"This bath is way better than your hotel in Chicago," she admitted. There was way more room for them both to lay together rather than feeling horribly stifled by the space.

He held her, enveloped within his arms. She sat in a space between his legs, her body turned slightly so that she had been able to circle an arm around him and snuggle in to the crook of his. She rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes, enjoying the warm water bubbling around them.

"Is this is our tradition?" he asked. He leaned his cheek on the crown of her head. "Having a bath after spending intimate time?" he asked.

"Mmm, seems so… I could come to enjoy soaking in a bath with jets any day of the week."

"You're always welcome to," he replied. She shifted slightly, feeling warm and fuzzy and more relaxed than she'd felt in months.

She felt Trevor's fingers caressing her hair. "Thanks… maybe I'll take you up on it."

Trevor sensed that he had a different Olivia with him. She seemed freer and all of her walls were broken down. He was careful not to bring attention to it, not wanting her to become self-aware all over again. He enjoyed it.

"So what are you doing with Noah tomorrow?" he asked her.

Olivia thought for a moment, "he has that art project to work on," she groaned, "I am so bad at that stuff… he has all of these fantastic ideas and I … totally suck creatively."

"Well," Trevor started carefully, "maybe he doesn't need as much help as you think. He got himself in to the competition without your help, so…"

"Good point," Olivia agreed, "but he has big plans and I dunno, I don't know if I can help him come through with what he needs."

He chuckled. "Let me know if its anything I can help with. I'm pretty good with my hands."

Olivia chuckled too. "I've noticed…"

"How do you feel right now?" he wondered, "comfortable? Relaxed?"

"So relaxed, a little tiny bit drunk and just happy to be here with you alone and enjoying some affection, I didn't realize how affection-starved I was." Admitting her own words out loud as if the thought just occurred to her.

"I can promise you will never be starved of affection if I'm around. You'll be like, 'oh, fuck off, Trevor, I'm tired of your hands on me'."

"Will not," she retorted with a laugh. "It'll be more or less like, 'Trev, I really need a hug'" she smiled to herself, thinking of all the times at work where she could have benefitted from someone putting their arms around her momentarily, "or it'll be a phone call letting you know that I wished you were with me, giving me a hug."

Trevor smiled at the thought of her thinking to call him first before anyone else, or even better thinking to call him rather than sitting with her own misery. "I'll go for a break and come down to meet you for a quick minute with a cuddle and a coffee during those moments."

Olivia felt pleased, thinking of all of the occasions that she'd wished she'd had another adult she could come home and decompress with. Lucy was as close as it got and she was very careful of not talking about work – she was too nice and too innocent to hear about the things that Liv saw on a daily basis. "I can't imagine what it's like to have someone in my life like that."

"I'm right here, sweetheart…"

Olivia didn't like pet names. She hated to hear any of her ex boyfriends call her anything besides her own, given name, but it felt sincere when it came from his mouth and she quite liked it.

"Eventually you'll get complacent," she told him with a resolute sigh, "and that's okay, the honeymoon period doesn't last forever."

Trevor kissed her forehead, cupping water over her exposed shoulders thoughtfully. "Not really," he replied with a shrug, "it takes absolutely no energy to never stop being thoughtful when you're in love with another person."

Olivia smiled to herself, if it were any other man who said something so smooth, she would have felt a little put off, but for some reason, there was one thing she felt from him above all else and that was sincerity. "You're telling me that after all the time you and your wife were together, you actually still continued doing nice things like that?"

"Of course," he replied without flinching, "I'm a romantic, Benson, haven't you figured that out?" he chuckled as if he was embarrassed, "I do for my partner like I'd want her to do for me."

"So you want candy and flowers and lingerie?" she joked, lifting herself off his chest to see his face. He laughed, amused with her smart mouth.

"Shut up…" he retorted, rolling his eyes. "You think you're so funny… but you're not," he winked.

Olivia smiled at him. He leaned over and brushed his lips along hers, cupping her cheek with his wet hand, tasting her tongue, letting it lightly swirl around hers. "mmm," Olivia murmured from her throat.

