Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay, but as cliché as it sounds, you know; life kinda got in the way. And when I say life I mean school because school takes up one's entire life, therefore, school is life. But, lol, please enjoy! Tell me what you think, leave me love, reviews, favorites, follows, PM me if you have any suggestions or questions or whatever! I love to communicate!

Submerged

Chapter 2

Zara walks out of the large school with her bright pink backpack strapped to her back, her hands clutching its orange straps. She stops on the first step of the entrance of the school and leans on the railing. Folding her arms across her chest, she's mentally—and physically—preparing herself for the strong wave of attitude she intends to send her mother's way for forcing her to attend this stupid school. She feels out of place and lonely and hates the fact that she won't be able to see her old friends on a daily basis anymore. She hates her teachers last year for 'strongly suggesting' she attend school for the gifted.

"Excuse you!" Zara exclaims as a dark blue blur's shoulder rams into her.

The older boy looks behind him with an apologetic look on his face. "Sorry," he says, then doubles back. "Hey . . . you're that 6th grader in my computer lab class—Zara right?"

". . . Yea," she replies refolding her arms.

The boy walks back over to her, clearly not deterred by the unapproachable vibe she's giving off. "You're really good with computers."

Zara gives him a strange look.

"You helped my friend today, Sean, with his Excel spreadsheet."

"Oh, yea," Zara replies casually. She shrugs. "It's easy stuff."

He chuckles. "Not to Sean. He's really good in English and History and stuff, but when it comes to computers, he's really illiterate . . . Which is strange, considering his dad's a computer programmer."

She looks up at the tidbit of information, trying her best to adhere to the standoffish attitude she's spent the entire first week of school creating for herself. ". . . A computer programmer?"

"Yea, crazy huh?"

"Yea."

"Oh, I'm Gil by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Gil."

". . . I didn't want to come here either, but my mom—she's real serious about education and stuff."

"Mine too, but I'd rather be with my friends."

"I did too, but once you get used to it and start making friends I think you'll really like it here."

"I don't think so."

"You'll see," he says.

Zara opens her mouth to say something else, but her mother's voice announcing her arrival puts her walls right back up.

"Hey sweetie," Olivia says smoothing her hand down the back of her daughter's head.

Zara jerks away, her arms back in their position over her chest. Olivia pulls her hand away.

"Who's your friend?" Olivia asks looking at the older boy.

He smiles at her. "Hi, I'm Gil."

Liv smiles back and shakes his hand. "Hi Gil, I'm Zara's mom."

"Can we go now?" Zara asks, irritated.

Olivia looks at her daughter, then back to Gil. Their eyes lock for a brief second and, oddly enough, she feels like she's met him before. She shrugs it off, though, and motions for her daughter to get a move on.

"Let's go. Nice meeting you Gil."

They walk off as Gil's mother approaches him.

". . . You ready?" she asks, staring at Liv and Zara's backs.

"Yea."

As Cynthia and her son walk away, Olivia, brow creased, looks behind her.

The clink and clatter of dishes fill the space as Olivia cleans up the disaster area that used to be her pristine kitchen—as she does. Somehow dinnertime in the Benson-Amaro household, every single night, ends up becoming a mess. And with her husband's help—every night—she cleans dishes, glasses, wipes down tables, counters, the stove, and for some reason the handle on the refrigerator door. Thinking about it, the culprit leaving food and juice smears all over the appliance is none other than Sammy who will wipe his hands on any and everything EXCEPT the napkin she never fails to leave on the side of his plate.

"Whose juice is this?" Nick asks holding up a clear plastic cup of orange juice with a piece of soggy garlic bread floating inside.

"Probably Stella's; she hates garlic bread almost as much as she hates orange juice."

Nick shakes his head dumping its contents into the empty side of the sink. "She hardly ate anything."

"She ate as much as she could," Liv says continuing her dishwashing task. "I watched her."

Olivia hands him a clean, Princess embroidered plastic plate that belongs to Stella. He dries it as an unsettling silence envelopes them. Once he's done he puts it off to the side, in his mind, going through the day trying to decipher the reason for her nonchalant mood.

". . . How was work?"

Liv shrugs handing him yet another dish. "It was a normal workday. You know, paper work, supervising, the usual," she replies. "What about you? Did your meeting with IAB go okay?"

