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.
"I'm just saying getting to take a two week, paid vacation isn't the end of the world," Elliot said, as they wandered through the diner and claimed a vacant booth.
"Well, I don't remember you being too thrilled when you've been forced to take time either," she said, as she slid into the seat across the table from him.
"OK, it sucks to be ordered to take the time. But, com'on, it's really not that bad when you're off. Get some stuff done around the house, see the kids, get to spend some time with Kathy. It will be good for you too," he told her.
The waitress came over. She was used to seeing them. They were in at least once a week.
"What you two want today?" She asked.
"Reuben, fries," Elliot said. They hadn't even looked at the menu.
"Just bring me a salad," Olivia said, barely even glancing at their regular lunch hour waitress.
"Nah, no, no," Elliot said. "A salad is not angry conversation food. Eat something." She rolled her eyes at him. "Seriously, Liv. Order something. I never see you eat anything anymore. That's probably half the problem."
"The problem?" She raised an eyebrow at him.
"You need to take care of yourself. Nutrients. Order something."
She shook her head. "Whatever. Egg salad on rye."
"Fries?" Nancy asked at her.
"Just the sandwich."
The waitress disappeared to call out the order to the line cook.
"Look, if it's such a big deal, call the union guy. Contest it," he said, swirling the glass of water around that Nancy had left in front of him.
She just held up her hands. "No, I'm going to save that game for this other meeting about 'my future role' bullshit."
"Liv, Cragen's not going to sack you. You're worrying too much. You worked up an agreement with all the parties anyways when you had to take the time off. They just want to know where things are at. It's coming up on the year mark, isn't it? It's just like a review of the situation. He's probably got people breathing down his neck about what the hell is going on. He's just trying to get some clarity. He's not out to get you."
"Elliot, he suggested I wasn't doing my job."
He shrugged. "You have the records and the files to show you are. So don't worry. Go in there, say what you want – stay with SVU, leave SVU, Computer Crimes, leave of absence, registation, whatever. Let one of the union guys do the rest of the talking. Renegotiate some of compassionate leave agreement thing if you need to and that's that. Don't let yourself get all worked up about this. It's not worth it. You've got other shit to worry about."
"This is my job," she sighed. "I can't lose my job. I can't even explain to you what a disaster it would be right now if I lost this job."
"Liv, you aren't going to lose your job."
She sighed. She was running her fingers down the condensation on the glass.
"So what are you going to do with the time off?"
Nancy was already back and plopped the plates loudly down in front of them. They both nodded their thanks.
"You going to want something else to drink?" She asked.
"Yeah, can I get an iced tea?" Elliot said.
"I'm good," Liv just shook her head. "I don't know," she told Elliot. "I haven't really thought about it."
She looked at her sandwich. She didn't really feel like eating. But she saw Elliot watching her and she picked up half of it and took a bite to appease him.
"Didn't you say a while ago that one of the beneficiary programs offered you guys some time in that condo down south?" She nodded in response to his question. "You should think about that, if it's available. You know who did that? Wallace over in robbery. His family got some time down there after his kid was in that accident and had all that rehab. Remember that? He talked about it. Said it was nice. Right on the beach apparently. Can't go wrong – you just get hit up for the key deposit and the cleaning fee."
"And the cost of getting down there and food and anything else you do while you're down there," she added.
"I'm sure Will can help you cover that off," he kind of teased her but he got a really dirty look. "And you know there's other funding you could put in for to help out with some of that sort of thing, if it really is a problem. Make a Wish, Miracle Network, Cops and Kids."
"I don't need hand outs," she told him.
"OK," he nodded and took some more bites of his sandwich. She thought it looked disgusting. Cleaning up Noah's vomit for the better part of a year and watching him eat horrific combinations of food just to get him to ingest anything had really turned her appetite wrong. The more tired she got lately, the less interested she was in eating anyways.
"Will going to be able to take some of the time off too?" Elliot asked between bites.
She shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't really told him yet."
"You haven't really told him yet?"
"I just handed the form in this morning, Elliot."
"Yeah, but this has been back-and-forth going on for the better part of the week. You've been in Cragen's office for meetings with dad every day you've been in."
She sighed. "Will and I are having a failure to communicate right now."
His eyes were laughing at her. "A failure to communicate," he mouthed back to her.
"We're fighting," she admitted.
"What about?"
She gulped a mouthful of her water collecting her thoughts.
"The short version is that he thinks I'm mean to him," she said as she put the glass back down.
Elliot nodded. "Mmm, yeah. I can see that. You do have the tendency to slightly bitchy."
"Well, thanks, El," she glared at him but she could tell he was trying to be funny.
"What'd he really say?"
She thought about it some more, purposely taking another bite out of her lunch so she didn't have to respond right away.
"That I don't value his feelings about all of this and that I don't listen to his opinions," she said and pushed the plate a bit further away from her even though there was still half a sandwich on it. Elliot reached across the table and nudged it back towards her, clearly nodding 'eat' at it.
"So do you?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. Yes. No. It's hard. Noah is my son."
Elliot nodded. "Yeah, but it's not like Will is some new guy on the scene. That guy has been around forever. He must be some kind of record for you."
"Don't be an asshole, El," she warned.
"I'm just saying he's been around a while and involved with helping you raise Noah. You're living with him now. He likely just wants some input. Maybe kind of deserves it at this point in things?"
She sighed. "I know. It's just … complicated."
"He cares about you and Noah a lot, you know? That's pretty easy to see."
She nodded. "I know, El."
"So what's complicated?"
She shook her head at the table. "It just is. Aren't all relationships?"
His cell rang and he picked it up. "Stabler. Yeah. OK. She's with me. OK. We'll be there in about 10."
She looked at him as he hung up.
"Fin. They got a he-said, she-said there. Need us back to help with the interviews."
He pulled his wallet out. "I've got this," he said, tossing some bills on the table – as she slouched her coat back on.
