Hey everyone!

I have received such wonderful reviews, text, responses on Twitter, etc. in regard to this fic. I'm really glad that people are opening their minds to something new for Olivia, and I'm glad to have the space to write this and share it with you all. I really appreciate all your kind words thus far. You are all truly helping me regain my passion for writing fanfics!

Anyway, I am back with part two of this little story. Still not sure which way I'm going, but we will just go with the flow. Remember, leave some reviews/kind words/feedback etc.

I hope you enjoy xo

Someone New - Part Two

The sun was bright the next morning; bringing warmth and beautiful golden light over the city of New York for a beautiful Saturday.

Olivia had actually managed to get a decent amount of sleep, and was up around seven-thirty. She took some time to meditate then took a shower, then she went about dressing casually for the morning since she was just planning to go to breakfast with Jalen. She opted to wear a simple pair of blue skinny jeans and a grey turtleneck sweater, which she teamed with her white high top Converse. She had blow dried her hair and brushed it so that it spilled over her shoulders and down her back. She had just applied a tiny bit of mascara and clear lip gloss when there was a knock at the door, leading her to make a mad dash through her apartment while yelling; "Be right there!"

She reached the front door and checked the peephole, then only to smile when she saw a very tall figure in a black crewneck sweatshirt and plain blue jeans. She pulled open the door and looked up; there was Jalen, giving her that handsome smile as his brown eyes shone in the morning sunlight that was peering through the windows.

"Look at you being ready on time." he teased, shoving his hands into his pockets. Olivia playfully poked her tongue out before grabbing her jacket and shoulder bag from the hook behind the door. She then grabbed her keys from the sideboard and slipped out with him, locking up behind her. The two of them made their way out of the building, and Jalen kept a hand lightly on her back as he led her over to his truck. He opened the door for her, causing her to smirk as she looked up; "Aren't you a gentleman."

"I'm just respecting a higher ranking officer." he teased, causing Olivia to laugh and roll her eyes as he closed the door. He soon came around and slipped into the driver's seat, and immediately started the engine. The truck was smooth as it came to life, and Olivia had to smirk a little as the sounds of classic rock immediately filled the space;

"The Rolling Stones? I'm impressed."

"Now now Captain, I do have good taste in music," Jalen smirked as he pulled into the street and began driving; "I'm a classic rock and classic RnB man."

"Classic RnB is also good to listen to."

"Now I definitely didn't think you listened to classic RnB," Jalen teased as he shot her a glance; "Quick - top three classic RnB artists on your playlist?"

"You'll learn that I have quite the catalogue of music on my phone," Olivia shot him a look as she leaned back in her seat; "But if I had to pick, the top three that gets played daily is Patti LaBelle, Diana Ross, and Anita Baker."

"Oh shit, the actual Anita Baker is on Captain Benson's playlist? I'm impressed for real now."

"Shut up."

Jalen chuckled softly while winking at her to show that he was just messing around. Olivia, however, was having that fluttery feeling again, leading her to swallow and turn her head to look out the window.

The pair continued to engage in light conversation and before long, they had pulled up in front of a diner in Brooklyn. Jalen of course helped her out before she could actually jump out herself, and he led her into the establishment. The place was a typical classic dinner; with the checkerboard floors and red leather booths with beige tables, and the silver accented counter with red stools dotted around. There were some friendly waiters and waitresses floating around, including a friendly older black man with a grey mustache and beard. He had noticed Jalen and immediately began making his way over; "Jalen my boy; off duty today?"

Jalen grinned while shaking the older man's hand; "Off duty today, Carl; just breakfast with a friend…" he then gestured towards Olivia, "This is my friend Olivia; Liv, this is Carl Anderson, owner of this place and the reason I have a damn decent meal most of the time."

"Someone's gotta keep you fed, kid," Carl chuckled before shaking Olivia's hand; "Nice to meet you, sweetheart; if this clown gives you trouble, you just let old Carl know - you hear?"

"Noted, but I think he knows not to give me trouble." Olivia joked while nudging Jalen, who simply shot her a smirk and nudged her back. Carl chuckled at the pair before leading them over to a table in the corner and placing a couple menus down for them both. Jalen and Olivia sat across from one another and instantly picked up their menus while waiting for one of the other staff to come over and take their orders.

It really didn't take long for either of them to decide on what to eat, which meant that when the waitress did make her way over, Jalen ordered his 'usual' which was a steak and egg sandwich with a coffee, and Olivia ordered a simple spinach and cheese omelette with coffee. The waitress scribbled down their orders - and after a quick comment of 'Good to see you again, Detective' - the friendly older woman walked away. Olivia watched her go before turning to Jalen;

"You really do come here quite regularly, don't you?"

