Olivia walked through the door of the dim apartment. She set her keys in the dish and looked around. It appeared as if Brian weren't home.
"As usual" she thought. Olivia waddled to her bedroom taking off her shoes and coat before she went. She was 34 weeks pregnant, and decided she would work until her due date, but now she was not so sure. As if the stress didn't get to her enough when she wasn't pregnant, this was hell. She was to acting CO of SVU, not only was she dealing with a typical CO's workload, she was trying to take control of Amanda and Nick's personal problems, that were obviously beginning to affect their work performance. But it seemed like the more she tried to help, the more they pushed her away. And on top of all of this she was dealing with Brian's job change, and preparing for their new baby. She was on her feet so often that they were swollen to the point where they hurt. She let out a frustrated sigh as she opened the door to her bedroom, but the sigh was quickly replaced with a happy smile.
She was met with the sight of Brian resting on the bed, on his back reading one of her latest parenting magazine's. He was so absorbed in the article he was reading he didn't even hear Olivia walk in.
"Studying up for the baby, huh?" she remarked as she rested her heavy, and tired body on the edge of the bed.
Brian, embarrassed, tossed the magazine to the side of the bed, and quickly sat up. "Hey baby," he pecks her lips "when did you get it?"
"Just now" she stretches her sore back and cringes when she hears it crack, "how was your day?"
"Better than yours, I can see" he notes her puffy, red eyes. He cups her face "You want to talk about it?"
Olivia weakly smiles at him "In a minute, grab my pajamas please"
He gets off the bed and walks over to the dresser grabbing her one of his extra large nightshirts and one of her pajamas with an extra stretchy elastic. Olivia had gotten pretty big during the course of her pregnancy and she wasn't done growing. And Olivia had the stretch marks to prove it. He walks over and helps her out of her work clothes and in her pajamas. He helps her rest up on her side of the bed.
"You need anything babe? Water? Something to eat?" Brian asks pacing around the room, concerned about his girlfriend's current condition.
Olivia props herself up with pillows against the headboard, "No, I'm fine. Come here" she pats the empty side of the bed next to her.
Brian begins to walk over to the bed but stops right at the end. He notices her extremely swollen feet.
"Liv, you're feet are getting really swollen, remember the doctor said you got to rest as much as you can" Brian crawled onto the bed and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
"You want me to rub them for you?"
"No massage will relieve the pain that I'm feeling in my feet, Bri"
And that was the truth. Even now her feet were still pulsating from the pain of walking around all day.
"I'll call your doctor tomorrow" he pushes hair out of her face "so tell me why you were crying" he asked gently, his voice filled with genuine concern.
Her eyes began to fill up with tears as she began to remember the events that occurred that day. She would never cry over a bad day at work in the past, but the influx of her hormones due to carrying her child, caused her to be a bit more emotional.
"It's just so stressful!" she lets out in one breath "I tell someone to do one thing, they run off and do the other. I tell someone to go out and do something they screw it up! I'm getting calls from an undercover cop saying that Amanda was at an illegal gambling club, possibly jeopardizing the already tarnished name of SVU! And I'm getting calls from Nick's wife, saying he's damn near stalking her. Those two are out of control! It feels like Fin is the only sane one left, because I'm losing my mind too! I mean I got enough on my plate being acting CO, and getting ready for my own baby to get here, I just can't deal with them"
Brian grabbed some tissue from the nightstand next to him and handed them to Olivia who had a few stray tears running down her face. He ran his fingers through her hair.
"I'm so sorry that you have to deal with that Liv, I really am" he carefully decides what to say next "but that's why I think you should go on maternity leave"
"Maternity leave! Brian are you kidding me? That place is hanging by a thread, I'm the only thing keeping it together! I can't go on leave, not now"
"But Olivia, while you're keeping them together, you're falling apart"
They both fell silent as Olivia let the statement sink in. It was true, her pregnancy was almost over and she hadn't been able to fully enjoy it, besides a few rare occasions, where Brian had made her feel like a queen.
Her hand rests on her belly, absentmindedly rubbing her hand over her skin stretched tight as a drum. She contemplates what to say next.
"Maybe you're right, I'll think about it"
"Just remember, you're taking care of not just you, but our baby" he rests his hand on her belly.
Olivia smiles towards him and squeezes the hand that rests on her belly.
Brian and Olivia had decided not to find out the sex of the baby.
"With so many negative surprises in this world, I'd rather have a positive one for a change" Olivia smiled when she declined the sonographers offer of knowing the baby's gender.
"It's getting pretty late, Brian, I'm exhausted, I'm gonna go to bed"
"You sure you don't want me to massage your back?" Brian, had become a massage expert since Olivia became heavily pregnant. The excess weight caused her pain and swelling, but Brian would slowly rub the tender areas of her body until the pain dwindled.
"I'm sure, but I'll take a raincheck, how about tomorrow when I get home from work?"
"You got it"
Brian and Olivia shared a goodnight kiss, and he made sure Olivia got tucked into a comfortable position, turned off the lights, spooned together, then drifted off into a much needed sleep.
A/N: Hi! I hope you guys enjoy so far, this is my first multi chapter SVU fic, so please review and let me know how it is. I'll try to post chapter two as soon as possible.