"What are these black things?" My son asked me with a disgusted tone making me roll my eyes.

"They're olives"

"They're gross" He fought

"Noah, remember we said we were going to try new things? Well this is one of them. Besides, you haven't even tried it yet, have a bite you'll like it"

He looked at it with twisted lips and furrowed brows a good indication that he has already made up his mind that he hated olives before he even tried them. Even if he likes them, he will never admit it simply because he has to stick to his original thought of disgust he could never admit to me, his mother that he actually likes something I told him he would. I watched him hesitantly bring the olive to his mouth knowing he would say 'I don't like it mommy' and I would tell him to eat everything else but the olives, I didn't expect a fight, but it turns out I was wrong too.

"Ew! Disgusting" Noah said spitting out the olive before even chewing it and pushing his plate off the counter. My eyes widened in shock at his outburst. This was not the outcome I expected.

"Noah" I said sternly my voice laced with obvious shock.

"I don't want it! I want pizza" He yelled, which frustrated me and brought out my bad cop voice.

"And I said, were having salad tonight." As I starred at him sternly

"I want pizza!" He yelled

"Noah, we cannot have pizza every night, and we cannot have something just because you want it. Life does not work that way young man, so enough with the attitude and eat. Now" I said while pushing my plate in front of him getting ready to make myself a new salad.

"No" He fought back

"I don't know what this attitude is, but it is not going work, so enough or you will go on time out." I scolded "Now eat"

Noah starred at me no doubt with anger, that he didn't get his way. He aggressively stabbed his plate with his fork for each bite and I looked at him with raised brows as a silent way to tell him enough, but he continued to challenge me.

"Stop looking at me" He said with pursed lips

"You do not speak to me that way, so wipe that look off your face and eat" We both continued to eat in silence and when Noah was finished he pushed his plate forward and his chair back to step down but as he did he tripped and fell. He may be giving me attitude right now, but he was still my baby and I rushed to help him up and make sure he was ok.

"Noah!" I yelled as I rounded the island and saw that his head had hit the ground, he lifted his head up and it was bleeding.

"Come here" I said softly as I pulled him to the bathroom and made him sit on the toilet while I cleaned up his head.

"You ok, baby?" I worried as I wiped the blood off his head with a baby wipe that I seemed to always have even though Noah was no longer a baby. When Noah didn't respond I looked down at him and saw his arms crossed and the same angry pout on his face.

"Look, I know there are things that you don't always like, baby, but that does not give you the right to give me attitude or talk to me like that" I tried to explain to him but he continued to ignore me.

"Noah, I don't always want to go to work, but I have to. That's how life works sometimes, kiddo. You don't always like wearing a jacket, but there are times that you have to. I'm not doing these things to be mean to you like you think I am, but I'm doing it because I love you and I want you healthy." Noah continued to look at me with anger not giving up on this battle. I let out a breath that I didn't realize I had been holding as I grabbed the peroxide.

"This is going to sting, do you want to hold me hand?" I offered not wanting to cause him pain even if he was mad. He just shook his head no. I closed my eyes shaking my head as I put peroxide on the cotton pad, I moved it over his cut quickly and blew on it to ease the burn but as soon as I stopped to grab a band-aid he felt the burn and hissed.

"That hurts!" He yelled jumping up from the toilet holding his head, I pulled him back down knowing we had to finish.

"I know, I'm sor-"

"You're a bitch!" He screamed and my mouth dropped. I never swear around Noah, so where he learnt that is beyond me. I was pissed off and he knew I was, he could see it in my face. I grabbed his arm and sat him down with a bit more force this time. I quickly put the band-aid on his head.

"Noah, I am going to tell you this one time." I said sternly as I grabbed his chin making him look at me. "You will NEVER ever call me or anyone else that ever again, do you understand me?" I said looking into his eyes with my bad cop face, which made him roll his eyes and try to turn his head away but I was still holding his chin so I pulled it back to look at me until he responded appropriate.

"Do you understand me, Noah?"

"Fine"

"I didn't ask for you to say fine, I asked if you understood me?"

"Yes" He said with a pout as I let go of his chin

"Where did you learn that anyways?"

