46Disclaimer: I do not own Law and Order: Special Victims Unit or any of its characters. Everything belongs to Dick Wolf and NBC.
Stephen's POV
I waited in a room in a room alone for a while. I sat at the table tapping my nail against the metal table and listened to the sound it made as I started up at the flickering light. I knew I had been in here a while. I wondered when someone would come back, knowing it had been a while since that cop had put me in here. I didn't mind the wait. I didn't mind the delay because I knew once I left here I would be going back to the care home or to another foster home. If it was anything like it was for Calvin living with my mother—or just living with her in general—then I knew it could end up being worse than before. It was always the luck of the draw. I knew it was more likely for me to end up in a place just as bad or worse. Decent foster parents didn't usually take in teenagers; especially ones my age.
Eventually the door opened and I saw the woman, Olivia, come in. I was surprised to see her. But it was a pleasant surprise. "I thought you'd be with Calvin."
"He's right outside."
"Not exactly what I imagined for that reunion." Though, I am sure Calvin didn't care about the where as long as he was with her. I was happy for him. "Is he okay?" I knew it could have easily gone badly if I hadn't gotten back when I did.
"He will be." That answer wasn't very reassuring. I knew that Calvin had already had a rough time before he got there. Not to mention what happened. I knew the truth to him being okay was complicated. "I really hope he will be." I looked at her in the eye for a moment and saw how worried she was.
"He has you." I let a small grin form. I knew if Calvin had her, then he would be alright. If how he talked about her said anything, she cared. That was more than I could say for myself or any of the other kids that lived there. "So why are you here?" Wasn't there another detective that could come talk to me? There had to be at least five here somewhere.
"To talk to you." Olivia answered.
"Right." I nodded. I guess she would want to know more about what went on at home. I guess her being my mother gave them the idea I would be able to give them more information than they were getting from her. "So what do you want to know?"
"Tell us about your childhood." I wasn't expecting that.
"She didn't start taking kids in when I was about seven, I think." I couldn't remember for sure, but I knew it was around then. I was in elementary school.
"After you guys moved back here from Florida?"
I nodded. "She hated the beach and the humidity." I remembered most of her complaints. She always had to complain about something. And when we moved here, she complained about the people, the traffic, and the high bills.
"What do you remember before you moved to Florida?"
"I don't know…" I couldn't remember much. Hell, I could barely remember Florida. I was only about four then. "What does that have to do with her? Aren't I here to tell you about what she's done to kids or something?" I had just assumed. But I got the feeling that there was something else going on. "What's going on?"
Olivia put a picture in front of me. "Do you recognize her?"
"No, who is she?" I only looked at it for a moment.
"Look at again." Olivia told me. I wasn't sure why. "Really, look at it." I realized then, I was almost afraid to. But I didn't understand why. So I looked at the picture and I just stared at it for a few moments, eventually picking up and studying the woman in attempts to remember. It was almost like I had seen her before, but I couldn't put my finger on it. "Does she look familiar?"
"I—I don't know. Should I?" I put it down. "Who is she?"
"Her name is Aspen Quinn." I didn't recognize the name. "She's your mother."
"What?" I shook my head. "No, you just arrested my mother." As much as I hated to admit it, she was my mom. My family was messed up, but it was the only family I had. She then put another picture in front of me. It was a picture of me from when I was a kid—I was about three or four with darker hair. "That's me when I was three—what is going on?"
"That's you the day before you were abducted."
"What?"
"Rachel Wilkins is not your mother. She abducted you from a park in Queens when you were three years old." I couldn't believe what they were saying.
"That's impossible!" I pushed the photos away. "My mother hated me! She hated kids!" I remembered her always talking about how I was a waste of space and how I could never do anything right. The only reason she took in foster kids was for the money. There was no way she would just take a kid—especially one she couldn't get a check for. "This has to be a mistake." As much as I'd like it to not be true, she is my mother.
"Of course you wouldn't remember, you were only three."
