A/N: So sorry for not updating in a while! The semester has started so I have much less free time for writing non-school related things. This is a two-shot for Valentine's Day. Please review and let me know if you have oneshot ideas for future chapters!
Messy Hearts, Part 1
Tossing a file off to the side of her desk, Alex exhaled heavily, massaging the bridge of her nose. While she enjoyed her position as Bureau Chief of Manhattan Homicide, managing a group of ADAs – most of them newly-minted – was a challenge. A challenge that currently had her up to her head in appeals.
To make matters worse, it was Valentine's Day. While neither woman would openly admit it, both Alex and Olivia had a bit of a soft spot for the holiday, and the blonde enjoyed having an excuse to lavish her wife with a little bit of extra romance. She had been looking forward to taking Olivia out that evening to the lieutenant's favorite Italian restaurant followed by a trip to the theatre, but now she was concerned that she wouldn't complete her deadlines in time. While Olivia would never make the blonde feel bad for canceling, she knew the brunette would be disappointed, and the thought of that motivated Alex to forge ahead on her assignments.
Just as she was scrawling a draft of a motion that was due later that afternoon, however, the attorney heard a knock on her door. "Come in," the woman indicated.
Alex's assistant, Macey, popped here head into the room, an apologetic look on her face. "I'm sorry to interrupt, Ms. Cabot. I know you didn't want to be interrupted this afternoon" Macey began, nervously brushing a lock of her brown hair out of her face.
Alex, although still caught off guard by the intrusion, couldn't help but soften. She gave the younger woman a nod. "It's okay, Macey. What's going on?"
The assistant cleared her throat. "Your daughter's school is on the phone. They said that they needed to speak to you."
Instinctually, Alex felt her heart begin to race. Like most parents, the blonde couldn't help but worry that a daytime phone call from school meant that something was the matter with one of her children. "Transfer their call to my phone," she instructed Macey, who nodded a quickly returned to her desk. Moments later, an incoming call reached Alex's receiver, and she diligently picked it up. "This is Alexandra Cabot."
On the other end of the line, Alex heard the voice of her daughters' principal, Mrs. Hannigan. "Hello, Ms. Cabot. I'm sorry to interrupt you at the office."
"No need to apologize," Alex replied quickly, eager to know if her children safe. "Are Mia and Sadie okay?" she asked, trying to keep her tone even.
"Both of the girls are not injured or sick; however Sadie was brought into my office several minutes ago with a situation. Would it be possible for you and your wife to come by to discuss? I know you both have hectic schedules…"
"I can be there in about thirty minutes," Alex replied, glancing at her Apple watch. "I'll call Olivia and ask her to meet me there."
"Very good. Thank you, Ms. Cabot."
Alex furrowed her brows. "What exactly is the situation…"
"Just a… " the principal paused, seemingly to find the words. After a moment, she continued "…negative interaction with another child. It would be best to explain the whole thing in person."
"Okay, thank you, Ms. Hannigan."
"I will see you shortly, Ms. Cabot."
Alex clicked the receiver closed, grimacing. Although it seemed a bit silly, she couldn't help but feel like she herself was being scolded by the principal. A part of her, she realized, shouldn't have been surprised to receive such a call. Not too long ago, at parent-teacher conferences, Sadie's pre-school instructor, a young girl Alex almost doubted was old enough to teach, had politely and kindly as possible indicated that their daughter was quite the handful in the classroom. Alex and Olivia had been completely shocked. When it came to their eldest, they had only ever received positive remarks – that Mia was polite, attentive, and helpful. If anything, this year, her teacher Mr. Carls had said that his only concern was that the first-grader seemed to be too good, and that he worried her perfectionist streak was becoming unduly stressful.
Unlike her sister, Sadie had always been boisterous. Far from shy, the little brunette always seemed to grab the attention of whoever was around her, whether it was through telling stories or showing off dances or being plain loud. That said, before she entered pre-school, Sadie had never been misbehaved. Although exuberant and occasionally mischievous, she did listen to her mothers' and other caregivers' instructions when she was asked to settle down or obey the rules. At parent-teacher conferences, Alex and Olivia had been shocked – and deeply embarrassed – to learn that Sadie had thrown a couple of tantrums, that she refused to cooperate with her school "buddy," and that she seemed to be daydreaming during her lessons. The couple had spoken to the girl that evening about her behavior and had received a bashful apology. They had hoped that this would spur a change in behavior, but now that the principal was calling, it appeared that things were only escalating.