"Why?"

"Noah, enough. Where did you learn that"

"School" He shrugged

"If I ever hear that you have been saying that to anyone, there will be consequences, young man." I told him as we made our way out of the bathroom.

I was honestly stunned about his attitude, he has had one for the last few weeks, but tonight was the worst I had seen from it.

"Go get changed into your pajamas" I told him with an exhausted tone as I went to clean up the kitchen, I put the dishes in the dishwasher, and cleaned up the food on the floor that Noah pushed and wiped the counters down. I looked at the clock and saw it was 7:12, he can go to bed a bit earlier tonight I thought as I looked in his backup to find his book.

I made my way to his room where he was sitting on his bed still in his clothes playing on my iPad.

"Noah, what did I tell you?" I asked and he ignored me. I rolled my eyes in frustration as I walked over to him and pulled the iPad from his hands shutting off any game he was playing.

"I was playing that! Now I'm going to lose!"

"That's not my fault, you should have listened when I told you to get changed into your pajamas"

"I'm not tired" He argued

"Then we can read this book till you are tired, because it's bedtime"

"You just want me to go to sleep" He pouted

"Yes, because you have school tomorrow and you need to sleep" I told him while looking through his drawers to pull out his pajamas. I handed them to him and he threw them on the ground.

"Noah" I warned, but he crossed his arms and continued to glare at me.

I picked them out, and gave them back to him. "Put them on, and get into bed. Now"

"I'm not tired!" He yelled pushing me

"Noah" I said softly mostly out of surprise that he would actually lay his hands on me like that. I was furious, but I was not going to do anything to make him scared of me. I pulled him by the arm again and put him in his bed not caring if he had pajamas on or not at this point.

"I don't want to go to bed!" He said pushing the blankets off

"Well then you're going to be tired in the morning" I said turning off the light.

"You just want me to go to bed so you can go to work and have sex!" He yelled, which didn't make me angry it made me confused. My face softened at his outburst because he thought I was going to leave him, but I was still confused as to why he thought I would be going to work to have sex, and how he knew what sex even was. I turned the light back on and went to his bed and sat next to him even though he refused to look at me.

"Noah" I said softly while brushing the hair out of his eyes.

"Baby, is that what all this is about? You think I want you to sleep so I can leave you?" His face softened but still wouldn't look at mine as he nodded his head yes slowly making me breathe out in realization. I pulled the blankets back and crawled in next to him as I hugged him tightly.

"Baby, I want you to go to bed so you're not tired for tomorrow. When you're tired you don't perform as well, and it can sometimes make you feel sick. I want you to be full of energy and to be healthy every day when you wake up and go to school, that's why I want you to sleep, not because I want to go to work" I said rubbing his back and I could feel him cuddle into me a bit more.

"Noah, I always want to spend time with you, you are my favorite person in this entire world, how could you think I don't want to spend time with you?"

"Because you leave a lot when I don't want you to" He said with a small voice.

"I know you don't want me to all the time, I don't even want to, but you know that mommy's job is to help people so they don't get hurt"

"Like you helped me?" He asked quietly as he looked up into my eyes making me kiss his forehead.

"Just like I helped you"

"It is nice to help people, but it's not fair that other people get to see you more"

"How about if you ever need to see me, you call me on Facetime or if it's not too busy I can meet you and Lucy on lunch breaks sometimes ok?" He gave me a sad smiled and nodded.

"Ok, mommy"

"Baby, why do you think mommy is going to work for sex? Do you know what that is?" I questioned not wanting to go into detail but wanting to know where he was learning this.

"My friend at school said that his mommy used to get mad when his daddy used to go to work all the time because he was only going there to have sex with his slut partner" He said innocently not having any idea what it meant. " He said his daddy was gone a lot that's why he doesn't like his daddy going to work"

"Noah, you are the most important person in my life, I will always come back to you, I would never go to work to stay away from you, baby"

"His mommy said that his daddy would go to work for a long long time and it felt like forever because he was screwing around with his whore" I know he was saying this innocently, he was 6 after all he really had no idea, but he needed to know he couldn't say these words.

