Don't worry! I plan on finishing the Ultimate twin throw down! I've been sitting on this story for a bit so I thought you would like to read it during a brief intermission from the twin storyline! Enjoy- the final twin throw down installment will be coming soon!

"Thank you." Olivia said while quickly grabbing her coat. "I don't think I'll be super long, but…"

"Hey, don't worry about it." Dickie held up his box of legos. "I've been looking for a building buddy."

Olivia gripped his elbow and kissed his cheek like she did with Noah on a regular basis. "Thanks again."

Dickie couldn't help the grin that stretched across his face. "Get outta here."

Without another word she hurried out the door.

Dickie dropped his keys on the counter and tucked the box of legos under his arm. "Noah? You in your room?"

"Yeah!" Came the voice from down the hall.

Dickie followed the sound and found Noah sitting at his desk. He had a diagram laid out on his bed and he was clicking legos together.

"How's the Harry Potter castle going?" Dickie set the new Star Wars set box down.

"Good," he said as he clicked a Lego into place. "I had plenty of time after my mom grounded me. You know…for being kinda a jerk to my babysitter," he said sheepishly.

Dickie settled into a chair on the other side of the desk. "Hey, I agree, she was a troll, but your mom is right." Dickie dumped the package out and started sorting bags according to the diagram. "You still have to respect people even when you don't like them." It was definitely a do as I say not as I do situation, but Noah didn't need to know that.

He sighed. "Yeah I know." He dig around in the Lego pile for the piece he needed. "It was just a weird time and I didn't want…your dad to go back to work and stuff."

Dickie nodded in understanding. Missing his Dad while he worked was a staple of his childhood. "I get it. I always hated when my dad had to go to work after spending a whole weekend with us. It kinda sucked." He carefully opened the first bag of legos and sorted the pieces.

"Yeah. It's the worst," Noah agreed. "You're lucky you got full weekends. That doesn't happen very often for me."

"Hey, not all of us have a parent who is a captain," his eyes glinted. There was something satisfying about Olivia outranking his old man.

Noah shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. And to him it probably wasn't. His mom had started her ascent up the NYPD ladder when Noah was still in diapers. "Yeah I know. My mom does her best but her job is pretty important. But…"

"But what?" Dickie asked casually. He tried to keep his eyes on his legos, not wanting Noah to feel too pressured.

"Nothing." Noah shook his head, but his eyes told a different story.

Dickie pushed a little, "Come on. We're basically brothers and you can tell me anything. It's part of the sibling code of silence."

Noah scrunched up his face, "Code of silence?"

Dickie chuckled lightly, "Yeah like the times I broke curfew and Lizzie covered for me." He clicked the finished Lego section into place. He laughed," and we alllll have kept Kathleen's secrets.

That triggered a willing smile. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." He nudged Noah's shoulder. "I know it's probably weird and crazy, you know, getting all of us in your life all the sudden, but…"

Noah cut him off with the shake of his head. "No it's nice. Having more people around. I mean we have Uncle Fin and Aunt Amanda but that's different from having a brother."

"I heard you tracked down your half brother." He watched Noah finish up a section and click into place on the castle. "That's really cool."

Noah smiled, "It is," his face fell a little, "but sometimes I think mom doesn't like that we found him."

"Why would you think that?"

Noah shrugged again. "She just seems… weird around them. It's different, you know, it's different from when we hang out with you guys. She's happy when we are all together, but when we visit Connor… I don't know. She just seems weird and uncomfortable."

Dickie pondered the kid's words for a moment. He knew exactly why Olivia was comfortable around his family but not Connor's. Over the years he had gleaned enough from his parents' conversations to know that Olivia was basically alone in the world. He knew her mom was an alcoholic, and he suspected her dad was some sort of dead best. A "normal" family probably felt foreign. He wasn't sure it was his place to step in so he went with the most obvious observation.

"Your mom has known us all since we were kids. She was partnered with my dad when Lizzie and I were in preschool."

"And she got to hold Eli before Elliot did," he said with a grin.

"That's right." He could imagine Liv or his dad telling that story. Noah probably loved it. "Your Mom's always been a part of our family." He purposefully avoided the complicated nature of her relationship with the Stabler family.

Noah decided to bring it up anyway. "Elliot said he loved Mom all along."

Well…thanks for that Dad... It wasn't like he was really surprised. Back when he was young and stupid he suspected his Dad's relationship with his partner was…not platonic. But even with his suspicions he believed Olivia when she said she had never slept with her partner. And he knew his dad. He was flawed and frustrating but he was loyal to a fault. Still, it felt weird to have the words said aloud like that. Especially by Olivia's kid. It meant that his dad had talked to Noah about it and that felt…strange.

Dickie needed to respond before the silence got awkward. "Yeah. I kinda figured."

"Oh sorry. That's probably weird." Noah's cheeks flamed red. He probably didn't even think about what it meant for Dickie's mom if his dad loved Olivia all along.

"You know, when I was younger it bothered me a lot," he watched Noah carefully. "It was weird for me to see my dad so… I don't know, but now that I'm older…I don't know. I guess I get it more than I used to."

Noah remained pensive as he continued snapping Legos into place. "Sometimes I hate that my moms a cop." He admitted out of nowhere.

"Yeah?" The kid seemed almost ashamed to say it. "I hated that my dad was a cop."

"I feel guilty because I know she's helping people, and she's good at it and it's like a part of her, but sometimes I hate it." He sighed. "Sometimes I wish she would just retire and let someone else do it, but then I feel selfish."

"It's not selfish to want your mom around more. It's normal." He dropped a hand on the boy's shoulder. "And Noh, it's always just been you and her. Of course you wanted her. But guess what." He bumped his shoulder with his.

"What?"

"Now you've got three sisters, and two brothers, well three with Connor… that's a lot of people in your family now. And if sometimes you feel alone or you wish your mom was home, you can call any one of us and we will be there…" he grinned wryly. "We have a competition going to see who you will like the most.

That made Noah laugh out loud. "Why!?"

"Because we are Stabler's and everything is a competition." Dickie said as if it were obvious.

Noah giggled at tha. "Well. I like all of you the same." He said like a proud parent.

"Oh come on." Dickie teased. "You gotta love me more than Eli."

Noah shook his head with a smile. "Nope."

"Hey!" He said in false exasperation. "you barely know Eli."

Noah shook his head again. "We play video games online all the time"

Dickie feigned shock. "What? And you didn't invite me?"

Noah giggled again. "I didn't know! Eli just invited me! I'm sure you can play too whenever you want."

He ruffled Noah's hair. "Nah it's okay. I'll let you and Eli have that."

"Because we have legos," Noah said firmly.

"Heck yeah," Dickie beamed with pride. "Speaking of, can you build out this section for me? I don't want to bring home a bunch of pieces. My girlfriend doesn't appreciate it when she steps on stray legos.

Noah reached for the separated section. "My mom doesn't either."

Dickie leaned back into the chair and rolled his neck. "You hungry?"

"Yeah."

"Cool if I order some pizza?" Dickie asked, even know he knew the answer.

"Uh yeah!" Noah grinned.

He pointed a finger in Noah's direction. "What are we thinking? Pepperoni?"

"Duh!"

Dickie chuckled and pulled out his phone. "You got it."

It might be fun to do a bunch of one shots of Noah bonding with each of the Stabler kids...