Hello, guys! This is my first fanfiction about Olivia/Peter, my first svu fanfiction ever actually… I'm French so I would like to apologize in advance for all the mistakes left in the story.

I wanted to post this story earlier, as it was for the 4th of July but well… busy life hehe.

I hope you will enjoy the story, let me know what you think!

National Independence Day was a day everyone looked forward to, both kids and adults. It was a day of celebration, sharing and patriotism. Noah hadn't stopped talking about it for several weeks now, and although crimes never sleep, the squad managed to close the case on time and was determined to take a break and go admire the fireworks all together.

The trial ended at around 7:30 pm, Peter had preferred to go back to his office to keep his mind busy. It was a special day for him, the first 4th of July he would spend alone, without Pamela. Two shorts months had passed since the tragic death of his sister, and though apparently he was in top form, he had stopped counting the nights spent in the darkness of his apartment, trying to silence his sorrows with glasses of Whiskey.

He wasn't expecting a visit, and he was somewhat surprised to see Olivia standing in the doorway of his office.

"Hey…" She said softly, with a slight smile.

"Hey, aren't you getting home yet?" He asked her.

"I just wanted to check on you before leaving." Peter didn't know why, but he felt his heart tingle. Since the events, Olivia had been much more caring about him and he didn't fail noticing all the corner looks she had given him, making sure he was still holding on during harder cases. In some way, it had helped him going through knowing there was someone nearby on whom he could have rest just in case. She was there for him without stifling him and that was all he needed right now.

"I'm fine. Actually, I was just about to bury myself in that pretty big stack of paperwork." He joked slightly, showing the files scattered on his desk.

"You don't intend to stay all night here and miss all the fun, do you?" She smirked, frowning a bit as she stepped a bit closer in the room.

"Erh, I don't really have anything else better to do." He paused and then winced, "in my head it didn't sound that hopeless." They both chuckled and Olivia pinched her lips in a thin line.

"Well, let me know if you change your mind." She said. He looked at her face, thinking of finding some kind of pity, but all he could see was sincerity. He lost himself a few seconds in her eyes, before answering her with a slight smile and nodded. She turned on her heels and left the office, hoping deep down he would end up changing his mind by the end of the evening.

The sun was setting down as they finally found a good spot to watch the fireworks. Fin and Carisi were debriefing on last night's football game, while Rollins was kneeling in front of Jesse's stroller to adjust the strap and gave her something to drink. Olivia was standing beside them, holding Noah's hand. The boy was more than excited and was hopping up and down on his feet, waiting impatiently for the big moment. He had insisted on wearing a blue, red and white hat and was proudly waving his flag with his other hand.

"Mommy, look!" He called his mother's attention to show her a tall disguised man crossing the crowd on stilts. She smiled at him and feigned to be over impressed about the skills guy, but quickly her thoughts wandered elsewhere. She was glancing regularly in the crowd, hoping to catch the familiar face. As the minutes were passing away, she could feel the bitter taste of disappointment. She knew she shouldn't let herself go to feel such emotions, especially when it came to a colleague, but she couldn't help feeling something much stronger than that. There was something in the man that she couldn't describe, something that was drawing her to him and making her want to scratch on the surface.

"Everything's good, Olivia?" Amanda asked her, worried to see her looking around multiple times.

"Yeah, it's good." She smiled, getting hold of herself.

"Mommy, can I get some popcorns?" The boy asked, pulling over her hand to catch her attention.

"Sure, sweetie." She answered him, taking the opportunity to change the subject. She looked around and found a food truck nearby. "Stay right here, I'll be right back." She smiled at his son, whom his attention was already elsewhere as he was making funny faces to Jesse, and made her way through the crowd. She knew she couldn't fool Amanda, she could see in her eyes that she wasn't done with questioning her but for now, she wasn't ready at all to talk about any of her feelings. She wasn't able to describe herself what was happening and she sure as hell didn't want to admit anything.

There were many people, but not enough to feel totally oppressed. She easily sneaked between them and when she arrived at the truck, there were already two people waiting for their order.

"One small cupboard of popcorns, please." She ordered, handing the money to the man then stood aside waiting. She looked at her phone, nothing. She started coming to terms with the fact he wasn't coming as the day was about to end. She remembered the look on his face when she had entered his office earlier, the hint of sadness in the corner of his eyes when he had looked at her, she had seen it too many times these past few weeks. She had been there when his sister died in front of him, she was there when he broke down in her arms. She didn't know much about his back story, neither about what he had been through and seeing this man so destroyed was making her heart clenched. She was worried for him and even if they had started working together not long ago, she wasn't letting anyone of her squad down.