He pulled away and let his eyes wander over the smooth plains of her face and smiled back at her. "I might call you and be like, 'Captain, I am having the worst day, can we catch up over coffee?'—or 'can you come to my office and kiss me and make me feel better?'," he responded.

"I like the thought of that," she remarked, kissing him again. She drew in a deep breath and sank back down against his shoulder.

Trevor wondered if it was the post-sex affection, but he realized as he had looked in to her eyes that he was falling for her hard and fast. He didn't want to tell her, afraid of scaring her off, but the consuming feeling made it a little hard to breathe.

He gave her a little squeeze, enjoying their closeness.

"Should we get out?" she asked him, lifting her hand to show him that her skin was beginning to prune.

"As much as I don't want to, we probably should," he resolved with a sigh. It was still early, not long after 9. "Do you want to get some dessert or would you rather get in to bed or … watch a movie ….?" He desperately didn't want her to feel bored.

"Trevor, you don't have to entertain me, I'm not a child," she said with a smile. "I'm perfectly happy getting in to bed with you and enjoying having adult conversations that don't revolve around the boiler rooms of steam trains or art project ideas – or worse, rape victims and court proceedings."

"Duly noted," Trevor replied, "but its kinda cute that Noah is so obsessed with steam trains…" he chuckled.

"Cute for you, you don't have to hear about it around the clock. Actually," she laughed, "the real victim is Lucy. Poor Lucy."

She and Trevor laughed. "That's why you pay her the big bucks, right?" Trevor laughed again.

He made the motion to get out of the bath and grabbed a towel, trying not to give Olivia an eyeful but once out, she didn't bother pretending she wasn't trying to get a good look at him.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, "do you need help putting your tongue back in your mouth?" he joked, realizing her shameless staring.

Olivia laughed, "I am just admiring you…"

"Mmhm, okay, your turn, up you get," he fastened the white towel around his waist and grabbed another one for her. He went to hand it to her but snatched it away when she reached for it.

"Come and get it… I get to have my moment to stare…" he told her but he was joking and despite the smile on her face, her face flushed pink and he knew that teasing her about her body, regardless of the intent was something that he needed to wait until she was fully comfortable with him to do.

He handed over the towel without a word. He pulled the plug and turned the jet off. "Would you like me to get you a drink?" he asked.

"Sure…" Olivia replied. She felt relieved that he was kidding around. She stood up as soon as he left the room and secured the towel around her.

Once out, she went to examine her face in the mirror. She smiled, noticing that post-sex glow that she couldn't help but to feel smug about. She dried herself off and left the bathroom, her towel still attached.

Trevor had picked up her clothes and neatly placed on the bedside table. She smiled about that. He hated mess, that was obvious. He was nowhere to be seen.

"Trevor?" she called.

He reappeared with fresh sheets and bedding. "Sorry, I thought I should do the right thing…" he smiled, "no one wants to sleep in a sex bed," he laughed.

Olivia was impressed, "hold on, let me put some clothes on and I'll help you."

She went to where he had put her overnight bag in the doorway.

"Its alright, I know how to change the sheets, Benson, I'm not that useless," he replied, amused.

"I didn't say you were," she answered him, "but would you just let me help so I don't feel useless?"

He smiled and put the sheets down on the end of the mattress and waited. "Fine,"

Olivia got home just before lunch the following morning. She and Trevor made the entire walk back from his apartment to hers, getting a coffee and enjoying the time with one another. She settled in to a comfortable new feeling of holding his hand tightly, truly not minding if someone that she knew.

Stopping at her stoop, Trevor gave her a kiss and hugged her goodbye. She was reluctant to say goodbye to him; she didn't want to go back to reality.

"Next time," he began with a smile, "I'll take you somewhere nice, a cute little upscale bar?"

"I don't care where you take me as long as I get to hang out with you…"

"Okay, you let me know when you have your roster," he replied, kissing her again. "See you later, beautiful."

He made butterflies fill her stomach at the sheer ease of which his compliments came flowing freely from his mouth.

She smiled. "See you, Trev…" she popped her code in and opened her apartment door, waving at him before she went upstairs.

