Sitting at his Desk Elliot reached down to the drawer pulling out a pale pearly pink bag pulling out a white box he carefully undid the black ribbon keeping it closed. Lay on the cushion inside of the box was a sparkly silver charm bracelet with 7 charms evenly spaced out. The clasp for the bracelet was a heart with a tiny diamond in the centre of a Celtic knot pattern. Carefully moving the charms so they were evenly spaced he looked closely at each one, each designed or chosen to signify something special to them.
"Dad!" Kathleen called walking in "you said you were meeting us for lunch, Lizzy and Mo are waiting at the Restaurant" she said walking right up to his desk
"Kathleen" he said looking up trying to put the lid back on the box "sorry I lost track of time"
"What's that?" Kathleen asked placing a hand softly on her fathers arm
"It's nothing. Really"
"Dad!" Kathleen looked at him raising her eyebrow
"Fine" he sighed allowing his daughter to look at the box
"Dad this is beautiful" Kathleen smiled "who's it for?" she asked knowing it was none of her sisters birthdays coming up and these charms were not really daddy/daughter charms
"Just someone special" he said putting the box back in the bag
"Olivia?" Kathleen asked with a slight smile
"How did you know?"
"Dad you have been friends with her for like ever and the fact you did say you loved her when I asked her to help with the intervention last year"
"You're not mad?" he asked
"No, Liv is practically family and has always been there. Mum would want you to be happy and she could see how much you loved Olivia"
"Nothing happened when your mum…"
"I know," Kathleen smiled "do you think Mum would have let you live if it did" she gave a laugh
"Thank you" Elliot Smiled "so shall we go meet your sisters and get this lunch?" he said putting the bag back in the drawer and grabbing his keys and phone from the top draw
"So when are you going to give Liv the charms? It's a unusual collection" Katheen asked linking arms with her father
"I need to find the right moment, but soon" Elliot said
"So where are we at with these 5 cases" Olivia asked walking forward looking at the case boards in front of them
"Aislin Walsh, 17, found in central park in the wooded area by the Alice in Wonderland statue in Central park ." Fin said pulling up the first case photos "she was well liked by her peers, teachers and friends."
"Then we have Isla Kelly 18" Rollins said, pulling up her picture next to Aislin's "found behind Nambung bandshell also in Central park. Her parents said she would busk there in the summer months, and a guitar was found next to her in pieces. Then we have Anna Kennedy aged 16 found in the amphitheatre at Riverbank State park. Siobhan Doyle Also 18 found in Washington Market park by Students at the performing arts centre. Her parents say she was a talented dancer and looking to do that full time" Rollins continued "then we have Caitlin Smart Washington square park"
"Are we any closer to finding a link between them" Olivia asked, finding a link would mean they were a step closer to finding out why they were killed and more importantly who killed them
"I might have something" Rollins said "all 5 vics were found near performing arts locations"
"Caitlin was found in Washington Square. There are no stages in there" Fin said
"No but it's a two minute walk to the Imagine works Youth Theater. Siobhan's parents said she was wanting to dance professionally and we know Isla was a busker. What if all the girls were connected through performing arts in some way" she said
"Still doesn't explain Caitlin." Fin said moving her picture on to its own board
" It does, she was coming back from the Theater, and she was dressed like the cast of six. Most people don't do that unless they are really into the show. Kinda like rocky horror it's only the hard core fans that dress up for that"
"Look into it Rollins see where it leads" liv said "Fin and Velasco go and talk to the other parents to see if they can provide some light into Rollins theory." Liv smiled. She wanted to get ahead on this before the media started posting their wild speculations which never helped matters and always lead to some nutbar ringing in and sending them down the wrong rabbit hole.
Looking at her phone Olivia sighed it was quarter to 4, Noah would be finishing school in 15 minutes and it would take her at least 30 to get across the city. Gathering up the files she carefully placed them in her bag. Pulling it on to her shoulder she grabbed her keys. It had been a long day for them all, most being in since the crack of dawn trying to gather as much information on this as they could and get ahead of the media circus that was surrounding these cases.
