"Mommy, NO!" Jade whined tearfully, clinging to Alex's leg. Alex was dressed for court and her daughter's little fist wasn't doing the hemline of her pencil skirt any favors.
So far, the first day of Kindergarten wasn't going well, and school hadn't even started yet. Alex, sensing that there would be tears to deal with, had made sure that they arrived at school thirty minutes early to give Jade plenty of time to get used to her surroundings and meet her teacher again. At age six, Jade would be a year older than most of her classmates but because of her past she wasn't ready for first grade yet so she would spend a year in Kindergarten to give her a chance to catch up developmentally.
"Sweetheart, Mommy has to go to work. Mama will be here to pick you up at 2:30 and you're going to go with her to pick up brother from his school at 3:00. You and brother are going to play at the precinct with Grandpa Don and Uncle Munchy until Mommy's last court case is done at 4:30 and then Mommy will take you and brother home and make pork chops and applesauce for dinner. Mama is working late tonight and won't be home until after bedtime." Alex patiently explained how the day's schedule was going to go, despite having explained it numerous times over the past three days. Olivia and Alex had learned the hard way that Jade did better when she knew what to expect, and God help them if plans changed unexpectedly.
In the weeks since she turned six years old, Jade's behavior was deteriorating. She was whiny, sassy, defiant, disrespectful, and was becoming very familiar with the time-out chair that the moms seemed to always be sending her to. Olivia and Alex were very worried about their little girl. They went to great lengths to be very consistent and gave both of their children structure, emotional support, encouragement, and unconditional love, but Jade was still falling apart right before their eyes. The moms tried to talk to her every day and remind her that they loved her and she could talk to them about anything, but she refused to tell them what was wrong. They were discussing getting her into counseling.
Jade had somehow convinced herself that her parents were going to leave her. Right now, she was doing everything her little mind could think of to prevent Mommy from leaving her at school, convinced that if Alex left she would never see her again. It didn't help that Jade's best friend, Bethany, was in first grade already and the girls would only get to see each other at afternoon recess. Jade didn't know any of the kids in her class.
"Good morning, Jade! Do you remember me? I'm your teacher, Ms. Singer."
Jade and Alex looked up to see a pretty African American woman, probably twenty nine or thirty years old, smiling pleasantly at them. Alex looked around and felt better when she saw that she wasn't the only parent whose child was experiencing separation anxiety. One poor father even had a twin on each leg.
"Good morning, Ms. Singer. I'm Alex Cabot." Alex smiled.
"Nice to meet you, Alex. Are you Jade's nanny?" Ms. Singer shook Alex's manicured hand. She was used to seeing nannies drop off and pick up the children in their charge, but none as well dressed as the blonde woman standing in front of her.
"I'm Jade's mom." Alex stated simply as she stroked Jade's auburn hair soothingly.
"Oh…. I thought Detective Benson was Jade's mom. She brought Jade to the teacher meet-n-greet last Friday." Ms. Singer looked confused. She had just assumed that Olivia was a single mother like so many women these days.
"Detective Benson is my wife, Jade's other mom. She brought Jade to the meet-n-greet by herself because I got stuck at work. If you look at your list of students, you'll see that Jade has both our names. Jade Benson-Cabot." Alex kept the smile on her face, but she was getting a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She could detect just a hint of disgust in Ms. Singer's eyes.
Because of their respective jobs Alex and Olivia were careful to keep their relationship out of the newspapers but even among those who knew about it, not all were accepting of it. Alex had the feeling that Ms. Singer might be one of those people and made a mental note to talk to Olivia about it. Calvin experienced his share of bullying from his schoolmates for being the adopted son of lesbians, and they expected that Jade probably would encounter the same from the other kids. A teacher should be above that kind of behavior, but if Olivia and Alex's relationship was going to be a problem for this woman and her feelings affected their daughter's schooling, they might have to transfer Jade to one of the other Kindergarten classrooms. Olivia knew for a fact that Mr. Douglas in the classroom down the hall was not at all homophobic after she arrested his lesbian daughter's rapist.
"Jade, baby, don't be rude. Say hello to Ms. Singer, please." Alex bent down to gently unwind her child from her leg, but Jade was having none of that.
"Jade, have you met our class pet? We have a bunny named Thumper." Ms. Singer asked, trying to help make Jade feel more comfortable. Like her Mama, Jade loved animals. She especially loved bunnies and had pouted for days when Mommy and Mama told her that she couldn't have one because the landlord didn't allow pets in the building.
