OC of jacquelin825 - thanks to both of you for letting me borrow your ppl.
letter: n for name-calling - table # 11 for a_to_z_prompts
summary: Katie gets a surprise visitor as she prepares to farewell a friend.
rating: M.
word count: 2089.
warnings/spoilers: none really ;)
a/n: Katie Summers is an original character of mine who I'm pairing with Detective Elliot Stabler for my fic's in this challenge. You'll get to know more about her as you read :) SVU timeline wise is set during the time Elliot is separated from his wife, and in my fic he divorced her, around seasons 5-7.
disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Law and Order SVU. This is purely written for entertainment only.
You’d Be Surprised
Katie always knew that the day she came face to face with Kathy, Elliot’s ex-wife, would be nothing short of utterly humiliating. But she was prepared for that. She was prepared for Kathy to insult her, call her a home wrecker or a whore, or whatever name that came to mind. She was even ready for a drink, or possibly a slap, right in the face.
She only hoped that it wouldn’t happen on a day she looked and felt like crap. So of course, it did.
Acadia was home for good now. She was still small, size-wise, in comparison to the other babies in the nursery, but she was breathing on her own, didn’t need any medication, and sleeping for a few hours at a time, at least she had at the hospital. Now home, Acadia cried; a lot. She cried to be fed, and then cried to be burped. She cried to be changed, and then wailed while Katie changed her diaper, every time she smiled, she just ended up crying.
Katie had been up all night with her cranky niece, hadn’t had time to shower or even eat, her apartment was a mess, and she was still in her dressing gown. Acadia was fussing in her car seat; she was more comfortable in that than in her bouncer, sitting on the floor surrounded by toys and a half-eaten plate of toast that had been Katie’s breakfast.
There was a knock at the door, and Katie thought it might be Alexis, who even after all their years of friendship still felt the need to rap her knuckles on the door instead of just letting herself in. She didn’t think it was Elliot; he announced himself while knocking - a cop thing - so preparing to just see the face of her friend, Katie yanked open the front door without checking the peephole; immediately regretting that snap decision.
Kathy stood at her doorstep looking both beautiful and intimidating.
Katie had always thought Kathy was gorgeous; she had a classic beauty to her, shimmering light blonde hair that flowed halfway down her back, pale blue eyes, laugh lines, and a fantastic figure for a woman who had delivered four children. She oozed a natural, maternal glow that Katie immediately envied, moreso now that she had Acadia; and Katie was rendered mute when she saw the woman whose marriage she had broken up standing right before her eyes.
“Hello, Katie.” Kathy said through a nervous, tight-lipped smile.
“Kathy...” Katie replied, not really sure what to say. Sorry for screwing your husband? She assumed that wouldn’t go down well... “What are you doing here?”
“I heard about your sister.” Kathy said, presenting a brown paper bag out to Katie. “I’m sorry.”
Before Katie could even take the bag, Acadia started to scream. “Sorry,” Katie dashed from the front door to find her niece wailing in her car seat, face red and little hands balled into angry fists. “Hey, Screamer, it’s ok, it’s ok,” She knelt down and scooped Acadia up into her arms. “You’re okay, little love, you’re okay...”
“She’s beautiful.” Kathy had let herself into the apartment, and now stood just by the kitchen.
“Thank you,” Katie answered, suddenly very self-conscious of her own, and her apartment’s, appearance. “Forgive the mess; I don’t have time to do anything...”
“She sounds a little colicky?” Kathy asked with raised eyebrows.
“Yeah; she is, but nothing I do helps,” Katie vented tiredly. “I pick her up, she screams, I put her down, she screams, I feed her, she spits up and then screams...”
Kathy gave her a pitiful look and held out her arms. “Can I?”
Katie was hardly going to decline; and almost laughed with relief when she laid Acadia into Kathy’s arms and she immediately quieted down. Kathy held her firmly but not too tight and swayed her back and forth on the spot; bouncing her as she did so. “This helped with the twins,” she said as she jiggled Acadia. “The movement soothes them...”
“I tried that; it didn’t work for me...”
“You’re stressed.” Kathy said with a simple shrug of her thin shoulders. “She feels that. If you’re stressed, nothing will calm her down.”
“So I’m making her unhappy...” Katie said, stifling a yawn. “Great.”
“No one is natural at this,” She said, settling the now calm baby down into her playpen, she gurgled contentedly. “Along the way you just figure it out.”
“Why are you here?” Katie asked, sitting herself at the table. “Why now?”
“Oh, right,” Kathy presented Katie the brown paper bag again. “It’s just... when the twins were born, they were premature. This helped.”
Out of the bag, Katie pulled a stack of CD’s with titles like Soothing Your Infant, Naptime Songs, and Lullabies for Little Ones. “Thank you.”
“Is Elliot here?” She asked, stiffening as she spoke.
“No.” Katie replied. “Look, Kathy, I’m so-”
“Don’t.” Kathy held up her hand. “I didn’t come here for an apology, I didn’t come here to build a bridge... what you did... what you both did? Unforgivable. It was weak, spineless and you should be ashamed of yourself.”
“Did you come here just to berate me?”
“I came here... because despite what you and Elliot did... your sister was murdered. And now you have a baby.” Her face softened. “None of that is your fault, and as much as I don’t like you... I would not have wished this on you. And I wanted you to know that.”
