Title: Hello, Goodbye

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 Jack (and his family) have been created and developed for the sake of this AU series.

Summary: A shadow from Olivia's past shows up on her doorstep and offers the opportunity for her to take a very different direction in her life. This story exists outside of the universe that my other stories are happening in.

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. Most of the chapters will ultimately take place outside of the work environment, so there aren't going to be too many references to cases from the show. But this story would generally be starting in about Season 13/14 of the show. Please let me know what you think and if you distribute elsewhere.

"Hey, hey, Moms," Gecko greeted as they walked into the skate shop. "You bringing someone else to not spend money at my facility?"

Olivia just shook her head at him and rolled her eyes. "Where's Jack?" she asked. She couldn't see him over at the workshop counter at the back of the store where she'd found him on her previous visit to the shop.

Gecko just jutted his chin. "He's in back. You can go ahead. Don't be too hard on the fucker, ladies."

She gave Alex a little nod to follow her but the ADA looked about as perplexed by the shop as Olivia likely had on her first visit. Alex was glancing around amid the blaring music – clearly not sure what to make of the place. Olivia doubted she'd ever had reason to go into a skate shop before either – and was probably hoping she'd never have reason to again. But she finally made eye contact with her and Olivia gestured again for her to follow.

After they'd wandered to the back of the store and through the door in behind the workshop counter, they found Jack sitting on a counter top in the little break room that also looked like it was also serving as equipment storage space and an office. He had a half eaten apple in his one hand and a textbook in the other. Though the stereo wasn't going through the room – the blare of the music from the storefront was still echoing into the space.

"That your dinner?" Olivia asked and he glanced up at her and shrugged. She shook her head at him and rubbed at her eyebrow. "This is Alex Cabot," she gestured. "She's going to notarize the letter of designation for us."

"Well I haven't decided if I'm going to sign it yet," Jack told her with a clear edge to his voice.

"If you don't sign it – I'm well within my rights to take this to court now, Jack," she told him. "You can't just leave a child at someone's house. He's in complete limbo right now, especially if an emergency were to arise. If you don't sign it – I'm calling my lawyer and we're filing an emergency guardianship order tomorrow and I'm also going to have to call ACS."

Jack looked back to his textbook. "You've said that before. You haven't."

"You don't know that."

He shrugged. "You wouldn't still be threatening to do it, if you had."

Olivia sighed. So Alex took a step forward. "Jack, I'm a lawyer …"

"Her lawyer?" he demanded, his head snapping upright at that.

Alex shook her head. "No."

"Want to be my lawyer?"

Alex gave him a thin smile. "No, I don't. I'm here acting as a notary public, but if you want, I can go over this form with you, so you understand what's going on."

Jack shrugged. "I'm not signing it. So we don't need to go over it."

"Jack, I think maybe you should look it over," Alex advised. "Signing this form tonight would likely be easier for you and less emotionally and financially stressful than having to go through the courts."

"She can't make me sign it," he said again.

Olivia sighed. "OK, Jack," she looked at him, "I know you're struggling with the larger issues here. So let's take those off the table right now. This is not about the future. It's not about whether or not I'll get custody of Benji. This is about his immediate care. Right now – he is not in your care. He is in my care – and I need to have the ability to be able to care for him. You signing this form will provide me with the capacity to do that – for right now and for a specified period of time. That's what this is about."

"He's only in your care because you won't let me see him," Jack informed her.

"No, Jack, he is in my care because you left him on my doorstep, alone in the dark in the middle of the night."

He glared at her at that.

Alex pulled the document out of her briefcase and moved closer to him. "Why don't we just take a look at the form?" she said again and leaned against the counter next to him.

Jack glanced at it. "I thought you said it was a letter. That thing is a novel," he spat.

"It's a legal document," Alex told him. "It's really not that long and it's fairly basic. We can get through it quickly."

"Why's it say 'person in parental relationship'?" he demanded. "She's not his parent and she's not going to be."

Alex glanced up at Olivia, but she was shaking her head and examining the floor.

