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.

***RATING CHANGE NOTICE: This chapter contains M elements. It is marked where they start and where they end for those who want to — or who should — skip that section. ***

Olivia saw Brian glance over his shoulder from his apparent sous chef work in the little kitchenette as she came out of the bathroom. He was still all smiles – as all smiles as Brian ever was – and clearly riding the endorphins of their morning time activities.

"Hey, Sunshine …," he smiled at her. A real smile.

She shook her head a little bit at it. But she smiled too. He was doing what she knew – and hated – John called his Yippie Skippy routine. It was a nickname that she really despised John using – especially around the kids. At this point both the kids had inquired why Unkie Munchie called Daddy 'Yippie Skippy'. The answer they'd given the kids was just that 'Unkie Munchie is silly'. The answer John had given the kids was, "Dad's just such a happy guy." Right.

The truth was, Brian was - still as a man in his late-forties – ridiculously obvious about when he got laid. Or at least when it'd been a good one. It just seeped off him. Olivia was sure that there were people at the Investigator's office who were able to measure just what kind of interactions they might have with him on any particular morning based entirely on how much the Yippie Skippy routine caused that bounce in his step.

It certainly was apparent enough to John at work – twenty-some years ago. And Elliot.

And in some ways – not much had changed. Or maybe she had. She thought she hid it better back in her and Brian's initial fling that lead to him wanting more. Now, she absolutely knew from some little comments some mornings that she had her own Yippie Skippy tells too. Though, she liked to think it was more that she often just felt calmer, stabler, happier with Brian. With the kids. With the family life she had at home.

And, she'd give Brian – he had reason to be happy with his performance that morning. She had been too. It was the kind of sex that … 1) She probably would've preferred to play with him quite a bit longer, spanning it to a much longer session than what they'd gotten; 2) She would've liked to just have some cuddle time to enjoy the closeness with him as they both came down – and maybe slept in a bit or just had a bed-in; and, 3) She'd likely be arguing with her body to not think about it too much for the rest of the day while simultaneous plotting ways to absolutely exhaust the kids so they'd be beyond down for the count and her and Bri could get to that extended replay later that night.

Olivia didn't know what Brian had thought she'd stuck her head out the bathroom door and called "Bri …" at him that morning. They hadn't gotten into that. But the look of surprise on his face when he'd gotten in there to find her already stripped for him had more than betrayed that he must've thought he was being asked to look at a faulty outlet or the unfamiliar shower-dongle set-up. But she supposed he had reason not to expect much – even if his usual birthday and Christmas mantra whenever she pressed him on what he might want or need was, "You guys are the gift" and if he decided he was going to be … Brian, there'd be an addition of, "I wouldn't protest getting laid." Always the romantic.

But they'd had a bit of a night. The kids were buzzing with enough excitement that even though they were both clearly exhausted, they'd been up past their usual bedtime – and even summer vacation bedtime. Benji had pushed a little too hard that day. By the time her and Brian were really pushing that the kids lay down, Benji was really cringing about the aches in his knees and legs. Olivia had ended up in the little twin bed in the kids' room, rubbing at this legs for him while trying to get him to drift off – moving the moistened heating pad on and off his joints in intervals. By the time he fall asleep – which she suspected at much to do with the anti-inflammatory kicking in than it did the heat and massage – Brian was looking like the activity and heat of the day had caught up with him too. They'd both nearly collapsed into bed. Neither of them had even attempted to initiate anything.

