AN: Hey again. I'm obviously excited about this story, and so I wrote the next chapter as quickly as I could. I do hope to explore some of Olivia's background with her mother and everything, but it'll take some time for her to open up in the situation I've planned, so stick with me. Thanks for the positive responses I've received so far; please continue to leave your thoughts in the reviews. Enjoy!
Chapter 1 – The P.T.A.
October 10th, 2002
It was warm for October. Olivia sat in her corner office, which was really more of a refurbished broom closet, fanning herself with a file. The windows were all open, but the air conditioning had been broken for a while and it felt as though the room temperature was steadily approaching 80 degrees. She exhaled a soft sigh and flicked her eyes over to the clock on the wall, realizing that thankfully, it was two o'clock and time for her to leave for the day.
She moved quickly, tossing a few files into her bag even though she knew she wasn't going to touch them once she got home. After closing the windows, she heaved her shoulder bag onto her arm, grabbed her keys, and exited her office.
On her way out, she nearly bumps into one of her coworkers. Adam, a lean man with close-cropped hair, runs his eyes over her before his upper lip curls into something between a smile and sneer.
"Leaving already?" he asks. Olivia's jaw locks. Usually, she wouldn't be so easily irritated, but the warm air had made her more annoyed and less patient, and there was sweat pooling under her arms and collecting on her brow, so she takes a quick breath and looks Adam in the eye.
"Do you know what time I get here in the morning?" she asks. Adam starts to shake his head, but she doesn't give him a chance to slip another snide remark into the conversation. "I get here at six in the morning. I come three hours early so that I can leave three hours early and be at my son's school when he gets out. Then, I go home to my one-year-old daughter, who I barely get to see, and then I'll make dinner, spend some time with my beautiful children and try my hardest to relax, even though I'll fail. So, excuse me. I have somewhere to be."
Adam is silent as she moves past him, undoubtedly trying to think of another jab to throw at her, but Olivia exits the building too quickly. As she steps outside, she takes a breath of fresh air, infinitely grateful for the slight breeze that hits her face. Unfortunately, the pleasant feeling is short-lived, as she has to get through a crowd of protesters to get around the corner. She keeps her eyes down, but somehow, the messages from the signs still burn into her mind. The same red letters that light up her eyelids at night and keep her from sleeping crowd her mind now:
"Abortion Kills!" "Protect the unborn!" "Defund Planned Parenthood!"
Olivia blinks a few times, pushing past the crowd and walking into the parking garage around the corner. Someone manages to shove a flyer in her hand and she clutches it as she heads up the stairs, still feeling like the protestors' eyes are on her. By the time she reaches her level, her breathing has quickened, even though she doesn't feel tired.
She throws the flyer in the back seat and before taking a shaky breath. She sits still for a minute, taking time to recompose herself before starting her car up. Trying to get her mind off of the scene on the sidewalk, she turns on the radio before pulling out of her spot.
Luke, her son, does not go to school very far away, but with traffic and construction, it takes her 20 minutes to get there. She parks on the street in front of the school and checks the time. They should be letting out in the next few minutes, which means that in a very short while, she'll see get to see her gorgeous son come flying down the steps, a smile on his face, a million words coming out of his mouth before she's even able to unlock the door.
This is one of the best parts of her day.
In 5 minutes, like clockwork, she watches as the front doors of the school open, children of all sizes streaming out. And like always, she finds a dark-haired boy with a cowlick moving a little faster than all the other kids, his hazel eyes searching for her. When he sees her car, he breaks into a grin. Olivia smiles as well, unlocking the door as he jogs down the sidewalk.
"Hey, mom," Luke says as he opens the door and climbs into the car. "Today, they told us that the fourth graders get to enter the science fair this year. Dickie and I wanted to do a volcano, but then Owen and his partner Shawn took that idea, so we decided that we could do something else. Dickie said his dad showed him how to make an explosion with Coke and Mentos, so I'm going to ask him if he can show me the next time I go over."
"Oh?" Olivia says, flicking her eyes back at her son as she pulls away from the curb. "That sounds cool."
"I know," Luke says, buckling his seatbelt. He pushes his backpack to the side and notices the flyer Olivia had tossed away earlier. He picks it up, reading silently. The lack of noise worries Olivia, and she glances into the rearview mirror.
"You okay?" she says, making a turn. When she doesn't receive a response, she looks back quickly, noticing the red flyer. "Hey, you don't need to read that, bud. Hand it to me." Luke does so, although it's a little reluctantly.
"How come some people don't like your job?"
"What do you mean?" Olivia asks, trying to ignore the heat in her cheeks. In the backseat, Luke plays with his fingers, a sign that he's thinking.
