Chapter 36
The next day Lilly and her family went home. She couldn't believe she had a husband and a brand new baby. Lilly and Zara where in the back seat, the new mother looked at the baby seat as her baby slumbered on.
Lilly looked up, "you're not speeding, this is a first." She joked. Scotty smiled. "I don't want to take any chances Cielo."
Lilly laughed, they talked about the nursery, "I got Mike to finish the crib." Scotty said.
They had the baby's room ready. Lilly had put a lot of thought into it. Scotty had painted it blue. It had clouds around, a black wooden crib, and a matching changing table. Allie, Rosa, Kat and the squad had bought Zara a lot of clothes and toys. Scotty remembered when they started decorating the Zara's room. Lilly had wanted the room to be perfect. "I want her to have a perfect room." Scotty understood the unspoken request. His wife wanted their child to have the childhood room she didn't have.
Soon they were going to their apartment. Zara woke up and fussed. "She really has your personality." Lilly said as she sat in the rocking chair. She shushed the baby and fed her.
"You look astonishingly beautiful." Scotty said kneeling in front of her. She adjusted Zara and puckered her lips for a kiss. He chuckled and kissed her quickly.
"I'm going to put the bassinet together. She's sleeping with us tonight. It'll be easier on us." Scotty said; fact was that he wanted Lilly and the baby close to him.
She remained with Zara, looking at those deep blue eyes. People were right she looked like her but there was something very Scotty Valens about her daughter. The attentive way she looked at things and the small crease on her brow. She had little hair but it looked like she would have blondish hair.
Her husband put the bassinet together; "I put it by our bed." He helped Lilly to their bedroom.
Lilly looked exhausted, "I'm going to take a shower, call Rosa, tell her that we're fine." Lilly put Zara on the bassinet. "Sleep tight doll."
Scotty rested on the bed; sleep finally catching onto him. He loosened undressed and was asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.
He woke up to Zara's shrill cries. He sighed deeply and sat up. Lil was already pulling the baby up. "I think she's wet." Lilly said just as sleepy as he felt. Scotty stood up and took his daughter. He went into the nursery and changed her. "Shush, baby girl. Mommy and daddy need to sleep." He rocked Zara and she quieted a little. Scotty came back into the room and put her back on her bassinet.
Zara was a tyrant; she had to be the worst tempered baby in the world. She was sweet and quiet when her parents were wide-awake and alert. Whenever they tried to sleep however, she would scream murder and have them cater to all of her needs.
She had to be picked up whenever she woke in the middle of the night. Lilly rocked and sang to her but it seemed like the baby had her preferences very clear. She only wanted Scotty when it came to diaper changes at the middle of the night. Lilly was required to burp her, feed her and sing to her during the day.
"She really has your disposition." Lilly bounced a month old Zara. She was a terrorist moonlighting as chubby little blond baby. Lilly had two sound hours of sleep yesterday night. It was a blessing. Scotty had been Zara's chosen one the night before. She decided to keep daddy awake all night. He was at her beck and call.
Scotty was on a coffee break. He was drinking lots of it. "Ma said that she'd start sleeping through the night when she's a little older." He said yawning. They were exhausted. Zara cried, slept, pooped and ate.
Lilly managed to get Zara ready for her nap. The baby slept peacefully for five hours that day. Scotty lie on the bed. Lilly showered and rested her head on his chest. "You need a shower Scotty." She said into his chest.
"Yeah, I know." He agreed with her but was too tired to stand up and shower. He kissed her forehead.
Scotty woke up to Lilly shaking him roughly. "Scotty wake up. Wake up now."
"What?" He looked at Lilly who held a crying Zara. "I've tried everything, feeding, cooing, rocking, singing. She wants nothing to do with me."
He looked at the angry baby. "Come here Zara." She quieted, "hola muñequita." Lilly sat next to them in the bed. "I think she likes it when you speak Spanish to her."
Scotty spoke to the baby in Spanish and English. Zara looked attentively at her dad. He looked to Lilly who was fast asleep on her side.
"Mommy and daddy are tired, could you let them sleep for more than two hours baby?"
Zara blinked and stared at him. "Just try ok."
Intellectually Scotty was ready to go back to work. He had to go back, this was his first day back. Zara was on her playpen while Lilly typed away on her FBI laptop. He didn't want to leave them. "I don't think we're ready."
Scotty picked Zara and kissed her chubby cheek. "Do you want daddy to stay with you my muñequita?"
She smiled a little. She'd been smiling for a week now. That smile erased all the sleepless nights, the midnight wake up calls. The dirty diapers it all seemed more bearable when his baby girl smiled at him.
