THE NOAH SERIES: HALLOWEEN

"So we're all good with Halloween costumes?" Olivia said.

"Yes, Maggie is going as Thing 1. Apparently, Erica is going to be Thing 2," Alex said. "And Addison is going as Zombie Elsa."

"Elsa from Frozen?" Olivia said. "You mean to tell me our darling daughter who is your twin is going as the Ice Princess?"

Alex crossed her arms and stared at Olivia, holding back a smile. "She's going as a Zombie Ice Princess," she said. "I'm pretty sure she gets her dark side from you."

"Yeah, but come on, Ice Princess? You have to admit that is rather funny," Olivia said.

"Shut up," Alex said, finally cracking a smile.

"How come you can say shut up and we can't?" Addison said, coming up from behind Alex.

"Because we're adults," Alex said. "There is a lot we can do and say that you can't." She looked over at Olivia and gave her a wink.

"Ugh," Addison said rolling her eyes. "You guys have to make everything gross. You know we're old enough know to know what it means when you all decide to go to bed early."

"It doesn't mean anything other than we're tired from fighting bad guys all week long," Alex said. "Wait until you're an adult and have to work as hard as we do. Don't you have homework?"

"Whatever," Addison said.

"Addy, what did we talk about?" Olivia said. "No talking back to your mother."

"Sorry, Ma," Addison said. "I'll go do my homework."

"That kid..." Alex said.

"Is adorable sometimes because she's just like her mama," Olivia said. "For better or for worse."

Alex smiled and went back to unloading the groceries Olivia had brought home.

"So, Noah tells me he's too old for Halloween and Trick-or-Treating," Alex said. "He wants to go to a party at a friends house."

"What friend?" Olivia said.

"Cole or Hunter or Trey or one of those trust fund kids with one of those names," Alex said.

"You know, for one of those trust fund kids with of those names, you're pretty judgmental," Olivia said, grinning. "Alexandra Addison Cabot."

"I was never like some of those kids at Noah's school," Alex said.

"There is an entire residential house at Harvard named after the Cabot family," Olivia said.

"Yes, my great great uncle who I only met a time or two, and which, by the way, I never lived in when I attended Harvard," Alex said. "Anyway, to the point, Noah wants to go to the party."

"You told him, no, right?" Olivia said.

"No, I told him that we would talk about it," Alex said. "I mean, he's 13 now. When did you go to your first party?"

"You mean on my own or one of the ragers my mom threw?" Olivia said.

"Liv, I'm serious," Alex said. "We can't keep him under lock and key forever."

"Not forever, just until he's 30," Olivia said. Olivia smiled, but Alex was still serious and put her hands on her hip. "Okay, fine. I suppose if we get the name of the kid and his parents and location of the party, it won't hurt to let him go for a few hours."

"Noah thanks you," Alex said. "For what it's worth, I'm as scared as you are to let our kids go out there in the real world. I mean, I think it's natural with the jobs we do. We see the worst of society."

"I know," Olivia said. "And if it were one of Elliot's kids, I'd be telling him the same thing. It's just different when it's ours, you know?"

"I know," Alex said. "Now, come with me so I can show you what costume I bought for Halloween."

"I thought you were going as a witch to the DA's party?" Olivia said.

"Not that party," Alex said. "The private party we're going to have while our kids are stuffing their face with candy the next day at Grandma's house."

"Oooh," Olivia said. "I may enjoy Halloween, after all."

#

"I talked to Zachary's parents," Alex said. "It's just a handful of Noah's classmates, boys and girls, but there will be adult supervision. We can drop him off at 5:30 pm and then pick up Erica to take her Trick-or-Treating with Maggie. Thing 1 needs her Thing 2."

Olivia smiled. "Okay, I'll go see if Noah and the Ice Princess are ready."

"I'm ready," Addison said coming out of her bedroom. The contrast of the Zombie make up with the princess outfit was ridiculous and perfectly fit Addison.

"Wow, you look beautiful and scary all at once," Olivia said.

"There is no exquisite beauty… without some strangeness in the proportion," Addy said.

"I see the Edgar Allen Poe poetry book has been paying off," Olivia grinned and kissed the top of Addy's head. "Just make sure you don't quote the Tell-Tale Heart around your mother."

"Nah, I save that for Maggie's bedtime stories," Addison said, smirking at Alex, who rolled her eyes. Olivia laughed.

"Keep laughing, Liv," Alex said. "When Maggie comes to sleep with us because she's having nightmares, I'm going to kick you out of bed and let you share a room with Miss Zombie Ice Princess here."

Olivia made her way down the hall to knock on Noah's door.

"Noah, are you ready?" Olivia said. "We have to get going so your sisters don't start trick or treating too late."

"I'll be right out," Noah said. Olivia returned to the living room where all three of her girls were sitting, all ready for the Halloween festivities.

They were going over the rules of how much they were allowed to eat and what to look out for when Addison bust out laughing.

"That is your costume for the party?" Addison said.

Everyone turned around to see that Noah had entered the room. He was dressed big rimmed hat, several fake gold chains, a green and purple suit, and a cane.

He was dressed a pimp. A ridiculous looking pimp.

