I was watching Rogue One while I wrote this. The word 'stardust' is very significant. I love Star Wars. But I digress.


RESIDENCE OF OLIVIA BENSON & ALEX CABOT

122 SOUTHWELL

MANHATTAN

8:30 PM


Olivia didn't know how she made it through the rest of the day without Alex.

She reached Olivia first, sitting with her to give her hugs and kisses while the doctors took care of things. Alex continued to sit with Olivia until she was all cried out, and she even helped her to a bathroom so she could clean herself up.

By the time they returned to Harper's room, everybody had heard what happened, and they expressed their condolences. Casey also left early, with Sophia, but she didn't blame them a single bit. The visiting Carisis left quickly, too, followed by the squad. They were going to go back to the station house to start their end-of-case reports. At Olivia's behest, Amanda agreed to track down Dana's family and arrange for a meeting the following day, as Olivia wasn't in a fit state to make the arrangements, herself.

And because baby Serena was feeling better, she was allowed to go home with her mothers. A new baby in the house also meant a quick spot of shopping for her because Olivia had long ago gotten rid of Noah's baby things, and what materials they did have were for Diana, and therefore too small. That was fun, but they reigned themselves in and decided to work on making a baby registry for Serena later on.

As for Noah, he was taken aback to see that Serena had come home with his—their—mothers, but it was time for bed, he occupied himself with talking to her, and giving her hugs and kisses. It was very safe to say that he was happy to be a big brother.


And like Sophia had taken care of Casey, so Alex took care of Olivia in her grief.

However, there came a point in the night where Olivia and Alex were camped out on their bed with Serena, but the baby was getting frustrated. She kept nudging and pawing at Alex's breasts, wanting to be fed and not understanding why nothing was happening.

Olivia left quickly to make a bottle, and Alex tasked herself with calming Serena down.


"Oh, you're okay, baby angel." Alex patted Serena on the back as she curled up on her chest. "Mama will be right back, and she'll have your bottle."

Serena made an impatient sound and then maneuvered herself down so that one cheek was resting on Alex's cleavage. With both of her mothers, she found this very comforting, and on top of that, she loved listening to their heartbeats. She was hungry, yet, but this would do for now.

Alex helped Serena get comfortable, and readjusted the blanket on her before she continued patting her on the back.

"Mama's taking awhile." Alex murmured to her daughter after a few minutes. "Why don't we turn a movie on?"

Serena just cooed, so Alex turned the TV on. It was directly across from hers and Olivia's bed. The DVD player kicked into high gear automatically, and Rogue One, Alex's current favorite movie, began to play. She had loved Star Wars for her entire life, having watched the movies with her parents—what was funny was that society had seen Alex and her parents as three very fine and regal people, but that was just the way they were when it came to their careers. When it had come to the three of them as a family, they had been very close-knit, and just as regular a family as any other.

Now, she watched the movies when she missed them.

Luckily for her, Olivia was very understanding, and just as big a science fiction and fantasy fan as she was.

Alex began to narrate the movie to Serena, although after a few minutes, she changed lanes.

"You know, little one," she said to Serena. "You need a nickname. Your big sister doesn't have a fun one, but mama and I call your big brother Ace because he likes to climb, and he has a crazy good throwing arm. Your little sister, though, was named after Wonder Woman, so her name is Diana, but we call her Anna because that was my mama's name."

Alex kissed Serena's cheek, her heart fit to burst when the baby made a happy sound.

"My mama would have loved you, Diana, Sophia, and Noah so much. My daddy would have, too." Alex heaved a hefty sigh. "But I know that they're smiling down on us from Heaven right now."

Alex looked at the screen again, this time to see Jyn Erso receive her father's holographic message, and hear him call Jyn by her nickname—Stardust. She looked down at Serena.

"You just kind of showed up out of nowhere in mine and mama's lives, like a star. Are you our Stardust?"

Immediately, Serena raised her head and high as she could and smiled at Alex before she returned to her cocoon-like state again. All over again, Alex felt like her heart was fit to burst with love, and she could hear Serena giggling and cooing to herself.

