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.

Olivia crawled out from under the blankets and cushions of the fort her living room had been transformed into.

If someone had told her two months ago that she'd on a Saturday in the not-too-distant future she'd be gathering all the clean linen in her house, moving around her living room furniture, dining table chairs and island stools – and then devising ways to make a fort that meet a four-year-olds coolness factor, followed by crawling around on the floor to get inside it and play with him – she probably wouldn't have quite believed them. But that's exactly what her Saturday had looked like so far. They'd managed to determine that both foxes and dragons lived in dens. So they weren't technically in a fort – they were in a den. And, if Benji had his way, they'd be staying in the den all day.

"'Livia it not time to go yet!" he protested as she worked at getting up to go and see who has pushing on the buzzer.

She wasn't sure who it was – but she hoped it wasn't Jack. They'd agreed they'd get together at the story-time and craft-time at the library the next day. If Benji managed not to freak out about the visit – they'd go for lunch and then maybe the park or a visit at the apartment. She really hoped that Jack was respecting the set-upon plan and not aiming to derail things when they'd managed to make progress with him and Benji over the phone.

"I'm just seeing who's at the door, Benj," she assured him. "I'll be right back."

She pushed the intercom button in. "Hello?"

"It's Alex. Let me up."

She made a face at the intercom but pushed the button to buzz her in. Alex two weekends in a row? That was out of character for her. Really the only time they got together outside of work was something bookended with work – lunch, a drink, a coffee, dinner. Really getting together outside of the office only happened maybe every few months and was almost always planned in advance – not random phone calls or drop-ins.

"'Livia come back," Benji called at her – having now stuck his head out of one of the little passages made out of two narrowly-balancing cushions from the couch. It was really only big enough for him to scoot in-and-out of, though he seemed convinced she should be able to contort herself enough to get through it without causing the entire fort to crash down around them. They'd reached a compromise of creating a second passage for her with the two chairs from the dining table instead.

"Alex is coming up," she told him, "and the cookies are almost done. I'll come back after that."

"Cookies?"

"Will come out of the oven in a few minutes but then they need time to cool, Benj. So a while yet."

He growled at her – she wasn't sure if it was a fox growl or a dragon growl – and disappeared back under the tent of blankets.

Olivia moved over to the door and popped it open just as Alex knocked on it.

"Hey?" she greeted her questioningly but let her in.

"Hey," Alex nodded and wandered inside.

Olivia wasn't sure of the purpose of the visit so she made no move to offer to take her coat or anything else. Beyond that – Alex had been at her place often enough to know there were hooks by the door and where the closet was, if she did intend to stay. Olivia didn't really excel at playing hostess anyway.

"What's up?" Liv asked as she moved back towards the kitchen, readying herself to pull the peanut butter M+M cookies from the oven when the timer went off.

Alex shrugged and followed after her. "Nothing. Just checking on you. You seemed … a little overwhelmed the other night."

Olivia snorted and shook her head. "Just tired. All things Jack-related seem to wreck havoc on my blood pressure."

Alex shot her a small smile but had clearly turned her attention to the mass of blankets that had taken up occupancy in her living room. "Can cope with rapists and pedophiles but not a snotty teenager?"

"He's particularly snotty," Olivia allowed.

"Oh, I thought he was delightful," Alex teased her. "What are you two up to?"

"Hanging out," Olivia allowed. "Making forts and cookies."

Alex shook her head at her. "Aren't you becoming all domesticated?"

She rolled her eyes at that. Benji had crawled back out to peak at them and Alex spotted him.

"Hello Benjamin," she called at him, clearly with a tease to her voice.

He purposefully pushed the draped blanket up on the top of his forehead just using his head so she could catch full sight of his face – and then blew another farting raspberry in her direction.

"Mmm," she allowed and looked back at Liv. "Still working on those manners?"

"I think he likes you," she told her.