"Right I think we should call it a day for now" she smiled softly walking out into the squad. "It's been a long day and we all have families that we left at the crack of dawn. Take the evening reset your minds and let's look at it all in the morning with fresh eyes"
"You don't need to tell me twice" Velasco smiled chucking a pen in to the pot on his desk "see you tomorrow cap" he said heading out
"See you in the morning" Olivia smiled pulling her bag on to her shoulder walking out
The city was rammed as was usual at this time deliveries, taxis as well as the central tourists and people trying to navigate their way home. She was grateful Noah had an after school club most days and it meant today she could actually pick him up for once and not rely on nannies. Pulling up outside the school she checked to make sure she was in a parking zone, the last thing she needed was a ticket. Checking that the road was clear she opened her door and made her way from the car into the school.
She was 10 minutes early so the school receptionist told her she could take a seat on one of the chairs outside the office and wait. There was something that even now and she hadn't been in school for as long as she had been a cop that felt odd, it always felt like she was waiting for a dressing down even now she was a captain it still did feel like the principal was going to come out any minute and yell at her for smoking in the toilets or breaking dress code.
"Mum!" Noah called out running up to her
"Hey you" Olivia smiled enveloping her son in her arms
"What are you doing here? Lucy normally picks me up"
"Well as we had a very early start i decided we should finish early"
"I like it when you come pick me up" Noah smiled as they walked out. "Can I sit upfront?" he asked looking longingly up at his mother
"Go on then" Olivia sighed.
Sitting in the little Pizza as they watched their pizza being prepared.
"Mum?" Noah asked
"Yes sweet" liv replied looking up from her phone.
"Why are we having Pizza for dinner we never eat out on a school night"
"Because i had a early start and I really can't be bothered to stop at the store" Liv smiled as their pizza was placed down " i mean i can always ask if they can do you a great big bowl of Broccoli and i will eat all this pizza"
"No" Noah giggled "pizza is the best" he said pulling one of the slices from the pan trying to catch the cheese pull
"Right you are then" Olivia laughed, taking her own slice and folding it to take a bite. "Did you get off to school alright with Elliot?" she asked
"Yeah, we were a little late getting up so we had to stop for pop-tarts for breakfast but I wasn't late for school" Noah looked up, pizza sauce around his mouth and he reached for a second slice.
"Oh really" she sighed, making a mental note to get Elliot back "well I hope you don't expect pop tarts every morning. "You are supposed to have something healthy give your brain the energy for the morning
"Mum, I like pop-tarts. You have Oreos and peanut butter all the time"
"Well…" he had her there. There had been times when she had just snaffled a few Oreos before heading to the precinct or a crime scene " I'm a grown up" she grinned "and i don't have them all the time Mr"
Finishing their pizza they decided to take a walk around the park as it was a nice late summer's evening.
"So Noah.." Olivia took a deep breath preparing herself mentally to broach the subject of the fact she and Elliot were more than friends
"Yeah" Noah looked up
"I was wondering how you would feel if Me and Elliot were more than just friends" she said
"What do you mean?" Noah asked
"Well what if he was to stay over from time to time."
" Okay I guess" Noah said "I mean if you are happy then that's all that matters really and I just want you to be happy"
Smiling down at him Olivia pulled him into her arms. "How on earth did I end up with such a kind hearted boy" she said kissing the top of his head
"Muuuum" Noah moaned wiggling from his mothers grasp "can we get pancakes?" he asked as the passed a small dessert shop
"All right then as we have had pizza" she smiled pushing the door open
Later that evening Olivia was sitting in bed looking over the files trying to spot something she might have missed, just something that would give them a lead and find the monster that had cut these girls' lives short. Her phone buzzed on the side sliding it towards her she saw it was a message from Elliot.
' missing you. What you up to?'
Thinking for a moment on what to say she quickly typed a response
Sleeping
She watched as the dots appeared at the bottom of the screen denoting he was typing his response
Sweet dreams xo El
Reading the words over and over she sighed she was so glad Noah had the response he did. He was her number one priority and she was glad that her son liked her best friend and vice versa. It was equally important that anyone that entered her life respected that her son would always come first. She still had lots to overcome, if this was going to become a thing then she would need to disclose the relationship to 1PP
so really hope you are enjoying this, like I said at the start i am fairly new to watching SVU properly and I really would love to know what you think. please leave a review