Prompt #73: Joleen spend Halloween taking Maureen's kids trick-or-treating, Elliot and Olivia are secretly together already and take Noah trick-or-treating and they all run into each other


Hopelessly Devoted to Truth

~oOo~

Halloween was always spent running along these streets when she was a child. The ones in Glenoaks.

Her grandmother had sent all the kids a pillowcase, hand painted in true Bernadette Stabler style, and that was their bag for candy. She'd cut out and sewn handles into the material, and each one had a different motif. Kathleen loved her pillowcase, because her grandmother had painted it to look like a jack-o-lantern. Maureen's was a black pillowcase, adorned with various ghosts. Elizabeth's was a purple pillowcase painted with candy corn and various other sweets. Richard's was Frankenstein's monster. When Eli came along, he was the recipient of a pillowcase painted with bats flying in front of a bright yellow moon.

Halloween was special. One of Kathleen's favorite holidays…because she got the opportunity to dress up and pretend to be someone else for an evening. Not to mention, the wheeling and dealing that went down between her and her siblings to try to get their favorite candy swapped. Thankfully, there were only a few overlaps of favorites in their preferences. She never grew out of her love of Halloween.

When she became too old to trick-or-treat herself, she began asking to take other people's kids trick-or-treating just for an excuse to dress up and go out. When Maureen had the twins, Kathleen made it a personal mission to take them out when Maureen couldn't. This just so happened to be one of the years that Maureen had been told that she had to work on Halloween, and so—naturally, Aunt Katie stepped in gladly.

That's how she found herself in her old childhood neighborhood, standing on the sidewalk with a smile on her face dressed like Sandy from Grease…her boyfriend next to her. That was new, this relationship—and she wasn't disappointed in it. Joe was the silent but strong type with the same drive for justice and quiet broody presence that her own father had. It's what made her comfortable around him. Not to mention, he was in the same unit her father had been in while she was growing up. His empathy, his patience, his very presence was everything.

That…and he looked pretty damn convincing as the Danny to her Sandy.

"Who knew you could pull of a young John Travolta." Kathleen opens up a Reese's cup and rips it apart with her fingers, glancing up at him with her large blue eyes.

"Hopefully I don't go bald like the man," Joe chuckles quietly, almost nervously. Kathleen rolls her eyes.

"Does anyone in your family have a history of going bald?"

Joe shakes his head, quietly, "No. Can't say they do."

"So how'd you get out of the yearly pedo-patrol?"

"How do you ask things like that in public?" He glances around, eyes wide as he vibrates with nervous energy. "I mean, it's my job, Kathleen, but we're surrounded by a bunch of kids…"

She laughs as she reaches in her custom-painted aged pillowcase to grab a package of grape and strawberry Nerds, her eyes fill with merriment as she shakes the little purple and pink package. "I LOVE these." She pokes her finger into the little flap and smiles as she dumps the purple candies in her hand, tilting her head back as she chews on the candy.

"Nerds?" He examines the package, shaking his head. "Sounds…nerdy."

"God, that was such a bad joke." She watches as Kieran and Seamus run along the sidewalk to Mrs. Johnson's house—her old English teacher who lived five houses down from her childhood home. "Have you ever had these?"

"Can't say I have."

"Hold out your hand." She places her own underneath his as she tilts the box and the small candies land in the palm of his hand. "Be glad I'm sharing with you."

"I thought you share everything with me?" He flashes her a grin as she reaches forward, placing her hand on his chest, leaning forward to give him a kiss as he chews the candies.

"So this is the neighborhood I grew up in." She reaches for his hand, tilting her head up to look at him as they walk behind the group of kids, laughing and poking one another with their various Halloween costume props. Seamus swinging his Mjölnir, Kieran with his Captain America shield strapped on his arm. "It was…a nice neighborhood. We had block parties in the summertime, everyone knew my dad was a cop. Halloween was always fun here because they kind of just let the kids run up and down the road, and all the adults watch out for the neighborhood kids."

"They all seem to be doing the same thing even now." Joe looks around, his own police instincts on overdrive, the suspicion on everyone walking down the street, on the people answering the doors finely honed.

"It's a safe neighborhood, Joe." Kathleen places her hand on his arm, squeezing his muscles as she trails her hand down to interlace their fingers together. "You can relax here."

She wasn't lying. It was a safe neighborhood. There weren't any registered offenders within seven blocks and she'd double checked on the phone before bringing the twins here. Originally, she'd asked her father if he wanted to take his grandsons trick-or-treating with her, but he'd declined, telling her he had things he had to do. She guessed it had to do with work or whatever it was that was going on in his personal life.

She chose not to ask questions much, honestly.

Ever since she'd asked how Olivia was and he'd shrugged her off, telling her that she probably had a better idea of how the woman was doing than he did, with her boyfriend being part of Liv's squad.

Kathleen sighed, leaning her head against Joe's arm.

"You want this one day? The quiet neighborhood in Queens and trick-or-treating?"

She takes a deep breath. It has been on her mind more and more lately. She's approaching thirty-four and everyone seems to like to remind her that her biological clock is ticking away. There's so many unknowns, but honestly, she thinks that yeah, she would like this. She wants to be a mother, deep down in her heart she knows she'd be a damn good one…as long as her moods are stable and she doesn't try to chase snowflakes like her grandmother. Halloween is full of frights, scares, and pranks…but the scariest thing in Kathleen's mind is who she is when she's not medicated, or when she has an episode. She's scared shitless that maybe she would hurt her own child.

