Title: Undeserved
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: The bad hand Olivia's been dealt continues - this time with real implications for her son. She and Will, along with the help of her work colleagues, work at navigating the devastating news and the new developments it brings to their lives.
Author's Notes: This AU series is for SVU fans and readers who want Olivia to have something that resembles a more normal life outside of work and a family of her own - hopefully somewhat realistically within the canon of SVU. Her relationship with Elliot is that of partner and protective older brother and colleague. It won't devolve from that - they aren't ever going to get together in this series. If you're an E/O shipper, you likely won't enjoy these stories. The timeline is a little loose and since most of the stories ultimately takes place outside of the work environment, there aren't too many references to cases from the show. But this series would generally be starting in about Season 12/13 of the show. It assumes Elliot hasn't left SVU yet. Please let me know what you think and if you distribute elsewhere.
They'd been laying in his bed – not talking, just cuddling for about half an hour at that point.
It had been a nice date.
She'd decided to play along and she was glad she had.
She'd stood in front of her closet contemplating what to wear for longer than she wanted to admit. She'd wanted to look nice for him – something else she wasn't sure she wanted to admit to herself. She'd eventually picked a strappy green dress that she almost felt might be too inappropriately low-cut anymore for someone at her age and stage. She had bought it ages ago and had never had reason to wear. But after she'd put it on, she had decided it would do the job and she'd then dug through the shoes that had been pushed to the back of her closet, behind her work boots and runners. She had found a pair that she thought she could pull off with the outfit. She had had to be careful about what she picked. Will barely had three inches on her and she didn't want to be anywhere near towering over him. Beyond that, even with picking a mid-heel, she wasn't sure she could remember how to ride the subway in them. With that out of the way, she'd then even taken the time to really do her make-up – something she'd basically given up on anymore – and put in some simple, gold hoop earrings and a small locket necklace, that had been "from" Noah via Will the previous Christmas.
Will had made several comments during the night about just how attractive she looked, and although it felt nice to have a man looking at her that way, she was really just happy to not look like a Mommy who'd spent the last several months going through the tumble cycle in the dryer.
He'd taken her to see Harvey. He'd selected the show mostly based on its star and as a joke – she often teased him that their interactions at times made her feel like she was living in an episode of the Big Bang Theory. But it was a revival of a Pulitzer Prize winning play and it had them both laughing throughout, which she thought was about the best medicine they could want.
They had left Noah with Will's oldest brother Rob and his wife. Though Olivia felt a little bad, if not borderline ridiculous, having them come all the way in from Staten Island to babysit, she'd agreed to the arrangement. Karen had been working as a school nurse for nearly 20 years and they'd both managed to raise five kids without killing any of them. She figured that had to count for something. Still, she'd been nervous about it and half-ways expected to get a phone call reporting disaster. But there'd been no messages on the phone when she anxiously checked it at intermission and when she checked again as they were leaving the theatre, there had only been a couple texts from Elliot – one reminding her to bring back paperwork she'd accidentally left with and the other teasing her about how her big date was going. So she finally managed to relax a bit – knowing that Noah was likely long asleep at that point and hopefully he wouldn't be too much trouble with getting up and down until they got home.
Will had surprised her again when he urged her to keep walking with him past the 57th St. – 7th Ave. subway stop. He'd just told her that he'd made a reservation somewhere and refused to let on where. Her mind had been clicking about what was around there that wouldn't be overrun with tourists on a Saturday night in the summer. Even as they got closer to their destination, it hadn't clicked until he held the door open for her that they were going to the Russian Tea Room.
It was somewhere she'd never been before but had always wanted to – just that curiosity about what really was inside the dining room that had become a New York institution. She couldn't remember having ever mentioned anything about it to Will – figuring it was something he'd laugh at and probably tease her about endlessly – but he insisted she had brought it up some time ago. She was actually touched that it was something he'd remembered and thought of for that night.
They'd paid a ridiculous price tag to do a vodka and caviar tasting and had then shared a chocolate micuit that had tasted so good she'd seriously contemplated telling him to pick something else off the menu for himself because she wasn't going to let him have another bite.
