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.

"Hey," Olivia called at Brian gently, causing him to finally moved his fixed gaze on the kids over to her. "You OK?"

He made a small sound and let his eyes drift back to the kids before he took a slow gulp from his beer.

He'd been staring at Benji and Emmy for the better part of ten minutes. The kids were completely oblivious to it. While Mom and Dad had found some loungers in the sand under the shade of an umbrella to enjoy a drink and a break in, the kids had charged into the fenced off area full of beach and pool side games.

Benji and Emmy had tried to cajole them into playing some table tennis with them but after several floats along the lazy river and waiting for them to pop out the bottom of the water slide, Olivia was pretty sure both her and Brian had been ready to act their age – and like they were on vacation too. They'd told the kids after they had a drink. But with ordering their beverages and taking their time drinking them, it'd given them an extended break. It'd left the kids to their own devices but they'd seemed happy to try out the corn hole and ladder ball and fool around with the hula hoops on their own. At the moment they were engrossed in an over-sized Connect Four board.

Though, Olivia wouldn't say they were exactly playing. Emmy seemed far more committed to make towers out of the chips and then trying to pile sand around them to make overly stable sand castles. Benji the engineer of the two of them had determined that grabbing some of the sand pails and trekking back and forth to the lapping zero-entry pool to get buckets of water was a better way to compact the sand for this project. So they were more than occupied in their puttering away.

They'd only had to interject once and draw the line at them packing the sand into the chips that were already in the playing board. That was just going to make too big of a mess for some poor landscaper to clean up. Though, Olivia was fairly certain they'd likely just pressure wash the whole area when the day was done. Not that that would help any family that actually did want to play Connect Four before then. Though, it wasn't exactly like the sand was turning to concrete. In the heat and sun it was drying and peedling away pretty quickly – which was just resulting in more and more of the back-and-forth to the pool to get more water. Likely a sneak peek of what their time at Cragen and Eileen's beach was going to look like too.

Brian scrubbed at his face a bit and looked back at her. "Yea, just having one of those moments. You know?" he provided her.

"Mmm …," she allowed. She did know.

But he shook his head a bit and brought his beer back up to his lips. "Fuck," he muttered. "Tell that guy UC for fucking years in Ganzel's fucking brothel that he'd be at fucking Disney World with two kids and a wife …?" he shook his head again.

"Living the dream …," Olivia teased, with a little tilt of the head.

"Yea, well, close enough," Brian muttered.

"You're right," she provided. "We didn't quite make it to Disney World. That's a few miles down the road."

He grinned around the mouth of his beer at that and gave her a look. That he'd like that one. But as he finished his gulp he gazed at her. His hand came out and he hooked his pinkie around hers.

She raised an eyebrow. "What?" she mouthed silently.

He made another little noise and shook his head a bit like he wasn't going to say anything. But then he looked at her more – all of her. Or as much as she had exposed in that moment. She'd pulled on a cover-up since they'd come and sat down.

"I haven't wanted to say anything. I didn't want you to take it … however. But," he gave her another look, "I mean I see what you've done this summer."

She rolled her eyes a bit at that and gave her head its own shake.

"See," he muttered. "You're taking it … however."

She found his eyes. "Brian, we're in at pool almost every week of the year. We've been at the beach … what … five, six times this summer?"

He wasn't seeing anything new. And certainly no big, staggering change from the seven or so days ago since the last time he saw her in a bathing suit. Though, admittedly, she'd brought a suit on the trip that wasn't one she wore to the family swim time at the Y. And she had actually had enough changes in her body and weight and health and self-image over the past several months that she'd more than comfortable and confident to get an age-appropriate bathing suit - tankini - for the beach time and pool time (as family time) that she expected to have on this trip. And as much as she hated swim suit shopping - getting to make that purchase and to be happy with it - had also been a bit of a nice moment after she'd had a year or two where she'd more than felt like being a mom, being a boss, being middle-aged and menopause had caught up with her and her body. But all that was besides the point.

"Yea," he nodded at her. "And, like I said, I've seen what you've done. And right now, in the Florida sunlight – maybe it's looking even better than through the haze of New York life."

She shook her head again. "OK. Thank you …" She said it with clear sarcasm.

"It was a compliment, Liv," he pressed at her. "And I'm serious – you look good. Not that you usually don't. I mean it in a ..." he sighed and drew his beer back to his mouth. "I'm shutting my mouth."

She smiled softly at that and stared at him until he gave her a glance. "I can see what you've done these past few months too, Bri," she allowed. "The weight loss – you look healthier. Stronger, happier."

