Title: Welcome Home
Author: ZombieJazz
Fandom: Law & Order: SVU
Disclaimer: I don't own them. Law and Order SVU and its characters belong to Dick Wolf. The characters of Jack and Benji have been created and developed for the sake of this AU series.
Summary: Olivia continues to work at establishing her family and learning how to navigate motherhood while still serving with SVU. There's lots of challenges for her ahead as she adjusts to the changes in her life, surmounts new situations and legal troubles for her and her adopted children, and tries to find some time and space for herself in it all too. This is the sequel to Hello, Goodbye.
Author's Notes: This AU series is for SVU fans and readers who want Olivia to have something that resembles a more normal life outside of work and a family of her own - hopefully somewhat realistically within the canon of SVU. Most of the chapters will ultimately take place outside of the work environment, so there aren't going to be too many references to cases from the show. But this story would generally be starting in about Season 15 of the show. Please let me know what you think and if you distribute elsewhere.
Olivia smiled as she watched Jack work at getting the kids divided into two teams of firefighters. Some of the kids seemed to have very strong preferences about who were going to be on their team. There was no way that Jack was getting Benji and Bryson to separate. They were Rescue Bots and they had to work together to accomplish their mission.
It felt nice to stop for a minute. A lot of the parents and other adults hadn't bothered to come over to the room that the firefighters had let Jack set up the games in. She didn't exactly blame them. Watching little kids play little kid party games wasn't likely that exciting for most of them – especially if they'd been to parties before and if they weren't camera snap-happy crazy like her. Besides the food and adult conversation was in the other room.
But Olivia wanted to see her sons participate. And it just felt good to turn off the party organizing mode for a few minutes and to let Jack take care of it. She felt like she'd been in complete party-mode for nearly 24 hours at that point – her whole existence had been getting ready for the party, getting Benji ready for the party, setting up the party and now dealing with the party. Stopping and actually getting to enjoy the party seemed like a good idea.
Jack had started the kids off with his Pin the Tail on the Dalmatian game. He'd done a cute job at painting a banner with the dog on it – but she shouldn't have expected anything else from his artistic skills. Though she might've since Jack had been hot-and-cold about the party for much of the month. But the dog was cute and the construction paper tails he'd made for it were possibly cuter. None of the kids seemed to get the tails anywhere near the dog's butt, though. Some did end up in fairly interesting places. She was almost surprised that Bryson hadn't provided a running commentary about what other body parts the tail could be based on its various placements. But at least his parents were around to deal with hushing him and they seemed to be actually managing their child – unlike some of the other parents who seemed to think that a birthday party meant free play-room service and food for the family. One of the new 'friends' from his kindergarten class had even brought a sibling to the party, which had thrown Olivia for a bit of a loop because she hadn't even considered that as a possibility and didn't have anything for the child in terms of loot bags and goodies. She was just going to have to hope that the parent understood when it got to be the end of the party. Or even after this race – when the child didn't end up with a badge, certificate or fire dog prize. She'd already told the mother that and had been given a dirty look. But what was she supposed to do? Send someone out to a party shop to try to pull something together at the last minute? That didn't seem fair.
Nick came over to the room. He'd been trailing after Zara fairly diligently – especially since Emerson had drawn all over her. But Zara had been staying fairly close to daddy too. The little girl seemed so quiet for the child that Olivia had grown to see as rather bossy in their previous encounters. Her and Benji gave each other a run for their money as they tried to out-boss each other around on play dates or playground trips. But not today. There'd been a blow-out with Maria about Nick getting Zara two weekends in a row so she could come to the party and it sounded like part of the blow-out had happened in front of the little girl. It actually sounded like a lot of the yelling and arguing about their failing marriage took place in front of the little girl anymore as Maria established herself back into civilian life and pushed more and more for access to her daughter and seemed to argue more and more that she was a better parent to the girl – as a woman and as her mother. Olivia had always perceived Nick to be a good father – a doting one. It'd only been recently that she started to think that he spoiled the girl a little too much and that some of his and Maria's personal issues were over-shadowing who they should be as parents. But it definitely was rubbing off on their little girl. You didn't need to be around her too long to see that she was retreating into herself. She was becoming very quiet and sullen looking. She hoped that her parents would see that before it was too late. She might try to broach the topic with Nick later. Though who was she to be giving parenting advice? And she certainly knew that taking parenting advice – especially unsoliticted advice – was a touchy topic. For anyone.
