Guys! Thank you so much for the wonderful feed back, its been so lovely of you all to leave me such sweet reviews. And I want to reply to the guest who talked about doing line breaks and such each time there is a scene change - thanks for that feedback. When I write my fic, I write it on MS WORD and it does the line breaks for me but it doesn't translate when I post it here so I've made a special effort to take notice and fill it with some "***" so you know that I'm changing. So sorry for the confusion! :) This chapter is the meeting with Trevor's ex wife. STRAP YOURSELVES IN, ITS A WILD RIDE!

"Honey, come on, we're going to be late," Olivia hustled Noah as he grabbed a bag full of toys and things to play with. "Mom can't be late," she told him nervously.

"I'm commmmiiiiiinnnnggg!" he shouted from his bedroom.

Olivia waited by the door, keys in hand. "Okay let's go," she said finally when she observed him making a beeline for her, pulling his backpack on.

"Mommy am I gonna see Eloise today?" he asked, "or is Eloise at her Mommy's house?" he wondered as they neared Trevor's place.

"I don't know sweetie, I think she might be there. Why, did you want to play?"

He nodded enthusiastically. "I brought my coloring book, my magna tiles and a teddy bear that she can play with."

Olivia grinned to herself at her son's sweetness. "That's really kind of you Noah," she remarked, "you're a good boy."

She knocked on the door, hoping that she had a moment to collect herself before Helena arrived with his daughter. As soon as the door swung open though, she glimpsed Eloise wrapped around him and she knew with a sinking feeling that Helena had already arrived.

"I'm so sorry we're late," she apologized. "I had a little trouble with getting this one out the door…"

"No problem, relax," he said softly, realizing that despite how much she had played things down, she was nervous. "Hello Noah!" he exclaimed.

"Hi Trevor," he replied waving and smiling, happy to see Eloise. Trevor stepped aside and let them in, catching Olivia's hand in his and pulling her backward to kiss her cheek.

"Eloise, do you remember Olivia and Noah?" he asked his daughter softly. She looked tired and in no mood for them. She just nodded and turned her head away from them both.

Noah walked around to the other side of Trevor, trying to get his Eloise's attention. "Eloise, I brought some toys with me that we could play with-"

"Give her some time, sweetheart," Olivia told him gently, "she looks tired." She glanced down, "Take your shoes off at the door," she reminded him.

"Its alright, Liv…" Trevor said, but Noah was taking his shoes off already and he noticed Olivia had already slipped hers off. "Come on… follow me…"

Olivia was met by a very petite woman who was dressed like her entire outfit was from 5th Avenue. She was attractive but not exactly what she had expected. For some reason, Olivia had it in her head that Helena was going to be a tall, sexy, blond with all the confidence in the world. The woman before her was the opposite. She had long wavy hair, a relatively plain face. She seemed shy and reserved and immediately put out by Olivia.

She chose not to take offense, but just decided to be herself – that was what she would have wanted if her son had to have another woman around. "Hi, you must be Helena," she greeted the woman who sat at the dining table, holding on to a cup of coffee with one hand.

Olivia moved closer to her. Helena stood up, coming up to her shoulder. She tried not to think about how awkward she and Trevor would have looked side-by-side. "Nice to meet you," Olivia stuck her hand out, "I'm Olivia."

She shook her hand and gave her a smile.

"And this is Noah," Trevor added, placing a hand on Olivia's son's shoulder.

"Hi Olivia, nice to meet you too," she replied – a soft voice coming from her mouth. She turned to Noah and smiled at the curly haired little boy. "Hello Noah, lovely to meet you, I'm Helena, I'm Eloise's Mommy."

"Cool!" Noah exclaimed, "Mommy told me that we might see Eloise so I brought my toys to share."

Olivia couldn't help but to beam at her boy.

"That's very kind of you, Eloise loves making new friends," said Helena.

