Her twenty four hour watch service ended at the end of the week, but it coincided with her first day of physical therapy. She very quickly learned that physical therapy was a special sort of hell. Kathleen dropped her off at her apartment and she nearly stomped through the door.

Noah had the TV on at a low volume, but his attention was focused on the graphic novel in his hands. She shook her head, wondering how he could possibly do both things at once.

Elliot sat at the counter with a few files laid out in front of him. His glasses perched on his nose as he flipped through the paperwork.

The scene felt so perfect, like a culmination of everything she ever wanted. Just then Elliot noticed her standing there. He gave her a welcoming smile before asking, "How was physical therapy?"

She sighed and made her way over to where he sat, dropping her arms, cast and all, around him from behind. She kissed him just behind his ear before releasing her arms from his chest.

" I hate everything. And everyone." She scowled.

He gave a sarcastic chuckle, "Okay then, that good huh?"

She shot him a glare and walked over to Noah and dropped a quick kiss into his hair. He looked up from his book and smiled. "Hi Mom."

She loved this cutie so much. "Hey baby, how was school?"

"Good," he lifted his book, "Got a new library book." His attention dropped back to the novel so she left him to it.

She turned and Elliot had already walked to her. He tugged on her good arm, bringing her into a hug. "The first round is awful, but it does get better."

She had forgotten about the physical therapy he had to suffer through after he got shot in the shoulder. Her hand brushed over his shoulder where she knew a scar marred his skin.

He grasped her fingers and kissed them quickly before kissing her lips. She leaned into him and his arms came around her and settled on her back.

She deepened the kiss for a moment, but then they heard a disgusted noise coming from the couch. "Mom! Gross!" She pulled her lips away, only a little, and grinned. "If you're going to make out or whatever, take it somewhere else."

Elliot all out laughed and Olivia rolled her eyes at her son's snarky tone. It was, however, a fair request. She turned her head to look over her shoulder, "Sorry!" She grimaced. He rolled his eyes with exaggerated displeasure.

She turned back towards Elliot who had that grin on his face. He gave her an exaggerated smooch. She chuckled when she heard another groan come from the direction of the couch. "Elliot!" He scolded.

"Okay okay. We're done."

She heard her son mutter, "Thank God." Under his breath. Which only made her laugh more.

Elliot's hand slid down her arm. He grabbed her hand and led her to the kitchen. He gave her another quick peck on the lips before sitting back down next to his files. He gathered some papers, shuffled them together and closed them into their file. He glanced up at her, "It's been a week," he started, "when does Fin plan on bringing over some work for you?" His eyes grasped hers, and danced with amusement, "I mean, beyond what you have stashed under the bed."

She felt her cheeks warm. How the hell did he know about those?

He laughed, "You thought you were being all sneaky, but I found them on the second day we were back from the hospital."

She looked towards him sheepishly. "I was SO bored," she defended.

He laughed again, "I knew you couldn't go much longer without work." He shrugged, "I figured it might actually help at this point."

"It did," she affirmed. And to answer his previous question, "Fin was supposed to stop by today, but I haven't seen him yet." She shrugged, "The office probably got busy."

She knew Fin was completely overwhelmed. He could lead, but she knew he hated it. Hopefully she'd get approved to go back to work after this week. Hopefully. For her sake. And Fin's.

Like he somehow knew they were talking about him, there was a knock at the door. She started in that direction, but Elliot waved her back. "Sit down," he insisted. "I'll let him in."

She took the stool where Elliot previously sat. She heard the men greet each other with friendly slaps in the back before coming around the corner. Fin had his arms full of files, and he wore an obvious overwhelmed look on his face. When she was fully back to work she planned on making him take a vacation.

"Hey Noah," he called. "You left your dance bag at my apartment last week."

His head popped up over the back of the couch. "Oh! I was wondering where that went!"

"Well, it's on my arm, and if I can get your friend Stabler here to take these papers," he gave Elliot a pointed look.

"I get the hint," Elliot chuckled, taking the stack of files from Fin.

Fin tossed the bag over the couch to Noah. "Thanks Uncle Fin."

"No problem lil guy." He turned towards Elliot and Olivia, "Now. I'm going home. Phoebe hasn't seen me in three days, and she probably forgot I exist."

"Impossible," Olivia soothed.

Fin rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah," he waved. "See ya later."

Elliot stood, still holding a large stack of files. "Where do you want these Liv?"

Times like these she wished she had a home office. She really didn't want to leave them around to have Noah inadvertently stumble across them. "For now set them on the dresser. I'll clear out a drawer or something later."

He nodded and took the folders to her room. When he came back into the kitchen he opened the fridge. "What are we thinking for dinner?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Whatever's fine." The temporary high from the arrival of her work files tanked and she was back to feeling a little depressed and frustrated with life.

Elliot looked up over the fridge door, obviously noticing her change in tone. His eyes exuded concern. "You okay?" He questioned.

