Title: Bombshell
Author: ZombieJazz
Fandom: Law & Order: SVU
Disclaimer: I don't own them. Law and Order SVU and its characters belong to Dick Wolf. The characters of Jack and Benji have been created and developed for the sake of this AU series.
Summary: A future chapter of Welcome Home. Olivia and Cragen have a conversation about her sons and her future in SVU. Set around Jack's birthday/Christmas. This is a flash forward and will later be moved/added to Welcome Home when it catches up to this point.
Author's Notes: This AU series is for SVU fans and readers who want Olivia to have something that resembles a more normal life outside of work and a family of her own - hopefully somewhat realistically within the canon of SVU. Most of the chapters will ultimately take place outside of the work environment, so there aren't going to be too many references to cases from the show. But this story would generally be starting in about Season 15 of the show. Please let me know what you think and if you distribute elsewhere.
WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR READERS OF "WELCOME HOME". THIS IS A FUTURE CHAPTER TO 'WELCOME HOME' THAT WILL BE ADDED WHEN THE STORY CATCHES UP TO THAT POINT IN THE TIMELINE. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ IT OUT OF SEQUENCE — JUST WAIT AND EVENTUALLY THIS WILL APPEAR AS A CHAPTER IN THE WH STORY.
Olivia hugged her little boy to her tightly from where he was sitting in her lap, starting to pick at the tape on another present. She bent her head and again pressed her lips against his side of his head. He hardly even registered the affection and continued to work at the wrapping paper.
They'd managed to determine that if Benji was opening a gift at the same time as his brother, he seemed more willing to participate. It meant they were going through the gifts a little faster than their previous Christmas but she didn't really care. She was still getting to spend time with her family and boys. It didn't matter the sequence in which they were opening presents. And, even if they were going through the actual presents more like two at the time rather than one, after the boys got them open they were still slowing down as they examined the gifts. Especially Benji.
Olivia had relented in letting him open the "big prezzie!" She'd thought maybe getting him to open one gift might get him to actually pariticpate in the gift-unwrapping without them having to wait hours between gifts. She didn't really care if getting Benji to open presents took her entire week off – but at the same time, she also really didn't want Christmas clutter spread across her apartment for weeks. The lead up to the holidays had been enough. It could be out for about a week more – and then she thought she was going to be more than ready to reclaim some of the space in their already cramped space.
Benji had been pretty thrilled with his easel. Though, he'd been confused at first. He thought she'd just borrowed it from his classroom for him to play with over the break. After he'd managed to comprehend that – 'No, Little Fox, this is your own easel. For home. For always.' – he'd pretty much lost it. He'd been very excited and of course they were having to get it out of the box. And, also, of course, the thing needed some assembly and Benji was completely restless about that as she fiddled with it while Brian and Jack kept trying to take over like she was some sort of incompetent woman who couldn't handle a few screws on a children's toy.
Benji had set about unpacking all the painting supplies that came with the set. Paints, paint cups, chalk, easer, dry easer markers, a variety of brushes and clips and a paper roll. He'd been even more excited when he realized his easel had a whiteboard on one-side and a chalkboard on the other. He'd already trying to draw on it while she was still working at putting together the thing for him. And, the artist's apron? Well – that had gone on and it hadn't yet come off. She wasn't sure how much the thing was going to protect his clothes or the rest of the apartment from his painting efforts if this had just become a new dress-up accessory. But for the moment – she wasn't arguing with him about it. She was loving it about him and clutching at him in her crossed legs while he finally managed to get the next gift open.
She glanced over at Jack to make sure he'd gotten the paper off his box too. He had and was sitting patiently looking at them – waiting for his brother to be ready to dig in.
"You ready, Little Fox?" she asked gently and he looked up at her with big eyes and then looked at Jack.
"Peedg gonna open too?"
"Yea, Jamin, I'm ready," Jack said.
Olivia gave Jack a little nod and he started to lift the lid on the box and push a way the tissue paper. He was already shooting her a smile before he even lifted out the striped sweater to admire it.
It wasn't something she likely would've picked out for him on her own accord. It didn't really seem what she had come to consider Jack's style – even when he was trying to expand his style beyond skater gear and try to 'fit in' more. This definitely looked like something some preppy kid shopping in J. Crew would end up with. Not exactly how she defined her son – at all. But she'd been watching some of the different clothes he was looking at when they'd been out picking out a Christmas outing outfit and a new shirt for church.