"Liv can I get you a coffee or a tea?" Trevor asked.

"Just water will be fine," she replied, "thanks Trev."

"So… this is a little awkward," Helena remarked with a laugh. Olivia was relieved and laughed too, maybe she wasn't as put out as Olivia thought she was originally was.

"Not really that awkward just… not something I've ever done before, meet a partner's previous wife or girlfriend," Olivia replied honestly. "It's jarring, I'll say that."

Helena smiled tightly, "I appreciate your candor, I know it's really just a courtesy as Trevor keeps reminding me." Olivia glanced at Trevor who was chatting to Noah in just a short distance away, still holding on to his daughter who showed no signs of warming up to either herself or her son.

She smiled briefly at the rapport between Trevor and Noah.

"No, it's fine.. I'd want to know who's going to be around my son, I totally understand. I'm very protective of Noah."

Helena smiled, following Olivia's short glances at Trevor and her son. "What does Noah's dad think of Trevor?" she asked Liv curiously.

"He's out of the picture," Olivia replied quietly. "It's just Noah and I."

"Oh… sorry to hear that," Helena replied quickly, sizing Olivia up, appraising her as if she hadn't quiet figured out if she was jealous of her or not.

She couldn't help but to feel a little smug that Olivia wasn't a young, hot sex detective that Trevor had talked her up to be. She was around her ex husband's age if not a little older and she was thicker than herself, she what Trevor liked and in her whole time of being with her husband, she'd never known him to go for a woman like Olivia Benson.

But, she thought, things could change.

Trevor came back and set a glass down in front of Olivia. Noah found his way on to his Mom's lap as Trevor sat directly across from her, setting his daughter in his own lap. Helena turned to Trevor and smiled at him, he could read that she was nervous but she was doing her best. "Trevor said you two have known each other for a very long time, for as long as we have been in New York…" she announced, touching her ex-husband's arm in a way that made Olivia uncomfortable.

Trevor noticed too and moved his arm without letting it look like a flinch.

"That's true," Olivia replied evenly, feeling a little self-conscious the way Helena's eyes were all over her, trying to figure her out as if she was taking Trevor for a ride – there was a certain element of ownership, she couldn't place it, but the familiarity between Trevor and Helena was there and Helena definitely wanted her to know it.

Trevor knew what was crossing his ex wife's mind and he wanted to be the first to stop it. "Olivia hated me up until a few months ago," he informed her, squashing her suspicions before they became aroused.

"Really?" Helena rose her eyebrow as if she didn't believe him for a moment.

"Yeah detectives and defense attorneys don't mix well," Olivia added, figuring out where she was going with it. She knew she needed to tread softly, "especially when it comes to my department."

"Mom did you really hate Trevor?" Noah asked, "you told me hate is a word we don't use!" he piped up.

Olivia shot a look at Trevor, "No, I didn't hate Trevor," she corrected him, "you're right, hate isn't a nice word, but Mom and Trevor didn't always get along… Trevor used the wrong word, didn't you Trevor?" she glared at him.

"Yes," he cleared his throat, "that was silly of me…"

Eloise wriggled down from Trevor's lap where she had been eyeing off Noah. "Honey, if you would like to play with Noah, you just have to ask, he's got some fun stuff to share with you…"

Noah's blue eyes stared back at his daughter with hope. He was already bored.

"Noah where is your bag?" Olivia asked, "why don't you show Eloise some of your things." He slid off her lap and went to get his backpack. He came back and dropped it on Olivia's lap. It was much heavier than she had realized. He unzipped it and began to take things out. Trevor gave Eloise a little push to go and see what he had.

"I want to play with that one…" his little brunette girl told Noah, pointing to some plastic magna tiles – a set of shapes that could be built in to 3d objects – it was one of Noah's favorites.

"Okay, they're called magna tiles," he explained to her.

"Elly, why don't you show Noah to your little play area…" Trevor suggested.