She sighed. She didn't really want to go into it all. "Yeah, just tired I guess." She pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes.

Elliot shut the refrigerator door and strode over to the stool where she sat. He stood in her space, brushed some hair away from her forehead and dropped a kiss there. "Go rest. Physical therapy is hard and you deserve a nap." She wanted to protest but he was right. "Noah and I will get dinner figured out and you can rest." He kissed her lips, "Well have it ready whenever you wake up."

Man she was a mess, for some reason she felt herself wanting to cry. She blinked her eyes frantically, but Elliot already saw them welling up, and she saw his blue eyes narrow with concern. She stood up quickly, before he could ask any more questions. "Give me an hour or something," she gave him a weak smile.

He still seemed concerned, but he allowed her to hurry to the refuge of her bedroom.

-000-

Olivia stretched as she awoke from her nap. She had no idea how long she slept. She shifted her weight to the edge of the bed. Damn she was sore. She winced a little when her feet hit the floor. She needed a pain reliever. Hopefully, ibuprofen would cover it. She hadn't touched the painkillers they sent home with her from the hospital. Her pain, while still constant, was manageable most days.

She shuffled to the door and heard Elliot and Noah laughing. From the sound of things they must have been playing cards or a board game or something. Dinner must be ready and it smelled amazing.

Noah noticed her first as she came around the corner and into the kitchen. "Hey Mom!" He called.

"Hey," she returned. Her eyes wandered to the kitchen and she was surprised to see a couple bags of food with the name of her favorite restaurant printed on the side.

"Where did you guys go? God, how long was I asleep?" She took a seat on one of the barstools at the counter.

Elliot set his hand of cards face down, and stood. He pointed a warning finger in Noah's direction, "No peeking." He warned.

Elliot slipped into the kitchen grabbing a plate from one of the cabinets. He pulled a take home box from one of the bags. "Sorry we didn't wait." His eyes glanced over to Noah. "I had a hungry boy on my hands and I wasn't sure how long you were going to sleep."

She waved him off, "Don't worry about it." She reassured him. She sat up a little bit so she could more easily see what he was spooning onto her plate.

His eyes flicked up, "This is still your favorite, right?" It was. She pushed away that small sting of sadness. He had to check with her because it had been ten years since they last ate there.

"Yeah," she tried an encouraging smile and hoped it was enough to convey her gratitude.

"It's still warm," he noted, "but let me microwave it a bit."

She watched him drop her food into the microwave and there was a peaceful feeling of domesticity to it all. He slid the plate with its accompanying fork across the counter and dropped himself into the barstool next to her.

She took a bite of food. It was as good as she remembered it being. It had been ages since she had been to this particular restaurant.

She pulled her attention away from her food for a moment and noticed Elliot smiling at his phone.

She took another bite of her food and asked, "Whatcha grinning at over there."

He flipped his phone screen towards her and a picture of two little boys, his grandsons, illuminated the screen. Both boys were covered head to toe in what looked like flour and other potential baking materials.

Olivia laughed. "What happened there?" She took another bite of her food.

"Maureen said the boys wanted to surprise her with cookies." He grinned wryly, "but they don't know how to bake cookies, and they argued about the baking steps which escalated to an all out flour war." Elliot shook his head and laughed again. "The kitchen was an unfortunate casualty."

She chuckled, "I can see that."

His eyes returned to his phone as he texted Maureen back. "I call them payback one and payback two." He shook his head as peeked at the photo once more. "It's probably not fair really. Maureen was actually pretty well behaved. A blessing for two teen parents, but the rest of those hooligans," he grinned with nostalgia. "The rest of them were definitely a handful."

She chuckled, "I suspect Bernie could say the same about you," she teased.

"What?" He feigned disbelief, "I was my Mama's perfect angel."

She snorted and Noah piped in, "Even I know that isn't true."

They both burst into laughter at the perfect timing of his quip. Olivia lowered her voice "Plus," she smirked, "I'm pretty sure good little catholic boys don't accidentally get their girlfriend pregnant."

His eyes widened and flicked to Noah who obviously wasn't clued into this part of the conversation. He leaned in, kissing her lips with an accompanying air of seduction, "You'll remember that I said I was my mother's perfect angel. Not that it was true."

She laughed and gave him a sarcastic eye roll. He brought his hand to her cheek, and said more seriously, "What matters is that you know exactly who I am." He kissed her lightly.

"I do," she said gently, and then with a more mocking tone added, "and I love you anyway."

He laughed and she couldn't hold back her smile. His lips were on hers so quickly that she wasn't prepared for the kiss. He withdrew a little and whispered against her lips, "God I love you."

He kissed her again and she settled into his chest, and just as she was getting lost in it all a preteen voice complained, "Mom!!! Seriously? We just talked about this!!"

Olivia released his lips, still smiling. In spite of her frustrating day she found herself in the midst of a perfect evening with two of the people she loved most.