The apartment was too quiet, when Kathleen opened the door and let Noah run inside before her. There was a dim light coming from the living room, accompanied by the flashing lights from the TV, which was obviously forgotten with the voice turned down low. There was no movement in the place. She'd expected her father to be in the kitchen cleaning the dishes or making Olivia his famous chicken noodle soup, but the kitchen was dark and empty. Had the old man passed out on the couch?

Kathleen toed off her boots and left them next to Noah's sneakers, then walked into the apartment and stopped by the living room, where Noah was staring at the two figures on the couch – asleep. It's not like they were really in an incriminating position, they were just wrapped around each other in a way none of the kids had witnessed before – to her knowledge anyway.

Olivia was lying on her back, body angled towards Elliot, who was on his side next to her. Her head was resting on his shoulder, she was breathing steadily into his neck. At first glance it looked like his arm was just casually draped around her, but at second glance Kathleen noticed how it was firmly placed around her side on her back just like it had been intentional to keep her from falling off the couch. She noticed his other arm being under her body and also wrapped around her shoulder – that didn't look comfortable. His head was next to hers, his nose buried in the brown mess of her hair. One of his legs was thrown around hers casually. He was either keeping her from falling to the floor or there was more of a romantic reason behind it. Kathleen was willing to bet it was the latter hidden behind the excuse of being protective.

"Should we wake Elliot?" Noah asked quietly.

Kathleen was pulled from her trance of observing her father on the couch holding a woman, who was not her mother. Yet some days it had felt like she was her second mother.

"No, they look comfortable," Kathleen whispered, knowing full well that her dad would have a back pain in the morning from the couch and if Olivia's back was even half as bad as his from all the years on the job, then she would be sore as well, but she couldn't bring herself to wake up the two adults pretending not to be in love with each other and potentially scar them by witnessing the moment and push them further from what seemed to be an inevitable relationship. Kathleen was surprised things had progressed as slow as they had since her father moved back to NY and since the car bomb...

"Mom has been tired lately," Noah commented.

Kathleen nodded. Mo's twins had the flu a few weeks before, followed by Carl, but Mo had somehow escaped, so Kathleen knew full well how bad it was. Mo had said that Carl had been in bed for a week, with his fever getting high every night and causing him to get only short spurs of sleep. Kathleen was sure Olivia felt just as sick as Carl had but couldn't afford the luxury of staying in bed for days, because she was a police captain, a single mother and most importantly a stubborn woman.

That was the reason why she had taken Noah to see a show instead of Olivia, who'd been coughing and sneezing with her eyes puffy and red. Olivia had initially naturally asked dad, who agreed immediately until she let it slip that she had the flu, after which he had grown concerned and called Kathleen instead, so he could stay and take care of Olivia and Noah would still have an adult accompanying him to the show. Olivia had protested a little, but reluctantly gave in after he reminded her of the last time she had the flu and almost got framed for murder and insisted in giving her an alibi. Kathleen had somehow never heard of that story before, but she whole heartedly agreed to her dad staying with Olivia, who didn't look very good.

"Elliot is good to mom, right?" Noah asked with tilted head, observing the scene in front of him.

"Yeah, dad's not gonna let anything bad happen to her," Kathleen assured the boy. She glanced at the clock on the wall, which was already past 10pm, and if she remembered correctly then that was also past Noah's bedtime.

"It's bedtime for you too," Kathleen gently reminded him.

Noah resigned, he stepped closer to the couch and for a second Kathleen thought he was gonna wake the adults, but he leaned in to press a kiss into Olivia's flushed cheek, then headed towards his room.

Kathleen followed Noah to his room, a bit unsure of the boy's bedtime routine and how much she'd be overstepping. Noah didn't seem to mind. He sat on his bed and eyed Kathleen with curiosity.

"Does Elliot love mom?" he asked with the bluntness of a pre-teen.

Kathleen let out a laugh – if she'd gotten a dollar every time she, one of her siblings or even her mom had asked that question, she'd have her student loan paid in a heartbeat. She didn't know the answer for sure – her dad had never said it. But he'd spent the past 25 years quietly showing it in moments like these. Even without hearing a proclamation of love, Kathleen knew the answer without any doubt in her mind.

