Chapter 1: PARK

The high-pitched scream nearly stopped her heart as she ran over to the slide. Olivia Benson crouched down and extended a hand towards the little olive-skinned child in front of her. "Are you okay sweetheart?" Olivia asked as she help the small child to stand. "My knee hurts." "I see that sweetie. Where's your mom?" The child just shrugged. "My name is Olivia. What's yours?" Olivia saw a look of hesitation before she heard a man's voice coming in their direction. Olivia turned around too fast and collided into a solid mass of muscle. "I'm sorry" she said without looking up. "Olivia?" Brown met blue and surprise filled both of their eyes. "Dominic? Oh my God! It's been like-" "Seven years. You look-you look fantastic!" Dominic exclaimed. His stunned expression quickly disappeared as he started looking around frantically, "Where is-"

"I'm right here daddy" the little girl said from her place a few paces behind Olivia. Olivia looked between Dominic and the little girl and he smiled at her before picking the young girl up. "Olivia, this is my daughter Nova. Nova this is a friend of mine Olivia. I can call you a friend, right?" Dominic asked Olivia, suddenly bashful. Olivia smiled wide, "Of course you can." Olivia turned around and motioned to a little boy that was now coming down the slide. She caught him just before he ran into them. "Dominic and Nova, this is my son Noah. Noah, Dominic is a friend of mine and Nova is his little girl." Dominic turned his attention to the little girl in his arms, "Are you okay Babygirl?" "Yeah. I fell and hurt my knee but Ms. Olivia helped me up." Dominic turned to Olivia, "Thank you Olivia." "It's no problem. I heard a scream and I guess it was second nature." "I'm sorry. I was on a work call and I turned around for 2 minutes." "It's okay. Really Dominic it's okay." Noah and Nova starting bursting bubbles that were blowing in the breeze. Olivia and Dominic hadn't broke eye contact yet. His gaze felt as if it was piercing her inner soul but she couldn't look away. Dominic felt like her was drowning in her deep chocolate eyes.

Noah tugged on Olivia's hand until she turned her head, "Mommy can we go eat now?" Noah asked with his best puppy dog look. Olivia pretended to think for a second before giving in, "Oh alright. I guess we can go." "Can Mr. Dominic and Nova come with us?" Olivia, mouth agape, looked at Dominic and laughed nervously. Dominic saw her slight blush and smirked, "We don't want to impose." Noah pouting and Nova's big brown eyes made both of them give in and they all left the playground in the direction of food. Noah saw the sign of his favorite burger bar and Olivia pretended that she couldn't see the sign. "Mommy! It's FrankenBurger!" Olivia winced slightly, Noah's excited squeals still managing to catch her off-guard, and Dominic smiled widely. "FrankenBruger?" he asked curiously. "It's uh one of the few restaurants that cater to both adults and children. Basically, you create your own burgers from start to finish. They have all kinds of meats, toppings, breads, and sauces to choose from." "Sounds great." "Oh and they have this immaculate play areas for the kids. It's designed for kids 2-13, which I thought was crazy; I was wrong because it's great. Oh, Nova likes burgers right?" Dominic shook his daughter's hand lightly and she looked up at Olivia with bright, brown eyes, "Yes ma'am Ms. Olivia. I like burgers."

Olivia crouched down to Nova's level, "Do you like arcade games? Noah's pretty good at them so I bet he could tell you all the tricks." Olivia whispered that last part before standing to face Dominic as Nova shook her head yes. "What about you Mr. Marine? Do you like burgers." "I do." "Well, let's go get a table." Dominic, being the gentleman that he was, opened the door and held it open as all of them walked through. A stocky man approached them with a Mario Brothers costume on and smiled at Noah and Olivia. "Regular table Olivia?" "Yes please" she said with a smile as she saw Dominic's raised brow out the corner of her eye. She turned to him, "I forgot to tell you that the employees and the owner Mario are always dressed as cartoon and video game characters. And all the tables follow the same sort of theme." Dominic laughed, "So, what's your normal table?" "Cars", Olivia said lowly as Nova and Noah started pulling on their hands. "Tow Mater! Daddy I love this place" Nova said excitedly as Dominic helped her up into her 'tow mater' seat. Olivia barely had to help Noah into his Lighting McQueen seat because he knew how to get in practically with his eyes closed. She sat in her usual Sally Carrera car and Dominic's brow furrowed before he settled into the Ramone car. "And I am?" "Ramone. Daddy he makes all the car look cool." Olivia laughed at Nova and reached in the side opening of the table to pull out games.

"They're games in the table?" "Yes. Coloring is boring and commonplace, so you usually have your favorite games stored in the table. Names are usually labeled for the games you play the most. Noah plays with Legos and Connect Four. Which one do you want to play with Noah?" "Um…what do you want to play with Nova?" Olivia's eyebrows rose slightly in interest before waiting for an answer. "Connect Four" she said timidly. Olivia and Dominic helped them set the game up and then they glanced over the menus that were laminated on the table. "Wow. They really do have it all." Dominic exclaimed. "I told you." "What's good?" "I'm the wrong person to ask. I've tried them all and love all except the ones with pork." Olivia looked at Dominic's confused expression, "I'm not a fan or pork. It's a really greasy meat but if you like it, then you can try one of those." Dominic contemplated that for a minute and Olivia pointed to a portion of the menu that was close to the lower part of Dominic's chest. His body involuntarily leaned into the tip of her finger and he had to fight to hold back a moan. Olivia noticed the reaction but didn't say anything. "This is usually what I get. 6 sliders of your choice. I let it trick me into eating what I want without feeling like a glutton." "I think you look absolutely perfect. Nothing wrong with a woman that has meat on her bones. I prefer it actually." Olivia blushed at Dominic and looked down and shyly bit her lip. He noticed her pink cheeks and cleared his throat as he perused the menu.

"What does Nova usually eat?" "Anything. She doesn't really have a preference with food." "Same with Noah. Guess we both lucked out in that department." "Yes we did. As far as burgers, if she has ketchup, mustard, and lettuce then she's fine." "Same with Noah except it pickles and tomatoes too. Noah likes the shrimp and turkey burgers." "Nova? Do you want what Noah's getting or something else?" Nova stopped trying to figure out her next move so that she could simply shrug her shoulders and go back to the game. "Well, that's definitely a universal thing for kids." "No doubt. Can you press the Chick Hicks button so that we can order?" Olivia asked. Dominic pressed the button and immediately a woman dressed as a Powerpuff Girl came to their table. "Welcome to Frank-. Hi Olivia! I see that you and Noah are back…with guests this time." Olivia smiled, "Misty AKA Bubbles, this is Dominic and his little girl Nova." Misty's grin nearly split her face in two, "She's so precious and Oliva you have quite the hunk on your hands." Olivia's blush deepened and Misty spoke up to save her from the embarrassment. "You and Noah having the usual?" "Yes please." "And your guests?" Olivia avoided her gaze and Dominic smiled, "We'll have the same as Noah and Olivia. I trust her judgment." Dominic said with a smirk. Misty rose one eyebrow and smiled to herself. "She does have great taste. Take care of her Marine." Olivia refused to entertain Misty's double meaning of her statements. "How did you know I was a Marine?" Dominic asked. "My husband is a Marine. You have the look. Trust me, I've been the wife of a Marine for 21 years." Olivia excused herself to go to the restroom. "So, if you don't mind me asking.. why do you work here?" Misty gave a warm smile and diverted her eyes to Mario. "Mario was always good to my family. I met him years ago when my husband first got deployed. I was pregnant with our first child and some miracle let me meet Mario that day. He understood and he spent a lot of time helping me keep my mind off of it. He's a great guy just like Liv." "Olivia?" "Yeah. She and Mario met when she was still walking a beat. Not only did she talk his daughter down from suicide after she was raped, but she talked him out of being a vigilante. He always says that it was the best decision that he ever made but he wouldn't have gotten there without Olivia. He spent so much time with his daughter that he wasn't really working and lost his restaurant. Olivia, although she thinks that neither one of us knows, somehow raised the $50,000 deposit he needed to start another restaurant without getting a bank loan. She still thinks that she pays for her food here. He's never charged her but taken her card to humor her and brought it back to her. You have a good woman there. Take care of her Marine." Olivia returned to the table as Misty left and sat down across from him. She felt his stare and looked up to see him in a daze, "Dominic you okay?" "Yes. I'm okay." "Penny for your thoughts?" she asked gently. "Just thinking"

"About?"

A/N: Next Chapter: Work.