"Strawberry!" Noah announces without glancing up from his toys on the bench with Olivia asks if he wants ice cream. Smiling, she moves around the island, pulls open the

freezer door and reaches in. "You ate all the strawberry, remember? we only have vanilla left."

Squinting his eyes, the young boy contemplates the flavour for a moment. "Do we have syrup?"

"I think you finished all of that too," she replies, taking the lid off.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Olivia frowns. "Did you invite someone over?"

Her son smiles innocently and blinks. "No."

"You sure?" Moving back around into the living room, she picks up her mobile on the way pressing the home button too see if she's missed any calls, maybe they'd caught a case or something; she's still half staring at her phone when she swings open the front door with a flourish.

Her chocolate gaze meets a flood of ocean blue.

And she's pretty sure her heart stops.

At first, Elliot thinks he's seeing things.

Picking up Eli after school, he moves a bunch of papers littering the front seat so his son can jump in, watching as he waved goodbye to another boy walking with who the retired detective could only assume was his mother. "Who's that?" He asks curiously, only able to see the pairs backs through the windshield. "Noah," Eli says, sitting upright when his buckle clicks. "He's only seven but he's cool, his moms a cop!"

Elliot raises his brows but as his eyes caught the mother and son turn the corner and disappear, he could swear it was... but it couldn't have been...

"I think her name's Olivia? I heard Mrs Adler say she was she was surprised to see her. because Lucy usually picks him up."

Mouth dry, Elliot nods silently.

It takes two weeks before he does anything with the information his youngest son gives him. When Kathy mentions Noah had invited him over and she was taking him over so she could meet Noah's mom, he eagerly insists he do it - spend some time with him before he takes off back to San Francisco for another two weeks. Thankfully, his ex wife doesn't stand in the way of an extra half hour with their child and happily agrees.

"Hey Eli!" Noah rushes to the front door ushering him in and breaking the silence that had fallen between the boys' parents.

A beat passes before Elliot holds up a takeaway tray. "I know I owe you an explanation but I thought I could start with coffee?"

Making a mental note to talk to Noah about lying, Olivia takes a long deep breath. "You're so lucky I don't have my gun on me."