Jack tried to be so discrete when he was looking at things. He refused to ask for anything. He was so hesitant to tell her things he liked – or wanted. About the only time she got a rambling list of things he 'wanted' was when he was off on some sort of spew about skateboarding hardware. But that fell well outside her wheelhouse – even with Gecko's help. It was Jack's hobby. He knew what he liked, wanted, and needed. She wasn't going to invest all that money into that kind of stuff only to have gotten the wrong – or inferior – thing. And, she also knew when he went on one of those spews, he didn't even know he was giving a 'want' list. He was just talking. He was getting excited and passionate about one of the things he got excited and passionate about. But getting him to pick some clothes or give some Christmas or birthday ideas – that was a different story.
But even despite that – even with the absolute kind of over practicality she'd gone with in a lot of the boys' gifts that year – Jack had been very grateful. The other gift he'd gotten to open so far that morning from her was an electric razor. She knew it wasn't exactly a thrilling present. But it was something he'd mentioned in passing months ago and it was something she thought he could use. And, she'd splurged and not only gotten him a wireless one – but a waterproof one. Because she knew how her son thought – or didn't think. He would've been taking the thing in the shower whether it was wireless or not. He already did his shaving in the shower as far as she could tell. He likely wouldn't have clued in that maybe he shouldn't be taking an electric one into the water if it wasn't designed for that. As smart as he was – he was dense sometimes.
Still, it had meant when he showed even a passing interest in the sweater, she'd taken note – even if it wasn't something she likely would've gravitated towards for him. Since when did her son wear colors that weren't black, grey or blue? Especially multiple colors depicted in stripes? But, from the smile on his face, it was a good call she'd made note of his seeming attraction to it.
"Thanks, Mom," he said, still looking at it.
Olivia gave some small nod. "There's some other stuff in the box," she encouraged, nudging him towards taking a look at the more mundane skate tshirt, some new socks and a pair of jeans she'd thrown in that box to give him something that resembled a new outfit for the winter.
She was most worried about the jeans. Jack was incredibly unco-operative about picking and trying on pants even when she offered to be the one paying for them. And, if she just gave him money and didn't accompany him – he clearly didn't try the things on, just picked a size that he thought would fit. His definition of appropriate sizing – though improving – was still significantly skewed. He always ended up with things that were far too baggy – even when he was going for baggy. And he had absolutely no clue about how different cuts fit or what they even looked like. It was all the same to him. He was going to be a chore for a future girlfriend or wife. But she also didn't think Jack would care in the least if a gilfriend or wife was dressing him – as long as they weren't trying to change him in the process. But if they wanted to be picking and buying his clothing and educating him on what kept him from looking like a complete slob or hobo? He'd likely be open to that.
Still, Olivia found picking out clothes – particularly pants – for him to be difficult. Especially when he wasn't with her. But it was usually faster to go and pick the clothes herself than to try to do battle with him. She suspected that Jack was worse than a teenaged fashionita when it came to shopping. Not because he liked to shop – he hated it. But because he had no idea what he wanted, what he liked, what looked good (or would look good on him). He'd stand and stare at a rack for an entirety and look like a deer in headlights if she let him. So she'd taken to just picking up some things for him herself when it came to getting him clothes that she was willing to pay for. Thankfully that'd only been a handful of times so far in her parenthood of a young man. And, she sort of hoped that by the time he was 21 – she'd decide she really didn't need to be instructing her son – a grown man – on his wardrobe. But she was probably kidding herself. There'd likely be birthday and Christmas clothing purchases for the foreseeable future – at least until he was 25 or so … or worse … until she got him paired off with some poor, unsuspecting girl.
She'd ultimately decided it was better just to pick a pair of jeans that she thought would be a flattering cut and fit on him and then return them if they didn't fit appropreiately. Though, she knew no matter how they fit – unless they were too small – Jack would think they were fine. She wouldn't. She'd be taking them back. So hopefully he tried them on sooner rather than later. Though, she also knew that he'd likely go and change into the new clothes at the first chance available. That was just Jack. He got excited about new things. It was still such a foreign concept to him.
She was sure that Jay likely bought new things for his children. Though, the options were likely somewhat limited in shopping in their immediate area while growing up and she somehow didn't see Jay as an online shopper. And based on the lack of sizing sensibility Jack had – she really suspected Jay didn't have a clue about it either and had attired his son and daughter in whatever. Better for them to grow into it than outgrow it too quickly? She could appreciate that too a point too. She certainly tried to buy Benji things that he hopefully wouldn't be growing out of in two months. Though, she didn't think that was too much of a problem right now. His growth seemed a little stunted. After putting on a bit of height over the spring and summer, he was all at a standstill that fall. Though, apparently that was normal too. That he'd have another growth spurt soon enough. Not that those reassurances meant she didn't worry anyways.
