Author Notes: Wow. I'm absolutely floored by all the reviews, follows and favorites for the first chapter. I'm sorry I haven't responded to all the comments yet but hopefully you won't mind that I worked on this chapter first before sending out the replies. I also hope you like the 2nd chapter as much as the first. I'll try to post as quickly as I can but with work and training sometimes they can get in the way so I'm just going to apologize up front for taking too long.

Disclaimer: I wish I owned Law & Order: SVU but that role is still held by Dick Wolf. I own nothing but the crazy idea for the story.

At lunch with Maureen yesterday, she had promised to keep him informed on how little Noah was doing. And true to her word, she had sent updates periodically through her shift. Noah was making improvements but the doctors wanted to continue to monitor him over the next few days. Mo had even sent a text saying Liv was there visiting last night. Elliot wanted to be there with her but there was no way he could get away.

After a long night and early morning at work, all Elliot wanted to do was go home and crash for a few hours but his heart and body were at odds. He needed to check on Noah before he knew he would be able to get some much needed rest.

As he strode through the intensive care unit, he overheard a phone conversation on the well-being of Noah. El quickly realized it was Noah's social worker "discussing" the situation with Liv. While he could only hear one side of the conversation, he knew it had to be killing her and the threat at the end of the call was the last straw for Elliot. No one talked to Liv like that. Noah couldn't have a better mother and it was about time this woman knew it.

Elliot walked up to the social worker and said, "Excuse me, ma'am."

The woman looked up at the sound of Elliot's voice, "Yes?"

"I'm sorry but I couldn't help overhearing your conversation. You didn't happen to be discussing Noah Benson were you?" Elliot questioned.

"I'm sorry that's confidential, sir." The social worker said as she started to walk away.

With that Elliot pulled out his NYPD shield and said, "ma'am my name is Detective Stabler and I don't think you have all the facts on this case."

The social worker was a little taken back by Elliot's response but she quickly regained her composure and said, "Detective, if you have information on how this baby sustained his injuries then you need to tell me and you can call me Ms. Jackson."

"Ms. Jackson, unfortunately I don't have any new information on that but I wish I did. The people responsible should be held accountable and if I ever find out then I will make sure of that," Elliot stated with a fresh wave of anger rolling off of him.

"Well if you don't have any further information I'm not sure what help you can provide, Detective."

"Ma'am, my information is in regards to his foster mother Olivia Benson. I don't think you have a clear picture of her situation."

With a huff Ms. Jackson said, "Oh, I'm well aware of the deficiencies in her care of Noah."

Before she could continue, Elliot interrupted her tirade, "with all due respect, she is the best thing that ever happened to that little boy."

Ms. Jackson wasn't to be persuaded easily though and she jumped back into the fray, "Then were exactly is she? Why isn't she with her foster child?"

"Sergeant Benson would love nothing more to be here right now but unfortunately she was called away to help with a current investigation." Elliot wasn't sure how to win Jackson over but he had to make her understand that everything wasn't as black and white as she thought.

"While I'm sure it's important we are talking about her son's well-being here." Ms. Jackson argued.

"Yes, we are and she is making sure he receives the best treatment he can get. She was here all night with him and when she had to leave she made sure a close family friend was here to make sure Noah wasn't alone. She would have never left if it wasn't imperative that she help lead her squad to find a madman who is escalating and hurting young women in New York. If she doesn't find him soon only God knows how many more people he will hurt or even kill. And as soon as she can she will be right back here with Noah. She loves him more than you could ever know or understand," Elliot states passionately.

"Sounds like you think you know it all about Olivia and Noah." Ms. Jackson goes on to say.

"No, but I know the one thing she has ever wanted was a child and now that she has one she will go to the ends of the universe to make sure that little boy is healthy and loved."

Ms. Jackson finally ignores the various commotion of the hospital and really takes a good look at Elliot. While she has never seen him before, she can see the love he has for Noah and his foster mother clearly on his face but why hasn't she seen him or heard Olivia talk about him during her visits before. She needs to know more about this man, "And what would you do, Detective Stabler? What is your interest in this? I don't normally have complete strangers tell me what a great foster parent someone is without some personal involvement."

"You are right. I'm not a complete stranger. I've known Sergeant Benson a long time but unfortunately I've been away recently. My only wish right now is to see Noah healthy and going home with Olivia and I'll do anything to see that happen."

For Ms. Jackson, it was easy to see that Elliot Stabler was not a man you wanted to cross. "I see. Well, Detective, I know I may have seen harsh on the phone but I do really have the best intentions for Noah and under the law I need to document everything. However I nor the state of New York have any plans to remove Noah from Miss Benson's care. Should I assume I will be seeing more of you, sir?"

"I hope so. I really hope so," Elliot says as he takes the first real breath since this conversation started.

As Elliot watches Ms. Jackson leave, he hopes he hasn't made things worse. He finally pulls himself out of his thoughts and heads to the nursing station where Melany is standing. "Hi Melany."

"Hi Mr. Stabler," the young brunette nurse said.

"Please, Elliot"

With a nod, she says, "Elliot, Maureen mentioned to me that you may come back. Do you want to go see Noah?"

With a smile on his face, Elliot says "Yes, please but I need a few minutes first to call someone."

Melany could guess who that lucky someone was. "Of course. I'm here for a few more hours so just stop by when you are ready and tell Miss Benson Noah is doing great."

