Alaskan Nights (A Law and Order: SVU fanfic)

Ch.28

A/N: Sooo long time so see 🥸. I do apologise for the wait, but honestly you can't blame me since we're in the centre left middle of a panorama. Anyways, I hope that you enjoy.

Quinn focuses intensely as he drives his car just along the seams of the deck's wooden planks. The boy had drifted immediately to the bin of toys the minute that he and Elliot walked through the doors onto the deck about half an hour ago.

Elliot couldn't help but marvel at Quinn's resilience because while his own hands had only stopped shaking about 10 or so minutes after they'd stepped out here, Quinn had calmed down soon after they left the bathroom. He was fine and on to the next thing while Elliot still had to remind himself to breath. He tried to chalk this up to his age and level of understanding but he wasn't naive to the fact that his experiences had to have had some effect on him to desensitise him to this point, even if the adults in his life had tried their best to shield him.

Elliot sits and watches him as he plays quietly. He had to admit that he hadn't expected the boy to be so cognizant of his surroundings. So much so that every time that he would approach the opening to the stairs, he would instinctively get up to redirect him, only for Quinn to skilfully avoid the hazard.

He also had to admit that though he watched him with the same hawk-eye that he did with his other children at this age, it did still feel foreign. It felt as though he was babysitting the child of a close friend rather than his own because although the familiarity was beginning to form, the pang that differentiates your kid from someone else's had yet to find him.

So, until it does, Elliot sits quietly and enjoys the slow playtime that the little boy was currently engaged in, being careful to take in every movement that he makes in the hopes that with he would cement more and more in his heart as his own.

Quinn rises to his feet and walks past him towards the tub of toys. He drops the previous car just outside of the tub and he retrieves a larger one.

The boy then pads over to the table where Elliot is sat and sinks to the floor just beside it. He then slowly begins to drive the car between each seam of the deck just as he had done previously.

The choice of closer proximity made Elliot feel good, because while they'd now been out there for closer to forty-five minutes to an hour, Quinn had failed to really acknowledge him, having only looked up at him once for help when his car rolled down the stairs and onto the grass.

He couldn't blame him though, because they literally didn't speak the same language and after all, they were still relative strangers left alone by circumstance. He remembers all of his kids being around his current age with most of them having been loud, talkative and most of all clingy, wanting nothing more than to be with him. So it felt strange that he couldn't yet interact with his youngest in the same way that he did with the rest in those tender years of relationship building, though it was nice to just watch him play and exist in his own little world.

After a few more minutes of the repetitive play, Quinn scoots even closer to his chair before tentatively sending the car in his direction. Thinking that it was a mistake, Elliot picks up the car and directs it back towards the boy's feet. But, instead of continuing his previous mode of play, he sends the car back with full force.

"Oh." Elliot realises, temporarily stunned by the sudden interaction.

He rises from his seat and sits on the floor beside him and as he does, Quinn shuttles the car back towards him and looks up expectedly. Elliot once again returns the car to him and so begins the silent game.

They play for a few minutes, and it is only when a gust of wind whips the curtain of the guest room up does Elliot notice Rebecca sitting beside a still sleeping Olivia. As he shuttles the car back to Quinn once more, the air falls stagnant and the curtain stills obscuring his view once more. It hadn't seemed too long ago since he'd finally found Olivia's phone and called Rebecca, though in reality it felt like it's been forever. He'd managed to do a lot in those thirty or so minutes, cleaning Olivia up and placing her on the bed, cleaning the mess that was left in the bathroom and changing Quinn. All while he felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest.