When Olivia opened the door, she was very surprised because Casey was more dressed up then she could ever remember seeing her before. Alex felt surprised, too, and she had seen her friend out of the office and at more social events than Olivia had. Regal was the word that came to Alex's mind.
"You look amazing, Casey." Olivia said as she let her in.
"You really do." Alex agreed. "Red suits you. Sophia, what do you think?
Sophia just went weak in the knees.
Just as she was wearing purple for Casey, for her, Casey was wearing red. Sophia thought she looked like a rose. They were even wearing similar dress and shoe styles. Casey's hair was done up in a fancy way, too, and the shade of red the dress was in even flattered Casey's bright hair color.
"Red, you're so gorgeous." she finally said, approaching her. "Wow."
"Right back at you."
They kissed, not caring much that they had an audience.
Unable to hold herself back any longer, Melissa hurried over to them, crying, "Mama! You're here, you're here! Just like you said!"
Casey caught Melissa and scooped her up, holding her.
"That's right, baby girl. I told you I'd come before you went to bed, and here I am!"
Melissa hugged her, just so happy that she was there. "Can we play?"
"Not tonight, precious, but you know what, though?" Casey tapped Melissa playfully on the nose. "Tomorrow night, you and mommy are coming over to my house for dinner!"
"We are?"
"Mhm, and one of my favorite things ever to do is to cook; what's your most favorite thing to eat?"
"Chicken." Melissa decided after a brief pause. "And macaroni."
"I can work with that."
Casey gave Melissa a back rub.
"There's only one more sleep until you and mommy come to my house, alright?"
"Okay!"
"Now, you be a good girl tonight, and I'll see you tomorrow."
Melissa nodded and then gave Casey a hug around the neck and a kiss on the cheek. Casey felt like she could have melted into a puddle, right then and there.
"I love you." Melissa told her.
"And I love you." Casey kissed Melissa on the top of her head. "I'm going to put you down now."
Melissa nodded in understanding, and when she was on the ground, she hugged Casey around her waist and skipped back to the couch to sit with Alex again.
"Well," Olivia said, hands in her pockets. "I'll spare you two the 'parent on the porch with a shotgun' routine, and just see you on your way."
Sophia grinned. "Thanks, mom."
Casey bobbed her head in thanks to Olivia and then turned to Sophia, taking her hand in hers and kissing her fingers. "You ready to go, babe? There's a car waiting."
"Let's go."
THE RAINBOW ROOM
30 ROCKEFELLER PLAZA
MANHATTAN
Having spent a lifetime in the foster care system, Sophia hadn't been to many fancy affairs in her life, so going to the Rainbow Room was a brand new experience for her, and she couldn't help but look around at all of the extravagant decorations, live band, lavishly-dressed people, and all of the food. There was so much food, and that wasn't even counting the servers working the room, carrying trays of hors d'oeuvre or drinks. She didn't know where to start.
Casey, meanwhile, was from a family that was the very definition of 'New York working class,' and she wouldn't deny that she and her siblings had grown up sheltered. Her parents were neither over-strict nor entirely lenient, but even still, she hadn't started going on fancy outings and to soirees until her first year of law school because she spent most of her time studying, or else helping out at the flower shop. Savannah had been born in the midst of that, and then just over a decade later, Abigail. Casey's parents more than respected that she was an adult, but in the eyes of her younger sisters, she was also the favorite baby sitter, so… she also helped in looking after them and raising them. Between her home life, her time with the SVU, and her disbarment and reinstatement, Casey had never been much of a party person, and it had been a long while since she'd been invited to a party that wasn't for work. It had been an even longer while since she'd gone with a date whom she actually liked.
Tonight was going to be different. For her, and for Sophia.
"What do we do first?" Sophia asked. "Look for our friends?"
Casey nodded. "I see Benoît, Kim, Blue, Zoltan, Amanda, and Dominick. Come on."
Sophia followed Casey through the crowd, to where the others were, camped out by what looked like a donation table. The men were wearing tuxedos and shined up shoes, and the women were dressed in fancy dresses and heels. They all looked like they were having fun.
"Where's Beth Anne?" Sophia asked after she and Casey greeted everyone.
Amanda sighed. "We arrived here just after them, and she started working the room immediately."
"But she's always like that at these kinds of things." Kim added. "She'll turn up before the speech."
