"Babe they didn't have any of those weird prawn toast things you like so I got extra crackers….."
"They're not weird they're a totally legitimate side order."
"He have trouble settling tonight?" asked Elliot, setting their takeout order down on the kitchen counter and noting that Sam was still securely burrowed in Olivia's chest.
"We're bonding."
"I see."
"Don't judge."
"Wouldn't dream of it….." smiled Elliot, never more content than arriving home to see Olivia happily ensconced on the sofa with their children, "….does he want sweet and sour pork or crispy duck?"
"Evie wore herself hours ago so Sam and I have been spending some time together….." pressing a kiss against the temple of her sleepy eyed son Olivia smiled, "… haven't we baby boy?"
"You just want a bit of everything?" asked Elliot, lifting the various containers from his brown paper bag and serving them onto two plates.
"Yeah, please…" digging further under the sea of blankets she and Sam were buried under Olivia tentatively pressed, "… hey El so I was thinking, what if instead of taking Eli to the zoo again at the weekend we took all three of them to the theatre?"
"I'm listening."
"I just saw that they're doing a version of the Lion King aimed at pre-schoolers and it might be a bit young for Eli but our two would love it and….."
"Sounds good to me."
"It does?" she frowned, having prepared herself for a battle that was evidently not going to transpire. Sam, alerted to his father's presence, began to stir and clambered down over Olivia's legs and onto the carpet. "But you hate the theatre. You always whine that it's too long sitting in one place."
"Well, yeah, I do and it is but I doubt this one will be War and Peace if it's aimed at kids his age. Besides it'll be fun to do something different with them." Wandering into the kitchen she nodded with a marvelling appreciation of his logic and willingness to bend.
"Okay who are you and what have you done with my grouchy, stuck in the mud husband?" and as she spoke the final word Elliot took a pause from dishing out their food and they both just smiled at one another a moment. It still sounded so good, so right when said aloud.
"Hey, hey babe don't make a big deal but turn around….."
"Don't make a big deal of…" and the second she caught sight of Sam, pulling himself up against the coffee table and then tentatively letting each hand go in turn before finally releasing his grip all together she gasped animatedly, "…. oh my God!"
"Shh don't freak him out….." moving around the breakfast bar and squeezing at her shoulders with his hands Elliot grinningly instructed, "…if he realises what he's doing he'll panic."
"My baby boy….."
"Was that three?" asked Elliot, as Sam eventually lost his balance and his diaper landed on the carpet in defeat. "Did you count three steps before he hit the deck?"
"Four, I definitely counted four….." feeling his arms snake around her waist Olivia leant back into Elliot's chest and hugged him tight, "….okay maybe it was three but there's gonna be no stopping him now. All bets are off and if Evie was old enough to understand he beat her too it by three months can you imagine her little face?"
"She was a lot closer to talking by his age though, right?"
"Maybe he's gonna be a man of few words like his father….." she smiled, with echoes of Elliot's wedding vows resounding, "….you're not wrong though, they're completely different."
"And completely incredible….." and then, with his usual understated but wholehearted sentiment Elliot kissed her lips lightly and held her eyes for a moment, "….which is pretty much all down to you."
"El….." she melted, with loving eyes. Never one to linger too long on sentimentality Elliot, however, had returned to his dinner duties and simply handed her a plate of Chinese food with a smile.
"This is not our case anymore."
"But Captain…." began Rollins, vocalising the gathered groups' immediate reaction to the message Cragen was delivering with a measured calm.
"I'm going to repeat what I just said for any of you who may have chosen not to hear me the first time. This is not our case, detectives." It had been roughly a week and a half since the old order had been restored and, with Olivia's return, the team had been returned to a full complement. Though initially they had struggled to regain their rhythm they had gradually found their beat again they were now a cohesive force once more.
"Are there still two girls missing? At least one of them a minor?"
"Yes."
"Was one of them brutally beaten and raped?"
"Yes."
"Then I'm sorry Cap…." finished Olivia with frustrated disbelief, "…. I don't understand how this isn't a Special Victims case."
"I'm with Liv." Nodded Munch, and Amaro and Rollins followed suit murmuring their support. Fin, meanwhile, was staring so hard at the wall behind Cragen's head that Olivia suspected he might start to burn a hole through it.
"I want to find them as much as you all do but the fact of the matter is that their disappearance is a drop in the ocean in comparison to what the Feds are now dealing with on this case. Professional respect and my responsibility for your safety mean I have to toe the line on this one. We do things their way, we play by their rules."
"Due respect…" shaking her head and saying exactly what was written all over Olivia's face Rollins sighed exasperatedly, "… this is bullshit."
"Are we done here?" asked Fin with a gruff mumble as he got up from his seat and, regardless of Cragen's response, left the huddle.
"I'll go get started background checking the nannies." Said Olivia, but not one of them was under any illusions that she wasn't about to follow Fin toward the crib.
