000-

"What's wrong?" Amanda sat in the passenger seat as they drove to work.

"Nothing's wrong. I'm fine." She kept her eyes forward, watching the car in front of her.

"See right there? The way you said fine? That's the exact way you say it when you're not fine." Amanda leaned her head back against the seat and then rolled her head towards Olivia. "Something is going on. You seemed weird last night. Is it that Langan guy? You got some sort of history there I don't know about?"

Olivia shot a glare in her direction. "No. He represented me once." Olivia wasn't interested in going into all the details of that case.

"Too bad," Amanda grinned. "I might need to see if he's still single."

"All yours," Olivia said, almost relieved. Trevor had asked her out a couple of times over the past few years, but the timing wasn't ever right and it never really amounted to anything. Olivia was almost certain that he would try again at the conclusion of the case, and Elliot didn't exactly have the best reactions when it came to men hitting on her…and that was before they were sleeping together. She couldn't imagine what his reaction would be now.

"Is there a reason you haven't gone for that or…" Amanda asked cautiously. Olivia understood. By all accounts Langan was a decent guy. Attractive, tall, decent morals… if Olivia passed him up, maybe that meant there was something wrong with him. Some fatal flaw that made him not worth pursuing.

"Um. It's a long story, but I was still partnered with Elliot when I met Langan…"

"Elliot was still married…" she said like it meant something. "And I know for a fact you dated then. It's not like you were celibate for thirteen years." She chuckled at the absurdity.

Truthfully, it was almost impossible to describe the intricate subtleties of her relationship with Elliot over the years. On some level she knew she chose relationships she knew wouldn't last long. It wasn't a conscious choice really. When a man came along that had potential for long term commitment she avoided and side stepped until they eventually gave up the chase. Looking back she knew it had less to do with the man and everything to do with Elliot. He was the longest relationship she ever had with a man, and somewhere deep inside of herself she knew he was who she wanted. Maybe it was stupid, and a little self destructive, but she deliberately chose men that would ruffle Elliot's feathers. Pushing his buttons in that way filled her with some sense of perverse assurance that her married partner wanted.

Rather than give a long complicated answer she threw out an easy response. "I promise you that has never made a difference." She was always his. He knew it. She knew it, and whenever she tried to fight it, he'd lose his everloving mind.

She glanced over at Amanda who was biting back a small smirk.

"What?" Olivia asked in irritation.

"Nothing really. It's just…" She shook her head and laughed. "He really hasn't changed much has he?"

Olivia returned her focus to the road, and added a chuckle to Amanda's laugh, "Oh no, not at all."

-000-

Elliot drummed his fingers against his desk as he stared at the computer screen in front of him. He read the same information twice now, and still didn't know what he had read. He replayed the conversation he had with Olivia the night before. She wasn't just tired. He wasn't an idiot. He knew her, and he knew something was making her uneasy.

He pulled his phone from his pocket and pulled up his messages. He stared at the screen. He wanted to press her on it, but he was afraid that his pushing might actually push her away. He stared at the his phone for another moment before dropping it face down on his desk.

He would wait. He knew she hated people hovering, and maybe it was something that would resolve itself at work. The computer screen light began giving him a headache so he decided he needed a break. Maybe some air would quell his worrying. He needed to run down a lead anyway. He glanced down at the address on his maps app, and realized the shop wasn't far from his apartment. He didn't want to smother Liv, but there was a little blue eyed baby boy who wouldn't mind being fussed over.

-000-

When Olivia and Amanda arrived at the precinct it appeared Langan already had Ellie ready in an interrogation room. Olivia immediately motioned for Fin, "Ready to go in?"

Fin pushed out of his chair, "Yeah," he said as he fell in step behind her. They didn't make it far before Lieutenant Murphy stopped them abruptly.

"Wait," he said, eyes moving between Fin and Olivia and then over Olivia's shoulder to Amanda. "Rollins!" He called, "You head into interrogation with Fin."

Olivia opened her mouth to protest, but Murphy immediately pulled her aside. "I have some child advocate sitting in an interview room with Noah's caseworker."

Olivia's heart pounded, adrenaline immediately coursing through her. That feeling. That feeling sank deep into her stomach. No one had to tell her anything. She just knew. They were going to take her baby away.

"I…I…" she felt her shallow breaths increasing her panic. She pressed her hand against her belly, and tried to calm her rising nausea.

