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This was the last thing that she expected. Yes, he was her partner for twelve years, but she couldn't understand why she was Don's first phone call. Unless, something was really wrong with him. Her mouth went dry at the thought of what could possibly be wrong with him. "Is he okay?"

"I don't know. I just got the call before I called you."

She wasn't going to let this affect her vacation. Elliot hadn't cared enough about her well-being, so why should she care about his after all this time? Olivia took a deep breath before she spoke in a dry tone. "Well, call me when you find out. I'm on vacation with my family." She couldn't allow herself to be taken back into that mindset after Elliot left. His departure did more harm to her than she allowed people to believe.

That wasn't the reaction Cragen was expecting, but he respected it. He probably would have acted the same way after four years. "Will do." He simply said before hanging up.

She walked back to the table with a fake smile on her face. She wasn't going to let this change her mood, she couldn't. Brian and the kids deserved all of her attention.

"Everything okay?" Brian asked. He saw right through her facade. He knew whoever had just called her did not give her good news.

"Yup. Just peachy." She said sitting down not making eye contact with him.

Calvin could sense the slight tension, so he decided to change the subject. "Hey, mom, Abby and her parents want to have dinner with us tonight. Is that okay?"

Olivia relaxed at the sound of being called Mom. She was hoping it was something that would last. "That's fine. Are they coming over or are we going over there?"

"They want to cook for us. Her dad is this big time chef in the city."

"Sounds great. We'll be over there. So, you and Abby must be really serious." She said taking a bite into her eggs.

He shrugged while stabbing his pancakes with his fork. "I guess you can call it that. I think she just sees me as a friend." Calvin liked Abby a lot, and even after their "date", he wasn't so sure of her feelings.

"That's not what Jade said." Brian smirked. Despite Jade only being two and a half, she was quite vocal about Calvin's actions.

Calvin's face immediately turned beet red as he thought about last night and looked over at Jade who was smiling innocently. "It was just one kiss. I don't know. She's giving me a lot of mixed signals, plus every boy at school likes her, so I don't know why she would pick me."

"Hey, don't down yourself like that. You're a cool kid, and she obviously sees something in you if you're meeting the parents." Brian tried to make him feel better about the situation. "Plus, you're young. You have the rest of your life to worry about girls."

Olivia nodded in agreement. Calvin was growing up so fast, and she didn't know how to handle it. "Exactly. Girls are going to come and go. Worry about things that really matter."

"Yeah, I know. School and soccer comes first, but, it's still summer, and I'm doing neither. Which means..."

"Calvin." Olivia said in warning tone, yet with a smile on her face.

He smirked. "You know I can't stay young forever, mom."

"You're right, but I would like to savor every moment before that happens."


"He's been calling you mom a lot more lately." Brian said as they were getting ready to go to the boardwalk for the day. He knew how much being a parent meant to Olivia and knew just how much it meant to her to be called mom.

"I know." She said with raw emotion in her voice. Besides being a detective, all she ever wanted to be was a mother, and now she is. "And he's doing it because he wants to, not because he has to, or because I'm the only mother he knows."

Brian heard her tone change and looked over at her. She was sitting on the bed playing with her hands in her lap, while looking out at the beach. "You okay?"

She turned to look at him with a soft smile on her face. "Some years back, I was denied adoption. I work crazy hours, I was single, and didn't have any family. The job was the love of my life, so I knew adoption would be the only way for me to have kids. If you would have told me then that I would be a mother, in relationship with a great man that has the cutest daughter, I would have laughed in your face. I didn't think I could balance having a family I always dreamed of, and still being a great detective, but here I am."

Brian was more than happy to be apart of Olivia's dream life. They had been together for a few months, but with every day that went past, he was falling more and more for her. "And it's going to stay this way. I promise."

"As much as I would love to believe that, my happiness doesn't stay around for too long."

"Calvin?"

She lightly chuckled, not because his statement was funny, but because he was slowly marching into dangerous territory. "God, I still can't believe the things I had to do to adopt him. He almost wasn't mine. But you're right. He's the only long-lasting happiness in my life, and I'm okay with that." Olivia was never the type of person to put all her eggs in one basket, except when it came to Calvin. Of course she loved Brian and Jade, but due to her past, she couldn't believe that only after a few months that he would be sticking around for good.

And now Brian was curious. Calvin had told him that Olivia had almost lost her job trying to adopt him, but now it sounded like more went on. "Care to share?" He asked in a tone that told Olivia if she said no that would be okay.

Olivia wanted to tell him everything because he told her about Jade's mom, but she was afraid of what he would think of her. "Maybe another time." She said in a voice that had a hint of fear in it.

"Liv, as a parent, there are unspeakable things I would do to protect Jade. Don't think I would think any less of you." He said trying to comfort her, but he knew better. If Olivia didn't want to talk about it, it wouldn't get talked about.

"I know you wouldn't, but I still do." She said in a low voice. For months after the adoption she couldn't stand looking in the mirror at herself, but she would then look at Calvin and see that everything was worth it. No one knew what she did to get Calvin back except her lawyer, and it was his idea. She felt disgusting about it, but knew if she didn't do it, Calvin wouldn't have been able to be hers.

So many things ran through Brian head as what Olivia could have possible did to save Calvin from going into the system, some that scared him. Olivia always told him enough to kinda of satisfy, but always left him wanting more. He understood her hesitation with talking about her feelings, but he was more than open with her, and sometimes he would like the same respect. "Okay." He leaned over and kissed her forehead. He left it at that. "So, the phone call earlier..." He slightly paused to meet her eyes. "Is that something you want to talk about?"