"Speech?" Casey echoed.
"Since this is a fundraiser for my company, I have to make a speech. There's going to be an auction, and then dancing, afterward." explained Benoît. "Your parents even donated something for the auction since they've been friends if the company for so long."
Interested, Casey pointed to the table they were standing beside. "Are these the auction items?"
"This is all about donations and sponsorship. The auction items are this way. Would you like to see?"
Wanting to see if there was something she could get for her or Sophia, she nodded.
"Yes, please." Casey looked to Sophia. "Do you want to come?"
Sophia made a sweeping motion with her hand. "You go on ahead, Red. I'll be fine."
"Alright."
With that, Casey turned to Benoît. "Will you show me the auction items?"
He looped an arm around hers. "With pleasure, my dear. I'm sure Zoltan would love to show some things off, too."
Hearing his name, Zoltan walked along with them towards the auction item table. Carisi tagged along for good measure. Blue spotted someone she knew and went to catch up.
This left Sophia with Kim and Amanda.
"Ever been to something like this before?" Kim asked Sophia.
"The closest I ever got to a major party was prom when I was an underclassmen in high school. It was almost like something out of Carrie."
Kim blanched. "I read that book, and there was pig's blood and supernatural powers involved."
"Well, there was nothing as dastardly as pig's blood, and definitely no supernatural powers, but it turns out that I was invited by the football players just so they could pick on me and prank me."
"I'm sorry that happened."
"Me, too." Amanda offered.
Sophia shrugged. "It was a long time ago."
Amanda changed lanes. "Did you see Jesse before you left?"
"Sound asleep in Alex's arms."
Amanda breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. It isn't like I've never left her with a sitter before, so I'm trying not be the anxious hovery mama…"
"But…?"
"It's the first time since Jesse's been born that I left her with a sitter to go to a party, even if she's being looked after by Olivia and Alex."
Sophia laughed, but only because she understood feeling very well. "Jesse will be fine. She already loves Olivia, and by the time we left, she was totally smitten with Alex."
Deciding that she'd had enough of the 'mama chat, Kim felt like she needed to shake things up, so she seized the opportunity, literally, by taking Amanda's wheelchair handles and steering the chair in a particular direction.
"Kimmie!" Amanda squawked in surprise. "What the hell?"
Kim laughed. "There's a chocolate fountain with our names on it, and the fondue is purple. There was a misunderstanding somewhere."
"Get out. Did mama flip her lid? You know how orderly she likes things."
"Oh, she flipped her lid, alright, but Benoît said to keep it. Thankfully, it's a big hit, and the guests don't even know what happened."
Kim paused and looked back at Sophia. The were only a few feet apart, but Sophia hadn't left the spot where she stood, having been unsure of whether or not she should follow her sisters.
"You comin'?" Kim asked.
Sophia's face split into a grin. "Of course!"
Just as Kim predicted, it didn't take Beth Anne long to turn up. Borrowing Sophia from Casey, who had introduced her to some of her friends she'd bumped into from the office, she took them on a walk of the perimeter off the ballroom.
"Sophia," began the older woman. "I'm sorry for how I treated you earlier. The behavior was unbecoming."
"I forgive you."
Beth Anne immediately grew taken aback because she'd been hoping for forgiveness, but she didn't think it would have happened so fast.
"Really? You do?"
"Yes. You didn't know anything, and neither did I or my mom, and then my dad… he…"
Sophia couldn't finish her words, but Beth Anne understood.
"He left, as his way, and your mama never saw him again. He came back to us after that, but he couldn't even last three whole months."
"What did he do?"
"He abused me, Blue, Amanda, and Kim in different ways, and he drank and did drugs all the time. We divorced and we didn't see him for awhile, but then he came back on Valentine's Day, apologizing for everything, and he had presents."
"What happened? You took him back?"
Beth Anne detoured from the line they'd been walking and motioned for Sophia to follow her towards a big picture window on the wall that looked out onto the sidewalk below. Sophia followed her, and she saw that for a few brief moments, Beth Anne looked vulnerable; this was a far cry from the family matriarch she'd encountered at the station that afternoon.
"I did take him back, Sophia. I don't know what behooved me to, but I did." Beth Anne said after a pause. "Things were fine until about April, and he all of a sudden got it into his head to try for another kid, even though we weren't married anymore."
