Title: Best Laid Plans
Author: ZombieJazz
Fandom: SVU
Disclaimer: I don't own them. Law&Order: Special Victims Unit and its characters belong to Dick Wolf. The character of Jack, Benji and Emmy have been created and developed for the sake of this AU series.
Summary: Olivia Benson and Brian Cassidy continue to work at regrouping from the trauma and challenges of their year by taking some time away from New York City. They take their kids on a family vacation to visit Cragen and Eileen in Florida. The story is set in the Hello Goodbye, Welcome Home and Facing Forward AU.
They were finally starting to get some registration and the start of a reaction out of Benji.
"We're heading through Orlando," Olivia smiled.
Benji's eyes tracked over to her, considering that. "Oh …," he sighed a little.
They'd been very clear with him – because Emmy didn't seem to have much of a perspective yet on what theme parks were or were they were or what exactly Universal Studios or Disney World were. But Benji did.
With him they'd had to repeatedly stress that the purpose of this vacation was to see Captain Cragen and their Nana. That maybe some day they'd go to Florida to do the theme parks that he'd heard kids at school and hockey and basketball talk about – but that would not be this trip.
Not when he'd just finished his first six months of treatment and they were starting to see improvement in him. Not when it was still Florida summer heat. Not when he'd be starting middle school in a couple weeks and they needed him at his best and most rested and healthiest.
They'd spend time with their grandparents. They'd swim in the ocean. They'd do some fishing out on Captain's boat. That they'd do some fun things around Captain and Nana's condo – mini putt-putt, ice cream, broadways and sand dunes and bike rides and new playgrounds and skateparks and likely a zoo or nature reserve or aquarium. But it was not a theme park trip.
Or that's what they'd told him.
And maybe they'd actually meant it when they'd started preparing the kids for this vacation at the tail-end of their summer break.
Because they had wanted to see how Benji survived the summer heat and humidity back home. They wanted to make sure that the six rounds of IVs were done. They wanted to see where his lupus flares were with where he was had in his treatment and almost seven months into his oral medications.
But that was then. And well … now was now.
"Why da signs say Amazing 'Pie-der-man lives here?" Emmy asked and then punctuated, "'Pie-der-man live in New - York - City. Just - like - us."
"They're signs for rides," Benji muttered.
"Ohhhhh," Emmy said and kept her nose planted on the glass. "You getta ride a dino-sore too? WAIT! How you ride 'Pie-der-man? That's silly."
Benji huffed at her. "I dunno. Ducky, it's like normal rides."
His sister looked at him. "A dino-sore carry-sell?" And then a bit more excitedly, "'Pie-der-man Marvel Duper HERO carry-sell?!"
His forehead rested against the glass. "No, Emmy," he sighed. "Like rides at Coney Island rides."
"Rolly-coasters are 'cccccccaaaaaarrrry," she said flatly. And Olivia smiled.
"Yea," Benji grumbled. "'Zactly. You are waaaay too 'lil."
Emmy's eyes darted at him. "I not 'lil. I am a Grade One big gurl now!"
"Yea. Zactly! Still waaaay too 'lil," Benji directed at her. "And you're way too scared. So we're not doing any rides this vacation."
"You 'cared for rolly-coasters too, Ben-gee," she argued.
Benji gave her a dirty look but there was some truth to that observation from Emmy.
Benji was grossly uninterested in the rides at their local amusement park. And he just generally was a timid child. He still wasn't big on crowds.
Though, he was a New York City kid. So Olivia was hoping they'd tempered some of that. They had enough practice dealing with various crowd levels and crowded situations and masses of people in their daily life and weekly routines. But city life was still decidedly different than what they'd been warned to expect at an Orlando theme park still in the midst of summer holiday season. So this could be yet another way all of this could end up blow up in her face a bit. Then Brian would passive aggressively contend that he'd been right along. Though, Olivia really still hoped she'd be the one getting to very directly tell him that she'd been right along.
They could do this. They could handle this. It'd be good for them. All of them. This was the right time to do this for both of their children – and in a time period and point in their family life that she felt her and Brian would get the most of out the experience as parents too.