For what the bill was, she knew that they should've stayed longer and enjoyed the ornate-ness of the place, along the quietness of the dining room and the attentiveness of the staff. But Will had been being charming with his small talk – they'd agreed to not talk about Noah, cancer or work that night – and his eyes kept dancing at her, like he was so happy and excited to be sitting next to her. She'd leaned over and kissed him. He'd tasted of the vodka and caviar and dessert – so good – and shortly after that, it was her who'd suggested they go back to his apartment. He'd teased her about putting out on their first date but he didn't take much convincing.
She felt a little silly having to walk by her place to get into his. She almost expected that Noah would sense they were there or that Rob and Karen would hear them in the hall and come to the door – and their date would come to a screeching halt. But that hadn't happened and they'd gotten inside his door without incident.
His place had a distinctly unlived-in feel to it anymore and she thought he'd left the air conditioning a little low – it was cold. But she may have just gotten used to having her apartment a little warmer for Noah who seemed to get chilled so easily. Either way, she didn't have much time to think about it. They barely had the door closed before they started kissing and working at getting each other's clothes off.
They'd both needed to stop and remind each other at various points that they had time and privacy and could slow down. They'd been working on making up for lost time in the sex department – at least on the few nights where they didn't completely collapse into bed in utter exhaustion. But with never knowing when Noah was going to be up and needing them – everything had seemed rushed and distracted. And nearly as soon as they finished, they'd be jumping up to get dressed again for fear of him walking in – if they'd even bothered to take off all their clothes, which rarely happened.
It had been nice to slow it down and actually get to enjoy each other and get to know each other's bodies a bit better in something that wasn't a frenzied quickie. She'd almost been surprised at just how good the sex had been when they were both being more attentive to the other's wants and needs.
She would've liked to lay there for the rest of the night – maybe get another round in before morning. His skin felt so soft and warm under her. She'd wrapped her arms around him and had her head resting in the middle of his chest. If it wasn't for his hand still drawing lazy circles on her tailbone, his breathing had become so shallow and his heart rate so slow, she would've thought he was asleep. But it was getting late and they'd put a self-imposed curfew on themselves of 2 a.m.
"We should likely start thinking about heading back next door," she said quietly.
She felt his head move, looking at the clock on the bedside table. It was 1:50 a.m.
"Mmm, we have some time," he said.
"We need to get dressed and to try not to look quite as sexed," she told him.
She knew that they just reeked of sex at the moment. Even if they did get up and put their date outfits back on – both of their hair was a sex-tousled mess and she didn't want to think about what her make-up looked like. They definitely weren't going to look like when they left when they walked back in to the apartment to relieve Rob and Karen. It was going to be obvious that they hadn't spent the whole night out on the town.
Will groaned a bit and shifted to sit up. "What's the point? They're going to know. We're all grown-ups. I'm not putting my suit back on to walk down the hall and just collapse into a different bed."
She smiled as he got out of bed, still buck naked. "Well, you can't go down the hall like that," she told him.
"Whatever, give them something to talk about on the drive home." He shot her a smile. "I'm putting on boxers and a tee."
"And jeans," she told him.
He made a 'meh' sound. "Do you want something or are you going to put your dress back on? Or do you want me to go and get rid of them before you come back over?"
She laughed. "And act like a blushing schoolgirl so embarrassed about my indiscretion that I can't make eye contact with the adults?"
"Something like that," he said, and handed her one of his tshirts and a pair of sweats with a drawstring, but they'd still likely be way too big on her frame.
"Thanks."
She pulled the shirt over her head. She didn't even bother looking for her bra – she thought it might've come off while they were still in the living room. They could deal with cleaning up the trail to the bedroom in the morning.
She watched him for a minute – adjusting himself into his jeans.
"I had a really nice time tonight, Will," she told him, kind of embarrassed – likely because of her initial reaction to his suggestion they even go on a date. "Thank you for inviting me."
He glanced at her as he finished buttoning his fly. "Thank you for coming," he said.
She wasn't sure if he was making a double entendre or not. So she just responded with, "I'm glad I did."
He gave her smile and leaned in to give her a small kiss. "I am too."
"Anyways, come on," he said, "let's go and see if we can get rid of them while keeping out dignity intake and not looking like two teenagers caught in the act."
She got up and pulled the drawstring on the pants as tight as they could go before tying them. She was still going to have to be conscious of the waist – she wasn't sure if it was going to stay up when she started to move.
"Rob won't ever let us live this down will he?"
"Not likely."
She laughed and shook her head. "OK, let's go get this over with."
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