"Feeling quite hungry, Sergent?" She turned around to face the man, smiling softly at her. He almost didn't recognize her in her jean and light sweater. She immediately smiled back at him, feeling some kind of unknown feeling inside her chest. He was standing a few feet away from her, his hands in his pockets, still dressed in his suit but had left his jacket and tie at the office. He had rolled up his sleeves and opened his collar.

"You finally decided to swap your paperwork with fireworks?" He chuckled internally, answering by a question, why didn't it surprise him?

"Well, when you left my office earlier it made me realize that Pam wouldn't have liked that bitter and killjoy man sitting in that chair." Olivia offered him a warm smile as he shrugged.

"You used to spend a lot of time with her, uh? You two had a special bond." He nodded as he looked down, sadly smiling.

"When we were kids, we used to sneak out on the 4th of July – to the great despair of our father – to go to our secret spot. We had the best view ever to watch the fireworks. It's a tradition I've always respected, even in recent years when Pamela was really sick."

"That's why you tried to hide yourself in your office."

"I wasn't sure I wanted to face the fact she really wasn't there anymore." He could feel her hand squeezing his shoulder.

"You're not alone, Peter. Not anymore." She saw the flinch in his eyes; he didn't expect her saying this at all. She took the popcorn package the man handed her and they quietly made their way back to the crew.

"You know, I never really apologized for the way I treated you back then. It was…"

"You were just trying to protect one of your friends." He knew she was talking about the way he got the job.

"But it wasn't fair to you. I've never really been good at saying goodbye to people I care about." She said thinking about Elliot, Munch, then Amaro and recently Barba.

"Olivia, you don't have to justify yourself… I-" She cut him off.

"You're a good ADA, and a good man. I'm glad you're part of this squad."

"Thank you." He could almost feel his cheeks getting redder.

When they arrived, she could see on others' faces they were a bit skeptical about Stone's presence, she could feel the tension grow in the group. They certainly didn't expect seeing him tonight. They looked at each other briefly but quickly got a hold of themselves. If Olivia was okay with it, then they could trust him easily. Sure it would take them some time to adjust but Peter had shown them on so many cases how good he was as an ally. They greeted themselves with a simple nod, no words were needed as it all felt natural to welcome him in this particular celebrating day. She handed the popcorns to her son, who smiled at the man.

"Noah, say hello to Peter."

"Hello, Mister Peter. Do you work with my mommy?"

"Yes, I do. Nice to meet you, buddy."

"So that makes you my uncle I guess, just like uncle Fin and uncle Rafael and aunt Amanda…" The boy was counting all the member of his family, making them all chuckled at his silliness.

"Hey, give some of that to your old uncle, would'ya?" Fin joked as he reached the cupboard with his hand to catch some popcorn.

About twenty minutes later, people had launched some sparks on the ground to make the wait shorter. Noah could hear people in front of him enjoying the show. He tried to see through but quickly realized he was facing a wall of legs. He then turned to his mom.

"Mommy, I can't see anything from here!" The boy pouted as he was missing all the fun. Peter noticed Olivia was sorry for him and suddenly got an idea.

"What about I carry you over my shoulders? I'm sure you would have a better view up there." He shrugged, looking at Noah then Olivia. The boy immediately felt overjoyed about the idea.

"Are you sure about this? He's quite heavy you know." Olivia asked Peter, not really convinced about the idea but the man was already crouched at the height of the boy who had turned his back to his mom, arms up waiting for some help to climb. She grabbed him, lifted him and sat him on Peter's shoulders who immediately grabbed his legs.

"Be careful, honey alright?" She kept her right hand held up behind his back for a few seconds to be sure he was well settled.

"How's the view up there?" Peter asked him.

"It's so fun! Thank you, Mister Peter!" Olivia couldn't help but smile at the cheerfulness of his son. Peter turned his head towards her, as better as he could with the boy perching on his shoulders. Her eyes crossed his a few seconds and he held her gaze as they exchanged a brief smile. The sight of Peter being that caring towards her son was surprisingly warming her heart.

Olivia turned her head around, witnessing her – almost – whole family gathered to celebrate. She felt complete and happy, in this right moment. The rest of the night went by between laughter, smiles and amazement as the sky lit up with fireworks, offering an unforgettable spectacle.

She slowly made her way out of the bedroom, quietly closing the door as her son had just fallen asleep, still amazed by all the events tonight. She was walking barefoot in her living room when her phone buzzed against the wood of the coffee table. She thought at first it was a new case, hoping she was wrong as she was feeling totally drained and badly needed a good night's sleep. But she certainly didn't expect to see his name on her screen.

I'm glad I changed my mind tonight. Thank you. – P

She couldn't hold back the smile growing on her face as she read his words a second time that night.