He made a little noise. "Thank you," he said – with much less tone than she'd given him. But then he quipped, "I know how attractive this UV shirt is."

She smiled at that.

It wasn't a fashion statement. It was because he whined more than the kids if he got the least bit burnt. And Brian BURNT. And then it was gross. After the whining about the burning (that he usually brought upon himself) ended, he'd pick at the peeling skin. Even more disgusting was that Emmy and Benji would help him with it. She had to remove herself from the situation when that happened. It was just gag worthy.

And it happened too often, because Brian was ridiculously picky about sunblock – because it was 'sticky' and felt 'caked' as it dried (though he claimed it didn't absorb into his skin properly, which made him hate it even more). But 'sticky' and 'caked' really just meant it made Brian get all twitchy and triggery. Even the spray on kind and the stick kind he was finicky about. So instead he definitely had a middle-aged dad look on their weekend beach outings. Long trunks, UV shirt, one of his too many to count pairs of gaudy sunglasses (because if she thought Brian had more tshirts than any man could - or should - own, he almost out did that record with sunglasses. They were about as close as he got to a fashion statement.). And then a hat that she was sure he only wore because it'd been labelled as something the kids had picked out for him for Father's Day. It was a straw fedora. Olivia thought he pulled it off really well. She actually REALLY liked it on him but Brian despised it. He called it 'the literal asshat' (when the kids weren't around). But the kids had constantly asked him why he wasn't wearing it pretty much the entire summer - every time they went out and he didn't have it on or he opted for one of his battered caps instead. And that was fine. Let the kids ask, because if it was her asking that she'd get dirty looks. The kids – she still got the dirty looks – but he actually put it on.

At least the whole Summer Beach Attitred Dad look covered up his latest tattoo. As if the longhorn skull on his bicep (and hanging on their wall - though decidedly much better hidden than when he'd initially moved in but not completely disposed of because the kids adored it as much as Olivia hated it) wasn't enough, Brian his winter fallout and efforts at coping and moving on had apparently decided that going and getting New York City inked into his forearm seemed like a fantastic idea. It'd taken a lot for her to not provide a commentary on it - more than she had. She'd left it at now he'd have to be careful about always having his sleeves down at work - especially in an interrogation room (which she thought would be hard for him - because Brian ALWAYS had ... and had for the twenty-plus years she'd known him - rolled up his sleeves when he had someone in the box) and then reminded him that choices he made about his life and his body were the measure their SON and their DAUGHTER used to define their definition of who, what, and how a man was supposed to be. She wasn't exactly thrilled about the concept of either of their children deciding to get themselves tattooed or to adopt it as some sort of coping mechanism or statement in dealing with their trauma.

But that had been about as far as their (too heated) discussion around him coming home with that one day that spring had gone. She'd since just accepted it'd been something that he needed to do to help him center himself and his life and his experience of growing up in the city - and his place within in. It was done. There was nothing more she could do about it. It was his body. And harping on him about it wasn't going to do anything to make things better or easier in Brian's coping or their relationship. So she'd left it.

Really she'd left it to Janet - who as his mother somehow got to say things to him in a much blunter and harsher way than she ever could with a very different kind of fall out. And Janet had covered off a lot of bases that Olivia would've liked to say on the matter - and Brian got to be pissed off at her rather than Olivia. And she'd lucked out on also benefiting from the 'break' he took from his mother for a couple weeks and pretend like she wasn't taking sides or shared an opinion one way or another. Brian already knew what her opinion was at that point. But apparently she'd pissed him off way less than his mother had in her expression of it. But Janet still wasn't privy to the entire story and picture of what was going on. She might've bit her tongue some too if she had been.

"It does show off the work you put in," she allowed him of the shirt, though. Work on a lot of different levels.

And it did. As much as he was in Dad beach attire, Brian did have less Dad Bod going on lately. Less bloat even if not exactly abs. At least you could tell where they were supposed to be. And she'd noticed. In that swim shirt. In the bedroom. Just like she was sure he'd noticed too. She knew she'd lost some weight. She'd gained some muscle - just like him (another thing that happens when you've got a sick 10-year-old who starts to have moments where he's tired and weak and nauseated enough that he just wants or needs Mom or Dad to carry him. It was quite the upper body and strength training workout - that often involved flights of stairs in the house.). She could see it in the mirror and feel it in how her clothes were fitting. In a way she was glad he'd noticed. Not that she'd done it for him. But it was still … nice to get some validation that he still … looked at her that way. Even now.

"The Benji Diet," he provided.

"Mmm …," she allowed and took a sip of her own drink.