Olivia was happy that she had a couple of hours to collect herself before Noah came home from a play date that had been scheduled in with a school friend. She had organized with Lucy that she would pick him up as Lucy had to go to another nanny job she had on a casual basis.

She cleaned up a little and unpacked her bag and checked on some work files and sent a few follow up emails.

She decided to just relax for a little while – time to herself was not something that came about often enough. She parked up in front of the couch with a coffee and watched some trash TV.

She nursed the coffee in her lap tried to stop herself from texting Trevor but realized she was past the point of trying to play it cool now. He would have wanted to hear from her too, she thought – hoped.

"Hanging out on the couch catching up with some lowbrow television, I am so tired. I miss you already, is that crazy?"

She put her phone down and went back to her show. He didn't reply immediately.

Her eyes were getting heavy and she felt herself drifting off.

Trevor smiled to himself as he replied to her text after leaving the florist. He'd sent her a large bouquet of peonies to be delivered later the following evening. He did a couple of errands before going home to clean up his kitchen after breakfast.

"I miss you too, wanna quit your job and throw away all of life's responsibilities and spend the rest of our days in bed hanging out?" he smiled cheekily at his own text before he put his phone away.

He'd had an incredible night and was so happy with where things had headed.

He was also happy and relieved that she also had wonderful taste in television and they had watched a documentary on the implications of children on social media. It was nice to be able to discuss it afterwards, both sharing similar views on how they would keep their children away from it.

He got his clothes ready for his first day of work the following morning and began to get his lunch ready, wanting to be 100% prepared for what was waiting for him at his new job. He was aware he was going to be thrown in the deep end, but in a way he was welcoming the new role and he liked that he was going to be able to work a little closer with Olivia – and this time on her time.

He checked in with Helena and Eloise. He'd admitted to his ex wife that he was seeing Olivia and that by chance she'd met his daughter. It was something he wanted to be able to discuss with her first, but Helena thankfully didn't seem too phased by it.

Admittedly, he played down the amount of time they'd spent together but told her about Olivia's reluctance to allow him to spend time with Noah too which seemed to make Helena feel more at ease with it.

He eventually sat down on the shitty, worn couch to do just as Olivia had told him she was doing; catching up on some television.

Trevor's phone ringing from the kitchen counter woke him up. The tone was so loud. He jumped up, thinking it could have been his ex.

He tried to collect his brain as he noticed it was Olivia. He smiled to himself, taking it as a positive that she was calling him.

"Hey…"

"Hi Trevor," she greeted him. He knew immediately that she wasn't calling just to say hello, there was purpose to her voice. "Did I interrupt you?"

"No Liv, of course not, what's up? Everything okay?" he asked, leaning over the counter, both arms resting on the marble top.

"I have such a huge favor to ask you and I need you to know that this is an absolute last resort and I would never ask anything like this from you if I wasn't desperate."

He couldn't help but to chuckle at the trepidation in her voice, she sounded ashamed and worried about his reaction. "Liv, I don't want to be the last resort when you have a favor, what is it?" he pressed.

"Are you free for the rest of the afternoon? If you're busy-"

"Liv," he said, cutting her off with seriousness, "what is it? I can help you. I'm free."

She sighed, "Noah is at a play date, the family is going out and I had to pick him up at 1 to work on his art thing. I just got called in to work, it seems like a pretty serious case and Lucy is at another overnight job – Fin is at work already, Carisi is on and Amanda is on days off and took the girls away and I can't ask Kat…"

"Liv," Trevor smiled, keeping his voice calm and even so that he could bring her anxiety back down to Earth. "I can pick up Noah and bring him back to your place, it's totally fine. We can hang out until you get home."

"I'm so sorry, you know I wouldn't ask you if I didn't-"

"Stop it," he said firmly, cutting her off, "its fine. Drop pin me the address of where I need to pick him up and just give the family a call and let them know and make sure Noah knows as well," he advised her. "Should we come past the station and get your key?"

"Is that okay?" she asked, realizing that without it, he'd have no way of getting in, "I don't know if I'll be there, but I'll leave the keys with the administration as you walk in. Thank you Trevor, I owe you."

