Title: Her Negotiation
Author: ZombieJazz
Fandom: Law & Order: SVU
Disclaimer: I don't own them. Law and Order SVU and its characters belong to Dick Wolf. The characters of Will (and his family) and Noah have been created and developed for the sake of this AU series.
Summary: What would happen if the Season 14/Season 15 finale and premiere were set in the AU of Liv/Will/Noah? Cragen sends Olivia home for a couple days after working the William Lewis case. She hasn't heard from her husband or son for several hours when she walks into their unusually quiet house.
The sergeant looked back to Noah as the door closed. The boy still wasn't looking at him – or much of anything.
"So your dad was pretty upset, huh?" Munch tried.
"He cried," Noah said quietly.
"He was likely pretty scared," Munch offered. Noah just gave him the faintest shrug. "It must've been pretty scary." The boy just shrugged again. "You're very brave, Noah. I would've been scared."
The boy glanced at him. "Mom cried too," he said. "Mom and Dad don't cry."
He gave the boy a thin, sad smile. "We all cry sometimes, Noah. Your mom was likely pretty worried about you. And, I think your dad is really worried about your mom now."
"Is she going to be OK, Uncle John?" he asked at a near whisper but this time met his eyes in a way that nearly pierced Munch's heart.
John still remembered those eyes in him when he was just a little baby. There was so much life and knowledge in the kid even then. Even as a newborn the kid had had to fight for life and had been put through the wringer. But it had always struck him had the boy had had his mother's eyes. Not that he'd ever spent much time gazing at Olivia's eyes. But he'd certainly noticed since the kid had been added to her life. There was a spark there that really couldn't be ignored. A take-on-the-world attitude – or attitude problem – that he supposed had served her well over the years and was somewhat appropriate that she passed on to the kid. Still, looking into those same eyes as his colleague's now was playing with his heartstrings. Noah's eyes were glassing with his own tears and it made him wonder what Olivia's eyes looked like in that moment.
"We're going to find her," he said.
He didn't think he could answer the question if she was going to be OK. He suspected that Noah already knew that answer. It depended on how you defined OK. Were him and Will OK? Well, they were alive. He hoped he could say the same for Olivia when they found her. But he doubted she was going to be OK. Whatever happened, though, whatever the outcome – he knew that they were going to find her and bring her home to her family. Hopefully almost all in one piece and not in a body bag. He knew that no one in the squad room would be sleeping until that happened. So he could at least promise Noah that. They'd find her.