With a sigh, Alex grabbed a couple of manila files and her briefcase, carrying them with her as she exited her office and locked the door. Hearing the click of her boss's heels, Macey sat up sharply. "I have to go to the school briefly. Can you please give these files to Rossi and Steele and tell them that I need these motions completed by 3 pm?"
"Sure, Ms. Cabot," the brunette replied, taking the files. "Is there anything else that you need?"
"No, but thank you, Macey. I should be back soon, but I will have my cell phone if needed."
Exiting into the hall, Alex picked up the aforementioned device and dialed her first speed-dial. A couple of moments later, she heard her wife's voice at the other end of the line. "Benson."
"Hey, Liv."
"Hi sweetheart. Sorry, I didn't look at who was calling before I answered. What's up?"
"I know the precinct is swamped, but do you happen to be free right now?"
"Umm, yeah, I can be. Is everything okay?"
Alex sighed. "Well, Ms. Hannigan called…"
"Are Mia and Sadie okay?" Olivia interrupted, her voice clearly anxious.
"Yes babe, they're both fine safety-wise. But umm, she said something about Sadie being in her office and there being a situation with another student. I don't know the details, but she asked that we should come in to discuss."
"Are you leaving your building now?"
"Yes, just heading out the doors," the blonde replied, stepping out into the brisk autumnal air.
"Meet me by the car? I'll have Fin hold down the fort."
About a half hour later, Alex and Olivia strolled up the steps to the Martin School. While the couple had debated about sending the kids to public school, ultimately they had decided upon a small private school in Greenwich Village given its focus on giving individualized attention to each and every student. Olivia knew that Alex – although generally speaking down-to-earth – did have a slightly elitist streak when it came to education. The brunette figured that Alex saw the Martin School as a foundational platform that would allow their kids to pursue an Ivy League education if they decided to do so. The detective had liked the Martin School, particularly because they had the children engage in a lot of creative learning like arts and music. Although the hefty tuition never ceased to leave a little hole in the pit of her stomach, Olivia had decided the pros outweighed the cons, and Mia had started attending Pre-K there two years prior.
When the couple arrived and were buzzed into the building, the children in the lower school were just completing lunch and filing back to their classrooms. Mia, standing in line with her classmates as they proceeded down the hall, noticed her parents and looked up at them curiously. "Mommy? Mama?"
"Hey Ladybug," Olivia greeted with a smile, leaning over to give the girl a kiss on the head. Mr. Carls, from his position at the head on the line, gave the trio a smile and nodded to Mia that she could step to the side and greet her mothers.
"What are you guys doing here?" the little blonde asked, brow furrowed.
"We are here to speak with Ms. Hannigan," Alex explained, leaning down and giving her daughter a hug.
A look of fright crossed Mia's face. "Am I in trouble?"
"No, not at all, sweet girl," Olivia said, reassuring her. "Nothing to worry about. You head back to class and enjoy the rest of your day."
Mia gave the pair a skeptical look, clearly not believing that her mothers would come to school in the middle of the day if there wasn't a problem; however knowing that she had to get back to her room, she nodded and gave both women a hug, swapping 'I love yous' before she hurried back down the hall.
"I only wish that we weren't here because of trouble," Alex said, giving her wife a grim look.
The brunette placed a hand on the small of her wife's back as they proceeded towards the main office. "Well, technically we don't know what happened. Let's just go and see," she said, opening the door.
Upon entering the rooms, they were greeted by the office assistant, who led them to a set of chairs outside of Ms. Hannigan's office. Sitting in one of the over-sized arm chairs was Sadie, whose eyes were downcast at her swinging feet, dejected.
"Hi Sadie," Olivia said, taking a seat beside her. This caught the little brunette's attention, and she looked up at her parents nervously.
Alex bent down in front of the child. "Sadie, what happened, sweetheart? Are you in trouble?"
The girl moved to reply before her lower lip began to quiver. To both women's shock, she began to cry.
"Shh, baby, it's okay," Olivia soothed, wrapping her arm around Sadie. She looked at her wife with concern, an expression that the blonde returned. Before they could further inquiry what was making their daughter so upset, however, the family was led into their meeting.
Olivia walked warily into the office, Alex following close behind holding Sadie's hand. The room had a large mahogany desk surrounded by a couple of bookshelves and framed children's painting. Across the room Ms. Hannigan – a prim older woman who the lieutenant had once joked looked like the matron of a finishing school – sat in a tea chair. In her company around the coffee table were an irate couple and their son, who had an ice pack pressed against his eye.