"Yeah, he loves your mom a lot."

"Does mom love Elliot?"

That answer Kathleen didn't quite know. If she had to guess, then she'd say Olivia probably loved her dad, but had spent just as long trying not to. Or she was just an incredible partner, considering how much she fought for and had helped Kathleen back in her wild days; how she always had his back and without fail made sure he was home for the holidays and birthdays.

"I think she does," Kathleen spoke with slight hesitation.

Noah considered that for a moment.

"Are they dating?" he asked.

That Kathleen didn't know.

"I don't think so. Hasn't your mom said anything?" Kathleen asked, hoping to pry into the relationship a bit further. Dad hadn't said anything yet, but she didn't expect him to. He was probably more scared of their reaction than Olivia would be of Noah's, who wasn't around for the partnership. Kathleen's money was on Olivia telling Noah before her dad could muster the courage and tell his kids. She liked to think Olivia was better at these things than her father.

Noah shook his head.

"Mom said that Elliot was a friend," Noah said innocently, though he sounded a bit suspicious.

Kathleen nodded knowingly. That checked out. Introducing Elliot as her friend first and then slowly letting things progress without any pressure and maybe trying to keep Noah from getting attached too soon in case it doesn't work. That was a smart move by Olivia. Luckily Kathleen and her siblings, Eli being the only exception, already knew Olivia and they didn't need the big speech about who she was or even how much she mattered to their dad. Eli might need it, which was only a bit ironic considering Olivia helped deliver him and she was the first person to hold him. Yet the boy didn't have a clue and barely knew who Olivia was.

"I think they are learning how to be friends again," Kathleen said. She moved over to where Noah was and sat next to him.

Noah seemed to be in thought for a minute, then spoke. "Elliot is cool, I think it would be cool if mom was dating him."

Kathleen smiled.

"Yeah, it would be cool. Give them a minute, let them figure it out," Kathleen suggested. She hesitated – she didn't know how much Noah knew about their past and the decade apart, even more so if he knew how it ended. Olivia probably hadn't shared those details with her son.

"What is there to figure out?" Noah asked and furrowed his brows, he glanced at Kathleen with a very Benson look. She noticed the blue in his eyes resembled a lot of hers. Kathleen had to admit after first meeting Noah she did calculations when he was born and if her father had been stateside 8-10 months prior. He hadn't, he had been in Italy with Kathleen visiting her parents in the same timeframe. Had he lived in NY, Kathleen herself would've needed to do a paternity test to prove that Elliot wasn't Noah's father.

Kathleen shrugged her shoulders. It was a good question. "I don't know. We, adults, like to make things more complicated than they are," she suggested.

"It's stupid."

"It is."

Kathleen had an idea. She smiled. "Maybe you can suggest it to your mom? Maybe she doesn't want to move too quickly because she wants to give you more time to get to know dad? I've known your mom since I was your age, I know her well already. Maybe if you mentioned to your mom that you're okay with her dating dad… that could be a push they need?"

She almost felt like a matchmaker.

Noah nodded enthusiastically, promising to do that the next day. Then grew worried and knitted his brows. "What if Elliot hurts mom? What if he doesn't want to date her?" he asked.

"He won't," Kathleen assured her, leaving out the part where he hurt her in the past and how Olivia had every right to be cautious. He'd be an idiot if he pulled that again. She couldn't say how her raging bull of a father would melt into a puppy in Olivia's presence. She couldn't say how his dad has probably wanted to date Olivia for the past 25 years either. But she could say the one thing she knew to be true then and true now. "Dad loves your mom. He had her back for 13 years, he'd do anything to protect her."

Noah seemed to accept that, he yawned.

"Now it's bedtime for you," she said resolutely.

Noah nodded and got ready to brush his teeth.

Kathleen followed Noah out, whispered the boy good night and then walked back to the living room. She could see clearly how his dad had his arms wrapped around Olivia. There was no doubt in her mind that he would go to hell and back for her. Like he would've gone after her, when she was kidnapped, if only he'd known. Her mother had confessed to Kathleen before their trip to NY that she had never told him about Olivia being kidnapped and tortured for 4 days. She'd promised to do it after her dad was back from an undercover job, but never got around to it, quite possibly on purpose in fear of Elliot rushing to NY to make sure his old partner was okay. Kathleen couldn't really fault her mother even if she didn't agree with it – dad had the right to know. Kathleen didn't know if that had come up in the years he'd been back. But she knew when it did, his dad would lose his mind. It wasn't going to be easy.

