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“Y/n” you felt small poking on your arm. You groaned trying to stay asleep but the poking didn’t stop. You slowly opened your eyes to be greeted by Noah’s toothy smile.
“Yes Noah?” you mumbled
“It’s mother’s day soon” he whispered
“Yes” you whispered back. He climbed onto your bed, taking the wind out of you. With a huff you sat up, your sleep is officially gone.
“Can you help me?”
“With what?” Noah rolled his eyes
“With a present for mama!” he exclaimed. You had been living with Liv and Noah for just under 8 months after you had gotten caught up in the wrong crowd after your mother had died. You had managed to fall through the cracks at child services until you were brought in to svu. It was hard for them to place you and keep you safe so Liv put her hand up to be your foster mum while the case was at trial. It was only meant to only be for the duration of the trial but you were still here 8 months later.
“If I say yes will you leave me alone?” Noah nodded “of course I will. We can go shopping when I pick you up after school on Wednesday”
“But we meet mama at the precinct every Wednesday”
“Just have a think about what you want to get her, and we can hide it in my school bag”
“Promise?”
“Promise” you nodded
Wednesday came and it was your weekly routine. When the final bell rang you walked the few blocks to Noah’s school. He met you at the front gate and from there the two of you made your way the 16th, stopping past a little independent jewellery store where Noah had seen a necklace he wanted to get Liv. You quickly paid for it, stuffing it in your bag and getting to the precinct.
“You guys are a little late, thought I was going to send out an amber alert” Liv joked as you walked into the squad room.
“Yeah sorry, Mr Peterson held us back after the final bell” you rolled your eyes then winked at Noah when Liv wasn’t looking. The little boy giggled following his mum into her office.
When mother’s day rolled around, you woke up early to help Noah make breakfast in bed for Liv.
“Shhh Noah” you laughed quietly as he dusted the flour off his shirt.
“Mama’s gonna love this” Noah smiled as you finished stacking the pancakes on the plate before putting them on the folding tray table. You carried the tray for Noah who raced ahead to wake up Liv.
“Happy mother’s day mum!” Noah all but yelled in Liv’s face after jumping on her bed, wrapping his arms around her.
“Thank you my sweet boy” you placed the tray on the bed and, rather awkwardly, moved away from the pair “What’s all this?” Liv looked at you for a moment before turning her attention to Noah as he answered her.
“Pancakes! Y/n helped me make them! Oh and-“ with lightning speed, Noah ran out of the room for a millisecond, running back in with the present in his hand. “Open! Open! Open!” Liv chuckled and ran her fingers through Noah’s curls. Liv opened the small gift, that Noah had wrapped with a little bit of help.
“Oh, Noah it’s beautiful!” Liv exclaimed lifting the silver dainty necklace from the box “thank you my sweet boy” You leant against the doorframe to Olivia’s room and watched the pair together. They reminded you of you and your mum.
It had just been the two of you your whole life but you never felt like you missed out on anything. Your grandparents wanted nothing to do with your mother when she fell pregnant and your dad went away when you less than 3 years old - so it really was just the two of you. You’d spend weekends at the park or having movie marathons together. You’d cook together and on special occasions, she’d take you to see a broadway. It was the two of you against the world and in the 8 months of living at the Benson house, you had a feeling it was the same for Liv and Noah.
You subtly wiped a tear about to fall from your eye. Liv looked at you, either not noticing the tear or deciding not to say anything.
The rest of the day was spent lounging around the apartment. You putting the final touches on an assignment while Noah played in front of the TV. Taking a great from your homework, you made your way to the kitchen where Liv was making dinner.
“Hi sweetheart, dinner will be ready soon” Liv smiled over her shoulder to you. A moment of silence passed, you took deep breaths. “y/n? are you, okay sweetheart?”
“Y-yeah um” you took a breath to calm yourself “It-its my first mother’s day without mum...and I didn’t really know how it was going to go” Liv set the knife in her hand down, giving you her full attention
“I know y/n, I know how hard it’s been for you this past year and I knew today was going to be hard for you. Just know I’m always here”
“I know” you smiled “It actually wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be. Helping Noah with breakfast, it reminded me of cooking with my mum”
“And thank you for the necklace” Liv touched her neck
“That was all Noah”
“Amanda and I made a deal, since Noah, Jesse and Billie don’t have dad’s in their lives to help with this sort of thing we agreed that we’d help them, me with Jesse and Billie, Amanda with Noah” Liv explained, “Amanda told me that when she asked Noah about getting my present he told her he already had it, so I just assumed it was going to be something he made. I know he’s a smart boy but he definitely did not save his pocket money enough for this”
“It was nothing” you shrugged “But uh... speaking of nothing, I got you this” you held out a small gift bag. Liv smiled and took the bag, her smile growing as she pulled out a small teddy bear.
“I didn’t have an Amanda growing up” you chuckled “The first year I got mum a mother’s day present without her knowing I was 7. I saved my pocket money and bought her a teddy bear. She loved it so much, every year I got her one...” Liv’s eyes filled with tears “so I just thought...it’s stupid I know-“
“It is not stupid, not at all” Liv reached out and wrapped her arms around you, pulling you to her chest. “I love it y/n and I love you” you squeezed her tighter at her words. It wasn’t the first time she had told you that she loved you, but it was the first time that you were letting yourself believe it.
“I love you too Liv” you whispered, you felt Liv’s heart skip a beat as she ran her fingers through your hair.
“Hey! What’s going on?” Noah frowned coming into the kitchen “What’s wrong? Why are you crying y/n?” you hadn’t even noticed that you were
“Nothing’s wrong Noah, happy tears” you smiled at the little boy
“Come on Noah set the table dinner is ready” Liv said, giving you one last squeeze. Your life had changed a lot in a year, some of it had been hell but you were thankfully for what had come out of it.