Alex nodded. "Yeah. I definitely get that impression."

She dug around in her oversized purse for a moment and pulled out something that Olivia quickly recognized as a shirt. "Here, I got something for you," Alex said as spread it out on the island counter for her to take a look at. Olivia eyed it for a moment. "Well, it's for him," she allowed, "but it's more for you. It meets his green and blue requirement."

Olivia snorted at that. "It does meet the green and blue requirement," she agreed. She gave the shirt a small smile, though a little sad. It had 'My Mom is outta your league' plastered across the front of it.

"You're going to get him Liv," Alex assured her after Olivia had gazed at it for several seconds but said nothing more. "You need to calm down about it. You can't be this stressed about the whole thing for the next however many months. It's not going to be good for any of you if you are."

"Arrr," she sighed and shook her head, shrugging in the process.

She just didn't know. She believed it –but she didn't. She still really felt that this could all just fall apart at any time- kind of like the precarious fort in her living room. One false move and the thing was just going to collapse around Benji.

"You're out of Jack's league," Alex told her. "He's not going to challenge it anyway. You could tell. He wants the easy out too. He's just not ready to admit it yet."

Liv rubbed at her eyebrow. "It's just that…"

"You didn't have a lawyer with Calvin," Alex told her before she could even get anymore out. "You didn't actively pursue it. This is different – and a completely different situation legally too."

Liv just eyed her and shook her head not knowing what more to say. She hated it a little that Alex could tell how worked up she was about the whole situation when she felt she was doing a pretty good job at keeping it all private and in check.

"It's a cute shirt," she allowed. "Thank you."

"You need to calm down," Alex stressed to her again.

She nodded. "Yea. I'll be fine – as soon as I've got some of this paperwork out of the way. … Find an apartment."

"Did you get a broker? Just suck it up – let one of them handle that. Just like getting a family attorney. Let them do their job."

She allowed a small nod. "Yea. She's actually set up an appointment for me to go look at a suite upstairs this afternoon. That's how ridiculous this city is – I need a broker to go look at an apartment in the building I'm already living in."

"Let her handle it," Alex said again. "It's one less thing for you to stress about."

She nodded again but didn't say anything. She was going to stress about it anyway. Even if the broker was on the lookout and setting up the appointments – it was still going to be her who had to go and look at the places and decide if they would work for her and Benji, and if she could realistically afford it, and if it was in an area she wanted, and if she'd be putting all that money into moving and a more expensive lease only to have it ripped out from under her in a few months. There was a stress-factor to it no matter how she contrived it.

"Here," Alex pulled another piece of clothing out of her purse and put it on the counter too. "There's what I really got you. Met his green and dinosaur requirement. Did not meet your under $10 requirement."

Olivia snorted as she examined the knitted vest with the skiing dinosaur in a Santa hat on it. "Very Christmas-y," she commented a little sarcastically.

"You can really only get so Christmas-y when he has skateboarding, dinosaurs, trucks, robots requirements," Alex commented back to her with just as much irony in her voice.

Olivia allowed a small laugh at that. "Good thing he's anti-Christmas then."

Alex shook her head at that. "No way. You're putting him in the vest and taking him to do pictures at Macy's or the precinct holiday party or the detective's association party or the Rockettes – or something. Liv – you've got to do some of the fun stuff or you're going to go crazy. Don't just sit around waiting for all the paperwork to go through – you're just going to miss out on opportunities. Don't do that to yourself."

"We do fun stuff," she offered in somewhat weak protest.

"Your fort looks pretty fun," Alex allowed, though Liv wasn't sure she quite believed her. "And, looking at a construction site for half-an-hour last weekend – my definition of a good time."

Olivia allowed another snort at that and shook her head while she examined the counter and the two shirts.

"Go do some of the things you've been waiting to do," Alex said. "You've been waiting long enough."

Olivia gazed at her at that and let out a breath. "I haven't decided what I'm going to do with him in terms of Christmas yet," she said.