"I've done rides before when I was way 'lil'er than you. Mom took me to Disney when I was 'lil. Like, I dunno, like four. And I wasn't scared."
Olivia smiled a little at that.
It was almost laughable. She wasn't sure the rides Benji was tall enough and had any interest in riding at Disneyland were going to be remotely comparable to what they might get to experience the next couple days. And even then there'd certainly been moments of reluctance out of the little boy in that environment.
And really Benji had been so young Olivia wasn't sure he remembered much of any of it beyond her and Jack telling him they'd gone and him seeing pictures of it. But he still sometimes said things that made her think he had snippets of memories about Cars Land. That seemed to have been seared into his mind as a happy childhood memory.
She was hoping to accomplish that again this time. To maybe have the memories be a little bit clearer for both Benji and Emmy with the ages they were at. Six and ten. It seemed like a sweet spot. It actually seemed like they were just getting outside of the sweet stop. Her and Brian had both been horrified to realize they'd delayed an attempt at this kind of family vacation long enough that Benji was classified as an 'adult'. It was kind of ridiculous. And it made her realize even more than she already did on a near weekly basis just how quickly her kids were growing up. Just how short the years were and what a small period of time in their lives did they have a childhood. How it was already slipping away so quickly even though the challenges of parenting didn't seem to be getting any easier. But she didn't have babies and toddlers and preschoolers anymore. She had a little girl entering Grade One and a little boy starting middle school. And it just felt like it was barely a blink of an eye ago that both of these children had ended up on her doorstep and she had all these new and unexpected doors opening in her life. This entirely new and different phase of her life that sometimes made it hard for her to remember – or recognize – that person she'd spent the first twenty-five or more years of her adulthood as.
So she really hoped they were still little enough. That this was still the right time to do this. That Emmy still young enough to have some of the same awe and surprise that had been written all over Benji's little face those years ago. That Benji wasn't grown-up enough that meeting his super hero heroes would be too childish. That the rides wouldn't be too scary or too grown up. That a couple days of pretending their imaginary escapes might bring some joy and distraction. And some happy memories to their family – despite her and Brian's shared distaste about the commercial aspect of the whole experience.
But it was about more than that. It was … about normalcy. It was this other layer of her and Brian jointly trying to give these two little kids moments and memories and experiences and connections that were so different than the kind either of them had growing up with single mothers and no siblings and lack of means or desire to leave New York City and the various traumas that had haunted the two women who raised them. She supposed they were both trying to be different and better than their parent. Or they were just … trying to give their kids a different kind of childhood than what they'd had.
Olivia reached out and give a little shake of Benji's knee. "No fighting," she nodded at him directly.
After a school-year full of Benji and Emmy being at each other nearly daily – to the point that it was driving her and Brian both insane. That they didn't know if this was just how siblings acted or if there was something more going on. If they were failing as parents. If their own personal bickering in their relationship was setting a bad example for their kids. But it'd suddenly calmed that summer. It levelled out and they had their two goofy, silly, loving brother and sister back. They still annoyed each other regularly and they still bickered and nattered almost constantly but the blow up and brawls and shoves and growls and tears had stopped.
It'd become pretty clear that part of the problem had been the whole school setting. Benji feeling like he had to protect his little sister but his baby sister picking up on some of what was going on with him and feeling like she had to come to his defence too. Which just seemed to provide additional ammo for the kids to pick on Benji even more. Add in how different Benji and Emmy were in their learning abilities and academic abilities. It wasn't just the kids at school who'd picked up on that – Benji and Emily had become increasingly aware of their differences too. Most especially in their reading abilities – causing near nightly fights at bedtime story reading as the year progressed. But the teachers had picked up on it too. Olivia knew that there were comparisons being drawn between Benji and Emmy by the staff – even if the children were being treated as individuals.
She could tell Benji was relieved to be out of that school. She could tell he was so happy that her and Brian had gone and gotten 'married'. Benji had been so, so happy about that. He was in another sweet spot where he was old enough to understand but young enough to perceive it in a different way than a child a bit older or Emmy's age did. But it was another moment of 'normalcy' for him. Another element of giving their children something resembling 'normalcy'. Or as normal as they could manage for them in the scenario, in which they'd created their family. He was thrilled that paperwork had been filed for Brian to officially adopt him. He was even more excited that the paperwork had congruently been put in to give him the hyphenated surname of the man who'd be listed as his father. Though, he seemed to want that to happen before he ended up at school in a few weeks, which wasn't likely to be stamped yet. But it was like Benji thought he could start this school with a clean slate and a new identity. Ben Benson-Cassidy – with an older brother and a little sister and a marriage mom and dad. Benji's version of the Waltons (which they most definitely were not).
