Law And Order: SVU One Shots

I'm Still Growing Up

At only 17, Olivia was becoming a mother. She sat on the edge of her hospital bed as she gently ran her hand over her swollen stomach.

"Kid, you better not hate me for being 17 when you are born. Because I'm going to try to be the best mom possible for you." Olivia breathed. She looked over her shoulder when she heard the door open and saw her mother standing there.

"How is everything going?" She asked awkwardly.

"Slowly." Was all Olivia replied back. She went to stand, but Serena quickly moved to where her daughter was.

"Take it easy." She breathed.

"Mom, you don't have to be here if you don't want too. I know that you weren't too happy when I came and told you I was pregnant."

"I'm not happy. But that's my grandchild and I have to get used to the idea."

"They said I can get up and walk around. Wanna walk around with me?" Olivia questioned as she stood slowly.

"Oh sure. C'mon."

///

Olivia gave birth to a little girl after a 12-hour labor. Serena was there, and she even started crying when she saw her daughter hold her baby for the first time. 

"Thanks for staying with me," Olivia whispered as she held her daughter close. Serena nodded as she leaned down and gently kissed the top of her daughter's head. Olivia's eyes went wide because her mother rarely shows any signs of affection towards her.

"Gonna tell her father?" Serena asked, and Olivia swallowed hard as she thought about her daughter's father.

"He went to school with me. Uh, he came back to visit his parents after a deployment and he and I met up and she happened... that night you found me sobbing in my room was because I got a call from his sister telling me that he was MIA. I can't tell him, but I told his sister." Olivia spoke.

"Oh, Livia." Serena breathed.

"I may still be a kid, but I will love my daughter and be the best possible mother to her. I won't spoil her or make her feel like I don't love her."

"Liv-"

"I came into your life in a different way. I'd understand if you didn't love me. But at least you were here with me when I needed you the most." Olivia replied.

"I do love you. I really do. Now, what is this little girl's name?" Serena asked.

"Her name is Clara Michaela Benson... Her Daddy's name is Michael so I want her to have the female version of it." Olivia spoke, before she leaned down and kissed the top of her daughter's head.

"It's adorable. You'll do a great job being her mother." Serena breathed. She gently touched her daughter's cheek and Olivia looked up at her mother and smiled.

"Gonna head home soon?" Olivia questioned.

"Do you want me to head home?" Serena asked, and Olivia was quick to shake her head.

"No. I'd like you to stay if possible. At least for tonight. It's my first night as a mom and I want to make sure I don't hurt her or anything." Olivia replied slowly.

"You won't hurt her. The worst you could do was cuddle her too long." Serena laughed softly.

"Want to hold her?" Olivia questioned.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

///

Olivia worked her ass off to take care of Clara. She worked two jobs and yet still managed to come home and see her daughter for a few hours every day. Even without Clara's father being there, Olivia thought that she was at least doing a decent job being a mother and a father to her daughter.

Olivia got a few days off around Clara's sixth birthday, and while they were on the subway to go visit Serena, Olivia's phone started to buzz in her hand. She looked down to see a notification from CBS news. Olivia unlocked her phone before feeling her heart start to beat out of her chest.

"Mommy, is this our stop?" Clara asked as the subway slowed down. Olivia wasn't paying attention to her daughter in the moment as she read the article.

"Mommy!" Clara exclaimed, and Olivia quickly looked at her daughter before wrapping her arm around her waist before quickly moving from the subway car before it pulled away from the stop. Olivia sat her daughter back down before going back to looking at her phone.

She read the article four times before finally locking her phone and putting it away.

"Are you hungry? We could go somewhere and eat real quick." Olivia spoke quietly as she looked at her daughter.

"Mommy, what's wrong?" Clara asked. Olivia squatted down in front of her daughter before gently grabbing her hands and holding them in her larger ones.

"You know that I have been trying my hardest to be a Mommy and Daddy to you since your Daddy isn't around... but I just got it confirmed that your Daddy is in heaven," Olivia spoke.

"What?" Clara asked quietly.

"Daddy was over in the middle east... he was a soldier and he was fighting for our country. After he and I made you, he went back over there and he went missing. They found him, and now I know that he has been looking over us and protecting us." Olivia breathed quietly.

"So Daddy is a hero?" Clara asked, and Olivia smiled and nodded before unlocking her phone. She pulled up a picture of herself and Michael from the week that they spent together before he went back to the base and then eventually deployed again.

"He was. And this is your Daddy."

///

12 years later

"Now, here is our valedictorian, Clara Michaela Benson." The principal spoke. Clara walked on stage and looked at the crowd and found her mother, grandmother, step-father, and her little sister. She waved at them, and her little sister was quick to wave back.

"As you all know, I'm Clara. I was born and raised here in Manhattan by a wonderful woman. My mother raised me by herself till I was 13, and she did a heck of a job. She loved me and made sure that even if I didn't have a father, that I still got the same amount of love I'd get from a mother and a father. She was young when she had me, but clearly she did a good job because I'm here right now. When I was 6, my mother and I were riding on the subway to get to my grandmother's house for my birthday. Now, we didn't have a car until my mother married that goofball sitting beside her. So we were on the subway when she got a notification on her phone. She looked at it and read it over and over again to the point where we almost missed our stop. She squatted down in front of me on that platform and told me the story of my father. Private First Class Michael Leroy Stanes. He was killed in action while protecting a school overseas. My mother knew that he was MIA, and that day it was confirmed. She told me about him and showed me a picture of him. My mother was growing up as she raised me by herself, and I agree with her when she told me that she tried to take care of me and love me the same amount as my father and her would have combined. If it wasn't for her being so young and us growing up together, I don't think I'd be here. That I'd be getting early admissions to Yale. So, Mom, this whole speech is for you. Thank you for being there for me. For loving me. For making sure I was always happy. We may both be still growing up, but at least we did it together."

Hey guys, sorry for the weird chapter but I just really had an idea and wrote it. Please vote and comment all of your feedback below! :D