Thirty-five.

A vicious influenza outbreak inflicted its wrath on New York City late that fall causing many schools, including Noah's, to close for two days in order for staff to meticulously disinfect their facilities. This unexpected break put Ed and Olivia in a bind, but Sarah and Brooke stepped in and offered to spend the two mornings with Noah. Ed was sure he could sneak away from his current project in the afternoons.

Friday morning, a very grateful Olivia dropped Noah off at Sarah's apartment. She was still in her pajamas and was planning to go to the office after Noah was picked up. In the meantime, she planned to work from home and Noah, who was feeling fine, could pig out on junk food and watch all the television he wanted.

The two of them had been camped out on the couch for only an hour before Sarah got a call summoning her to the office.

"Well, Noey," she said brightly, "You get to be a junior accountant today! We haveta go to work."

"I workin with you, Sare bear?"

"Yep! Let's see," She inspected his clothing—he wore his typical khakis and a long-sleeved polo. "We'll go business cazh today. Be right back."

Within minutes Sarah reappeared dressed in slacks and a simple white button-down blouse. Her hair was pulled into a messy bun. "Let's go save the world, kiddo," she said.

Wide-eyed, Noah looked up at her, "We savin the world?"

"Well, maybe not the world. But we're saving Hillary's account."

…..

Fin and Rollins exited one interrogation room and regrouped with everyone else in the Lieutenant's office. Olivia listened closely as they exchanged information and prioritized witnesses. Few of the girls brought in from the raid accepted places at women's shelters, but the handful who considered the offer were also cooperating with SVU.

"This looks like a turf war," Fin remarked. "Pure and simple."

"Yeah but who pulled the trigger?" Carisi asked. "Guy was dead before any of the girls got there."

"Not one girl was in the house?" Olivia asked.

"Not one," Rollins reported. "He was found in his basement office. Nobody was allowed down there."

"And the ME?"

"Estimated he'd been dead a few hours."

Olivia quickly skimmed the Medical Examiner's report and then peered over her reading glasses as she asked her next question, "Cameras? A place like that surely had surveillance."

"TARU's on it now. Should have the footage within the hour," Carisi said.

"Okay," Olivia said with finality, "Make sure the detail stays on the girls at the shelter. Let me know when the video comes in." Everyone began filtering out but Olivia stopped Rollins. "Sergeant?"

Savage considerately closed the door behind him, leaving the commanding officer and her number two alone.

"Yes, Lieutenant?"

"Is there anything you're not telling me? Or…can't tell me?"

Rollins needed no further explanation. "The last time I saw Declan…he didn't give me any intel."

"This could be one of his guys. If so, he's going to have to come out." Concern and uncertainty clouded Rollins' eyes. She and Olivia had never discussed the extent of her relationship with Declan. Olivia suspected it was a fling or maybe even a one-night stand, but the expression on Amanda's face indicated a hint of a deeper connection. Olivia leaned forward. "What's going on?" She asked kindly.

Rollins took a seat. "I kinda got the sense he knew this was near the end," she began somewhat ruefully, "and I also got the sense he wasn't sure what would come next. And…I don't know where we go from there."

"We?" Olivia asked with a glint in her eye, shocked she was prying into Rollins' personal business when she herself would have been annoyed by the inquiry.

"I don't know," she sighed as she rubbed her face with both hands, stretching and distorting her skin. "It's complicated."

The ensuing laughter from Olivia induced raised eyebrows from Rollins. Olivia quickly apologized. "It's just…I remember using that word a lot to describe me and Tucker. Well, mostly me. I overused it, really."

Rollins understood. "But you and Tucker…you figured things out. You love each other. Declan and I…we have a child together but we've never…we…we're not in love." Amanda said in love as if she thought the whole idea was ridiculous and unattainable, at least for her.

Pressing further into personal details, Olivia said, "You two haven't really had a chance to work through any of that."

"To say the least."

"A piece of advice?"

"Sure."

"Don't rule anything out."

Pressing her lips together, Rollins offered a little smile in place of a verbal thank-you and went out to the squad room to help the others unravel their latest investigation.