But Olivia so hoped for that clean slate for him too. For all of them. Even though the age gap between Benji and Emmy was starting to show its own new inconveniences and frustrations with them being off in separate schools for the rest of their public school careers. And two after-school programs and them always being in different age groupings in their sports and summer camps and etc., etc., etc. But Olivia thought it'd be good for both of them to not have those comparisons made between them so directly. To not have the example right there in front of other teachers and administrators and parents and students.
This middle school was better equipped – designated – as a school meant to deal with students with learning disabilities. Its extra, added programming in math and science hit so perfectly on the areas that Benji did excel at and would hopefully just help him grow in even more. And her little boy was already excited about some of the special units they had for the kids at the school. It was a public school. It was in their zone. It wouldn't be too hard for them to co-ordinate getting both their kids where they needed to be in the mornings. And only a handful of students from Benji's primary school had made it through the lottery and into the school with him. He – hopefully – wouldn't have too much of a collective memory hanging over him about who he was and how he was.
And all of that had seemed to lead to a shift in her little boy's behavior that summer. He'd calmed so much after they wrapped up the school year. Him and Emmy had both loved their summer camps in arts and crafts and science and robotics. They'd gotten to spend so much time with Cragen and Eileen and their Gramma and Jack. Her and Brian had been purposeful in making sure they were getting home by seven and enjoying the long, summer evenings with their kids. It'd been nice not to have soccer taking up so many of their evenings. To instead spend it at the park and on playgrounds and by the water and on bike rides. Or in the garden. To let Benji and Emmy play together – without homework and bedtime arguments and evening sports to get to.
She had her kids back – without the constant arguing. She wasn't about to watch that slip away.
"You two have been so good about not bickering this summer," she warned. "Don't start up now. Vacation doesn't mean a vacation from rules and consequences."
Benji huffed a little at that and then looked at Emmy again, grumbling, "It doesn't even matter 'cuz we're just goin' to Cap and Nan's anyway."
"Jep," Emmy agreed, completely undeterred by the tone and attitude she was getting from her brother. She looked back out the window. "And we see mer-mades."
Benji sighed and went back to staring out his window. "We are not gonna see mermaids."
"Jep," Emmy argued. "We will. Mommy said."
Olivia shared a little smile at that with Brian, and leaned more around her seat to look at the arguing kiddos – nature or nurture there. Still more reason on why her and Brian needed to get better about their own bickering.
"I said we might get to see manatees," she nodded at her daughter.
She was actually really wishing that the manatee possibility had never gotten mentioned. Though Cragen had told her some spots they might get lucky and spot one, it didn't sound like it was the time of year where they were guaranteed a sighting. They would have more lucky in the 'colder' months – a Thanksgiving or Christmas or Winter Break trip. And Olivia suspected if they didn't see a manatee they might have to start saying that one of those trips would be happening at some non-committal point in the future just to avoid a meltdown about not seeing the 'mermaid cows'.
"Jep," Emmy bounced in her seat. "They mer-made cows."
"Marine cows," Olivia attempted in gentle correction.
It didn't work. "Jep. Mer-made cows," Emmy agreed. "Just like nar-whals. They unicorn whales. Unicorns of da sea! Naaarrrrrrr-whaaaaall."
Olivia rolled her eyes a little. Though, Benji absent-mindedly joined his sister a little in the Narwhal Wail that had become such an ingrained habit between the two of them. And that made Olivia smile.
"Mommy? You think we see a nar-whal too?" Emmy asked.
Olivia shared another look with Brian and rubbed at her eyebrow. "You're the family's marine biologist, Little Duck. What do you think?"
"You won't see a narwhal in Florida," Benji provided.
