Title: Rollercoaster, Favourite Ride
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: Elliot has left SVU - and it hits Olivia hard. His departure has some implications for her work life and her personal life. She tries to figure out what it means for her own identity, her new marriage, and her work situation. In the midst of it all, she's also having to navigate new squad members at work and still deal with being the mother of a sick child. This story takes place just several months after the conclusion of Undeserved in my AU series of stories.
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. 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.
It'd taken her longer than she thought to find them. Rollins was surprised at how many people were loitering around the finishing chute of the triathlon. She'd run some charity races before but none of them ever attracted a crowd like this - but they also didn't have the kind of entertainment that was set up in the park for the spectators, racers and their cheerleading sections.
When she finally spotted the other detective, though, she didn't seem that interested in all the activity that was going on around her. Benson was sending off away from the immediate crowd and gazing down at her phone. Rollins couldn't spot her son or the supposed burly firefighters who were supposed to be surrounding her either.
"They got you working on your day off?" Rollins tried to offer is a casual tease as she finally reached the other woman.
Benson barely glanced at her. "There's no such thing as a day off with this job," she muttered.
"That the ME's report?" Rollins asked. "I was looking at it on my way over too. Warner wants us in on Tuesday."
The detective just shook her head. "Won't be in on Tuesday," she said. "Commitment with my son."
"Oh … yeah …" Rollins acknowledged. "We've got you covered." She meant it supportively but Benson shot her another look of daggers and Rollins found herself quickly looking away. "Where is the little man?" she asked instead, trying to change topics.
Benson seemed to pull herself away from the document she was still scanning on her phone with that question and looked off over her shoulder. Rollins followed her line of sight and see the little boy well-off in the sidelines playing catch with a man that definitely looked like a stereotypical firefighter. Or at least a middle-aged burly one – leaving the foregone conclusion that it was one of the detective's brother-in-laws. Rollins thought that Benson lucked out in the looks-department there. This brother clearly wasn't as attractive as the man she'd met in the precinct the other day. There was a muscular quality to him but also a stoutness and squareness in his features that were clearly creased with years that didn't seem as present in Benson's husband.
"He's just over there," she said a little more quietly but with a jut of the chin – clearly examining the child and checking in in an acknowledgement that she hadn't looked that direction in at least a few minutes.
She'd made the comment almost lower than conversation level but the little boy still must've sensed she was looking at him. After catching the ball in his mitt looked at his mother and smiled and started to trot over and buried himself against the woman's side examining her with inquisitive eyes.
"Be polite," Benson said. "Say hello to Detective Rollins."
Amanda actually thought her chastising the boy was a little funny considering she hadn't actually said hello to her yet. But Rollins also knew that Benson hadn't really wanted her to come out to the race. She'd decided to anyways. She really wanted to make some headway in establishing some sort of relationship with the other woman. And, if that wasn't possible, maybe she'd at least meet some other people on the job at the race. Though, she wasn't sure how hopeful that looked at the moment. People seemed mostly huddled in their own little groups and she wasn't too sure she could just randomly own someone else's cheering section should Benson decide to continue to ignore her.
"Hello," Noah said quietly.
"Hi there," Rollins smiled at him but the little boy continued to gaze at her like he had more to say.
He squinted a bit. "You stole Uncle Elliot's job," he stated bluntly.
"Hey," Olivia said and looked down at him. "She did not steal Uncle Elliot's job. Amanda was here before Uncle Elliot retired."
Noah looked up at his mother and then squinted back at her. "Mom says she works at a daycare now. Do you too?"
Rollins gaped a bit at the little boy at that, while Benson made some sort of sound but offered no comment to shut up the boy or to correct the statement. Somehow Rollins wasn't exactly surprised she might've vented something along those lines at home. She'd overheard some curt conversations between the detective and the captain that made it clear that Benson wasn't overly impressed with the new work environment – or her co-workers. But a daycare? That was a little harsh. It wasn't like Rollins was wholly inexperienced. Young maybe – but Benson would've been young when she started in SVU too. And new to New York – but there wasn't much she could do about that. She certainly wasn't new to sex crimes.