…

Members of Sarah's team were so busy with their spreadsheets and projections and Power Points that they hardly batted an eye at her forty-inch-tall sidekick who toted her Surface Tablet carefully with two hands. Sarah sat down and, with a businesslike expression on his little face, Noah handed her the device, nodded, and parked himself on the floor in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows where he looked out over Battery Park. In the distance was the Statue of Liberty. He shook off his backpack, pulled out his own tablet, and got to work drawing lower Manhattan.

For the most part, Noah blocked out the cacophony of voices—some high pitched, some low-pitched, some barking orders to assistants, others speaking into their phones in English and in Spanish. One of the mergers orchestrated in Argentina was on the verge of falling apart and Hillary, who proposed the deal in the first place, alternated between being near tears and pressing forward with steely determination.

"Noey!"

His gelled brown hair did not move as he snapped to attention. Quickly, he clambered to his feet and arrived at Sarah's side, ready for orders.

"Go to my office and get the red folder on my desk. Hillary needs it. Remember where my office is?"

"Uh-huh!" Noah ran out of the conference room and returned with the folder.

"Good boy. Now, go over there and give it to—" Sarah paused and said something into her phone in Spanish before turning back to Noah. "—give it to Hillary and give her a hug. She's stressing."

"You talking 'panish!" Noah exclaimed in a throaty whisper.

"Yes I am," Sarah replied, "Now, go give it to Hill."

In a businesslike manner, Noah delivered the folder and hugged Hillary's legs. She was hunched over her computer but regarded him with a smile and patted his head. "Thank you, Noah." She managed to shoot a quick, appreciative smile across the table at Sarah and then went back to work.

"Sarah?"

A comely young woman, Sarah's secretary, entered the conference room and somehow her soft voice registered with her boss despite the surrounding commotion.

"Hmm?"

"Your sister's here."

Sarah frowned, "She is?"

"Yes."

"Noah?"

"I right here!"

Sarah grinned at him and then directed the secretary to take Noah and his things and have Brooke wait in her office. "My assistant will have to entertain Ms. Tucker for the time being," she said, "He knows the account well, so he should have no problem. Please get them some refreshments while they wait."

"Absolutely," the secretary replied, all business, not at all discounting the directions even though they involved a preschooler.

"I'll be in there ASAP," Sarah said, "Noey, great job in here. Now…make sure Brookey doesn't mess up anything in my office."

"Kay, Sare bear!"

Noah led the way back to the office, and Sarah let loose a string of exasperated fucks as she tried to figure out where exactly this deal had gone off the rails.

….

From a small table in the back of the diner, Ed Tucker watched his wife enter and scan the booths for his familiar face. When she saw him, she broke into a huge grin. It was the smile of someone who had been apart from a loved one for years, and it warmed Ed's heart. He stood and greeted her with a kiss.

"Hi."

"Hey," Olivia said, slightly out of breath. Ed took her coat and she sat down. "Sarah's okay with Noah?"

"I sent her a text and she said they were fine. At her office, but fine."

Olivia raised her eyebrows. "Her office? Shouldn't one of us go get him?"

"She didn't seem too concerned. She probably has him sitting at her desk calling Paraguay."

Squinting at him, Olivia asked, "Paraguay?"

""Or…wherever." Ed eyed the shopping bag Olivia toted with her. "Whatcha got?"

"Rice cereal."

Ed saw her eyes droop with a hint of sadness and he offered a reassuring smile, "It's okay, Liv."

She fidgeted and fought back the burn of tears. At the twins' recent check-up the pediatrician gave the go ahead to start them on solids, rice cereal being the inaugural food. Despite their early birth, they were hitting all their developmental milestones and the doctor was impressed with both twins' weight gain, vision and hearing tests, and overall levels of alertness. However, on the cusp of their half-birthday, melancholy was setting in for Olivia.

"I know," she sighed. "I…they're so precious right now. I love this age. And I love seeing them get more personality and sit up and make all these new sounds—"

"And smile."

"And smile."

They were briefly interrupted by a waiter, ordered lunch, and resumed the conversation.

"We can always have a couple more when these two get too big," Ed joked and chuckled when he saw his wife roll her eyes and smile at him. "But, seriously, Liv, we have everything we want, right?"

"We do," she replied in a hushed voice. "It's…perfect. And you've changed your entire life…for our life and our kids and me, so I can do everything I love and want to do."