"How'd you rope Cassidy into doing this?" Nick asked her as Jack and Brian readied themselves to demonstrate the obstacle course that her teenaged sound was clearly pround of and her youngest son was clearly near hopping out of his skin to participate in. He had put on his firefighter jacket to do it – along with his boots that he'd had on since the moment he'd opened his present. All the little kids were in their plastic firefighter hats. Olivia thought they looked pretty damn cute.
She glanced at Nick and shrugged. "Wasn't me. Jack's doing the games. He must've asked him."
"Should take pictures," Nick dead-panned. "He's going to look pretty stupid."
Olivia shot him a firmer look.
Brian was definitely doing it best to make clear – without verbally announcing to anyone – that they could officially be considered a couple at this point. Olivia didn't think it was exactly new information to anyone. But she supposed that it was the first situation that her and Brian had been seen in together where his presence couldn't be passed off as being for some other reason. Nick's disapproval of that was still somewhat apparent. Not that she really cared. It wasn't like Nick had a glowing record on what constituted positive examples of effective relationships when kids were on the scene. But she didn't exactly appreciate his commentary either. Though, he seemed to be warming up to the idea. He wasn't as overtly hostile to Brian as he had been in the month's after Cragen and Clarisa and the gun-to-the-head incident.
"Says the man who had a princess fairy party for his daughter," Olivia put to him.
Nick shrugged. "Things you do for your kids," he said flatly.
She thought briefly about putting something back to him about it being something Brian was doing for Benji. Or even for Jack. Or really for her. But she thought that might just cloud the conversation and fuel Nick's commentary – with comments she didn't particularly want to hear.
"OK," Jack said in a voice that Olivia was starting to recognize as something he must've learnt at camp. Commanding but still level enough to not be frightening. He was doing a fairly good job at controlling and wrangling the kids for her. She knew he could. He'd survived camp. Gecko trusted him as an instructor on Funky's weekend programs. She watched him interact with Benji regularly. But it was interesting to watch him with other children. It wasn't just her little boy her responded to him. The other kids were looking up to him and listening as well.
"So, first you need to make sure that your firefighter helmet is on," Jack instructed.
He put on one of the things and Brian followed suit. They didn't look cute like the little kids. They looked pretty ridiculous. The hats really didn't fit them right. Their heads were far too big.
"Then you've got to get into your fire truck," Jack said and moved over to two cardboard boxes that he'd painted red. He hadn't just painted them red, though, he'd added headlights and ladders and paper-plate wheels. They were ridiculously cute. Olivia suspected he'd spent even more time on them than he had on his Dalmatian mural. She also knew that Benji was likely to want to keep them both as play things and they'd be clogging up their living space until the boxes basically denigrated from the overuse that her little boy was likely going to put them through.
Jack stepped into his open-bottom box and pulled it up to his waist. Jack was a slim, lanky kid. Fitting into the box – even if it was small – wasn't a problem for him. Brian on the other-hand had a bit more bulk from stature, build and middle age. Navigating the box up to his waist looked like it took a bit more effort. He likely was less than excited about the small adult audience he did have – especially Nick. And possibly her. She didn't want to be accommodating Nick's suggestions that she capture photos of Brian looking stupid – but he did look stupid and she did snap a photo with her phone and looked at it, Nick glancing in her direction as she did.