Zara tried to touch his face. "We'll be fine Scotty, I've been working for two weeks now and Zara finally has a nap schedule." Lilly walked up to him and grabbed their daughter from his arms. "We'll be here when you come home." She kissed him softly. He deepened the kiss; they hadn't been together since before Zara had been born. They'd been too busy with the baby to even think about something other than sleeping and taking care of Zara.
Scotty nibbled on her lower lip. He looked into Lilly's blue eyes and saw the lust reflected on her eyes. "When you get home we'll do something about it?" Lilly whispered into his ear.
He groaned, "you're making it really hard for me to leave this apartment right now." He kissed her quickly before grabbing his light jacket.
Scotty went to the precinct. "You're back." Amanda smiled at him. He smiled back at her. "How's Zara doing?"
Scotty shook his head, "taking a nap right about now." He replied.
Olivia had a new case on her hands. "Ready to be back?" She gave him some files and he read them. Three hours later the SVU detectives gathered around the bullpen. Scotty called Lil, "hey Cielo, how are you doing?" he smiled without even thinking.
Lilly told him about Zara's day. "Your parents are staying over tonight."
Scotty frowned that put a hold on his plans to have his way with his wife. "Why? Mom was home for three days last week."
Lilly chuckled, "Rosa has tickets for some Broadway show."
He couldn't believe his bad luck. "Pops hates musicals." He argued.
He could practically see her shake her head. "Your mother convinced him."
"What about us Cielo?" He asked softly. He didn't need Fin or Munch to hear his conversation.
"What I have planned for you will have to wait." She did the breathy voice thing that drove him crazy.
He was about to say something really inappropriate when Olivia approached him, "got a lead, come on we have a suspect to interview." Scotty nodded.
"Lil, I gotta go. I'll see you when I get home." They said goodbye.
Scotty was too tired to even think about sex when he got home. He greeted his parents who got in just as he came in. "It's late Scotty." His mother remarked. He kissed her forehead, "I know Ma. First day back."
They entered the apartment. "Goodnight mijito." Rosa kissed Scotty's cheek and went into the guest room.
"Goodnight son." Ramiro kissed him too and went into the guest room.
Scotty smiled and went into his room. Lil was fast asleep with Zara on her chest. They both looked beautiful. He saw Zara move a little. She opened her eyes. "Hey baby girl." He said quietly and lifted her from Lil's chest. He checked her diaper, "Let's change you."
He went into the nursery and changed his baby. "Come on muñequita." Scotty and Lilly chose to leave Zara in their room until she was a little older.
Zara was not sleepy after that. She wanted to be entertained; He sat on the rocking chair and talked to Zara in Spanish. He told her about when he met Lilly for the first time. An hour later Zara was fast asleep, he stood up and put her on her bassinet. Scotty took a shower a slid next to Lil. She mumbled and snuggled close to him.
Lilly sent her latest report. She didn't have more work to do and decided to take Zara to the park. "Let's go Zara. We're going to feed the ducks." She picked the ten month old who didn't appreciate being picked up and taken away from her toys.
"No." The baby said. Lilly frowned, "Yes, we're going to the park." Zara talked now. Well more like babbled, her vocabulary was growing but she used mama, dada, no and ga in most of her sentences. She didn't know what ga meant but every time she said she pointed to either Olivia or Tripod.
They got ready and went down to the park. Lilly showed Zara the ducks. The baby became very excited she giggled and made grabby hands at them. "We can't pet them sweetie."
Zara looked up to her mom and giggled some more. Lilly kissed her dirty blond hair. Everyone said her daughter was a replica of her but her moods were Scotty's through and through. She was very expressive and when she was angry, she frowned and all she could see was Scotty Valens.
Lilly thought about her husband. He'd been busy for the past weeks. They had an abandoned baby case. He was at the precinct all day and most of the night. The only times she'd seen him and talk to him was when he crawled to bed, she was tired and he was beyond exhausted.
Rosa had been great help. She would drive to New York at least once a week to check on her and Zara. Lilly thought it strange that she was one of the few women who loved their mother in law. She really appreciated Rosa, she taught her how to take care of Zara. Lilly really didn't know how she would have coped without Rosa.
She felt her cellphone ring, "Hi doll face." She teased her husband.
"Cielo, cariño I'm going to be late. I can't make it to dinner tonight." Lilly frowned.
"We haven't seen you in three days Scotty." She was sad, that part wasn't entirely true. Scotty was a great dad; he would come from work and spend as much time with Zara before tiredness sank in. It was her who felt neglected; she hadn't been intimate with her husband since at least a month. He didn't seem interested anymore. Lilly knew her body had changed a little since giving birth. She wasn't as lean as she used to be and her breasts were fuller from breastfeeding but she didn't think she was unappealing. Scotty was too tired, she was too tired or they were both busy with work or more importantly; taking care of Zara.