She was getting emotional and Ed wanted to stop it; as much as he relished Olivia's compliments and her gushing words about how much she appreciated and loved him, sometimes she didn't give herself enough credit and he felt like her outpourings of praise were rooted in guilt rather than happiness. He thought they inevitably took her into the darkest depths of her soul and there was no reason for her to go there. Not now. Not ever again.

In true diner style, their meals were delivered promptly.

"Anything else?" The bored-looking young man asked.

"No, we're good," Ed answered gruffly and eyed the check that had been slapped on the table. He moved it from a semi-circle of condensation and studied his wife. The worried brown eyes almost enhanced how gorgeous she was in that moment. Maybe it was the vulnerability she allowed only him to see that made him want to abandon their sandwiches and take her home.

"What kinda cereal did you get again?"

The abrupt change of subject startled Olivia and she blinked as if a burst of air had just been shot in her direction. But she caught on. She knew what Ed was doing. "Rice."

"Plain?"

"There aren't any flavors…just rice."

"Sounds disgusting." He took a big bite of his Reuben, chewed, and said the next words with his mouth partially full, "You can't put some bananas or something in there?"

"I suppose we could, but I don't want them to get sick. The doctor said just the cereal to start and to make it runny."

"I think we should maybe do some banana. Particularly for Maggie." Olivia was genuinely smiling now and it relaxed Ed. "She's, well, she's gonna be the person who knows what she wants and doesn't stop until she gets it. I can tell already. Like a…an endearing kind of fussy."

"She only needs to make sure all her requests go through Daddy, and she'll have no problem."

Enjoying the sass, Ed shrugged. "I want everyone to have what they want."

"And we love you for it."

After breathing a sigh of relief, Ed took another bite. Olivia's comment did not come from her dark place. It was sassy and smart-alecky and delivered with a twinkle in her eye and the tiniest hint of a cocked eyebrow. Surely, they would make love tonight. He thought about holding her naked body against his and started to get light-headed and aroused.

Back to the day's business, Tucker.

"So after we're done here I'll go get Noah. Think it's okay to take him to the park for a while?"

"I'm sure it is. They only closed school to clean."

"People at day care today spent ten full minutes explaining how well they scrub the place down each night. And assuring me no sick kids enter the play area."

"Oh, you poor thing," Olivia patronized him, "You had to talk to the teachers for a full ten minutes?"

"I appreciate your sympathy." Ed gazed at her letting his eyelids droop like he did when he wanted to look cute and maybe a little bit pathetic.

"Always."

They momentarily stopped eating and grinned at each other. That word held enormous weight, so much meaning in their relationship that any time they or anyone else uttered it, Ed and Olivia instinctively shared a quick, flirtatious glance. At the diner, though, they were alone and their eyes locked for longer as the affection circulated on a loop between them.

Olivia finally broke the silence. "So…will you and Noah pick up some bananas at the market?"

"Absolutely."

…..

When Sarah came back to her office, Noah was seated in her chair with his shoeless feet propped on the desk and Brooke was standing next to him, staring down onto the street below where tourists took turns taking pictures with the statue of George Washington.

"Mr. Tucker, I'm so sorry to interrupt," Sarah said, "I see you are in with an important client who is enjoying our views, however, sir, it is time to get out of here and have a drink."

"At da pub?"

"Well, not your pub, but, yes, at the pub." Brooke had not acknowledged Sarah's presence and the younger sister sidled up to the older one. "Is your school closed today, too?"

"No."

"Then why are you here?" Sarah cringed at the question, "Sorry…you know what I mean."

Unannounced drop-ins from Brooke were rarities. She simply did not have the type of job that allowed her to sneak away and pop in on her sister during the day. So, not only was the visit odd, Brooke didn't look quite right. Her short hair was pulled back into a tiny ponytail that looked ready to escape the hair tie at any second. She wore typical weekend wear-jeans and a sweater, but the clothes she chose were old and well-worn. Sarah suspected they dated back to her college years. While Brooke did not meticulously plan her outfits like Sarah did, she did not usually leave the house looking this disheveled unless it was for a quick errand.

Out of the corner of her eye, Brooke got a glimpse of Noah who was looking on with interest. The two of them hadn't had much verbal interaction while Sarah was gone. Brooke was about to speak when Hillary came in and plopped on the small sofa in a huff. She covered her face with her hands and stayed still until she felt someone approach. It was Noah.

