Do make sure you've read chapter 7 before you read this. I updated early Monday morning so you may have missed it. Don't know how Noah got here? Then you missed chapter 7 :) Click back and read it before reading this!

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8. Noah

"Picture?"

Elliot's eyes moved from the child to Olivia and back. Olivia felt her cheeks get warm. She knew what Noah meant. They'd discussed the picture on her nightstand together many times. It was a picture of her and Elliot, standing close together at some party and smiling into the camera, his arm around her shoulders. She'd put it there after she and Brian had broken up and he had moved out. It had made her feel less alone at times, and more alone other times.

Meanwhile, Noah's head was bobbing excitedly.

"Mommy and Ewwie in the picture."

One corner of Elliot's mouth tugged up.

"And where is this picture, little man?"

"Mommies bedwoom."

Oh God.

Elliot's smile widened, and Lucy seemed to catch on at last. She moved next to Olivia and reached for Noah, but Noah seemed to have other plans.

"Noah sit on the bed?" he asked Olivia, putting his little hands on her cheeks and moving his face so close to hers that he was just a blur.

She looked at Elliot, who was still grinning contently and was now patting the space on the bed next to him.

"Sure, you can sit here. What's your name?"

"I'm Noah!" Noah said immediately, wriggling to get out of his mother's arms and onto the bed. "You Ewwie. No. Ewwie Ot."

Olivia couldn't help chuckling when her little boy corrected himself, like she had corrected him so often. Her initial embarrassment subsided when she saw that Elliot was now totally focusing on Noah.

"That's a silly name, right?" Elliot said to Noah with a grin. "Ellie Ot. I think Noah is a much nicer name."

Noah nodded again and Olivia stood close to him to make sure he wouldn't fall off the bed.

"We've got this, mommy," Elliot told her, and when he winked at her she felt her stomach flutter.

Elliot put his arm around Noah, who scooted closer to him instinctively. She'd never seen her son take to a stranger so quickly. But to Noah, this must not be a stranger. He was the man in the picture on her nightstand, so he was their friend. The world of a child was enviably simple.

Lucy tapped her arm and she looked at the nanny, who must be wondering what was going on.

"You hit the car of someone you know?" she asked her softly, not wanting to interrupt the intellectual conversation that Noah was now having with Elliot.

Olivia walked a few steps away from the bed with the young woman and answered her softly.

"Yes. Can you believe that? He's my old partner. I haven't seen him in years."

"Well, this is an interesting reunion then."

"Yeah. And it gets more interesting. He's had amnesia for four years and doesn't remember me at all."

The 'at all' part might not be entirely true, but Lucy didn't need to know that yet. It was all still much too fresh for Olivia herself.

"Oh my. So how does he feel about you putting him in the hospital?"

Olivia blew out a breath and looked over her shoulder at the man and the boy in the hospital bed.

"He's surprisingly okay with it. He knows I didn't mean to put him here and he's been questioning me about the past. He really wants to remember."

"So you're going to help him with that."

It wasn't a question and Olivia nodded.

"How can I not? He doesn't remember the past but he seems to remember little things every now and then."

"A good bump on the head can do that," Lucy said dryly, and Olivia had to suppress a smile.

Lucy looked at the two people in the bed as well and smiled.

"Noah seems to be in love with him already."

Lucy's choice of words startled Olivia a little and she bit her lip. But she had to admit, it did look like love at first sight between Elliot and her son. They were goofing off together and she could tell that Elliot tried not to show that he was in pain. She decided to intervene to make sure Noah wouldn't bump into his cracked ribs or his sore hip, and approached the bed.

"Noah? Elliot has an ouch so you have to be careful with him, okay?"

Noah turned to Elliot, completely unfazed, and started telling him about the ouch he'd gotten in day care the day before. Olivia glanced at Lucy.

"Just a chafed knee, it's fine," Lucy told her softly but Elliot pretended to be in awe of Noah, because he was being so brave.

"Ewwie Ot show Noah the ouch?"

Olivia wondered how Elliot would solve this without shocking her little boy too much, but his fatherly instincts definitely had not been wiped out by his amnesia. Elliot beckoned Noah to come closer and once the boy was leaning against his side, the back of his head resting sideways against Elliot's broad chest, they peeked under the covers together. Olivia assumed that Elliot had been bandaged up and Noah would recognize bandages as something that covered an ouch.

"Hurts," Noah stated after taking in the bandages around Elliot's ribs.

"Yes, it hurts," Elliot said. "But the doctor is going to fix me and then it won't hurt anymore."

Noah nodded. Unfortunately, he knew about hospitals and doctors already. And just like that, he turned away from Elliot and reached for his mother.

"Noah off the bed?" he asked her.

Olivia lifted him off the bed and as soon as his feet hit the ground, he started looking around the room for something to play with. Lucy dashed after him and asked Olivia if she needed some more time 'here'. She glanced at Elliot, who pretended not to be listening to them. Olivia hesitated. She was anxious to get home with her son, but she didn't want to leave Elliot behind without at least talking about meeting up again. Their earlier conversation had ended abruptly when Lucy and Noah came in, but they would need to finish it soon.

She walked up to him and decided that this honesty thing might actually be a good idea. She was going to say something when Elliot beat her to the punch.

"Will I see you again?"

She could tell that he already knew her answer, but there was a small hint of insecurity in his eyes too. Could he be remembering how complicated they had been together in the past? She didn't want complicated anymore. She just wanted him back in her life. So she decided not to run for cover this time around.

"I would like to keep in touch Elliot. If I can help in any way to jog your memory, I want to do that. It's the least I can do after almost killing you."

Elliot nodded and she could see a twinge of relief in his eyes, and a lot of amusement.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm glad you bumped in to me."

That put a smile on her face and it didn't surprise her anymore when Elliot reached for her hand and squeezed it gently. She could get used to that.

"I don't think I'll be going anywhere soon, so you know where to find me."

Olivia nodded.

"Okay."

"Okay."

"So ..."

"Go home to be with your son, Olivia. I'll see you soon?"

"Yeah. See you soon El."

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A/N No evil cliffhanger this time. More soon. Review?