This is a little filler chapter for something big to happen next chapter. Sorry for the long wait. Reviews are nice.

"Come on, Jas. Daddy will be here any minute to take you to daycare." Olivia said as she pushed a half-sleep Jason around the house.

"Bed. Please." He mumbled.

Olivia sighed and just picked him up. "I know you're tired, but you'll get to see all your old friends." She walked down the steps and laid him down on the couch. "Plus, you're going on a field trip to the zoo today? Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Jason didn't answer because as soon as she laid him down, he went back to sleep.

She smiled to herself and continued walking to the kitchen to finish making Jason's lunch. It had been two weeks since her and Brian decided to have this break. They had kind of settled into a routine. Brian would pick Jason up in the morning, and Jason would spend the night every other day.

A part of Olivia hated that she couldn't have Jason around her all the time. When she was alone that's when the over thinking would happen. Over the last two weeks, she had gotten her hair done, did a spa day, spent the day in the park, therapy, and she started working out more. She did all the things that she never had the time to do.

Brian was right, though. Being able to take care of herself without having to worry about how it would affect Brian was helping her. However, she still missed having her husband and best friend around. The thing she missed the most, was having her family together.

She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard Brian come through the front door. She finished putting Jason's lunch into the bag. "Hey."

"Hey, ba-Liv." He always had to catch himself when it came to pet names. "Your hair, I like it." Brian always noticed the little changes in her, but that's because he spent so much time admiring her beauty.

"Uh, thanks." She ran her fingers through it. "I got it-"

"Trimmed, had your highlights touched up, and if I touch it, you probably got a deep conditioning too." He smiled.

"Yeah, you remembered. I was thinking about cutting some inches off next time." She said trying to ease the awkwardness between them.

"You'll still look beautiful." He said sitting on the counter and grabbing an apple out the fruit bowl. "Jason sleeping any better?" He bit into the apple. Last time they talked, Olivia told him that Jason was having nightmares and had started sleeping with her.

"I don't know." She shrugged. "It just becomes habit that he climbs in bed with me. Plus, it's nice not sleeping alone." She whispered.

Brian sighed and put the apple down. "I want nothing more than to come back home to my family."

"Then what's stopping you?"

"Liv, I still have my own demons I need to face. It's been two weeks. Give it a little more time."

"Do you think Jason likes being bounced around all the time? We said we didn't want him to have a childhood like ours, and look at us. I'm my mom and you're your dad!"

Oliv-"

"No." She put her hand up to stop him from talking. "I'm just so tired of this. Whatever we have going on." She waved her finger between the two of them. "I know we need to work on ourselves because we're both screwed up, but why can't we do that together?" This was a question that she constantly asked herself and now she needed an answer.

He was silent. He couldn't think of a reason. Truth be told, he was just afraid to hurt her again and he figured the less time he spent with her, the lower the chances would be.

"Exactly." She grabbed the two bags and threw them on his lap. "I made you lunch too. Lock the door on your way out." She said angrily before she stormed upstairs.

"Thanks for meeting me." Elliot said as he slid into the booth.

"Well I have nothing better to do." She clasped her hands together and laid them on the table. "So what did you want?"

"To talk. I know you're pissed at the world right now, and you have so much going on, but I want to explain myself."

Olivia simply nodded. "Go on."

"After a few weeks of moping around, the FBI called me. At first I was going to turn them down, but I realize I could still protect victims this way. Most of the time I'm under and out of state. This case was the only rare case that we stayed in the city."

"I don't care about that. I want to know why my son hates you when you're suppose to be his godfather? What the hell did you do to him?" She asked bitterly.

That statement alone hurt Elliot. Apparently their friendship wasn't as strong as he thought it was. "We obviously have two different parenting styles."

"Yeah, because I try this thing called going home." Olivia was now regretting coming to see him. This was a chapter in her life that she had already cried over. It was closed, and she was over it. Meeting up with him was like picking at old scars.

