HOLIDAY
RATING M
With the holiday approaching the precinct was abuzz, they had just busted a prostitution ring. Girls of all ages thinking they did nothing wrong. When its common knowledge getting money for sex is illegal. Lately ever since Amanda dealt again with the drama of Kim it really hit her hard to deal with prostitutes especially the young ones. Who honestly wouldnt be bothered at seeing teenagers, practically babies some of them, out there selling their bodies for money and or drugs. Amanda couldnt wait to get out of here for today. She was going to text the sitter to see if she could stay with Jesse a lil longer just so she could go grab a drink and kick back and get her head together. She text her sitter "hey would you mind or would it be possible for you to stay an extra hour? I'll pay more if you need it. Just this case tonight hit me hard. I just need an hour to clear my head and thoughts before I come home to my baby girl." She went back to typing on her laptop while she waited for Jesse's sitter to reply.
She was at work for another hour and her sitter finally text her back. "Sure Ms Rollins, that's not a problem. Jesse has been fine. Go clear your head and relax for bit. I'm sure Jesse will wanna cuddle with mama when you get home. Take it easy, and I'll see you when you get here." Amanda sighed with relief. All she wanted to do was go and shake off this case, get a clear mind, and just shake off the damn hateful texts from Beth. She was staring off into space when Olivia walked over to her desk. Granted Liv and Amanda hadnt been close in the past but they were working on it and have even recently been letting the kids play together. Liv could see that Amanda was not in the right frame of mind so to speak. Now the question she was asking herself was does she step outside with Amanda, have Amanda come into her office, or have Amanda go into an interview room. She didnt want upset her subordinate but she knew something was troubling her. She decided to see if Amanda would come talk to her in the cribs. "Hey Amanda can you come with me into the cribs? I want to talk to you privately." Amanda shrugged her shoulders and got up. "Sure Liv. I guess."
Amanda followed Liv to the cribs. "Amanda are you okay? I can tell something is up. Something might have triggered you off with this case?" Amanda's eyes went down to the floor. Speaking softly Amanda answered "yeah this case has hit hard. It's bugging me. Hitting me harder than it should." Liv sat them down and let Amanda talk. It actually felt good to get some of it off her chest. After a lil bit she thanked Liv and went out to collect her things. Though it helped her a bit by just talking she still wanted to go and have a couple drinks and just relax. This was just hard. She knew how her family was and was used to it but that didnt make it any easier that's for sure. Liv watched Amanda as she got up and started to pace around the room. "Hey Amanda, why don't you and Jesse join me and Noah for Thanksgiving?" Amanda didnt respond right away. Everything was just too much for her right now. Her boss was in too close proximity to her. She shook it off, needing to get out she started towards the door. Not wanting to be rude she answered Liv's question "Ill think about it. I'm not one to impose." She didnt give Liv time to respond, she just left, those after work beers calling her name.
Hour later... Amanda is sitting at the bar nursing her next drink. She thinks it's her third drink. She's not drunk by any means, feeling pretty good for the most part. Getting up to go pee she starts thinking again about Olivia's offer. Should she take her boss up on that and let Jesse enjoy a holiday playing with a friend? Or should she just stay home, her and Jesse and make a small turkey? Hell if she knew, she was just so confused. She text Liv, she was going to do it. Why have Jesse suffer when she didn't have to.
"Liv, If you really dont mind having Jesse and I for Thanksgiving dinner I'll take you up on the offer. I'm really sorry about my mood at work, it's just that case really hit me hard." She hoped Liv would understand. Just that case, brought back the times Kim was arrested in Georgia for prostitution, then coming here while she was pregnant and rolling the guy who pimped her out. She figured she had definitly had enough booze so she paid her bill and headed home. She hadnt heard back from Liv so she was thinking Liv changed her mind.
She got home, thanked and paid the sitter for staying extra. She told Amanda never a problem and that Jesse had been great like she always was. Amanda smiled. She considered herself lucky to have such a good natured baby. Just as she sat down to play with Jesse on the the floor with her blocks her phone went off. She took it out of her pants pocket and saw that she had received a message notification "Amanda of course I don't mind. That's why I asked you to come over for dinner. As long as you don't mind my cooking we should be okay. I'll tell Noah and he'll be excited. See you tomorrow." Amanda smiled when she saw that. Made her feel like someone genuinely cared. Just before she text Liv back Jesse toddled over to her with her arms held out "Mama hug?" Amanda's eyes bristled with tears as she hugged her lil girl. If the lil one could just know what the gesture meant to her. She snuggled her lil girl tightly. "My sweet girl, we are going to go and spend Thanksgiving with Olivia and Noah tomorrow. How's that sound?"
Jesse squealed in delight. She liked to play with Noah, and it also gave Amanda some adult time with a friend that work wasnt really discussed. After getting Jesse calmed, bathed and in bed for the evening she text Liv. "Just wanted to let you know Jesse is very excited to be coming over to play with Noah. I'm grateful you invited us." Liv was on the other side of town doing the same. She had just gotten Noah settled in for the night and was getting herself a much deserved glass of wine, when she saw Amanda's text. Smiling she replied back. "We are both looking forward to it.
