Noah's in trouble
I was still working as liaison between the FBI and the unit. More and more cases rolled through everyday. We continued to see brutality at every corner we turned but it was the sanity that my kids brought upon me that kept me grounded; my kids and my wife, Lieutenant Benson; the five most amazing things that had happened in my life since entering and now having left the WitSec program. I went from Victoria Thalia Paige Reyes to Mariel Alexandra Marti back to being a Reyes to now being a Benson. To this day I still couldn't believe it.
We were all standing in front of the one-way mirror, watching as Rollins and Carisi worked a perp. He had an issue with women in power. He loathed them, so Olivia had sent them in and then she was to come in and see if the perp would finally talk once Olivia left with Amanda. The vibrating of my hand took me from my thoughts, glancing at the screen I recognized the number as Noah's school. I furrowed my brow; the kids' schools had never called us for anything, what could possibly be going on?
"Dr. Reyes-Benson," I answered.
"Hello, Dr. Benson, this is Principal Sellers. I have your son, Noah here with me," she mentioned.
Panic settled in my stomach as I walked to the bullpen, "Is—Is he alright? Is he hurt?"
"No, no, actually Dr. Benson, would you and your wife mind coming in?"
"Uh," I looked back, noticing Olivia had entered already the interrogation room, "Actually Principal Sellers, my wife is unreachable at the moment, would it matter if it would just be me?"
"No, not at all. I shall see you soon then," she mentioned as the line went dead.
I gathered my blazer that had been shed due to the heat of day whilst I yelled back at Fin that was still standing in the hallway, watching the interrogation go down, "Fin, tell Olivia that I was called away, please. I'll see her home tonight," I mentioned as I briskly left the bullpen.
I was the one that kept our SUV most of the time. Olivia had her unmarked vehicle in case she got called away in the middle of the night or if any emergencies happened. I left the precinct and made the short ride to Noah's school. I parked and made my way through the school. It was only then that I noticed that it was barely ten in the morning; the kids hadn't been in school for a long time. We had all left the house just a couple of hours before, what could possibly be going on with Noah?
"Dr. Benson," greeted me Principal Sellers' secretary, "she's waiting for you, please go through."
I nodded at the woman and made my way through past her desk and knocked on the principal's door, "Doctor," she said as she stood, "It is so great to see you."
"Same here, Principal Sellers," I glanced at Noah who had his eyes on his navy chucks, his hands fidgeting on the hem of his khaki shorts.
"Doctor Benson, the reason you're here is because Noah punched another pupil and injured his nose but neither boy will say why the other did what they did. So, disciplinary action will be taken against both with suspension for three days until one of them decides to come forward."
I looked at Noah, who still hadn't raised his head from his lap, "I see Principal Sellers, well, I apologize for this behavior. I'll attempt to get to the bottom of this and call back with any news," I nodded to the woman as I stood, "Come on Noah, baby, let's get you home."
And, that's when I saw that he had tears formed in his eyes. I needed to get to the bottom of this. Noah wasn't usually the violent, angry kind. No matter how much his siblings pushed his buttons, he always remained calm and collected. The drive back to the apartment was silent; I kept glancing through my rearview to the silent form in the back. He was upset, that was clear but the question remained, why? The drive was short from the school to the apartment. I parked in our spot and opened the door for Noah in the back, much like his mother; he would come to me when he felt the need to. As he made his way to the car door, he caught my eyes, "I love you Mama," he said softly.
"I love you too, sweet boy," I said, stroking his cheek.
We walked towards the elevator and made it up to our unit. Upon entering, Lucy was sat at the breakfast bar, giving the twins their mid-morning snack, "Mama," they shouted in unison.
"Tori," Lucy said, after all this time, she had still remained at our side, "what are you doing here? Noah?" she said as she noticed the boy behind me.
"Uh, he wasn't feeling too well. Go to your room, baby, I'll be there soon," I directed at Noah, "You're good to head out if you'd like, I'll work from home today."
"Oh," she said, "thank you Tori," she said. She gathered her belongings and left.
"Hey babies," I said to Hunter and Hudson, kissing their cheeks, "what are you eating?"
"Gwapes!" Hunter husked in his gravelly voice, "And cheese!"
"I see," I said, as I smiled to him.