There was a designated area in the living room that Olivia had noticed that was set up for her toys. Noah looked at Olivia to make sure it was okay.

"Its fine, Noah, you can go play, but don't make any messes and you pick up after yourself."

"Okay Mommy," he replied, grabbing the tiles out and handing them to his new friend, following her to the living room.

Olivia smiled, "he listens too much."

Helena nodded slowly as if she didn't really care about her child or his interaction with her own daughter.

"So, what's your parenting style?" she asked, ignoring the pleasantries, wanting to get down to the reason why she was there. She was irate that Trevor had put her on the spot but despite that, she had nothing against Olivia but she wasn't sure she liked her or that her husband hadn't been diddling her since they got to New York. She really didn't want his new squeeze playing Mommy to her daughter.

"Mine?" Olivia asked, surprised by her seemingly blunt question. She was a little surprised by how quickly Helena had turned as soon as the kids were gone. Never-the-less, she didn't want to cause any problems for Trevor.

She answered her question. "With Noah I am always honest – as honest as is appropriate," she explained, "He eats better than I do and I encourage him to talk about his feelings and I expect him to be kind and polite and to work hard at whatever he does. He gets punished for bad attitude and behavior and I don't allow him a lot of screen time," she gave Helena a smile, "that's about the basics anyway."

"Helena-" Trevor's voice was a little hostile, as if he expected her to begin to attack Olivia.

"No, it's fine, it's a fair question," Olivia interjected, not wanting Trevor to jump to her defense, she wanted Helena to know that she could hold her own.

"I mean if Trevor gets his way, Eloise will be here fifty-fifty and I assume you'll be here a lot too, how are you guys gonna manage that with your workload."

"With all due respect to Trevor and Eloise, that's not a relationship that I am going to be honing in on any time soon," Olivia replied frankly, "that's for Trevor to work out and for him to ask me or someone else if he needs help. I have a big work load and I work a lot of hours and I have help if it's required and I assume Trevor is going to have to have to do the same."

"What if Eloise wants her Mommy?" she asked, ignoring Trevor trying to interrupt.

"I'm not her Mommy," Olivia replied, feeling tested, "I'm not her Mommy and I'll never try to be… if she wants her Mommy, then Trevor needs to call you or figure out what he can do to comfort her, it's not really up to me to get involved in his parenting… If maybe 5 years down the track we're still together and-"

"Well, unless that's on the cards, is it really healthy for Eloise to get attached?"

She was impossible. Olivia looked to Trevor to let him know she was at her wits end.

Helena could tell immediately that Olivia wasn't happy.

Olivia felt frustrated that Helena was acting as though they planned on ousting her out of the picture – that Olivia may just be taking Trevor for a ride - If anything, she had done that very thing to Trevor and all on his dime.

"Olivia and I aren't moving in together, Len, you know that… I just would like to not have to worry about you being upset by Olivia being here when Eloise is, the way I can drop in and not have to worry if Liv brings Noah or Noah is home, it just makes things easier."

"Yeah well, you seem to know Noah pretty well."

Neither of them would have admitted to him being her adoption lawyer while Noah was in the house. That wasn't a conversation she had had with her son and wanted to leave it til he could fully understand it.

"I don't normally involve Noah in my relationships to be totally honest and again that's no disrespect to Trevor, but he has met Trevor before, a few times actually at work so he wasn't entirely a stranger and we happened to run in to Trevor when he was with Eloise at the park and the kids played together and my son just really loved Trevor from the get-go and I didn't bother fighting it."

"How many times have you met Eloise now?" she asked Olivia and Trevor almost rolled his eyes, knowing that she was testing to see if he had been truthful with her.

"Just the one time," Olivia replied, feeling a little exasperated. When she answered one question, Helena was busy thinking up another one, hoping to incriminate her, "he made it clear that you wanted to meet me first and I understood, it's not a big deal, it's the same courtesy I'd expect if Noah's dad was in the picture." Olivia wasn't about to be bullied by the small woman before her.