"You think the wife knows more than she's letting on?"
"Don't do that."
"I know we say we'll protect our witnesses but we both know that a lot of times there's still an element of risk. Only from what Cragen is saying the risk element here is incomprehensible. These guys are…."
"I know what you're trying to do Cheekbones and it ain't gonna work."
"I wish you would talk to me." Said Olivia after a few moments, when she had failed to think of a way to refute his accusation.
"I don't wanna talk."
"I get that but….."
"I don't wanna talk about the fact that that's her stuff you're sitting on and she's been camping out here since she moved out of my place. I don't wanna talk about the fact I have woman stuff all over my bathroom and my bed is still covered in stupid throw pillows."
"Damn it."
"What?" asked Fin, startled out of his daze by the blunt expression of loving regret from Olivia. Looking to her he saw she was genuinely moved, her brown eyes kind in their sympathy as she responded at a low murmur.
"You really do love her don't you?" though she had never been the biggest fan of his relationship with Amanda it wasn't until that moment that Olivia realised the true depth of his feelings. She had been earnest in her belief that he would be better off freed from the chains of her demons and the dragging affect their relationship had seemed to have on him. Yet looking at him in that moment, so quiet and broken she wasn't so sure.
"She's got a point….." he shrugged, his hands clasped as he rolled one thumb around the other and maintained a blank face, "….we're not good for each other."
"I won't lie to you and say I didn't think that way when you two first got together, but maybe things aren't always so black and white. Maybe the timing just wasn't right before. She went through hell in Atlanta by all accounts, and you and Melinda were still pretty recently broken up."
"I treated Warner like shit."
"Yeah, yeah you did….." nodded Olivia slowly, knowing that their friendship was at its strongest when they were brutally honest with one another, "…. but you two are good now though, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well there's an unspoken 'but' if ever I heard one….." twisting her lips to a curious, knowing smile Olivia leant forward with her elbows against her knees and wrapped her hands around his, "…..so why don't you tell me what I'm missing here?"
"I let her go."
"Warner?"
"She's college educated, smart, sophisticated. She likes period dramas about people in big old English houses wearing stupid pants. She reads the Times every day and she's got more class and more heart than….." rounding his shoulders and twitching the corners of his mouth with a vulnerability that broke Olivia's heart he added, "… she's a lady and she deserves a gentleman."
"Fin you are a gentleman….." countered Olivia with a quick, dismissive and profoundly affectionate shake of her head, "….but I don't understand I thought you were in love with Rollins?"
"Maybe I'm just too messed up to know what I am."
"Well now that is just crap and you know it."
"Liv if you knew, if you really knew what Peach has been through then….."
"Okay so I'm just gonna say this and you can hate me for it or you can…" taking a pause Olivia swallowed slowly and chewed on her cheek before stating, "….but loving someone and being in love with someone are two different things. The same way wanting to be in a relationship with someone and wanting to save someone, wanting someone to not be alone anymore are…."
"You think that's what I was trying to do? Save Peach?"
"I think that she trusted you in a way she's never trusted anyone before. I think she let you in further, let you get closer, let you see a side to her that none of us ever have or probably ever will and that is incredibly powerful."
"She's funny too….." chuckled Fin, the tears in his eyes almost unbearable for Olivia to witness, "… she's real funny."
"Fin if it's Amanda then fine, great, I'll back your play…" pinning him with urging eyes Olivia entreated, "….. but if it's Melinda then maybe you should talk to her before she leaves for LA tomorrow?"
"Nah."
"But….."
"Olivia if I can't figure out where the hell I am in all this enough to talk to you about it….." laughing with a bleak desperation but painful self-awareness Fin sighed, "….then I got no business stopping Melinda getting on that plane."
"And you think you're not good enough for her?" laughing softly with a sad shake of her head Olivia ignored his wilful protest and leant forward to draw him into a warm hug.
"Rollins can I borrow you for five?"
"Yeah, yeah I'll be right there…" tapping a last sentence into the computer at her desk Amanda nodded, "…. give me a second to finish this for Fin?"
"It's all good I can finish it up with John when he gets back….." and then, managing the first genuine smile since their painful separation Fin added, "….if you're lucky we might even save you some fries."
"Well you better!"
"Hey did you see what time Liv left?"
"Oh she got back before you did; she's in interrogation with Amaro."
"They workin' on someone?" asked Fin, nervous that any moment their easy exchange might crack and reveal the million unspoken feelings that kept them both awake at night. "I didn't know we'd brought anyone in?"
"They managed to bring in one of the Yemeni son's on a firearms charge but it's like blood from a stone…" rolling her eyes Rollins gathered the paperwork she knew Cragen was expecting and finished, "….they're in for a long night."
"Hey Peach….." catching the word as he dropped off his tongue Fin flinched slightly and added apologetically, "…. Amanda."
"Yeah?" she asked, with a nervous but warm smile. When the silent pause and his staring at her were becoming too uncomfortable to bear she added with a hint of desperation, "Fin?"
