Chapter 9 - Weekends

Sundays were the perfect days for family time. Sundays were when Olivia wasn't doing anything teaching related or any planning for the upcoming week. She had made sure to get it all done by the end of last week and often worked on Friday nights to prepare for the next week, so that she could take Sunday for Chloe and sometimes she even took Saturdays for Chloe took. Due to the busy schedules that they have during the working week, Olivia always took the weekend as a time to put her interests solely in her daughter and what she needs. They would spend the weekend doing things which Chloe enjoyed or they enjoyed doing together rather than Olivia's thoughts being soley on what she needed to get done for the upcoming week.

As today was such a nice day, Olivia had taken the opportunity for them to get out of the house and head to the park. Olivia would take Chloe to go and geed the ducks and play on the playground, these were some of Chloe's favourite things to do. They would head out after Chloe's afternoon nap and enjoy the most of the afternoon sun and nice weather but likely take their afternoon tea with them. Early October in New York City was slightly cooler in the weather generally pretty sunny days still. Olivia knew they would need to get out and enjoy the most of this weather whilst they can as she was sure it wouldn't be too much longer till the winter chills really started to set in.

The afternoon sun was cooler than it had been in the previous weeks, but the afternoon was still the perfect time for the park. Olivia loved the fresh air, sunshine and the chance to play outside with Chloe rather than in the apartment. The minute they arrived at the park, they headed straight for the pond in the middle as that was where the ducks were and Chloe wanted to feed the ducks first. Olivia made sure to keep Chloe in the stroller though as she didn't want the little girl to try and end up in the pond like she had attempted to a few weeks ago.
"Mommy look duck" Chloe called out as Olivia handed the little girl some torn up bread to feed the birds. Olivia knew that it was highly likely most of the bread she had brought would end up being eaten by Chloe rather than the ducks but that was beside the point here.
"Good spotting honey" Olivia replied, kneeling down beside the little girl in the chair and continuing to hand her bits of torn bread for her to throw. Chloe tried to throw the bread in the water, but it ended up on the floor and Chloe looked confused. Olivia just smiled, picked up the bread again and pushed the stroller a little bit closer to the water before handing the bread to Chloe to throw again. This time Chloe squealed in delight as she watched one of the ducks decide to eat the bread she had thrown. Chloe's laughter was like music to Olivia's ears, she loved to hear her little girl so happy.


Weekends were a time that Elliot had determined would not be for work, they were the days where he was going to focus on his kids in particular and get out to do things. If Elliot had to travel for work, he would always aim to get back to New York for the weekend to be with his kids, he wanted to make sure he had that special time with them when he was away all week. Saturday's were pretty busy in the stabler house hold with very little time for free time, between Dickie's soccer game and Elizabeth's dance classes. So, Saturday afternoons were usually pretty lazy and chilled out but Sundays would be the day they got out and did things together in the city. Each week it alternated between the twins as to what they did on the Sunday and this week it was Richard's time to decide what they did. Elizabeth had picked last weekend which had resulted in a trip to the movies, so this week Richard wanted to go and play soccer int the park. Elizabeth wasn't a fan of soccer or sports in general really, but Elliot took the time to explain to her, that as they did what she wanted last time they were all going to do what Richard wanted this time. It was the way to make sure it was fair. Elizabeth only didn't like sports activities as she wasn't very good at them and thus often felt a little left out when they did this. It was times like these where she wished she still had a mother, because her mother would be able to divert attention to other things and they could do something else than sports. However, the afternoon wasn't really going to be as bad as Elizabeth expected in the end. The chef had packed them a picnic afternoon tea to take with them and so Elliot grabbed the picnic basket after they all climbed out of the car and told the driver he would text when they were ready to head home again. But It would likely be a couple of hours before that was the case. Richard carried the soccer ball as they all walked to the grass to play and it was decided that they would have 2 teams; Richard versus Elizabeth and Elliot. Richard was feeling pretty confident he had this competition in the bag as he was a great soccer player. But Elliot had been more focused on convincing Elizabeth that they were going to take Richard down in healthy competition.

An hour later, Elizabeth had lost all interest in the soccer game with the boys. She felt like she was not as good as her dad or brother and wasn't interested in playing with them anymore. Elliot had tried ot change that numerous times but each time Elizabeth simply refused and moved to take a seat under the big oak tree, near where they had left their stuff. However, her interest soon turned ot the pond instead and she could see there were ducks there so she wanted to head over there. Elizabeth asked her father if she could go over to the pond and Elliot agreed as long as she stayed where he could see her and safely away from the water. Elizabeth and Richard were still learning to swim but Elliot knew going near that volume of water could be dangerous for the young girl who wasn't a confident swimmer. Swimming was one skill that the twins were late learning to do as it wasn't something, he or Kathy had particularly been affected by but it was a necessary skill to have. Elliot trusted Elizabeth though, and hoped that she would obey what he said, and stay a safe distance away from the water.