"Bubba, I promise I will always come back to you. I would never leave you, ever. I don't know about your friends mommy and daddy, and the words he is using are not ok for you to be saying, but sometimes mommy's and daddy's fight, and say things they shouldn't. But that doesn't mean they don't love their babies."

"His daddy lives in another house and they don't see each other everyday, what if that happens to us, mommy? What if you go to work for sex and then we have two houses?" He asked with fear

"First of all, mommy doesn't go to work for sex. Sex is a grown up thing, but it is something that mommy's and daddy's do to say they love each other, second, that will never happen. You will be with me forever, I would never let you go" I smiled at him.

"If sex is for mommy's and daddy's" He started and I felt a headache coming on, of course he was more interested in the sex part of this conversation. " Why did he go to work for sex with his partner?"

"Well we don't know that happened, just because someone said it happened doesn't mean it's true"

"But you said to always believe girls" He stated with confusion.

"I did, and you should, because a lot of girls may need someone to listen and believe them, but sometimes with mommy's and daddy's they get mad and say things that aren't always true."

"So why do they have sex?" He pressed and I really needed a glass or two of wine tonight.

"If it's for the right reasons, then it is to express that they love each other"

"Can I have sex with, Bella?" He asked

"No! You cannot have sex with Bella" I told him quickly

"But I love Bella, shes my girlfriend"

"Remember what I said though, sex is for grown ups, it's between mommy's and daddy's. You're not grown up yet, buddy"

"Yes I am"

"Okay, but you're not a daddy."

"Oh that's right, I guess I will wait 6 whole more years" He said with an exaggerated sigh making me laugh at his time line.

"I love you, Noah. More than you will ever know"

"I love you too, mommy. I'm sorry for being bad"

"I know you are, baby. But, I want you to promise me that if you are feeling like that again that you just come and talk to me ok? I don't want you keeping all of that worry and anger inside of you. I want you to come to me so we can talk about it and if we need to make changes, then we will make changes, nothing is more important than you, my boy."

"I promise" He smiled and I kissed his head letting it linger a bit longer so he could feel that love. I got up and was about to make my way out of his bed when he stopped me.

"Can we read a story, mommy?" He asked sweetly and I couldn't say no. I grabbed my phone quickly and sent two messages, one to Lucy and once to Fin.

'Hey Luce, I'm going to take Noah to school tomorrow I have to talk to one of the parents there, are you ok to do an afternoon shift?'

'Hey Fin, I'm going to take Noah to school tomorrow morning, I need to have a talk with one of Noahs friends parents tomorrow'

'Hey Liv! That works perfectly, I was going to try to meet up with a friend from out of town tomorrow so that works great! I will pick Noah up after school! If you don't get Noah kicked out by fighting another kids parent lol!' Lucy sent back making me laugh seeing as I never told her why, but she knew it wasn't going to be good if I was going to talk to my sons friends parents.

'All good, baby girl. Try not to kill the kids parents, unless they deserve. But if their kid is messin' with my man Noah, you better make them wish they were never born.' Fin sent back making me laugh even louder. Was I really that scary? I wondered and I thought about all of the perps I had interviewed in the past, I thought of their faces and chuckled to myself. I guess I was scary.

I read the story Noah had brought home from school and I told him I would be bringing him tomorrow which made him smile from ear to ear. The story was finished and I kissed Noah's head once more before getting out of his race car bed.

"I love you, mommy"

"I love you too, baby" I smiled and shut his door but not before turning on his nightlight. I had a glass of wine, washed my face and made my way into bed.

Next Day

The cheerful sound of my phone brought me out of my daze as I reached over to answer it, as a force of habit.