Still, she didn't think commenting on that comment was going to get any of them any further ahead so it was likely best to just change topics again. Though, Amanda wasn't really sure how much she liked knowing that her presence was that despised by the older detective.
"That's a snazzy tshirt you've got on there, buddy," she said instead, though, and gestured at the runner's shirt that was clearly the boy's father's. It was hanging almost down past his knees. And the bright yellow of the shirt was near clashing with the florescent green that seemed to be streaked with some sort of chalk or paint into the boy's fine hair and dabbed onto his prominent cheekbones.
Noah looked down at the shirt. "It's Daddy's," he said and then pointed at the big lettering at the bottom. "It says Livestrong."
"What else does it say, sweets?" the older detective asked and gestured at the rather lengthy phrase on the shirt, which proclaimed the determination presumably of cancer survivors and their drive to 'fight' and to 'win.' But the little boy just pulled the shirt away from him and examined it almost with confusion.
"Mom! It's upside down," he finally huffed. "I can't read upside down."
Amanda let out a small noise and a little smile at that. She thought she kind of liked the kid. He seemed funny. She just wasn't quite sure what to make of him. Or maybe it was more that she was still figuring out how to think of her colleague in the mind frame of being a mother.
"Where's Daddy?" the kid demanded and looked up at his mother again.
"Hmm," Benson said and tapped on the screen of her phone again before handing it down to her son. "He's almost here, sweets. Should be here soon."
The kid examined it and then near flopped his body against the metal barrier in front of them, looking through the bars – up the path – and then glazing down at the phone again, like he expected to see his father appear any second. Amanda glanced down the path too. She could see a small huddle of runners in the distant but she couldn't make any of them out. Not that she thought she'd be able to pick out Benson's husband in a crowd yet – at least not from that distance. But seeing as the other woman wasn't acting like that grouping contained her husband, she suspected he was still a ways out.
"He looking good to make his target time?" Rollins tried again with conversation.
Benson shook her head and leaned forward on the barrier herself, examining the pack now like it might actually contain Will.
"No. He took a long time in the water. I'm not sure what happened. That's usually his best leg. He's going to be disappointed."
"He make up any time on the bike or run?"
"Some," Benson allowed. "Not enough." But then she glanced over her shoulder. "Rob – I think he's coming in," she called behind her to the man who'd been playing catch with her son and now seemed to be chatting it up with some other men. Then she pointed a bit at the pack. "You see think you see Daddy, sweets?"
The little boy rocked against the barrier again and then looked at the phone. "It says he's 950 away, Mom."
Benson actually cracked a smile at that. "I think the GPS is a little off, Noah. I see Daddy. Com'on. Let's get ready to cheer."
She held out her hand and the little boy huddled over closer to her but still seemed more committed to watching the numbers creep down on the phone then looking at the pact of people closing in on the finishing chute. The other detective started clapping, though, and offering out encouragements of "Good job, guys", "Good effort", "Good race" as some of the pact started passing under the finishing banner and slowing to a trot or a walk up the remainder of the chute. Some of them where clearly glancing around trying to locate their own personal cheering section. Rollins didn't think Will would have to look too far. Benson had positioned her family only paces after the banner. She must've gotten there early to have claimed a spot in the area. Though, people seemed to be coming and going as their racers finished.
"There's Daddy!" the little boy finally cheered as the pack started to break up. He hopped up and down and waved his hand. "Dad! Dad! You run too fast for cancer! Dad!"
Rollins saw a man smile and look in their direction as he crossed under the banner. It took her a moment for her to even realize that it was the man she'd met on the Friday. To start his curly dirty blonde hair now was a mess of sweaty green that looked even worse with some trails of sweat that seemed to have picked up the coloring and beading on his forehead and down his cheeks. Beyond that she'd seen him in a baggy shirt and shorts in the squad room. She'd seen his muscular calves and that he was clearly a healthy height and weight – but in the tight-fitting triathlon clothing, nothing was left to the imagination. They might as well have been painted on. The man was clearly in peak physical condition – fit and muscular and nicely proportioned in all the right places.
