A/N: Enjoy and thanks for reading! I'm looking at around 10 chapters for this. Nothing too drawn out but a bit more of a story than a one-shot.

SUMMER'S COMING - CHAPTER 1

"Noah, hurry up. We're going to be late for school."

Olivia reminded herself that it wasn't really Noah's fault if they were late. She's the one who overslept and woke him up late. Getting home at 3 a.m. will do that sometimes. Normally, Lucy would take him on a morning like this, but she was going away for the weekend. Olivia felt bad enough she had to stay with him half the night.

"I'm ready, Mom," Noah said, hurrying toward the kitchen while struggling to put his backpack on.

Olivia took a moment to make sure he had everything while folding the collar down on his shirt. She kissed him on the forehead and Noah squirmed and turned his face away.

"Ok, ok, I know," Olivia teased. "Let's get going. You can't be late during your last week of school this year."

Traffic on the way to school, fortunately, wasn't terrible. It was always bad, but it could have been worse for a Friday morning. Noah spent much of the ride telling Olivia all of the things he wanted the two of them to do together during his school break. He also told her about a summer camp he wanted to attend, which gave Olivia pause since it was five days away from home. Noah had never been away from her for that long.

"So, can I?" Noah asked before getting out of the car.

"I'll talk to your teacher about it when I pick you up this afternoon," she said. "And we can talk more about it this weekend."

"Pleeeease, Mom?" Noah begged again. "My friend Mateo is going, and I want to go with him."

"Noah, I said we'd talk about it," Olivia said. "I'm not saying no. I just want to know more about it before I agree. Ok?"

"Ok, Mom," Noah said. "Bye."

Before Olivia could say anything else, Noah had hopped out of the car and ran along toward the entrance where the security guard was ushering kids inside who were also running late.

"Bye. I love you," she yelled out, knowing it fell on deaf ears.

#

"Sorry I'm late," Olivia said, strolling into the squad room after everyone was already hard at work. "Noah and I woke up late this morning."

"You're the boss, Liv," Fin said. "You get to be late. Besides, I'm surprised to see you this early since you were out so late."

Olivia shrugged. "I'm trying to get as much paperwork done as possible for this upcoming case for our temp ADA because I promised Noah we'd spend the weekend together."

"When's Carisi gonna start?"

"Soon, I hope," Olivia said, heading toward her office. Fin followed her. "He's got a bit more ADA training and orientation to go through. I've encouraged the DA's office to fast-track him as soon as possible since he already knows the ropes of SVU."

"That'll be a nice change. Someone who knows what the hell they're doing."

Olivia rolled her eyes. Stoned tried hard enough, but he never quite "got it," and she was tired of training new ADAs. It had been six months, and even though Carisi put in immediately, and it was promised to him, it seemed like the DA's office was taking their sweet him getting him over there permanently.

"Speaking of people knowing what they're doing..." Olivia paused and looked out her office window. "Now are the newbies working out?"

SVU had recently hired two new detectives - one to replace Carisi and one to replace Dodds. Technically Fin replaced Dodds as Sergeant, but they were still short a body and had been for a while. She finally convinced 1PP to get them back up to normal levels, even if she could use a handful more detectives.

Fin nodded his head affirmatively. "They're doing pretty good, Liv. And I'll be honest; it's nice to have a little more color in this room."

Olivia laughed. When she was given hiring approval, she specifically sought qualified detectives that reflected the diversity of the community. She'd hired an African-American female detective, Taylor, from the Queens SVU unit and a Hispanic male detective who came from Narcotics, Antonio, or Tony for short. He reminded Olivia a little of Nick Amaro.

"Well, you know as well as I do that diversity is important. I'm just glad we were finally able to hire and get some fresh blood in here," she said.

"Anyway, they're both pretty good," Fin said. "Taylor, she's real smart. She may be quiet, but don't sleep on her. And Tony, he's a little rough around the edges, but that comes from working Narc. But he's got a good head. Heard he was bound for Homicide. Wonder who he pissed off to end up here?"

"Actually, I'm told he asked to come to SVU," Olivia said. "He initially wanted Homicide, and they were ready to send him, but he changed his mind. I'm sure there is a story behind it. Most people don't ask for SVU."

"You did."

"And there was a story behind it, wasn't there?" Olivia said grinning. "At any rate, keep an eye on them and make sure they know if they need anything..."

"Understood, Liv," Fin said. "I'm about to take them out to interview some witnesses right now. Introduce them to a few people while I'm at it."

Olivia gave him a suspicious look.

"Don't worry, we're just gonna meet up with Munch for lunch," Fin said.

Olivia laughed. "Now, I am worried!"