"The purpose of this legal agreement is to give Olivia the temporary designation of a parent to your nephew," Alex told Jack. "It will give her the ability to make what would be considered routine parental decisions. That's why it's labeled as a parental designation."

"She's not his parent," Jack stated again.

Alex ignored his repeated comment and just flipped a few pages in.

"This is the list of areas that Olivia will have the ability to make decisions regarding, to speak to professionals regarding, and to access documents and information about in relation to your nephew," she told Jack and stared running the top of her pen down the list for him. "So basically, it's his education and schooling, any medical issues and his health care, financial decisions around his care, and consenting to his participation in any activities that might require parental permission or a waiver.

"Olivia has also asked that some additional authorizations be added – so you can see those here," Alex said and tapped the pen against the hand-written clarifications. "So this clarifies that that the references to schooling include her ability to deal with his daycare and nursery school administrators and to make decisions there. It also provides her with the authorization to deal with having him enrolled in kindergarten in her school district."

"I know he needs to be enrolled in kindergarten," Jack spat out finally. "I'm not stupid. She doesn't need to do that."

"When's the enrollment period start, Jack?" Olivia asked him, looking up and meeting his eyes while he sat there and looked stumped and sputtering.

"It starts January 7th," she told him. "That's soon. It's coming up quickly. Do you have the documents you need ready to do that? Do you know what schools are in your district? Your zone? Do you know which school would be your first choice to have him enrolled in? Which schools you intend to rank as your second and third choices? If he doesn't get into those schools – do you really want him in just whichever school up there? There is one elementary school in my zone – and it's a good school. There is a reasonable chance he'll get admitted. Don't you think it makes more sense for me to deal with it?"

Jack offered no response and Alex went back to the document. "And this last addition, clarifies that for the mental health clause, she also has the ability to take him to a counselor or therapist – or a group session – in that realm. So basically, a qualified psychologist or social worker rather than just a psychiatrist."

"There is nothing wrong with Benji!" Jack blurted and glared at her. "You're going to make him feel fucked up."

Olivia let out a deep breath. "I do not think there is anything wrong with Benji," she said. "I do think that he's lost his mother and he's gone through a lot of change and confusion over the last several months. I think he MAY benefit from some form of counseling or therapy, Jack – with someone who knows how to talk to small children about these kinds of things. To give him an outlet to express some of his feelings and to ask questions. Just because he's four doesn't mean he isn't feeling very deeply about everything that is going on around him. Trust me – he really is."

"There is nothing wrong with him," Jack spat again.

"I do not think there is anything wrong with him," Olivia said again, "and I want to keep it that way."

"OK, Jack," Alex said, moving him along. "We can also add any clarifications or limitations here that you'd like to see included."

"She can't take him to the crazy doctors," Jack spat out. "You can strike that one out."

Alex nodded. "OK. Why don't you think about that for a few more minutes while we finish going over the rest of this – and we'll come back to it."

She flipped back to the first pages of the document. "So, Olivia has requested that this designation span the maximum six-month period. The designation can be revoked at any time with proper verbal, followed by written, notification and subsequent removal of the child."

"Like now?"

Alex ignored him. "And, you can see that the rest of the form has been filled out on your behalf. You'll likely want to look it over to make sure the information is correct. It's just your phone number and address – and confirming your name and age. We've got your nephew's name here as the child in question, and we'll need to fill in his exact birth date. When's that, Jack?"

"September what?" Olivia directed at him when he didn't respond to her friend.

Jack glared at her for several beats but then allowed, "Thirtieth."

Alex wrote it into the document. "OK. Then it identifies Olivia as the person you are temporarily entrusting your nephew's care to and are providing her with the parental designation. It confirms her age, phone number and address as well – should you need to reach her or have anyone else reach her on your behalf."

She flipped to the back of the document. "Then the rest of this lays out that during the duration of this designation, Olivia will have the ability to request, receive, review and have unlimited access to any records related to Benji – including confidential documentation – in terms of his health, financials, medical and personal-identifiable records."