With a smirk and a positive shake of his head, Elliot pulls his phone out of his pocket as he walks away from the nursing station to find some place quit to talk. When he finds a quiet corner, he dials the one number he would never forget.

Meanwhile at the precinct, Olivia's phone begins to ring again which brings her out of her current thoughts. Olivia wonders what could be up now. After talking to the social worker and Dodds, she didn't know if she could handle any more discussions. When she looked at her phone, she didn't recognize the number and while normally she would have let it to go to voicemail with Noah in the hospital she picked it up instead.

"Benson," Olivia growled into the phone.

At the sound of her voice, El was lost. Hearing her voice was like hearing the angels sing but with an edge of pissed of righteousness.

"This is Benson. Is anyone there? Hello?"

El finally found his voice and uttered, "I'm here. Can you hear me, Liv?"

"El," Olivia said. She was relieved to hear from Elliot actually she was almost giddy.

Elliot could hear the strain in her voice so he tried to lightened, "Yeah, it's me. I told you it wouldn't be three years until you heard from me again."

"I'm glad you kept your promise." Olivia said as her mind flashed back to his beloved face from this weekend.

"Always…Sweetheart what's wrong?" Has something happened with Noah?"

"No…Yes…I don't know," she says in a huff of frustration.

Melany had said Noah was doing great so it's likely Olivia's frustration was coming from dealing with a certain new deputy chief Elliot thought. "Ok. Start at the beginning and tell me what's going on."

As much as Olivia loved talking to Elliot, she really wished he was there with her. Of course, she didn't have time for any of this right now which was leading to the frustration that was clearly heard in her voice, "El, I don't have a lot of time. Chief Dodds is questioning everything I do and the social worked called while he was ranting earlier. She wanted to know why I wasn't there and said she was going to put my absence in Noah's file. El, he's getting better but I'm so afraid they are going to take him away. I can't lose him."

"Liv, listen to me. No one is going to take that little boy away from you. They would have to be blind not to see how much you love him and would do anything for him. And don't listen to Dodds. He's just trying to throw his weight around. There is no one more qualified for your job than you and you will find the guy you are looking for."

"Damn, I missed you," Olivia says before she realizes she actually vocalized her thoughts. What the hell was she thinking telling him that?

"That's good to hear because I missed you too and we will get through this."

"You keep saying we a lot, Elliot"

"That's because I mean it. I know we still need to talk and we will as soon as Noah is okay and you catch this bastard. Plus you now have my number so you can call or text me day or night even if it's just to vent," he said.

Olivia had almost forgotten how well Elliot knew her and her fears. With a few choice words, he had just managed to eradicate a few of her biggest fears of having him back in her life. She really wanted to continue to talk to him but she needed to get back to the investigation. "Ok. El, I need to go."

Likewise Elliot wanted to continue to talk to Olivia but he knew she had a job to do and he needed to see Noah before he fell asleep on his feet. "I know. One more thing and then I'll let you go. I hope you are not mad but I have to admit I snuck in yesterday and saw Noah. He's beautiful Liv…just like his mommy. I know I should have asked you first but I had to see him and I'll warn you now that as soon as we hang up I'm paying your little guy another visit."

"El, I should probably be mad but knowing you are there makes being away a little easier. I want to be there so much but knowing that someone else is there makes it easier. You should know that one of my detective's mother, Mrs. Amaro, is there too," Olivia said. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she knew she needed to warn Mrs. Amaro about Elliot and she knew that more people were possibly going to find out about Elliot being back sooner than the two of them wanted but there was nothing they could do about that now.

"Thanks for the heads up. I'll let you go so you can go be Badass Benson and find this guy."

"Tell Noah mommy loves him and I'll be there soon," Olivia said as her voice cracked.

Elliot didn't want her to feel any worse than she already did so he kept it simple as he said, "I will. Take care and be safe. Bye."

"Bye, El," Olivia whispered into the phone before hanging up.

Once the call had been disconnected, Elliot walked back to Melany so that he can see the little munchkin. Luckily with Noah's improved condition, he didn't need to wear the protective gown this time. As he walked in he was extremely grateful to also see that many of the monitoring machines had been removed and the baby was sleeping in a normal crib.

An older woman was seated next to Noah's crib but stood as Eliot moved farther into the room. "You must be Elliot," she said. "Olivia just sent me a quick text saying a friend would be stopping by to visit. I'm Cesaria Amaro, Nick Amaro's mother."

"Mrs. Amaro, it's a pleasure to meet you but I wish it was under better circumstances," Elliot said as he shook her hand.

"Likewise but he's doing much better than earlier and please call me Cesaria."

"Yeah, there were so many more machines the last time I was here."

"I know when I first came to relieve Lucy I was so worried about him and Olivia." Cesaria was paying close attention to Elliot but he wasn't giving much away to his involvement with Olivia and Noah.

"I just talked to Liv. It's definitely been a couple rough days for her."

The concern in Elliot's voice was clearly heard by Cesaria and by the look on Elliot's face when he mentioned Olivia's name she had a feeling he was more than just a friend. "More than just a few so it's great to see someone checking in on her. I've been worried about her since Brian and her broke up but maybe I don't need to worry anymore."

Leave it to a mother to figure out what was happening between Liv and him. "Cesaria, Olivia and I use to be partners. I'm hopeful we can be more but knowing how stubborn she can be it may take time."

"Well if you were partners I imagine you can be just as suborn probably even more."

"Too true," he said as he sat down in one of the chairs next to Noahs' bed. It looks like he just found an ally in Mrs. Amaro.