"Mama, Noah sick?" Hudson asked, his mouth full of cheese.
"Yea baby, he isn't feeling too well," I explained as I finished closing their zippy-cups and sliding them to the boys.
"He need hug?" Hunter asked.
I smiled at the boy, my children always the ones to be so affectionate and loving, "I think that would make him very happy, what do you say?"
The boys looked at each other and smiled, "Yes!" they shouted in unison.
I lower them from their high chairs and grabbed each of their little hands with one of mine and we made our way to his room. Thankfully, his door was open. The twins look up at me and I nodded and smile as I let their hands go. They both ran to their brother and jumped on his bed, "Noah, don't be sad," Hunter began as he nestled on his brother neck, "I wuff you," he finished.
Hudson kissed his cheek and hugged his neck. Noah just looked up at his door and locked eyes with me, "Whenever you're ready sweet boy," I said softly from the door, turning and giving the boys some much needed time together.
I left to the living room and sat, turning on the TV, and sitting down with my laptop. I needed to do some work before the boys became rowdy again. I figured they were all napping. This was their usual naptime, right before lunchtime. I worked for several hours when I felt a head of hair against my arm, instinctively I reach with my opposite hand and rubbed its head: Noah's curls.
"Hey baby," I said, closing my laptop and turning to wrap my arms around him, "did you have a good nap?"
He nodded against my chest, "Mama, I'm ready to talk about what happened today at school."
I rubbed his shoulder and held him at arms length, "I'm all ears, sweet boy."
He sighed and looked at me, "Everyone at school knows that I have two moms and none of my friends really care but today, after you and Mommy dropped me off at school, Dylan started saying that all of us were going to hell because kids should have a mom and a dad not two moms or two dads. And, Mama, I was so upset because he kept saying that we were all bastard kids and that that was way worse," he was heaving and crying.
"Shh, shh," I ushered him, "Noah, baby, relax for me. Breathe baby, breathe," I coaxed softly.
He was beginning to settle and everything hit me at once. Someone was bullying my child for having two mothers but this was not just him, this came from his parents; adults. Ignorant adults that were feeding this to their child, "Noah, I want you to listen to me. Whilst I applaud that you stood for your mother and I, baby, hitting someone is not always the best thing to do. Remember what Mommy says about violence?" he nodded, "Well the same applies here. Next time, just find a teacher or someone you trust who's an adult and let them handle the situation. No one should be talking about anyone's family. All families are different, sometimes you can have a mommy and a daddy; like aunt Lexie and I. Sometimes you can have just a mommy; like Mommy. Or you can have two daddies; like Lyle and Curtis from down the hall. Not all families are meant to be like others, we're all different and that's what makes us all beautiful. Ok?"
He nodded and blinked some more tears off his eyes, "Are you going to tell Mommy?" he said, his lip quivering slightly.
He was giving me his puppy dog eyes and my heart melted at the sight. I smiled and nodded, "I have to buddy but I'll tell you what, you're not going to be punished Noah. Mommy and I will talk and Mommy will have a conversation with you later on. Whether it is today, tomorrow, or the day after; Mommy will have her conversation with you. Ok?"
The boy nodded and hugged me, "I love you Mama."
"I love you too," I said, kissing his hair, "Now go wake your brothers and we'll have a tapas lunch and go pick up your sister. She's bound to get off soon."
The boy nodded as I cleared his face of any remnant tears. This was the hard part of parenting, dealing with things like these.
I made the boys some bruschetta slices with tomato sauce and mozzarella and sprinkled some cut bacon on top of it for their tapas lunch and while they ate, I called Noah's principal and explained the situation. She was glad to know that he had finally opened up and that repercussions were to be taken against Dylan Proud. What repercussions those were, she did not disclose those and I didn't ask either way. We ate and at three we left to pick up Cassidy. We had made Thursdays take-out day and Olivia was usually the one to pick it up and bring it over. Cassidy was shocked when she saw that the twins were in the car, she was only used to seeing Noah in there because I was the one to always pick them up, unless Lucy took her own car to pick them up when I was tied up with a profile or a patient.
She sat in the back with Noah and they mumbled about something when Cassidy shouted through the cabin, "What?"
"Cassidy Jade," I shouted, bringing my hand to my chest to will my heart rate down, "Why are you shouting?"
