Twelve.

The waiting room televisions were all tuned to local news channels, and every single one of them, at varying points in their programming, broadcast taped footage of Lieutenant Olivia Benson, flanked by Sergeant Amanda Rollins and Deputy Chief William Dodds, announcing Manhattan's Special Victims Unit had caught the predators suspected to be responsible for the recent string of Murray Hill rapes. Not only that, in conjunction with Computer Crimes and TARU, they had taken down related websites and discussion boards, preventing similar crimes from taking place in the future.

"While we know the internet is a breeding ground for all types of nefarious behavior," Olivia said, "These sites are connected to other sites, and this ring will, undoubtedly, lead to related investigations, and, more arrests."

The broadcast interrupted regular programming right before lunchtime. Sarah was the first to notice and squealed loudly, drawing the attention of everyone in the room, causing already-tense relatives and friends to shoot her nasty stares after they calmed down from the false alarm.

"Omigod, omigod, omigawwwwd!"

Brooke shushed her but quietly wondered why Sonny wasn't there. After all, he did most of the dirty work.

"He was the UC, they're not gonna show his face," Ed mumbled out of the corner of his mouth, keeping his eyes on the television and beaming with pride.

"Livvie looks so hotttt!"

Brooke rolled her eyes at Sarah once again disregarding a more important point. However, Olivia did look radiant in front of the cameras. Nobody would have guessed that the past three days had been some of the most hectic in recent memory. Her face had a healthy glow, and she was dressed in all black, accentuating her coloring. Around her neck was the Valentine's Day Cartier which she reflexively touched while listening to reporters' questions. She couldn't help moving her hands when she responded, and Ed relished seeing the lights hit the diamond on her left ring finger.

Brooke resisted the temptation to tease Sarah about Dodds. "She really does look pretty. And confident. I would freak out with all that attention!"

"She's prepared," Ed replied, "And very good at her job."

"I. Love. Her." Sarah threw her body forward, sending her loose blonde locks flying wildly.

The camera cut to footage of the handcuffed perps being escorted into the precinct, and Ed shifted his eyes to Aidan, sitting two chairs down. The teenager hadn't spoken more than a few sentences and the requisite pleases and thank yous, and he sat slumped in the chair, his eyes laser-focused on his shoes. He still seemed in shock and bewildered by the circumstances, and Ed pitied him. Angela was out of the coma and improving, but she was looking at a lengthy stint in a rehabilitation center and his father was still incommunicado. Next week was Spring Break, but beyond that, he needed to go back to school and to some sense of normalcy. Being shuttled between Manhattan apartments had to be unsettling.

Ed's mind drifted back to two mornings ago, when he and Olivia woke up unsure of whether or not Angela had survived the night. Groggily, Ed pawed around for his phone and called Brooke to check in, keeping his voice low since Noah was still asleep.

"Anything?" Olivia asked when he hung up.

"Nope. No news is good news, I guess." Ed settled back in next to her and Noah, slinging an arm around both of them for a few final, precious minutes of snuggle time.

Olivia massaged his bicep. "This has to be tough."

Ed closed his eyes and burrowed his head deeper into the pillow. "I hate that Brooke and Sarah, Brooke in particular, have to deal with this."

"They're strong," Olivia said reassuringly, "But…"

She trailed off, so Ed finished her sentence. "Nobody prepares you for this."

"No…no, they don't. Has anyone managed to get a hold of Dave?"

Brooke tried," Ed groaned, "But apparently he switched companies…she talked to Aidan and he tried to Face Time but he didn't pick up."

"That's weird."

"It's very weird." Ed speculated that Dave and Angela's marriage was a marriage in name only—Aidan said his father had been in and out of the country for the past year and he often took long holiday excursions to various places in Europe and even Northern Africa. When Ed guessed Aidan may be invited along on one of those vacations one day, Aidan laughed derisively, the most emotion he'd displayed since arriving in Manhattan.

Olivia propped herself on her elbow, "Whatever needs to happen, Ed, whatever we need to do, it's all good."

He smiled. "Thank you."

"And that includes anything Aidan needs. Poor kid…"

"Yeah. It's gotta be…damn," Ed rubbed a temple but his phone interrupted his thought, "It's Sarah," he reported, "She's bringing breakfast."

"Well I guess I better get up then." Olivia kissed Noah's cheek gently. "I can't believe this one and Jesse are still asleep."