Emmy gazed at her brother with some clear offense but then let out a big, exaggerated sigh. "They live in the Art-ick," she allowed. "But maybe one got lost. In Floor-duh? Right, Mommy?"
"Maybe," Olivia allowed with a shrug. But she gave Brian another smile. He'd smiled at that too. But shook his head just slightly. These kids were funny. Far funnier than Olivia thought her or Brian had ever been. Though, Don and John both had contended individually – and jointly – that a whole lot of the sass (and some of the wit) they got out of the two was nurture. Basically – it was her and Brian's fault, and they'd be paying for it even more in the years ahead of them. Little kid sass and commentary was still funny. It'd likely be much less so when teens reared their heads in their family.
"Maybe you'll just see a shark instead," Benji said and planted his forehead against the window as they went passed a Jaws sign. Emmy gaped at the giant beast with its wide open jaws on the billboard.
"That a ride too?"
Brian glanced at the billboard. "Yea," he provided, garnering an even more horrified look from Emmy. Olivia shoot him a look. He glanced in the rear view at Emmy's increasingly terrified face. "Em," he assured, "it's fake. It's just a movie from when me and Mom were kiddos."
Emmy crossed her arms, straightening in some attempted confidence and looked right at her brother. "Dere no sharks in Florida," she contended.
"Yea, there are," Benji kept her eyes. "Where do you think all the shark teeth come from?"
"They foz-ills," Emmy provided confidently. Their little girl – too much confidence all the time. They definitely had their hands full and definitely would for years to come. "Those are dead, dino-sore, aint-chen sharks."
Benji stared right at her. "But Peedg caught a shark with Cap'n," he said. "'Member?"
Emmy shook her head hard. "Noooo," she said, deflating a bit as she said it. "Dack just tellin' stories. Right, Mommy?" she near begged.
"It wasn't no story," Benji said. "It was real. He had a picture. 'Member?"
Emmy's mouth hung open. "Dere sharks at Cap'n's beach? In his and Nana-Lean's ocean?" The tone was somewhere between shook and accusation – like they'd all been lying to her for months.
Olivia gave Benji a firm look and then found Emmy's eyes. "No, Emmy," she assured. "I don't know where Jack and Captain went fishing but it wasn't just on the beach."
"And it was just a baby shark anyway," Benji said but then grinned. "Doo doo doo doo doo doo," he sung.
Emmy gasped in horror again. "Dack hunt-eded and kill-eded a baby shark?"
"See," Benji said. "Peedg should've come. He coulda been your shark slayer."
Emmy shook her head. "Dack can't come on 'cation if he a shark kill-er! Dat's mean!"
Benji sighed a little. "I wish Peedg came."
Olivia shared another little look with Brian and leaned around to look into the back seat a bit again. "I know, sweetheart. But it's hard to book time off when you're just starting a new job."
"He works even more then you guys," Benji mumbled and then found her eyes.
"Dack very bizzy with building things and did not wanna come be-cuz it very where-d and goss to go on a honeymoon," Emmy told her brother.
Olivia and Brian shared another look.
"Well, his loss then," Olivia said.
"Jep," Emmy nodded. "'Cuz I think honeymoons are fun!"
"Yea … they're supposed to be," Brian muttered.
Olivia gave his knee a little smack. He shrugged at her.
Brian had already expressed that this wasn't his definition of a vacation – or a honeymoon. It wasn't Olivia's either.
Reality – they weren't in at a place in their lives that those past definitions were applicable to them. And the other reality was that there'd been a lot of nights that summer where Janet had taken the kids overnight (or Jack had been over and they could send him out to the park with them or they could at least slip upstairs while he played or watched TV with them). So that had been their private and alone time – a smattering of date nights and dinners out and wine and shared baths and summers or quiet time on the patio or up in their bed without kids down the hall. That was about as close as they were going to get to a honeymoon at this stage in their lives.
Olivia thought the bigger issue for Brian's muttering was that they'd definitely put enough time and effort into their relationship and intimacy levels that year that the rut their sex life had been in was definitely over. They weren't at the once or twice a month stage they'd spent the better part of a long year in. They were more at two or three times a week. Daily with some kind of physical intimacy – touching, kissing, cuddling. And Brian definitely wasn't looking forward to what he expected to be two dry weeks.