Katie bit her tongue to stop herself from replying. She was the bad guy in this situation; there was no way around it. Kathy being here was for herself. She was a kind woman, a loving mother, and to her this was proper social protocol in the wake of a tragic death. She was doing it to cleanse her own mind, so Katie wouldn’t think she hated her so much that she was glad this happened. In one way, it was sweet. In another way, it was passive aggressively vicious.
“You didn’t ruin my marriage.” She continued. “Elliot and I have been together since we were teenagers... I guess, some things just... end.” Smiling down at Acadia, Kathy caught Katie’s eyes once more as she turned around. “She’s very beautiful. I think you’ll do fine with her.”
Katie muttered a thank-you she wasn’t sure Kathy heard, but that was probably for the best, because Acadia had fallen asleep.
xxx
Matt was headed to Australia, and it made Katie nervous because she had been relying on him heavily since she’d brought the baby home. He knew about this, this sudden shock to have to raise a child, it was the same with his own sister, Jordan. He’d had to raise her, and he was so good with Acadia; she adored him. Katie was always calmer with Matt was with her.
The day before Matt left, he stopped by Katie’s once more, refusing her offer to take care of Jordan while he was gone. He would only be a week, and Katie was a walking insomniac with the baby right now.
“Why now?” Katie mumbled selfishly as she settled into her sofa chair with a hot coffee in her hands, Matt was sitting on the floor with Acadia in his lap, feeding her her afternoon bottle. “Why Australia, and why now? I mean I get the whole vacation thing; but...?”
“It’s for a week, Katie,” Matt reminded her. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
“I highly doubt that.”
“Elliot comes back from Quantico tomorrow, doesn’t he?”
Katie nodded; Elliot had been at the marine base for a week helping train some of the new recruits who were looking to get into the police force after their tours of duty ended. He’d sent her emails every day, and called her when he could, but it wasn’t as good as having him there. He had four kids; he seemed to know immediately what Acadia wanted, like Matt. Everyone was better at it than she was.
“His wife came by.”
“Kathy?” Matt’s eyes widened. “Oh God, what did she do?”
“Nothing incriminating.” Katie played with the end of her ponytail, sipping her coffee. “She was pissed... but she was... accepting, I guess. It was weird. It’s weird to know she hates me. I mean, I don’t care that she does hate me, but... I dunno... it’s just a weird thing to know.” She shook her head, eager to change the subject; she didn’t need to wallow in the guilt. “So, why Australia? Could you have picked a place further from New York?”
Matt didn’t look at Katie; instead keeping his eyes on Acadia as she sleepily drank her formula. “You remember Jason? He worked homicide for awhile? We were...”
“Together, I know.” Katie finished for him, the clandestine affair between two gay cops had been the talk of the precinct water coolers in the past, not that anyone would call Matt or Jason on it, as was the way of gossip; it was only interesting as long as it was all still conjecture.
“He used to hit me.”
Katie almost choked on her coffee, and felt a wry smile tug at her lips. “What?” Matt was over six foot tall and took very good care of his body; Katie couldn’t imagine anyone hitting him.
“First time he thought I was flirting with this guy... he apologized... I forgave him... he got better at where he hit me. I stopped bringing him around to my place, I didn’t want Jordan to know... but I think she did. Well, she knew something was wrong. And she saw him hit me once, rushed to protect me... and he almost slugged her. Right then and there I ended it.”
“What...?” Katie was sure her insomnia was making her hear things; because this was completely bizarre news to her ears. “You’re... you’re both cops... how did... I mean... you work for Special Victims and you’re telling me you were a special victim?”
“I wasn’t a victim, Katie.”
She let it go; not wanting to fight. He was leaving tomorrow. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
He shrugged, finally looking at her. “I didn’t feel like talking. It’s not something I wanted broadcast... an SVU cop who lets his boyfriend beat the crap out of him? How could I come into work?”
Katie’s brow was knotted tightly together, she remembered Jason being transferred from New York, and recalled that not a lot of people missed him, but since he wasn’t in her precinct and she didn’t know Matt that well at the time, she hadn’t given it that much thought. It was only after Jason left that she and Matt had really bonded... which Katie could see making sense now. He was a coward.
“Anyway,” Matt let out a huge sigh and set Acadia’s bottle on the floor. “My parents always talked about going to Australia, and they never got to... I guess this is me going in their honour.”
He got to his feet without waking Acadia, an act Katie was unable to harness as of yet. “I’m... sorry.” She said uselessly, feeling numb as he set the baby in her arms and squatted before her.
“It’s not your fault.” He smiled and ran his hand over Acadia’s darkening brown hair. “It’s in the past, just a bad flashback now.” He retrieved a note from his breast pocket and held it out between his fore and middle finger to Katie. “My flight info, in case Jordan calls asking about it. I left it for her but, y’know,” He shrugged. “Leaving tomorrow on Oceanic 6-6-6, back in a week, in Oceanic 8-1-5.”
“6-6-6?” Katie repeated with a raise of an eyebrow.
“Don’t give me the bad luck spiel,” He rolled his eyes, leant over and kissed both Acadia and Katie on the cheek. “I got enough of that from my sister. I’ll see you in a week,” He rose to his feet and headed for the door. “I’ll bring you back a boomerang.”
“Wow; don’t you know what girls want.” Katie replied sarcastically as she watched him leave.
“Well, I am a ladies’ man,” He winked as he ducked out the front door. “Be good...”
Katie let her smile gradually fall from her lips, gently pressing them against Acadia’s forehead eliciting a contented sigh from her. The apartment was quiet, and it was the most alone Katie had felt since the day Bonnie died.
xxx