"Then you've got to race to the fire site," Jack said and he started running around the room one way while Brian turned and went the opposite direction, dodging each other when they did pass – though Brian briefly gave Jack a hard-time, blocking his way and giving the teen a bit of a smart-ass look. Jack shot him a glare and did a deke and went around him. They finally met back in front of the little kids who were rather impatiently watching the routine they'd have to be coached through again anyways when it came their time to run the course.
"Then you get out of your fire truck," Jack said and let the box fall. "Grad your fire hose and run to the fire."
He picked up one of the skipping ropes and Brian another and they raced forward to where he had a limbo stick sitting across the top of two chairs and hung with orange, yellow and red streamers.
"Jump or crawl through the fire," Jack said. "QUICKLY!"
He ducked low and went through the streamers, Brian following after him.
"And then you've got to stop, drop and roll to make sure you didn't get any flames on you," Jack said and did just that.
Brian made a sound at that order and Olivia laughed but the man got to the ground and rolled too. Jack waited until he was done and then looked at the kids around the fake flames.
"Then you've gotta stay low to the ground. So crawl so you're under the smoke," he said and then proceeded to crawl under a long table he had set up in the middle of the room.
Brian gave her and her partner a glance at that but again started to follow after Jack under the table. Jack had already jumped to his feet before Brian even appeared on the other end.
"Then you've got to put out the fire," Jack said and picked up three blue bean bags and tossed them at some empty Coke bottles that he'd decorated with flames. He was likely much more coordinated than any of the kids were going to be and the bottles (AKA flames) toppled over and out in one shot. So did Brian's.
They raced forward a few more steps until there was a little step stool.
"Climb the ladder," Jack said and took the two steps up that he didn't need to given his height, "and then put your hand in the box and find one of the pets that needs to be rescued from the fire."
He did that and then pulled the stuffie close to his chest and climbed down the steps so Brian could go up.
"Then you race back to the beginning," Jack said and ran back across the room, Brian following after. He looked at the kids. "And that's how you do the firefighter test. Are you ready?"
"MHES!" Benji cheered.
Olivia watched as her little boy started. Benji clearly thought it was more of a race than an obstacle course and was going through it at full tilt. He near ploughed down the little girl he was racing against but he had a huge smile on his face. The smile turned to creased concentration as he got to the fire dosing station. His first three bean bags missed the flames. He'd stepped forward ready to kick the bottles down when Jack had gone back and retrieved the bean bags for him to try again. He managed to hit it on his fifth try and had then stomped up the step stool with pride, sticking his whole head into the box of stuffies that was decorated to look like a burning window.
"Puppy!" Benji had declared when he'd gotten his dog out and looked at it with joy.
The little girl was waiting at the stool for her turn. "It's a puppy?" she asked excitedly and had started mounting the stool before Benji had even started getting down, causing Olivia to call out at Jack to make sure they didn't knock each other down.
But Benji managed to hop around her and tore back to the start where Brian was waiting with the firefighter badges and the certificates to give each of the kids. Though he was a little gruffly asking each kid, "What's your name?" and paging through the pile trying to find the personalized Junior Fire Chief diplomas that Alex had made up. Thankfully there were only the eight kids because Brian looked confused enough with just that many. Or maybe it was just that many kids standing around him looking at stuffies and wanting their badges.
Benji was far more interested in his certificate than the plastic badge. "It say I a Rescue Bot Firefighter?" he asked.
Brian glanced at him. "Ah, no. It says you're a Junior Fire Chief," he told him.
"Not a Rescue Bot Firefighter?" Benji asked.
"No," Brian said.
Benji looked at the paper with some incredulousness, like it might be worthless if it didn't clarify that he was a Rescue Bot. Bryson arrived and got his certificate.
"It not say I a Rescue Bot Firefighter," Benji told the other little boy.
Bryson looked at his certificate. "Mine says I'm a Rescue Bot Cop," he said.