"What'd you get, Benj?" she asked and looked back to her little boy, who seemed much more interested in feeling the tissue paper between his fingers and with tossing the ribbon from on top of the parcel back-and-forth with Brian.
Brian had been really good with the kids that morning. She'd been a little concerned about how it might go. She wasn't sure they were at the point in their relationship that having him there for Christmas was the best idea. It might've been OK if it was just them. But she also wondered what their relationship would look like at all if it was just them? She thought they'd likely still have one but that they'd probably be living pretty separate lives. Not that they didn't do that anyways but the boys seemed to be a really unifying factor – even though they could also be a dividing one when she weighed them into the equation – sometimes too much in Brian's opinion. And, they'd definitely been part of the equation when she'd decided about how to do Christmas. But it'd actually been Benji who had pretty much made the decision for her. He was the one who'd started making statements that just assumed that Brian would be there. And, then not long after that Jack had made a comment about if he should get something for Brian for Christmas and what he was thinking of getting for the man. The reality was if the boys were the ones broaching it – if they were comfortable enough with the idea and with him – then she wasn't going to tread on that progress.
She'd kind of wanted him there anyway. Brian being around that fall – though, not without its own frustrations and complications – had brought a further sense of normalcy to her life. It was nice to have another set of hands and someone else to lean on when it came to juggling schedules and raising two boys. Even though Brian was Brian – he was fairly dependable. And on the nights that he was over – when she reached the point to relax enough to give him a key to the apartment – it was nice to have someone to go home to. For her and Benji to not walk into an empty apartment after work and kindergarten and his after-school daycare. To walk into an apartment that already smelled of dinner and to have someone there to deflect Benji antics so she could spool down for a few minutes before eating. To have someone to spew her day and frustrations at. Some days it was even nice when Brian called when he was leaving work to see how much longer she was going to be stuck in the squad and asked if she wanted him to pick up her son from the precinct daycare and take him home for her. Though, it'd taken a bit for her to take him up on that offer – she'd been nervous about it on so many levels – she'd been glad she had. Because then not only did she arrive home to a man and dinner – she usually got home to a little boy who'd already been calmed from his day and had settled into his nighttime routine that she could actually enjoy with him rather than being the one to push him through every step of the process. Sometimes dinner, bath-time and pajamas had even already been taken care of and all she had to do was lounge in bed with her little boy for a while and cuddle and giggle and read him stories before kissing him goodnight. And having that break – and getting some of the easier, more rewarding parts of motherhood handed to her on a platter without all the interim struggles – was pretty damn nice.
Brian was good with the boys. She didn't really like to admit it. Sometimes she didn't want to admit it because it made her think about things a little too much. But he had this quiet hands-off approach that she appreciated. He didn't wade into areas that she didn't want him too. And even though he sometimes gave her his unsolicited opinion on parenting techniques or how to deal with one of the boys or situation – he never did so in front of the boys. He was gruff – but that was just Brian. Any nervousness that either of the boys seemed to have about his rough-around-the-edges demeanor had faded over the months – particularly with Benji. Jack still sometimes gave him looks or death-stares if he didn't appreciate something the man was saying or doing. But that's about as close as they ever got to any sort of feud. It worked. For the most part.
Even when she sometimes still had her hesitations about him being over or around – like the previous night when he'd been in a bit of a grouch when he'd arrive – he usually adjusted himself if she said something. He had last night and they'd managed to share a nice evening with the boys and an even nicer – and somewhat expected – evening together after the boys finally went to sleep. And, things were going even smoother and nicer that morning.
It just felt relaxed. Even though Cragen calling and saying he and Eileen would be stopping by in the morning had thrown her off a bit – she was glad when they'd arrived. It'd felt surprisingly natural when they had gotten in the door. It felt nice. It sort of felt like what she might've always imagined having Christmas with a family might be supposed to feel like. It was just nice.
It was like what she might've imagined having her mother – or parents – over for a visit on the holidays might be like. It was like she might've imagined it would be like for her boys to have grandparents who wanted to visit with them and see them on Christmas Day. It'd been breakfast and a chat and some presents. Brian had again excelled at maintaining quiet chatter even if that wasn't something he particularly wanted to do. But he'd been polite. Though, he usually was with Cragen. He respected Cragen – and that went along way with Cass.
