Title: Love You Forever
Author: ZombieJazz
Fandom: Law & Order: SVU
Disclaimer: I don't own them. Law and Order SVU and its characters belong to Dick Wolf. The characters of Will (and his family) and Noah have been created and developed for the sake of this AU series.
Summary: Olivia's continued adventures in motherhood - as she balances raising her son with her career. This story is set in my AU series. It would take place several years after Undeserved.
Author's Notes: This AU series is for SVU fans and readers who want Olivia to have something that resembles a more normal life outside of work and a family of her own - hopefully somewhat realistically within the canon of SVU. The timeframe would have it outside of the TV series' current timeline and would likely have Olivia into her early 50s. My stories are not EO and never will be. You may want to read some of my other ones for context on the characters in this AU first - though, it's likely fairly self-explanatory on its own too.
WARNING: THIS STORY MIGHT KIND OF BE A SPOILER FOR READERS OF UNDESERVED.
"OK," Will announced loudly, heading into Noah's room, switching on the overhead light and heading straight for the blinds that the kid nearly never bothered to open.
"Time to get up," he said just as loudly as the blinds clattered up and natural light started streaming into the room.
Noah groaned in the bed, where he was laying on his stomach and sprawled in every which direction – hardly a change from when he was a little boy. But he didn't offer any response and just pulled the duvet over his head.
Will sat down at the corner of the bed and yanked the blanket down off his head, despite Noah reaching back for it again.
"Hey," Will said, and shook the leg that was closest to him. "Come on. It's after eight. Time to get up."
"It's Sunday," Noah moaned and tried to yank the duvet, which wasn't as yankable now that Will had sat his ass on it, keeping it just out of the kid's reach to pull back up above his head.
He shook his leg again. "Yep. And, you've hardly even said hi to me since I got in yesterday. So time to get up. We're going to spend some time together. I haven't seen you in 10 days."
"I want to sleep," Noah mumbled.
"Too bad. Up an' at 'em," Will told him again.
Noah tried to grab at the duvet again and Will yanked it further down his back instead.
"At least rollover," he said. "I've got something for you."
Noah glanced at him a bit with that.
"Well, sit up and I'll show you," Will said.
Noah smacked his head back into the pillow, though. "Mom said you weren't bringing me anything."
Will shrugged. "I didn't say it was something from my trip."
Noah glanced at him again. "What is it then?"
"Sit up," Will nodded at him.
Noah seemed to consider it for a long while but then rolled over and pulled his knees to his chest on the bed and looked at Will.
"Hi Noah," he said. "Good to see you. I missed you."
Noah rolled his eyes.
Will shook his head. "Don't do that."
Noah just bounced his arms on the top of his knees and rested his chin there. "So what is it?" he asked.
Will handed him the plastic bag containing the soccer jersey and Noah just kind of looked at it – making no move to take it or look inside.
"Mom said I didn't deserve it right now," Noah said quietly.
Will watched him. "Do you think you deserve it?"
Noah gave a small shrug.
Will took the bag and pulled out the shirt and put it on the bed at Noah's feet. "Chelsea. That's what you wanted, right?"
Noah just shrugged again.
"OK," Will said, and gathered it back up, putting it into the bag. "I'll get it out of here then. I'm sure someone at work might have a kid that wants it."
Noah snagged the bag back and set it off to the side of him, stuffing it slightly behind his back.
Will snorted and shook his head. "You're welcome," he said rather sternly.
Noah just rubbed his mouth across his clutched hands on the top of his knees and offered no comment.
Will stood. "Com'on, get up. We're going out. I need to go down to my office for a bit."
Noah rested his cheek on his hands. "I don't want to," he mumbled.
Will shook his head. "It wasn't multiple choice, son."
Noah just rubbed his cheek again his hand more.
Will sighed. He put his hand against the top of Noah's head and ruffled his hair a bit. Noah jerked away slightly. "Com'on, Noah. We'll ride down …"
"Mom doesn't like me riding," Noah said.
"Mom doesn't like you riding like you think you're invincible. Like you don't value your life," Will said sternly.
"Maybe I don't," Noah said quietly.
Will grabbed at his head and turned it and then tapped his forehead so he was looking at him. "Don't talk like that, Noah," he said.
Noah just gazed at him for a moment and then put his cheek back against his knees.
"That's an awful thing to say, Noah," Will said. "That's not something to say casually. You say things like that and your Mom and I need to take it seriously."
"I didn't mean anything by it," Noah said just as quietly.
Will sat back down on the corner of the bed and looked at him. "I think you did."
Noah shook his head where it was.
Will sighed and gave his foot a squeeze. "OK, Noah. Well, you're going to come down to the office with me. We're going to have a bit of a bike ride. A bit of a talk."
Noah shook his head again.
Will nodded. "It's not optional, Noah. Your Mom needs a break. And, I've got to go and drop some stuff off at work and I want to check my mailbox there."
"Why's Mom need a break?" he asked quietly.
"I think you know the answer to that, bud."
"I can just stay here with her," he said.
"Nope. Mom's taking some her-time and then she wants to go down to her work too and put in some of the time she lost this week."
Noah rubbed his face against his hands some more. "I can just stay here."
"No, you can't, Noah," Will said sternly. "Com'on. Get up. We'll stop in at Comixology on the way back home."
Noah shook his head again. "I can't."
Will made a mock-shocked sound. "You're turning down some browsing time in Comixology? Now I know something really is wrong. You didn't go off and check out the new releases without me while I was gone, did you?"
Noah glanced at him. "I'm grounded."
Will nodded. "I know. But Mom and I talked about it. No allowance for a month. You've got some more chores coming at you – and even more if you give lip. You aren't going to the game with your cousins. And, Mom or I get to go through that backpack of yours every night for the rest of the school year, Noah. We get to know about all your assignments, see that student calendar of yours, and we're going to be checking all your homework now. You've lost some of our trust in your ability to have all that in order on your own."
"Can't you just do all that online," he mumbled.
Will tapped his forehead again. "Hey, what'd I just say about lip?"
Noah glanced at him again. "I just want to stay here," he said.
Will shook his head. "Too bad, bud. You're right – you're still grounded. So maybe we can still do some fun things while you are – we can stop at a comic shop on the way home, I may even buy you some lunch. But you've lost some of your privileges. So, right now, you get to be under our supervision and will do what we say. So, I'm telling you to get up, get dressed, and we're going to go down to campus. OK?"
"No," Noah said.
"OK. That was a rhetorical question. I'm going out back to get the bikes ready. I want to see you out there in 20, Noah."