She heard the bathroom tap being turned on. She looked for a blanket to drape over the two adults on the couch deep in denial, she saw a fleece throw blanket on a chair by the kitchen and decided that it would have to do. She took it and gently threw it over them. It wasn't big enough to cover them both and she prioritized Olivia for she was the one who was sick, if her dad was cold, then he'd just have to steal body heat from Olivia, surely Olivia wouldn't mind.

Kathleen chuckled the way her dad pulled Olivia closer to him and her limp body obliged without any protests. He could pretend all he wanted, but he was in love.

She heard the tap being turned off and the door opening, followed by another door closing and she assumed it was Noah going back to his room. She turned off the TV, then she decided to wake her father.

"Dad," she whispered and shook his shoulder.

He woke with a jolt. It took him a moment to check his surroundings from Olivia sleeping in his arms way too close to get away with "we're only friends" and his daughter standing over them with a lingering smirk.

"It's not what it looks like," he said almost automatically.

Kathleen rolled her eyes. What she wanted to say was that it's about time for things to be what they look like, but what she said instead was that Noah was home and asleep and she was leaving.

"Did Noah say anything?" Elliot asked with concern, confirming Kathleen's suspicion of Olivia being worried about Noah's reaction. His eyes travelled down to Olivia, who was sleeping soundly. Poor girl was probably exhausted from being awake with shivers and pain from the fever.

She chose to lie and shook her head. "No, he didn't make anything of it," she said casually.

Elliot didn't reply. He stretched his neck and back in the way too small couch. He winced, and it almost looked like he wanted to move further and stretch the length of his body, but decided against it because that would definitely cause disturbances to Olivia as well and he didn't wanna risk it. It was almost like Olivia was a cat, who had fallen asleep next to their person and now the person couldn't move in fear that the cat would wake up and leave at any small movement.

"How's Olivia?" Kathleen asked.

"Better," he replied. "I think her fever finally broke."

Kathleen nodded.

"What time is it?"

"10:30pm"

Elliot swallowed.

"Dad, I'm off now. Let me know if you need a babysitter tomorrow," she said, hoping to hint that she could give the adults some time alone to figure out their shit. She leaned down like Noah had before and kissed her father's cheek with a whisper of good night.

He accepted that with a longing look at Olivia. It looked like he would've liked more alone time with Olivia as well. Kathleen rolled her eyes.

Kathleen already turned to leave, but then halted and turned back to her father against better judgement, before she lost her nerve.

"Dad, nobody's gonna have a problem with this. We all like Olivia and Noah likes you. Don't make things too complicated and wait until the time is running out. This" – she pointed at the adults on the couch – "could be exactly what it looks like, and we could all be happy for you," she finished, then without waiting for a reply walked off.

Though she thought she heard him whisper thank you into the air. As she was putting her shoes back on, she heard Olivia groan and Kathleen stilled.

She heard quiet groggy voices from the couch, without making out any of the words. She saw her father tenderly kiss the side of Olivia's head, followed by some shuffling of legs and arms. It looked like Olivia was now lying on top of him with her head on his chest.

And as quietly as she used to sneak out of the house as a teenager, she snuck out of Olivia's apartment as an adult(ish).

As she walked down the hall and stopped to wait for the elevator, a gnawing thought entered her mind that she hadn't seen her father be like that around her mother in a very long time, probably not since she was in pre-school. But then the elevator arrived and she pushed that from her thoughts.

Pressing the button to the ground floor she thought how some people find their forever love in high school like her mother, some in college like Maureen and Carl, others in the middle of their messy twenties like Lizzie, some think they are in love with a new person in every 50 days like Dickie and some are apparently holding auditions for the least douchebag guy still single in his 30ies like Kathleen…. And some wait until past their 50ies to open up the right person like Olivia. And some very lucky people find that more than once like her dad. Suppose it really happens differently for everybody.

She entered the cold New York night and shivered, hoping things would work out for all of them.