"What's that even mean?" Jack groaned at her.

"It means she can request his previous health records, his birth certificate, information regarding his trust fund or any other monies that were left in his name."

"So it really means I'm making all of this easy for her to get what she needs to get what she wants?"

"Jack – there are all kinds of reasons that I may need a copy of his birth certificate. Enrolling him in kindergarten being one of them," she told him, starting to feel more than a little annoyed with him. "If something comes up – having access to his previous health records could become important. Beyond that, you're living in the city now – you should be finding him a doctor and having those records transferred here anyway. And, as for his finances – I really don't care. But I had offered previously to try to help you get access to some of that money now rather than waiting until you or him are 21. I'm really not after a four-year-old's money – if there even is any. Com'on. Stop being ridiculous."

Jack just glared at her some more.

"And, then, the last thing you should likely understand about this form is this final clause here," Alex said, pointing at the page for him. "It indicates that this designation can be renewed but provides the clarification that in that situation, long-term care providers should consider seeking a more permanent arrangement and that Olivia is within her rights to begin judicial proceedings to become Benji's legal guardian and to ask the court to determine his custody."

"So be signing this I'm basically just handing him over to her?"

"No," Alex told him sternly, "you are giving her the means to care for him for the next six months and you are acknowledging that because of that she has the right to seek a more permanent arrangement and for clarification around Benji's custody. That doesn't mean a judge would fall on her side."

"But it is opening the door in her favour?"

"I'm not here as a lawyer, Jack," Alex said, "and I don't practice family law. But I can tell you that you opened that door yourself the moment you left your nephew in her care."

Jack made a huffing sound. "Well, I'm not an idiot. I'm not signing something I haven't had a chance to read."

Olivia shook her head. "It's eight pages, Jack. Alex just went over it with you nearly clause-by-clause. But if you want to sit there and read it – we'll wait."

"I should likely have MY lawyer review it before I sign anything," he added back.

She snorted at that. "Your lawyer? OK, Jack. Let's put this another way – are you planning on coming and picking up Benji at some point soon? To take him home and care for him? Or are you planning on leaving him sitting at my apartment indefinitely?"

"You just said you were going to call ACS if I tried to come and get him," he shot back at her.

"I did. So are you planning on leaving him in my care? Or are you going to come and get him?"

He crossed his arms defiantly at that.

"I can't care for him properly, Jack, if you don't sign this document. Don't waste my time – or Alex's time. Sign the piece of paper."

"I'll tell my lawyer that you strong-armed me into signing this. That you threatened me," he told her.

She shrugged. "OK. You do that."

Alex held out a pen to Olivia. "OK, Liv, I'm going to need you to sign here," she told her, clearly trying to move things along for everyone.

She stepped forward and filled in the couple lines before signing and dating the form. Alex nodded and then notarized below it, adding her stamp to the piece of paper. She flipped back to where Jack needed to sign.

"OK, Jack, we've got two dotted-lines to get your signature on," she told him, offering him the pen.

He didn't take it and instead glared at Olivia more.

"Jack, we can argue about the rest of what I want later," she told him, "right now – this is 100 per cent about Benji and ensuring he is properly cared for for the next six months. That will take you through until the end of school too. Don't be an idoit. Take advantage of this. Sign the paper."

"Is this going to make it easier for her lawyer to get her Benji?" Jack demanded of Alex.

"I don't practice family law, Jack, and I'm not here to give legal advice – to either of you. I'm here to witness you signing the form. That's all."

"Is she paying you for this?" he spat at her.

She shook her head. "No."

"Do you know her?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"How?"

"We work together."

He looked back at Olivia. "You think just because you're a cop and just because you know lawyers you can do whatever you want."

She sighed. "No. I don't Jack. I really, really don't. That's not the way these things work. And, you know what? We could go through all of this – but the reality is, if you aren't on-board with this and you don't co-operate with me – there's a very real chance I won't get custody of Benji. But I think if you aren't on-board and you don't co-operate – it's not just me you're going to be hurting. You're hurting yourself and you're really going to hurt that little boy too. And, we still aren't talking about any of that right now. Right now – the only thing I'm concerned about is being able to take care of Benji while he is living with me. Right now – I can't do that properly, so I need you to sign this paperwork. Please, sign the document, Jack."