Elliot ran his tongue over his top lip and took a deep breath. He was trying to stay calm but both he and Olivia knew that was a low blow. "Why did you even come?"

"I don't even know, but now I regret it." She stood up. "I appreciate you jumping to catch this case so Jason wouldn't be with strangers, but I want nothing to do with you anymore." She gathered her things and walked out the restaurant.

"Why'd you even go see him?" Brian asked as he helped Olivia with dinner.

"Because I needed answers, closure. I thought he could give me that, and I was wrong. I'm over it and him." She added knowing exactly what Brian was thinking.

"Did you get what you wanted?"

She sighed and stopped cutting the carrots. "No, but I don't want to deal with him anymore." She looked Brian in his eyes. "I promise."

Brian didn't say anything, but he held eye contact with her to make sure she was telling the truth. They were having a silent conversation, something they were pros at doing.

"Mommy, I wanna help. Can I?"

Olivia broke the intense gaze between her and Brian to look down at Jason. "Yes you can, my little helper."

Jason grabbed the step-stool and placed it between his parents. He stood on it and looked at the counter of ingredients. "What can I do?"

Olivia looked around the kitchen. "Well, you can be my stirrer as I'm putting everything in the pot. Is that okay with you?"

Jason nodded, smiled, then looked at Brian. "I'm really glad you're home, daddy." He hugged him around his waist. "I missed you."

XXXXXXXXXX

"We can't keep doing this to Jas. It isn't fair." Olivia said bitterly as she was getting ready for bed. "We can't play house when we're getting along, then pass him around when we don't want to be in the same room as each other."

"If I come home, are things going to change? Are you going to talk to me more? Are you going to trust me?"

"Brian, I should be asking you that. You haven't trusted me in years." She sat down on the bed next to him. "I'll be more open about my feelings, I'll try harder to trust you, but I have to forgive you, like you need to forgive me."

"I'm not going to lie, Olivia, it hurts knowing that emotionally my wife cheated on me. I know it's nothing compared to my affair, but it still hurt. I never in a million years thought I would walk in on you guys, but I did. I trust you, I don't trust Elliot. He wasn't pissed that we were dating because he thought I wasn't any good for you. He was pissed because he couldn't have his cake and eat it too." He grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles. "I forgive you."

"I know you had good intentions when you told Calvin's grandparents that we couldn't take care of him like he needed to be taken care of at the time, but it would have been nice if you would have discussed it with me first. Calvin hated me for months because he thought I had given up on him, and that's what hurt me the most because to this day, I would still take him in. I can forgive you for that because everything is good between us, but it's going to take awhile for me to forget about Carissa."

He simply nodded. He understood that he had hurt her to the core and he was surprised that she had even stayed this long to try to work things out. "So is it okay if I come back home?"

Olivia had started crying and simply through her arms around Brian. "Yes."

"I'm going back home. We talked, and I think we're both ready to start working on our marriage."

"I'm guessing she did everything you need her to do." Dr. Robinson stated.

"She forgave me. That's all I wanted. I needed her to stop bringing up the past so we could focus on our future. I know it's not going to be sunshine and rainbows from now on, but we're going in the right direction."

"Brian, I have a question for you, and I want you to answer this as honestly as you can."

He sighed, but nodded. Knowing therapists, this could never end well.

"If Carissa hadn't died, would you have continued your relationship with her?"

XXXXXXXXX

"He's finally coming back home. I'm in a better place, and I know he is too." Olivia picked at the lint on her pants.

"Do you honestly think you two are ready for this step?"

She nodded. "I do. We both realized the things we need to do if we want our marriage to be the way it used to be."

"And how was that?" Lindstrom asked.

Olivia slightly smiled as memories of her and Brian being newlyweds filled her mind. "I was so in love and happy. Brian was the only person on my mind, and I hated being away from him. I felt like I would fall in love with him more and more every day."

"So what changed that?"

Her smile faded as fast as it appeared. "Someone else caught my attention."

"Elliot?"

"Yes."

Dr. Lindstrom moved towards the edge of his seat. "Does he still have it?"