It was a beautiful Sunday morning, the cold winter breeze was slowly giving way to the nice, chilled air of spring. The city that never sleeps was sunny on this particular morning, a nice change from all the gloomy, grey mornings they've been having lately. The parks were filled with people, the sounds of their chatter filled the air, mixed in with the laughter of children, and the occasional barking of a dog. People were out and about, enjoying the peaceful morning, and the city's streets buzzed with traffic. And it wasn't even ten yet.
The Benson residence was an exception, with both occupants still residing within its walls. Olivia had been up for about an hour, and had just gotten out of the shower. She took her time this morning, enjoying the relaxing stream as it washed away the exhaustion of the week. She took her time with her hair, her time washing down her body. And when she was done, she just sat down, and let the water massage her aching muscles. She finally emerged from the bathroom about half an hour later, deciding to leave some hot water for the other brunette in the house. At the thought of said brunette, she found her feet carrying her over to her room. She had barely seen her all week, with it being finals at school, the teenager barely had enough time to breathe. And with how crazy things were at SVU, she was usually home after she had already gone to sleep.
She chuckled softly at the sight that greeted her, her teenaged daughter was sprawled out on the bed, the covers at her feet, and both her arms tucked up and the pillow. Her hair was a lighter shade than Olivia's – the only thing she inherited from her father – and it was splayed onto the pillow, with a few strands covering her face.
Savina, her fourteen year-old high school freshman, her pride and joy….her little girl. Olivia often found herself wondering how she had gotten so lucky. Not only was Savina an easy child, and thankfully a teenager who managed to stay out of trouble, but she was her own personal miracle.
It had been a gruesome couple of weeks, and everybody was drained. A serial rapist had started striking in Harlem, and in two weeks, had already left ten victims. Two of which were still in the hospital fighting for their lives after the beating he gave them. He was a particularly evasive one; he didn't have a certain type, with his victims ranging from blondes to brunettes. No specific race; Latinas, African-Americans, Anglo-Saxons, no one was spared. He also didn't have a specific time, nor a comfort zone, so it made surveillance pretty difficult. The only thing the girls had in common, were the age group. They were all in their mid-twenties.
A break in the case came, when one of the victims recognized another, and said that she may have known her when they were young. A thorough exploration of their childhoods, revealed a fencing camp. And after asking the other victims, it turned out that at some point in time, each of the girls had gone to a specific fencing camp. The suspect was the son of the grounds keeper, who apparently had stalking issues.
They had found his residence, and went to interview him, but he fled as soon as he saw them. And she found herself and Elliot in pursuit. He was exceptionally fast, and she was starting to realize the disadvantage of formal attire. What's wrong with wearing jeans to work?
The suspect rounded a corner, and she followed him, and in retrospect, she should've been more cautious. She didn't see it coming till it was too late, and she felt something hard connect forcefully with her stomach. She fell to the ground, a wave of nausea suddenly hitting her, and she groaned, her arms wrapped around her midsection. Luckily enough, the rapist was stupid enough to stick around, and try to land another swing, giving Elliot enough time to catch up with her. She couldn't really make out the words anymore, things were getting blurry around her, the sounds nothing more than distant echoes, as the pain became too much to bare. She tried to move onto her back, but the pain was too much. The last thing she remembered was Elliot's face swimming into view, before it all went black.
She woke up to the sound of rhythmic beeping, and a sting in her arm. She tried to move, but the pain in her midsection came back with a vengeance, and she found herself groaning in pain.
"Try not to move, Liv," Elliot instructed gently.
She pried her eyes open, already frowning at the tone of his voice. It wasn't the usual concerned tone she was used to from him, he was holding back something. And when her eyes focused again, she saw held back tears in his eyes, but they were happy.
"El," she crocked, her hand subconsciously moving to her stomach. "What happened?"
"He hit you in the stomach with a wooden log, you're in the hospital," he replied gently.
"How long have I been out?" she asked, wincing in pain.