That had definitely been part of it. Learning to manage some of Benji's symptoms and flares through diet had more than a little changed the way they ate as a family. It'd been a learning curve. They still had blips. But for as healthy as Olivia felt their family did eat - they were at another level now. She supposed it was very Brooklyn of them. Especially the area they lived in. But that hadn't made getting the kids on board - and keeping themselves on track when they weren't at home setting the example - any easier. But they'd done it. And you could undisputedly see the ripple affect it hadn't just had in helping Benji get on track with his medication and treatment regime in managing his disease. It'd impacted her and Brian's health too. For the positive.

"I think that's only part of it. I think slowing down a bit has helped a lot."

"That's good," Brian said. "Because, pretty sure the Big Man Diet is going to get blown this trip. Gluten-free beer sucks," he added with another gulp at the bottle.

She allowed a thin smile at that. "We're going to have to watch it, though, Bri. I don't want to risk too much deviation stirring up inflammation and a flare in him …"

He nodded. "Yea, me either." His eyes set on the kids again. Olivia knew what he was thinking. It was hot. They didn't want a flare up on the first day of their trip. "Thinking we need to get him out of the sun soon?"

Olivia allowed a small shrug. "Likely. Or at least take them back into the water or over to the splash pad to cool him down."

Brian made a sound of acknowledgement and glanced at his watch. "Wish they'd fucking hurry up with our room."

She shrugged. "Guess that's what happens when you show up at 8 a.m. in the morning during their busiest season."

Unsurprisingly, a room hadn't been ready for them. A little more surprisingly even though they'd plopped down cash for early check-in – being guaranteed their suite would get cleaned first and opened up to them ASAP – they were still waiting hours later. She was pretty sure one of them would be going up and complaining soon. It was getting to the point Olivia felt they should likely be refunded the fee – because it wasn't really going to be much of an early check-in at this point.

"Supposed be shoulder season here," he muttered.

She found his hand next to hers and gave it a bit of a squeeze. "If you need to close your eyes for a bit, Bri – go ahead."

"I'm OK," he muttered.

She wasn't sure she believed him. As good as Brian was at operating on little to no sleep - she could feel him fading a bit. Fading physically was one thing. But when his phyiscal fading lead to his patience fading they had a problem.

"What you thinking for the rest of the day? Just crash out in the room when we finally get it?" he asked. So maybe he did recognize he needed some downtime - out of the sun - too.

She allowed a little shrug. She was pretty sure that at the very least they all could use a nap – or some quiet down time – in the air conditioned room for an hour or two.

"What were you thinking?" she asked. "You got the five-day tickets?"

He scrubbed at his face. "Yea, but they're the same price as the two day we were going to get. So might as well, right? Figured maybe we'll want to loop this way on the way home and spend an afternoon over at the water park. Or if shit blows up in our faces and need to try again or split things up a bit. Gives us more leeway."

She nodded. It was a reasonable thought. Maybe. It'd depend on how exhausting these couple days were and how the kids behaved and where they were at by the end of their holiday.

"Did you want to go over and do something tonight with that leeway?"

He made a noise at that. "I don't know. Seems like maybe we should tackle that as a fresh start." He gestured off across the courtyard. "They've got a fire pit. They're selling S'more kits in the store. Kids would like that."

She smiled and nodded. "They would," she agreed. And so would Brian. She knew one of the things he missed about the cabin was camp fires on the lake. She'd hoped they'd get a few in at Cragen's too – either on the beach or in their back lot that also apparently had a fire pit. "One of the pools is supposed to be showing a Float to the Movies too," she allowed.

"That'd put in the night …" he agreed.

"But if you want to go scope out the park or this CityWalk area – go to their Guest Services and ask a few questions, that's fine," she said. "It will put in the afternoon."

He shrugged. "Maybe after we get our room."

She nodded. Olivia suspected Brian could use some down time more than he was letting on. She'd definitely like him to get a full night's sleep - as close as Brian ever managed with that - before they tackled much in the parks. She had more been thinking of grabbing a late lunch or early dinner there and maybe seeing a show or two or the parade or the fireworks. Though, she likely didn't want to stay there that late either on their first night and a night of the kids sleeping in the car. That wasn't a great sleep either for them even though they seemed to be doing fine so far. She still was concerned how they'd all sleep at a hotel - and then in Cragen's house. None of them adjusted to new sleeping arrangements very well. And despite Cragen's place having multiple bedrooms at their disposal - and Brian having upgraded to a family suite that included a separate bedroom for the kids - she was still very sure that a lot of nights both kids would end up in bed with them. They might not have travelled much but that definitely seemed to be a theme of their trips. They might have well get a king bed rather than two doubles and a cot - because Benji and Emmy were inevitably just going to end up kicking them all night anyway.

