Old author new tricks. Hope everyone enjoys!

Olivia hadn't really thought about Elliot Stabler in several months, which was good for her. She kicked herself as his image was brought to the forefront of her memory when she saw a little blonde haired boy playing at the park near her son. She was reminded that Eli would be much older than this toddler, and she was also reminded she had been forced to miss out on the child's life. A child that, until Noah, she viewed as the closest she would come to children of her own. The thoughts of Elliot used to plague her at every turn, even when things were good. She would recall a joke, or feel the need to share something with him and was brutally brought back to reality. Since Noah, she had only briefly imagined what her life would look like if Elliot had not left. She always imagined that she wouldn't have been kidnapped if Elliot had been there, that she wouldn't have dated that scumbag Cassidy. That she would have maybe, in her deepest crevices hoped that she and Elliot might have taken a step together. Sometimes Olivia found herself blaming Elliot. She blamed him for leaving her, and sometimes she blamed him for not rescuing her. Sure she managed to escape on her own, but Elliot could have stopped it from happening if he just hadn't left in the first place.

She shook her head to rid herself of the thought. Olivia smiled as she watched her little Noah play with the little blonde boy that reminded her of Eli. She imagined the boys would be friends if Elliot hadn't left her. Elliot left her. She needed to get her mind off him.

Olivia walked towards the boys who had barley spoken, but had obviously bonded over sharing the toy truck, "Noah, who is your friend?"

Noah shrugged ignoring his mom, "Noah you know you should always introduce yourself right?"

The little blonde boy looked up smiling at her, "I'm Tom!"

"Hi Tom, nice to meet you! I'm Olivia and this is Noah." Tom looked at both of them then continued to play in the sand ramming the truck into the side of the sand box.

Olivia perched herself on the edge of the sandbox watching the small boys interact. She couldn't shake the overwhelming feeling that this little boy reminded her of Eli.

"Olivia?" A female voice asked from just outside Olivia's field of vision. She would recognize that voice anywhere. Kathy.

"Kathy?" She turned startled, towards the older blonde woman.

"What on earth are you doing here?" Olivia began to panic; she hadn't spoken to any of the Stabler's since before Elliot left. The closest she had come was when she dropped off the box of Elliot's things at the front door of their family home. She didn't even bother ringing the bell. She drove in the middle of the night and sat outside for over an hour to make sure no one was awake and would catch her dropping off the last of his things. She had avoided the family at all costs, which wasn't hard since she knew Kathy especially was not her biggest fan. Elliot seemed to have joined that fan club after leaving though.

Olivia's long silence prompted Kathy to speak again, "Elliot isn't here, don't worry." Relief must've flooded Olivia's face because Kathy took the opportunity to perch herself beside her.

"Mommy can I have a juice?" Noah asked, he stood before Olivia and Kathy covered in sand. Olivia reached over to her bag and pulled his cup from the side. Without saying a word she held it for him and returned it when he was done.

"So you have a son." Kathy more stated than asked.

"Yeah." Olivia replied without glancing towards the blonde.

"Is he Elliot's?" The question was so unexpected Olivia nearly fell over. How could this woman even think such a thing? How could she even begin to believe that Elliot and she were anywhere close to being intimate especially when he had left her the way he had. She felt her blood boil at the thought. She wanted to punch Kathy at that moment, but instead she laughed.

"Yeah Kathy, because I haven't spoken to Elliot in over 6 years, but I had his love child three years ago." Kathy's eyes pierced the side of Olivia's head.

"It hasn't been 6 years." Kathy stated after a long pause.

"Kathy, no offence, but I think I know how long it's been since Elliot left the squad."

"Since he left the squad? Olivia he was staying with you! He left his family to be with you. He just now has started to build back his relationship with his kids. He missed two years of Eli's life and I can only assume it was to be with you."

For the first time Olivia turned her head to fully face Kathy, "Have you lost your mind?" Olivia's mind was swimming; he had left his family? He had obviously told Kathy that he was living with her. He used her as a cover up to ditch his family? How could this be? How could he have so blatantly lied to everyone in his life without even the slightest remorse? He could have at least filled her in on the plan before using her as an excuse to leave his wife and children. He could have at least said goodbye to her.

"Kathy, I have not spoken to him since he left the squad. I tried calling and texting but after a month I got sick of the lack of response. He hasn't reached out, he doesn't even know where I live now. Noah is my son, not Elliot's or anyone else's for that matter." Olivia started to get heated again, the thought of her being demonized for something she most certainly did not do was beyond her wildest imagination. She could not begin to understand why or how this was happening.