Twenty minutes later, Noah and Jesse were very much awake. Olivia tried to entice them to hang out on the couch with juice until Sarah arrived with the food, but the kids had other ideas. As soon as Maggie and Wyatt had their diapers changed and were deposited on the floor, Noah and Jesse started playing chase. There were, according to the older ones' chatter, teams, but Olivia could make no sense out of the patterns they made through the living room and bedrooms and was, once again, thankful there was no apartment directly below theirs.

When Olivia announced the twins needed to eat, Noah and Jesse bellowed a simultaneous "NO!" and sprinted for Noah's room. The twins followed, but their crawling pace proved to be a disadvantage.

"Gotcha, babies!" Olivia said, holding a twin under each arm. They wiggled and fussed. "Shh shh shh...time to eat." As soon as their waffles were plopped in front of them, they calmed down. Olivia added chopped strawberries and looked on adoringly as Maggie daintily picked at the fruit and Wyatt chose to mash it with his fists.

Ed came into the kitchen dressed casually in jeans and an untucked navy polo. He took one look at the trays, frowned, grabbed the syrup, and drizzled some on each waffle.

Olivia regarded him with an expression somewhere between annoyed and amused.

"Olivia," he said in a voice dripping with reason, "Who eats a plain waffle?"

"Ten-and-a-half month olds."

Ed jerked his head at the twins, "Look at 'em. They're so happy."

Both Maggie and Wyatt were sucking on their waffles, trying to extract and taste every last bit of syrup. Olivia couldn't help but break into a wide smile.

She shoved the dish towel she was holding into his chest. "You're in charge of clean up."

Ed grabbed her fist and kissed her. "Yes ma'am." He kissed her twice more, grateful for some levity before what was sure to be a difficult rest of the day.

Sarah, Aidan, and Brooke arrived a short time later with bagels and good news.

"The hospital just called," Brooke said cheerfully, "Mom's awake, or, at least out of the coma. They can run more tests today, see the extent of the damage, said everything looks really good."

Olivia hugged everyone, including Aidan who seemed a little taken aback not so much that a stranger was hugging him but by the hug itself.

"That's so great. Oh…I feel so much better."

"Yeah, so we'll eat and head down there," Sarah said, "Let's see…I called Aidan's school, my bosses don't apparently care if I'm working at the office or from home or on Mars—"

"—Must be nice," Ed interjected.

"—and Brookey, your students are probably absolutely thrilled to have a substitute teacher, early spring break for them, so I think we're all set."

Brooke started pulling the food from the bags, and said dryly, "Yes. Other than the fact our mother had a stroke and is in the hospital, we're all set."

"Hey! Daddy! You fed the twins?" Sarah ignored her sister and frowned at the waffle and strawberry mess in front of Maggie and Wyatt, "I told you I was bringing them food, too!" Sarah swiped a plastic container of scrambled eggs and dumped them on the tray. "There you go, sweeties. I brought you a plain bagel but it looks like you've had your carbs for the morning."

Sarah took charge, taking out knives for the cream cheese and paper plates from the pantry. She served Noah and Jesse at the small table and came back to the adults wearing a sly yet serious smirk.

"Sheesh, I hope Mia doesn't get word of this."

"Oh Christ," Brooke muttered under her breath.

Olivia guffawed, nearly choking on her first bite. "You and your Dad are just alike…and so bad."

"Livvie! You just know Noey is gonna go to school and talk about his morning!" Sarah continued babbling, predicting a conversation and a fit of jealousy that wasn't likely to occur in a preschool classroom.

Ed shuffled around Olivia to grab coffee creamer and whispered in her ear, "Thought I was awful?"

Olivia shivered. Ed was a serial and unabashed flirt. Even when he was referring to innocuous banter such as last night's exchange, he managed to make Olivia's heart flutter.

"Dad!"

Brooke's voice snapped him back to the present and he opened and closed his eyes against the fluorescent light of the waiting room.

"Yeah?"

Sarah grinned at him. "We're getting lunch. Are you coming?"

"Sure, yeah, of course."

As Ed caught a final glimpse of the replay of his wife on the waiting room flat screens, a pleasant chill traveled up and down his spine. Tens of thousands, no, millions of New Yorkers would see her, hear her, perhaps even notice her jewelry, admire her…even Chief Dodds, stoic and austere and official-looking, occasionally glanced at her reverently as she spoke.

Ed chewed on the insides of his mouth to keep from grinning.

All those guys out there, he thought, lifting his chin, and I'm the one she falls asleep next to every night.

….