"Lieutenant Benson. Ms. Cabot," Ms. Hannigan greeted with a nod. "Thank you for making the time to come in. I know that you both have busy work schedules. Please, join us," she added, gesturing towards an unoccupied couch.
The woman crossed the room, noting the tension in the air, and allowed Sadie to sit between them on the couch. Alex noticed that their daughter's eyes remained trained on the ground, not daring to look at anyone in the room.
The little red-headed boy, however, scowled at Sadie before turning to his father. "Daddy, can we go? My eye hurts."
The man wrapped his arm around the boy's shoulder, nodding to his wife. "Of course, Kevin." Rising from his seat, he looked to the principal. "Ms. Hannigan, thank you so much. We trust that you'll handle this accordingly."
"Have a good day, Dr. Edwards. Mrs. Edwards. And feel better, Kevin. We hope to see you tomorrow."
"We'll probably keep him at home," Mrs. Edwards, a small blonde-haired woman replied. "The bruise is just terrible," she lamented, glowering at Sadie. Noticing her daughter flinch, Alex wrapped a protective arm around the little brunette, casting a glare back at the mother.
Olivia, wary of Alex's fiery temper when it came to the kids, placed a comforting hand on her wife's knee, encouraging her to stay calm. Upon witnessing the gesture, Dr. Edwards scoff. "Come on Bridget, Kevin. Let's go get some ice cream." With a few more icy glares, the family left the office, leaving the Cabot-Bensons in front of a stiff-sitting Ms. Hannigan.
"Well," the older woman eventually began, breaking the tense silence, "I'm sure you gather by now that we had an incident today between Kevin and Sadie. Sadie, would you like to tell your mothers what you did?"
Sadie's blue eyes widened nervously, and she bit her lower lip, slinking back against the couch seat. "I- I hit Kevin in the eye."
Alex exhaled heavily. Although she had of course gleaned that Sadie had injured her classmate, hearing her daughter admit it left no room for denial.
"Sadie, why did you do that?" Olivia asked, placing a finger under the girl's chin and gently guiding it upwards.
Sadie paused for a moment, hesitant. "Sadie, you need to tell us what happened," Alex prodded. "You know that hitting is not okay…"
"But he was making fun of me! Making fun of you…" Sadie replied before stopping abruptly.
The blonde furrowed her brow. "What do you mean he was making fun of you? And us?" Sadie, however, seemed reticent to share what had happened and instead burrowed her face into the attorney's side.
"It is to my understanding," Ms. Hannigan began to elaborate, "That there was a bit of discord between Kevin and Sadie during art class." The grey-haired woman opened a manila folder and slid a piece of paper across the table, as though it was evidence at a crime scene. Both Alex and Olivia looked down at the drawing. It was a piece of pink construction paper with messy red and white painted hearts and haphazard patches of glitter. Scrawled in Sadie's handwriting was a message: "HAPPY VALƎNTINƎS DAY MOMS. XOXO SADIƎ."
Olivia couldn't help but smile at her daughter's artwork, especially her trademark backwards "E"s, a letter of the alphabet she hadn't quite been able to master writing yet. After a few moments, however, the lieutenant remembered the present situation. She looked up at Ms. Hannigan. "I'm not sure that I understand. What does Sadie's picture have to do with any of this?"
Against her side, Alex felt Sadie let out a small sob, and she looked nervously over at Olivia. Ms. Hannigan gave the three a sympathetic smile. "To my understanding, when Kevin saw that Sadie had addressed her Valentine's picture to her mothers, he made a remark about how this made him uncomfortable, and then Sadie hit him."
The older brunette's mouth gaped open. On the one hand, she was appalled that her five-year-old daughter was already having to confront homophobia from another pre-schooler. Another part of her, however, was also slightly confused. Boisterous as she might sometimes be, it wasn't like Sadie to be physically violent, even when someone was unkind. She and Alex had focused on teaching the kid's to be respectful of other people's bodies as well as their own, and to understand that hitting and kicking was only acceptable if they were in danger. Olivia placed a hand on Sadie's shoulder, gently pulling her out of Alex's embrace. "Sadie, sweetheart, is that what happened? Did Kevin make fun of your picture because you have two moms?"