But God, does she want her own child one day.

"I mean. I think I'd like to have at least one kid someday."

"Me too." He looks down at her, and she feels her walls crumble. It's impossible, she thinks, to love someone as much as she loves this man. This incredibly brave, understanding, quiet, thoughtful man who surprises her almost every day.

When he'd called a couple of weeks ago telling her that his partner needed to go blazer shopping and asked him along—she'd temporarily flashed back to when her own father would say Olivia needed something and she'd just laughed, telling him to be safe and she'd see him back at the apartment later that evening.

He'd gotten home that evening, made Bernie a cup of tea (she's been living with them—and as much as a damper as that's put on certain activities, Kathleen has learned what a sweet guy her Joe is), and told her all about his partner, Grace.

She'd listened, quietly for a few minutes, her hands folded neatly across her stomach, watching the patterns the light made up on the ceiling in her bedroom. "Joe, promise me you're not going to fall in love with your partner."

He laughed, running his hand over his face as he looked over at her absolute sincerity in his voice as he told her with the most certainty, "I think she's more likely to fall in love with Liz than me."

"She single? Think we could hook them up?"

They'd laughed quietly as they tangled themselves together beneath the sheets that night, lost in one another. He never asked about her request that he not fall in love with his partner, and she never elaborated.

A week or so later, he'd had a rough case, and when he got home that evening, Bernie had distracted him, gotten him to help in the kitchen and that night, he told her that her own grandmother reminded him of his Abuela. She'd asked if his Abuela was crazy like hers—and he'd sighed, turning on his side and looking into her eyes telling her to stop calling herself and her Grandmother crazy. They weren't crazy.

"Yeah? You want the kid and the home?" She asks, tears brimming along her bottom lashes. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. I do. I wanna little girl with dark hair and bright eyes, maybe some freckles."

Kathleen hums, watching as Seamus and Kieran trade yet another candy bar. That's when Joe stops short and she runs into him. "What was that?" Her eyes travel to the direction he's looking, eyes wide. "Holy shit, is that—"

"My boss and your dad?" Kathleen's eyes sparkle as she takes in the two people twenty-five feet in front of them. "Liv looks hot."

She did. There she was, Olivia Benson, wearing the absolute best version of a Wonder Woman costume, and standing next to her, looking every single bit as dark and broody as possible dressed in the absolute best Batman costume, was her father. Kathleen's eyes traveled to the house where both Kieran and Seamus had just bounded up to and when her eyes fell on Noah, she barked out a laugh.

The kid was dressed as Robin.

Wait. Did that mean what she thought it meant? Were they…dressed like a family? She reaches in her small bag at her side, pulling out her phone, because no one was going to believe this. Hell, he'd been adamant he had something to do. For someone who claimed to have no idea how his former partner was, or give any clues at all that they were even talking, they'd sure organized the perfect family costumes.

Joe turned around, shaking his head, as though he had no idea what the hell to do in this situation.

Kathleen stood on her tip-toes, kissing him gently before she motioned to the spot just next to the tree, out of sight next to where they were walking. She watches, waiting as her father and Olivia draw nearer. Right when they pause in front of them, watching Noah mingle with the other kids, Kathleen clears her throat.

"You know, family costumes can be so much better organized if you tell your family." Olivia freezes, slowly turning her head to look in the direction of Kathleen's voice. "Busted. You're both busted."

"Kathleen."

"No, tell me the truth. Dad…sorry, Batman." She turns to look at Olivia. "Wonder Woman…don't make me get the lasso of truth—so, spill—how long have you guys been organizing this behind our backs?" Olivia takes a deep breath, looking down at the extra bag she's carrying for Noah, and that's when Kathleen sees it. The one-of-a-kind, custom Bernadette Stabler painted pillowcase. "Okay, so obviously some of us knew."

"Your grandmother, Kathleen…I think we owe her this." Olivia points to Elliot and then to Noah, who had found Seamus and Kieran and was exchanging more candy. "She invited me over a couple of weeks ago—reminded me that I wasn't getting any younger." Olivia winces, slightly, laughing. "That she wasn't getting any younger. She put a few things into perspective, honestly…and even though we were able to pull this together—I'm not even sure this is real or if I'm dreaming."

"Oh, trust me…this isn't a dream, or if it is, I need to talk about my perception of you and dad in my fantasies to my therapist." Olivia laughs, shaking her head as Kathleen looks the woman up and down again, shaking her head. "For what it's worth? You look amazing and I'm glad he's not sitting at home alone," Kathleen confesses, reaching in her bag and pulling out a Twix bar. "I was worried he would be. I thought he was lying to me when he said he had plans this evening."

Olivia smirks, leaning in as she speaks low enough that no one else can overhear. "I told him if he wanted to be dark and broody—if he wanted to sit around with all his muscles and surely expression—he could at least put those things to good use." She leans back, winking. "Now, remind me if I forgot—but you love the Reese's cups, Nerds, and Twix candy bars, right? Is that my currency to beg you to keep this quiet for just a little longer?"

Kathleen's smile grew on her face as she looked into the dark eyes of the woman in front of her.

"Only if Wonder Woman promises to take a photo with me, because when you guys finally do tell people you're…wearing family costumes and hanging out looking like that—I'd like to have proof."

Olivia laughs, pulling Kathleen in for a hug. "Now, about these candy bars."


Note: The author of this SVU: Fall in Love story will be revealed in November