"You don't owe me anything, sweetheart," he said with a smile, "I'm glad you called me," he added.

"Me too," she murmured with a little sigh of relief. "You are the best. I'll send you the details as soon as I get off the phone." She paused for a moment before hesitating, "I hate to tell you this but Noah might be a little upset about this, so I'm sorry if he is but don't let him give you any attitude." she promised.

Trevor glanced at his phone and buzzed the intercom on the townhouse that he'd arrived at. After a few seconds someone picked up. "Hello?"

"Hello, it's Trevor, I am just here to pick up little Noah," he spoke, feeling weird about being part of the social world of children, albeit a little prematurely. He wasn't sure what the protocol was.

"Just one second," the voice was pleasant and he could hear the kids in the background.

A few moments later the front door swung open and Trevor was met with a smaller, mousey woman who looked a lot younger than he thought. He flashed her a smile. "Hi," she greeted him, her eyes giving him a shameless once over. He felt a little embarrassed by it, but pretended not to notice. "Noah's Dad, right?" she asked. "I'm Lisa," she stuck her hand out for Trevor to shake.

"No, no, I'm Trevor, I'm a friend of Olivia's, she just got called in to work, but I think she let you know that," he replied.

"Oh, sorry," she smiled, "Liv told me she got called in to work."

He spied Noah behind her with his friend. He was as thankful to see Noah as Noah seemed to see him; it was getting awkward.

"Trevor!" he exclaimed excitedly. Noah forgot his friend and dashed toward him. Trevor couldn't help but to laugh, feeling the small child smack in to his legs, wrapping his arms around his thighs. "Mommy said a surprise person was coming to get me."

He smiled and picked him up and gave him a hug. "Surprise!" he exclaimed and turned back toward the woman. "It's so good to see you kiddo," he told him, "and what a hug!" Noah giggled, a little embarrassed but chuffed for the attention he was getting. Trevor turned to Lisa and her son, "Noah, do you have something to say to your friends?" he prompted him.

"Thank you for having me at your house Mrs. Winbourne," he practiced his manners just like his mother would have wanted him to.

She smiled at him, "Noah you are always welcome," she touched his hand. Noah turned to his friend, "Bye Connor, see you at school tomorrow!"

"Bye!" he waved back.

"Is that all? Did you bring anything with you?" Trevor asked him, setting him back down.

Noah shook his head.

"Okay, well thank you so much for having Noah." He repeated. "We're gonna go get a snack and go to Mom's work and get a key for your apartment," he said as if he was talking to Noah but was trying to ease his way away from the pick up.

"Bye, thanks for picking up Noah and please tell Olivia sorry we couldn't have him longer."

"No problem," Trevor smiled waving as he took Noah's hand and led him down the front stoop.

"Are you just taking me to Mommy's work?" Noah asked, looking up at the tall man beside him.

"Well… we are going to Mom's work but just to get the keys. We aren't staying. She had to go to work, it was an emergency."

"Oh no!" he exclaimed, "we had to work on my project," he stopped in his tracks and looked at Trevor and pouted, close to tears. "Mommy promised."

He felt bad for the little boy. "I know, but this was an emergency. How about I help you?" he asked, confident in his own abilities to help where necessary. "I know it was something you were supposed to do with Mom, but—someone needed help and you know your Mommy would never let you down on purpose especially if it wasn't important."

"I know," Noah replied, still pouting. "Can we work on my art tonight?" he asked.

"Of course. Do we need to get some supplies?" he wondered.

"No, Mommy and I did that yesterday," he replied. Noah began to walk again and they made their way to the 1-6.

Olivia and Carisi were heading out to a squad car when they passed Trevor and Noah coming in.

"Mommy!" Noah exclaimed, seeing his mother. He greeted her with his arms out. Olivia grinned.

"Hiiii my love!" she smiled, ignoring Carisi's raised eyebrow at Trevor. She gave Noah a hug and a kiss and glanced coyly at Trevor. Trevor simply smiled at her and nodded a hello to Carisi.

He was pleased to see her and always marveling at how patient she was with her son, despite work being a bit a flurry, she took her time for Noah.