Olivia didn't think it was going to be quite that. She was sure Don and Eileen would be taking the kids out for an afternoon or two or three over the course of their visit. She knew they'd have a bedroom – and en suite bathroom – of their own. It was more a rather significant mental block – even at their ages – about just who's home and bedroom they'd be in.
They were adults. Both of them had had much longer dry spells. They could survive two weeks without. But the mention of it as a 'family honeymoon' still seemed to ruffled Brian's feathers the wrong way.
"Jah," Emmy said and leaned forward in her seat to stare at Brian. "And we get to have tree honeymoons. Gloria said. Mommys and Daddys hafta take a honeymoon for each of dere kids. So me and Bee-gee and Dack. Dat tree! So two more!"
Brian and Olivia managed an amused look at that.
"How many brothers and sisters does Gloria have?" Brian asked.
"Gist a sista," Emmy said.
"Mmm. You sure Gloria's mom and dad took their kids on their honeymoon?" Brian asked.
"The first one is a honeymoon," Benji provided. "And then Moms and Dads take babymoons," he looked at Emmy – like he clearly understood all this better than her. "And they don't take the kids on the babymoon. It's like, I don't know, before the baby is born."
"This sounds very complicated," Olivia said and shared another look with Brian.
"It's not," Benji said – all-knowingly. "You only get one honeymoon. So this is it and Peedg didn't come. And he's gonna miss Dad's birthday too."
Brian's eyes went up to the rear view again and took in Benji. "It's OK, Big Man. We'll do something with Jack and Gramma and Unkie Munchie when we get back home. Not a big deal."
"So we're not doin' your birthday on your birthday?"
Brian shrugged a little. "Yea, I don't know. Maybe we'll see about having some cake on the big day."
"And ouce-ceem!" Emmy provided. "Cake is goss."
Olivia leaned around again and pinched at the toe of their little girl's shoe, giving her foot a little shake. "Daddy gets to pick what he wants on his birthday. It's his birthday."
Emmy gave her a little pout and tugged her toe away, crossing her arms in some defiance and staring out the window again.
Benji's eyes tracked out the window too. "Does that sign say Twilight Zone?" he asked.
Brian again glanced from his driving. "Yea, Big Man."
"Are there new episodes?" Benji asked.
Jack had started his little nephew in on watching the old episodes of the Twilight Zone that summer. Olivia had been concerned about nightmares but the old ones were so kitschy that Benji had really just been fascinated. In reality, there'd been a lot of nights her and Brian had ended up sitting and watching an episode with the boys too. It'd been so humid that summer that Jack had showed up at their place a lot looking to soak in their air conditioning or to actually be able to get in a night's sleep where the heat and humidity of his shoe-box apartment wasn't keeping him up all night.
Brian was pretty convinced that they were going to return home to Jack (and potentially the girlfriend) having covertly semi-moved into their house. Olivia accepted that it was enough of a possibility that they'd had some discussions on the ground rules and just how they'd deal with that situation. And how to deal with it if they got the sense it was happening while they were away too. In essence, Janet was supposed to be checking on the house (and Jack) for them. Hopefully she didn't walk in on something that turned into some unnecessary family drama. And hopefully Janet didn't decide she wanted to be the one covertly semi-moving into their house either.
"That's for a ride too," Brian said.
Benji looked behind his shoulder, still considering the sign. "A Twilight Zone ride," he said with some quiet wonder. "Where?"
"It said Hollywood Studios," Brian provided.
"Universal Studios," Benji said. "Hollywood Studios is in California."
"Think Hollywood Studios is the Disney one, bud. And Universal is the Universal one," Brian said giving Olivia a look. They'd decided to just attempt the one park. They hadn't considered the bombardment of advertising – and the awareness of options and differences it might create – on the way into the city.
"Dere Woody and Buzz," Emmy said pointing out the window on her side. "Dat movie sooooooo good!"
"It was," Olivia agreed. They'd definitely also sunk money into more commercial propaganda with the number of films they'd been to in the theater. But the rain and the humidity – and Benji's health and managing his flares and fatigue – definitely meant that sometimes sitting inside in the dark was a better option than running around in the weather.