"About two hours, the blow was pretty bad. You have a bruised spleen and kidney…" he trailed off, and Olivia immediately knew something was up. She knew Elliot well enough to know when he's keeping something from her.
"What is it El? What aren't you telling me?" she demanded weekly.
"When did you break up with Henderson?" he inquired instead.
She frowned at the question, not entirely sure what that had to do with anything.
"About a month ago. Why? What does he have to do with anything?"
Elliot sighed, he had spent the past two hours trying to figure out a way to tell her the news. And despite coming up with a few scenarios, one of which was to wait for the doctor to tell her – but figured that would freak her out, rather than keep her calm - any other scenario seemed to evaporate from his mind. He took her hand into his, and decided that being blunt is the way to go.
"Liv, you're pregnant."
It had been the shock of her life, she hadn't been serious with Henderson, and never thought of having a child with him. She'd always dreamt of being a mother, but she thought she'd need to be in a stable relationship first. It had taken her a few moments of silence, but when the words finally sank in, the tears came as well. Elliot had thought she was unhappy, but when her face broke into a tearful smile, he realized they were tears of joy.
The pregnancy had gone smoothly, with the exception of the bleeding she had after talking with Henderson. He had flatly told her to get rid of the baby, and when she refused, he signed away his parental rights, which was fine by her. The biggest scare she had was when she went into labor in the middle of a storm when the phone lines were down, and she was in the street. She had given birth at a church – which was quite ironic considering her mother never believed, and therefore never really raised her as the religious type – but the possibility of a complication terrified her. Her heart was racing, both from the pain, and the fear. The sweat that was trickling down her face and neck was not just from the pushing, but also terror. What if something went wrong? What if she got stuck? What if she wasn't breathing? What if she was too small?
All of that was immediately forgotten once the loud cry pierced through, and they gave her the baby after cleaning her up. The tears were already flowing, and she was madly in love. She cradled the baby close to her chest, her soothing voice mixing in with the baby's wails. She rocked her gently, smiling tearfully when the baby seemed to snuggle into her warmth, as her cries slowly died down. The tears flew harder at the sight of the big brown eyes, the way her tiny fingers had wrapped around her own. She had stayed like that for hours, cradling her, cooing, whispering declarations of love, and promises into her ear. She hadn't even realized that the storm had passed, until one of the nuns came and told her that they had called for an ambulance.
And there they were, fourteen years, and some pretty hairy situations later. Olivia couldn't have been prouder of her, she had managed to get a scholarship to one of the top high schools in Manhattan, and was not only keeping it, but also, kicking butts and taking names. Olivia couldn't deny that she made many mistakes along the way, but she was happy that she had managed to keep most of the promises she made that night.
She closed the door behind her, and switched the TV on. She figured she'd wait for her to wake up, and they can catch a late breakfast, or brunch at their favorite bistro. She had barely seen her all week, SVU had her swamped, and Savina had finals. So she usually made it home after she had already gone to bed, and would only see her shortly in the mornings before they both head out. She of course called her many times throughout the day, and made sure she aced her tests, but she hadn't spent any quality time with her in about two weeks.
About half an hour later, she heard the door click behind her, and she craned her neck around, chuckling softly at the sight of a sleep-walking Savina shuffling out of the room. She smiled brightly at her, as the latter basically dove onto the couch, head nestling into her stomach, the rest of her body snuggling as close as possible to her own.
Even though Savina was fourteen, she still acted like a four year-old sometimes, and it always brought a smile to Olivia's face. She knew that her job was hard on her daughter, she saw the slight panic in her eyes every time she would come home with a bruise or a gash, the guilty relief she felt whenever an officer died that wasn't her. Savina usually clung to her after any crime sprees against cops, and she never really complained. The crazy and demanding nature of what she did meant that she couldn't spend as much time as she wanted with her daughter, so she always savored any alone time they both had.
"Morning, sweetheart," Olivia greeted softly, her fingers brushing through the long locks. "Or more like afternoon," she added teasingly, when all Savina did was snuggle more into her.