"Stop thinking about it," Alex said. "Just do it. You think you can't convince a four-year-old that Santa exists? You're losing your touch."

The timer on the oven went off and Liv glanced over her shoulder and moved to get the heating pads to grab the try. Alex started to move away from the counter and over to the fort.

"I'll convince him," she said. "Argue my case."

Liv snorted again from where she was grabbing the cookies from the oven. "Good luck with that," she called back to Alex, who she saw now crouching at the dining room chair entrance of the fort.

"GIRLS NOT ALLOWED!" Olivia heard Benji protest at her from inside the structure.

"What?" Alex said in clear shock. "Olivia's a girl. She was in here."

"She not a girl!" Benji protested back.

"Ahhh, yes, she is," Alex clarified for him.

"SHE IS MOMMY FOX. YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW TO BE MOMMY FOX. YOU NOT ALLOWED IN THE DEN!"

Liv saw Alex glance over at her, where she was now working at getting the cookies off the tray and one the cooling racks. There was a clear look of 'what the fuck' on her face. But she just sat her ass on the ground outside the fort.

"OK, I'll talk to you from out here," she told Benji.

Olivia snorted at that and listened as Alex and Benji again began a heated exchange around if Christmas wasn't just for rich people and if Santa existed. It seemed about as productive as Alex's previous arguments with him on if skateboarding and ice skating could both be called skating and which piece of heavy equipment was called a bulldozer. So to each lawyer-style argument she directed at the little boy, it was returned with a "NO!" or "YOU WRONG!" It sounded like she was making a lot of progress.

Another knock came on the apartment door – and Liv looked at it questioningly. She saw Alex looking up at her with the same questioning look that was likely playing across her own face.

"Mr. Delightful?" Alex suggested.

Liv shrugged. "We're supposed to see him tomorrow."

She moved towards the door and looked out the peephole – and let out a small sigh.

It was Elliot – once again making it into her building without buzzing up. She was starting to think that maybe she should switch buildings and get into one with a doorman. Her quiet day of recuperation with Benji was quickly taking the turn towards disrupted and exceedingly awkward.

She hadn't mentioned to Alex yet that her and Elliot were speaking again, let alone that he'd recommended her lawyer. Him showing up at her door was only going to raise eyebrows from her friend – and possibly vice versa. But she knew Elliot had likely heard her move towards the door – she couldn't very well not answer it.

She pulled open the door and looked at him. "Hi," she offered.

He just nodded at her and stood like he expected her to let him in unquestioning this time. She didn't.

"Still don't get invited in?" he asked after several beats of her once again blocking the door from his entrance. She probably would've let him in that time if Alex hadn't been sitting on the floor in her living room. Though, she knew at that point the damage was likely already done. Alex would've heard his voice – and even if she couldn't see him from where she was sitting – it likely would've clicked who was speaking.

"El, it's just not a good time," she tried – and then nearly rolled her eyes at herself, realizing she'd used his name, so even if Alex hadn't gawked to see who the male voice at her door was, she'd definitely know now.

Elliot shrugged, though, clearly looked a little offended. He pushed his hand into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Mark asked me to give this to you."

She took it and unfolded the medical form and looked at it. Mark had mentioned to her the other day on the phone that he wanted her to go and get it filled out by her doctor.

"He could've emailed this to me," she said to Elliot. "Actually, I think he did," she added as she examined it more closely.

Elliot just shrugged again. "He said you had some papers that I could pick up on his behalf."

She gave him a questioning look. "I see him again next week."

Another shrug. "OK. I can take them to him now, if you want him to review them before your meeting," he offered.

"Ah, OK," she allowed at that. She didn't really see what difference it would make. But if the guy was a work-o-holic and wanted to go over some of her paperwork on the weekend, she supposed she'd take it. Maybe it would hurry things along a little faster. And, she didn't really care about Elliot toting around her background check or criminal record check – and the shocking information contained on them. He'd have seen it all before and heard it all before anyway. There wasn't much to tell.

