A/N: I first want to apologize for the unexpected delay on this. I work in media and if anyone follows me on Twitter, you may know my town had a cop murdered the day after my last update. I haven't slept and 24/7 I've pretty much been covering this story or tracking people down or interviewing people or at funerals or events or just not sleeping because I'm angry and frustrated. And when I've had time, I slept (or tried), and just haven't been in the right mindset.

So, while I am sorry for the delay, I'm sure you can understand real life (and death in this case) comes first. But, here we go...I'll do the best I can to keep this going for a bit longer.

CHAPTER 10

Two weeks. It had been two weeks since Olivia walked out of Alex's apartment after learning how badly she had screwed things up last time. Aside from the Jackson trial, Olivia hadn't even seen Alex and the couple of times she called, Alex didn't answer or call back.

"You heading out?" Fin said as Olivia walked by his desk with her purse.

"Yeah," she said. "Going to try to start an early weekend with Noah while I can. You got things under control here?"

"We got it," Fin said. He looked around and saw no one was nearby. "Cabot happy about the Jackson conviction? Heard some heads are rolling downtown."

Olivia shrugged. "Yeah, I heard the same thing," she said. "And...I assume Alex is happy. Haven't really heard from her since the trial. You know Alex." Olivia smiled and tried to laugh it off.

Fin didn't bite.

"Yeah...about that," Fin said, again looking around. "I was hoping maybe we'd see a little more of her around here."

Olivia paused and opened her mouth to speak, but wasn't sure what to say or what Fin was getting at.

Fin spoke up again. "Listen, Liv...you know I'm not about getting in your personal business, but...you and Alex...," he paused.

"Me and Alex, what?" Olivia said, curious.

"Look, I know Cabot has left us a lot...left you a lot," his eyes focused narrowly on her, letting her know he knew. "Just, we're not getting younger. Don't let your pride stand in the way of something good."

"My pride?" Olivia said, raising her eyebrows.

"You know damn well what I mean," Fin said. "Hey, I got it too. All cops do. I'm just saying, you deserve happiness, Liv. More than anyone."

Olivia nodded, and their eyes seemed to speak without any more words. She smiled and continued on her way out of the squad room for home.

#

After an afternoon of spending time with Noah, Olivia and he went out for pizza and were talking about their weekend plans - Olivia hoping and praying nothing at work interrupted it.

"Can we go to the beach?" Noah asked.

"I think it's still a little too chilly for that," Olivia said. "How about the park?"

"We always go to the park," Noah said, stuffing another bite of pizza in his mouth.

"Ok, how about the zoo in the park?" Olivia said.

"Can we go to the big zoo?" Noah said. "They have the good animals there."

Olivia chuckled. "Yes, we can go to the big zoo," she said.

"Can I get ice cream, too?!" an excited Noah said.

Olivia laughed. "We'll see. As long as it's not too cold and you behave, yes, you can have ice cream."

"Bribing your kid with ice cream? Is that good parenting?" a familiar voice from behind Olivia said. She turned around and saw Alex, smiling and laughing.

"Alex," Olivia said, surprised to see the blonde there. "Noah, you remember Alex, right?"

"Of course, Mommy," Noah said, nonchalantly. Olivia rolled her eyes and smiled at Alex.

"How have you been?" Olivia asked. "Join us if you like."

Alex nodded and took a seat. "I ordered to for pick-up but it probably won't be done for a few minutes," she said. "I've been ... busy. Lot happening in the office and city hall."

"I heard," Olivia said. "Anything coming back on you?"

Alex shook her head. "Not yet."

"We're going to the zoo tomorrow," Noah said, suddenly. "Mommy, can Alex come with us to the zoo?"

"Uh...well, if she wants to come, yes," Olivia said. "We're going to the Bronx Zoo."

Alex, unsure how to respond at first paused and Olivia spoke up again.

"I mean, I'm sure Alex probably already has plans this weekend or work. She works a lot."

"Mommy works a lot too," Noah said.

"Yeah, I don't want to impose on your day out with your mom," Alex said. She was unsure if Olivia wanted her to come or not and she hadn't exactly made any effort to return her calls since their last conversation. "But I'm sure you'll have fun. I hear they have Zebras and Elephants there."

"I know!" Noah said. "They elephants are sooooo big!"

Alex smiled and Olivia watched the interaction between the two. She also remembered her conversation with Fin earlier.

"Actually, Alex, if you don't have plans...I'd really like it if you joined us," Olivia said. "Maybe you can tell Noah about your experience in Africa."

The two women shared a look. Alex could see Olivia was trying, being sincere.

"Well...are you sure you don't mind me joining you, Noah?" Alex said.

Noah shook his head. "You should come and Mommy said we could have ice cream."

Alex laughed. "Well then, I guess it's a plan."

Alex heard her name called to say her pizza was done and looked up.

"I'll text you later with the time," Olivia said. "If you want, I can swing by and pick you up."

"That sounds good," Alex said, getting up to leave. When she got next to Olivia, she paused. "Liv, I should have called you back. I'm sorry."