"Benson" I said tiredly but no one answered and the sound continued to play till I realized it was just my alarm that read 6:30am. I rubbed my eyes and stretched my body out in a car like way as I unlocked my phone. I went to my favorite app and tapped on the word BREW as I smiled knowing my coffee was now starting. I can be hip and up to date with new technology. I scrolled through Facebook enjoying these first few minutes to myself of quiet. I saw some posts made by friends along with more and more tragedies that were taking place everyday. I closed the app and went to Instagram where I must have liked 20 pictures of puppy's, and babies in the last minute. I checked the news apps as much as I hated to, but I needed to be informed. With my job there is never a happy or joyful day, as soon as someone walks in or calls, it's because it was someone else' worst day, so if I could avoid more bad news on my phone from the comfort of my bed, I tried to. My phone beeped and a message appeared indicating that my coffee was ready so I got up, went to the kitchen and poured myself a cup. I checked on Noah who was still asleep, at least for another 20 minutes.

I went to my bathroom and applied some makeup, seeing more of my age everyday, but it never brought me shame. I brushed my hair letting the natural waves in my hair fall. I grabbed a pair of black skinny jeans, and a denim button up blouse (A/N: Outfit on Seth Meyers Interview) as I gave myself one last look over before going to wake Noah up.

"Baby, time to wake up" I whispered rubbing his back

"Mommy, I'm tired" He whined

"I know you are sweet boy, but I'm making pancakes and I can't eat them alone" He kept his eyes closed but reached his arms up so I could carry him. I brought his small sleepy body to the kitchen and sat him on the counter so he could help me make them.

Finally we were both ready and we made our way to school, I held his hand in the busy streets of New York while he told me about a game him and his friends played, once we finally arrived at school I saw all of the kids and parents, I felt bad that I didn't know any of the parents and yet they all knew each other, I felt left out of what I should be apart of.

"Hey Noah, you remember your friend you were telling me about last night?" I asked and he nodded

"Which one is he? I want to talk to his mommy or daddy" I asked and he looked around for a while before pointing to a boy with blond hair who was definitely older than Noah.

"Noah, how old is he?"

"He's 11, but he helps me all the time. He taught how to hit a baseball and even how to throw better, and he is really nice to me all the time" I smiled, even though this boy was older, he seemed like a good kid, teaching a 6 year old how to play baseball was probably not at the top of an 11 year olds list, and he was good to my son, so it was the parents that I really had to talk to. Noah and I walked up to the boy who was kicking the soccer ball around and instantly spotted Noah.

"Hey Noah! Wanna come play?" He asked and the closer we got the more of a connection I felt with the 11 year old.

"Yeah sure!" Noah jumped with excitement as the boy ran over to us. He smiled such a familiar smile, and those eyes, I know I've seen them before.

"Hey Eli, is your dad here?" I froze at the name. There was no way this was, of course it was, he was a spitting image of...

"Hey dad, come here!" He shouted and I heard it.

"What's up, buddy? Hey Noah! How's the swing going?" He asked my son.

"Hi Mr. Elliot it's going good! My mommy wants to talk to you!" He said with excitement

"Sure thing, buddy! Where is she?" He questioned, but I couldn't move my body to turn to him.

"Right here!" Noah said grabbing my hand to make me turn but I still didn't move.

"Uhm hi, I'm El-" He started but I finished his sentence for him.

"Hi Elliot" I said turning around. Now it was his turn to be in shock.

"Liv"

"You know my mommy?" Noah asked wondering how since I never spoke of Elliot nor had any visible pictures for him to look at.

"I do, me and your mommy used to be partners" Elliot said to Noah while his face grew with confusion.

"So my mommys the whore?" Noah asked making all of us look at him with wide eyes and embarrassment.

"Noah!"

"No buddy, your mommy is definitely not that. Why would you thi-"

"That's why I wanted to talk to the parent" I said not wanting to continue this conversation in front of our children. Elliot silently agreed as we each hugged and kissed our children as they made their way into school. I felt arms wrap around my waist as we turned around, I assumed it was Noah but to my surprise it was Eli.

"Thanks for saving me that day, Olivia." He whispered softly, and I wondered how he remember that, but instead of asking I bent down and hugged the young boy back tightly.

"Always, Eli" I whispered back as I hugged him a little tighter.

"Get to class, you don't want to be late" I said to him as I waved him off with a smile. I turned back and saw Elliot was still standing there.

"It's good to se-"

"Save it, I want to talk about what Eli is telling Noah." We agreed to go to a diner to talk and I had to remember this was only about the kids.

TBC