Author's Note: Call it a Thanksgiving miracle. ;) Never forgotten.

"Where's Noah Benson?" Elliot called out, as he ran into the school. He'd high-tailed it all the way from the sidewalk outside the Organized Crime warehouse to Noah's school as soon as he'd received Olivia's call. Every stop light had been misery for him to sit through, but since she'd assured him it wasn't a dire emergency, he didn't want to abuse his badge. And yet. The temptation remained.

It always would. Because a part of Olivia lived inside Noah, and protecting Noah meant protecting that part of Olivia. Even if he wasn't biologically hers, the boy was still raised and nurtured by her, and that meant more than any set of genes ever could.

The receptionist walked out from behind her desk and smiled at him. "You must be Detective Stabler," she said, extending her hand to him. He shook it and looked at her, expectantly. "We've been waiting for you. He's in Miss Priscilla's office."

"Lead the way."

"You know, we've never seen you before," she said. "Principal Tegel knows how much Captain Benson values her son's privacy, especially given her job, so we were a little surprised when she gave us a new name to add to the list. It's been the same three people ever since he enrolled here."

"Yeah, uh, I've been out of the country for several years," he said. Looking at the walls as they walked, there were pieces of student artwork celebrating the beginning of spring, with bright colors splashed on them. He wondered if any of these were Noah's, and if so, which one. "Just got back into town a month or two ago and Captain Benson is," and he thought, because there were so many words he could use to describe Olivia, but not all of them would be appropriate for this situation, "she's an old friend. I'd trust her with my life."

"Well, she trusts you with her son, so the feeling must be mutual," the receptionist said, as she opened the door to Miss Priscilla's office. Through the window, he could see a curly-haired little boy that looked like the boy he'd seen from a distance, and the boy from the few pictures Olivia had shown him.

Noah popped the bubble dome on the Trouble board and grinned as he popped one of his pegs around the corner and into his finish line. "I got three pegs, and you got one," he said, watching as she popped the dome herself.

"Yes, but Detective Stabler is here for you now," Miss Priscilla said, as she looked up from the board. "Thank you, Ms. Seim."

"Anytime." The woman retreated, but didn't leave the room entirely, standing in the corner as if to observe the interaction, interfere, if she must.

"You know my mom, don't you?" Noah asked, tilting his head slightly askew to look at Elliot closer. He could see the boy's gaze boring holes into him; if he didn't know better in about fifty different ways, he would have sworn those were his own eyes looking back at him.

Elliot knelt down and looked Noah straight in those eyes. "I do, and I think she's pretty special, like you do."

"Yeah, she's pretty cool." He continued to gaze. The look he was receiving wasn't critical in any way; it was more of an examination, and he was almost more afraid of what that examination would reveal than any criticism that could be levied. "You were there. That day in the park."

"That's right, buddy, I was," he said. So, Noah did remember him.

After what felt like interminable minutes of him waiting to pass muster, Noah finally stood up and solemnly shook Elliot's hand. "You win, Miss Priscilla, but I'm coming back next time," he said, turning to the woman seated across from him.

"Let's go meet your mom," Elliot said, looking down at the young boy. "I know she's wanting to see you."

"Yeah, let's! Can we stop for ice cream first?" Noah asked, as they walked back down the hallway toward the entrance, moving in almost-unison.

Elliot playfully scrunched his nose a little. "I think I can be convinced, but it's our little secret. If we don't bring some home for your mom, though, she's gonna be sad." He knew of a little ice cream parlor that wasn't too far out of their way, and he was already forming a plan to bring both women home a pint of their preferred – strawberry for Olivia, rocky road for Liz. "What flavor do you like?"

"Cookies 'n' cream, of course!" Noah exclaimed, bouncing on his heels.

"Tell ya what, I've always been more of a mint chocolate chip guy myself, but today sounds like a great day for us two guys to get some cookies 'n' cream," Elliot said. "How 'bout it?"

Noah's grin was the only answer Elliot needed.

"We're home!" Olivia heard Elliot call out, and she set down the notes she'd been looking at.