The next day was your typical blustery November day. Amanda was nervous for some odd reason, no idea why but she was nervous. Jesse was watching her mama get dressed, after she had put the toddler in a holiday dress. "Mama is Olivia my auntie?" That made Amanda smile as she was brushing her hair. "Well my sweet girl I dont think Liv would mind it if you called her that." With that the blonde toddler who was her mother's twin bounced happily into the living room to wait. Amanda was glad that her and Liv were able to grow in the time she had been working at SVU to get to this point where they could be friends and even get the kids together to play.
They went over to Liv's. Jesse was all excited as Amanda was nervous for some reason. When Liv answered the door she was greeted by a bubbly, excited toddler who hugged her legs "Auntie Olivia I been waitin' and waitin' to come see you." Amanda quickly grabbed her "Jesse". Liv smiled and welcomed the two into her apartment. As soon as Noah had heard Jesse he came running out, quickly saying hi to Amanda and pulling Jesse to his room to play. Liv looked at him "Noah Benson, no jumping on the bed. Understand? We are going to be eating in a little bit." Noah told his mom yes and went to play with Jesse. Liv smiled at Amanda "Thank you for agreeing to dinner, you made his night. Mine too. Wont be filled with all dinosaurs and kid talk." Amanda smiled back. "I really appreciate you inviting us. Even though I dont speak to my family or go back to Georgia I still wanted to give Jesse some sort of family interaction."
Liv was happy that Amanda infact thought of her as family, made her feel good. She truly cared about her detective and was grateful they were able to overcome all their issues and become friends. Amanda helped Liv get the dinner all set. Was a small bird, figuring the kids really werent gonna eat much and it would be mostly them eating the turkey and fixins'. Of course the kids really didnt grasp the meaning of the holiday so it was Amanda and Liv holding hands and the kids hands saying grace. Then Liv wanted to do something easy that the kids could participate in and understand. Liv wanted each of them to say what they were thankful for. Noah started "I'm thankful for my mommy cause she does everything she can to make me happy. I'm thankful my friends at school. I'm thankful for Mandy and Jesse. Im thankful for Mandy cause she brings Jesse over and we can play." Both Liv and Amanda smiled, tears bristled in Amanda's eyes, she really didnt think she meant much to anyone cept for Jesse. Noah squeezed Jesse's hand "your turn Jesse." Jesse nodded. "I'm thankful for my mama cause she loves me and she makes me happy. I love you mama. I'm thankful Auntie Olivia and Noah cause Auntie lets me come to play with Noah." These kids were good at this, making the adults get teary eyed. Liv looked at Amanda, okay 'georgia peach' it's your turn. Amanda blushed, this wasnt the first time that Liv had referred to her as 'georgia peach'. Since Amanda took a minute Jesse decided to prompt her. "Come on Mama." Manda gave a half smile. "I'm thankful for you miss Jesse. I'm thankful for my job, my colleagues. Liv I'm thankful we were able to overcome differences and become friends. I'm thankful my daughter has such a sweet boy for a friend and yes that's you Noah. I'm thankful for the way everyone has helped me and stayed by my side with everything I have been through." Amanda though she didnt want to, she had tears coming down her eyes. She never had this acceptance and surely never thought she would be where she was. Shaking it off, with a lump in her throat, "Liv it's your turn." Liv patted Amanda's hand. "I'm thankful for my lil boy Noah here, first and foremost. I'm thankful for being employed and being leiutenant of an amazing squad. Amanda I'm thankful we are now friends and have overcome our differences and trust issues." Soon after that they dug into their food. Surprisingly the kids liked the turkey and veggies. After they finished the kids got down for a bit and went to play and get out of their moms' hair as long as they promised to call them out later for dessert.
They cleaned up the dinner dishes and wrapped up the left overs. After they finished that Liv poured them each a glass of wine. "Rollins drink it, you deserve a break." Amanda rolling her eyes, taking a sip of the red liquid "Oh for the love of God Liv, quit callin me Rollins. Call me Amanda. You call me Rollins outside of work and I'm looking over my shoulder thinking I'm in trouble." They talked a bit, softly bantering with each other. It was nice, wasn't any kind of resentment or attitude what so ever with either of them. Bout an hour later they called the kids out for their dessert, of course they come running for sweets. It was fun seeing the kids excited for treats and just genuinely having a good time together. When they had finished their dessert they went to go play again for a while. Liv and Amanda just relaxed and chatted, it felt good to just sit and talk "girl stuff" and not worrying about judgement. Both of them had been judged for most of their lives so it was hard to open up. Neither of them feeling afraid to open up and talk which was nice. The different thing with them was Liv had Alex to talk to years ago while Amanda had noone. So the trust level was building. It started to get late and they hadnt heard a peep from the kids in a while so they went to check on them. What they found could have melted the coldest of hearts. The two kids sleeping side by side holding hands. Amanda looked at Liv "Um so how do I get Jesse without waking them up?" Liv chuckled softly "I dont think that's going to happen. You could always take the couch and crash here." Amanda leaned her head on the wall, "As nice as that sounds Liv, we cant impose like that." Liv rubbed her back gently, "Nonsense Amanda, you're always welcome here."
They went back out to the living room, Liv wasnt planning on letting Amanda leave. She was enjoying kicking back and getting to really know her detective who was fastly becoming a great friend. Amanda ended up curling up on the couch and crashing. Liv knew she would, she pulled the blanket down over her friend. She went on over to the other couch and got comfortable as well.
"Amanda I am thankful for your forgiveness and your friendship."