"You okay, Hill?"

His usage of Hill almost made her cry.

"She's fine, Noey," Sarah answered, "We just…we're all hungry and tired and we need to get out of here so we can breathe, so, let's get your shoesies on. Why's you take them off? Did you think this was Bert Cooper's office?"

Hillary started laughing and confusion crossed Noah's face. Sarah kissed his cheeks and tapped his nose. "Never mind. "

"Bert Cooper?" Brooke asked.

"Oh, she speaks! Yes. Bert Cooper from Mad Men."

"Oh. I never got into that show."

"I know and I always thought that was one of your major character flaws." Sarah was obviously throwing out barbs in jest, but Brooke hadn't shown any emotion whatsoever. Sarah ignored her and helped Noah with his leather boots which was more of a chore than one would have predicted. After seeing her struggle with the left boot, Hillary took Noah's right foot.

"These must be new, Noey."

"Uh-huh. Me an' Daddy have the same."

"Oh really?"

"Yep!"

"Well you must need an extra hour in the morning before school to get them on."

"Nope! Daddy know how to put 'em on."

Finally, the boots were on, tied, and they were ready to go. Hillary went to her office to get her coat. Sarah, wanting a few minutes alone with Brooke, suggested she take Noah. "Um, we'll meet you two downstairs, okay?"

Taking the hint, Hillary agreed. "C'mon, Noah! You can check out my office and see if it's better than Sarah's!"

Sarah leaned against the closed door. "What's up?"

"What happened with Hillary?"

Sarah made a smacking noise and scrunched up her face, "One of the companies in this last deal hid some losses that she didn't know about and she didn't see it when she was vetting them. It wasn't her fault. It was intentional on their part. But…we had to kinda make it look not so bad because the other firms were on the verge of backing out and we were gonna either have to start over or lose a shitload of money."

"Oh," Brooke murmured, not really following or understanding what Sarah was talking about. Her question was posed purely out of courtesy.

"But that's not why you're here."

"No. It is not."

"You're gonna make me pry it out of you?"

Brooke perched herself on the edge of Sarah's desk. It was only now that Sarah noticed she wore no makeup and her face was ashen except for abnormally pink cheeks which Brooke had rubbed nearly raw.

She took a deep breath.

"I'm pregnant."

…

Noah had not yet been returned to his parents when Ed stirred the milk, cereal, and mashed bananas into a consistency similar to that of a melting milkshake. He lifted a spoonful and let it drop back into Wyatt's blue bowl.

"Too soupy?" He asked Olivia who had already strapped Maggie into her high chair and was now maneuvering Wyatt into his seat.

"C'mon, big guy," she said, "Get those legs in there."

Once he was settled she turned around and Ed repeated his demonstration.

"I don't think so," she said. "Probably better for it to be like that than too thick. Okay. Let's do this. Call your baby."

"Which one's gonna be the messiest?"

"Probably Wyatt."

"I'll take Maggie."

Ed watched Olivia give Wyatt his first spoonful. She put a little on his bottom lip and he immediately shoved his fist in his mouth, grinned, and then waved his arms around, spreading the first bite of cereal mostly in his hair.

Settling on his stool in front of Maggie, Ed muttered, "Okay, this'll be fun."

He did the same thing—put a small bite on Maggie's lip—and she stuck her tongue out, frowning, until she got a taste of the new food and let out a gleeful yelp.

"Another bite, Maggs?" Ed put this spoonful in her mouth. Maggie worked her tongue around and most of the cereal ran down her chin. Ed scraped it with the spoon.

Wyatt reacted to his next bite the same way.

Ed and Olivia continued shoveling fresh helpings into the twins' mouths and they slowly adjusted to the different texture and consistency. Maggie concentrated on every little movement Ed made and tried to grab for the spoon and the bowl, but when the cereal was in her mouth, she quickly got the hang of tasting and swallowing it. Wyatt sat back and waited for Olivia to feed him, but he insisted on involving his hands so, by the time his bowl was near-empty, rice cereal was everywhere, including his eyelashes.