He knew he could have taken some of that on board, his three-year-old was still in the middle of graduating from the terror phase of being a toddler.

Carisi greeted Noah too who was so excited to see the man that he referred to as his uncle. "Uncle Sonny, guess what?" he asked, hugging him.

"What?" Carisi asked, bending down on his haunches to reciprocate the hug.

"I play my first T-ball game next weekend!" he exclaimed excitedly, "can you come and watch me?"

"Noah!" Olivia warned him reproachfully, "you invite our friends, if they can come they will come."

"You bet I will be there, kiddo! I promise," Carisi ignored his boss, putting his hand on his heart. "You get Mom to tell me the details, okay?"

Trevor glanced at Olivia while Carisi and Noah chatted for a moment. There was an air of awkwardness but finally Olivia tried to stifle a grin. "Thank you for helping me out, I really appreciate it."

"Anytime," Trevor replied, taking a step closer. Olivia glanced fleetingly at Sonny before back up at Trevor. She took Trevor's hand and tugged him toward her. He got the hint loud and clear and kissed her lips softly. "I'll see you when I get home?" she asked, Trevor couldn't help but feel Sonny's eyes, catching their moment.

"Of course, take your time, Noah and I will be fine." He took the opportunity to kiss Olivia's cheek. She smiled, ducking her head bashfully, briefly making eye contact with Sonny who was smiling right with her.

"Okay Noah, we gotta go and let Mom and Carisi do police business…"

"Okay bye Mommy! Bye Uncle Sonny!" he slipped his hand in to Trevor's and they both waved, leaving the two detectives in the 1-6.

Carisi turned to Olivia. She hid a smile while he looked smug. "Trevor Langan is nothing…" he muttered, nudging her good-naturedly.

"Shut up," she pushed him back. They both laughed as they headed out to the squad car.

"So Captain, what's the story with Trev? You guys seem very familiar," Carisi remarked.

Olivia laughed. Ordinarily, she would have hated anyone prying in to her personal life, but she knew of all the people that would go easiest on her about Trevor, it was Sonny. "Please keep it to yourself…" she said, trying to come across as cavalier about the whole thing.

"Your secret is safe with me, but I'm sorry – did you guys kiss in front of us?" he laughed.

"Maybe… albeit awkwardly."

Sonny laughed. "You like him, Cap?" he asked, glancing at her as they hit traffic.

She thought for a moment, "I think so… I've been seeing him for a short while," she admitted.

"Oh. So was there any truth to the rumor?" Carisi realized what he was asking and quickly re-posed his question, "I mean, was it him spreading that rumour?"

"No, it was that little B… DA from Queens… I met her at the Chicago conference and she was interested in Trevor so," Liv started to chuckle at the super childish thing she had done that night, "I told her that he had six kids including two-year-old twins…"

Sonny began to laugh, "Liv! Is that true? Does he really?"

"No!" she waved her hand, smacking him in the arm, still laughing, "of course not. That's why she got mad. She saw us together at his hotel and started a rumor and made me think it was Trevor – or Elliot, anyway, its fine."

Carisi laughed with her, he thought it was nice to see his boss genuinely happy for once. "Well, Olivia," he smiled at her, "I'm just happy as long as you're happy, you deserve it."

Olivia placed a hand upon his shoulder in gratitude. "Thanks Sonny," she smiled. "Also, while I think of it, you don't have to come to Noah's game, I'm so sorry he has no social boundaries—we are working on that."

"Don't be crazy," Carisi replied, "I love Noah, I wouldn't miss his game. You guys are as good as family," he smiled.

Olivia felt incredibly grateful for her work family. "Thanks…" she said again, feeling more content than she had in awhile.

"Okay kiddo, where would you like to set up to work on your art project?" Trevor asked Noah as soon as they got home. It was almost 2 in the afternoon.

"The table?" Noah asked as if there was no other place he could think of and that the question was stupid.

"Why don't I clear off the table and you go and get all of your supplies?" he suggested as he looked around Olivia's messy apartment. He felt bad that she had so little time at home that she wasn't able to take care of the things that he took for granted living alone with only a responsibility to his daughter on certain days of the week.