She let him inside – a little weary about it. She knew he hadn't spotted she already had company yet but Alex clearly had. She was standing up as they both came back into the kitchen area. Liv headed over to her desk, where she'd left the paperwork – as Elliot spotted Alex. The ADA offered him a small smile.

"Hi," she offered.

Elliot looked a little stunned to see her there and had a brief deer-in-the-headlights moment, going so far to uncomfortably examine the floor for a moment. "Hey," he returned.

"Liv, I'm going to take off," Alex called over at her where she was still ruffling through the desk drawer and purposefully staying out of the encounter. Not really wanting to explain the situation to either of them – or see how they interacted with each other either.

"I'm just dropping something off," Elliot interjected on Liv's behalf.

Alex shook her head. "I was just dropping something off too," she said. "I'll see you on Monday, Liv."

Olivia sighed. "You don't have to leave, Alex."

She gave her a small smile. "It's OK." She glanced back down at Benji. "You better not let him in there just because he's a boy."

Benji farted another raspberry at her at that but then disappeared back further into the fort. He wasn't too sure about Elliot yet – or any men.

Alex gave Elliot a nod as she stepped by him. "Nice to see you Stabler," she said.

He just raised his eyebrows and didn't return any comment, still examining the floor a little embarrassed.

"Bye," Liv said quietly as her friend left and then shook her head a bit as the door closed.

Elliot looked at her. "Sorry," he said, "I didn't know you'd have company."

She shrugged and rubbed at her eyebrow. "It's OK," she said and walked back over to hand him the couple documents she'd managed to have returned to her so far. But she wasn't really sure how OK it was.

Alex was probably going to be even more pissed off that she hadn't mentioned she was communicating with Elliot than she had been to discover she had Benji and hadn't told her. Not only that, she'd want to know why Elliot was at her home on a Saturday. Basically there was going to be an awkward conversation on Monday that she didn't really want to have. What was she supposed to say anyway? 'I really needed to talk to someone about the whole Benji thing and rather than talk to the people who are still in my life – I reached out to the guy who really hurt me and then didn't speak to me for a year? And, apparently it was getting myself into another mess with a kid was what it took to get him to actually return my call? Oh – and his marriage is in shambles again – and I think I'm using his divorce or child custody lawyer.' That'd be a good conversation.

"I wasn't interrupting something?"

Olivia gave him a look of disgust but shrugged. "Alex trying to get Benji to buy into the magic of Christmas."

"He's back?"

"No. I just usually keep my living room arranged like this," she shook her head at him.

He just gave her a look and then examined the structure. "Your fort looks slightly structurally unsound."

"Well I'm sure you have vast fort building experience compared to me," she allowed.

"DEN NOT FORT," Benji hollered from somewhere under the blankets.

"I don't have much den building experience," Elliot offered. "Maybe that's what a den is supposed to look like.

She allowed him a small smile for that.

"What are you two up to?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Down day. I have an apartment to go look at in a bit."

"Two bedroom?"

"Yeah."

He nodded.

"You don't have Eli this weekend?"

He nodded his head behind him – towards God knows what. "He's with Dickie. They did some sort of overnight thing at Intrepid. I'm picking him up in about an hour. Thought I'd stop by. Give you the form for Mark."

"Mmm," she allowed. Good excuse to come by, she thought. But at least he was trying, which was really more than she'd usually expect from Elliot. He sometimes really sucked in the effort department. "How you and Dickie getting along these days?"

Elliot shrugged again and made that indifferent sound he always seemed to like. She knew there was nothing indifferent about him when it came to his relationship with his oldest son. But the lack of verbal response told her all she needed to know – things were still strained between them.