"One thing I don't understand – in what capacity would my ex husband be meeting your son at your workplace when you both apparently hated each other."

"I didn't hate Trevor," Olivia corrected her, "we were just always at loggerheads about cases and I had a personal situation with my son where I needed representation," she admitted, "Noah was still a toddler and I needed a lawyer that I knew was good at his job and who would stop at nothing for a case. If I hated him, I wouldn't have entrusted him with a case involving my son."

There was some silence before Helena nodded slowly. "So… was that while we were still married?" she asked Trevor.

He rose an eyebrow.

"Oh no," Liv said quickly, "that was not it-"

"Len, are you kidding?" he laughed in shock. "What are you asking?"

"I know what she's asking and the answer is absolutely not. I don't go for married men. I was assaulted by a violent murderer and was forced to defend myself and the fall out was that my son could have been taken from me, I wasn't thinking about having an affair, I was looking to move on and keep my son safe."

She felt offended and disgusted by her quiet accusation. She didn't like her. She was rude and nasty. "I think I should go," she told Trevor, "I'm not here for this, I don't want to be accused of silly things." She turned to Helena, "I'm a good person, I have a good little boy and and I'm not looking to be another kid's mommy especially when they already have one. I am looking to make Trevor's life easier so he doesn't have to continually compartmentalize every aspect of it. We are going to be together, whether or not we live together now or down the track, I'm going to be spending some time with your daughter at some stage and I'd prefer to do that with your blessing."

She was aware she was ranting but she'd had enough.

"Liv, its okay," Trevor said quickly, "you don't have to leave... " he said softly, knowing that anything surrounding her assault sent her to the edge. "Maybe you need to go Len…"

"I don't know why you're getting so worked up over this, I'm just asking questions, trying to find out what's going on, you say you've been dating for around a month or so but you're so familiar and it just seems weird to me…"

"Oh my goodness," Olivia watched Trevor become frustrated. He was trying his best to keep an even tone for the kids in the next room. "Helena, it is what it is, I'm not a liar, you know that, so don't look for something that isn't there. Olivia is my girlfriend and you can either take it or leave it but as I keep reminding you, this is a courtesy…"

"That's fine Trevor, just fine. I'm taking Eloise home with me and we'll talk about this later."

"You're not taking her home with you, you just said-" he began angrily but stopped himself, steeling himself to calm for the second. He started again, "We agreed that she's staying here tonight and that you will pick her up from daycare tomorrow afternoon, you're not changing things again."

Olivia slumped back down in to her chair as Helena made a swift beeline to the living room to collect her daughter almost as if she was childishly racing her ex.

Trevor followed her, "Helena! No, you're not doing that, stop being irrational."

"Come on honey, we're going home," she heard Helena call out, ignoring him. Olivia was bracing herself for a fight.

"Mommy, you said I was staying with Daddy tonight," she heard Eloise complain.

This was messy, Olivia thought, she didn't have the energy for it, not after the night before. She wasn't about to let an argument play out in front of her son.

"Noah, come out here please…" she called. A few seconds later her son appeared.

"Mommy is Eloise going home?" he asked, disappointed.

"I don't know babe, just stay here with me for a second," she put an arm around him and pulled in him on to her lap. "Give Mommy a hug," she commanded, "she needs it."

Noah wrapped his thin arms around her and cuddled her. "I love you," she informed him.

"I love you too, Mommy…" he pulled away and smiled at her, his blue eyes burning in to hers. He was so sweet, she always counted him as her biggest blessing. "Mommy you look sad today," he remarked.

She loved how her son was generally able to pick up on her moods or was able to read her. It was a mature trait, but she reminded herself that she didn't always want him to know when she was down. "I'm not sad, honey, I'm a little frustrated, there's a little bit of a difference."

Olivia and Noah heard crying and a few raised voices. Noah looked at Olivia in alarm. "Its okay, sweetie," she told him. "let's go upstairs and Mommy will show you where the bathroom is and where Trevor sleeps and where Eloise sleeps…" she got up from the chair, carrying him upstairs, allowing Trevor the time he needed with his ex.

It sounded as though it was getting messy.

Trevor's eyes widened in fury as his ex wife snatched her child away from the toys she was playing with. Eloise cried out in pain as the firm grip enclosed over her tiny wrist and pulled her roughly toward her as though Helena was afraid that Trevor might have got to her first.

Eloise started to wail in pain and the shock of it made Helena retreat. She scooped up her daughter and apologized drawing her close to her body.

"She is not going home with you!" Trevor spoke frustrated and angry with Helena. "What the hell was that back there?" he demanded to know. He took a deep breath.

"Fuck you, Trevor, this bitch walks in the door and suddenly you want to share your life with her? No! That's not how it works!"

"Don't you dare call her that! And she didn't just walk in the door five minutes ago!"

"Oh yeah, I know, you met her when you came to New York, isn't it a coincidence that little Noah has a very similar eye color to you?"

Trevor laughed but nothing about her accusation was funny. The laughter relieved the tension that quickly made him want to scream at her. "Yes! It is a coincidence. You know who else has blue eyes? A quarter of the damn city's population!"

"Don't be fucking cute, Trevor—this is all a little perfect isn't it?!" she snapped.

"Stop swearing in front of her," he shook his head, finding it harder and harder to hold back. "No," he said, "Nope, you're not doing this to me anymore, you're not playing these games. Give me my daughter, she's staying here, you need to leave," he said decisively over the top of her wailing, "you just hurt her, I've had enough." Before Helena could say another word, he invaded his ex wife's personal space and pulled his daughter gently out of her mother's grip.

Helena knew there was no point fighting Trevor, he was bigger, broader and her daughter was crying for him. She felt her eyes filming over as she watched her toddler wrap herself around him. "Its okay, Daddy's got you…" he whispered, rubbing her back, glaring at his ex.

"That's okay Trevor, cos while you were fucking Olivia behind my back, I was fucking Sean behind yours!"

Her admission almost winded him but he wasn't about to let her get the best of him. He could never be sure if she meant what she said or if she said it purely to hurt his feelings.

"Go, leave, you've done enough." he said to her, "don't you ever speak about Olivia like that to me again."

"Fuck you Trevor!" she spat at him.

It all came flooding back, the way she fought dirty – the name calling, the aggression, the hurtful things she could never fully take back. He'd seemed to put her up on a pedestal all that time he'd been without her. He blocked out the vicious fights where he had to walk away, where she picked and picked and picked until he would lose his temper. Still, he managed to always walk away, he never matched her nasty words.

She turned her heel and Trevor followed her back past the kitchen, wondering where Liv had gone. He hoped she hadn't picked up her things and left.

Olivia set Noah down, both of them acting as though they weren't hearing the anger emanating from Helena downstairs, that Eloise wasn't crying loudly.

Olivia showed him the bathroom and the shower and smiled at his awe at how big everything was.

They were about to look at Eloise's room when she heard Helena, yell out, "Fine! Enjoy your fucking time with her, Trevor, it'll be the last time you'll be seeing her!"

"Stop it!" he called back, his voice raised but still calm, "you're upsetting her, just-" the sound of their daughter wailing carried through the house followed by the slamming of the front door so loud that it echoed throughout.

"Mom, she said a bad word!" Noah whispered, wary.

"I know honey, its okay, we don't say them but we can't control what other people say when they're angry," she informed him. "Are you okay?" she wondered, "you're not scared or anything are you?" she wanted to know.

He shook his head, "No, but I think Eloise sounds scared, but you're here, you help people, you can help her," he told Olivia innocently.