"I want to talk to you first – alone," he spat.

She shook her head. "Sign the document – and then Alex will go and get a copy made for you while we talk."

He sat glaring at her.

"OK. Jack – this is ridiculous. I have Benji in my home. I'm caring for him – and legally – my hands are tied. If even minor things come up at nursery school – I can't do anything. Right now, I don't even have any way to reach you if something did come up and a decision needed to be made immediately. I'm having to chase you around and call your boss to get your fucking schedule and hope you show up at work that day."

"Because you aren't his parent," Jack told her defiantly.

"Yes. Because I'm not his parent. But you have placed me in that role – and I need the ability to be able to do that."

"Or you could let me come and take him home."

"So you can lose control of the situation again? What happens the next time you can't deal with him, Jack? Where are you going to take him? How are you going to deal with it? You must be coming up on exams. Have you been able to bring your grades up? Finished your assignments? Do you have time to study?"

He glared at her.

She rubbed at her eyebrow. "I'm really sick of playing this game, Jack. Each step doesn't need to be a battle. The harder you make this – the more you're hurting yourself and the more you're hurting Benji. I deal with this kind of bullshit every day. You're pissing me off – but this game, this attitude – it's not me that's going to be hurting in the end."

He didn't answer.

She sighed. "OK," she shrugged. "Don't sign it. But as soon as I get out this door, I'm on the phone with my lawyer and the paperwork for an emergency order is going in tomorrow morning, Jack. I can't continue to do this and not have the ability to make decisions or legally take care of him. It's dangerous, it's irresponsible and it puts me in a horrible position." She gestured at Alex. "We're leaving."

They started moving towards the door but it finally prompted Jack to do what Olivia knew he was going to do anyway, which was what had made the battle that much more infuriating. "OK. I'll sign it," he said.

Olivia really had to pull everything together in herself to keep from outwardly showing how aggravated she was – to keep from shaking her head or rolling her eyes. So she kept her back to Jack for a moment while Alex returned with the paperwork and again showed him where to sign.

He considered the page for sometime. "Does it have to be for six months?" he asked quietly.

"Six-months is the maximum period allowed at a time for the designation," Alex told him. "If you went shorter, you'd have to keep renewing it. It's easier to take the maximum and to know you can revoke it at any time, should there be a reason to do that."

"It seems like a long time," Jack said. "He hasn't even been with me six months."

"Six months is the period of time that Olivia is requesting," Alex told him again.

"It can't be shorter?"

"It can be – but like I just explained – six months likely makes the most sense unless you have reason to believe you won't need her help caring for your nephew for that whole period."

"I can care for Benji," Jack said.

"That's really something for you and Olivia to discuss – or for you all to discuss with your lawyers."

"I can't afford a lawyer," Jack said quietly.

"If you're going to be challenging this, you can go to a legal aid office," Alex told him. "I'm sure there's some sort of clinic on campus as well."

Olivia turned around. "Jack – stop worrying about the big picture right now. This is just about the now. This doesn't determine the rest of it."

He sighed but finally put the pen to the paper and signed in the two places Alex pointed out for him, and she followed suit, signing, dating and putting her seal.

Olivia felt her heart skip a little as the signatures finally went into place. Relief washed over her and some more hope. She didn't want Jack to feel like he'd been played – but she hoped having him agree to the six-month period would work in her favour. She knew that all of this could still go badly – that it may end up not meaning anything or even being a real factor in the court's decision around her challenge. But it was a positive first step. And, now she was going to have Benji for six months. She had faith she could leverage that six months into giving him a forever home and for her to finally have a family. It could be really happening.

Alex glanced at Liv as she finished. "I'll go see if he can make some copies of this for us and wait out front," she said and headed out the door.

