Disclaimer: I hate this thing, it makes me really depressed!!

A/N: Here is another quick chapter to make up for my lack of updates this week, plus I know all of you are mad about Elliot…

First Day of School

Tomorrow was the first day of school and Mr. Brad Jones was looking over his kindergarten class roster. This was his fourth year teaching at Cardinal Elementary School. He was excited to start this year and couldn't wait to meet his class.

…Jessica Matthews, Brandon Nichols, Sara Parks, James Reagan, Julia Smith, Lucas Stabler, Arnold Thomas…

Lucas Stabler

Brad didn't know what to think about that name on the list. 'It can't be him. He lives in New York. They wouldn't be here,' he thought to himself. He went over the rest of the roster and finished up some last minute stuff.

He went to bed that night not being able to get that name out of his head. After about an hour of trying, he finally fell into a restless sleep.

At 6:30 am Olivia's alarm went off. She rolled over and hit the button to quiet the demonic object. She got out of bed and hopped in the shower. After her shower, she got dressed and headed to Jake's room.

"Jake, buddy, get up! It's the first day of school and you can't be late."

Jake opened his eyes and looked sleepily up at his mother, "I don't want to get up!"

"You have to Jake. I am going to get Luke, and I want you up and dressed when I get back."

"Okay," Jake relented.

Olivia crossed the hall to Luke's room and laughed at the sight in front of her. Luke was totally upside down in the bed and was tied up in his comforter. Olivia made her way to the bed and gently shook Luke awake.

"Luke, get up. School starts today!"

Luke's eyes popped open, "School! Yay!"

Olivia laughed, "I wish your brother was this enthusiastic."

Luke jumped out of bed and went to his dresser, "Mom! Get out of my room so I can get dressed!"

"Okay."

Olivia padded out of the room and poked her head in Jake's room. He was sitting on his bed putting on his shoes. She went downstairs and started to pour cereal for each child. Luke ran downstairs ready to start the day.

He sat down in front of a bowl of Lucky Charms and dug right in.

"Slow down, Luke, you are gonna get a stomach ache." Luke looked up and nodded. He put his head back down and started eating again. Jake came down five minutes later and sat in front of his bowl of Apple Jacks.

Olivia stood against the counter and watched her sons. She was amazed at how well they had grown up, even without Elliot by their sides. As they each finished their breakfast, she started to go over the day with them.

"Okay, Jake, you are going to ride the bus to afterschool when school lets out. It's bus 397." Jake nodded and went back to getting his backpack together, "Your teacher's name is Mrs. Johnson and she is in room 105." Jake nodded again. "Luke, you are also going to ride the bus to afterschool. Your bus is number 119." Luke nodded and looked at his mother waiting for her to continue, "Your teacher is Mr. Jones. His room is 207. If you get lost, ask for help, okay?" Luke nodded and got his backpack. Olivia picked up her badge, gun and files and walked toward the door, "Let's go boys." Jake and Luke walked over to her and out the door. They got in the car and were off to their first day in their new school.

Brad Jones watched as his class filed in one-by-one. He always loved to work with kids, even though if you saw him on the street you might be intimidated. The children were always cute at this age and he loved to listen to them speak. Some had speech impediments they were working through or lisps that just wouldn't go away. As the children walked in, one caught his eye. This boy was fair haired and blue eyed. He came in chewing on his lower lip nervously and glanced around the classroom as if surveying for danger.

'That must be him,' Brad thought.

The bell for school to start rang and Brad went to close the door. He walked to the front of the class and looked at the children. All of the kids had nervous looks and eyed him curiously.

"Okay. Hi guys! I'm your teacher Mr. Jones. Let's take attendance and see who is here. When I call your name please raise your hand." Brad started with the roll, when he got down toward the bottom, he paid close attention, "James Reagan," a hand went up, "Julia Smith," another hand, 'here goes nothing' he thought, "Lucas Stabler," his suspicions were confirmed. The child he had noticed earlier raised his hand. He finished the roll and then turned to the entire class, "Okay, so I called everyone's names as they are written on this piece of paper. Does anyone go by something other than what I called you?"

Three children raised their hands, "Yes, Matthew," the boy spoke up, "I go by Matt, sir." Brad nodded, "Jessica," a girl answered, "Jessie, please." Brad nodded again, "and Lucas," the boy looked at him for a second, "um…will you call me Luke please?" Brad smiled, "Yes I will," Luke spoke up again, "Thank you," he smiled once again, "No problem."

The rest of the day went by pretty quick. Brad had them draw pictures of their families and where they are from. They played with blocks and other toys for a while and took a nap right after lunch.

Later that night, Brad was looking at the drawings he got from his class. Most of the pictures were of the child, a mother, a father and a brother or sister or two. Also, a lot of the pictures were of the arch. One picture notably stuck out to Brad, it was Luke's. Luke had drawn a picture a picture of what looked like the statue of liberty and a lot of tall buildings. His family picture was of him, a mother and a brother. What was really significant about his picture was that Luke had drawn a man floating in the clouds. A tear made its way down Brad's cheek.

Two weeks went by with Brad watching Luke as much as he could. The second day of school he asked everyone about their family pictures. Luke had told him that he had a brother named Jake and his mommy was a police officer. When he asked about the man in the sky, Luke said that was his daddy in Heaven. Luke told him, without prompting, that his daddy died when he was a baby. These statements broke Brad's heart.

Brad was excited for this week. Wednesday was parent day in his class. Each child was bringing one parent with them to school that day. He was really happy to see that Luke's mother was able to come.