"Did you want one?"
Beth Anne sighed. "I really did, but we were poor back then, and I couldn't afford it because I was struggling to get through school, raise my sister and my daughters accordingly, and make enough money to support them. I would have loved another baby, even a son, but I just couldn't afford it, and Lord knows that Floyd-Willam wouldn't even lift a finger to return to the job that he had before he left."
"What was it?"
"He was an exterminator." Beth Anne shuddered and then regained course. "I had two jobs and I made it all the way through school, but he dropped out of college after the first month."
"So that day when you fought, was it about money?"
"Yes, and when I said no, he got his revenge by robbing us and hurting me. Amanda chased him out, brandishing her shotgun because she was the only left with the ability to do anything. We never saw him again."
"I'm sorry," was all Sophia could think of to say.
"I'm not. We were better for it, and I met Benoît not long after." she smiled at the memory. "I called your mother after we left the precinct, and I explained my side of the story because I wanted her to know, especially because Kim has rolled through the SVU more than once and left havoc in her wake."
"She has?"
Realizing that Sophia didn't know about what had happened in the past, Beth Anne just nodded. "Yes. I won't talk about it because then we'd be here all night; you'd do well with getting the stories from Amanda or your mother."
"Of course. What did Olivia say when you called her?"
"She was surprised, but she thanked me." Beth Anne shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "I've rolled through the SVU before, too, and I haven't been the nicest person, but it's because of the way I was raised. My parents were around for awhile, but once I was old enough, they left me to care for Blue, and by the time Amanda was born, they'd passed away, so Kim never even met them."
"Were your parents of the Old South traditionalists?"
"That, but they were dirt poor. I grew up in a trailer, and after my parents left, I just raised the girls the way that I'd been raised…"
"And you made things up as you went?" Sophia guessed.
"Yes. I love my sister and my daughters with all my heart, but it was so hard because nobody would help me."
"Hey, I've been there." Sophia said gently. "I have a kid on the way right now, but he or she has an older sister at home."
Beth Anne brightened. "Really?"
"Uh-huh." Sophia fished her phone out of her clutch and flipped through the photos before finding a good one to show. "This is my Melissa Joy. She'll be four in January."
She handed the phone to Beth Anne. The older woman took the phone and examined the picture, turning to mush immediately. It was a picture of Melissa that Lucy had sent to Sophia earlier that day when they'd been at the park. Melissa had been having a fun time, so when Lucy had told her to smile for the camera, Melissa gave her a smile of pure delight. This was the picture that Sophia had received.
"She's darling, Sophia." Beth Anne said, handing the phone back. "She looks really happy."
"Thank you, and she is." Sophia put her phone back and looked to her companion. "Melissa's father isn't in the picture anymore, and they never really knew each other, so I had to do everything myself. I've been through a lot in my life, even before Melissa was born, but I love being her mother so much. I wouldn't change a day."
"That's how I feel about my life. So you understand me?"
"Very well. It isn't too late to start showing your kids and your sister that you really do love them."
"They might freak out at first, but it's worth a shot." Beth Anne decided and then gave Sophia a genuinely friendly smile. "I offered Olivia a clean slate because I haven't been nice to her in the past and because she's always been good to Amanda. I'm offering you a clean slate, too."
"Me? Is this because of what happened at the precinct?"
"Yes. Part of it has to do with no matter how I look at it, you are the baby sister of my daughters, but another part is that I just want to be mature about it because my husband and everyone else has already decided to be that way." Beth Anne said. "What do you say? Would you like to be friends?"
"Yes."
Beth Anne grinned, and she led them back towards the perimeter they'd been walking, although this time, she had a destination in mind.
"What's this?" Sophia asked.
They'd stopped in front of a table that was laden down with all kinds high-valued items or vouchers promising things like two round trip tickets to anywhere in the world, and free luggage to go along with it. There was also a section of vouchers promising things like new iPads or laptops. Sophia had a laptop at home, but it was on its last leg. She desperately needed a new one.
"This is the auction table." Beth Anne explained. "Everything here was donated by my husband and myself, or else friends of the family or friends of the publishing house. Is there anything on this table that strikes your fancy?"
"Yes, but I don't have the kind of money to place a bid."