Noah reached out to give her a hug as she walked over to the front door to greet them. "Hey there, you two," she said, embracing her son and then giving Elliot a light hug. "Thanks for picking him up, Elliot."

"Anytime," he said, smiling at her as he took off his coat and handed her the bag of ice cream. "Got you and Liz a little present while we were out."

"You didn't have to –" she started to say, but when she saw the pint of strawberry ice cream sitting in there, her face split into a wide grin. "Okay, maybe you did have to," she said, laughing. "I'll go put these in the freezer."

Elliot followed her into the kitchen as she put the pints in the freezer. "Noah's great."

"Isn't he, though?" Olivia wiped her hands on the towel as she spoke, looking to Elliot. "Did they say anything when you were there?" What kind of danger is my boy in? Your kids? "What about Officer Kerry? Did he have anything to say about Liz's attack?"

Elliot looked out into the living area, where Noah was animatedly talking to Liz about something that required a lot of hand motions. He was already picking up on his mother's mannerisms. "I – he told me the same things Liz told us, basically. The only lead they have is that it was a young male wearing a Knicks hoodie."

"Which is a good description of almost every young guy outside of Brooklyn," Olivia said. She picked up a glass of water, and then set it back down. "And Noah? Did the school have anything to say?"

He shook his head. Regret filled his eyes. "No, nothing on Noah. I don't know, Liv." He dropped his voice lower so their kids wouldn't hear his next words. "Do you think it's the Wheatleys doing all this? Or is someone else taking advantage of their chaos to cause some of their own?"

"I don't know." She huffed out a breath and closed her eyes, to give herself a moment to think. "I don't know what to think anymore, because not too long ago, you and I hadn't spoken in almost ten years and you ended up being overseas for a good part of that, and now we're here and Liz and Noah are out there talking like they've known each other for years." Swiping her thumb in a fluid motion across her temple, she sighed. "Probably? Maybe? I mean, there's a definite threat. You and I both know that. It doesn't matter who it's from."

"Yeah. Did you get in touch with the people who coordinate the protective details over in intelligence?"

She nodded. "They're going to send one of their sergeants over here later this afternoon to talk to us about it. Sergeant Ray, I think they said his name was."

"Good." He paused, looked at her; she looked back, seeing the concern he held for both Noah and her in his eyes. "I don't know either."

"Don't have any idea who you might have pissed off?" Her tone was light, but her question was loaded with all the potential hovering just below the surface: you have your enemies, and I have mine. "I know you said you worked counter-terrorism when you were in Europe. Don't anticipate that unit gets you a lot of friends in low places."

"Not really, no." He scrubbed at his face with his palm. "A lot happened while I was over there, and I could name any number of splinter cells and lone wolves that would have a bone or three to pick with me and the work I did while I was there."

"Yeah, and there's a lot of families who wouldn't be too happy with my work with SVU, either."

"Yeah." Understatement. "Whoever attacked Liz knew about Kathy's attack, though." He fidgeted with his thumb at the mention of the two women's names, tucking it under his palm, before flexing it back out. "I mean, it did make the news, but it's not in the headlines anymore."

"What does your gut say?"

Strained blue eyes met her own and held her gaze, and she saw a look in them that she'd never seen before – it was a look that would haunt her for days, the sheer despair he reflected – a silent plea to the universe for a shred of mercy. "I think it's them, Liv."

She sensed a brisk chill sweep through her bones at that moment, and she pulled her arms around her tighter, pulling the warm knit of her cardigan against her. Her voice came out as a hoarse whisper, as she said, "they can't win."

"We won't let them." He wrapped his own arms around her and held her tightly against him, as she sank against him, every one of the new realizations swirling through her head at a breakneck pace.

Knock. Knock.

"Hey, Noah?" Liz asked, hearing the knocks reverberate through the room, as Elliot got up from the couch to answer the door. "Wanna go to Eli's room and play Crazy Eights with me for a bit while our – I mean, your mom and my dad deal with this?"

Elliot smiled to himself, watching as the young boy darted ahead of Liz. He knew it was a slip of the tongue on her part, instinct from years of growing up with both a mother and a father and still getting used to being without the former, but no matter how unintentional it was, it reflected a reality he truly wanted. He opened the door, and saw a familiar face standing there. "Jeffries?"