She felt bad for Elliot. He'd tried to be a good father but somewhere along the way his relationship with his kids just hadn't stood the test. His and Kathy's first separation, the signed divorce papers, that likely had been a good enough wedge. Them having another baby when they kids were nearly grown was likely just an added challenge for the family surmount and she knew all-too-well that kids at that age were less-than-forgiving and really not overly-mature in how they dealt with changes in their reality. Add in Kathleen's mental illness and Dickie's brushes with the law and loss of his best friend, which he blamed his father for – and it was a difficult brew for any family to really deal with. The only Stabler kid that seemed to come away from it all truly unscathed or not outwardly resentful towards her father was Elisabeth and Olivia suspected that that was really an illusion too. Lizzie had put her nose in books and focused on her academics as a coping mechanism. Olivia was all-too-familiar with that path during family turmoil and torment during the teen years.

She was sure the latest drama in the Stabler household was just making things even more turmoil in all their relationships – even if the kids were technically grown. Dickie and Lizzie wouldn't be much older than Jack. She knew that wouldn't leave them very sympathetic or understanding of what either of their parents were going through, what was best for the family or what was best for Eli.

"Benj, you want to come out and say hello to Elliot," she called in the direction of the fort. Maybe getting to witness her mess for a while would make him feel better about his.

"NO!" Benji responded with little doubt in his voice.

"Do you want to show Elliot the cookies you made?" she tried again.

There was some rustling and Benji peeked his head out the little passage again. "Cookies?" he enquired.

"Come share your cookies with everyone," she nodded.

Benji scrunched up his face for a moment but then crawled the rest of the way out and came over to her – making sure to give Elliot a wide breadth, despite him giving the little boy a small smile. Benji latched two of his little fingers around her one belt loop as soon as he got over to her and leaned against her leg, giving Elliot a look of suspicion.

"It's just Elliot," she told him. "Remember? You met him at the park a few weeks ago."

Benji offered no response beyond clinging to her a bit more. She just shook her head at him and grabbed the carton of milk out of the fridge.

"Here," she held it down for him. "Take that to the table."

Benji complied but kept glancing over his shoulder at the man in her apartment. She realized as he got to the table that there weren't any chairs there for them to sit and have snack and she doubted her starting to dismantle his fort-den was going to go over well.

"I can't offer you anywhere to sit, but I can get you a coffee," she told him.

Elliot gave her a small shake of the head. "Milk and cookies sounds good."

She allowed a small nod and grabbed a few glasses from the cupboard and a plate to put a few of the cookies on from the cooling racks. They were still super warm and gooey.

Elliot followed her over to the table and Benji immediately grabbed at the cookies.

"Benj, they're still hot," she warned him as he squished it in his hand and shoved it into his mouth. He seemed pretty undeterred by their temperature level. She started to pour him a glass of milk.

"BIG GLASS," he demanded.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Little glass," she told him. "You can have a second glass it you want another."

"I take to den," he informed her.

She shook her head again. "You can take a cookie to the den. You can't take milk in there."

"Why?"

"Because you'll spill it," she told him simply.

He glared at her but chugged his glass of milk and then disappeared with another cookie in hand. She was sure it'd be squished all over his hand, the floor and the blankets by the time he did crawl back into the space. She let him anyway. She figured he'd probably still lick it off his hand and anything else he could find – and she wasn't going to argue with him about it. Five-second rule.

She offered Elliot a glass and cookie. "They are literally sugar and butter," she informed him as he took one off the plate.

"The best kind," he told her and took a bite. "Good," he nodded.

She shrugged. "Benji made them. Sort of."

He allowed a small smile and stood looking at the fort quietly while he finished chewing on his cookie. Benji was talking to himself inside it – mostly nonsense between him and Flame and Mommy Fox.

Elliot shook his head at her. "This looks good on you," he offered.

She raised her eyebrow at him. "What?"

He nodded towards the messy of blankets and the hidden chatter of the little boy. "This," he allowed again.