And that was likely a good thing – because it'd only been a couple hours later that Benji had been back up coughing and coughing so hard that she'd seriously thought they might need to take him over to the local ER to get an x-ray and some oxygen. She'd feared the humidity had been too much and had resulted in some swelling of his lungs' lining. But it was likely more the humidity and then him falling asleep in their heavily air conditioned room. His body hadn't been able to keep up. And Brian had ended up sitting on the couch with him, rubbing and patting at his back until it passed. Though, when it had passed Brian and Benji were both asleep on the couch with the TV still going. At some point Olivia had heard Emmy up – and waking Brian up to escort her to the scary, unfamiliar bathroom to turn on the light for her. She'd vaguely registered that he must've gotten Benji to take his middle of the night pee too and gotten both the kids back into the kids room and their own beds. He'd finally crawled back into the bed with her. But, again, sleep had seemed like a priority. Brian had already indicated before they even left on the trip that his expectations for alone time that included enough privacy for much of anything were exceedingly low.

But Olivia had woken up – not particularly rested – but at her usual time. And the kids must've been exhausted enough from the day before that she hadn't heard any signs of them stirring yet. Brian must've been acutely aware of that too – because he was clearly awake but wasn't on the move yet like he would be at home. He seemed content to be laying there with his eyes semi-closed – not risking waking the kids and having them wanting to be instantly on the go just yet. So Olivia had taken advantage of what she knew was likely going to be a very small window of potential privacy. And when Brian realized that was what they were doing, that look on his face had only lasted for about a beat, though, before he was shucking off his briefs and more than happy to join her.

***START OF M***

It'd been fun. There'd likely been layers to that. Shower sex? Hotel sex? Vacation sex? Birthday sex? The increased risk of being caught or interrupted more so than in their daily lives? The perceived limited time frame? Or just the switch up in routine? And the accompanying change in positioning and angles and stimulation it'd created?

Shower sex definitely wasn't in their regular routine at the age and stage in their lives and relationship. Even if a shower or bath made appearances in their intimacy and foreplay routines – it was always easier and more comfortable for the both of them to move to the bed at home. But the bathroom was the only room with a lock on the door here – the only spot with any semblance of ensured privacy.

It'd taken a bit of experimenting to find a position they were both comfortable with. She still had pretty specific hang-ups about the where and how and the personal-comfort criteria if he was going to take her from behind. They'd definitely both made progress there. They'd found ways to make it work – that had actually been really enjoyable. Brian was really good at respecting her boundaries and being aware of them. Listening. Stopping. And finding ways to touch and stimulate her that distracted her from some of her reservations and focus on the moment. Ways to ensure there was lots of intimate, loving, gently contact. That they still saw each other – had moments of eye contact and mouth contact and shared words and breathing – even if they weren't face-to-face. Just reclaiming that part of sex for their relationship had been liberating in its own way. But she hadn't been willing to work on making it work in the shower – while on vacation and while the kids were just outside the door.

Olivia had been pretty comfortable with her back pressed against the wall and her raising her foot on the little step-like bench in the shower stall. It'd been fun – hot – for the foreplay. She'd enjoyed the feel of the hot water and the steam and the cold tiles against her back growing warmer – slippery. Right along with her body and need and sex doing the same.

Brian's skin against hers. His hands and his fingers and the access she'd given him for stroking, stimulation. He was good with his hands. He'd taken the time to learn her body – know her favorite spots, to understand how she liked to be touched and what got her off. She'd been enjoying the feel of him pressing more and more against her. His arousal was getting more apparent and urgent. But when he'd entered her, their height difference - and their nerves about not being as athletic or adventurous or flexible in their sex lives - became apparent.

Olivia would admit the feel of him pressing into her had caused her to bend her opposite knee. Her body involuntarily wanting to open for him more and wrap around him – to hook around his waist. To press against him and into him too. And he'd almost as automatically grabbed at that thigh and knee and pressed her more firmly against the wall – pressing even more deeply and firmer into her. It felt good – he felt good. But a tiled wall in a shower isn't exactly the greatest support – it was more than a little slippery. And she'd become way more focused on that then the sensation of his presence.

"Bri, I don't feel too stable," she whispered against him. He'd tried adjusting. But she'd still shook her head and murmured, "No …" with some regret.

She could feel the disappointment in him too. But he let her slide back down and get her feet back on the stable – but rather slippery – ground.