Olivia shook her head. "It's ok. I think we both needed some time. We can talk about it tomorrow...if you want."

Alex nodded, then spoke up. "Noah, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, and to our ice cream."

Noah, mouth full, waved and nodded, giving the two women more reason to laugh.

#

Saturday late afternoon, after the entire day at the zoo, Olivia, Alex and Noah arrived back at Olivia's apartment. Olivia was dragging Noah along, who was had fallen asleep in the car and didn't want to wake up.

"Noah, go lay down in your bed for a nap," Olivia said. "I'll wake you up before dinner."

Noah didn't say anything, he just dragged his feet to his bedroom and went directly to sleep.

Olivia shook her head. "I'm just glad he's too big for me to carry now, but waking him up is a bear sometimes."

"Well, I appreciate you inviting me for dinner," Alex said. "Though, you didn't have to do this. We can still order in."

"Are you kidding? Noah had a great day with you telling him stories," Olivia said. "I enjoyed spending time with you today, too."

Alex smiled. "Me, too, Liv."

"Hey, why don't you pour a glass of wine and relax for a bit on the couch while I get dinner together. It shouldn't' take too long," Olivia said.

Alex was tired. She wasn't used to spending the day with 6-year-olds. Noah had worn her out. She wasn't sure where Olivia got the energy. She didn't argue, just poured wine and made her way to the couch while Olivia cooked.

An hour later, dinner was done. Both Alex and Noah were still zonked out. Olivia woke Noah and figured she'd get dinner on the table before waking Alex.

"Alex," Noah's voice same as the blonde felt a small hand on her shoulder. "Alex."

Alex opened her eyes to Noah standing in front of her. "Hi, Noah."

"Mom says dinner is ready," he said.

Alex looked up and saw Olivia smiling over at the dinner table. The blonde got up, picked up her glass of wine that she barely touched before falling asleep and joined Olivia and Noah for dinner.

#

"That was so good," Alex said, wiping her mouth and then holding her stomach. "I'm so full."

They had finished dinner earlier and Olivia put Noah to bed since he was still tired, but they both decided to help themselves to seconds.

"Well, you did utilize quite a bit of energy today," Olivia said.

"I don't know how you do it," Alex said. "I guess all those years of chasing perps finally paid off."

Olivia laughed. "Oh trust me, they got nothing on a toddler," she said. "Let's leave these dishes for now and go to the living room. I think we need to talk about a few things."

Alex was a little surprised at Olivia being so forthcoming about them talking. It was a bit of a change, but a good one. She got up and joined Olivia on the couch.

"Liv, I shouldn't have ignored you for those two weeks," Alex said before Olivia could say anything. "I don't really have a good excuse other than I was just...I don't know, hurting, I guess."

"Don't apologize," Olivia said. "I screwed up big time, mostly because of me not communicating with you."

"Well, I can be blamed for that, too," Alex said.

"Ok, so we haven't always communicated what we need and want well," Olivia said. "But I like to think I've grown a lot since then. And, I want you to know, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for breaking up with you. I'm sorry for not trusting you. But mostly, I want you to know that ... I care about you. I mean, I've loved you, Alex. And every time you walk into my life...well, things just seem right."

Alex smiled. "We've hurt each other a lot," she said. "I deserve a lot of that blame. But you're right; maybe we should stop the blame game. I think, hope, we can put it all behind us now that it's out and be friends."

Olivia silently cringed at the word friends. She and Alex hadn't been around each other a lot in recent years, but she didn't need to be to know exactly what she wanted - it was exactly what she wanted all those years ago.

"Actually..." Olivia took a deep breath, and thought back to Fin's words again, "I don't want to be friends."

"You..what?" Alex said. "I thought..."

Olivia reached out and took Alex's hand. "I don't want to you be your friend. God, Alex, I am terrified of everything you make me feel. But that's the problem...you make me feel things. I want us...I want to give us a real chance."

Alex remained quiet and stunned, actually.

"That is, if you'll have me," Olivia continued. "I guess I just feel like you should know. You know, say all the things that we rarely said before."

Alex stayed quiet and Olivia took it as a bad sign and began to ramble.

"I'm sorry...I made things weird. It's too soon, I shouldn't have..."

Alex leaned forward and kissed Olivia, stopping her mid-sentence.

"Yes," Alex said when they pulled away. A short, simple answer.

"Yes?"

"Yes," Alex said. "I want to try. I feel the same way. I want you."

"Just like that?" Olivia said. "You don't want me to grovel or anything?"

"Nope. It's not a good look on you, I've seen it," Alex teased. "Besides, as I said, I'd have my fair share. Let's just start from square one. Clean slate."

"A new beginning?" Olivia said.

"Yeah, I'd like that," Alex replied.

A/N 2: Don't be sad, but I'm going to end this here...because I plan to spin it off. But I wanted some finality to this story before doing that so I can set it up the way I want. So we can separate this from that case, and get to them navigating dating at their age and with a young child. I'll start it in the coming days, so stay tuned.

As always, your reviews are appreciated. Love it, hate it, have ideas? Let me know with a comment or on twitter -rileyclocks!