"Dad! Dad!" Benson's son was still calling at him. "Dad! You did good!" he said as the man finally closed the gap and gave his wife a thin smile.
"Hey," he greeted to her and she just mouthed back at hey, as he let his eyes look down at the little boy. "I did good, huh?" he said and bent over the bars, shoving his hands under the boys armpits and then lifting him upward and flipping him around like he wasn't much more than a bag of potatoes. The kid didn't seem to mind at all, though, and giggled with the movement. As he settled the kid backward on his shoulder, he leaned in and snuck a kiss from his wife.
Rollins was almost surprised that Benson accepted it. Not just because she could smell the guy from where she was standing and the sweat was clearly pouring off him – but she didn't get the sense that Benson much liked anyone looking on her relationship. Or at least not her. She was almost more surprised that Benson was hardly batting an eye at the acrobatics that her husband was doing with the little boy, who was still in a fit of giggles and peaking at her upside-down and out from under one of his dad's arms. She felt herself inwardly cringing that all the movement was going to result in the kid getting dropped on his head but the other detective seemed fairly confident in her husband's child baton abilities.
"Good job, Willie," the man who'd joined them said and brushed his hands through the matted mess of curls – something else Rollins wouldn't have done – as his lips moved away from their brief lock with his wife.
He allowed another small smile. "Thanks Rob." But even Rollins could see him kind of looking beyond them – like he was searching for more people.
"Mom and Dad are pretty hung up on getting ready," the man allowed and Will just gave a small nod like he understood, though there seemed to be slightly disappointed.
"Tom?"
The other man just shook his head at that and Will let out a small sigh. But then glanced at Rollins.
"Thanks for coming," he allowed.
She gave him a small smile. "Congrats on the race," she said.
He just gave a nod and worked at hiking up the near spandex material of his top that she was sure had been a one-piece suit but that he some how managed to peel away from his body. He hiked it up and dipped his head rubbing his face against it in a vain effort to blot some of the sweat from his brow.
Amanda again felt herself staring at the man. His six-pack became more clearly defined than it already had been through the tight material and it was apparent that he carried near no fat across his belly. She could near count his ribs in just the glance she gave him – but it had turned into more when she realized tattoos were tracing across much of his chest.
She saw Benson glance at her and felt some embarrassment wash over her, as the other woman's hands came up and stilled her husband's bringing his shirt back into place and wiping at some of sweat herself.
"I didn't get the time I wanted, did I?" he muttered.
Benson gave her head a shake. "No. You lost a lot of time on your swim, Will. What happened?"
He made a sound and shook his head. "One of the guys on the team was nervous about getting in the water and started to panic a bit. I stayed with him. He needed to stop a lot. I thought they were going to have to pull him right out."
She gave his cheek a stroke at that. "He make it?"
Will nodded. "Yeah. Through the swim. I haven't seen him since then. He said he'd be OK."
"Good coach," she assured.
He gave a snort at that and then glanced behind him as another pack started to come in. "Guess I should get out of the way," he muttered. "Go check in and get checked out."
She gave a little nod and he again treated his son like some sort of free weight, flipping him around and resting him on his hip.
"What you say, bud? Should we make the final run?"
Noah nodded. "I've been waiting forever, Dad."
"Forever?" Will inquired and then gave his wife a wink. "I think he means about three hours."
Benson smiled. "Sounds like forever to me."
Will just raised his eyebrows and gave his head a little shake. "See you down there?" he asked.
She nodded. "We'll start heading that way."
He gave Rollins another glance and small smile and then returned to the middle of the chute and put his son down on the ground and started a bit of a sprint, as the little boy took off like he really had been storing his energy all morning for that one moment.