Olivia had stared at the bench in the stall for a long beat. She'd kissed him. And his collarbone. His neck. "Sit," she instructed him.

She wasn't sure Brian would. Her on top – riding him - was one thing. Him being in a sitting position when he came - it was another.

He struggled with it. To the point that even foreplay on the couch – he moved her hand. He said he hated the feel of it. He'd gone for crass – citing and spouting something about 'pressure in the balls'. Olivia knew – now – a lot of that boundary had much, much more to do with a little boy being groped in the front seat of a car and having his first manual stimulation occur under those circumstances. But this wasn't going to be by hand.

She could tell he was thinking about it – measuring his own baggage and hang-ups and emotional capacities in that moment against his arousal and needs with where they'd gotten each other's bodies to.

The offer – the order to sit - hung there for a long beat. Long enough that his hand went around his erection – to protect it or harden it or just feel it – while he processed. But she only let him tug at himself briefly before she gently moved his hand and took over. He let her. It was another thing they'd been working on together those months. Touches and services and stimulation she was allowed to provide him. Needs and wants she was able – and willing – to fill for him. Trust he could put in her. Vulnerability he was allowed to have. Her – and him – re-learning how to operate now that she had a much better understanding of the whys behind his lines and boundaries and desires.

It'd been hard for both of them. But it'd helped clarify things – about both of them, about their relationship, about each other and how they were – extensively. It'd been a strange learning curve. A telling one. But as hard as it'd been – it'd brought them closer together. It'd been this baring of their souls in a way they probably hadn't expected. But it had made both them deal with a lot of things – and each other – in very different ways. It was a backward blessing in what was a horrifying situation and past. A silver lining that she was loath to call that. But context had been … everything. It'd forced them over a bump that she thought they'd both been quietly (angrily, passive aggressively, with a bit of resentment) struggling with for years. And now … they were … working through it together. In better – healthier – ways. They were stronger in a lot of ways that she never would've expected.

Olivia kissed gently at Brian some more. His chest again. His shoulders. His neck and jaw line. His mouth. All while carefully administering the movements and routine that he'd helped her – let her – learn for him. That worked for him. That she could feel how much it was working in her hand and coming through his chest and lungs and pulsing against that artery in his neck and in the catch of the breathe and sounds in his throat and against their locked mouths.

"It will be worth it, Birthday Boy," she mouthed against him. "Sit."

Brian's eyes set on her. She thought it might still be a 'no' – just like she wasn't willing to place her hands against the wall and bend forward, legs spread and ass presented for to press into her from that angle. That it was too much for that day and with that limited amount of alone time to work through it together.

But then he sighed a little at her and leaned in, tilting her chin up as he kissed her again and then he did nudge by her and settle on the wide tiled bench that was really more of a step.

He gazed at her. His eyes were heavy with arousal. It was still painted on his parted, damp lips too. The little way he just barely bit on his bottom lip as he looked at her. The nerves and the excitement of his want. His expectation and hope for how it'd be.

Olivia gave him a small smile. Straddled him – her feet and calves and knees moving around his thighs. And that expectant look gazed up at her – his hands found her hips – as she lowered.

It took a bit more manoeuvring of where to comfortable place her legs and knees – so they weren't hitting against the wall and edge of that step. Brian had ended up having to scoot forward to the point that it likely wasn't entirely comfortable for him. His ass would've been at the edge of the bench's tiles. A lot of his – and her – weight would've been supported by his legs and knees. His shoulders now the ones pressed into those slippery, damp wall tiles. But he hadn't protested at the weight or the positioning.