Olivia crossed her arms and looked at Jack, who was examining the floor. "Thank you," she said.

He gave a small nod.

"You wanted to talk?"

He shrugged.

She let out a small sigh and shook her head. "OK, Jack, we've played enough games for one night. You want to talk or you don't want to talk – but I'm not going to stand here and try to pry a conversation out of you."

"You said we could talk about when I could see Benji again," he said quietly.

She nodded. "OK." She stuck her hand into her jacket pocket and pulled out his abandoned phone. "Here. Us being able to communicate with each other is going to be a good step in that direction."

He took it and looked at it for a few moments like it was some kind of foreign object. "So when can I?" he finally asked.

She shrugged. "I'll start talking to him about that tonight and gauging his readiness to do that. Maybe this weekend."

Jack gave a small nod. "I miss him," he said quietly.

"I know. He misses you too. But he's still very scared that you hate him, that you're going to yell at him and that you're going to leave him somewhere alone. There's been waterworks every day so far this week dropping him off at nursery school, Jack. They've been calling my phone during the day to talk to him. He's crying when it starts to get dark and I haven't picked him up yet. So we're talking tears from about 4:30 on, Jack. He's exhausting himself. He's spent. He's likely over there in hysterics right now."

Jack hung his head more at that. "I … didn't mean … for that to happen … I just … couldn't …"

"I know Jack. But how you dealt with the situation is having its implications – on him and now on you. So I need some time to prepare him for a visit."

He nodded – and then bounced his heel on the back of the counter he was sitting on, like he was thinking.

"Is that it?" Olivia asked. "I want to go and pick him up. This has already taken longer than I wanted it to. Longer than it needed to."

Jack didn't make eye contact with her. He just kept looking at the ground. "That thing you mentioned yesterday. How's it work?"

She sighed. "What 'thing', Jack? We talked about lots of 'things' yesterday."

He was quiet again for an extended period. "You being guardian of me too. What's that mean?"

She sighed. He was driving her crazy. He had put on such a show and such a fight about signing the damn form. He wouldn't tell her if he was on-board in terms of Benji or not. He was challenging her every step of the way – but he wanted to know about this. And, she had to just go with the flow. Not let her frustration and anger with him show and try to work with him on this.

For the first time since being in the room, she pulled out one of the two chairs sitting at the small, cluttered table in the room. It didn't look like anyone actually used it to sit at. It was a flat surface to pile crap on. She sat.

"Come sit down, Jack," she said.

He glanced at her. "I am sitting."

She let out a breath and just left it. "OK. If I were your guardian, it would mean until your 21st birthday, I'd have parental responsibilities to you – similar to what talked about today with Benji."

"That's dumb. You can't be making decisions about my schooling and stuff."

She shook her head. "No. It's not like that. It's more … you could sign onto my health benefits at work, which is likely better than what you have right now. If something happened to you and you weren't able to make your own decisions while you were sick – if you were incapacitated in some way – I could make decisions for you. I could tell the doctors to go ahead with a surgery or an MRI or to give you a medication. Things like that. If you got into some sort of financial mess – I'd be financially responsible for you. I could be a guarantor for you on a loan or lease. I'd legally have your back for the next three years – until you're done university."

Jack stayed quiet and continued to examine the dirty floor.

"If that's something you're thinking about, Jack. We can schedule a meeting with my lawyer. We can go over and talk to him about it. He can explain more to you about how it would work – better than me."

He shrugged. "Maybe."

She nodded. "OK. Maybe. Have you decided if you're going to be working with me on Benji's custody or not?"

He shook his head.

She nodded again. "OK, Jack. You think about it a bit more – but know that I'm in the process of getting the paperwork together I need to file in court. This is happening with or without your support. And, it's happening soon. I'd still prefer for all three of us to be in this together. Hurting you is not part of my objective."

He allowed a small nod at that.

She watched him for a few minutes. He wasn't talking and his body language was still so sad and so stressed.

"How are you doing with your school work?" she asked.

He shrugged.