Benson turned to her at that point and gave her a small shrug. "So that's the race," she stated flatly.
Rollins got the impression that was supposed to be her cue to depart – but she'd been there all of 15 minutes. She thought it would be a bit more of an event then that. With all the ongoing off in the background – the stage, the tents, the speakers blaring music, the crowds of people and the whiffs and likely overly nutritious food – it looked like there was more to the event then watching her colleague's husband come across the finish line and then disappear.
So she gestured behind her instead. "Looks like they've got a lot on the go for the rest of the day," she offered.
Benson glanced behind her shoulder like she hadn't even noticed all the activity. "We aren't going," she said and then waved her hand a little absent-mindedly towards a path leading towards a park exit. "We've got a thing to go to – out on Staten Island."
Rollins sort of gaped at her at that. It would've been nice if anyone had mentioned that her showing up literally was just going to be a few minutes commitment. She supposed that was good – that she didn't have to dedicate her weekend afternoon to hanging out with Benson or watching a trithalon that she was really only half-ways interested in. But, at the same time, she'd sort of being hoping to get to use the event to meet some people – maybe get introduced around, smooth things over a bit with the other female detective. Instead, it looked like she was going to be left on her own – to navigate a crowd of people who didn't know her from Adam and likely didn't care much that she was there.
"Oh …" she allowed, trying not to sound too disappointed.
The other man looked at her at that point. "You coming?" he asked and then glanced at Benson. "This Stabler's replacement? A lot better looking than Stabler." He gave her a wink – but Rollins wasn't sure she much liked the comment and it didn't seem like Beson did either. She noticed the guy get given a bit of a dirty look to the man but he seemed to ignore it and just stuck out his hand. "Rob," he greeted. "Willie's brother."
She allowed him a small nod and took hold of his particularly crushing handshake. "Amanda … Rollins."
The man gave her a bit of a smile. "So – you invited her, right?" Rob pressed back to Benson and then looked back to her. "Want to come out to the barbecue?"
Amanda glanced at Benson again who just shrugged, much like she had when she'd ended up inviting herself out to the finish line. It was clearly another event that she wasn't too welcome at.
She moved her eyes back to Will's brother. "Ah, nah. Staten Island is a little far for a hamburger."
Rob snorted at that. "I'll drive you. I'm driving them," he said and jabbed a thumb Benson's way, who'd gone back to examining her phone that she'd managed to retrieve before her husband trotted off with their son. "You don't want to miss out on the first responder barbecue of the season."
Rollins considered that and then looked at him. "Is this the barbecue that I've been hearing some of the EMTs chatter about the last week or so?"
Rob's smile seemed to grow at that. "That'd be the one."
Rollin then really shook her head. "Ah, I don't think I should come then. It sounds like it's pretty invitation only. At some big shot's house?"
She heard Benson snort at that and glanced at her but then set her eyes back to Rob again, who's smile had just grown even wider.
"It's OK," he said. "I'm pretty sure she can invite who she wants. It's at my parent's house."
Benson looked up at that and shot Rob another unimpressed look. Rollins was processing that. She knew who's house it was at. She knew who Ted McTeague was. Not as much as some people in the city seemed to know – but she'd followed some of the 9/11 compensation package hearings just as much as most people in law enforcement and the first responder community. It was a name. But even with having been in the city for a few short months she'd realized there it was a bit more of a name. It was a name that just kept on coming up.
"Isn't it at Ted McTeague's house? The 9/11 commission union guy?"
Rob snorted at that. "We tend to call him dad."
Rollins finally looked at Benson. She was married to a McTeague? She hadn't heard that in any of the murmurings – much like she hadn't heard her child was sick, or that she was even married and had a son. She seemed to have mastered keeping her private life private from those she didn't want in the know. She knew that was no small feat in a community that tended to be a rumor mill.
Benson gazed at her. She clearly wasn't too happy with the development but just shrugged, "Come if you want," she offered without much conviction.