I own no one but my own people

"I know I signed the lease, I'm not trying to get out of my lease, all I'm trying to do is move into a more expensive apartment one floor above me and make you more money."

Olivia sighed as she rubbed her temple as she shifted Noah to her other hip as she glanced over the hardcopy of her apartment lease, trying to find SOMETHING that would legally allow her to get out of the agreement she was in so she could rent the three bedroom on the floor above her instead of the two bedroom she was, until quite literally the other night, quite content in.

But she realized she couldn't have a ten-year-old boy sleeping with a six-year-old girl and she was positive even at six years old, the little girl wouldn't want to share a room with a grown woman and a one year old. So, she figured she would get a three bedroom where Ty and Livvie would have their own rooms while, as much as she hated it, Noah would have to go back in the living room where he slept before she converted the study into a nursery.

"It's in the same exact building, it's not like I'm moving out," she argued, trying not to let her frustration show with the situation. "Look these kids… these kids have been through hell okay? The least I can do is give them their own space for the next year or so. They lost everything, Mr. London… Can't you let them have this one thing? What if it was your children?"

Olivia grinned as she heard her landlord, who had four children of his own, sigh with annoyance, knowing she had hit him where it hurt the most. Her smile grew as he told her that he would email her an updated lease for the apartment above her later that day.

She thanked him after promising she wouldn't tell any other resident about their arrangement and hung up, turning to Noah who had sat through the phone call as patiently as a 15-month-old could.

"We're moving upstairs, Noah," she told her son. "You okay with that?"

Another silent look as an answer.

She kissed him on top of the head as a reply. "Thought so. There's gonna be a lot of changes around here actually… I don't know if I'm ready for any of them but just know that we're gonna get through this together alright?" Another kiss. "I love you."

Olivia leaned back on the couch and just started to close her eyes, already exhausted from the day, when her bedroom door opened and her six-year-old namesake walked out. Olivia opened her eyes and gave a tired smile to the small girl who shuffled over to her, her thumb in her mouth and her curls flying in every direction, the large t-shirt she was wearing that swept the floor making her appear even smaller.

"Hey, sweetie," Olivia greeted the young girl. "You want some breakfast?"

Livvie nodded as she rubbed the sleep from her brown eyes, eyes that looked almost identical to her aunts as Olivia stood up from the couch, Noah still in her arms. Livvie gently tugged on her shirt as Olivia walked over to the kitchen, lifting her arms up in what was the universal sign for 'pick me up' when the Sergeant looked down at her.

Olivia bit her lip for a second before she kissed Noah on the cheek and set him down on the ground, ignoring the pouty look on her sons face as he lifted his arms up, letting out a small whine to get her attention.

"You can go two minutes without being held, my love," she told Noah as she turned and picked up the young girl who wrapped her arms around Olivia's neck and buried her head in her shoulder.

Noah responded with a pitiful lip tremble as he toddled after Olivia as she made her way into the kitchen pulling on her pant leg, thinking there had to be some sort of mistake.

Apart from when he wanted to be set down, his mother hardly ever put him down. Now she didn't just set him down but picked up some stranger instead of him?

That wasn't about to fly…

"You want French toast?" Olivia asked Livvie, knowing that the cereal she had probably wouldn't be kid approved.

Noah let out a small annoyed whine, pulling on her pantleg again. Why wasn't she paying attention to him?

"Noah, you need to stop," Olivia said, her heart breaking as he looked up at her knowing he was on the verge of tears.

The small boy pouted and, as she predicted, let out a cry as he clung to her pantleg. Olivia bit back a sigh as she bent down to Noah's level. She had no idea how she was going to deal with this… "Sweetie, come on, calm down," she told her son who just responded with trying to push Livvie out of his mother's arms who just whined and clung to her tighter.

"Noah, stop," she scolded him. It wasn't loud or overly harsh but it got her point across to the toddler.

Noah's cries subsided into pathetic sniffling as he tried to get his point across by lifting his arms up again.

"You wanna watch Thomas?" Olivia asked, hoping his favorite Thomas the Train movie she had practically memorized at this point would be enough to hold him over. "Hmm? Come on, sweetie, I'll put in Thomas for you okay?"

Noah looked at his mother as he debated his options for a moment before he finally nodded, wiping away the tears that had fallen.

Letting out a breath of relief that she had dealt with her first sibling drama without too many issues Olivia stood up from the floor, Livvie still in her arms, and turned on the Thomas the Train DVD that was in the DVD player.

"So how about that French Toast?" asked Olivia once Noah was fully engulfed in his movie and she was back in the kitchen. Livvie nodded but remained silent and Olivia looked at her for a moment frowning. She would have to ask Ty later rather or not the staying silent thing was new for her.

Having already mastered the one-handed cooking technique with Noah, Olivia managed to make not three as was customary prior to this, but six pieces of French toast all while she held Livvie in her other arm.

Just as the Sergeant began plating Ty walked out, still wearing Oliva's oversized shirt from last night.

"Hey, Ty," she greeted with a friendly smile as she set Livvie down in one of the chairs so she could cut Noah's piece up into bite size pieces. "You're just in time for French Toast."

Ty said nothing as he sat down next to his sister, looking over at Olivia as she plated the rest of the breakfast onto their respected plates.

"Can you cut it yourself or do you want me to?" Olivia asked Livvie as she set her plate down in front of her. Livvie said nothing and instead just held out her fork and knife to Olivia.

"She likes it in sticks," Ty informed her as Olivia began to cut it. "Then she likes the syrup in a bowl so she can dunk it."