"The flyer said 'stop Planned Parenthood.' That's where you work," he says finally. When Olivia doesn't immediately say anything, he continues. "And when you came in for career day, I heard Owen's mom tell Dickie's mom that you were going to suffer eternal damnation for your crimes against the innocent." Olivia's eyebrows raise now, and she had to remind herself that she's driving to keep her eyes on the road.
"She what?"
"Then Dickie's mom told her to go stuff it and she didn't say anything else."
Olivia is going to have to remember to thank Kathy later. She shakes her head slightly, trying to figure what to tell her son.
"I'm sorry you had to hear that," she says slowly, her cheeks still burning, but now in anger. "Owen's mom just has a different opinion than I do on my job."
"It's okay, mom," Luke says. "I don't believe her. I know you have an important job. You set up programs to help keep people healthy. That's why you left your old job. Because you said you wanted to do something that matters."
"That's right," Olivia says. "Some people just don't see the big picture."
The car is quiet for a moment. There are times that Olivia would have been elated to have a quiet car ride, but at the present moment, all she can hope is that her son hasn't been scarred by pro-life super-activists. Fortunately, he speaks up again.
"The principal said this morning that there's a PTA meeting tonight that all the parents are supposed to be going to. Are you going?"
"I was planning on it," Olivia says, looking into the rearview mirror. "You and Grace are going to stay with Amy tonight. I'd planned to make pizza for you guys before I leave."
"Cool," Luke says, sounding satisfied. "If you see Dickie's dad, can you ask if I can come over tomorrow to learn the Mentos trick?"
"And when were you going to ask me if you could go to Dickie Stabler's house?" Olivia says, feigning shock. Luke giggles.
"Now, mom," he says. "Can I please go spend the night at Dickie's house tomorrow? He's staying with his dad for the first time in like forever and he said that he has Spiderman on VHS!"
"Spiderman?" Olivia repeats, mimicking her nine-year-old's shock. They're coming up on their block, and she runs her eyes over the road, delighted to find an empty spot to park in on the street.
"I know!" Luke says, his eyes widening a little in excitement. "Plus, he always makes wings when I come over and you never make wings."
"Okay, ouch," Olivia says, clicking her tongue as she begins to parallel park. "I suppose you can go over Dickie's house tomorrow if his dad says it's okay. I'll let you know."
She glances back just in time to see Luke do a small victory fist pump into the air. He blushes when he sees that she notices, and she can't help but grin.
After they get up to the apartment, Olivia greets her babysitter and her younger child, a cute girl with dark brown curls and wide brown eyes. After giving the latter a kiss on the forehead, she prepares a quick snack for her two children, talking with Luke about his day. When she's finished cutting the fruit for their snack, she sets it down on the table and heads back to her bedroom to change. She nearly trips over one of Grace's toys on her way, and she suppresses a swear as she picks up the toy and returns it to her playpen. For just a moment, she misses the spaciousness of the townhouse she had lived in with Jonathan. However, she manages to quickly push the thought to the back of her mind and tries her hardest to get the image of her late husband out of her mind.
She gets back to her room and changes out of her suit pants and blouse into jeans and a light sweater before going to freshen up. When she returns to the front of the apartment, Luke has moved to the living room to do his homework, and Amy is walking Grace back to her room to change her. Olivia checks the time, then after deciding that she should start dinner, heads to the kitchen to start on the pizza she'd promised.
•
Olivia walks into the school auditorium at 5:56, silently thanking the universe that she'd made it on time despite the small tantrum Grace had thrown when she'd realized her mother was leaving again. She walks down the aisle and heads for a seat in the middle, but after noticing Julie, Owen's mom, she narrows her eyes and moves up a few rows, sitting near the front. Right after she sits down, someone slides down the row and plops next to her.
"I thought they were supposed to provide refreshments at this type of thing," the man says. Olivia, searching in her purse for her planner, doesn't immediately look up.
"They had punch at the door," she murmurs, and the man snorts.
"Punch," he repeats with distaste. "That hardly counts. Do you have any snacks in that bag?" Olivia looks up now, taken aback by this stranger's forwardness, at least until she meets eyes with Elliot Stabler, his blue eyes dancing with amusement.
"Elliot," she says, sounding exasperated. Elliot chuckles and nudges her leg gently, sitting back in his seat. "I was a few seconds away from moving seats."
"I'm sorry," Elliot says, still smiling. "But really, do you have any snacks? I'm just coming from work, and I didn't have a chance to eat lunch."
"Yeah, of course," Olivia says, chuckling and reaching into her purse. She pulls out a pack of graham crackers and passes it to Elliot before grabbing fruit snacks for herself. She crosses her legs and opens the package, smiling a little at her friend. "You know, I expected to see Kathy tonight. How are you?"