That managed to get a response out of Savina, and she pulled back slightly to look at Olivia. "It's really that late in the day?" she croaked out groggily, and Olivia nodded. "It's almost noon."
Savina rubbed her eye to get rid of the last remnants of sleep, but made no sign of actually getting up. "I guess my body decided that being awake was overrated!" she quipped and Olivia chuckled.
"I know how you get during finals, so I'm sure you hardly slept during this past week. I'm glad you finally got some last night. You were out by the time I was home."
Savina smiled sheepishly at her. "Yeah, sorry about that. I tried to stay up, but I couldn't seem to keep my eyes open," she apologized.
Olivia bent down and kissed her temple. "You have nothing to be apologize for, baby."
Savina smiled lovingly at her, and Olivia's heart melted – like it always did – when she saw the absolute adoration in her little girl's eyes. It still amazed her that even as a teenager, Savina never lost the look of unconditional love she always gave her as a kid. She had lost count on how many times that look was the one thing that brightened her day, how many times it pulled her back from dark rabbit holes, how many times it kept her going. She did it all for her, the perps she put away, the pedophiles she came down hard on, the rapists she made sure were off the streets…it was all for her, to make it safer for her. Her worst nightmare was her baby's face getting plastered on the board in her squad room.
"What do you say we go catch a late brunch at Marco's, and just walk aimlessly around the city?" she suggested gently.
Savina sighed, and she saw a look in her eyes that she knew all too well. "What is it, sweetheart?"
"I know you probably wanna go out, but I was kinda hoping for a lazy day in. You know, movie, pop-corn, lounging about on the couch," she countered carefully. "You know, just the two of us," she added, shrugging her shoulders.
Olivia couldn't help but smile, her heart swelling at the gesture. She bent down to press yet another kiss to her temple, whispering her answer into her hair. "I'd love that. Sounds absolutely perfect."
An hour later found them both on the couch, Olivia had her feet resting on the coffee table, with one of the small cushions in her lap, with Savina's head on top. She had one arm resting lazily over her waist, while the other hand ran rhythmically through her wet hair. They had found a movie on Netflix, and were doing their traditional commentary routine.
The sound of Olivia's phone as it buzzed broke their concentration, and Olivia heard Savina sigh knowingly, as she reached for the remote to pause the movie. Olivia scowled when she saw Amanda's name, praying that it's not another case. But of course at the urgency in Amanda's voice, she sighed in frustration herself, as her apologetic gaze found her daughter's disappointed one.
"I'll be in in an hour," she said in frustration before she hung up. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart."
Savina smiled reassuringly at her. "It's alright, it's not your fault. Duty calls," she shrugged her shoulders, but Olivia could still see the disappointment in her eyes. "Can I hang out with Diana then?" she asked, and Olivia robotically nodded. "I'll clean this up before I go, you go get ready for work."
Half an hour later, Olivia emerged from her bedroom all ready for work. She was about to call out to Savina, when she heard her talking on the phone.
"Yeah, Amanda called her in urgently. So what do you wanna do?" she heard her say, and the disappointed tone in her voice broke her heart. She tried not to let Savina's tone get to her as she gathered her things, and made her way over to her room, just as she hung up.
"Hey, I'm heading out. You want me to drop you somewhere?" she wondered.
"No, it's alright. Diana will pick me up, she's already out, so…." She trailed off, and Olivia nodded.
"I'll try to be home as soon as I can, I promise," she promised, and she meant it, but unfortunately she knew that her job didn't always respect her promises.
Savina smiled. "I know, Mom. Just please be careful," she almost pleaded, and Olivia nodded, pulling her in for a hug, and pressed a lingering kiss to her head. "Always am, baby. I love you."
"Love you too, Mom."
And with that, Olivia rushed out of the apartment, before Savina saw the pain in her eyes. "This better be worth it, Rollins!" she growled as she made her way over to the elevator.
So Yes or No? Should I continue, or take it down? Let me know.