Elizabeth walked over to the pond, taking in the appearance of different people she could see and those around the edge where the ducks were. But something familiar struck her eye as she walked closer, there appeared to be a familiar figure crouching near the ducks. The figure was a taller lady with dark brown hair and she was kneeling by a stroller whilst feeding the ducks. Elizabeth thought that there was a striking resemblance with this figure to her teacher, but why would her teacher be here with a stroller. Elizabeth had never heard about Miss Benson having children or anything, so there was no way that this woman could be Miss Benson. Besides, it was the weekend and Elizabeth thought that Miss Benson would likely not want to be around children now if she's with them all week on her class. It's just a lady that looks like Miss Benson, not actually Miss Benson Elizabeth thought to herself as she approached the woman. However, the closer she got the more Elizabeth could hear Miss Benson's voice, she would recognise the voice of her teacher and someone she really admired, anywhere.

"Miss Benson?" Elizabeth asked as she approached the woman by the stroller. She waited patiently as the woman looked up at her and could see the surprise on her face as she looked at Elizabeth.
"Elizabeth? Hi" Olivia greeted, she wasn't sure whether she should be happy or shocked to see her student standing here right now.
"What are you doing here?" Elizabeth asked, looking at the stroller and the little girl inside. She was a very small girl and didn't look that old yet.
"Chloe and I were feeding the ducks. What are you doing here? You don't live around here?" Olivia queried.
"I'm here with my daddy and Dickie, they are playing soccer over there but I got tired of it...i can't play soccer very good and they can" Elizabeth explained as she pointed back towards the direction of her dad and brother.
"I'm sure you're much better at soccer than I am. But remember what we say, you're always learning so something you can't do now or might not be good at now, isn't always going to be something that you won't be good at. The more you play soccer the more you will get better" Olivia explained as Elizabeth smiled and knew this woman was right. Miss Benson always seemed to know the answer to every and had the best advice for Elizabeth.

"Is Chloe your daughter?" Elizabeth asked a few minutes later, as Olivia was focused on handing the little girl in the stroller some more bread.
"She is, she's one and a half. We really like to come to the park some afternoons and feed the ducks" Olivia explained.
"Duckies!" Chloe chimed in as she held up the bread to Elizabeth and Olivia smiled. Chloe wasn't the best at sharing but clearly she had struck an interest in whoever her mother was talking to.
"Would you like to feed the ducks too? I'm sure that Chloe wouldn't mind sharing the bread with you. She's not too good at breaking the bread though but she's learning how to throw it" Olivia explained, handing the second last slice of bread they had to Elizabeth. She quickly accepted and started to tear up some bread to throw to the ducks. Whilst the girls were busy feeding the ducks, and Elizabeth was talking away, Olivia made a quick look around to make sure that Elliot and Dickie were close by. Whilst Olivia would look after this little girl no matter what, she hated the thought that on any other day Elizabeth could walk away from the group and something could happen if she wasn't being watched. New York was a dangerous city. She found them a minute later and saw Elliot take a quick glance over in their direction, at least he was keeping an eye on one child whilst entertaining the other.


A short while later, all the bread was gone and Chloe was growing restless in her stroller. She had been strapped into that seat for a while now and Olivia knew she wanted to get out and run. Elizabeth had held pretty much the entire conversation whilst they were feeding the ducks but she had interacted with Chloe too. Olivia had found it really sweet the way Elizabeth had interacted with Chloe and listened to all her jumbled chatter. Olivia knew that apart from Dickie, Elizabeth had no other siblings, but she would make a great older sister if the time came. However, it was now time that they move over to the playground and give Chloe the chance to play and get some of her energy out. They had eaten afternoon tea and now all Chloe would need was a chance to run around and she should go to bed easily for Olivia tonight.
"Well, I think it's time that I take this one over to the playground. I think we've successfully filled the ducks up with our bread. Chloe you want to run don't you?" Olivia asked the little girl.
"we go on da side too? Chloe asked.
"Yes honey, we can go on the slide too if you would like"
"Come too?" Chloe asked, more directed at Elizabeth than at Olivia. It looked like the little girl really wanted to play with Elizabeth at the playground but that decision wasn't up to Olivia.
"I don't know honey. I think Lizzie has to stay near her daddy and brother. But Lizzie, If you want to come on the playground then why don't you go ask your dad first and I can watch you" Olivia suggested whilst Elizabeth took off running back to her father. Olivia really didn't mind watching over Elizabeth as well as Chloe, as it didn't seem like Elizabeth wanted to sit about and watch Soccer for any longer and they were going to the playground anyway.

A/N: Well...I never saw that coming? Elliot, Dickie, Elizabeth at the park at the same time as Olivia and Chloe...Are they all going to interact? Or is Elliot not going to let Elizabeth go to the park as it's Dickie's choice this weekend. I guess you'll have to wait and see. Let me know what you thought of the chapter by leaving a review as i love to read them all and see what you all thought. Thanks for reading and until next time ;)