"Well, this morning when I was getting dressed, I reached for my wedding ring, before remembering that I've been divorced for about a year and a half, which sent me into an hour of self-exploration that made me 15 minutes late for work, so I'd say I'm doing alright."
"Oh, El," Olivia says, trying her hardest not to chuckle. "I'm sorry."
"I just need to pawn the damn thing," Elliot says, shaking his head and taking a bite of a graham cracker. "Do you ever do that? Start to put your ring on before you remember?"
Olivia thinks for a moment about her husband, his blinding white smile. How he'd asked her to marry her in the back of his car when she was only 16, and then proceeded to pull out the most brilliant diamond ring she'd ever seen. Thinks about how for the first time in her life, she'd seen a way to escape from her mother. Thinks about her and Jonathan's courthouse wedding the day after she'd turned 18. About the two rings tucked away deep in her sock drawer.
"No," she says softly, offering a tight smile to Elliot. His eyebrows knit a little, and she can see him about to apologize, but the screech of microphone feedback interrupts their conversation and Olivia and Elliot look towards the stage.
"Alright," the woman on stage says, smiling widely behind the microphone. "Let's get this meeting started. I'm Jeanine Torres, chairwoman of the PTA. This is our first meeting of the year, so we need to get some housekeeping out of the way. The first and most important item on our agenda is to elect this year's president and vice-president. We know that our previous president and vice, Helen and Victoria, are no longer on our board, as their children graduated."
"Is it really graduation if they only moved from elementary to middle school?" Elliot murmurs. Olivia stifles a chuckle.
"The positions of chairperson and secretary are already filled," Jeanine continues, motioning to the woman standing next to her. Olivia recognizes her as the mother of one of Luke's classmates. She thinks her name is Renee. "So, we just need those two spots filled. Do we have any nominations? Volunteers?"
The room is quiet. Being in charge of the PTA is a ton of work, nothing most full-time parents would want to willingly take on. Someone coughs.
"Oh, come on guys," Jeanine says, her eyes searching the room. "Neither of these jobs are that hard! All you have to do is plan the events for the children, fundraisers, run the meetings, and communicate with the principal and school board."
Still, no one speaks up. Jeanine moves away from the mic to whisper to Renee, who suddenly raises her eyebrows and points to Olivia's section. Jeanine turns to look and rushes back to the mic, looking pleased. Olivia turns her head just in time to see Elliot guiltily lowering his hand.
"Elliot Stabler!" Jeanine says, sounding pleased. "One of New York's finest, we're so appreciative. Did you want to go for president?"
Olivia snorts at Jeanine's gushing and Elliot clears his throat, looking around at all of the eyes on him. Eventually, he stands.
"Ah," he begins, a little hesitant. "I'd love to, really. But with my job, I don't think there's any way I could…"
"Of course," Jeanine says, cutting him off. "So, you'll be vice then. We just have to find a president who's willing to work with you."
Her eyes run over the audience again and suddenly, everyone's very preoccupied with their purses and wallets and the floor design. Elliot falls back in his seat, defeated. Olivia is currently debating volunteering Owen's mother for the job.
But suddenly, Renee steps to the mic and looks in her direction. Oh no, no. no. She lowers her head, but she knows what's coming next anyway.
"Olivia Benson!" Renee exclaims, looking hopeful. Olivia slowly looks back up, shaking her head nervously. "You come to all the meetings, every after-school event. You're a great speaker."
"I couldn't…" Olivia says, ignoring the nudge she gets from Elliot. "Really, I mean, maybe Owen's mom, Julie, would be better suited for the job…"
"Oh no," Julie says, chuckling airly. "I'm an optometrist. I couldn't possibly find the time."
Olivia takes a breath, trying to keep herself composed. She looks back at the stage, where Renee is watching her hopefully.
"If you really don't want to you don't have to," Renee says. Olivia takes a relieved breath, ready to graciously refuse, but Renee continues. "I just think you'd be a really great president. I mean, you must be an amazing planner. My daughter went to your house in June for Luke's birthday party and she's been talking about it ever since."
There are a few murmurs of agreement. Olivia quickly decides that she is never allowing Luke to invite his entire class to a birthday party again. But, after looking at Renee one more time, and then glancing at Elliot, who is silently mouthing "please," she exhales a small sigh of defeat. Even though she knows she's going to regret it she offers a small: "Fine."
•
After the parents in attendance vote Elliot and Olivia in as vice-president and president, and the date for next month's meeting is set, everyone is allowed to leave. Olivia and Elliot have to stay behind of course to get Jeanine and Renee's numbers. Olivia is told that she'll be in charge of the agenda for the next meetings and is given a list of things that Jeanine feels they should discuss, but "the rest is up to you!"
Finally, she and Elliot say goodbye to everyone and head out into the parking lot. As soon as they're alone, Olivia pushes Elliot lightly.
