Saving Myself (Law and Order)

Chapter 114♡

(Olivia's P.O.V)

As Anna spoke to me, I asked her some questions. "How is Ariel doing in class?" She explained to me that she's doing better. "I did notice that she's very quiet sometimes. I don't know if it's because she's over thinking about what she's been through." I explained that she does tend to do this when something is on her mind. "We are still working on having an open and honest relationship when it comes to communicating." Anna also said that she adores art class. "She loves showing me what she's created or drawn." As I watched her playing with her little brother, I smiled. "What we have tried is some breathing techniques. She admitted that she can get a bit overwhelmed." That used to happen at home a lot when we first met her. As she came back inside with Caleb, she looked at us. "Are you alright?" I asked her to sit down. "Anna has been telling me about your sessions. She is proud of you." She smiled at me. "I'm proud of myself too. It's not been easy when things aren't right. I kept using other things to cloud my feelings." Caleb kept saying her name. "Ri. Ri." She snuggled him.

"We think that with your medication, your journal and school, you'll continue to succeed. Ari then spoke about her idea for the formal dance. "I think our year would love it. It would be a nice idea to just come together." Anna actually agreed. "That does sound lovely. Do you have ideas on a theme?" She showed it to her. Her phone than rang. "Oh. It's Jason." As she went outside, Caleb babbled a bit. "What does her medication do excatly?" I explained.. "Oh. That must be difficult at times." I agreed. "It is. Sometimes she's willing to take it.. other times, she's not so sure." Anna suggested maybe talking to her about it. "She might just need a bit more support." Caleb then looked at me. He snuggled into me. He was really loving. Bless him.

"Thankyou for taking the time out to talk to me. I really appreicate it." Anna shook my hand. "That's ok." As I popped outside, I saw Ariel sat on a bench. "Are you ready to head home?" She nodded. As she got her bag, we got in the car. "Jason was just calling me to see if I was alright. He said to say hi." We continued to talk as I drove. "So, Jason went suit shopping with Jared. I'm just waiting for pictures." Mom cooed as Caleb giggled. "That's nice. Are you two taking things slow?" I reassured her. "Yes we are." I nodded. "That's good." As we pulled up, Caleb asked her if she could take him in. My phone buzzed. It was Nina.

Hi. Have you got time to talk?X💛

Texting her back, Ariel opened the front door. "Dad!" He hugged her and Caleb as they went inside. "Hey you two." As he hugged them, I walked in. "Hey gorgeous." He kissed me. "Ewww!" Caleb was so funny. "Come on baby bro. We can look at your jigsaws."

As she went to entertain him, I sat with Elliot for a bit. "How was her appointment?' I was honest. "She's doing so well babe. She's opening up more with her mentor. Her name is Anna and she's really supportive. Ari even suggested the idea of a formal dance." Elliot giggled. "That's nice. Are her and Jason taking things slow?" I winked. "I'm already one step ahead of you there Stabler.' As he admired my nails, I just gazed at him. "You're so cute." Looking at the time, I kissed him. "Your lips are lovely and soft." He kissed me back. "Do you know how Charlie is?" He shook his head. "No. I should ring him. As he dialled his number, I snuggled up to him. Texting Nina back, I said that it was ok if we spoke.

Elliot gave me some privacy. "Hi Nina. How are you?" She just cried over the phone. "Aw, was therapy that bad?" As she spoke, I started to understand.. 'That's hard. At least you spoke about how you felt. Simon needed to know as you were deflecting things for so long." She told me that Greg said to write down some things that they still love about one another. "That'll be nice for you to do. Listen, you two will get back into a happier place." I was proud of my best friend for admitting to her faults. "The kids are great. I have to go and pick up Paigey in a bit. She's loving cheerleading. It's definitely her thing." Nina asked me more about how I moved on from the angry stage when you were going through it?' I tried my best to advise her. "I did have alone time. I cried it all out. Elliot did apologise many times.. I shut him out. He had to work hard to get back into my good books. I was upset at times. All I wanted was to do was snuggle Paige and forget everything." Nina did say that Axel could sense when she wasn't herself. "It is difficult. But, Simon makes things hard when I want to do things on my own." I understood where she was coming from. "I get it. My brother adores you so much. It's killing him how much he's not seeing Axel." As she offloaded a bit more, I advised her.