Olivia and Rollins left the press conference at One PP and returned to the precinct to find the men of the squad sitting on their desktops and not bothering to create the pretense they were hard at work. Rollins muttered something under her breath about respecting authority as she and Olivia marched into the squad room from the elevators.

"Great job Lieu! And Sarge!" Carisi heaved himself from the desk and held out his fist. Both Olivia and Amanda scrunched up their faces at the gesture.

"Thanks," Rollins replied, taking a seat at her desk. "Slow day?"

"Yep," Fin said, "Haven't had one call."

"Well, it's early," she countered dryly.

The Lieutenant opened her office door then stuck her head back out, "Carisi?"

Nobody batted an eye at Carisi being summoned to speak to Olivia alone, and Rollins' presence enticed Fin and Savage to open their laptops and at least pretend to work.

Olivia motioned for Carisi to sit. "Did you meet with Barba?"

"Yeah, and I typed everything up, he has that, too. And the grand jury won't be until after Brooke and I get back, so this all works out perfectly." Carisi held out his arms, maestro-style.

Curious about his untainted optimism, Olivia tilted her head. "Brooke's okay leaving…with Angela being in the hospital?"

Carisi refused to let go of his good mood. "Yeah, well, it's a recovery and rehab process now, right? At least, that's how she explained it to me. And Sarah's here. And her husband's gotta be back soon, I mean, how can a guy just disappear in this day and age?"

"Or, even if he wanted to disappear from his wife, I can't believe he's ignoring Aidan's calls." Olivia powered on her laptop. "While we have some downtime…let's check flights…give Brooke one less thing to worry about while you two are in paradise."

Carisi smiled. "Thanks, Lieutenant."

"And…why don't you go? Get Brooke out of the hospital for a while. I'll call you if I get anywhere."

Brooke got Carisi's text and excitedly began tossing her things into her purse. She and Sarah had been at Angela's side for most of the day, and they were both mentally drained. Brooke spent the last few hours listening to rehabilitation options even though Angela still needed some time in the hospital before she was released to an inpatient facility. She was not speaking, but had been awake for stretches of several minutes and was responding to some verbal prompts.

Sarah continued to use her phone and Aidan's phone to call Dave and grew more and more frustrated when he didn't pick up.

"How in the hell can he be so irresponsible?" She kept muttering under her breath to no one in particular. "What the fuck!"

Brooke spoke to her mother despite Angela's eyes being closed, "Mom, Sonny's coming to pick me up, so I'll be gone for a little while, but I'll come back tonight. The doctors and nurses are taking good care of you." She patted Angela's hand. "Love you, Mom."

Sarah studied her fingernails. "Well, if you're leaving, I'm leaving."

"Sare, someone should be here."

"Why? We're not doctors! What difference does it make?"

Though she was put off by Sarah's crass attitude, Brooke did manage to conjure some sympathy and even appreciation for her sister. After all, Sarah had been by her side this whole time and was taking responsibility for Aidan.

"Do what you need to do," Brooke replied in a gentle voice. "Meet back here tonight for a bit?"

"Yeah, okay."

They left Angela's room and found Ed in the same seat he'd occupied for the past few hours. After lunch he went home and retrieved his laptop and actually managed to get some meaningful work done. Since his ex-wife was out of the woods, he wasn't planning on returning to the hospital again, so he had been extra generous with his time over the past two days.

Sarah and Brooke announced their plans. Aidan appeared less than thrilled to be tagging along with Sarah to her office and then to meet Hillary for a drink.

Ed noticed and asked Aidan if he wanted to go with him instead. "I haveta pick up my son from school and we usually go kick the soccer ball around for a little while. Interested?"

This sounded like a much better option. "Yeah, sure," he said.

Sarah and Brooke both cast skeptical glances at their father.

"We'll hang out, get the twins, and whenever you're ready to come back here…or go to Sarah's place, we'll make that happen," Ed said casually, answering his daughters' uncertainty with a shrug.

"Alright," Aidan said.

On the street, their little group gradually broke apart. Ed and Aidan hopped into the Tuckers' SUV. Before Sarah descended into the subway, she heaved a high-pitched, "Whooooweeeee!"

"What?"

Sarah watched Ed's vehicle disappear into traffic. "Oh to be a fly on the wall…I cannot wait to hear about this!"

"Hear about it from who? Aidan hardly talks, and Dad'll be like, 'we had a good day.'"

Sarah winked at her sister, "I'll get the deets from Noey."