He looked around the living room and made his way to the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator. There was a handful of food in take-out containers and some juice boxes and a couple of sodas.

No shortage of wine, he noted with a little grin.

"Okay Noah," he closed the fridge and turned around, hearing the little boy come back in to the room, "I have a plan…"

He looked up at Trevor with his big blue eyes expectantly. "When do you have to finish your art project?"

"uhmmmm…." He thought, "Mommy put it on the calendar," he guided Trevor to the pantry and opened it. Inside was a white-board for reminders and notes and a calendar. He scanned it for a moment and saw his project was due the following Monday.

"Okay great," he smiled, "now let's set up your things and we'll talk about what you're going to do for your project and we can plan how you can do that and what I can do to help, how does that sound?"

Noah smiled and nodded. Trevor smiled back.

He pulled out a chair for him and assisted him in unpacking all of supplies from a little box that he'd brought to the dining table. "Trevor can I have something to eat? Mommy always makes me a snack in the afternoon."

He loved the politeness of Olivia's son.

"Sure, what kind of snacks do you normally have?" he wondered, unsure of what Noah ate and what what he didn't like.

"Ummm," he thought about it, "I could have some graham crackers? I like graham crackers."

Trevor headed to the kitchen and rifled around in the pantry before he found a box of chocolate graham crackers up high, probably so Noah couldn't just help himself. He pulled the box down and found a plate. "Would you like some PB on your crackers or something else?" he asked, watching Olivia's son carefully spread all of his things on the tabletop.

He smiled to himself. He had imagined when Eloise was old enough that he would be able to help her discover all the books that he loved growing up, that he would be able to help her with homework and special projects – he wanted to be around for all of those things.

Simultaneously, he began to feel bad for all that Olivia sacrificed for her job – he understood why she was so driven to do what she did, but he couldn't help but to wonder for how long Noah would be understanding.

"Ummm Mommy puts peanut butter and then she gets a banana and mashes it up," he made the motion of his palm hitting his other open hand, "and then we put it on top of the PB."

Trevor looked around and noticed that there were no bananas, just apples.

"Sorry champ, looks like you're fresh out of bananas, can we just do peanut butter today?"

Noah shrugged, an obligated agreement.

He took the plate to the table and sat down with him. "Okay, so what are you are you planning on creating?" Trevor asked, picking up a piece of clean, white paper and a marker.

Noah looked down at the plate next to them and picked up a cracker. "Umm I want to do a painting of a steam train and I have some books from my school so I know what colors to use…"

"So let's make a list. You're going to paint a steam train. We're going to write down all the things to do, have you ever done that before?" he asked the little boy who watched, excited.

He shook his head. He pushed the paper in front of Noah after he finished his cracker. Noah wiped his fingers on his sleeves. Trevor had to smile. His daughter hated dirty hands and always held them out to him as if her fingers might fall off if he didn't wipe them for her.

"Okay so write down as best as you can a list of what we need to do to complete your project. I'll help."

"Sanchez…" Olivia muttered under her breath when she saw the state of the body in the shallow body of water in Central Park.

"Seems so," said a voice behind her. She turned around to see Elliot and did everything she could not to roll her eyes. "We can thank your boyfriend for tha-"

She shot him a glare and he immediately closed his mouth, "it's not the time, Elliot," she replied firmly. Elliot could see that she was visibly shaken by the condition of the young woman that she'd ordered uniformed officers to cover up.

"Where's the ME?" Elliot asked, changing the subject. He was pissed though. He was pissed that this savage was still free to commit crime – that he was back on the streets and worse – that Olivia was dating the scumbag that helped free him.

"Held up in traffic. Is she one of the people on the missing list?" she asked him, trying her hardest to remain unmoved when really all she wanted to do was to throw up. It was the cigarette burns; she couldn't get past it. It was the smell of burned flesh and the fear that she felt bruise her bones a thousand times over.

"Liv?" he pressed.

She shook her head and glanced up at him, "what? Sorry?"

