Chapter 18

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Law & Order SVU or any of its affiliated characters. Any additional characters or situations I have created are figments of my own imagination, intended to bear no resemblance to actual persons. Any similarities are purely coincidental

Olivia stirred, hearing cries from the next room. Not having slept well the previous night, she was already half awake. Looking over at the alarm clock, she saw the numbers were flashing a time much too early for her to be at work. Not wanting to wake Alex, who was dead weight next to her, she hauled herself out of bed and headed for the nursery. Since the arrival of the baby, she'd been spending the majority of her free time at the place they used to share together, and she liked the feeling of being a united family. In the beginning, she'd felt apprehensive and uneasy about taking on a parental role, and was unsure of where her boundaries would be or what to do. Over the last few months, she was surprised and amazed at how much her maternal instincts had kicked in and how protective she'd become. Many things had become second nature, knowledge she didn't even realize she had coming into play when needed. She saw so often with the work she did, that love was not always dependent on a bloodline. This fact had been solidified more than ever since Alex had become a mother. Often, she found herself referring to him as her own.

"We're not happy this morning, are we?" reaching down into his crib, she gently picked up a screaming Cooper and began to pace the length of the room. The movement stopped his cries, and he stared up at the brunette intently, as if wanting to memorize everything about her.

"Are you hungry, handsome?" The sound of her voice elicited a smile from him, and she couldn't help but smile back. "Yeah, I thought so. Let's change you first though, hmm?"

As placed him on the change table and proceeded to choose his outfit and change him, she could feel someone's eyes on her and knew Alex was awake. Without turning her attention from the baby, she spoke. "Good morning."

The blonde smiled at the older woman's back, watching with adoration the care and attention she took with her child. "You could've woken me up, you know."

"I'm aware. You'd been up with him all night, and were fast asleep. I was already half awake. I figured I'd let you sleep. I have to be up for work soon anyway. I was about to go make him a bottle after I changed him."

"I'll do that, I'm awake now. Thank you for getting up with him."

"You don't have to thank me, but you're welcome." Handing him over to Alex, she followed her out of the nursery into the kitchen, proceeding to put on a pot of coffee while the younger woman made and heated a bottle.

"I can't get over how much he looks like Ben. I saw it when he was born, but the resemblance gets more apparent as months go by."

Turning her attention from the brewing coffee pot, the detective gave a sad smile. "I know. I see it a lot too. Does that ever bother you?"

"Honestly, yes. There are days I really wish he could be here to see his son. Every time he does something cute, learns something new, it makes me sad Ben missed it. In terms of me being sad for Cooper, I'm not. Not really. He'll always know who his dad was. I'll talk about him. He won't have a father, but he'll have another mother who I know loves him."

"More than life." Taking a few steps forward, she kissed the blonde's cheek and the top of Cooper's head. "I gotta get ready for work."

Alex found the days home with Cooper and away from work long but rewarding. Mostly, she missed any excuse to see Olivia during the day, and sometimes she hated that the older woman wasn't there to experience everything Cooper was doing or learning.

Her phone suddenly began to vibrate, and looking at the screen, she noticed the call coming in was from Olivia. Had she been reading her thoughts? Sometimes the ways in which they knew and could read each other amazed both of them.

"Hi babe."

"I miss you. Work is SO slow today. I'm bogged down in paperwork instead of being out on the field."

"Your favourite."

"Ha fucking ha."

The sarcasm dripping from her voice made Alex laugh out loud.

"How's my chunky monkey?"

The blonde smiled against the phone. Liv had given him that nickname as soon as he was born, and it had stuck. Since he'd weighed in at nine pounds even and was now growing so fast either of them were afraid to blink, it wasn't far from the truth. "He's good. Taking a nap now, finally. He didn't go down too readily this afternoon."

"Aw, I miss him. I can't wait to get home."

Alex felt her heart skip a beat and wondered if what the detective had said had been a slip or was intended.

"Home?"

"Yes, home. Being with you and Coop feels much more like home than my little apartment ever does."

"Aw baby. We love having you here with us, too." Right then she made a mental note to set aside time for them to discuss further the possibility of living together again.

"I gotta go before Cragen or one of the guys gives me shit for making personal calls on work time. If it continues at this pace I may be home early. If I'm gonna be late or overnight I'll give you a call and let you know."

"Okay my love, have a good rest of your shift. We love you."

"I love you most." The warmth in her voice was evident, before the blonde heard the click of the line going dead.

For Alex, the rest of the afternoon seemed to drag on agonizingly slowly and she wondered if it was the same for Olivia at the precinct. Cooper had napped longer than usual, and she worried that he'd be up all night.

Now being up and alert, he was all but quiet, and impatiently awaiting food. Making her way to the kitchen to make a new bottle, she began talking, hoping that the sound of her voice would soothe him.

"Mama knows you're hungry. It's comin', bud."

The sound of her phone's vibration against the counter where she had set it startled her, and she turned the half of her attention that wasn't on bottle making to the screen, taking in the unknown number. Puzzled, but thinking it may be work related, she answered.

"Cabot."

"I know who you are, and I know you're not as perfect as you claim to be. If you know what's good for you, you'll keep away from Benson."

Alex pulled the phone away from her ear, staring once again at the screen, confused. Slowly, she put it back in place, and spoke with more confidence than she felt.

"Who the hell is this?"

The sound of heavy breathing filled her ear, and she spoke again.

"Who IS this?!"

The question was met with nothing but dead silence.

A/N: I know this chapter was a little short. I'm exhausted, but I really wanted you all to have a new part to read. I'm also working on something new to post shortly at the same time as continuing this, so I hope you'll keep your eyes peeled for that and some of you will enjoy it as well. I have really tried to keep my stuff updated while balancing daily life, and all of your support, love, reviews and follows really put a smile on my face and make my days, so thank you!