Rated for some mild language, slightly suggestive dialogue, and, of course, a brief mention of child porn. (Because, you know, it's SVU...)
This exists because there is a desperate need for Fin/Amanda fics... even the stupid fluffy ones with little-to-no plot.
Thanks to lady_vyxen for being a great sport and looking over this, despite the fact that she's still never seen the show. If you spot any errors, please let me know.
"What is this? Take your kid to work day?" Carisi asked as Benson bustled into the squad room. Noah was perched on her hip and a large diaper bag hung over her opposite shoulder.
"Sorry sorry. Lucy is very, very sick and I couldn't find anybody else on such short notice," Benson explained. She put the diaper bag down on the nearest desk. "Where's Pemberton?"
"In the interrogation room," Carisi said. "As you instructed, we waited until you got here to question him."
"Great," Olivia said as she passed Noah off to Rollins, based simply on the fact that the blonde was closest to the captain. Carisi and Benson then hustled off to deal with the creep du jour.
Rollins was left holding the one year old out at arms length. She let out a low whine of discomfort as Noah looked at her with his big eyes. She'd helped her mom to take care of Kim, but Amanda wasn't that much older than her little sister. Rollins felt completely out of her element when it came to dealing with children this young on such an intimate basis.
"Who let you babysit?" Fin said from behind her; she had no idea where he'd come from. He took the baby from his partner and sat down with Noah on his lap.
"I should have never been put in charge," Amanda said as she sunk down onto a chair near Fin. Fin covered his eyes with one hand only to pull it away to reveal a goofy face. Noah laughed with glee, and the game continued for a few minutes until his attention started to wane.
"What sort of toys does he have?" Fin said as he pointed to the diaper bag. Amanda reached over without getting up from her seat and dragged the bag over to her. She pulled out a pirate octopus with different things on each of its arms: teething rings, a mirrors, a rattle, and each of the arms was from a different fabric. The toy occupied Noah's attention for about a minute before he chucked it onto the floor. "So much for that, then. How about a book?"
Amanda dug through the bag until she unearthed a small, cardboard book. Fin took it from her and started to read. Amanda was rather impressed by his attempt to do silly voices, even if he wasn't overly successful at it. "You're much too good at reading children's books," Amanda said once Fin had read the final page.
"Once a parent, always a parent," Fin said simply as he bent over to put Noah on the floor.
"Damn, that's right; I always forget that you have a son," Amanda said as she moved to sit on the floor in front of Noah. She held the octopus in front of the child's face while Fin stood up to look through the bag.
"It's hard to imagine that baby toys have changed this much since Ken was the same age, but they have."
"Do you ever have moments where you look at things like car seats and just wonder how he survived?"
"I'm having more and more of those moments the longer Noah stays around," Fin admitted. "I never had much reason to pay attention to those things after Ken outgrew them until now. There was another detective who had a slew of kids, but I never had much opportunity to interact with them. Not to say that I'm closer with 'Liv, but…" He gestured to Noah, who had found a new toy: Amanda's long, blonde hair.
Fin leaned over, grabbed Amanda's hair carefully from the solid grip of the toddler, and then twisted it around and tossed it over her shoulders so that he could no longer yank on it. With an annoyed look, Noah climbed off from Amanda's lap and would have walked away if Fin hadn't caught him.
Fin started a new game of dipping Noah upside down and then pulling him back upright again. This lasted until Barba came into the squad room. "Pemberton in the interrogation room?"
"Had to stew until 'Liv could get in," Fin explained.
"Stuck on babysitting duty?" Barba asked, but didn't wait for their answer. Amanda stood and pulled another toy out from the bag. It was large, flat, and had an assortment of animal buttons that looked like they lit up when pressed. "'Manda, you have no idea the can of worms that you're about to open with that," Fin warned her as Noah twisted around and made grabby hands at the toy. "Electronic toys have been the complete bane of parents since the seconds that they were invented." But he still set the child down on the floor, in front of the toy that Amanda had just switched on.
As Amanda had predicted, each animal lit up when Noah pounded on the buttons. And, not only that, but each animal made a corresponding animal noise. After about five seconds, there was nothing but a wall of obnoxious noise, and Amanda felt a headache start up. "I always send things like this to my cousins and friends who have kids Noah's age," Amanda said. She practically had to shout in order to be heard. "But I never interacted with any of those children before. And obviously never played with the toys."
"And from here on out, you'll send them nothing but books and teddy bears?" Fin asked with a laugh.
"How can you stand this? I can barely hear myself think!" Amanda asked. Fin only laughed as he started to dig through the bag once again.
"I'll distract him with some food, and then you can hide it in your desk," Fin said as he pulled out a Cheerios container, opened it, and held it in front of Noah. He was momentarily distracted from the toy; Amanda used his distraction to grab it, turn it off, and put it into the drawer on the desk behind her.
Noah didn't seem to mind, because he had Cheerios. He picked one out from the yellow container and put it into his mouth. He picked the next one out and then offered it to Amanda. "Om-nom-nom," Amanda said as she leaned over and pretended to eat the cereal from his fingers. Amanda picked out a piece next and offered it to Noah, who eagerly ate it.
"You're actually really good at this," Fin said as Amanda fed Noah another piece. "You'd make a great mom." Amanda looked up at Fin with surprise, and then her eyes narrowed.
"Feeling paternal, Fin?" she teased him.
"Nah," Fin said as he handed the container to Amanda and leaned back in the chair. "I think that I'm okay with being the cool uncle who gives Noah obnoxious toys and then never plays with him." He winked at her and she laughed.
Not a minute later, Carisi, Barba, and Benson came out from the hall that lead to the interrogation room. "That didn't take long at all," Amanda said.
"Put the screws on the guy just right…" Carisi said and gave a slight flick of his wrist like he was turning a screwdriver.
"He rolled?" Fin asked with some surprise.
"Yes, but we're going after bigger fish," Barba said.
"Of which you guys can do on your own without me," Olivia said as she went over to her adoptive son. Noah abandoned the Cheerios in favor of reaching his hands up towards his mother, who bent down to pick him up. "Because we are going to go home and make a nice 'Get Well Soon' card for Lucy." Fin and Amanda quickly put the things that they'd gotten out back into the diaper bag; Amanda did not miss the look of disgust on her captain's face when she put the electronic toy back in, but neither woman commented on it.
After the squad had run around in circles chasing after the producer of the child porn that Pemberton had named, Amanda and Fin went back to Amanda's apartment. "Do you think that you'd want more kids in the future?" Amanda asked.
"I don't know; maybe," Fin said hesitantly. "All I know is that if I do, I want to do it better than with Ken."
"But he turned out so well," Amanda pointed out.
"Yes, he did, but I had very little to do with his upbringing," Fin explained. "I'd want to do it right this time, and not end up with my kid being estranged from me for years and them hating me." Amanda pursed her lips and said nothing. Fin looked over at her as the elevator came to a stop on her floor and the doors slid open. "What about you? Thinking of starting a family?"
"Oh, that reminds me…" Amanda said as she dug her phone out from her bag. She typed something in as Fin used his spare key to open her door. "Gotta make an appointment with my lady doctor to get on the pill or get the shot or something. I don't want to have kids before I'm good and ready."
"So does this mean that I shouldn't have come over tonight?" Fin said with an annoyed look as Frannie came over to the two of them.
"Let's take Frannie out for her walk and then I'll show you exactly how glad I am that you came over.