"Stabler, it's been a while," she said, grinning. She had her hair shorter than the last time he'd seen her, way back when she left SVU, but other than that, it didn't look like she'd aged very much in the intervening years. "You can call me Lieutenant Jeffries now, though."

"I thought – Liv said something about a Sergeant Ray?" He motioned for Monique to enter the apartment.

"Yeah, well," she said, shrugging her coat off and putting it next to Elliot and Olivia's, "when he brought the case to the captain and I heard the names Stabler and Benson, I pulled rank on him. Gotta say though, didn't peg you two for needing our services."

Olivia stood up and walked over to Monique. "Lieutenant Jeffries, good to see you again," she said, and Elliot could see a measure of relief wash across Olivia's face at seeing their former colleague. "So, you're replacing Sergeant Ray on our case?"

"Yes. And we're all old friends here. Monique is fine." While Elliot and Olivia sat back on opposite ends of the couch, Monique sat in the easy chair beside them. "I've carefully reviewed all of the available officers. I understand you brought up a concern you had about the last protective detail you had, Olivia."

Olivia nodded. "They were too easily distracted, and I was reluctant to have them anyway." Her face contorted slightly, as she set her expression into a more neutral one. "This time – between being Captain, and being a mother – I can't take that same risk."

"Well, you'll be happy to know that they're not part of our force anymore," Monique continued, her head bobbing slightly as she spoke. "I've arranged for two officers to have around-the-clock protection on each of you, as well as around-the-clock surveillance on each of your children. I've already spoken to the office up in Westchester County, and they're dispatching the same to the Dixon family residence, where it's my understanding Maureen and Eli are staying, as well."

"And if the threat continues?" Elliot asked. He hated thinking about the worst-case scenarios, but this was literally his worst nightmare brought to life – not only were his children's lives at stake, but Olivia and Noah's as well, and why, he still didn't have the foggiest notion. "If the threat continues, what do we do next?"

She smoothed her hands down her pants legs and looked at Elliot. "We hope it won't, but if it does, that's on me to coordinate and you to listen, for once."

Olivia burst out laughing, and Elliot was torn between glaring at Monique or laughing with Olivia, before choosing to soak in the laughter. They'd all been so tense, and now more than ever. "Should Noah and I go home or stay here?"

"Honestly, it's up to you. Wherever you feel safer. The safety of each and every one of you is our highest priority right now. That goes for your work too; I've also taken the liberty of talking to both Chief Garland and Sergeant Bell and gotten them up to speed on what's going on here." Monique exhaled, and looked at the two of them. "They're both prepared in case either of you needs to take a leave of absence. Something about you having almost an entire year's worth of unused vacation, Benson."

Elliot slid his hand across the couch and took Olivia's hand in his. Her breath hitched occasionally, and he could tell his former partner was having trouble absorbing the impact of everything going on. "And the kids?"

"As much or as little of their normal routine as they're comfortable with, at this point." With a buzz of her phone, she looked down at the screen and acknowledged the words on it. "Your officers are almost here. I'll be your contact person, and no communications regarding your protection or the surveillance should be considered official unless it comes from myself, or in my absence, Captain Weissler is my commanding officer and also has authorization."

His throat grew dry, realizing how everything was being finally set in motion with this conversation. Once their details got there, then there was no going back. But, in a sense, there'd been no going back for weeks; not since that fateful day he'd opened his department email and found out Olivia was slated to get a richly-deserved award. At that moment, every last domino had fallen into place to end up where they were sitting now.

Looking at Olivia, curled into a ball on her end of the couch, he held her hand even tighter. "I got you, Olivia," he said, squeezing her hand and feeling a surge of warmth rush through him at the contact. "I got you. Don't worry."

"I got you too," she whispered, and the shock of crystal clarity that shot through him with those four words made it evident to him: they were going to jump off this cliff holding hands, and if it came down to it, he'd break her fall.

Once his partner, always his partner.

-to be continued-