Disclaimer: Dick Wolf owns Law and Order SVU and the characters. I only own this idea for the story and the new characters.

Chapter 11: Guardian angel

'Olivia?' Hannah was tugging on Olivia's sleeve. She'd been watching TV upstairs quietly for hours. The only sounds coming from the lounge were the intro of Jackass and a lot of Tom & Jerry-like squeals from some cartoon. Olivia had to get some work done she hadn't finished yet, from previous cases.

'What is it, babe?' She said looking up.

'Where am I gonna sleep tonight?' She looked scared.

'Uhm...' Olivia turned in her chair and took Hannah's hands. She had dreaded this moment.

Hannah didn't need to hear it, she understood. 'You're gonna send me to a shelter, aren't you.'

'I'm afraid we have no choice.'

'Don't expect me to stay there!' She pulled her hands free defiantly.

Olivia felt so helpless. 'Please, honey, it's only for the night. Don't run away. I really need your help here in the morning.' Olivia tried.

'Why would I help you? You're dumping me now, right, why do you expect me to not do the same thing?' That one stung and Olivia felt breathless. Elliot looked at them from the other side of the desk, he didn't know what to say either.

'Actually, I might have the solution.' Cragen popped up behind them. 'I've spoken to the judge at Family Court, where you'll be tried, Hannah, and they also need to decide where you'll stay, now and after the trial.'

Hannah felt like her head was about to explode. So many things were going on at the same time. She felt like she couldn't keep up.

'And the Judge told me that because of her age and situation, 'Cragen continued, looking at Elliot and Olivia, 'she can stay under the supervision of a Detective on the case, until the trial.'

'She can stay with me.' Olivia said immediatly. 'I mean,' she said, directed to Elliot, 'you already have a house filled with kids, and Kathy doesn't even know her, a-and... Well, only if you want to, Hannah.'

'Sure.' Hannah tried to sound as if she didn't care, she tried not to be hopeful, but inside she was doing backflips of excitement.

'Can we go now?' She said, impatiently. 'I wanna see your crib.'

Olivia smiled and looked down, 'It's just an apartment, but yeah, we should go, it's getting late.' She looked at Elliot for approval and he nodded.

'Go,' he said, 'How many times haven't you covered for me when something was wrong with my kids.'

Olivia smiled a thank you 'Goodnight, Elliot.'

'You too, and hey, kid,' Elliot stopped Hannah, 'Behave.' he said with a wink.

'Always.' she replied, arrogantly. Elliot chuckled and focused on his paperwork again.

They pulled up to Olivia's place a little bit later.

'Have you ever been to this part of town before?' Olivia asked her.

Hannah shrugged, 'Yeah, I used to sleep in porches here sometimes. Because it's not too dangerous over here, you know, but not fancy enough to have some fucking doorman throwing you out.'

Olivia nodded, 'Well, now you'll get to see one of the apartments from the inside.'

As they were walking up the stairs Olivia warned her. 'Just so you know, it's a mess and kinda small too.'

'It has a roof, right?' Olivia thought she was joking, 'So that's all I need.' But realized with a shock that this girl was absolutely serious.

'Where else do you usually sleep?' Olivia had noticed that if she asked her about serious things on a random moment, without too much pressure, Hannah was more willing to talk to her about it.

'At the hotel, Devil's Paradise, in the porches, in old warehouses or factories, sometimes I get myself locked in in stores, stuff like that. In the summer it's a lot easier. I sleep at Central park or in some alley or under a bridge...I spend a lot of time on the roofs, move like that or sleep there.' Hannah talked freely now, she didn't see why any of this could be shocking.

'You ever get scared?' She said carefully. Hannah didn't answer that question though. Still having to act tough, Olivia thought.

When they walked into the apartment, Hannah's mouth fell open. She walked around, touching the furniture and opening random drawers.

'You live in a palace.' She whispered in awe.

Olivia couldn't believe what she just heard. She looked around her apartment: a small kitchen, a living room with a couch and TV, a bedroom with her old double bed and a tiny bathroom about the size of her shower. Then there was this little room she kept as storage. She hoped Hannah wouldn't open that door, that would certainly burst her bubble, it was a mess in there.