Benji had still refused to open the gift that the Captain and Eileen had brought. But Eileen seemed to just use that as a reason to indicate that they'd stop by again later in the day to see if Benji was ready to open it yet. So they'd be having some additional company for dinner. But Olivia thought she was OK with that. In fact, she thought she really liked that idea.
"It a dino hoodie," Benji declared as he pulled the fleece out of the box and held it at her.
She gave him a smile and a little nod. "It is," she agreed, as she took it from him and held it more for him to see. "So you can dress up as a dinosaur." Benji nodded hard and grabbed at it but she riffled some of the other tissue paper around. "What else is in there, Benj?" She asked instead – starting to get him prepped for the idea that these were clothes she'd be making him put on at some point that day – preferably before all their company got there.
"Socks," he said and held up the new items at her. She didn't know anyone could go through socks so fast – but having boys in her life had definitely taught her that you ALWAYS needed new socks. She didn't know what either of them did with htem half the time or if it really was true that the laundry machine ate them or the dryer had some sort of sock vortex. She'd believe any of those statements at that point.
"Yes," she agreed and tapped at the rest of the fabric in the box that he didn't seem too interested in looking at. He seemed more interested in now trying to pull the zip-up hoodie over his head (and his apron) and being a dinosaur. So she just went ahead at unpacking the rest of the clothes for him. "And, you've got a nice T-Rex tshirt."
"Like Opt-tim-us," he said as he flailed his arms around in her lap, nearly striking her in the face. Brian leaned over and pulled the jacket into place for him and flipped the hood up over his head, making a small growling sound that she knew he'd never do if other people were in the apartment in that moment but one that elicited a giggle from Benji who returned the roar, gnashing his teeth and holding up T-Rex claws.
"And jeans, like Jack's," she said, though Benji was definitely not listening at this point. He'd pulled himself out of her lap and was starting to stomp around the room like a T-Rex, going and retrieving his DinoBot Rescue Bot again and taking it with him him on the mission, pressing the roar button and roaring right along with it – shoving it in each of their faces as he did so.
"And, a nice stripped sweater too," she said, holding it up to show him as he did the roar in her face. The whole purpose of the gift had been to have both of her boys in new sweaters by Christmas dinner. She wasn't sure how co-operative Benji was going to be with that. "So … you can wear your hoodie for today and then we'll change into the sweater when Auntie Alex gets here."
Benji just ignored her – continuing on with his roaring campaign to Brian.
"Hey," Brian said as Benji pressed the button again, "say thanks to your ma for the gift."
Benji turned and looked at her. He had a big smile on his face. He hadn't been trying to be rude. He was just being a little boy. Clothes were only so exciting. "Tank you, Mommy."
"You're welcome, Little Fox," she allowed.
"Brian hasn't opened anything yet," Jack declared, apparently done looking at his clothes – or at least distracted from it by Benji's antics. He sat up on his knees and leaned to dig through the gifts under the tree and held up a package at Brian. "Here."
Brian reached to take it – though he looked a little embarrassed. He'd already expressed some trepidation to her that he felt awkward about there being multiple gifts for him. Also not something he was particularly used to – and especially when he knew she'd been involved in their selection and paying, and even more especially when he'd adhered to her 'we shouldn't be getting elaborate things for each other, we haven't been together long enough' rule. Though, she thought he'd likely done more than enough. There was a gift to her from him under the tree – she'd already seen it and he'd helped Jack with her stocking. She didn't need – or want – him to be dong anything too crazy. So she'd just assured him that the gifts from the boys had been things that the boys had picked – not her. And, though, she'd paid for Benji's selection – she'd had nothing to do with Jack's gift buying.
Olivia was actually kind of curious to see what Jack had settled on with Brian. He'd asked her ridiculous questions that he expected her to know the answers to. What tools Brian had. What video games he had. Because those were areas that she paid any attention to.
"You've been at his apartment and his cabin!" Jack had protested when she'd expressed she had absolutely no idea.
She'd been tempted to tell him that she really didn't spend time poking around his living room when they were at his place. The limited times they were at Brian's place it was almost purely for sex. Maybe – just maybe – they might order some food before or after the sex. On the even more limited times she actually stayed overnight, he might make her breakfast – but at Brian's place that usually consisted of him providing a piece of fruit and a coffee. If she was particularly lucky, he might have some bread for toast in the place. Needless to say, now that they'd crossed the threshold of having sex at her place and with Benji sleeping across the apartment – she was much more likely to opt going home than subjecting herself to what Brian called home.