"You think you're going to manage to hold onto that scholarship?"

"I don't know," he said quietly.

"I think you should really be trying to focus on that right now," she told him.

He shrugged again.

She tapped on the table. "When I was looking into you, Jack, the press release from the university, about you being one of that year's honors students, it listed what you guys get at the school. Housing benefits were on the list. Do you have a room in residence? And you just couldn't live there because of Benji?"

Jack glanced over at her and actually briefly made eye contact. "Yeah," he said quietly.

She nodded. "Well, Benji's going to be with me until the end of the academic year now, Jack," she said. "Are you month-to-month with your apartment?" He barely nodded. "I think you should be typing up a letter for your landlord tonight – and dropping by there when you get home – and telling him you're moving out. Move back into residence. Save the money you're making here. Does your housing benefit include a meal plan?"

"Sort of. They give you a bit of money on your account at the beginning of the year. It doesn't go very far."

"OK. Well, if you get out of that apartment, you're going to have more money to buy into something like that, aren't you?"

He shrugged at her again.

"An apple is not dinner, Jack. How you're eating isn't helping you focus on your studies at all. You need to get some real food into you. Get out of that apartment. Get back into residence – and take advantage of that that means … free everything … laundry, phone, internet, cable, laundry. I've looked into the residence buildings there, Jack. They have a fitness centre, billiards rooms, study lounges, TV lounges. You must've had fun living there last year? I don't know why you aren't jumping at the opportunity to live there now. That's a huge money saver. It's a big deal. Your scholarship is a big deal. You being in the honors program is a big deal. The architecture school – urban planning and design – at City. It's all a big deal."

He just shrugged again. So she sighed.

"Jack, you wanting to hurt me is one thing. But you hurting yourself – that's another. Take advantage of these next six months. This is a big opportunity for you – you can focus on your studies now. Keep that scholarship. Find some time for fun. Act like a kid your age. Go play some pool. Go skate. Go to some parties. Take Gwen on a date."

"I'm not dating Gwen," he spat at her.

She looked at him. She'd clearly hit a sore spot – what, she wasn't quite sure. But she just nodded at him.

"OK, sweetheart. I didn't mean anything by it. She just seemed nice … and interested."

"Don't call my sweetheart either."

She looked at the table. "Sorry. I didn't even realize I said it."

He was quiet again.

"Do you have a mentor or advisor who follows your academic progress?" she asked. He allowed a small nod. "Are they talking to you about how this semester has been going for you?"

"Yeah," he near whispered.

"Are you listening to them? And any advice they're giving you?"

He shrugged.

"I hope you are." He still offered nothing. "Have you told anyone about what you've been dealing with this semester? What happened at home over the summer and the added responsibilities you've had this term?"

Another shrug.

"I think you should make that priority too. I don't know how much they'll be able to help you at this point – but if you've got people there who believe in you, and I suspect you do, they're going to try to help you and accommodate you as much as they can. They're going to wish you told them sooner about what's going on – so they could've helped you."

He still wasn't looking at her and wasn't talking.

She sighed. "OK, Jack," she said after giving him several more minutes of opportunity. "I'm going to get going. I'll be in touch. I think we'll start you out on the phone with Benji and work up to having a get-together. I think you should be prepared to offer him an apology and a lot of assurances – that you love him, that you don't hate him, and that you will NEVER do anything like that to him again. And, mean it, Jack. Really mean it.

"You call me too. Or text. Whatever you're most comfortable with. About any of this. About your decision. About if you want to come to one of the meetings with my lawyer with me. Or just to talk. OK?"

Still nothing.

She nodded and gave the table a bit of a sad look. She didn't know if she was getting through to him. She didn't know if she ever really would – if he'd ever be willing to drop some of the walls and really let her in.

"OK," she said and stood. She stepped towards him and gave his elbow a squeeze and a small rub on his back. He didn't jerk away at least. "I care about you, Jack," she told him quietly. "You aren't alone. Hang in there. I'll see you later."

He didn't say anything so she just left him to continue to sit and examine the floor.