"Liv?" Trevor called.

She smiled at her son weakly. "Come on, we'll go see if Trevor and Eloise are okay, that sounded a bit rough, didn't it?" she asked him, taking his hand.

"Yeah, she wasn't very nice, that lady…"

"I think she was just sad about leaving Eloise here to play and not getting to take her home, sometimes that happens when Moms and Dads live apart," she explained. They descended the steps just as Trevor called out to her again.

"We're just here…" she called back, "Noah just needed the bathroom," she fibbed, looking down at her son, winking at him.

Noah smiled knowingly and she knew her secret was safe.

The sound of Eloise's crying was loud and inconsolable. She felt for Trevor as she saw his expression. His face was red and he looked close to tears. He cuddled his daughter close to his chest and rocked her back and forth, trying to sooth her.

"Oh, my heart…" she murmured. "What can I do?"

He drew in a deep breath and sighed, "Nothing Liv, its okay, I'm really sorry about all of that, I really wasn't expecting that to happen," he breathed.

"Its alright," she replied. "Why don't I get you a special drink," she told him, "I'm sure it's five o'clock somewhere."

Trevor managed a laugh. "Maybe we need to go out. What about a trip to the park?" he asked.

"Sounds perfect," Olivia replied. "You wanna go to the park kiddo?" she asked Noah.

"Yeah I like the park," he announced. She could tell that her son was a little stand-offish and worried about both Trevor and Eloise. He was compassionate and empathetic and hated to see other people upset.

"Trevor?" he piped up, looking up to see his face.

"Yeah bud?" he asked, his expression softening as Eloise's sobs eased down to hiccupping and grizzling. "I'm sorry you and Eloise are sad," he said with trepidation, as if he wasn't supposed to acknowledge their feelings.

Instantly Trevor smiled and glanced at Olivia before looking back down at her son. He crouched down, getting a little closer to his level. "Thank you Noah," he said, holding his arm out, drawing her son near him. "Come here…" he pulled Noah in toward him and gave him a hug. He flicked his eyes up to meet Olivia and gave her a smile before closing his eyes and enjoying the affection from her son.

As Noah drew away Trevor stood back up. "Eloise will probably feel better when we get to the park…" he told him.

Olivia wasn't used to Trevor's silence. She detected sadness and a little anger too but he gave her nothing to work with. He treated her as though he was fine but he wasn't overly warm or affectionate as he usually was. She said nothing, deciding that it wasn't the best to bring anything up in front of the kids.

Once at the park, Trevor and Noah took Eloise to the swings and coaxed her on them. She saw Trevor telling Noah to hop on the swing beside her and he pushed them both, seeming to relax a little.

"I'm going to go get us a coffee," she informed him, nodding toward the coffee cart just along the path a little further up the hill. She was cold and needed something to warm up.

"Okay thank you," he flashed her a weak smile.

Olivia said nothing and left him with the two kids.

Trevor didn't want to talk about what had transpired between himself and Helena and if anything, he was embarrassed and emotional over how quickly his ex turned from friend to enemy; from happy for him to insane jealousy.

She accused him of sleeping around with Olivia their whole marriage; she asked of being Noah's father just because his eyes were as blue as his and Eloise's. Regrettably, it spiraled.

On her way out her accusations and threats just grew more ridiculous but he knew it was time to take Olivia's advice. He needed to file a petition for 50/50 custody.

He absently pushed the kids on the swings, thinking about the steps he needed to take. The other priority was to cancel her American Express card and instead he would give her the appropriate amount of alimony that she was entitled to and would worry about supporting his daughter when she stayed with him.

He watched Olivia walking back to them with two coffees in hand. She was so sweet to stick around after the incident and he felt grateful that she wasn't angry with him for putting her in such a situation.

"Here you go…" she held out a large double shot latte with no sugars, just exactly as he liked it. He regarded her with an appreciative smile. He had only ever told her his coffee order once.