'Why...' Olivia stumbled, 'would you call this a palace?'

'I dunno,' Hannah had wandered into the bedroom by now, 'everything's so clean...'

She took up a picture frame. 'Is that your mom?'

'Yeah..' Olivia said, again trying really hard not to think. She tried not to think about when she was around Hannah's age. She tried not to think about wandering around her mother's bedroom. She tried not to think... too late...

'What are you doing in here?'

Nine year old Olivia spun around and faced her mothers latest boyfriend.

'I- I didn't do anything' she said in a small voice.

'I think your mother told you not to come in here..' he said to her, threateningly.

Olivia could only nod.

Then he turned around to see where Serena was, and when he saw that she was out of sight, he slapped the girl hard in the face.

Olivia bit her lip and bit back the tears.

'You better not say a word to your mommy, who knows what might happen...'

'Hey, are you okay?' Hannah looked worried. Olivia's silence made her insecure.

'You want me to leave?' She said quickly.

With a shock Olivia came back to planet earth. 'No, baby, no, I don't want you to leave.' She leaned against the doorway of her bedroom. 'I'll tell you what I do want though, ' With a twinkle in her eyes she continued, 'Ice cream!'

She made a dash for her kitchen and Hannah ran straight after her.

'Wait!' Olivia stopped before the fridge, blocking the way and looking at Hannah with fake seriousness, 'How do I know you're not gonna eat my complete stash of ice cream during the night?'

'You don't!' Hannah quickly grabbed a pint of Ben & Jerry's and tried to get away.

Olivia scooped her up almost immediatly, 'Nice try, kiddo.' She dumped the little girl on the couch and gave her a spoon.

As they were both eating out of the bucket of ice-cream, they talked about a lot of different things.

Apparently, Hannah liked ice-hockey as well, but hated football. She said she was a great poker player, Olivia believed her at once, but had never heard of games like Monopoly or Cluedo. She couldn't ride a bike, but she had a hell of a right hook. Yeah, Olivia thought, ask Elliot. She loved Tom & Jerry, but had never watched TV sitting down quietly, she always watched through someone else's window. She liked the colour red, the singer p!nk, dogs, pizza and beating boys at sports. Also, she thought most girls were weird.

Olivia was surprised at how easy it was to talk to this girl now. The girl who had fought her, yelled at her and stonewalled her like a professional. And, she was surprised at how easily she let herself relax around this girl. It almost seemed natural.

So, half a pint of ice-cream later Hannah knew that Olivia didn't like football either, only football players. She'd love the challenge of playing poker with her, although she didn't like the idea of Hannah playing for money. Olivia had a mean uppercut, that she'd promised to teach her. Poor Elliot. Olivia liked the colour blue, the taste of wine, the smell of rain and of course, pizza. What they agreed on most though, was that girls really are weird.

After Hannah had already fallen asleep, Olivia realized that she only had one bed. Guess she'd have to sleep on the couch, but that wouldn't be the first time. Hannah was wearing one of Olivia's old oversized t-shirts from the police academy as pyjama's. She tucked Hannah in and thought, it doesn't matter what anyone says, this girl looks like a little angel right now.

As she was walking away, she saw from the corner of her eye that Hannah was moving. All of a sudden, she shot up.

'Liv?'

'I'm here, sweetie.'

'Where are you going?' Hannah's eyes shot across the room feverishly.

Olivia sat next to her on the bed as she lay the little girl back down.

'You want me to stay?'

Hannah nodded. 'Yeah, you can sleep here, if you want.'

If I want... Olivia laughed to herself at Hannah's ability to always make it sound as though you were the one calling the shots. Olivia went in to the other room to change and when she came back, Hannah was curled up into a ball, but looking quite comfortable.

'Are you asleep?' Olivia asked as she turned off the lights and slid under the covers.

'Yes' Hannah whispered, as she moved a little bit to get closer to Olivia.

Olivia chuckled, 'Goodnight then.' she whispered back.

Much love to all my devoted readers :)