"It a ride too?" she asked.
"I think so, Little Duck," Olivia allowed carefully, sharing another small look with Brian. This might be where flying by the seat of their pants and playing it by ear came into things. But he gave his head a little shake at her.
And he was right. Cragen had warned them that "Hollywood Studios" was where the new Star Wars Land was opening and would be opening during the course of their trip. He said that all indications from Eileen's obsessed grandkids were that it meant that particular park was likely going to be chaos. Though, she didn't think it was open yet. But there still might be a flood of people trying to see the park before it was engulfed.
Beyond that Leo was absolutely obsessed with Toy Story. And Alex and Trevor had taken their little boy down to Florida last year not long after that area of the park had opened. With Trevor's pay grade they'd more than gone all-out. They'd stayed on-site in a 'deluxe' hotel that according to Alex's standards 'wasn't so deluxe'. And they'd paid a bunch of upgrade fees to try to avoid lines and crowds and meet characters. It all seemed like a little much in expense and planning – especially when Olivia's point of comparison was spending one day at Disneyland to let her then Cars obsessed little boy meet his heroes – and staying in a motel well outside the park and buying tickets at the gates that morning for only one park and hardly scratching the surface there. But Alex (and now especially with Trevor) always had vacationed and travelled and had a lifestyle that was more than a little Upper East Side and WASP-y. But Alex's assessment of their Disney, Orlando and theme park experience had been: "NEVER AGAIN!"
Olivia wasn't sure how that would actually play out. Trevor (and Leo) had seemed much more taken with their vacation. He'd actually been an overly enthusiastic resource when it'd gotten mentioned they may spend a day or two in Orlando at the start of their vacation. Though, he'd been somewhat aghast they hadn't started planning and booking at least six months out. That they didn't intend to include any of the Disney parks and that they initially hadn't been planning on staying on-site. He'd been outright horrified (to the point it was funny – Brian had been giving the other man such a look that he'd actually excused himself from the patio, supposedly to get more cold beer and another bottle of wine, but Olivia knew it was to mask his reaction) when they'd said they probably weren't going to bother with doing Harry Potter Land yet. That they thought with their kids just hitting the Super Hero land for a day would be enough. Apparently that was a poor choice – in Trevor's opinion. And he couldn't wait until Leo was old enough to take to the "Wizarding World". That had been the point Brian had left the table.
"At Hollywood Studios?" Benji asked.
Olivia rubbed her eyebrow and leaned into the backseat again. "I'm not sure, Little Fox." That was a lie. She had been fully briefed on the location of Toy Story Land. Her kids weren't even that into Toy Story at this point. But if it was garnering this kind of reaction – and piqued interest – she wasn't looking forward to when they started hitting signs for Lego Land.
"We did a drawing and animation class at Disney in California," Benji gazed at her. There was a hopefulness to it. "Peedg made those pictures for me. In our room."
She gave him a thin smile and a little nod. "You're right. That's where he did those."
"Do they have art class here?" he asked – there was even more hopefulness to it.
Olivia exhaled a bit and shared another little look with Brian. She could see him giving her some side-eye. "I really don't know, Benj."
He made a little sound – there was disappointment to it. He looked out of the window again briefly but then turned back her way.
"Mom …"
She kept his eyes.
"I think I kinda need a stretch break. I feel really achey," he aid quietly.
"OK," she mouthed and gave Brian another glance and the highway signs a scan, gauging the route on the GPS quickly. They were almost where they needed to be getting off anyway. "Well, it's getting close to your pill time. And I could really use a coffee. So let's see if we can find somewhere for some breakfast and a stretch."
"But, Mommy," Emmy said. "You're not supposa drink coffee when we're in the car long. It go right through you."
Brian made an amused noise and cast Olivia a look. She gave her head a little shake and rubbed her eyebrow.
"Thank you for that, Little Duck. But it's almost Benji's pill time and I think I'll be close enough to a bathroom in the restaurant."
"OK," Emmy said. "It OK Mommy. Even tho you can't hold your coffee—"
Brian let out a more amused noise at that. Olivia shook her head again and gave him another look – because their daughter was repeating something he would've said verbatim: "Mom can't hold her coffee."
