A/N: New story! I need Elliot back on the show and since it doesn't look like it's happening anytime soon, I decided to make it happen myself. The Olivia on the show now is nothing like the real Olivia we all know and love. She seems miserable to me and she has lost what made her Badass Benson. I think that a lot of that has to do with the way they wrote Elliot out of the show. I hope to restore some order to the EO universe with this fic.

I hope you enjoy!

From the moment she woke up, Olivia knew there was going to be something different about today. She couldn't put her finger on exactly why she felt that way; the air just felt thicker, heavier.

As the CO of SVU she had been drowned in paperwork, cases that were going nowhere, and on top of all of it, she had to hire a new detective. She hadn't had very much time to herself lately, giving every free minute she had to her son. Noah shouldn't have to suffer just because his mother was overworked.

While she wished she could stay in bed all day and avoid whatever disaster was headed her way today, Noah needed her, and that was more than enough reason to wrench the warm covers from her body and brave the cold November air. She walked down the hallway and listened outside her son's door. She didn't hear his usual morning chatter as he talked to his stuffed animals, so she knew he was still asleep. If she could just make it through her morning coffee before he woke up, she would have a better chance of making it through the day.

She wrapped her thick, white cardigan around herself and stifled a yawn. She didn't like to admit it to herself, and would never say it out loud to anyone, but she was getting tired. Tired of the job, tired of the tragedy and trauma every single day. And now that she was behind a desk more often than she was with victims, she felt empty and unfulfilled. Noah was the only thing that kept her going. Even if she only got half an hour with him, his smile was her buoy, keeping her afloat when it felt like she might drown.

She heard the stream of coffee peter out until the last few drops plopped into the mug Noah (with a lot of help from Lucy) had painted for her. As she waited for it to cool she tried to think of some things to be grateful for, hoping maybe the jolt of positivity would bring her out of this funk. She hadn't had a nightmare or flashback to her times with Lewis or Utley in weeks. Noah was learning how to write his name. Fin had, reluctantly, taken the Sergeant's exam and become her number two at work. She was in a comfortable relationship.

If two years ago you had told Olivia that she would be dating Ed Tucker, she would have had you committed. She didn't believe that people could change the essence of who they were, but at least on the surface, Ed was no longer an asshole. They had been together for about nine months now and while she was not in love with him, she had grown fond of him. She could guess that he loved her, though he hadn't said the words yet, and she was sure he was hesitant because he didn't know if she would say them back. The last time she had said those words had been to Brian and even then, she had meant she loved him. Not that she was in love with him.

Olivia didn't think she would ever fall in love again. She had already given her heart to someone and he had taken it with him when he left her.

"Morning, Mama." There was Noah, standing in the hallway in his Star Wars pajamas, rubbing his eyes with one hand and waving to Olivia with his other. She set her coffee mug down on the counter and held out her arms. Noah ran into them and Olivia scooped him up, kissing him all over his face. Noah's giggles were the soundtrack of the rest of the morning and Olivia forgot the ominous feeling she had about the day.

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The worst part about being the boss: paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork. The stack in Olivia's inbox this morning was so high, she knew she would be working through lunch. And sure enough, she was. She ate a vegetable wrap with one hand while answering emails and filling out forms with the other. Her phone pinged across the desk and she reached for it, her eyes still on her computer screen. She moved the phone in front of her face and saw it was Ed. She really didn't have time for him right now.

Are we still on for drinks tonight?

Fuck. She forgot that they had made plans for tonight. Work had kept them both busy and they hadn't seen each other in a week. She knew he wasn't the one because she hadn't really missed him. But she had been alone all her life and it was nice to have someone, so she didn't want to push Ed away.

Let me confirm with Lucy and get back to you.

Of course Lucy was happy to have the extra hours of work, student loans to pay off, so she texted Ed back a little while later to tell him she would meet him at the bar tonight. It struck her that a lot of their relationship was based around drinking, but she didn't think too hard about it. Her job was hard and she needed to unwind. She was nothing like her mother. Right?

Just then Fin came in with news that Rollins and Carisi had tracked down a suspect in their latest case. He was being brought into interrogation and Olivia wanted to supervise. She finished the last bites of her lunch and stood up from her desk. On to the next thing.

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Ed was recounting some IAB story and Olivia was only half listening. He had told her over the summer that he was going to leave IAB, but they offered him a pay raise and a promotion to supervise more people, so he took it. He thought Olivia would be upset, but it hadn't bothered her. As long as he didn't investigate SVU, she didn't care what he did.

Ed reached for her hand across the table, "Are you with me, Olivia?"

She focused in on him, her eyes coming up to meet his. "Yeah, Ed. Sorry. Just got a lot on my mind."

"You can talk about it if you want." He was trying, but Olivia wouldn't even know what to say. She made a mental note to call Dr. Lindstrom and make an appointment with him. She didn't see him biweekly anymore, just when she could squeeze him in or when she felt like she needed a session.

"No, thanks. I'm fine." She smiled and saw his worries ease. He didn't know her well enough to know a real smile from a fake one and she wondered if it was because she couldn't remember the last time, other than with Noah, that she had smiled a real smile.

She listened to Ed more intently this time as he repeated his story, but she could hear her phone vibrated against the wooden table. She ignored it at first but it stopped and started again a few times. She peaked at it and saw Fin's name.

"I'm really sorry, Ed. I have to take this. It's work." She went outside the bar to return Fin's call.

The wind was whipping, sending Olivia's hair in every which direction. She shivered a bit as the phone rang.

"Liv." Fin sounded weird. She knew him as the essence of calm and cool, but he sounded shaken up.

"What is it, Fin? It's 8:00. You can't just handle this case until morning?" Whatever was going on that had Fin sounding out of it, wasn't something she was ready to deal with right now. All she wanted was to have another glass of wine, go home, sneak quietly into Noah's room and watch him sleep for a little while before heading to bed herself.

"Liv, you're gonna wanna get down here. It's Lizzie."

"Lizzie?" She felt her heart drop.

She could hear Fin take a deep breath. "Yeah, Liv. Lizzie Stabler."

A/N: I thought long and hard about how to bring Elliot back into the same sphere as Olivia and this just seemed like the most plausible way.

Also, I have a lot on my plate right now, so I decided that I will update this story just once a week. I hope you won't mind too much. :)

Please review!

*Edit: changed the last line after a great anon suggestion. You were right. Thank you.