Olivia felt butterflies they neared Sophia's and Casey's room. They were about to meet their newest grandchildren. All three of them.
Henry Augustín Benoît.
Agnes Olivia Violet.
Esme Alexandra Beth.
What Olivia loved the most was that she got to share this moment with her wife.
Sophia was aglow the moment she caught sight of her mothers at their arrival.
At once, she turned to her fiancée. "Red! Look who's here!"
Casey perked as she looked around. She hadn't noticed anything besides Esme cooing enthusiastically at her.
"Please come in." she said eagerly to her company. "We… oh…"
Casey had just noticed the extra baby.
"Diana is a twin?" she squawked.
Olivia laughed. "She sure is. No one in this family can do thing anything small."
Alex wiggled slightly on the seat of her wheelchair. "These children are anything but. It was literally a last-second surprise."
"Extraordinary." murmured Casey.
Sophia nodded. "My life just keeps getting better and better."
Alex gave her a kind look. "Then would you like to hold your sister?"
"I would love that, mom." Everyone had long since know that Sophia was extra eager to meet Diana.
A touch of tricky maneuvering was had after this. But with Olivia's help, everyone was eventually holding a baby. Or two.
Sophia held Diana. Casey cradled little Amanda now. Alex received both Agnes and Esme. Olivia? She was elated to hold Henry.
Hers and Alex's first grandson. The moment was very surreal.
Meanwhile, Alex watched Olivia fawn over Henry.
She was just lost in the joy of him.
But then Alex paused to do her own spot of thinking.
Everyone always looked to her as the one who had overcome insane life hurdles. But... so had Olivia.
She was the survivor of many kinds of traumas and insane life events. Abuse. An alcoholic parent. Giving Sophia up. Abductions, both in the recent and the long-ago past. Sealview Prison. The fallout.
But there was also hers, Alex's, entry into Witness Protection because of being shot. And the grief of their time apart.
Also to be counted was Olivia's tailspin after Elliot's departure.
And of course... the different young people Olivia had met along the way. Ashley Austin Black. Maria Recinos. Gladys Dalton. Her child. Mackenzie 'Mack' Burton. Calvin Arliss. Noah.
But there were also the crazy, dangerous men who had stirred up Olivia's life, sometimes from beyond the grave. Joseph Hollister. Richard White. Simon Marsden. William Lewis. Floyd-William Enos.
The not-so-crowning jewel of these hallmarks was watching Dana die.
Alex knew that Olivia carried memories of these instances and people with her. But she had still conquered all of her demons.
In a word, Alex found this to be magnificent.
And because of Olivia, the Cabot family name would live on. The same for the (future) Benson clan.
Alex and Olivia had reached their happy ending. Together.
It was beautiful.
Sophia spoke up at one point. "Olivia, our nurse will be stopping by in a moment."
The lieutenant tore her gaze away from Henry. "Oh? Would you like for us to leave now?"
Curiously, Sophia couldn't find the words to respond.
But Casey came to the rescue. "Liv, please give Henry here. You're going to thank us later."
Olivia did as asked before looking to her wife. "Do you know what they're up to?"
Alex shook her head. "I do not. This should be good."
Olivia had no idea what to expect. After everything she had been through in the last twenty-four hours, she just didn't know how much more her poor heart could handle. All she wanted was to sleep.
But then Olivia suddenly became aware of a new person entering the room. She was dressed in scrubs and sneakers, carrying a stethoscope around her neck, and a clipboard in one hand. She appeared to be only a little older than Olivia but carried herself in a way that made her appear friendly. Like someone you'd want to get to know.
This was the nurse of whom Sophia had being speaking.
However... Olivia had such a strong sudden jolt of recognition that it felt as if she had been abruptly rammed headfirst into a brick wall. From inside a car doing over a hundred miles per hour.
Olivia just lowered herself to her knees.
The nurse immediately understood what was going though her brain. She was have the same feelings. But she set aside her clipboard and sat with Olivia. Just for the moment, they were the only two people in the world.
"Yes." the nurse told Olivia softly. "I promise that this is real. Your life absolutely came full circle."
"Oh, my God…" Olivia murmured.
"Come here. You're okay."
The older woman took Olivia into her arms and held her as tears were shed. So much was happening. And the day wasn't even over yet.
Olivia's emotions evened out after a few moments, and she pulled away.
"This is real?" Olivia was in tears. "None of this is in my head? I... remember you."
The nurse wiped Olivia's tears. "All of this is real, and it isn't in your head."
"But… How did you even make the connection? Or even remember?"
The nurse pulled Olivia to her feet and winked. "The short answer? Magic."
Olivia laughed nervously. "Alright. I will take it."
