Law And Order: SVU One Shots

Orphan

He laid on his back in the middle of the park. He didn't move, all he did was watch as his red balloon float up. He squinted a bit as a stray bullet pop the balloon and he finally closed his eyes and went completely still. Screams and cries filled the air, as blaring sirens grew closer.

All he wanted to do was go to the park. His mother said that he could play for an hour, then they had to go home. But now there was no reason to go home because his mother was laying in a puddle of her own blood, right beside him.

///

"What happened?" Olivia asked as she walked under the police tape and to where her husband and partner stood. Nick sighed as he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly before they walked to where the bodies lay.

"A gang shooting. Over 30 people were killed, and the ME had to call in reinforcements to collect the bodies." Nick replied, as his wife walked around and noticed how many children were killed.

"Nick, can you call and check on Zara? Please?" Olivia asked as Captain Cragen came over and joined his crew.

"You two can go home if you need to. We can deal with this until morning." Cragen spoke, but Olivia shook her head.

"No. As much as I want to go home to Zara, we can't. We have to help out." Olivia whispered before she continued to look around.

Olivia got to where a woman laid next to a small boy, and Olivia grabbed her gloves from her pocket before pulling them on. She squatted down next to the woman and grabbed her purse before opening it. Nick came over and squatted down next to her, and watched as she opened the woman's wallet and showed Nick a wallet-sized picture of the boy beside her.

"That's her son... but I don't see any wounds," Olivia spoke, as she moved and squatted down beside the boy.

She gently pressed her fingers to his neck, before feeling a strong pulse.

"Oh shit. Captain, he's alive! We need an ambulance now!"

///

The little boy laid in his hospital bed and looked at the woman who was sleeping in the chair beside him. He was confused at first because she had brown hair, and his mother has red, but then he remembered that his mother was never coming back. She had tackled him to the ground and saved his life, while hers was taken.

"M-ma'am?" He struggled to speak because his throat felt so itchy and dry.

Olivia opened her eyes and looked into the dark brown eyes of the little boy.

"Hey, buddy. Uh, how are you?" She asked, and he sniffled as he rubbed his eyes.

"I miss my Mama." He cried.

"Oh, I know honey. I'm so sorry about what happened." Olivia breathed.

"Who are you?" He asked as he wiped a tear from his cheek.

"I'm Detective Olivia Amaro. I was the one who found you. We thought that you weren't alive either." Olivia breathed. He swallowed hard as he looked her over.

"My Mama jumped in front of me and she got shot." He whispered.

"Can you tell me your name? I couldn't find a lot of information in your Mama's purse." Olivia breathed.

"Tate." He whispered.

"That's a very nice name, buddy. Do you have a Daddy?" Olivia asked as she wrote down Tate's name next to the last name they found on his mother.

"No. My Daddy died in the war. He was a good daddy." He whimpered. Olivia hated that she was making him cry, but she needed to find him a place to go because he was not hurt at all and was being released.

"Tate, I'm sorry that I'm asking you all of these questions. I don't have parents either, so I know how you feel. But you can get out of the hospital soon, and we want to be able to place you with family."

"Do you have kids?" He asked, and Olivia nodded.

"I do. I have a daughter. Her name is Zara." Olivia replied.

"How old is she?" The little boy questioned. He already trusted Olivia, and he didn't really have anyone else to live with. His mother was his only family, and now his mother is dead.

"She's 4. And you?" Olivia asked.

"I'm 5... I just turned 5."

"Yesterday?" Olivia asked, and Tate started to sob. Olivia climbed off her chair and sat down on the edge of his bed and gently rubbed his back.

"We are going to get the people that took your Mama from you, I promise."

"Can I go home with you?" He sobbed as he climbed onto Olivia's lap. Olivia stared ahead with wide eyes as she wrapped her arms around his body.

"Yeah, until we can find your family members."

///

Olivia drove home, and Tate rode in Zara's car seat. She kept looking back at him and continued to notice that when he started to fall asleep, he'd shake a bit and wake himself up. She could tell that he was scared to sleep, and she couldn't blame him. After waking up after something as violent and bloody as the shooting, he'd be having nightmares for weeks.

As soon as Olivia pulled into her driveway, Nick and Zara were coming out of the house. Zara kept exclaiming Momma at the top of her lungs. Olivia got out of the car and pulled her daughter close and kissed her soft brown hair, before looking at Nick.

"Tate's in the car. So, Zara, you are going to have to be super nice to this little boy because he doesn't have parents anymore. He's going to stay with us until we can get in contact with his family." Olivia spoke, as she placed Zara on her hip.

"What happened to his Momma, Momma?" Zara asked.

"She's in heaven, Z. So let's not talk about her, okay? Just be really nice and sweet like I know you are." Olivia spoke. Nick looked at the small boy who hadn't even tried to get out of the car, and he looked back at his wife.

"Liv, he can stay as long as he needs to." Nick breathed because he knew Olivia and Zara were probably going to get attached to Tate.

"Thanks, babe. Uh, let's get him out and go in and eat dinner."

///

Tate started out his stay with the Amaro's and that ended up being his home. He and Zara really hit it off and became close, so Olivia and Nick agreed that it would be horrible to separate them and make Tate live with people he didn't know or trust. So Nick and Olivia ended up adopting the small boy and gave him the change of title from being a high-risk orphan to being a loved son of the Amaro's who vowed to protect him.

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