"Noah, come on. We are leaving."

"But mommy!" Noah wined not wanting to leave his new friend Tom.

"Noah." Olivia gave him her best 'mom' look. Noah huffed and picked up his truck from the ground, "Say goodbye to Tom."

"Bye Tom"

Kathy then spoke, "Say goodbye Tom."

"Bye," replied Tom. Olivia's eyes quickly darted between the pair. Kathy saw the terror in Olivia's eyes.

"He's not Elliot's either." And with that Olivia left, well more like ran from the park. Noah was at the question age and continued to ask question after question about random things. Olivia usually enjoyed the questions, it made her happy to help the little boy learn about anything and everything, but right now she had questions of her own. She thought about the way she had recognized Tom from all the way across the park, she remembered how he looked so much like Eli. It all made sense now, well not all, but that one particular aspect. Tom wasn't Elliot's? Kathy had made it pretty clear that she and Elliot were no longer together, but the thought of there being another child that looked like a Stabler, that wasn't a Stabler was astounding. She briefly thought of how Elliot would be dealing with Tom, but reminded herself that she didn't care. She didn't care what Elliot did; she didn't care now because just in that short conversation she had learned what a true bastard he could be. He had used her without her even knowing it. Just then a foreign number appeared on her screen. She cleared her throat, assuming it was a work related call, and hushed the ever-talking Noah.

"Benson." She answered as she always did.

"Liv…" The voice that she hadn't heard in years, that one voice that she swore she didn't care about anymore, that she swore she would never hear from again rang through the speakers. As quickly as she answered she hung up. She stood for a moment on the sidewalk completely still.

"Mommy you're hurting my hand!" She looked down and realized she had been squeezing Noah's hand as a means of grounding herself. She released his hand and scooped him up perching him on her hip. She disregarded the amount of sand that was now covering her sides from his shoes and dirty pants. She kissed his temple and hurried home, feeling more exposed than she had in quite a while. When she reached her apartment she set Noah down to retrieve her keys. Her mind was racing at the events of the day, but she had a child and he needed her more.

Earlier*

Kathy watched Olivia's retreating form. She couldn't imagine why Olivia would so blatantly lie to her, then the thought crossed her mind: what if Olivia wasn't lying to her. She had no reason to lie and Kathy had always believed Olivia to be a trustworthy person. She had never caught Olivia in a lie unlike her husband who would lie about the color of the sky. She sat for a moment with her son still playing and decided to ask Elliot herself.

"Kathy, what's up?" Elliot answered on the second ring.

"You'll never guess who I just ran into." Elliot's heart thudded in his chest. He had always dreaded this day. He had convinced himself that this day might never come, but since Kathy moved to the city to be with her new husband, he felt this day was imminent.

"Who?" He played dumb acting like he didn't already have his shoes on ready to run if he needed to.

"Olivia." It had been years since he had heard someone utter her name. He could actually directly pinpoint the last time he heard her name. It was the second time she had been kidnapped, her photo was suddenly plastered on his TV screen for the second time since he left her. He watched as the investigation unfolded and when she was finally found. He watched as they paraded her in front of the cameras with blood spattered all over her face. He could feel his heart breaking yet again for the woman he left, but he couldn't bring himself to pick up the phone. He knew he was a selfish bastard.

"Oh." Was all he managed to squeak out.

"So do you want to tell me which one of you is lying?"

The full gravity of the situation hit him. He realized Kathy must've told Olivia what his cover story had been. He realized Olivia was probably on a warpath at the moment. His selfish ways had yet again caught up with him.

"Kathy what the hell did you tell her?"

"The truth Elliot, or what I was told at least. It sounds like you should've gotten clearance from your imaginary girlfriend before telling you're ex wife lies." Elliot hung up the phone. He began pacing around his studio apartment, he thought of how he had used both women for his own agenda and how awful of a person he had been to both of them. He had to talk to her; he had to explain why he had done what he did.

He dialed her number; the number he had dialed so many times but had never been able to call. He dialed her number and pressed send.

"Benson." She answered, and his heart nearly stopped. He had only been able to catch her voice here and there on the television when she held a press conference. Breathing wasn't an option when he heard her voice. He recalled one day in a coffee shop he heard her voice come over the TV and he nearly spit out his coffee. That had been the first time he heard her speak since he left the squad.

"Liv…" His voice cracked as he thought about his next words. He thought of how carefully to word them so as to not get hung up on--

CLICK*

He should've known better than to expect after 6 years that she would take his call.

This was going to be harder than he thought.