Chapter Two

The next morning Olivia woke up next to Emma sleeping peacefully. She thought it was odd that this girl seemed so close, more so attached to her, while most of her victims don't even want to talk to her about their assault, let alone want her to spend the night with them in the hospital. Granite, this girl doesn't have much of a family, if any, and who knows where she'll end up next. Olivia wasn't going to complain that she was wanted, she felt for the girl, as she too grew up with not much of a family. Just then the Dr. Rodgers walked in.

"Captain," he said, gesturing to talk out in the hallway. She followed.

"Doctor, how's she doing?"

"Good, very good. She can go home today. She might feel sore in some places, but that should go away in a few days."

"About that, she's a foster child."

"Right, so I've heard, I'll call ACS, see if I can put her in emergency care for today, then they'll find her a new foster family."

"How many families has she been with?"

"According to her records she's been in and out of families since she was a baby. Her last family wanted to adopt her but couldn't due to her job employment."

"Would it be ok if she came with me?"

"Oh, you're going to talk to her case worker about that. I'll give her a call and get her down here."

Olivia walked back into Emma's room and saw she was awake.

"Morning," Olivia said, Emma smiled glad to see that Olivia had spent the night there, considering she was still wearing the same clothes as the night before.

"Sleep well?" Olivia asked.

"Okay…" Emma replied.

"Captain she's here." The doctor said,

"I'll be right back, why don't you order some breakfast." Olivia said while handing her the hospital breakfast menu.

"Captain Benson, nice to finally meet you. I've heard good things." the little plump lady said, shaking Olivia's hand. "So I hear, you're willing to take Emma into your home."

"Yes, just that she has been in and out since she was little, and she seems connected to me. I just want her to feel comfortable tonight."

"I see…" the lady said, agreeing with Olivia.

"I also fostered my now adoptive son for a year and that went well. Not saying that should change your decision of me taking her home."

"Well, considering we currently don't have any families for her right now, I guess a few nights in an NYPD Captain's house should make her feel safe. I'll get the paperwork and get that started."

Olivia smiled, "Thanks, I'll go tell her." She said walking back into Emma's room. "Hey," she said, sitting on Emma's bed. "Look your caseworker is here, she said she doesn't have any families she can place you in-"

"So what does that mean? Where do I go?"

"Well usually you'd go to their shelter they have for minors, but they're letting me take you home for the next few nights." There was a bright smile growing onto Emma's face. "I have to go home and get a few things ready, but I'll be back in a few hours." Olivia got up and patted Emma's feet, and left.

"Captain, glad you're back!" Fin said, standing up from his desk chair.

"Long night Liv?" Amanda asked.

"You can say that, just grabbing a few things before heading home to Noah." she said walking towards her office. "Fin a word?" Fin followed her into the office, closing the door behind him. "What's up?" Fin asked.

"Look, I need you to hold the fort down again today. The victim, Emma, she's in ACS's care. They're letting me take her home, just for a few days." Fin gave Olivia a confused look.

"Look live, I know you get close with the victims, but this, isn't this one step too far?"

"Fin, if I didn't think I could handle this I wouldn't have suggested it." She said grabbing her coat and walked towards the door, she turned around before she opened it back up. "Oh, would you mind not telling Stabler? I haven't quite told him about how I had Noah."

"Sure thing," Fin said, following her out the door.

Olivia drove home to her apartment where Lucy was watching Noah. She was a bit worried about telling Noah they would be hosting a new friend in their home for who knows how long. But she knew he'd be understanding.

"Thanks again Lucy,"

"Of course," Lucy said leaving the apartment.

"Why are you home? Lucy said you had a work emergency." Noah said, a little bit confused.

"Well that's why I came home. How about we have milk and cookies and talk?" Noah's face lit up when the words "milk" and "cookies" were brought up, for it was only on the rare occasion he'd get those kinds of treats.

"Look Noah, do you remember the story I told you on how I had you?" Olivia said, looking Noah straight into his eyes.

"Yes, you said I was the child of a victim of yours who died. Then the nice judge lady let you keep me."

"Exactly, well something similar like that happened again, except this time she isn't going to stay permanently, just for a few nights. Is that ok with you?"

"Sure mommy, but why don't you do the thing like you did with me?"

"Well, that's very complicated stuff. But for right now we're going to pick her up from the hospital."

"Is she ok?" he asked, concerned.

"Well she was hurt by the bad men, but I wouldn't bring that up to her. Maybe if she's up to it, we can all go out for dinner, and if you're really good Noah, we can all watch a movie."

"Like Toy Story?! Or maybe even Cars!" Noah said excitedly.

"Maybe, how about we let her pick the movie?"

"Ok, but I bet she picks one of those."

Olivia grabbed Noah's hand as he jumped off the kitchen stool. They went to the store to grab a few things for Emma's hospital and started their way to the hospital. There had been a lot of road work, and they had gotten stuck into traffic.

"So if you're not going to do the same thing for her as you did with me, where will she go when she's done living with us?" Noah blurted out a bit confused still.

"Well Noah it's a bit confusing, under the law she belongs to ACS, and ACS makes sure she can live with a happy, loving family who can take care of her. And sometimes those families have to give her back to ACS, so she can live with another family."

"But we're a happy, loving family, aren't we?"

"Of course we are."

"Then why can't she live with us? But instead she doesn't leave."

"Noah, it's not all that simple. Let's just get through these next few days and see how it goes ok?"

"Ok, but I would like it better if she stayed forever!"

Olivia didn't answer Noah, for she wanted the conversation to be over. She was happy her son was so accepting of the temporary living arrangements. She just didn't want to get his hopes up, she didn't even want to get her own hopes up, considering she already had a tough time with the adoption process