She then straightened out her appearance a little further before turning back to her family. Sophia and Casey both appeared quite pleased with themselves. Alex was on tenterhooks. Clearly, they were all in for a fun conversation.
"I guess we found yet one more side of paradise in all the joy." Olivia then zeroed in on her wife. "Alex… this is the woman who helped me make the choice for our girl's name. Fate somehow brought us the original Sophia."
Surprise hit Alex quickly. Never would she forget Olivia telling her her bombshell of being a mother. Or that she desperately wished to find that other Sophia. Just to thank her.
Now here she was. Right before them.
"This is real?" Alex asked.
"Very." Sophia told her.
"Oh, my God."
The nurse then moved both Cabot twins from Alex's arms to Casey's when she offered to hold them. It was a smart move because the blonde was in a daze equal to her wife's. Everything about the moment felt totally surreal.
"I take it that Olivia has told you about me before?" Sophia asked calmly.
Alex nodded. "Yes. Olivia did, and she said that she wished she could find you again."
"Turns out that wishes do come true." the elder Sophia said pleasantly. "I was assigned to look after your daughter, her fiancée, and their precious babies. What do you think?"
"I'm soaking in every second." Alex answered honestly. "My brain is beginning to spin."
Sophia continued to be kind. "Would you like a hug?"
Alex nodded. "I would, please. Thank you."
Both of them shared a hug.
When Alex pulled away, she turned her wheelchair towards the beds. In Sophia's and Casey's direction.
Her expression alone said that neither was getting out of explaining things.
Olivia even took the twins back from Casey. "Please cough it up."
Her firstborn did her best not to look sheepish. "Really. This wasn't us."
Casey nodded earnestly. "It was all Sophia's namesake."
Olivia and Alex looked back at her.
The nurse didn't miss a beat. "I saw Olivia's name on Sophia's record, and I remembered her."
"Even after all this time? Is this more of that magic you mentioned?" Olivia was back to feeling bewildered. "Sophia turned twenty-five in October. We didn't reunite until just after that."
"This is definitely the magic that I mentioned. As I recall, you were new in the NYPD when you had Sophia. What about now?"
Olivia's heart skipped a beat. "I'm the head lieutenant of the Manhattan Special Victims Unit now, and I quite recently accepted the opportunity to take the captaincy exam later this year."
"How very wonderful. I'm proud of you." Sophia chirped pleasantly. "Since you've clearly been on the force for such a long time, then I'm sure that there are events, cases, people that stick with you? Even after an inordinate mount of time?"
Olivia recalled in quick succession each circumstance of meeting Alex, her first conversation with Casey, crossing Amanda Rollins' path for the first time, finding Noah, her first hug with Melissa, reuniting with Sophia, discovering Harper, and even seeing Serena for the first time. Each moment came to her with perfect clarity.
"Mhm." Olivia counted the next part off on her fingers. "It's literally how I met my wife, and Casey, as well as my son, one of my detectives who is as good as my kid, one of my daughters, learned about my siblings, and even reunited with Sophia. Because of crazy circumstances related to work. That's almost my whole immediate family."
Sophia the nurse asked one more pointed question. "So then what about your new little ones?"
Olivia was visited by the memory of Alex informing her of her pregnancy. "Alex was already pregnant through IVF when she came back into my life this autumn after some years apart. Everything has been absolutely nonstop ever since."
The older woman shook her head in wonderment. "Wow. Your life must be so noisy, huh?"
"You have no idea." said the other three women in perfect unison.
"Alright then." Sophia said in amusement. "As for the part where you remember people, same goes for my job. I remember taking care of you. And telling you would see your daughter again."
Olivia was filled with a warm feeling. "This past Christmas was our first one together of her life…"
"Everything I told you would happen, did. I've never forgotten that. Or you. I just didn't come seeking you out because I knew you needed to live your life." Sophia gestured in indication of Olivia's people. "Look around. Olivia, you got your happy ending. In more ways than one."
Olivia knelt back on the floor again to keep from passing out as a new thought hit her. "You need to meet the rest of my family."
Ever patient, Sophia sat with her again. "I'm looking forward to it."
"And I'm also sorry that I'm such a mess." Olivia said slowly.
Sophia replied, "There is nothing to be apologizing for, Olivia. I would be alarmed if you took any of this calmly. All of your emotions right now are normal."
"Good..."
Olivia just let out another shaky breath as her emotions welled up yet again.
Sophia just held her. Patiently. Lovingly.
The other mothers in the room watched.
Casey and Sophia couldn't put a name on what they were feeling. But both loved it.
Alex just felt pride.
One of Olivia's biggest life goals had just been accomplished. Now she could have closure on yet another part of her past.
And maybe even start a new friendship.
That sounded amazing.