Her phone buzzed. Brian looked at her expectantly. He clearly was hoping it was the notification that their room was ready. But she shook her head as she checked it.

"It's Jack," she said. "I let him know we got here."

Brian made another sound and took another tug at the beer he apparently wasn't enjoying but had paid enough for he was still drinking. "He at our place?"

She shrugged and started keying in a response. "It's noon on a Saturday. I'm assuming he's likely at the skatepark or with Renee."

"As long as he's not just waking up with Renee at our place," Brian muttered.

And Olivia just shook her head. She really didn't think Jack or Renee were that comfortable or blatant in their relationship (or their own sexuality and individual baggage around sex) that they'd likely be doing that at their place. If her and Brian were well into middle age and assuming their sex life and any romance or public displays of affection were going to be put on hold at Cragen and Eileen's - she really wanted to believe that Jack and Renee were even more self-conscious and awkward in that even in privacy when it came to inhabiting her and Brian's house and any activities they might get up to their - in the air conditioning. It'd be too much of Russian Roulette with them too. Jack would know Janet could - and most definitely would - be popping in unannounced at any time and would almost certainly rat him out if he had company in the house or was suspected of doing anything much beyond watching TV. So Olivia was going to assume that if the two of them actually got brave enough to get up to anything - it'd be in the living room and all evidence well cleaned up, disposed off and aired out by the time they got home. And that Renee seemed to be a whole lot tidier than Jack - so that maybe if he did have her over at their place, they might arrive home to it not looking lived in and its cupboards and fridge not being left entirely bare. Olivia was pretty sure Renee would be mortified about leaving the place without any kind of food and a mess. Though, Janet would likely be at Jack either way to have the place sparkling (or entirely take it on herself as an excuse to nose around their entire house like having it clean was some sort of homecoming gift). And really that's about as far as Olivia was willing to think on any of it.

So she shrugged again. "Change the locks, switch the wifi password, cancel the cable, get rid of the PlayStation and downgrade to a smaller TV, Bri," she said.

"Yea, that'd be starting World War Three," he mumbled and took another drink.

"Then just be happy someone's bringing in the mail," she said.

She could feel him roll his eyes but he'd moved to watching the kids again. Emmy was hanging over the fence.

"Daddy, can we go play water cannon pie-rats?" she asked.

Brian held up his bottle at her. "Duckie. What's that?"

"Beer," Emmy stated confidently.

He tilted it for her to see the fluid still sloshing inside. "What's in there?"

"Beer," she said again, giving him that same squint as her brother. Nature. Nurture. Raising adopted kids was fascinating sometimes. So much of ... each other ... her, Brian, Jack, ... even Cragen and Eileen and Janet and John and Alex ... these little bits and pieces of the family they'd made showing up in Benji and Emily. They're own people but so much them and so much family. They all just rubbed off on each other.

"So we going over to the splash pad again yet?" Brian nodded at her. The rule - if Daddy was drinking beer outside, he wasn't playing until he was done. Brian didn't play one-handed. Or do much of anything half-assed.

Emmy huffed and stomped her foot a bit in the sand. "Daddy ….," she sighed disgruntedly at him.

Benji came over and leaned over the top of the fence too, his arms dangling. "Can we go on the river tubes again?" he asked instead and then pointed off in the distance at the Volcano over in the water park that Olivia didn't think the kids quite clued into it being seperate from the hotel - the whole place and experience seemed to just be blending together for them so far. "Or can we go see the Volcano? I think it's gonna erupt. Look! It's smoking'!"

Olivia glanced over her shoulder and took it in. It definitely was. And it was an impressive structure - towering above them. But she wasn't sure she wanted to attempt a water park with the kids at all - let alone just yet that afternoon. Though, she was pretty sure she could be convinced to float around the lazy river in an inner tube again. So she gestured at them to come out of the contained play pen they were in.

"Let's reapply some sunscreen and drink some water – then maybe we can get back in the water," she said.

Brian looked at her as the kids dashed to get around to them. "I'm thinking we likely could've gotten away with not buying the theme park tickets."

She gave him a smile at that, as she rearranged herself in the chair to retrieve the sunscreen to gloop on her children – because Brian also bwaked at having to get his hands 'sticky' to do that.

"Wait until tomorrow," she said.

Because she was pretty sure as soon as the kids met Spiderman – it'd be an afternoon in the pool that they'd have trouble luring them towards. She wasn't sure they'd lure them out of Super Hero Island at all. Too bad they couldn't just have bought tickets specifically for that.