"Thanks baby," he replied. He took a sip and was impressed that it truly was his order executed perfectly.

"You're welcome…" she replied. She was stand-offish but he figured her vibe was just responding to his own.

Olivia took a sip of her own coffee and sighed with relief. Noah jumped off the swing and came around to his Mom. "Can I have some of that?" he asked.

She laughed, "You don't like it, Noah," she reminded him, "in fact, you don't even like the smell…"

"I might," he countered. She sighed and handed him the cup. He took a sniff and made a face. "Careful," she warned, "its very hot."

He handed it back to her and smiled a little sheepishly, "I don't like it, you're right."

"Oh yeah?" she challenged him, "what a surprise," she was good-natured about it, poking him in the tummy. Eloise slipped off her swing seat too. She looked at Noah, "let's go play on the jungle gym!" she told him.

"Be kind," Olivia called out after her son, "and be careful."

She felt Trevor's cold hand find hers as they found a bench close to the edge of the playground where they could keep an eye on the kids. It was cold outside, Olivia was glad that she had thought far enough ahead to bring her coat and Noah's too.

Trevor was wearing a pair of jeans and a similar puffy black jacket. He had a beanie on and had loaned one to Noah too, but Eloise wasn't having a bar of it. "Sorry about what happened…" he apologized finally.

"Me too," Olivia replied.

"I just… didn't expect that. In fact, I thought she was going to just love you."

She managed a laugh, "Babe, she was never going to love me, she clearly had her mind made up – maybe you got her on an off day, who knows? Either way, she wanted to find a reason to hate me, maybe she doesn't want you to move on?" she suggested.

"That doesn't make sense…" he sighed, taking another swig of his coffee. "She grabbed Eloise and hurt her and honestly, I was a little scared of how much I wanted to hurt her right back," he admitted. "No one hurts my kid, not even her own fucking mother…"

There was the anger, Olivia thought and she was fine with it, she had felt that way in the past when Noah's biological father had taunted her and threatened them.

"Its okay, honey," she told him soothingly, resting a hand on his knee, feeling him circle his arm around her. She scooted in, she was freezing. "That's what happens when you sense your kid is in danger, it doesn't matter who causes it… its biological. She definitely had no business going in and grabbing her and causing a scene."

"Before you arrived she asked if I wanted to take her for another night because I missed out on having her last night and as always, she changes the goalposts. She accused Noah of being my love child cos of his eyes…"

Olivia was able to laugh at the absurdity. "Did you tell her Noah was adopted?"

He shook his head, glancing over at the kids. "No Liv, I don't know how you want that narrative with your son to go and who knows what kinds of dumb shit she might end up coming out with if she were to know, I couldn't risk Noah finding out through any other way but you if that's how you choose."

"Thanks…" she nodded, appreciating that he was looking out for her son. "Eloise still hasn't said a word to me," she remarked. "I don't get it, kids usually love me," Trevor saw that she was half-way joking but he wondered if it bothered her.

"She can take awhile to warm up, especially after what happened…"

"I know, I'm just kidding. She loved me at the park the other week," she added.

"You're hard not to love," he replied, leaning over to kiss her lips. "And I'm sorry again that it played out the way it did."

"Its alright, I just don't want things to go south for you…"

"I'm so angry, sweetheart, that all it took was this for her to let her true colors show. You were really on point about her taking advantage of my money and my kindness. I'm going to file a custody petition tomorrow morning and I'm going to get myself a good family law attorney to sort it out for me. I am happy to pay the alimony that's owed but I will take care of my daughter's needs."

"Okay, well I'm here for you, whatever you need…" she smiled.

"Thanks baby." He paused for a second as if he was hesitating to say something but he stopped himself

"What is it?" Olivia pushed. "What's wrong?"

He stared at her for a moment and he began to blink as his eyes stung a little as if he was going to become emotional. "Honey?"