Jalen nodded his head; "I try to come in here at least once or twice a week, unless it's a bad work week…" he paused as the waitress came back with their coffees, along with some creamers and sugars. He then continued once she walked away; "If I don't get in here for a little while, Carl will give me a call just to check in and see if I need a to-go order or something."

"Wow, you guys must be tight." Olivia remarked as she stirred some creamer into her coffee. Jalen nodded as he too stirred his coffee around.

"Carl was best friends with my old man; they were in the Navy together so he was always around when we were growing up…" Jalen explained. He paused briefly to take a sip of coffee, then he continued his remarks; "When my old man got killed, Carl made a promise to always make sure we were good. He's kept on that promise, even though it's been about twenty years now."

Olivia nodded her head in understanding. She then tilted her head in curiosity, having just learned more about Jalen over these last few moments. She longed to learn more, so she asked; "Were you and your father really close?"

"Oh me and my old man were the best of friends. I mean it was hard with him being gone a lot when I was a kid, but I was just so proud of him y'know? And my mom too of course; they were both military." explained. He took a quick sip of his coffee, then continued; "My dad was killed in duty just after my twentieth birthday; I'll never forget it. Twenty years was just not enough with him, you know?"

"You know, somehow I don't think any length of time is long enough with your parent; it's heartbreaking," Olivia reached over and placed a hand on your arm; "I'm sorry though. I know he's looking down, so proud of you. One day, you'll have to tell me even more about him."

"Oh I got stories for days, so you'll hear more as long as you keep hanging around with me," Jalen tilted his head, giving her a silly smirk; "That means you have to remain friends with me forever, so I can tell you all the stories in the world."

Olivia let out a little laugh while shaking her head, though she was feeling that very fluttery feeling in her stomach again. She ignored it however and simply responded; "I mean I guess I can be friends with you; it'll be my good deed to get me into the pearly gates."

Jalen's jaw dropped in mock shock before he started laughing along with her. "Benson, don't be cruel to me."

"Oh you know I'm teasing." she winked at him, earning yet another laugh from him before he then sipped his coffee.

Before long their food reached the table and the two were diving into their breakfast. They continued to engage in conversation while they ate; nothing major other than Jalen told her a little more about his niece that he would be hanging out with later in the day, and Olivia talked about Noah and how things were going with him. Jalen loved hearing Olivia talk about her son; the way her face lit up and she had a genuine smile that reached her eyes - and indication of how happy her son made her. He loved that about her; her fierce dedication to her son, the way that she was truly a wonderful mother.

Breakfast ended up being a huge success, and Jalen even sweetly paid the bill which Olivia quietly thanked him for. She wasn't used to this level of kindness, but she was trying not to think of any negatives such as whether there was an ulterior motive. Jalen was just a genuinely nice guy; she knew that from the times they'd worked together and spoken outside of work over the last couple years. She liked talking to him, and it seemed that the feeling was mutual.

She wouldn't think too much into this though. They were just two friends, and friends could hang out.

They slipped back into his truck, and continued to engage in light conversation during the ride back to her apartment. Upon arrival, Jalen even sweetly exited the vehicle and walked her up to her apartment. Once she reached her door, she turned to him and gave him a sweet smile;

"Thanks again for breakfast, and for walking me up."

"Just doing my good deed." He joked, only to laugh when she playfully rolled her eyes. He then - without thinking - looped an arm around her shoulders for a quick one arm hug. Olivia was caught off guard, and yet she immediately relaxed as she gave him a squeeze in return.

"See you later, Shaw."

"See you later, Benson," he began walking backwards towards the elevator; "Probably at work or something."

"Yeah, because it's never a dull moment."

Jalen hummed in agreement, then paused for a second. He glanced briefly at the floor then looked up, his eyes locking onto hers and lips twisting into a cocky smirk; "Text me sometime, will ya?"

Olivia was slightly taken aback, but she quickly recovered and responded; "I texted you last night, didn't I?"

"You know what I mean."

"Do I?"

"Olivia, dammit girl," Jalen laughed as he shook his head; "Text me, woman; I like talking to you."

Olivia tried not to blush at his comment or the banter, and instead shot him a look; "I guess I could text or call you more often; you're cool to talk to, I guess."

"Yeah, you're alright too I suppose," Jalen winked at her, then waved; "Bye, Olivia."

"Bye Jalen." She waved back, before turning to slip into her apartment. She shut the door behind her, and stood with her back against the door. Jalen Shaw was causing some very interesting feelings to stir up, but she was going to swallow those feelings. It didn't matter anyway; he was like ten years younger than her and a detective in homicide. He was also very beautiful. He really could have anyone he wanted.

