Chapter 2 – Making Contact
It was a whole week before Olivia managed to get a response from Mr Stabler, through a letter. Elizabeth had told her the day after she'd sent the letter home, that Dani had made sure she placed it in his office but Elizabeth couldn't say whether he'd actually read it or not. There was no emergency contact for Mr or Mrs Stabler listed on the school system that she could see, other than for Dani and so other than the letter or word of mouth, Olivia had no way to reach out to Elizabeth's parents. However, the following Monday, Elizabeth had come straight into the classroom after the morning bell and said she had a letter for Olivia. Her father had placed it in her bag last night and given Olivia strict instructions to give it to Miss Benson this morning. Olivia thanked the little girl for the letter and placed it on her desk, she would read it shortly after they have commenced the morning activities.
However, it wasn't till recess that Olivia had actually had the time to sit down and rad the letter which had come back from Mr Stabler. Olivia was very relieved to hear that he would be able to attend a meeting, however the times for the meeting would be very limited as he was a busy man and was going to be heading out of state later that same week for about a week. Thankfully, he had also included in the letter, an appropriate contact number to be able to get in contact with him if it was required, so Olivia wouldn't necessarily have to send another note home with his daughter. However, Olivia thought that this would be best, just in case they couldn't get in touch over the phone.
Dear Mr Stabler,
Thank you for agreeing to meet with me sometime soon. I understand that you are in fact a very busy man with your business, particularly from all the stories about how hard you work which Elizabeth has shared with me. However, this meeting is of the upmost importance as it regards your daughter's education and her progress in her learning. What day are you due to fly out for work? I have time available almost every day for the rest of this week and can meet with you either before or after school. I will try and contact you over the phone soon but this letter is also coming home to you in case I am unable to reach you on the phone. Just let me know what time and day would suit you best and we can arrange something.
Kindest Regards,
Olivia Benson
Olivia typed up the letter and placed it in another envelope for Elizabeth to take him. She would try the contact number which Mr Stabler had provided shortly, but she was unsure she would get an answer and she didn't quite have the flexibility to try this number numerous times when she was a teacher in a class full of lots of little people.
Elliot had been in a call already when Elizabeth's teacher had called him, his personal assistant had provided him the message after his call was over but he'd not be able to call back at that time He knew that she would be very busy considering she was his daughter's teacher and they had a lot of responsibility, just hoped that maybe they would be able to communicate some other way to get to the bottom of what was important with this meeting and his child.
"Ashley, what is my schedule like this afternoon?" Elliot asked as she walked out of his office, he wanted to see if he could be there to pick up his children this afternoon and maybe catch Elizabeth's teacher. He had made a pact with himself recently that he couldn't simply sit by now and watch things play out. He needed to take a stand, to stop putting his business first but rather put his children first as they clearly needed him more than he thought. Elliot had read the twins reports from last year and they weren't as good as he had originally thought they were when he read them last year. Clearly, if there was the need for him to have a meeting with at least one of his children's teachers, then they weren't improving.
"You have a meeting with the board for the new hotel development in half an hour but other than that you have no further appointments for today at the moment" Ashley, his personal assistant explained.
"Can you make sure that it stays that way? I need to pick up my kids from school and I won't be returning to the office today" Elliot requested, hoping that his afternoon would stay clear and he could go and deal with the issues at hand.
"Will you be continuing to work on this from home sir?" Ashley clarified
"I will be back in the office tomorrow before flying to Florida on Wednesday. When I leave later, you can take the rest of the afternoon off if you wish" Elliot explained, diverting the question about if he was going to work at home or not as he wasn't sure.
"Thank you sir" Ashley responded before Elliot headed back into his office, to work on the plans for the new hotel before his meeting.
If everything went to plan then he was going to be able to collect his children from school and hopefully meet with Miss Benson about Elizabeth. Elliot had never met her before but he knew that as a teacher, she had really made a big impact on Elizabeth so far this year. School had only really begun about a month ago but Elizabeth had been excited since day 1 of the school year, when she found out she would have Miss Benson. In a way, her teacher was giving Elizabeth a drive to get to school every day. The same couldn't be said for Richard and his relationship with his teacher, but he seemed to be happy none the less. The more he thought about it, Elliot was really looking forward to meeting the woman who'd had such a big impact on his daughter and was clearly determined to meet with him about her education.
Olivia walked with her class, out of the exit to the school building and instantly, Mandy, who was the teacher for the other 2nd grade class came over to her.
"Mystery Dad is here" Mandy greeted Olivia as Olivia tried to focus on matching kids with their parents.
"Mystery dad?" Clara, the teaching student who was on Olivia's class this year, enquired.
"The dad for the twins in your and my class, whom no one at this school has ever seen. He's here today though, look at where Elizabeth heads off to and you'll see him" Mandy explained and sure enough, as Elizabeth was heading towards a parent, she meets up with a tall man who instantly bends to scoop her in his arms. There are numerous similiarities in the features of the pair, so Olivia knows this is Elizabeth's father. Olivia smiles at the sweet moment but is quick to look away when both Elizabeth and her father look over towards Olivia's direction.
"How did you get him here?" Clara asked, she had heard the stories about him in the staff room before.
"I didn't, I sent a letter home with Elizabeth about a week ago and managed to hear back from him today but we'd not set a direct time to meet yet so he can't be here for me" Olivia tried to explain.