"Dack still the 'tinky-est when he hasta go. And I have the smmmmeeeeeelllly-est farts!"
"You do," Benji agreed.
"Jep," Emmy said proudly. Definitely something to be proud of … in a household where a little girl was growing up with two older brothers. And Brian. A princess who was her own hero.
Brian started moving toward the exit. "OK," he said, looking into the rear view mirror again at the kids. "Help me keep an eye out for some kind of coffee and donut joint for your mom."
"Cop shop," Benji provided.
Olivia rolled her eyes. And there was Jack talking – along with them even if he wasn't there.
They drove for a bit more – the kids gazing out the window on their assigned mission. There really wasn't much on this wide, busy raod. But then they came to a stop light. The first at the red. And she again shared a look with Brian and turned to watch the kids in the back seat while he stared at them in the rear view.
"Dere a rolly-coaster," Emmy finally said.
Benji leaned over into her space a bit to look out her window. "Where?"
"Dere," she said and pointed.
Benji stared and made a small sound of acknowledgement but then moved to sit back in his space. But he glanced out the front windshield as he did. Olivia watched as he leaned back again and stared between their two front seats.
"That sign says Universal," Benji said and squinted at her.
Olivia glanced over her shoulder looking out the window. "Does it?"
He gave her a look. "Yea … doesn't it, Mom?"
"Mmm …," she allowed.
Benji stared at her. "But that's like a sign sign, not like a highway sign. Like not about a ride."
"Mmm …," she allowed again – though she knew she was smiling a little. She wasn't great at the poker face with her kids. Not for something like this.
Benji squinted at her and then glanced at Brian. "Dad," he said. "Is this Universal? There's a sign. And a rollercoaster over there."
Brian grunted a bit and then shrugged, tapping at the GPS. "Maybe. Thing says there's a Starbucks up ahead. Can grab your Mom's coffee."
"Oh …," Benji allowed and slumped back in his seat a bit. But Olivia could see his eyes still scanning all the windows now, taking in their surroundings.
The light turned and Brian started going again. The kids stared out the window more as they started passing entrances to some of the hotels. As they passed the edge of the backside of the park.
"That's the park," Benji said, leaning to look out his window. "I think? Those are rides?"
Olivia gave it a glance. "Oh," she allowed. "Wow. Pretty neat."
Benji gave a little sigh. "Maybe the next time we visit Cap'n and Nana we can go to the park?"
Brian shrugged up front. "Yea. Maybe." And he turned a corner onto another street – and went a bit farther. And then hit another stoplight – two more hotels on either side of them. "Almost there."
Benji cast him a look and then looked incredulously out the windows. "Dad, there's like no stores here. I think it's like a ramp to the highway again."
"Mmm …," Olivia said, looking around a bit. "He might be right, Bri."
But he'd already gotten the advance to turn into the one hotel. Benji and Emmy both gazed out the window.
"Mom …," Benji said and stared at her. "This is a hotel. Dad. I think you turned wrong."
"Oops." But Brian just pulled up to the front of the hotel and put the SUV into park. "Might as well get out for a stretch."
Benji squinted up at them but Emmy was already taking off her seatbelt. Olivia just leaned back and looked at him.
"Mom …?"
"A couple day stretch …," she nodded at him.
His eyes widened but looked confused. "Like … to stay here? Not Cap'n and Nana's?"
Olivia nodded at him and then looked at Emmy. "Who wants to meet Spiderman?" she asked.
Emmy's hand bolted up. "Meeeeee!"
And Benji just gaped at her and Brian. "We're gonna go into the park?"
And Olivia nodded at him. "We're going to go into the park."
And she thought her little boy – who'd been trying so hard for all those months of doctors and hospitals and treatments and medication and pain and nausea to be so, so brave and so, so grown up – looked like he might want to cry. So she undid her seat belt and gestured for him to do the same, sliding as close to him as she could in that position – holding out her arm and feeling his weight collapse against her in as tight of hug as they could manage in that tight, awkward space and positioning.
The kind of childhood – the kind of relationship and closeness and memories and moments – that she didn't have with her mother. That she couldn't imagine having with her. But that she was so glad – so blessed – to have it with these two little people.
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