The two laughed for a moment longer and then Fin turned to leave. Olivia called out after him.

"Give Munch my love. And tell him not to be a stranger," she said. Fin nodded and carried on to get the rookies and head out.

#

"So, what's it going to be? French toast or pancakes?" Olivia asked Noah as they sat across from each other in a new breakfast dinner near Central Park. It was a later start to the day than she planned, so the brunch crew was out in full force. The pair was lucky to get a table when they did.

"What about if I get pancakes and you get french toast, and I can have some of yours?" Noah said, grinning ear to ear when Olivia laughed at him.

"Ok, but only if you promise to share some of your pancakes."

"I'll think about it," he laughed.

Olivia laughed and shook her head, sitting her menu down since Noah's plan was clearly working. She reached for her coffee cup and took a sip while Noah colored on his kids' menu.

"Can I refill your coffee?" the server asked Olivia as she nodded and pushed her cup toward the server. "I'll be right back to take your order. I'm sorry we've been so busy this morning, and the kitchen is running a little behind."

"It's totally fine. I understand," Olivia said. "We're in no hurry."

"Thank you," the relieved server said, giving them a soft smile before running off to refill coffee at another table.

"I looked into this camp you mentioned, and it actually looks fun," Olivia told Noah. She has spent part of Friday researching the safety of the camp and asking around about it. The thought of being without Noah for nearly a week made her anxious given everything with Sheila.

"Does that mean I can go?" Noah said, wide-eyed and hopeful.

Olivia hesitated to commit, but she knew her answer already.

"Yes, you can go," she said. "But I'd also like to meet Mateo and his parents if he's still going. I'd feel better knowing someone else that's going."

"He just has a mom, like me," Noah said, not looking up from his drawing. "I think you know her."

"Really? Who is she?" Olivia said. "What's Mateo's last name?

"Uh, Sanchez, I think?" Noah said, looking up and scrunching his face to think. "But I saw his mom one day and she looks like one of the girls in your old photo album. The one of your old work friends."

Olivia scrunched her face much as Noah had. She couldn't think of anyone with the last name Sanchez that would have been in her old photos, of course, that didn't mean much. She still couldn't think of anyone that had kids Noah's age that she knew.

"Hmm," she said, thinking Mateo's mom probably just looked like someone she knew. She doubted Noah remembered exactly what the people in her photos looked like anyway. "Well, either way, I'll email your teacher and see if she can put me in touch with Mateo's mom. Maybe schedule a playdate?"

Noah rolled his eyes. "I'm not a baby."

"I know that. We'll call it...what? Hanging out? I'm not sure what you kids call it now," she said. Noah was growing up so much, a little too much for her liking. "Anyway, maybe you can Mateo can go see a movie or something this summer, or we'll have them over for pizza. Whatever it is you kids do."

"Can he come over and play video games?" Noah asked. She had his full attention now.

"Let me just get in touch with his mom and we'll go from there, how about that?" Olivia said.

Noah nodded and the server returned to take their order.

"Ok, I'm finally ready. I appreciate your patience," she said. "What can I get you to eat?"

"Hey, it's Mateo!" Noah said, excitedly looking toward the door.

Olivia and the server both turned to see who Noah was looking at. She saw a boy about Noah's age near the door standing next to a woman with long blonde hair who had her back turned to them and on the phone. They were in a long line waiting for a table.

"Friends of yours?" the server asked.

"I...I guess that's Noah's friend from school," Olivia said.

"If you want, I can seat them at your table with you, and pulled up a couple more chairs," the server said. "It's so busy; they'll be waiting forever otherwise."

"Yes," Noah said.

"Well, wait," Olivia said, reaching her hand out to Noah. "Let's see if they even want to sit with us. They may have other plans, Noah."

"I'll tell you what, let me go ask them," the server said.

"Can I go too?" Noah asked. The server looked at Olivia.

"I guess so," she said, shrugging her shoulders trying to figure out what was happening. "But remember, his mom may have other ideas and not want to sit with strangers."

"Okay," Noah said, getting up and quickly leaving the table. The server laughed and gave Olivia a nod that she'd figure it out for her. She followed behind Noah.

Olivia watched as Noah talked to Mateo and pointed to their table. The server got the attention of Mateo's mom, who hung up her call and gave the server a confused look. She looked down at Mateo then looked over and saw Noah. Her eyes lit up for a moment, like she recognized him, and she snapped her head up. She made making eye contact with Olivia, who was surprised to see Alex Cabot standing there with the boys.

As always, your reviews are appreciated. Love it, hate it, have ideas? Let me know with a comment or on twitter -rileyclox!