Sadie whimpered before nodding. "He- he said that it was gwoss that I have two moms and no dads. And he said I am a fweak and that two girls shouldn't be in love or they'll be in trouble."
Olivia's head shot up at Ms. Hannigan. "Did you address this behavior with Kevin and his parents? Do they know that Kevin was harassing Sadie?"
Ms. Hannigan pursed her lips and nodded. "Yes, Michael, Karen, and I discussed Kevin's statements, and we all agreed that he needs to keep these feelings to himself while at school. But that is no excuse for physical altercation…"
"But he wouldn't stowp," Sadie murmured.
"What do you mean, baby?" Alex asked, smoothing the little girl's hair.
Sadie looked up at Ms. Hannigan, who was frowning, nervously. "I asked and I asked Kevin to stop saying mean things about you and Mommy and me but he wouldn't. And I asked Ms. Emily if I could has a new buddy and she said no."
Alex and Olivia looked at Ms. Hannigan accusatorily. The older woman cleared her throat. "According to Sadie's teacher, there has been some… tension for some time now. Kevin and Sadie were assigned to be "buddies" at the beginning of the school year. Kevin has been making his discomfort with Sadie's… well, your family situation known. Sadie's teacher has been trying to get the two children to understand that people have different experiences…"
"Well clearly that hasn't been working," Olivia interrupted with a growl. "Alex, can you take Sadie outside please," the brunette asked, as calmly as she could muster. Alex nodded and led their daughter out of the room, leaving a very uncomfortable Ms. Hannigan in their wake.
"Lieutenant Benson, I understand that you are upset that Sadie has had to deal with these comments. It upsets me as well. We expect tolerance for all of our students. But hitting is never the answer to teasing…"
"No, it isn't," Olivia shot back harshly, "However you didn't leave Sadie with many other options. If this has been going on for some time now, why is this the first time we are hearing about it?"
"It didn't seem as though the situation had escalated to a point that warranted parent involvement. Not until today."
"Oh, so, you're saying that it's fine that our four-year-old has to deal with hearing homophobic remarks about herself and her family day in and day out. To the extent that it is making an otherwise well-behaved child act out. And that doesn't warrant parental involvement? That it makes more sense for her teacher to tell us that she has behavioral issues than to explain that her playground buddy is a bigot."
"I'd hardly say a pre-schooler can be a bigot, Lieutenant…"
"Well I'd say you clearly aren't in the position to be making that judgement," Olivia snapped back, standing up.
"At the end of the day, our school cannot condone violent behavior like kicking or punching."
"Look, I am sorry that Kevin was hurt. As much as he is saying hateful things, he is a child and likely is just regurgitating things that he hears at home. And Alex and I have never instructed any of our children to use violence unless they are in physical danger. But from my perspective, Ms. Hannigan, what you're dealing with is a four-year-old who tried to stop a confusing and painful situation, who was told that she couldn't change the situation, and who was at her wits end. I know this might surprise you, Ms. Hannigan, but the City is far from being a hate-free place. And if that is difficult for adults to understand, how on earth could you expect a preschooler?"
Ms. Hannigan was silent for several uncomfortable moments. She nodded. "You're right, Lieutenant Benson. And I am sorry. We made a mistake by not addressing this sooner. I cannot condone Sadie's behavior; however she is a good child, and I think she had learned a lesson about not hitting. The Edwards might not be pleased, but I do not plan to discipline Sadie beyond having this conversation."
Olivia forced herself to take a breath. "I appreciate the apology, Ms. Hannigan. But that doesn't erase the underlying issue at hand, which is that my daughter is being harassed by her classmate and that the school has done nothing to stop it from happening. I am not going to jump to any decisions, but Alex and I will have to discuss if this is a healthy place for our children to attend."
Ms. Hannigan nodded solemnly. "I understand, Lieutenant Benson. I do hope you will continue to send Mia and Sadie to the Martin School. You have raised two wonderful daughters in spite of the hardships I imagine that you have encounters as a… as co-parents. I will have a discussion with Sadie's teacher about addressing any issues in the future appropriately."
The brunette nodded half-heartedly. She knew deep-down that this was not an issue that would likely be resolved – especially with a reticent administration fearful of upsetting more conservative-leaning parents. Olivia politely excused herself from the office, finding Alex and Sadie waiting nervously outside. The brunette forced a soft smile, holding up Sadie's artwork. "What do you two say about heading home and starting Valentine's Day a little bit early?"
To be continued.