"God, Bri, you're har—"

You're hard. He was really, really hard. The anticipation? The minor thrill? A couple days without? The positioning? Olivia didn't know. She did know that between Brian's age and his heart medication and the anxiety medication he'd been on lately she wouldn't exactly say his erection was quite the way she might've remembered it – twenty years ago. But she also thought that him cutting back on the drinking that summer and the weight loss and muscle tone she'd seen him achieve she had already noticed some change in the bedroom with him. That morning, though? He was rock hard. Or at least that's the way he felt inside her. Maybe it was the changed angle and depth of penetration – the places she could feel him. And she felt him – in an entirely different way than their typical, home-time, bedroom, kids-finally-asleep-until-witching-hour, we're-exhausted-but-need-this routine. She was so aware of him. And it – he – felt ridiculously good inside her. Ridiculously hard. But she hadn't gotten that out.

And she hadn't because his mouth – his lips and tongue and a slight graze of his teeth – had caught her nipple. Just as his thumb stretched from holding at her hips and waist and ass and flicked at her clit. And the words she was trying to form were absolutely replaced with a surprised moan. And that had only made him grin. Though she'd brought his head up and kissed him deeply for that trick. A trick that he went back to. His mouth back to her breasts. His thumb holding steady and she ground against him.

Olivia rode him hard. It took some work. But the sensations were worth it. The penetration was so deep and she felt so full. The hot water against her back. His finger and mouth. The way his hands kept holding at her ass. How he'd intermittently hold her tight and take over the thrust and grind – pressing up into her in fast, hard rhythm for several long seconds that screamed down her back and through her core. Only for him to still and let her ride again. For him to stare at the way her breasts were near bouncing in his face. For his mouth to find them. For his hands to come up and weigh them. For his hips to restlessly keep up with her movements. For his thumb trace little circles just above her clit and then hold steady while she ground hard against that friction.

"Right there," she mumbled at him.

And she'd forgotten herself – or any hang-ups about her body. She'd gotten over that she knew his eyes kept watching the bounce and sway of her breasts in the restless, urgent, purposefully movements she was making. And she near leaned into him – into the wall – bracing herself more. And his mouth was on her again, while she panted just above his ear. She was working for it. And so was he. The shift forward was everything. She felt it as he pressed up into her again.

"There, Bri …," she near groaned at him.

It was all she needed to say. His hands came back to her hips, helping him measure the angle of penetration and then helping keep it. His mouth wandered. Sucking at her neck and shoulder and curves of her breasts. And he pressed firmly into her in long, languid, teasing strokes. And she panted with each one. The sounds that she was making were becoming less controlled. Her hips struggled to find the rhythm she wanted – to meet her need.

"Faster," she managed. "Please …"

He obliged. And he'd been hard to restrain herself as he moved over and over her G-spot in jolts that were nearly blinding. She buried her mouth against the side of his head – trying her best to muffle the moans that were trying to get out. Her arms and upper body near wrapping around him as her core did clench – and melt - around him. And then while her whole body was still pooling – while her clit was still super-sensitized - he was holding her even tighter while he slammed even more firmly and deeper into her. Then his hips involuntarily danced against her while he let out his own quiet moans against her shoulder and then held her against him in a hug that lingered.

***END OF M***

When they'd finally let loose enough to look at each other – he had that ridiculous smile on his face. It'd betrayed just how hard he'd cum and how good it'd been for him. And her look must've said around the same – because he'd let out a little laugh, gazing up at her.

"Happy birthday," she raised her eyebrow at him.

"Yea. Happy birthday is about right," he gravelled out and found her mouth. The kissing as they'd slowly come down had gone on for a languid period. But they'd eventually managed to slip – or pull themselves – away from each other.

Brian had headed back out to the living area of their suite while she'd taken a few more minutes to clean up in the shower and to get ready to face the day. Brian had already told her that he didn't want to do another theme park marathon day and had instead opted to spend the morning over at the water park instead. So she'd spent a little bit more time in the bathroom making sure she had a pool-ready body before going through the rest of her morning hygiene and getting ready routine.

Brian clearly hadn't needed as much time. He rarely did. He was already in his swim trunks and a tank – and bare foot in their little kitchenette. Her lover had settled into his domestic role – and Olivia supposed she loved him more than a little bit for that too. Husband, partner, friend, provider, supporter, daddy.