"Well he's walking right in this direction." Mandy exclaimed before walking away from the group again, leaving Olivai to handle this interaction on her own. Clara was quick to make her exit as well, instead saying something about organising the pick up of the last few students in the class. Olivia started to head back to the classroom once Clara had the last few students under control and didn't obviously need her to stay.
However, it was once she was back in the classroom, that she saw Elizabeth come running in again, pulling her father along behind her and Richard too.
"Miss Benson, Miss Benson, daddy's here!" Elizabeth exclaimed as Olivia looked away from her desk to the group that was now in her doorway.
"I can see that, what a nice surprise" Olivia replied, she could clearly see the impact that having her father here, was having on the little girl.
"Daddy said he's here to meet wit you? But I didn give him the new letter yet" Elizabeth tried to explain and Olivia could tell she was confused over all of this.
"That's ok sweetheart, I can meet with your daddy now, but can you and your brother just wait outside for me please? I promise we won't be too long" Olivia asked, to which Elizabeth nodded and ran off out of the classroom with Richard in tow, the mention of something about a ball game or the like to keep them entertained. Olivia motioned for Elliot to take a seat, whilst she took a seat behind her desk, grabbing out the folder which had work Elizabeth had done. Olivia hadn't planned in meeting with Elliot right now so she was a little under-prepared for this but at least he was here now.
"Firstly, thank you for coming to meet with me Mr Stabler. I want to start by saying that Elizabeth is an absolute pleasure in the classroom and a very loved member of our class" Olivia started.
"Please, call me Elliot. My children's education is the upmost importance to me so if there is something wrong with Elizabeth or her learning then I'd like to get ahead of it if I can and support her where I can" Elliot replied and smiled softly at Olivia.
"Well it's a good thing that you are here now as unfortunately Elizabeth isn't progressing quite as well as we would have liked. Particularly in her reading and spelling. This is the recent reading assessment I did with her" Olivia explained, as she handed him the page with the results and markings from her reading assessment that Olivia did with Elizabeth last week.
"So, you can ignore the little symbols but basically she is unfamiliar with a lot of the most common words that children of her age should be confident with. She is currently reading at about a kindergarten level but this is 2nd grade and that is raising some concerns" Olivia continued to explain.
"Wow, I had no idea it was this bad" Elliot remarked, shocked to hear about how poorly his daughter was reading.
"Do you read at home with them? Does Mrs Stabler?"
"There is no Mrs Stabler and I must admit I don't read with them most of the time, I often don't get home till after they are already in bed but my nanny says she always reads to them before bed" Elliot explained, feeling slightly guilty with how things were with his daughter.
Olivia was shocked that there was no Mrs Stabler on the scene. She didn't want to pry but if there was no Mrs Stabler then it would make sense to the rumours the teachers had been discussing about the family. Especially as this was one of the first times that Elliot had even come to the school, taking an interest in the education of his children. But part of her also felt really sorry for Elizabeth and her brother, growing up without a mother is hard. Olivia could speak from experience about this, she had lost her mother at a very young age and gone into foster care for numerous years. However, she had eventually been lucky and been adopted by a lovely man whom she now knew as her father, whom she was really grateful for. But growing up without a mother was hard for anyone and to think that there were kids in her class that were going through that as well, was hard. Despite a horrible relationship leading to her falling pregnant with Chloe, Olivia was never going to abandon her role as a mother or her little girl, if she had any control over it and she was grateful for her daughter.
"Mr Stabler, research shows that reading each night to your children has significant benefits to their education and their learning. The familiarity with books and reading as well as listening audibly to someone reading, can really help student development. Whilst it's not the sole reason that Elizabeth may be struggling, the lack of reading at home is definitely contributing" Olivia said before she went on to explain the different options which were offered at the school to support students. Olivia explained that they could get Elizabeth the additional assistance with his permission. She provided Elliot the relevant information and Elliot instantly agreed, there was nothing that he wouldn't do for his children. At the end of the meeting, he was actually grateful that they had made a meeting like this and he made a mental note to try and get a meeting with Richard's teacher too. Elliot knew that if Elizabeth was struggling at school, it was likely that Richard was as well.
Olivia sat at the kitchen table, next to Chloe in her high chair, who was currently trying to eat dinner. Olivia had been later home from school than she had expected so Lucy had picked Chloe up from daycare but Olivia had made sure to be home in time for dinner. Olivia wasn't saying anything, she was just enjoying watching her little girl and thinking about how lucky she was to have Chloe. Chloe had brought a huge change to Olivia's life, even from before she was born. The little girl had brought the desperate measures Olivia needed, to get out of the relationship she had been in, and make a change with her life, Olivia had a new purpose to be living for when she had found out she was pregnant, she had someone now who was depending on her to survive. Chloe, even though she was now only 18 months old, had completely changed Olivia's life and it was all for the better.
A/N: Thank you for all your beautiful reviews on the first chapter, and i hope you have liked this one. Like i mentioned previously, this story is currently writing itself and i can't seem to put it down. So hopefully that means there should be frequent updates for you all. I do work though and so some updates might be slower than others. However, let me know your thoughts on this chapter by leaving a review! I read each and every review that is left and appreciate all the feedback which you give.
Until next time ;)