"Well, alright." Alex told her in a 'that's that' tone. "You are our Stardust."

"Stardust?"

Olivia had returned, a full bottle of formula for Serena in hand. She sat beside Alex, and Alex immediately cradled Serena in one arm while offering the baby her bottle. When Serena realized what was happening, she latched on immediately and started to drink her fill. As she relaxed, she let out a very happy sigh and focused only on her meal. Serena would never know her biological parents, and she'd just had a very long two days that had worn her out.

But now she was with two new parents, and they loved her unconditionally. Serena Diamond was finally safe and sound, and being offered a second chance at life.

Olivia turned to the screen, and spotted the movie that was playing. From there, she made the leap.

"Watching Star Wars again, huh?"

Alex nodded. "Yeah, and I'm thinking about my parents. I know they'd be proud, but I just miss them."

Olivia put the movie on pause and kissed Alex on the forehead. "From everything you've told me about them, I know they would be. Maybe you should go visit their headstones tomorrow."

"That sounds like a good idea. Thanks, Via."

"You're quite welcome. Now," she motioned to Serena. "Are we calling her Stardust because of Jyn Erso?"

"That, and because she, and the opportunity to be her mothers fell from the sky, like a star." Alex readjusted Serena when she felt her slip a little. "I also called her Stardust, and she actually pushed herself up and smiled at me."

"That's incredible." Olivia remarked.

Again, Alex nodded. "So we've got Serena 'Stardust' Benson. It also goes nicely with her middle name being Diamond, and all. Do you like it?"

"I do…"

Olivia's reply was vague, and Alex noticed. Even though the day was done, Olivia still had a lot going through her head because of everything that had happened over the course of the case. Whatever she was thinking of now didn't seem to be quite the same thing.

"What are you thinking about?" Alex asked gently.

Olivia moved closer to Alex and faced her. "We've got four kids now, Allie-cat."

"That, we do. I never knew that mom life could bring this kind of joy."

At that moment, Serena finished her bottle, and pushed it away. Alex busied herself with cleaning Serena up and getting her to burp. Quite on the content side, Serena obliged, although Olivia was the one to clean up the baby's mess and change her diaper. Alex blamed it on a weakened constitution, but happily took Serena back when she was clean and replaced her on her chest while Olivia got rid of the dirty things and cleaned herself up.

Sated and replete, though, Serena fell asleep when Alex rubbed her back and told her a quick story.

Olivia looked at Alex in awe. Back when they'd first met, Alex had very much been an ice queen, but somewhere along the way, she'd grown and softened. Time had been kind to her, and it had allowed her to be excited about becoming a mother.

"Motherhood brings a lot of emotions, but joy is my favorite." said Alex.

"Mine, too."

The vacant look had returned to Olivia's eyes, and Alex brought it up once more.

"What were you going to before Stardust finished her bottle?"

"That we've got four kids, and we agreed that we wanted one more daughter, besides Diana."

Alex cottoned on. "You and I aren't getting any younger, and you're wondering now if our baby girls are it?"

"Yes."

Alex gave Serena an extra cuddle, while she thought about Diana, asleep in her womb, and Noah, asleep down the hall, and even Sophia, across town with her own family. Even if she was only carrying Diana, and the other three had happened into her life through varying sets of circumstances, they were all still her babies, and she would do absolutely anything for any one of them.

"To answer your question," she finally said. "Yes. Our last children are Serena and Diana."

Olivia felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. "Alright. It looks like Stardust is passed out; hand her here, and I'll put her in her bassinet."

Alex obliged, and got under the covers. After Olivia got Serena settled in the new bassinet near the bed, she joined Alex, too. In this cold weather, her pajamas consisted of an old ACDC t-shirt and flannel pants. On the other hand, Alex opted for a simple nightgown of cotton, and was wearing her hair up in a messy bun. It was getting very long, and a lot of stray hair that had fallen down was tucked behind her ears. Both she and Olivia were devoid of makeup, too, but she still had her glasses on. This was the couple at their most basic level, and it was also one of their most favorite times of night.