"You look nice," he still smiled at her as she slinked over to him.

She gave her head a little shake. She was pretty sure after that birthday lay she could've come out in a muumuu and he still would've told her she looked nice. But she refrained from comment – because truth was, Brian commented so irregularly about her appearance or clothing that when he did say something, he meant it. So instead she just took it for what it was worth and wrapped her arms around him, watching him work at the slicing and chopping and dicing of fruit.

"You know we could've taken you out for breakfast for your birthday," she whispered against his shoulder.

He shrugged. "Figured we'd likely eat dinner out like yesterday."

"Or like it's your birthday," she suggested.

He made a little noise and shook his head. "We'll do my birthday dinner when we get back," he said. "Have Ma and Jack over. Thought maybe get some beef ribs. Maybe get one of those little smoker boxes, some hickory. Try that out. Smoke them on the grill."

She smiled a little against his shoulder. "You'll really have Gus calling the fire department on us then."

"Fuck him," Brian said. "It's my birthday."

Olivia smiled a little more at that. "It is your birthday. And, Sweetheart, we can afford to eat breakfast out, have a birthday dinner here and still get a nice cut of meat for a family meal when we get home."

She'd made a reservation for dinner because she knew how he was. This was predictable. And very Brian. But it was his birthday. They would be doing something if they were home. He deserved a bit of a treat – even if he had no intentions of telling her what he wanted for that treat – beyond what he'd already gotten that morning. Still, Olivia knew him well enough to at least make an educated guess on what would make him happy when it came to his stomach. And what might make the evening at least a little special for him. As much as he was loath to let anyone make him feel special – or noticed. He always just wanted to blend in and fit in.

"We got this fruit," he said. "Should use it up." He held out a chunk of mango for her. "This is actually pretty fucking amazing."

Olivia let him feed it to her. Though, it was a big enough chunk that she did have to take it on her own. But she had to agree with him. It was wonderful. And they were definitely getting spoiled with all the fruit they'd been eating the past few days. She didn't think the kids had even noticed they hadn't been offered cotton candy or popsicles or ice cream yet. Or any of the other over-the-top treats they'd been seeing around the park and the hotel. The fruit they'd picked up at the grocery store to stock on their kitchenette's fridge was more than keeping them happy. They were getting treats they wouldn't normally get at home.

"I thought I heard the kids up," she said, as she savored the juiciness of the mango. She was sure she'd heard their juices and Brian's mumbled talking to them while she was still in the bathroom.

"They're up," he allowed. "Came out. I got shrieked at about not still being in bed."

"You know it's not your birthday if you don't get jumped on," she said.

"Yea," he muttered with a head shake and then nodded back toward the bathroom. "And we got caught. Morning pees while we were in there. So got …," and he gave her a very good impression of Benji's stink-eye squint, "and, 'Did you guys shower at the same time?'"

Olivia rolled her eyes a little. "Of course …"

"Em also needed clarification on, 'Do you shower naked at the same time?'"

Olivia allowed an amused noise.

"Yea, well, good news is that 'Mommy and Daddy stuff' still is all in the 'very, very gross' realm."

Olivia shook her head, as she finished the last bite of the mango slice. "I'm pretty sure that when Mommy and Daddy are the ones doing the 'Mommy and Daddy stuff', it will always be in the 'very, very gross' realm."

"Fair point," he allowed and jutted his head off toward the closed door to the kids' room. Considering they were up it was surprisingly quiet. "They retreated. I'm suspicious about how quiet it is."

She planted a small kiss on his jaw line. "You should be," she said.

"Mmm …," he allowed. "Let me guess … they're wrapping me up a tshirt."

She smiled a little at that and moved toward the closed door. Because — again — it was his birthday and they did have a little birthday surprise for him.

"Act surprised," she said. "And try to remember just how much your family adores you, Bri."

They did. Sometimes it boggled her just how much she did – Brian Cassidy.