"I don't remember because it never happened." It couldn't have.
"Your hair is dark in the picture. But now you have the same hair color as Rachel—from hair dye." She could tell because my last dye job had been a few weeks ago. The color was fading.
"My dad's hair was that color and it made her angry to look at it—said it made me look like him." I remembered dying it this color for as long as I could remember. But it made sense and the less angry it made her the better.
"Are you sure?"
"She liked it this way. It made me…look more like her."
"She probably dyed your hair the night she abducted you so it would harder to find you." Olivia said. But I didn't want to believe it—this couldn't really be true.
"What did you say her name was again?" I pointed to the photo. "That woman."
"Aspen Quinn."
"My middle name is Aspen." I admitted. "She always said it was because I was born there." But I guess the real reason was because that was the name of the person who actually gave birth to me. That couldn't be a coincidence. I put a hand on my forehead and looked at the photo again. "Why—"
"We don't know." Even they didn't have all the answers.
"How did you figure this out?" They couldn't have just pulled this out of thin air. They had to have evidence.
"DNA." Olivia explained. "Rachel Wilkins never had records of children so Elliot—my partner—ran your DNA and your case came up."
"My mother—my real mother must have—" I can't even imagine what has been going through her head all these years. It has been over a decade. "Have you called her?" I smiled at the thought of meeting a proper mother. But it faded when I noticed how Olivia's face fell. "What?"
"She died." Olivia admitted. "In a car accident."
"When?"
"Last year." If only they found me sooner. God, if I had said something at school about my mother or something sooner then maybe she could have gotten to see me. She wouldn't have died without knowing what happened to me. "Stephen—"
"She didn't just ruin my life. She ruined my mother's." Rachel—the woman I thought was my mother—took everything from me. "I spent my whole life wondering why my mother hated me and it turns out she didn't. Just the bitch that took me." All of this was hard to process. "And why?"
"I don't have the answers."
"Why did you come to talk to me? Why not let another detective do it?" I had been wondering that since she walked in here. What was so important that she came in here today?
"Your case was mine all those years ago, so it was mine to close."
"Was that it?"
"I figured it would go better hearing it from me." I guess in a way it did. Though I wasn't sure why.
"And now what?"
"I am going to help you." Olivia sounded determined. But I knew there wasn't much she could do. I would go into foster care. I doubted there would be many homes open to the teenage son of a monster. "But anyways, Calvin would like to see you." She changed the subject.
"He wants to see me?"
"You're his friend" I was actually surprised he considered me that way even after what happened. Olivia stood. "If you're up for it."
"Yeah." I nodded.
Olivia's POV
After the talk with him, I let Calvin into the room. I watched as the boys talked for a few minutes, pulling up a chair for Calvin at the table. "Are you okay?" Calvin asked.
"I should be asking you that." Stephen grinned slightly, deferring the question. "The truth of it is, I don't know." I didn't blame him. It was a lot to process on top of everything that happened.
"I feel that way sometimes too."
"You have Olivia." Stephen told Calvin. "You'll be okay."
Calvin turned to look at me and we both smiled in each other's directions. He then turned back to his friend. "Now I do." And I was relieved to have him. "Thanks to you."
"It wasn't me." Stephen denied.
"You called her." Calvin pointed out. "You saved me."
"I shouldn't have left you." Stephen blamed himself. "I'm sorry about Rachel and Billy and—" Calvin put a hand over his hand.
"It's not your fault."
"I knew what they were like—"
"I don't blame you." Calvin wouldn't blame the only person that was nice to him. He hadn't said much to me but I knew that Stephen had been the only friend to him. Stephen was only a kid himself. And Rachel had been his mother. Even with how she treated him, I knew how hard it can be to go against your own mother. The only thing you can do is try and get away; and that's what he did then. How was he supposed to know what could have happened? And who is to say he could have stopped it if he had been there? Maybe, he was where he was supposed to be. Maybe because of leaving, he was able to save Calvin and get him to me.