She shot her a quick grin and bounded down the stairs, leaving Brooke alone to wait for her husband to arrive.

….

In the car, Ed wasted no time engaging Aidan in conversation. He asked about school and about which sports teams he liked. When Aidan said he was a Jets fan, Ed enthusiastically told him about taking Noah and Olivia to a game and meeting the quarterback. The story loosened him up, and Aidan rattled off questions. What was he like in real life? Was he super huge? Did he give autographs? By the time they parked in front of Noah's school, Aidan and Ed were conversing easily as if they were old friends. Aidan even opted to go into the school rather than wait in the car.

As usual, Noah walked out of the classroom last with Mia at his side.

"Hi, Ed!" She said enthusiastically, before even Noah greeted him. Her dark brown hair was pulled back in its usual messy ponytail and her face was streaked with what Ed guessed was sidewalk chalk. Nearby, her nanny waited impatiently with her jacket.

"Hey Mia! Hi No!" He mussed his son's hair and then smoothed it, "Good day?"

"Yup!" Noah noticed the visitor. "Hi Aidan!"

The teenager blinked. "Wow, uh, hi, I can't believe you remember my name."

"He remembers everything," Ed said with a smirk. "Ready pal? Aidan's gonna go with us to the park."

Noah grinned. "Kay! We gotta get the ball!"

"Yeah, bud. We'll go home first. You need different shoes, too."

Noah, ever the fashion plate, had chosen to wear his leather boots that morning rather than his sneakers.

"You need diff'rent shoes, too!" Noah pointed out.

Aidan looked down. "Wow…you guys match."

"Yep!" Noah took Ed's hand, "We have the same. And we have WALLETS!"

"That's cool."

"You have a wallet?"

"Yeah." Aidan took his black leather accessory out of his pocket and held it up for Noah.

"I have lotsa money," Noah boasted. "And a CARD!"

Aidan didn't ask questions; he just smiled at Noah and said, "You're one lucky dude."

Noah giggled and started skipping, still holding onto Ed's hand. "I'm a lucky dooooooode!"

Ed almost made a comment about Sarah and Brooke spoiling him, but he caught himself just in time. He buckled Noah into his seat and stayed close for an extra second, kissing his forehead and tapping the tip of his nose. Noah, used to his Daddy showering him with affection, took everything in stride.

"Daddy, I wanna drive."

Ed grinned and shook his head, "Sorry bud…you're not that lucky. At least, not yet."

…..

"Lieutenant," Ed gasped, straining for air, "What has gotten into you?"

"That was number three," Olivia purred into his ear.

He lifted his head so she could see how impressed he was. "You snuck in some study time without me, huh?"

"I figured it'd be a nice little surprise," she drew little circles on his chest. "You're just…so…perfect." Olivia started kissing him deeply.

Ed moaned and his hands flew to her back, keeping her close. Round two of lovemaking wasn't far away, but he loved the simple pleasure of feeling every inch of her body in contact with his.

"So perfect," she repeated, pausing to catch her breath and gaze at him.

"You are," he countered. "You shoulda seen Brooke when she found out you got a hold of Dave. It was like she'd jettisoned about two thousand pounds of stress."

Olivia brushed aside the compliment. "How many men—" Kiss. "Would hang out—" Kiss. "With their ex's kid—" Kiss. "Like it was no big deal—" Kiss.

"I dunno," he sassed, "How many?"

"You," she said, grinning, "Seriously, sweetie, you, this week, you've been so strong for everyone. And it makes me love you more and more."

"I can tell."

They kissed for a while longer. Olivia started to get increasingly aggressive, so Ed snuck in a few more words while he could still form them.

"But I know how ya feel," he murmured.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," He held her face an inch or so from his. "It's almost the same thing…that you do for Brooke and Sarah, treating them like they're yours…that makes me love you more and more."

"Ed?"

He was holding her cheeks tightly so her lips were contorted.

"Hmm?"

She twirled her hips against his and peppered his face, neck, and chest with kisses as she spoke. "Can we stipulate we're both good people and madly in love with each other? Because. I need you. I waaaant you. So badly. Right now."

Ed shook with laughter.

"What?"

"I don't think I've ever heard stipulate in this context before."

Olivia continued exploring his upper body, her lips curled into a smile as they met his skin. She was sure her next sentence would be the final intelligible words either of them would utter for the immediate future, and she delivered it slowly.

"Well, Captain…maybe…we need to write our own article…"

#Tuckson