"I know Cielo but we had a new victim last night. We might have a lead." He said as an explanation.
Lilly remained quiet, "I promise once we have her full statement I'm going straight home to be with my Cielo and my muñequita." He really sounded sorry about not being home on time. Lilly decided to cut him some slack. She also was busy with work and could work on another profiling case if she wanted to. It looked like she would have to.
She sighed, "Ok but we're definitely going to Philly on Sunday. Your mother reminded me again about not going last week."
"Of course Cielo." He hung up on her.
"Daddy won't be home until late Zara." She said to her daughter who looked back at her.
The baby shook her head, "I don't like it either but daddy's job is very important."
A couple of months later Scotty and Lilly were still as busy as ever. Zara was close to one year old now and very active. She started walking and talking nonstop two weeks ago.
"Dada up." She toddled to Scotty who was busily reading some reports on a SoHo serial rapist. He attacked young women and cut their hair, so far five victims hadn't been able to identify their attacker. They all said the same, the man had attacked them from behind and whispered, "So you think you're special bitch."
Scotty looked down and lifted Zara. "You want to play with daddy?"
Zara giggled, "Mommy should be back in a couple of hours. Why don't we hit the neighborhood and have a walk." Lilly decided to go back to the Bureau as a special agent for cold cases.
Cavanaugh would still be her partner; she would have to work from headquarters now. They decided to hire a nanny; Lil almost pulled the plug on that after interviewing ten unsuitable women. "They don't have any real experience and you wanted someone who spoke Spanish." Lilly had wanted to leave Zara in Philly with Rosa. His mother had been delighted at the idea until his father pointed out that they still needed to run the shop and they had plans to finally travel for a while.
Lilly insisted that Rosa continued with her plans. Eventually they found a nanny who spoke Spanish and whom Lilly liked. It was their neighbor; Clara would take care of Zara from 8:00 to 3:00. Lilly was very clear to Ryan about her hours, she wasn't about to sacrifice time with her daughter. Who would have thought? Workaholic Lilly Rush would fight about being able to leave the job early.
Scotty used the sling and walked around the neighborhood for thirty minutes. Lilly was handing in her last report; she would start her job in a week. He was using lost hours in order to babysit Zara.
He dropped Zara to the floor and walked with her a little, "that's great Zara." She giggled and clapped. She fell on her bottom. She didn't have much balance yet. Zara frowned and looked up to him, "up."
"Demanding little girl." He picked her up, "Let's go home, your mommy should be back by now."
Lilly was finishing her paperwork, she was anxious about leaving Zara but was determined to give the job a try. It was her third month at headquarters and she was getting better at leaving Zara without feeling so guilty.
Scotty went inside the apartment; Tripod and Olivia meowed at him. "Lil. Cielo, are you ready?" he called out. Nobody answered; they were supposed to spend the day together. It had been weeks since he had a proper conversation with his wife. One that did not involve Zara, or work, "Guess she's not back yet." Scotty played with Zara until 7:00 PM when it was time for her bath and then bedtime.
His daughter loved the water, "enough Zara. We have to get you dry, your mommy will kill me if you get a cold." He lifted a squirming wet little Zara.
He went into the nursery and dressed her, he read a book to her in Spanish, her eyes dropped and she slept peacefully.
Scotty called Lilly "Cielo, where are you?"
"I just got out of headquarters. The paperwork was delayed some printing error." She replied, "I'm getting to the subway right now. I'll be home in thirty minutes."
Scotty looked forward to spending the night with her. Zara was sleeping through the night and back in her room. He missed Lilly, he wanted her, and their sex life had diminished significantly since Zara came along. He didn't properly remember the last time he made love to her. Suddenly he was consumed with lust for her. He went into their room and decided to set the mood when his cell phone rang. "We have a fourth rape same M.O as the rape from last week, our serial struck again. You have to come to the precinct." Olivia said quickly.
"I'm home." Lilly came through the bedroom door, her cheeks were flushed. "It's cold out there." She kissed him softly on the mouth.
"I'm on my way Liv." He hung up.
"I though you had the day off." She said quickly. Scotty nodded, "I did Cielo. It's night already. I have a presumed serial." He kissed her back and left the apartment. He knew that she was unhappy about him leaving but it wasn't entirely her fault. She had been the one to spend the whole day at the bureau.
Later that night when he was back from taking the victim's statement, after he checked on Zara he wanted sleep more than anything. He crawled under the covers and was dead to the world. He didn't even kiss Lilly goodnight.