"How about you consider taking Axel to the park? To just breeze him out?" She said that might be a good idea. "It could give you two more time to communicate." She said that I was full of ideas..💞 "I just love you two together. I'll text you tomorrow. Give Axel a kiss from his auntie. Night."

After she said bye, I looked at the time. Getting the keys, I went to pick up Paige. I was thinking about my name change for when me and Elliot got married. Would it be Benson-Stabler or just Stabler? Stabler sounded great. It felt like I would finally be his. As I pulled up outside the sports centre, I saw Paige with her friends. "Hi Mommy." She walked over and hugged me. "Mel has given us letters about a competition." Cece and Bea stood next to her. "This is incredible news baby! I'm so proud of you!!!" Giving her a big hug, Cece and Bea said hi to me. "Hi girls. How are you?" They both said that they were fine.

"See you later Paige!" They hugged her as they left. As I took her hand, she asked me if we could have a treat. "That sounds fab. What would you like?" She said that she'd like a cupcake. As she sat down, I ordered some drinks. Just looking at her, I couldn't get over how much she looked like me. Once I had gotten the drinks, Paige thanked me. "So Mommy, I'd like to ask you a few questions." I sipped my hot chocolate. "Ok sweetheart. Go ahead."

"What's a perp?" As I drank my coffee, I smiled. "A perp is someone who has done something wrong. Very wrong." She giggled. "So if Daddy stole something like a cookie.. would he be in jail?" She was so entertaining!🤣 "Yeah. He would be." As we continued to talk, she asked me about her uncle. "Is Uncle Simon ok Mommy? The last time we saw him, he seemed quiet." She loved her Auntie Nina and Uncle Simon very much. 'He's fine." She noticed that they hadn't been around much lately. "Both of them are just working things out. Axel is ok though." She ate her cupcake. "I'm going to arrange for you to have a sleepover with Billie soon." She clapped. "That'll be fun." She ate the rest of her cupcake and then we got going home.

"Do you think we'll have any more siblings Mommy?' I gazed at her. "We may adopt one more child." Paige squealed. "Would it be a boy?" I nodded. "Yes. Then, it makes it equal." As we got home, we heard Caleb and Elliot. "Well done buddy. That's a lion! Rawr!" As he placed the piece in the puzzle, he clapped. "Hey you two. Did you enjoy practice Paige?" She said yes as she hugged her dad. "I got a letter about a competition that's happening soon!" Elliot cuddled her as I took Caleb. "That's awesome. I'm so proud of you." As we relaxed the younger ones, I asked if Ari was ok.

"She's alright. I think she's just resting."

Today had been a fab day off.💞 it would be back to busting perps tomorrow and teaching our 7 year old about what we do. This was going to be good.

(Nina's P.O.V)

Just as I was putting Axel down for his sleep,  I heard my phone. It was Mom. "Hey Mom." She asked how me and Axel were doing. "We are great thanks." She asked how therapy was. "It was difficult today, but we got through it." She sounded pleased. She asked me if me and our little man wanted to go over to the house for dinner tomorrow. "We would love that. Text me a time Mom. I love you. Bye." Once I had finished the call, I went to relax. Simon texted me again.

I really understood where you were coming from in therapy today. I miss you.. but I don't want to overcrowd you. I'll write the things down and then we can talk about them in the next session. Give Axel a kiss from me. Xx

As I laid on the sofa, I just took some deep breaths. I'd be starting my new job soon. To think I've had all this time off being a new mom. Axel was a joy. I loved him very much. Texting Simon back, he ran on my mind.

"You're so cute." He stroked my cheek. We'd decided to meet up. "Thanks. You're cute too." We had been texting for a few weeks now. Obviously, I knew that he was Olivia's brother. But, I liked him a lot. As we sat on the bench in the park, he told me that he wanted to keep seeing me. "We can just keep it between us. If you like." I thought that was a fab idea.

Waking up, I wiped my forehead. I was sweating because I kept thinking about Simon like THAT..🔥

I just wanted to feel close to him again. I think I had an idea on what to do...