"What are you supposed to be?" Alex asked, carefully studying Olivia's face which had frozen. "And where did you get that outfit?"

"I'm a pimp," Noah said. "And I borrowed it from Sean."

Hearing the word pimp come out of Noah's mouth was too much for Olivia. She immediately began crying and walked off toward the bedroom without saying a word.

"Go change," Alex said, surprisingly calmly.

"But I don't have anything else to wear," Noah said.

"Go. Change. Now." Alex said. "You either change, or you're staying home tonight."

"But -"

"Noah," Alex said. "You will not win this argument, and you've made your mother cry. Go now!"

Noah turned around and went to his room. Addy and Maggie were giving Alex a weird look, having no idea what was going on.

"We'll leave in just a minute," Alex said. "Wait here."

She walked down the hall and lightly knocked on their bedroom door.

"Liv, can I come in?" Alex said.

"Yeah," Olivia said. "I'm sorry, I just ..."

"I know," Alex said. "And I'll take care of it. He's going to change. I thought maybe you can take the girls to get a head start on trick or treating, and I can drop Noah off at the party, and we can have a little chat. And before you say anything about him going to the party, you know he didn't do this intentionally."

"He knows already, though, Alex," Olivia said. "What is he thinking? I mean, even if not for the fact that his father was a pimp, it wouldn't be okay. What am I doing wrong with him?"

"Okay, first, you're not doing anything wrong. And it's not your problem, it's our problem," Alex said. "Second, he's not thinking. He's a teenage boy. You know that. And yes, he should know better for a number of reasons, but he's still a teenager. Look, let me take care of this tonight. You did the hard part of telling him last year all about who is father was. Let me be the one to remind him that this isn't okay."

"Okay," Olivia said. "I'll meet you at the community center?"

"Yes," Alex said. "I'll see you then."

#

Olivia left with the girls, and Alex and Noah left shortly after.

"Noah, do you have any idea what you did tonight?" Alex said. "How inappropriate your costume was?"

"Because of my father?" Noah said.

"Well, not just because of your father," Alex said. "But yes. Listen, I know that for whatever reason, you boys think being a pimp is cool, but it's not Noah. And your mom and I will not tolerate that kind of attitude. Pimps sell sex. They are abusive, rapist, controlling, and in no way are anything that should be considered cool."

"It's not like anyone thinks about that stuff," Noah said. "It's just a harmless costume."

"It's not harmless to the countless number of women and girls who are under the control of a so-called pimp," Alex said and paused. "It wasn't harmless to your real mother." She made sure her last sentence came out gentler than her other words.

Noah bit clenched his teeth.

"Look, your mom, Olivia, this is what she fights against every single day," Alex said. "So you can imagine her shock and surprise to see her son dressed up as the very thing she fights against, calling it harmless."

"You're just afraid I'm going to turn out like him," Noah said.

"No," Alex said, stopping the car and turning Noah toward her. "Listen to me. You are nothing like your father. His DNA means nothing to who you are Noah. So don't you ever question that. I mean, look at your mom. You know about her mother."

"Yes, she was raped," Noah said.

"Yes, and your mom was a result of that," Alex said. "And she is the most amazing, compassionate, gentlest, person I have ever met. There is no one on this planet that is a better person than her - you know that. So don't ever, ever think we are afraid you'll turn out like your father. I just want you to be a good example to your friends. To show them that this stuff, this culture, isn't harmless."

"I'm sorry, Ma," Noah said. "I wasn't really thinking about all of that."

"I know," Alex said. "But you also need to apologize to your mom tonight."

"I will," Noah said.

#

"Did Noah come talk to you?" Alex asked when Olivia joined her in the bedroom.

"He did," Olivia said. "He seemed to get it. Thank you for talking to him. I certainly wasn't in shape to do it."

"You're welcome," Alex said. "It wasn't my favorite conversations to have, but you don't always have to be the one to deal with that kind of conversation. God knows you do enough of it every day."

"He even cried a little bit when we talked about Ellie," Olivia said. "How I wish he'd have known her."

"Me, too," Alex said. "I'm just glad we'd already talked to him about Johnny D and Ellie, and you're background and all of that stuff. We also talked about you, too."

"I know," Olivia said. "He mentioned it. He said he was glad he didn't have to worry about turning out like his father because you reminded him of how great I turned out."

"It's true, you know," Alex said.

"It's only true because I've had a great partner to help me keep my head above the water," Olivia said. "You're pretty great yourself."

"What? You mean I'm not one of those trust fund kids with one of those fancy names?" Alex teased.

"No," Olivia said. "You're just Alex. My loving, beautiful, sexy, love of my life, Alex."

"Good, because sexy Alex will be making an appearance in her Halloween costume tomorrow night," Alex said.

A/N: So in this story universe, Noah came into Olivia/Alex's life as he did on the show (Ellie, Johnny D), but it just happened in the early seasons of the show, and not Season 15.

Thanks for the reviews and suggestions. I'm keeping a note of them and will try to work them in. I'll probably mix in some Addison and Maggie centric chapters as well, but right now, I wnt to focus mostly on Noah, and AO handling that as parents.