Beth Anne patted her on the shoulder. "Just tell me."
Sophia pointed to the laptop. "That. I actually really need a new one."
"Then I'll get it for you."
"You will? Isn't that against the rules?"
"I didn't donate it, so no." Beth Anne winked and then checked her watch. "There's still about ten minutes before Benoît starts his speech; why don't you go over to the raffle prize table? I think I see Casey and the girls over there."
Sophia looked around. "Where is it?"
Beth Anne motioned towards the opposite end of the area. "Just over there. Go on; I'll find you later."
Sophia headed over to the raffle prize table, where Casey, Amanda, Kim, and Blue were waiting for her.
"Having fun, Starshine?" Casey asked her.
"Oh, yes. You?"
"Definitely. I even put bids down on some of the things at the auction table."
"What was that with our mom?" Amanda blurted.
"Beth Anne apologized to me for being so 'unbecoming' as she put it, when she saw me at the precinct earlier. We're friends now."
"Really?"
"Really." Sophia confirmed. "We had a talk, and we're friends now."
Amanda and Kim stared, but Blue voiced her nieces' incredulity. "You must be the family Kryptonite, Sophia; you've tamed the beast."
"How do you mean?"
"Bethie doesn't make new friends easily."
Sophia shrugged. "She and I have a few things in common, and she really made an effort."
The Rollins women were still ruminating on what had happened, so Casey laughed and spread an arm over the raffle table. There were more vouchers for fancy prizes, along with a plethora of gift baskets, and even a row of money cakes.
"Anything here interest you?"
"All of it." Sophia admitted.
"Then come on," Casey took her by the hand. "And I'll show you where the raffle tickets are."
Between Benoît's speech and the auction, and the raffle winners being announced, the dance floor opened up. A few songs into the set, the singer of the live band announced that it was time for a couples dance.
Sophia and Casey were sharing a table with Amanda, Carisi, Blue, Zoltan, and Kim when it was announced. Immediately, Zoltan stood and offered Blue his hand, and they joined their way over to the throng of people going to the dance floor.
Amanda sighed. "My date disappeared somewhere with my parents. They're no doubt giving him the 'at are your intentions?' chat."
"He'll be back; I see the way he looks at you." Kim told her. "No way would he miss a couples dance."
"That's true." Amanda looked over at Sophia and Casey. "What about you two lovebirds? You gonna go dance out there?"
Sophia stood and offered an arm to her date. "May I have this dance?"
Casey grinned. "Yes, you may."
Sophia helped her up and led her to the dance floor. They found a spot in the middle, amongst all the other couples, and since it was a slow song, they arranged themselves so that Sophia was leading and Casey had one hand on Sophia's waist, and the other in Sophia's free hand. Their fingers were even intertwining.
"I'm loving this whole night." Casey said softly as Sophia held her close while they danced to the music. "I really am."
"So am I." Sophia told her. "Do you get invited to parties like this, being in a fancy office building and all?"
"I do, but it's been a long time since I've gone to anything because I've never had anyone to be a proper date."
Sophia kissed her cheek. "Well, you've got me. We're going to the next one, no matter what."
"You're on."
As the song played, they people-watched, and before long, they spotted Carisi and Amanda, him helping her gently along because she was walking in her bulky corrective boot. Once the couple hit their stride, though, they got lost in the music, just like everyone everyone else around them.
When that song ended, a new one started.
"Oh, I love this song!" Casey said happily. "Will you let me lead?"
"Alright."
They changed positions again, and Casey led them in dance as the band leader began to sing.
Heart beats fast
Colors and promises
How to be brave
How can I love when I'm afraid to fall
But watching you stand alone
All of my doubt, suddenly goes away somehow
One step closer
I have died everyday, waiting for you
Darling, don't be afraid, I have loved you for a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more
Time stands still
Beauty in all she is
I will be brave
I will not let anything, take away
What's standing in front of me
Every breath, every hour has come to this
One step closer
I have died everyday, waiting for you
Darling, don't be afraid, I have loved you for a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more
And all along I believed, I would find you
Time has brought your heart to me, I have loved you for a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more
One step closer
One step closer
I have died everyday, waiting for you
Darling, don't be afraid, I have loved you for a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more
And all along I believed, I would find you
Time has brought your heart to me, I have loved you for a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more
They danced until the song was done.