She would settle for being his friend.

The remainder of the morning passed in a blur of house chores such as clearing the closet, clearing some of Noah's books on his bookshelf, and doing the laundry that needed to be done for the week. Olivia had been working through said chores, but she also found herself thinking about her time spent having breakfast with Jalen this morning. She didn't know why she kept thinking about it, but she just knew that she enjoyed it and enjoyed his company. It was nice to spend time outside of work with someone that could hold good conversation and actually seemed interested in the things she had to say. I mean sure, she had friends like Fin or Sonny, and even Renee Curry was becoming a friend. But there was something clearly different about her friendship with Jalen, and she kinda liked that.

Following a morning of house chores, she then headed over to Staten Island to pick up Noah as he was at Amanda and Sonny's house. Upon arrival, she learned that he and the girls were out with Carisi to go pick up some pizza for lunch, leaving Amanda at home with baby Nicky. The two women settled in the living room; Olivia immediately found herself cuddling the chunky baby while Amanda curled up on the other end of the couch. They began engaging in conversation, and Olivia ended up letting it slip that she had gone out to breakfast with 'Jalen' this morning. Amanda tilted her head as she thought for a second, then her eyes widened as it dawned on her.

"Jalen Shaw from the two-seven?"

Olivia nodded her head as she continued speaking while smiling at baby Nicky; "Yeah, we had a drink after work last night, and he invited me to breakfast this morning. It was nice."

There was silence, and Olivia looked up, her eyes locking onto Amanda's face. Amanda was raising an eyebrow at her, leading Olivia to give a slightly confused look as she asked; "What?"

"You went on a breakfast date with Jalen Shaw from the two-seven?"

"It wasn't a date…" Olivia immediately felt like she needed to defend the time spent with Jalen today; "We just went to grab a bite. We are friends, and friends do that."

"After having a drink together last night?"

"Amanda!"

"I'm just saying," Amanda shrugged, her lips curling into a smirk; "So did he just happen to be at the bar or…?"

Olivia let out a slight sigh, suddenly feeling as though she never should have mentioned this to Amanda. She internally cursed herself for the slip of the tongue, but now that it was out there, she knew she couldn't turn back as Amanda certainly would not drop this.

She took a breath, then mumbled it very quickly; "I texted him."

Amanda's eyes widened even more; "I'm sorry?"

"Oh my God…" Olivia muttered before looking at her friend; "I texted him to meet me. It had been a horrible day at work, therapy was heavy, Elliot called and I'm still avoiding him like the plague, and so I just didn't want to drink alone and I like talking to Jalen so I texted him to meet me."

Amanda was silent for a few moments, then leaned back on the couch as she let out a laugh; "Wow, so you initiated the drink together last night? Interesting."

"I swear I should've never told you that."

"I'm just teasing you, Liv," Amanda was laughing as she reached over and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder; "All jokes aside, it's cool that you guys have built a pretty cool connection. He's a nice guy honestly, he even still texts me every now and then to see how I'm doing since leaving the force."

"Yeah, he's pretty nice and I guess, it's a breath of fresh air to talk to a someone that genuinely cares about how I'm doing, rather than…not."

Amanda took in what she was saying, partly wondering where that statement had come from but also partly having an idea of where it had come from. She didn't say anything though as she didn't want to open the door to a heavy conversation right now with Olivia. There would be plenty of time where they would talk about the heaviness - the elephant in the room that was Olivia's weird dynamic (or whatever) with Elliot Stabler - but for now, she didn't want to open that door and potentially upset her friend.

Instead the topic switched to something lighthearted as Olivia began asking about how the kids were doing and how everyone was adjusting to having baby Nicky, to which Amanda began discussing the latest dynamics with her kids. Conversation continued even as Sonny returned with all the kids, and eventually into lunch as Olivia and Noah stayed over for lunch as they were all enjoying some time together. For Olivia, she loved this time with Amanda and Sonny and their kids; a sense of family and belonging and warmth always settled over her in these moments.

And yet sometimes when she saw Amanda and Sonny together, her heart cracked a little as she wished she had that.

She wanted love.

Maybe one day.

Maybe.

So what do we think of part two? I'm trying to keep this going as slowly as possible, but I will say that I am truly enjoying the process of writing it and putting all these ideas down. Leave some feedback - whether it be reviews, texts, messages on Twitter; whatever. Let me know. Part three will be coming soon.

Thank you guys for being so kind. Appreciate you all, always :)