But those were answers that Jack didn't want to hear. And, thankfully he didn't need to hear them. After he'd huffed at her a bit, he'd indicated he'd figure it out himself. She was curious to see what that looked like.
Unfortunately, Benji was not. As soon as he saw Brian taking Jack's gift, he was diving under the tree looking for the one from him. Benji knew where every present was. He spent so much time looking at the bows and the tags. He'd retrieved it and was shoving it in Brian's face almost instantaneously.
"OPEN MINE BUY-IN!" he near yelled.
Brian gently pushed his arm down so the package wasn't an inch from his eyes. "Big Man, don't shove stuff in my face. Jack handed me this first. I'll open yours next."
"NO!" Benji said and shoved the box back into his face.
"Big Man," Brian said a bit more sternly and again pushed his arm away from him, this time moving his head a bit. He was likely going near cross-eyed from how close the thing was at his nose.
"It's OK," Jack sighed – again in his cordially attitude he was depicting that day and really that whole month. "You can open his first. I'll give Mom hers after instead."
Brian looked at her for some guidance but she just shrugged. She really didn't care what order the gifts were opened in. Especially now. Her only objective that morning had been to get the boys to open their sweaters before dinner and company. Mission accomplished. The rest didn't really matter at this point. Even them not getting to their clothing gifts wouldn't have been a disaster. Both Alex and Brian's mom had seen them in much more disarray than that. So had Cragen and she was sure Eileen with children and grandchildren knew the disaster that were boys well too.
Brian gave a little sigh. She wasn't sure if maybe he was more interested in Jack's? But he set the teen's pro-offered gift down and took Benji's. The little boy immediately threw himself into Brian's lap as he did so. The man made an oft sound as he did.
"Ben, you've gotta be careful tossing yourself at people like that. You're getting big," Brian muttered but was already picking at the paper while Benji watched with delight.
Brian got the paper off the gift much faster than either of the boys did with their careful and cautious unwrapping. He let out a small laugh as he did and cast her a look. Benji was already grabbing the box from him and holding it up for himself to examine.
"SEE, BUY-IN! IT TRANSFORMER! It all the cartoons! Not Rescue Bots! Real Transformers! Now we can watch them all!" Benji said and sat examining the back of the DVD set with great interest.
Jack sat forward to look too. "Is it the original series?" he asked.
Brian leaned over Benji's shoulder and tried to read the back of the box too. "I think so," he said. "I didn't really get a chance to look."
"It is," Olivia assured. "The seasons from the '80s."
Brian let out another small noise and leaned towards her. She met him halfway and they exchanged a small peck of a kiss. Neither of the boys said anything – another Christmas miracle.
"Thanks, babe," Brian said quietly. She just gave him a small smile.
"I PICK IT, BUY-IN!" Benji protested.
Brian gave him a gentle shake and pulled him a bit closer to his chest. "Thanks, Big Man," he assured. "Lookin' forward to watchin' it with ya. Maybe we'll get in a couple episodes this afternoon."
"Not while there's company over," Olivia said flatly.
He just gave her a look. "Tight ass," he said under his breath. She knew it was meant only for her to hear and the boys again didn't react. Brian sometimes put too much effort into making sure she knew he appreciated her middle-aged body possibly more than he'd liked her 30-something one. Tight ass wasn't meant as an insult.
Jack normally would've made a face or comment if he'd heard but he either hadn't heard or hadn't cared. She thought he was likely distracted by the cartoons too. He was leaning closer and closer to the other two boys.
"Can I look?" he asked.
Brian gave a small nod and extracted it from Benji's hands and handed to it Jack who looked at it with some fascination.
"Oh, man," he muttered. "This is 15 discs! A hundred episodes? This is going to be awesome." He looked at Brian pleadingly. "You have to watch this here?"
"Yea, Kid," he agreed. "Don't worry. I'm not going to be sitting at home watching it alone. I'm not that level of pathetic."
Jack gave him a face and went back to reading the box with just as much interest as Benji had been. Olivia was starting to think that the cartoon boxset had been more a gift to her boys than Brian. But she pretty much already expected that. Them spending time together and not arguing was a gift to her – especially if they were still and quiet at the same time. And, Brian liked being allowed to spend time with the boys. Though, he'd likely have opted for it to be in some sort of activity rather than TV but he'd get a chance for that on his days off too.