"Amanda left messages for Dana's husband and kids—if they get them on time, they'll be coming to my office tomorrow." Olivia told Alex.

"Are the Lewises local?"

Olivia shrugged. "The last I knew, Mister Lewis and the kids lived in DC."

"But Amanda still tracked them down?"

"As is her way. Something about them all have numbers with New York area codes."

"Then it looks like the chances of them turning up tomorrow are pretty high." Alex mused. "So the deal is, we are Serena's mothers, but we still offer her brother and sister a chance to get to know her?"

"Yes. One of the last things Dana did was make me promise that Serena would know them, but I would have made sure that happened, anyway."

Alex gave her fiancée's hand a gentle squeeze. "I'm with you, Via. No matter what."

"Thank you, baby." they kissed. "I love you."

Olivia leaned against Alex, and Alex promptly wrapped an arm around her waist.

She kissed Olivia's temple. "What time is the meeting with Trevor and Elizabeth tomorrow?"

Because of the special circumstances that surrounded Serena, Olivia and Alex already had custody of her, and when they called Trevor to tell him what was happening, he volunteered to expedite things. This meant that he was already working double time to draw up all of the necessary paperwork that would make Serena a proper Benson. (She, Noah, and Diana would all become Cabots after their mothers got married) Trevor was even helping Olivia and Alex pro bono, in the spirit of good friendship. Judge Donnelley would be overseeing things, to make it official.

"It's at noon." Olivia said. "You're still coming with me to see Harper at the hospital in the morning, right?"

"Right." Alex confirmed. "But then I have to show my face at my office because I just know that Casey is going to come ask me amour something."

"Good thing the meeting is happening at your office, and I have the next two weeks off to help the baby adjust to her new life."

"Right, again."

The attorney went quiet, becoming lost in her own thoughts. Olivia sat up and looked at her.

"What is it?"

"Can I come with you to your office tomorrow, to meet the Lewises?" Alex blurted.

"I would love for you to come," Olivia enthused. "And they should meet both of Serena's new parents."

"Alright. Oh… there she goes."

Quite restless now, Diana was awake and kicking gently.

Olivia leaned against Alex and sighed. "Too bad I can't take care of you the 'usual way,' huh?"

Sex was the 'usual way.'

"Yeah…"

Alex gave a small squirm: Diana was wide awake, and kicking just because she felt like it. Sighing because she didn't want to cry in frustration, Alex removed her nightgown while Olivia fetched a small tub of cocoa butter from her bedside table. While sex was their preferred method of calming Diana when she was driving Alex bonkers, massages worked, too.

Olivia put the cocoa butter in front of Alex, and then sat behind her on the bed so that she was between her legs.

"What are you going?" Alex asked. "The cocoa butter is in front of m… oh…"

Olivia had started kissing Alex lightly in the nape of her neck.

"I love you, Alexandra." Olivia kissed Alex again and began massaging her back. "Thank you for taking care of me today. I don't know how I would have made it through everything without you."

"Olivia, you're my partner in crime, and in life." Alex wrapped Olivia's arms around her bare, distended waist. They both felt Diana jumping around like Pop Rocks. "I'll do anything for you, because after all these years, we've admitted our feelings for each other, started a family together that neither of us thought we'd ever have, and we even have a home together that's only ever been ours. You have my soul, beautiful. I'll always take care of you."

"Thank you."

Alex gave Olivia's hands a squeeze, and then pressed the cocoa butter tub into them. Laughing, Olivia took the hint and began rubbing her fiancée's back down with the cocoa butter. She'd get to the front side eventually. Alex turned the movie back on, but kept the volume down low.

"Olivia," she said a few minutes later. "I'm so glad that we met."

Olivia pressed a kiss to Alex's neck. "So am I."

"You changed my life, and something occurred to me, awhile back."

"What would that be?" Olivia queried.

"We saved each other, you and I."

With a start, Olivia realized that yet again, Alex was right.

"We did, Alex. We really did."