"I….." he began, before forcing a dismissive laugh and pawing the air, "… nah, nah forget it. You better go see Cragen before he comes chasing you."
"Geez it's like the Marie Celeste in here….." returning from lunch with various paper bagged spoils Munch set them down on Fin desk and asked, "….did I miss something? Where'd Scooby and the gang go?"
"Who's Scooby in this analogy?"
"I might've known you two would be sat on your asses doing nothing….." grinned Elliot, having missed Munch in the elevator by seconds, "….how's it going?"
"You smell my Monty's from across town?" chuckled Munch, opening up his bag of treats and offering Elliot a fry. "Life is never dull in sex crimes, but you already know that. It's what keeps you pining for us, isn't it Blue Eyes?"
"They for me?" asked Fin, nodding toward the bouquet of winter blooms in Elliot's hand.
"Course they are, honey." Elliot shot back, and though it pained him Fin enjoyed his increasingly fraternal friendship with him.
"You're so whipped, bro….." teased Fin, diving into his own lunch and adding, "…. but sadly your Mrs is gonna be hauled up in interrogation with her work husband for the foreseeable."
"Work husband?"
"Oh sorry I forgot….." pushing the boundaries of their evolved friendship, and indeed his luck Fin quipped, "… that was only a thing when it was you and her."
"I will hurt you Tutuola."
"Mid-afternoon flowers? You do something wrong?" asked Munch, from behind a mouthful of chicken.
"Nah, nah he just wants to get laid tonight….." as Elliot ignored their two man stand up show and poked around on Olivia's desk in search of her day planner Fin noted, "…. I saw Cabot earlier and she was heading off early to pick up Evie and Little Man from preschool."
"I didn't think I was losing my mind….." said Elliot, having unearthed Olivia's schedule from the debris on her desk, "… she's supposed to get off at three today."
"Talk to Cragen. Serious El….." tempered Munch with a friendly smile, "….we're snowed under here and she's in there with Amaro for the long haul unless he says otherwise."
"Tell him I'll tag in if he can find someone to finish returning all these calls to hostile Yemenites."
"Yeah?" tested Elliot, surprised that after all his teasing Fin was seemingly about to save his evening plans.
"Just go talk to the Captain before I change my mind will you?" though his words were hostile Fin flashed a lopsided smile that Elliot took as confirmation that his offer was genuine and headed off toward Cragen's office.
"Oh snap."
"What?" asked Melinda Warner, draining the contents of her takeout coffee cup and turning to her daughter.
"Due to conflicting schedules Kim and Kanye haven't spent a weekend together in over a month…" her tone dripping with caustic sarcasm and her eyes sparkling with her mother's humour Rachel Warner smirked, "…. and it's putting a strain on their otherwise perfect relationship."
"You're so bad."
"I like to keep abreast of the latest Kardashian headlines….." closing the magazine she had been leafing through Rachel smiled, "…. it reminds me why I'm so grateful to have been raised by a mother not a momager."
"They should be calling us any minute….." loading a packet of M&Ms into the shopping basket on Rachel's arm Melinda asked, "….do you want anything else before we board? This is on me."
"No, no mom…."
"Hush." Slipping a twenty into her daughter's hand Melinda winked as her cell phone flashed alive and began to vibrate from inside her purse.
"If that's him ignore it, he's too late….." and then without hesitation Rachel added firmly, "… seriously."
"No, no it's not Fin, I don't know this number."
"I'll go pay for these."
"Melinda Warner?" the paling on her face was instant as she wrapped her fingers a little tighter around her cell phone. "Yes, yes I…. oh my God …..oh my God….."
"Mom?" sensing that it was an inopportune moment to leave Rachel reached for her mother's wrist and held it fast as Melinda's legs buckled from under her and she sank inelegantly to the floor against the candy counter. "Mom!"
"Thank you for….. of course, of course….."
"Mom what the hell is going on?" gasped Rachel, dropping to her knees and taking the phone from Melinda's hand when she saw she was neither able to move nor speak.
"Half an hour ago someone walked into the 16th precinct wearing a vest….." it was as though the words were physically painful for Melinda to speak, and every one caused a wince and finally a retch as she finished, "….and detonated it."
"Jesus Christ!"
"They're calling for all hands on deck….." she continued, closing her eyes and leaning her curls back against the shelf behind, "…. to help….search and…. oh God…..."
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN WELCOME THIS DELTA FLIGHT 335 SERVICE NON STOP TO LOS ANGELES."
"Just take a breath Mom, breathe with me….."
"AT THIS TIME WE WOULD LIKE TO INVITE ALL PASSENGERS IN ROWS 30 THROUGH 21 TO COMMENCE BOARDING."
"Mom that's our flight….." said Rachel with a soft urgency, clutching her mother's trembling hand and furrowing her brow, "….what do you want to do?"