"Thought you had something for your ma to open?" Brian encouraged – apparently picking up that the kids were about to burrow into another black hole with the introduction of the new gift in the room. It was only a matter of seconds before they were peeling the plastic off the box and wanting to put one of the discs in right that instant.
Jack nodded, though, and handed the boxset back to Benji, as he leaned forward again and dug under the tree for a moment. He then handed her a long wrapped tube that almost unmistakably looked like one of the tubes that he carried his various drafts and other drawings and projects in. She'd seen it under the tree but had been confused by it at the time. She hadn't realized that it was for her – unlike Benji she hadn't been crawling around under there looking at the tags on the presents. She'd sort of suspected that it might've been for Alex or Cragen from Jack – some copy of one of his architecture projects, of which they'd both expressed some interest in after seeing the framed results in the family's apartment. Olivia loved having the boys' work on her walls – but she wasn't sure she really needed another architecture design in her living room.
Still, she knew she should only expect so much for Christmas. She'd given Jack strict orders about how much he should be spending – or rather how much he shouldn't be spending – on Christmas. And she knew that if he'd listened most of that should've been eaten up with buying his brother a gift and giving some small contributions to her and Alex's stocking. She didn't want and didn't expect a big gift from him. He'd already likely over spent based on the hoodie that he'd begged her to open earlier in the morning. Though, that one had been labeled as being from both her Growling Fox and her Little Fox. And, she knew it was from Funky's and Jack would've gotten his staff discount and Gecko may even have thrown in some other price cut when/if Jack had said it was for her - by deciding the thing had some sort of defect – like a small invisible pulled thread.
And, even beyond that – she knew that there was very little that Jack could ever do that would top the previous Christmas. Receiving the gaudy photo frame that officially christened her as a mom and the photos of her Little Fox was more than she could've ever asked for. She didn't know what more he could ever do or she could ever really want from either of her children.
Still, she gave him a small smile and started working at picking at the tape.
"It's kind of for both you and Jamin," Jack said. "But it's from both of us too."
She gave him another questioning look but allowed, "OK…"
She got the paper off and it definitely was one of his plastic drafters tubes all wrapped up. She cast him another look but popped the lid off and gazed inside. She could see several pieces of rolled paper.
"You want help getting them out?" Jack asked.
She nodded and handed it to him. "You better," she agreed. She didn't want to damage anything with shuffling the papers out.
But Jack did it expertly. He had lots of practice. And within moments he was handing the slightly curled pile of papers to her.
Olivia unrolled them and she felt a smile tugging across her face before she'd even fully spread out the sheet of paper. The top page had the Toy Story characters staring at her in fully action. She lifted it to the next page to find the Cars characters. She shot Jack a smile that was filling her face.
"You drew these?" she asked.
He nodded. "And painted," he said. "It's from that kit from Disney. The trip."
She gave him a more gentle smile and flipped to the next sheets. There were little square drawings of each of the characters from the Pixar movies. Bright and colorful and action-packed. And all done in the artistic hands of her son.
"I thought you could get them framed and put them up here," he said and gestured in behind the tree and to the general vicinity of Benji's toy organizer.
Olivia smiled again and gave a nod. "I will definitely be framing them and getting them upon the wall," she agreed. "They're fantastic, Jack. Benj, did you see what Peedg drew for us?"
Benji looked over and then crawled over. "I helped draw too, Mommy," he said.
"You helped draw too?" she asked.
Jack gave a nod and reached to lift to the last two drawings. "It's from both of us," he said.
She looked down again and the smile tugged even more at her cheeks. Benji's composition of his family as foxes from the beginning of the school year was in the pile and sitting under it was an intricately artistic design of a blooming tree – a family tree with meticulously drawn letting that spelled out: "To everything there is a season: A time to be born; a time to die. A time to plant; A time to heal." And then in even fancier calligraphy that she didn't even know that a boy – a young man – could be capable of without a concentrated effort, there was in beautiful lettering: BENSON at the bottom.
"I thought maybe those ones might be good for your room or something," Jack suggested.
But Olivia shook her head and reached and touched his cheek. "No," she said. "These ones are for our family room."
And, she already knew she'd be buying a three-slot frame and not just framing her son's artistic renditions of their family but would be having a shot of her little clan blown up to go in the frame too.
Her boys were the biggest gift of all. She didn't think they could be topped. Though, Jack did pretty good at finding ways to let her show off her pride and her love of them and their little band of misfits that fit just find in the Benson household: Christmas Day and any other.