Her meltdown forgotten, Jade let go of Alex's leg and willingly went off with Ms. Singer to check out Thumper, giving Alex the opportunity to slip out of the classroom. The judge would just have to forgive Alex's wrinkled hemline.
As promised, at exactly 2:30 Olivia walked into Jade's classroom. She smiled and scooped Jade into her arms when the little girl came running up to her, relieved that Mama had come to get her like Mommy said.
"Hey, lovey! How was your first day of school?" Olivia hugged and kissed her daughter.
"It was fun, Mama! I made lots of friends! We sang the alphabet song and read stories and painted and played outside and used clay and…"
Olivia listened to Jade babble on about her first day of school while she carried her outside to the car and helped her buckle her seatbelt. Jade was still talking when they pulled up in front of Calvin's school and waited for a few minutes before students started pouring out the front doors. Calvin spotted his Mom's car and after saying goodbye to his friends, climbed into the back seat next to his little sister. Olivia noted that he seemed a little down.
"How was your first day of school, baby?" Olivia asked her son when Jade finally stopped to take a breath.
"It was okay. I have a lot of homework already and I got yelled at for talking during History class, but most of my classes and teachers are all right. I like my science teacher, he's really cool."
Olivia gave Calvin a stern look in the rearview mirror. Since it was the first day, she wasn't going to make a big deal out of his talking in class unless it became an everyday problem. Calvin knew better than to behave like that.
The threesome arrived at the precinct where Olivia immediately had a stack of files shoved in her hand and was called to the M.E.'s office, where the kids were not allowed to go. The little girl immediately gravitated toward John Munch. Calvin went to hang out with Cragen in his office like he usually did. Most of his homework was finished by the time Alex came to pick up the kids. Jade had taken a short nap and beat Munch at tic-tac-toe four times. Olivia kissed Alex when she arrived and hugged her children goodbye, reminding them to behave for their mom. It was a hectic day at the precinct and they were on the verge of blowing their current case wide open, hence the reason that Olivia was working late. Cragen needed all hands on deck.
Alex fed her children dinner, gave Jade a bath, assisted Calvin with his homework, put Jade to bed at 8:00 despite her whining and protesting, and chased Calvin away from his beloved video games at 9:30. With both of her children safely tucked into bed, Alex cleaned up the kitchen and did a little bit of paperwork and preparation for court the next morning before heading for bed herself at 11:00. A little after midnight, an exhausted Olivia came through the door and quietly slipped into bed beside a sleeping Alex who automatically rolled over and snuggled up next to her. It would be Olivia's turn to take the children to school the next morning.
Olivia experienced the same clingy behavior that Alex had experienced the previous day when she dropped Jade off at school, only Olivia was wearing jeans and therefore didn't have to worry about wrinkled hemlines. As patiently as the tired detective could, she promised that Mommy would be there to pick her up as soon as school was over. Alex had not yet had time to fill Olivia in on Ms. Singer's behavior the previous day, but Olivia still noticed the cold way that the teacher greeted them, the complete opposite of the warm way she had spoken with them at the teacher meet-n-greet.
Olivia's warning bells started ringing one day when she went to pick up Jade from school and found the little girl sitting in Ms. Singer's time-out corner sobbing as if her heart were broken. Jade never liked being put in time-out but Olivia had never seen her cry about it before, and there was just no excuse to leave a child who was that upset alone in a corner. Olivia walked right to her daughter and picked Jade straight up out of the chair, cuddling her close. Jade threw her arms around Olivia's neck and clung to her for dear life.
"There, there, baby girl. Mama's here." Olivia cooed.
"Detective Benson, Jade needs to stay in the corner until she stops crying." Ms. Singer snapped coldly, standing up from her desk.
"Like hell she does! How long has she been like this?" Olivia glared at the young teacher. She and Alex usually went to great pains to avoid swearing in front of their children, but Olivia couldn't help it at this point.
"About thirty minutes. She tried to lie to me about another student making fun of her, and then she hit that same student, and when I sent her to time-out she started crying so I told her that she had to stay in time-out until she stopped crying. You and your "partner" really ought to teach her not to lie and not to cry over a simple time-out."
"Mama, I didn't lie! I didn't!" Jade sobbed in her own defense.