"Slow down Benson. We don't know what it's about yet. Slow down." He did his best to calm his sergeant who was clearly two breaths away from losing it.

She took a breath and waved him off, "I'm fine." Murphy looked at her like he knew how not fine she was.

She gulped back some of her fear, and tried to swallow back some of her fear. She was jumping to the worst case scenario. It was possible the meeting was about something different. Usually meetings were scheduled and not sprung on her at work though. She squared her shoulders and began the walk to the interview room. Whatever was going on wouldn't be solved by her melting into a puddle in the middle of the squad room.

Murphy still watched her like she might fall to pieces, and she tried not to be annoyed by the attention. Sure, she felt like crawling into a hole, but she resented him for thinking he knew her enough to assume how she felt. "I'm fine." She insisted one more time before turning away from him.

As she approached the door she plastered her best smile as she attempted to pretend she wasn't dying inside. "Hello," she greeted kindly. She reached out her hand to shake both of the women's hands. She noted that Noah's social worker seemed a little nervous.

"Why don't we sit," the advocate suggested. She knew the woman from child related cases they had worked together. She was always so kind and composed, and right now that composure made Olivia want to throw up.

The last thing Olivia wanted to do was sit. In fact she had enough nervous energy to run. Away from here. Home to her baby. Her baby.

"We were notified you have an Ellie Porter in custody," the child advocate began.

"Yes," Olivia said carefully. "She was caught up in a robbery scheme with her pimp…" She hoped for a moment that all of this wasn't about Noah at all. Maybe Ellie had a child in the system that happened to have the same social worker as her…her son. There were a lot of children in the system, it was an extremely plausible coincidence.

"Great. It's my understanding that you currently have custody of a child that's listed as a baby boy doe?"

Her previous optimism tanked as her stomach dropped. All of this had to do with Noah. She shook off her internal panic, and answered. "Yeah, we call him Noah." Her gaze shifted between the two women. "The girls we found him with said that was his name so we stuck with it."

The advocate nodded and the social worker's face oozed sympathy. Olivia held her breath as the ax began to fall. "We found a DNA match for baby boy doe…Noah…" the advocate corrected herself. Olivia felt like the wind got knocked out of her, and she wanted to be somewhere else. Anywhere else. "The woman you have in custody, Ellie Porter…" the advocate drew out the silence for a painfully long moment, "is the baby's mother. Baby boy doe's name is Noah Porter.

-000-

Elliot stopped by the apartment before running a lead. He wanted to check in on Noah, and make sure everything was going smoothly with the day. He unlocked the door, and heard the sound of some sort of podcast echoing from the kitchen.

Brit, their nanny had her hands in the sink, rinsing some bottles, and miscellaneous dishes. Upon hearing the door click shut she turned towards him and greeted, "Oh hey!" She glanced down at the baby monitor near the sink. "Noah's sleeping, but he's been down for a while." She looked at him quizzically, and down to her phone, "Did you text…"

"No no," Elliot chuckled at the young woman''s confusion. "Sorry," he quickly apologized. "I had to check out a business not far from here, and I thought I'd check on Noah real quick."

Brit relaxed a little. "Oh okay. I was worried I forgot about something."

Elliot shook his head. "Mind if I just check on him. I'll be quiet," he reassured. "He had a hard night…" Not really. Liv had a hard night, which meant Elliot had a hard night. Noah was probably the only one actually sleeping the night before.

"He's your baby," she reminded. "You don't have to ask me for permission."

His baby. His and Liv's.

He snuck into the bedroom and made sure his steps stayed quiet. Noah proved to be a sound sleeper, even when Frannie randomly barked during a nap. Kid slept through most noises, no problem. Still, he didn't want to make extra work for their nanny.

He approached the crib, and leaned over the edge. Noah laid on his back, sound asleep, blanket tucked tightly around him and his fist next to his head. Elliot ghosted his hand over the baby's head. He felt a little better, seeing him. Seeing Noah, the evidence of his and Liv's little family, relaxed some of his worry.

He watched the steady rise and fall of Noah's chest, and he was caught up in a feeling of rightness. For the first time in his life he felt at peace. He was where he needed to be, with who he needed to be with, loving a child who he knew was meant to be theirs.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he quickly removed it, silencing the call as he headed for the door. He smiled as Liv's name lit up his screen. He made sure he was partially down the hallway before answering, "Hey Liv."