"Mama, did Noah tell you about what happened at school today?" she asked, concerned about her brother.
I smiled and shook my head, "Yes he did and not a word to your mother until I speak with her, understood?" I looked through the rearview, locking my eyes with hers.
She nodded and the subject was dropped.
Back at home; Olivia had beaten us to it. We entered just as she was about to call someone, my guess, Lucy. She put her phone down when the twins ran to her squealing at the sight of her. She knelt and picked them both up, peppering kisses all over their little faces. Cassidy used this moment to hug my waist, saying her proper hello to me and to Olivia. Noah just scoured to his room, wanting to avoid all contact with his mother. His actions didn't go unnoticed by the brunette, she glanced at me and I smiled at her and blew her a kiss.
Dinner and bath time went as normal as possible. Cassidy talked about her latest adventure at school. The twins babbled and mumbled about their day and what they ate for lunch with Noah and I. Olivia opened her eyes at such statement and glanced at Noah, the boy simply hung his head and avoided her gaze. After the kids were put to bed, we reconvened in our bedroom. She snaked her arms through my waist and placed a kiss on my neck. I melted into her touch, flushing our bodies together, "Liv, we have to talk baby," I said, breathily.
She hummed and continued attacking my neck. I moaned at her ministrations, Christ this woman was to be the death of me, "Talk," she said against my skin.
Her tongue ran my pulse point and I bit my lip to suppress a moan, "Liv, Noah got suspended," I moaned as she bit my skin.
"What?" she growled, turning me in her arms, "Noah what?"
I closed my eyes and breathed hard through my nose, willing my body to concentrate, "He got suspended, Olivia."
"Why?"
"He broke a kid's nose today at school," I uttered quickly.
Her eyes widened and she gritted her jaw, "He what?"
"Liv," I chided at her sudden deafness.
"No, Victoria; he knows how I feel about this. I don't want him to be violent. I don't want any of our kids to be violent. There's too much of that shit that I see at work for it to be happening in my home too," she shouted.
"Olivia Margaret Benson," I admonished. She stopped in her tracks and raised her eyebrows at me. She knew I only used that tone with the kids or when she had done something remotely wrong in our marriage, "Are you going to let me tell you why?"
"I don't want to hear it Tori. Nothing you say justifies wh—"
"Mommy," a sweet voice came from our doorway. Cassidy and Noah were standing hand in hand, "I know what Noah did was wrong but please listen to Mama," Cassidy pled for her brother.
Olivia looked at Noah and Cassidy then she looked at me with a guilty stare as she rubbed the back of her neck, "Fine," she acquiesced as she sat on the bed.
I waved the kids in and sat across from Olivia, Noah in my lap and Cassidy between Olivia and I. I explained to her the facts of the event and her gaze continually fell upon Noah. He had only done the correct thing, the thing that we had taught all of our kids: to stand up for themselves and others who couldn't do so for themselves. She closed her eyes as I finished what Noah had told me once.
"Noah, sweet boy, I'm sorry I got upset," she begun, "but you know how I feel about you being violent."
"I know Mommy but I just got so angry when Dylan was saying all that stuff about you and Mama. Then he said all those stuff about Cassidy and my brothers and—"
Olivia stopped the boys rambling by pulling him from my lap and into her embrace. She hugged him tightly and kissed his head. She whispered inaudible words to Cassidy and I but we could see Noah nodding. She held him at arms length and spoke, "You're not punished, sweet boy. Just please next time go to Principal Sellers, okay? And you too, young lady," she directed towards Cassidy, "If anyone is giving you trouble go to Principal Mullins. I don't want to hear anymore suspensions and my kids breaking kids noses, understood?"
Cassidy and Noah giggled, "Yes Mommy," they said in unison.
They kissed us good night and returned to their rooms, closing the door behind them. Olivia smiled at me and bit her lip, "Yes Mrs. Benson," I said playfully, noting her impish stare.
"Nothing Mrs. Benson, just staring at this beautiful woman," she said, scooting closer to me.
"Oh really, what makes her so beautiful?" I played.
"Her grey eyes," she said.
"Oh really?" I played it off, "I prefer them brown," I said leaning in and capturing her kids in a searing kiss. God, I love this woman!
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