After listening for a few minutes, I left Stephen and Calvin alone in the room to give them some privacy. And I needed to have a word with Elliot. "I need to know what is going to happen to Stephen?"
"For now he'll go back to the group home until they can find him a foster family." Elliot told me.
"Will he find a foster family?"
"It's possible." I didn't believe Elliot. And I also knew all too well that even if he did, it might not be a good thing. Look at where Calvin ended up after everything.
"There has to be something else we can do for him." That kid needed a break. There had to be another option for him. Maybe…
"Liv," I looked up at Elliot. "I know that look."
"What?" He couldn't know what I was thinking.
"You just got Calvin—and that took a lot of convincing from Langan." Elliot reminded me of how hard it was for me to get custody of him. I got really lucky. "You can't be thinking about this kid, too."
"How did you—"
"I know you, Liv."
"Okay, I was thinking about it."
"Liv, he will be fine."
"How do you know that?" I asked and I certainly was not going to trust his gut. "That was what you said about Calvin going into that foster home. Were you right about that?"
"That was different."
"As far as I'm concerned, it's not." I was concerned. Like Calvin, Stephen has been through a lot. And I was worried.
"You can't blame yourself for what happened to him or his real mother. You can't take on the responsibility just because you feel like you owe it to him." I walked away from Elliot, not wanting to hear any more of what he had to say. I got what he was saying, but that wasn't even the half of it. I took out my phone and made a call to Langan.
"Everything alright? Is Calvin okay?" He answered.
"Calvin is doing alright, everything considered." I took a step further into the hallway as I heard footsteps approaching. "This isn't about Calvin. This about one of the other boys that was in that foster home, Stephen. Is there any way to get him placed with me?"
"After everything I did to get Calvin in your custody and now you're asking about another boy?"
"It's important."
"You don't ask for much, do you?" He replied, sarcastically.
"Is it possible? Just tell me."
"I might be able to get you an emergency placement. But it will only be temporary." That sounded good enough to me. If that kept him out of the care home or another foster family for at least a night or two, I knew it could help. And I knew having Stephen around might be good for Calvin, considering.
"Can you do it?"
"I'll work on it now. I'll call you when it's approved." I had faith he would come through for me again. "I don't know if I can get any more favors after this."
It would be worth it in the end. Those boys were worth it all.
I waited some time, letting the boys talk on their own for a while. I helped Elliot with the paper work and then Langan showed up an hour later with the paperwork. "The placement is temporary—an emergency placement."
"It could end up being permanent?" I had to ask.
"It's possible, but don't get your hopes up." Langan couldn't ask for more favors. "This is what I can do for now."
"Thank you." I was grateful to Langan for everything he has done. "Calvin is also going to appreciate this."
Then I went back into the room to grab Calvin and Stephen. "Do we have to go?" Calvin asked, looking only slightly disappointed.
"You should go." Stephen urged. "You should rest—be with Olivia. I'll be okay."
Calvin came over to me and I wrapped an arm around him. "What's going to happen to Stephen?"
"I don't know about long term, but for the next few days he is going to stay with us." I told them and Stephen looked up, surprised.
"Really?" Calvin smiled.
"Yes." I answered.
Stephen got up and walked over to me. He let a smile show. "Thank you." I put an arm on his shoulder and then led both him and Calvin out of the building.
"Olivia." I turned to Stephen after Calvin had gotten in the backseat of the car. Stephen sat in the front passenger seat next to me. "What was my name? My real name?"
"Thomas Quinn." I answered as I put my key in the ignition.
"If it's okay with you and Calvin, could you guys call me 'Tom'?" He asked and I looked back at Calvin before answering, "Yes."
"I like that." Calvin commented. "You're coming home with us, Tom."
"Yeah, I am." He smiled back.
I was ready to take my boys home.
A/N: I know it's been a while. But I managed to come back with something. So Olivia explained everything to Stephen and now he's going to stay with Olivia and Calvin. He also decided he wants to go by a variation of the name his real mother gave to him.
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