He shook his emotions off and cleared his throat, "I told her how insane it was that you and were allegedly having an affair and then she told me she had been having an affair with her fiancé behind my back for months while she and I were married."

"Whoa…"

"I was always suspicious about it, they met so fast after she and I split up and … I dunno, I gave her the benefit of the doubt and I just feel … fucking dumb… I kept giving her my money…" he laughed in disbelief.

Olivia gave him all of her attention. "You're not dumb, you're kind and you're generous – possibly to a fault, but I wouldn't want you any other way. Her leaving you? Sounds like she did you a favor which I know doesn't help but –"

He avoided her eyes.

"But it does mean that I have you now and I would never pull that shit on you, ever."

"Thanks Olivia," he murmured, pausing to kiss the corner of her mouth, letting her embrace him. "Its water under the bridge now but I can't say that it doesn't hurt," he admitted.

"I know… and I'm sorry that she did that to you… she's hurting for whatever reason and she wanted you to hurt too. She saw how happy you were with me and especially with Noah and that bothered her," Olivia explained, loosening her embrace.

Trevor nodded in agreement. He sighed, deciding it was time to change the subject, he didn't want to think about it anymore, it was something he needed to process on his own. "If anything, I'm really encouraged by how wonderful the kids get along – Noah is such a sweet heart, look at him…" he nodded over to the two of them.

Olivia grinned, watching Noah slide down the metallic slide first. Eloise sat at the top hesitating while her son stood at the foot of it, coaxing her, encouraging her and promising that he wouldn't let her fall."

With a little squeal of shock, Eloise pushed herself off and true to his word, Noah caught her at the end. She giggled and shrieked loudly, exhilarated by not having to use the baby slide anymore.

"Oh, my heart…" Olivia remarked, feeling Trevor give her a little squeeze "they are so fucking cute, both of them… how did we get such sweet kids?"

Trevor chuckled. "Wait 'til 4 in the morning when she wants to get up and play dress-ups."

"No," Olivia shook her head, "I gotta tell you, Trev, that's not appropriate for you to indulge that, she's 3, 4am is too early. 6am? Sure, not 4am and not on a busy morning."

He laughed, "Really? What am I supposed to do? Drag her back to bed?"

"Absolutely. Maybe not drag, but firmly tell her its time to sleep and enforce it." She told him, "I think that's the part about being the bread winner, you get to come home and be good cop, that's no disrespect, but Dad's always get to be fun and Moms have to suck it up and do it all…so if you're going to want Eloise for 50% of the time, you're gonna have to be bad cop too sometimes."

"I find it hard to say no…" he sighed, "those eyes…" he chuckled.

"I know, look at my son," she agreed, "he's the sweetest but sometimes I gotta be tough, bed time, screen time, homework, food – and as sweet as he is, sometimes he can give me attitude to the point where I have to just raise my voice a little louder than his and send him to his room or take his screens away… it's a tough job."

"You're an excellent Mom, you'll be the person that I bombard when I need to be told what to do."

Olivia laughed, "you'll pick it up as you go, right now Eloise comes to your house as though it's a holiday so she knows what she can get away with, it'll be different if you get shared custody."

He nodded.

He drew in a deep breath, "Do me a favor, if I ever turning in to a toxic divorcee that talks shit about his ex in front of his kid, can you call me on it? I don't want to be cruel to Helena, but I need to put me first now."

"You'll never do that. You're far too classy, but you're right. It's about you now."

"Come on, let's tell these kids they've got five more minutes and then we need to go to the supermarket to get some food, we planned to cook, remember?" he reminded her with a smile.

"Dammit, I hoped you'd forgotten."

Trevor laughed, "It'll be fun, we can make the kids entertain us while it happens, this is the best thing about having kids, you can make them do the stuff you don't want to do," he joked.

They both chuckled together as they held hands, giving the kids a warning that they were leaving soon.