"What the hell, Stabler?"
"I know, I know," Elliot begins, but Olivia shakes her head, running a hand through her hair.
"This is the worst thing that's ever happened to me at a PTA meeting," she says. "And once, Diane Jones, city councilwoman, asked me when my baby was due. I wasn't pregnant."
Elliot can't help but laugh, and eventually, Olivia does too, sighing. She glances at him.
"Really though, what made you volunteer?"
Elliot shrugs, stopping with Olivia once they reach her car. He rubs the back of his neck and offers her a sheepish grin.
"Honestly?" he says. Olivia nods and his smile widens. "I was just going to scratch my back. I would have never willingly volunteered to be PTA president. Or vice-president."
Olivia chuckles, her laugh growing slowly, and Elliot joins in until they're both laughing hard, clutching at their sides.
"God, Elliot," she finally says, gasping. "That would be funnier if you hadn't roped me into it."
"I didn't mean to," Elliot apologizes. "I'm so sorry."
"And now we're in charge of all of this year's activities," Olivia says, sighing and looking at the list in her hand. "You have to help me get ready for this next meeting. It's in three weeks."
"Of course," Elliot says. "When do you want to meet up?"
Olivia thinks a little and remembers Luke asking to go to Elliot's house. She tucks her hair back behind her ear and leans against her car.
"Do you want to come over tomorrow evening?" she asks. "Luke was asking to hang out with Dickie this weekend, and he can spend the night if he wants. I know it's short-notice with your job and all…"
"No, that sounds fine," Elliot says. "I'll bring over Dickie and Liz after work."
"I can just pick them up when I get Luke after school," Olivia offers. "I know Kathy usually picks them up, and you live all the way in Queens, so I can just take them to my apartment and you can meet us later."
"You'll have to handle three kids and a baby," Elliot says tentatively. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, it's no problem," Olivia assures. "What about Maureen and Kathleen? Are they with you this weekend?"
"They opted to stay with Kathy," Elliot says. He doesn't elaborate, and Olivia doesn't press, but she notices the expression on his face shift a little. "So, it's just me and the twins."
"Alright," Olivia says, unlocking her car and smiling gently at Elliot. "I'll see you tomorrow then. I'll even cook for you."
"Oh, Dickie will be excited," Elliot says, chuckling. "He says you make the best spaghetti. Finally, I get the chance to see what all the hype is about."
"Really?" Olivia asks, brightening up a little. "Luke was talking about your wings earlier today."
"The funny thing is, wings are one of the only three things I know how to make," Elliot says, offering a small smile and getting Olivia's door for her. "I'll see you tomorrow, Liv."
"Bye, Elliot," Olivia says with a smile, climbing into her car. Elliot closes the door and walks away. Olivia hums a little to herself, excited for some reason about tomorrow's plans, before starting her car and heading home.
•
Olivia had planned to surprise Luke after school tomorrow when they picked Liz and Dickie up, but when she's tucking her son in, he remembers that he'd asked about spending the night at his friend's house.
"Did you talk to Dickie's dad?" he asks, climbing into bed. Olivia starts to pull up his cover.
"I did," she says. "I don't think you're going to be able to spend the night over there this weekend, but Dickie, Liz, and Elliot are coming over tomorrow, so maybe Dickie can stay with us tomorrow night."
"Okay," Luke says, seeming pleased with the compromise. "Why are they coming over?"
"Elliot and I are now in charge of the PTA," Olivia says, tucking Luke in. "So, he's coming over to help me plan for the next meeting."
"Oh cool," Luke says, surprising Olivia. "Does that mean you're going to be at my school more?"
"Yeah," Olivia says, smiling a little. "I guess it does."
She runs a hand through her son's hair, smoothing it down before leaning down to press a kiss to his forehead.
"Now get some rest. I'll see you in the morning."
"I love you, mom. Goodnight."
Olivia's smile widens. She heads to the door, turning the light off. Luke's nightlight brightens, covering the room in dim stars.
"I love you, too. Goodnight."
Stepping out, she closes the door. She walks down the hall, stopping to check in on Grace, who's sound asleep in her crib. Then, she's able to begin her own nightly routine: taking a warm shower, pulling her hair up, and changing into pajamas. As she does all of this, she thinks about what she needs to do tomorrow, and again, finds herself excited about having company in the evening. As she climbs into bed, she attributes her excitement to the fact that she hasn't had the chance to entertain for a while, instead of to Dickie's dad Elliot, and his corny jokes.
She turns on her side, looking at the empty half of the bed. Thinks about Jonathan, like she does every night, and how she used to stay awake until she felt him climb in next to her.
She closes her eyes, inhaling deeply and for the millionth time, today tries to push his face out of her mind as she slowly falls asleep.