Benji squinted at him and then glared at Brian. "Why Bryson a Rescue Bot?"
Brian looked confused and Olivia went over at that. "You can be a Rescue Bot too, Benj," she said. "Your certificate is just your firefighter certificate, not a Rescue Bot certificate."
Benji looked at the paper again. "It say a firefighter now?" he clarified.
"It says you're a junior firefighter now," she provided and took the remaining certificates from Brian because he looked like he was struggling and she'd caught most of the kid's names when they were arriving.
The probie Jordan appeared just as she said that and gave her a smile. He'd brought his nephew but he'd been down in the bay doing his shift duties so far and he hadn't been up to the party yet.
"Are there some junior firefighters in here?" he asked.
Benji hopped in front of him at that. "Mhes," he said. "We doing our fireman test."
Jordan looked at the obstacle course. "You know, this looks just like the fireman test I had to do," he said. "Maybe harder." He looked around and caught Jack's eyes where he was helping the kids put out the flames and get up and down off the step stool. "Good job, dude."
"Thanks," Jack said quietly with a touch of embarrassment.
"Hey, Ben, since it's your birthday and you just passed your junior firefighter test, my chief just gave me a special present for you," Jordan said.
"Present?" Benji asked and looked up at her.
He wasn't doing that well with the present concept that day. He'd grasped that you give presents on birthdays but she didn't think that he quite understood that as the birthday boy he was the one getting presents. It was pretty clear that her son couldn't handle more than about two presents at a time. It might be a disaster at gift-exchange time. She was contemplating following Nick's example and not doing present at the party. Though, she was sure some of the other parents might have comments about that choice too – either to her face as after they'd left in chit-chat.
"A present," Jordan said again and held out a piece of material that was rolled up. It was clearly a tshirt. But her little boy didn't immediately take it. Instead, he huddled against her hip and examined his rescued stuffie instead.
"Wow," Olivia tried and reached to take the fabric from Jordan. He gave her a bit of a confused look but handed it to her. She shook the shirt open and smiled, holding it out in the hopes that Benji would turn to see. "A real firefighter t-shirt," she said excitedly for her son.
Benji glanced at that and gazed at the shirt so Olivia crouched down to his height and looked at the shirt with him.
"Look at that Benj," she said and pointed at the lettering. "FDNY. Fire Department City of New York," she told him. "And it has the shield." She flipped the shirt around so he could see it. "Keep 200 feet Back" she read to him. "Just like the real firefighters."
Jordan nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I've got one just like it."
Benji glanced at him and looked at the shirt. "Becuz it a real firefighter shirt," he said.
Olivia nodded. "You are having quite the real firefighter day, Little Fox," she told him and put a small kiss against his temple. "Real firefighter boots, real firefighter coat, real firefighter helmet and badge."
"And fire dog," Benji said and held the stuffie out at her.
She nodded. "And a Dalmatian. And you just passed the firefighter test and got a firefighter certificate. And now you've got a real firefighter tshirt too."
Benji looked at the shirt. "I put it on," he said.
She smiled and gave Jordan a smile too. "I think that's a great idea. Let's take off that coat again."
Her little boy listened and unzipped it and Olivia moved to pull his sleeved shirt off of him. It looked like the guys at the station had either ordered a special kids' size shirt in or they had one kicking around. But it definitely wasn't going to fit over her son's current shirt. He'd actually likely outgrow the shirt too fast and she'd be having to buy him another one a few months down the road. But she got it into place for him and her son looked down at it.
"What do you say?" she asked him.
Benji finally looked at Jordan. "Tank you," he provided.
"No problemo, Ben. Happy Birthday," he gave her a wink. "I'll see you guys at birthday cake time," he added and started to move towards the door, stopping to ruffle at his nephew's hair.
Benji just looked at her. "I a real firefighter now, Mommy," he told her.
Olivia smiled. "I know, Benj. I think you always were."