Ed and Olivia heard the door open right after they decided to transfer the twins directly to the bathtub. They heard Sarah instruct Noah to take off his shoes—it had been raining and she didn't want him tracking in wet footprints even though she understood he wanted to wear his "new fancy boots." Seconds later, Noah ran in and froze at the scene in front of him.

"Babies messy!" His eyes drifted to their high chair trays, the footrests, his parents, and the floor. "Everything messy!"

"Yes, sweet Noah. Maggie and Wyatt tried different food today."

Noah inspected the bowls. "What that?" He sniffed.

"Rice cereal and bananas."

"Yuck."

"Well, next time we're gonna need your help. You're good at givin' em the bottles," Ed would have given Noah a hug, but traces of the meal were on his hands and arms. "So you'll prolly be good at givin' em cereal, too."

Noah squinted and twisted his lips in response. He wasn't so sure. This looked significantly more challenging than holding a bottle.

Sarah was snapping photographs. "Don't worry," she said, "I'll send all of these to you. Livvie, you have some in your hair. Better put it up next time."

Olivia wiped Wyatt's face and hands with a damp dish towel. "We'll get better, won't we sweet twins?" She cooed. Wyatt slapped the tray and babbled. Maggie shrieked and blew bubbles at Ed as he dabbed at her face with another towel.

"We ate downtown," Sarah reported. "Noah had steak and scalloped potatoes. So…he shouldn't need dinner, but here're his leftovers." She put a white paper bag on the island. Ed was looking at her incredulously. "What?"

"Steak and scalloped potatoes?"

"Yes. They didn't have a children's menu and the boy needs a steak every once in a while. He liked it, didn't ya, Noey?"

"Yep! I eat steak! Jus' a little pink! Sare bear haveta cut it with da big knife, though!"

"He tried the asparagus, but he didn't like it, so that's in there, too."

Olivia smiled appreciatively. "Thank you, sweetheart. I would hug you, but…" She held out her shirt.

"We shall save hugs for another time," Sarah replied, "Now I must depart."

"Hope he didn't get in your way at the office. You could've called me. I would've come to get him."

Sarah waved a dismissive hand in the air, "Are you kidding? Noey's the best assistant ever. He helped and we had a blast…and then we had cocktails and steak like all successful corporate people have when they avert a crisis." Sarah re-wrapped her scarf around her neck and turned to leave. "See ya later, family."

Noah was still staring at the twins and his parents in disbelief. Olivia handed Wyatt to Ed and he headed for the bathroom with the twins.

"Alright, sweet boy. Mommy's going to change clothes and help Daddy with Maggie and Wyatt in the bathtub. What do you want to do?"

"Pac-tis math."

This was new. "Practice math?"

"Uh-huh! Sare bear say I haveta be good at math ta be her 'sistant."

Olivia grabbed her iPad. "I think we have math games somewhere on here." She swiped a few times. "Yep. Here it is, my love."

Noah took the tablet and skipped over to his beanbag. Olivia brought him a drink and kissed his forehead. "You had a good day, didn't you, sweetie?"

"Uh-huh!" He exclaimed but concentrating on his math game, "We verrrrry busy!"

"I bet."

"Brookey cry though."

"What?" Olivia asked, eyes wide with sudden alarm.

"But Sare bear say it okay. Then Brookey laugh."

To no avail, Olivia tried to extract more details from her almost-five-year-old. After a few minutes, she gave up and joined Ed in the bathroom.

She knelt down and lathered baby wash all over Maggie's body. "Hear from Brooke at all today?"

"Nope." Ed was playing his routine wash cloth peek-a-boo game with Wyatt. "There's my guy!" He proclaimed in a husky voice. Wyatt blinked and smiled; all-out belly laughter was not far behind. "Why do you ask?"

"Noah just told me Brooke was crying and then Sarah said something was okay and then she started laughing."

Ed lightly ran the washcloth over Wyatt's face once again. Unfazed, he replied, "Sounds like a typical outing with Sarah."

"Ed."

"Liv, she's almost thirty-years-old. If there's something wrong and she wants or needs us, she'll say something. Probably something to do with the wedding."

"Yeah," Olivia murmured. She didn't necessarily want to abandon the subject, but there wasn't much else to say. Ed was right. She wrung out Maggie's yellow wash cloth and started her own game of peekaboo with her squirmy daughter.

….

#Tuckson