"Got it. Thank you for letting me know," she said with another smile that he just rolled his eyes at and began to butter his own piece.

The Sergeant held back a remark at the eyerolling as she finished cutting up the breakfast food the desired way before grabbing Noah and placing him in his highchair. She grabbed the syrup from the fridge, a medium sized jug of natural organic Vermont maple syrup and gave a small drizzle over Noah's breakfast before she grabbed a small bowl and poured some in it for Livvie before setting it in front of Ty who eyed it like it was a snake rearing its head to strike.

"What's that?" he asked pointing to the gray jug.

"That's syrup," Olivia answered as she sat down at her own chair.

Ty shook his head. "Syrup comes in the bottle that looks like a lady," he told her in a rather matter-of-fact tone.

"Well some syrup does, but that's my syrup. Try it, it's good."

Ty gave her a short-lived glare as he grabbed the jug and drizzled some of it over his own French toast, frowning at the syrup that was a lot thinner than he was used to. He cut a piece of it and gave it a small nibble, making a face like he had been forced to eat a lemon. "It's not even sweet, it doesn't taste good," he told her, making a show of wiping his tongue off with his napkin.

Livvie seemed to have the same consensus as her brother. When she dunked her French toast stick into the natural syrup and taking a bite, she promptly frowned and set it back down again.

"You didn't even make the French toast right," Ty continued with an attitude, "Mama always put cinnamon in it."

Olivia pursed her lips for a moment before she cleared her throat, reminding herself that he had not even lost his mother and step dad twenty-four hours ago.

"Okay… How about I make you some scrambled eggs instead?"

Livvie nodded and Ty didn't say agree but he didn't object to the plan B either. Olivia abandoned her own breakfast and got out the carton of eggs again, trying to hide the fact that her eggs were brown, having a feeling that neither Livvie or Ty would take as kindly to the free range brown eggs she used as they did to the natural syrup.

Unfortunately; her suspicions were confirmed and even more unfortunate, Ty happened to catch a glimpse of the shell as it went into the trash.

"I don't want brown eggs!" he whined.

Olivia took a deep breath before she turned towards him. She was willing to admit the syrup she bought didn't taste as sweet as Mrs. Butterworth, but there was no difference in brown and white eggs besides the fact that her supermarket had them on sale this week opposed to the white ones. "Ty, they taste no different than the white ones."

"Yuh uh! They taste different!"

"No they don't."

"Do too!"

"Well that's all I have right now." She could feel her temper beginning to rise and she forced it back down. "Do you want cheerios instead of eggs?"

Ty just glared at her for a moment and hopped down off the chair. "I'm not hungry," he snapped at her, going back into her bedroom and slamming the door shut.

Olivia leaned against the kitchen wall, running her hands over her face before she turned towards Livvie who looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"Sweetie, it's okay," she told the young girl as gently as she could. "Do you still want scrambled brown eggs?"

Livvie sniffed and shook her head.

"You want cheerios?"

A nod.

Confident that she couldn't mess that up and the carton of organic milk she had wasn't too different from the non-organic they were used to, Olivia made her a bowl of cereal and, finally, the young girl began to eat her breakfast.

Afterwards Livvie decided to watch Thomas with Noah and Olivia decided she would try to talk to Ty and get him to open up somewhat.

"Ty?" she began after softly knocking on the door as she opened it. The young boy was sitting on the bed, his knees pulled to his chest. "Hey, honey… You doing okay?"

He said nothing and just turned away from her as she sat on the edge of her bed, "I thought we could head out to your guy's apartment, get some of your clothes then maybe we could go out for McDonalds for lunch? They only serve white eggs there," she added with a chuckle.

No response.

Olivia sighed for a moment before she leaned over and rubbed his shoulder. "I'm so sorry for what happened, Ty. For losing your dad and your mom and your step dad, for not being able to go with your uncle, and I bet you feel like you have to look out for your little sister and watch over her right now… It's a lot for a little boy to take on. I know changes can be scary, Ty, and it's scary for me too."

Ty said nothing and instead just looked down at the floor, tears welling in his eyes.

"This is a big change for me too," she continued. "I'm gonna go from raising one kid to raising three overnight… kids of a brother I barely even knew." Olivia had to take a shaking breath before she continued. "But I do love you, Ty; you and your sister. We're gonna get through this together okay?"

Still nothing.

Olivia sighed softly before she stood up from the bed. She had just begun to walk out when a small voice came from where he was sitting.

"They DO taste different…"

The sergeant turned back around, her heart breaking when she saw the young boy in tears. "The brown eggs and the white DO taste different. And your syrup isn't sweet, and mom-," he wiped his eyes furiously, "she put cinnamon in it because me and Livvie don't like it plain."

Olivia hurried over to him and sat down next to him, wrapping her arms around him.

"Don't!" he whined but instead of pushing her away he hugged her back. "I'm not a baby…" he grumbled.

"I know, Ty." She kissed the top of his head. "I know…"

They stayed like that for a moment before they pulled away from one another and Olivia ran a hand through his hair. "I'll tell you what, why don't we go grocery shopping after lunch? We can get whatever kind of syrup and eggs you want okay?"

Ty nodded, wiping more of his tears away.

She kissed the top of his head again. "I love you, sweetie. Now come on, get dressed, and we're gonna go to your apartment alright?"

Another nod.

"Good."

Olivia left the bedroom, a slight smile on his face.

Maybe things would be alright after all…

Please Review. And no, this isn't the start of the fluff. Not by a long shot