". . . It went."

Finally, she looks at him, a quiet concern in her features. "Anything I can help with?"

He shakes his head. "It's probably best if you don't involve yourself in my work affairs anymore. You know what happened last time."

Liv rolls her eyes. "Do you think I'd stand by and let IAB harass you for something that wasn't even your fault?"

He really doesn't want to dwell on that.

"How's the rookie holdin up? You gettin to him yet?"

Olivia gives him a small smile. "I think it's more like he's getting to me. If I have to bail him out one more time I'm gonna wring his neck."

"Talk about bad Karma."

She gives him a full fledge smile this time, bumping her shoulder with his. "You didn't even know me back then."

There's a twinkle in her eye that he hasn't seen for far too long. He's missed it. She's been so preoccupied with whatever's happening at work and whatever's going on in that conundrum she calls a brain that the twinkle he loves so much has been nonexistent. Nick's hand tangles in her hair before he knows what he's doing and he wordlessly pulls her head to his. Their lips meet in a soft, chaste kiss and he remembers that they haven't done so in over three days.

". . . What's really going on Olivia?"

They're facing eachother now, and Nick's hand is still tangled in her hair. She shakes her head.

"It's nothing, Nick."

"Liv—"

"I just have a lot going on with work, but I can handle it," she replies.

Part of that is true. After a year and a half, she's still getting used to her new job, getting used to supervising a crew of detectives that remind her so much of her old self. The adjustment hasn't been as stress-free as she previously expected, but she enjoys the job and the challenge it provides. It's a lot different from SVU, still slightly time consuming, but it allows her to play a more active role in the lives of her children and husband and ultimately, that is what she wanted.

"Are you sure?"

She nods. "I'm fine, Nick. Everything is fine."

Again, she gives him a reassuring smile and another kiss.

As she lies in bed later that night, Nick's arm draped over her waist, a million thoughts flit and flutter in her mind. She wants nothing more than to talk to her husband about it because they talk about everything. Their communication skills have improved to the point of perfection and the fact that she feels like she's lying to him—about something she's not even sure of—kills her.

Olivia carefully shimmies herself from underneath Nick and grabs her phone from her bedside table. She silently walks out of the room, closing the door behind her. As she walks down the hall toward the stairs, the screen of her phone illuminates the surrounding space. Her thumb slides across the touchscreen phone, sifting through her recent calls until she finally reaches Alex Cabot's contact. She stops there and thinks about it for a second as she reaches the last step leading to the foyer. Finally, she presses the phone to her ear waiting to hear her friend's voice.

". . . Liv? Is everything okay?" Alex's worried voice fills her ear.

"Yea, everything's fine, Alex," she replies. "I'm really sorry to call so late, but I really need to talk."

Alex switches on her bedside lamp and sits up. "What's going on?"

Liv sinks into the cushions of the living room sofa. ". . . Remember when I told you about the little situation at the grocery store last week? With—"

"You and Nick and the woman he had an affair with—before he met you."

"Yea."

". . . You don't think he's chea—"

"No! Nick would never—He'd never cheat on me."

"Then what, Liv? Why is that silly encounter still bothering you?"

Olivia sighs. "You didn't see the look on that woman's face, Alex. She was so shocked . . . she was beside herself when she saw Nick."

"Liv—"

"I'm not being paranoid."

"If you don't think he's having an affair—"

"She has a son. He's a little bit older than Zara," Olivia puts in.

"How do you know? Have you been following her?"

"No. He goes to Zara's school."

"What does her son have to do with this?"

"He and Zara were talking today when I picked her up from school . . . Alex . . . I looked at him and . . . all I could see was—"

"Olivia—"

"He and Zara favor so much . . . Nick's eyes."

"That little boy is not your husband's son."

"It adds up . . . And I'm pretty sure . . . I'm certain that that little boy is Nick's son."

Tbc

Disclaimer: I own nothing and all mistakes are my own.

So, this of course is a work in progress. I'm going to try very hard to regularly update as long as you stick with me (I really hope you guys do!). Your support is greatly appreciated and I thank all who have read, reviewed, followed, and favorited and if you haven't done any of the following, by all means, please do!

-addicted