"I said her name is Allegra Hewson, 17; she's been missing for four days." As the words left his mouth, Elliot was reminded of what that single span of time meant for Olivia and with it, he realized why she seemed so shaken up.

Four days.

"Excuse me…" she pushed past him away from the body up back toward the squad car where Carisi was talking to forensic officers about evidence. He glanced at her and knew immediately something was wrong.

He excused himself and came to his boss' aid. "What's up, Cap?" he asked, "you alright?"

"Yeah, just… tough case. It's Sanchez," she blurted out. It was all she needed to say and Carisi got the message loud and clear. "Cap why don't you talk to the forensics, I'll go and discuss everything else with your old partner."

"Thanks Sonny," Olivia wanted to be tough, but it was too much and she was grateful that her detective understood immediately.

Noah had fallen asleep on the couch not long after he and Trevor had eaten some spaghetti that they'd made together.

Trevor had made a fast-tracked grocery-to-the-door order and had began packing Liv some lunches for the week and more importantly, Noah. He'd cut up vegetable sticks and cubes of cheese and fruit. Noah had been excited by the idea of something different than what his Mom put together.

Olivia made sure he ate healthily, but Trevor was the meal prepping king and managed to make the lunches look fun and tasty, he did the same for his daughter on the days that he sent her off to daycare and she loved it too.

He and Noah had made spaghetti bolognaise and a beef stew and Noah took the initiative to tidy up his toys. They'd had fun and made a good start on his art project.

Trevor acknowledged that he probably wasn't going to get home until very, very late. He scooped up Noah and put him to bed and tucked him in. Just as he was about to turn the lamp off, the little boy woke up.

"Mommy?" he looked around for the familiar face, but instead only saw Trevor

"It's me, Trevor," he said softly, soothingly, "Mom's still at work, buddy, but she won't be long, when she gets home she'll come and give you a kiss goodnight."

Noah's eyes filled with tears. Trevor winced, feeling bad. "I miss my Mommy," he murmured.

"I know you do," he sat down on the very edge of his bed and placed a hand on his back and consoled him. "You know, your Mom is a very, very important person. Did you know that she's the big, big boss at her job?"

He nodded, wiping his eyes with the backs of his hands. "And she helps the people that have been hurt really badly by the criminals—it's a really important job to have so sometimes people need her at all different times."

"I know, I want Mommy to help, but I like it when she is home with me."

"I understand that. I have an idea, how about we try to call Mommy so she can say goodnight?" he asked the curly haired boy who was trying hard not to get upset.

He nodded.

Trevor pulled his phone and found their messages. He clicked on the call button. "She might not be able to answer but we could leave her a voice mail, she'll love that." He tried to prepare Noah for Olivia being too busy to take it.

Surprisingly, she did. "Trevor I am so sorry," she sighed, sounding deflated and exhausted. "I'm trying to get away," she apologized.

"Liv, it's fine… I'm not calling to harass you but I'm calling because somebody is missing you and is a little upset, so we're calling to say goodnight."

"Shit…" she murmured, "I'm the worst mother, aren't I?" she asked rhetorically; the guilt was eating her alive.

"Hardly," Trevor replied with a snort, "go easy on yourself," he soothed her, "I'm going to put you on speaker now, okay?"

He clicked it over and moved the phone closer between himself and Noah. "Mommy?" Noah asked, his voice soft.

"Hiiii my love, I am so sorry I had to go to work."

"Its okay," he replied. "I just miss you is all."

"I miss you too, so much Noah, I won't be too long okay? We are just driving back to the station now and then I'm coming straight home. My love, I need you to go to sleep now, it's almost midnight and you've got school."

"Okay Mommy, can you give me a cuddle when you get home?" he asked.

Olivia laughed, "Of course. I love you Noah."

"I love you Mommy goodnight."

Trevor took her off speaker phone. "Now, take your time. I've got this…"

He heard the heaviness in her voice and wondered what was going on. "Okay Liv?" he pressed, realizing she wasn't responding to him.

"Yeah…" her voice trailed off. "Thank you. I promise I won't be long I know you've got a big day tomorrow and I am so sorry I did this to you."

"Stop apologizing. I will see you when you get home."