Fate

Chapter 3: Confession

Monday morning had the light pouring into Noah Benson's bedroom, the glare wakening Oliver Stabler from his restless slumber.

Oliver sat up in Noah's twin sized bed, and rubbed his eyes. The weekend at Noah's had been great, but after receiving his distressing messages Friday night, Oliver knew he had to come clean to Olivia that morning. The jig was up. He and Noah hadn't been caught yet but if this thing went any further then Noah would end up a lot farther from home than either of them planned. The conference his Dad had to attend started today and the boys decided that would be the perfect place for their parents to meet up.

Try as he did that weekend, Oliver got no further in finding out what happened to his Dad and Olivia. Pretending to be Noah, Oliver confessed to Olivia on Saturday that he had taken a picture she hid in one of her drawers to camp with him. Olivia hadn't been mad at all, actually seeming touched at the gesture. However when Oliver began to ask questions about the man in the picture with her, she shut down on him. The only information she shared was, that he was her old partner and after many years together on the force, his Dad had left without telling her.

That didn't seem like his Dad at all, which made Oliver even more curious.

Oliver rubbed his eyes, it was 6 in the morning and he knew, thanks to Noah, that Olivia would be getting ready for work. Although he was off school for the week, Olivia still had to work, and Lucy, Noah's sitter since he was a baby, would be taking care of him this week.

Oliver stumbled from his bed. He hadn't slept well. Dreading what he was about to do.

Oliver knocked on Olivia's bedroom door, hearing a 'come in,' had him entering the room.

Olivia was moving around, already dressed for work, doing her hair and filling a briefcase with papers and her tablet.

"Good morning my sweet boy, did you sleep okay?" Olivia asked, pecking Oliver on the top of the head as he sat on the foot of her bed.

Oliver shook his head. "Not really, I need to tell you something and you're not gonna like it," he muttered.

Olivia stopped packing her bag and came to kneel at Oliver's feet. "What is it? You know you can tell me anything," she replied, while placing a comforter hand on his shoulder.

"I uh," Oliver started, before choking up and getting teary eyed.

"Noah sweetheart there's nothing you could say or do that I would get truly mad at you for, so what's going on, what happened?" Olivia prodded.

Oliver hung his head as Olivia held his hands between hers.

"That's the thing I have to tell you. I'm not Noah," he blurted, trying to rip the bandaid off quickly like his father taught him.

Olivia's eyebrows furrowed, "What do you mean you're not Noah? You don't feel like yourself?"

Oliver shook his head, "Please don't be mad, it's just I've heard about you my whole life, and I really wanted to meet you and Noah really wanted to meet my Dad."

Oliver clung tightly to Olivia's hand as he continued, "Noah and I met at camp and as we were getting to know each other we realized we looked exactly the same, we were both adopted, and we were both born here in New York on the same day-"

Olivia stood up abruptly, "No, oh my god, no, no!" she exclaimed, holding her hands over her mouth.

"Ellie Porter had twins?" Olivia gasped.

Oliver nodded, giving Olivia time to digest this information.

"Oh my god, oh my god," Olivia chanted. "Wh-where's Noah?" Olivia questioned, clearly in a panic now over the location of her son.

"He's in Manhattan too, with my Dad," Oliver confirmed.

"I need, I-we," Olivia stuttered, running her hands through her hair, she appeared speechless.

"My names Oliver," he said.

Olivia blinked back tears, trying to compose herself as the boy on her bed released a few of his pent up tears. She knelt in front of him again and wiped the tears from his face.

Olivia gave him a small smile, "You're brothers, twins!" she exclaimed. "Identical, you look so much alike," she continued as she studied his face.

Oliver chuckled and nodded, "But we need you to switch us back. My Dad's going to be at a police conference at the four seasons in Manhattan today, where he's expecting to switch us back," Oliver's lip quivered at the lie. His Dad had no idea that him and Noah had switched places.

Olivia nodded, "Of course, I'll call my squad, tell them I won't be in today, it's okay we'll get you back home sweetie."

One last question changed the emotion in the room immediately.

"What's your Dads name?" Olivia inquired.

Oliver grimaced, "My names Oliver, Oliver Stabler…" he trailed off, knowing she'd recognize his surname.

And just like that, 5 little words changed Olivia's life going forward.

A/N: Short little chapter to move the story along. How will Olivia react to seeing her ex partner for the first time in over a decade? And his girlfriend? (Place your bets on who that is!) Hope you're enjoying the ride.