"I know you didn't, baby. Mommy and I have taught you and brother not to lie. Can you tell Mama what happened, sweetheart?" Olivia asked kindly.
"Meghan was making fun of me for having two mommies. I tried to tell Ms. Singer that Meghan was being mean, but she didn't believe me. Then Meghan was making fun of me again, so I smacked her. Ms. Singer put me in time-out for hitting, but she didn't put Meghan in time-out for being mean! That's not fair! If you're mean, you get time-out and then you 'pologize! It's in the rules!"
Jade pointed to a large sheet of paper on one of the walls where all of the classroom rules were written in green marker on a large sheet of paper. One of the rules was "use your words, not your fists" and even Jade wouldn't deny that she had broken that one. But the rule right above that one said "be kind in word and deed".
"And did Jade get her apology, Ms. Singer?" Olivia asked pointedly.
"No, because I have no reason to believe that Meghan was being mean in any way. Besides, Jade needs to learn to deal with teasing. Her circumstances make her an easy target. I guess she has you and Ms. Cabot to thank for that." Ms. Singer replied haughtily.
Without saying another word, Olivia picked up Jade's backpack in her free hand and carried her distraught daughter out of the room. Olivia went into the office and greeted the secretary at the desk.
"Hello. I need to speak with the principal right away, please."
"Of course…. Mrs. Wright, Jade Benson-Cabot's mother is here to see you."
"Thank you, Sarah. Send her in." Mrs. Wright responded through the intercom.
"What can I do for you, Detective Benson?" Mrs. Wright smiled warmly when Olivia entered her office, but frowned in concern when she saw Jade hiding her cute little face in her mother's shoulder.
Knowing that the principal must be anxious to get home after a long day of caring for over 1,000 students, Olivia got right to the point and carefully explained the entire situation. She concluded her speech with the desire to transfer Jade to another classroom, preferably to Mr. Douglas's classroom.
To say that Mrs. Wright was ashamed would be an understatement. She prided herself on running a school that was accepting of everyone, regardless of who they or their parents were. Ms. Singer was a new addition to the school's faculty this year, but Mrs. Wright had already received several complaints about the woman from parents and teachers alike, including one mother whose son wasn't even in Ms. Singer's class!
"I am so sorry about all of this, Detective. Rest assured that Ms. Singer's behavior will not be tolerated and will be dealt with. Luckily, Mr. Douglas has an empty slot in his classroom, and Jade is welcome to it. Today is Thursday, so we can do the appropriate paperwork and Jade can start in her new classroom on Monday if you think she can handle being with Ms. Singer for one more day."
"What do you think, sunshine? Can you tough it out just one more day?" Olivia said kindly to the child in her arms.
"Yes, Mama. If I hafta." Jade responded in a tired, whiny tone. Olivia decided to overlook the whining. Her little girl was tired and needed a nap.
"That's a good girl. Say goodbye to Mrs. Wright and we'll go home." Olivia kissed the top of Jade's head.
"Bye, Mrs. W." Jade obediently responded.
"Goodbye, Jade. Have a great evening and I'll see you tomorrow." Mrs. Wright smiled.
"Mama?" Jade's asked when Olivia opened the door to their apartment and put Jade down on her feet.
"Yes, baby?" Olivia smiled at her little girl.
"Are you and Mommy going to get rid of me now?" a few leftover tears rolled down Jade's face.
You could have knocked Olivia over with a feather. She immediately picked Jade up again.
"Of course not, sweetheart! Mommy and I love you very much and we would miss you if you weren't here. Why would you think we were going to get rid of you?"
"Because I'm a bad girl. I got in trouble today."
"First of all, you are not a 'bad girl'. You are a good girl who made a wrong choice today. I don't like that you hit somebody and neither will Mommy. There will be consequences for that, but the rest of it was not your fault. Ms. Singer is homophobic, which is why you were moved out of her class because it is unacceptable for anyone to mistreat one of my babies. I am also going to call Meghan's mom and you will get your apology."
"Homo-who?" Jade furrowed her brow in confusion.
"Never mind, lovey. I want you to go lay down for a nap right now. You can lie on Mama and Mommy's big bed if you want to. When you wake up you can help me make dinner. Brother is spending the night at a friend's house tonight, so maybe after dinner you, me, and Mommy can cuddle on the couch with popcorn and watch 'Frozen'."
Jade smiled for the first time that day.