"My ex-partner is in the hospital. I don't know how serious it is, and as much as I shouldn't care, I do, but not as much as I would have cared four years ago." He was still in dangerous in territory asking about Elliot, but this is a conversation she could have without hating herself by the end of it. It took her a long time to realize it, but she wasn't the reason that Elliot couldn't face her after the shooting.

That wasn't the answer he expected. He chuckled nervously. "I feel like there's another story behind this." Another story that he probably wouldn't get to hear about.

"It is. If he's still there when we leave, then maybe I'll go check on him, but I'm not going to ruin our vacation for someone that doesn't care about me."

Now Brian being an ex-cop knew a thing or two about partners, and the one thing that was the most important in the partnership was that you guys cared for each other and had each other backs no matter what. "If you were partners, I highly doubt that he doesn't care."

"Partners don't just leave without a word, and the first time you hear anything about them in four years is that they're in the hospital, and you're suppose to rush to their side? I don't think so." She said it in a tone that told Brian to stop asking about it before he ruins the mood.

And Brian being Brian, he picked up on her change of tone. "You're right, but I still think it wouldn't hurt to check up on his condition. From your reaction, I can tell you did care about him." This was the first time he was hearing about this partner, and again he was curious as to what the backstory was about that.

"Sometimes that's not enough."


"So, Olivia, Calvin told us that you're a cop." Rachel, Abby's mother said trying to spark a conversation while they waited on dinner to be finished.

"A detective." Olivia corrected her. "I've been an SVU detective for almost two decades."

"Impressive. How is it, if you don't mind me asking?"

Olivia shifted in her seat and cleared her throat. She was already getting a bad vibe from Rachel, and it didn't help that Elliot was still on her mind. Olivia considered herself very prideful, and that is the reason that she hasn't checked up on him. She had a hard time swallowing her pride, and told herself that if Elliot really wanted to see her, he would have done so already.

"It's challenging. I see some of the worse of the worse, and we don't catch every perp, or win every case. However, I wouldn't want to do any other job." She said beaming a little. No matter what she dealt with on a day to day basis, Olivia truly did feel like she had the best job in the world.

Rachel nodded. "I'm glad we have people like you protecting and serving. It makes me feel a little safer."

Olivia gave her a fake smile. "Thank you. Your career?"

"A stay-at-home mom." She said smiling.

"That's great. Abby is the only child?"

"Yes, we only wanted one to be able to give her our undivided attention."

Olivia couldn't understand why people would only want one child. She hated being the only child. Having her mother's undivided attention was the problem.

Brian could sense that Olivia was still on edge from earlier the way she was answering and asking questions. "So, how long has your husband been a cook?" He interjected so that Olivia could take a breather.

Olivia looked over at Brian and gave him a thank you smile as she leaned back into the couch.

He placed his hand on her thigh and smiled back, before looking back at Rachel for her answer.

"Since before I met him, so well over twenty years. It's lovely eating something new and different all the time."

"There has to be some recipe he's come home with that just wasn't your favorite."

"Oh, absolutely! Abby and I are his little lab rats. This one time, he wanted a new pot pie recipe and he just threw in a little bit of everything, and I almost divorced him after that." She said chuckling.


"So, what do you think?" Calvin asked when they got back home from dinner. He really liked Abby, and the last thing he wanted was for Olivia not to like her or her parents.

Olivia could see the hope in Calvin's eyes and she couldn't bring herself to say anything bad. It wasn't a bad experience, the food was great and Abby's father was nice. It was just something about her mother that rubbed her the wrong way. "They are very nice people, and they seem respectful. The food was delicious, also. I'm okay with you being around them, but do not expect me to be able to cook anything her dad does." She said with a smile.

His eyes lit up and he had a huge grin on his face. "Thank you, mom." He said pulling her into an extremely tight hug.

She was a little surprised, but hugged him back. "As long as you're happy, I'm happy." She said resting her chin on his head. "I love you."

"I love you, too, mom." He said so nonchalant and carefree. Calvin saw how much Olivia enjoyed being called mom, so he decided that it was time he started calling her that all the time.

Olivia pulled away and looked at him. "You know you don't have to call me that?" It's not like him calling her mom made her uncomfortable, but she didn't want him to think he had to call him that despite her being his mom.

"I know, but you are my mom, just like Vivian. I have two moms." He said with a smile on his face to show Olivia that he was perfectly fine with calling her that.

Olivia couldn't remember a time where she was happier, besides the day Calvin became legally hers. Being a mother was her favorite thing to do and she couldn't believe she had such a great son. "You know you're a great kid?" She said beaming. He wasn't biologically hers, but like he said, she's his mom just as much as Vivian is.

"And you're a great mom."


"So, she's not coming to see me?" Elliot asked.

"I'm afraid not. You're not on your death bed, so no. You hurt her." Cragen said. He knew if it was a life or death situation, Olivia would have already been here, but not only has it been years since they've seen or talked to each other, but she had moved on.

That was understandable. He couldn't be upset at her, but a little part of him wished she would swallow her pride and stop being so stubborn. "At least give her my new number."

He nodded. "I will pass on the information, but don't hold your breath waiting for her to reach out to you."

"Yeah, I know, but hopefully she understands my reasoning."


So, wtf did Olivia do to get Calvin?