Title: Best Laid Plans
Author: ZombieJazz
Fandom: SVU
Disclaimer: I don't own them. Law&Order: Special Victims Unit and its characters belong to Dick Wolf. The character of Jack, Benji and Emmy have been created and developed for the sake of this AU series.
Summary: Olivia Benson and Brian Cassidy continue to work at regrouping from the trauma and challenges of their year by taking some time away from New York City. They take their kids on a family vacation to visit Cragen and Eileen in Florida. The story is set in the Hello Goodbye, Welcome Home and Facing Forward AU.
Somehow when they'd come out of the Animal Actors show they'd apparently left California – and the streets of Hollywood – and landed back in Universal's version of New York City. They'd found themselves in a movie magic attempt at Central Park. And, really, if they ever did use the theme park space as a working set to shoot a commercial or a scene in some TV show, it was likely workable. But the kids were grossly unimpressed.
"This does not look like Central Park," Benji stressed for them repeatedly while standing on a rock that definitely wasn't as big as some of the elephant rocks that the kids could spend hours scurrying around on their imaginary adventures. But it definitely was also sculpted and textured to give it a look that was reflective of the rocks back in their hometown.
The keywords there, though, were 'sculpted' and 'textured' and even their six-year-old had kind of clued into that. Emmy had definitely managed to find a twig that was real and was carrying – and thrashing it around with her like it was some kind of newfound play thing because near every part of nature was to their child. But the toy had turned into a scientific chisel when they'd stopped in the shade to look across the 'lake' at what Olivia was distinguishing as likely San Fransisco and London. It was an interesting clash of architecture. And definitely not what you saw when you looked across the Revisor in the real Central Park – or any other water formation there. Near rock formations or otherwise. Emmy was poking at the rocks with the stick.
"Are des real, Mommy?" she demanded rather skeptically, followed by, "I think they fake."
"Maybe," Olivia conceded. She definitely wasn't going to argue that point. And if she did it was likely that Benji and Emily would mount some sort of science experiment or paleontological, geological dig right there in the theme park. She thought she should try to get them to save that show for when they got over to the Jurassic Park land, which was another area that she was sure most families likely spent maybe an hour or two in but that her kids would easily put the better part of a day into. But at least it wouldn't be watching them chisel at a fake rock with twigs in a fake park in a theme park that they were paying upwards of a $100 per person per day for the pleasure of being there.
Brian, though, apparently didn't have a problem with that use of their money. And he'd just nudged her, mumbled something about finding something to eat, and wandered away leaving her to watch … whatever it was these little creatures they were raising were doing. Sometimes she was in awe of them. And sometimes she was just dumbfounded by them. They were both such unique individuals. So uniquely them.
Olivia didn't think the kids even noticed Brian was gone. They were absorbed. Not only were they busy determining if the rock was real – but Emmy had spotted bugs. And then a gecko. And then they were both transfixed. And nearly terrorizing the poor thing. She'd had to give them some firm instruction to just look and not touch. And then clarify that included not poking it with the fucking twig. But the lizard must've been pretty resilient to curious tourists. It seemed mostly undisturbed and continued basking on the warm concrete while Benji and Emmy stared and chattered squatted down next to it.
So Olivia had just found a bench in the shade and sat playing supervisor. The benches in the little, quiet park space were actually a pretty good facsimile of the ones in NYC Parks. So were the lamp posts. And the signage. Even if the space didn't capture the experience of the city at all.
Brian reappeared with a bucket of popcorn and a strawberry-lemon slush for them to share and you'd think their kids had never seen either. At least they hadn't likely seen anything in quite those serving sizes.
"Can get the popcorn refilled for two bucks the rest of our stay," Brian said, while he claimed a handful. He was smart to take a handful at once the way the kids were diving in and sucking down the slush.
"Hey," Olivia said, giving Benji's shoulder a little shake as his lips puckered with the drink. "Slow down. You're going to get brain freeze."
"Too late," he muttered and handed the drink off to his sister who went at the drink with just as much vigor, completely undeterred by the way Benji was now holding at his temples and groaning a little.
Olivia rolled her eyes, giving her head a shared shake with Brian.
But that was their kids. There were moments she really, really worried she – they – maybe spoiled them. There were other moments that she worried they were too strict or too uptight or too overprotective.
And then they had little moments like this. They needed like moments like this. Where a big bucket of theme park popcorn was a thrill and a treat. Where they still knew how to share and didn't fuss about having to use the same straw as their sibling. Where they hadn't had a slushie enough they didn't know how to avoid a brain freeze. Where they were still excited and appreciative. And little. And fun. And silly. Where her and Brian were able to just let them be kids. To let them be their weird little, observant selves – digging at fake rocks and staring at geckos in a makeshift park at a $100 a day theme park while the other families around them hustled to London and through to Diagon Alley and into a Wizarding World of Harry Potter. And they sat on a bench and shared a treat as a family in a moment that as wasn't so unlike any other day-off her and Brian might have with their kids back home.
Emmy first wedged between her and Brian on the bench and then crawled into her Daddy's lap. It was mid-afternoon at that point and she was finally starting to show some fleeting glimpses that she might be ready to slow down at least a bit. Or she just wanted better access to the popcorn. Though, in that moment, she seemed content to have the slushie to herself. Her head resting against Brian's chest and his chin on her head while she sucked at the straw in much slower gulps than Benji's glug.
Olivia smiled a little at the scene. Brian caught it.
"What?"
She shook her head and just gestured at their little girl. The kids grow up – but in some ways they don't. You still got glimpses of the past. Maybe that's why seeing them get bigger got harder. Olivia could see again their Little Duck against her Daddy's chest with her bottle while Brian worked at lulling her to sleep back in those early months right then.
Benji moved to sit down on the bench next to her and she nudged over a bit – moving the popcorn bucket to her lap to make sure there was enough space. He was happy with that arrangement. He cuddled into her side and buried his hand into the bucket, munching away.
And they all just sat and rested and snacked, gazing at the water and the various cityscapes around them for a bit. It'd only been then in their apparent slow down that Benji had actually seemingly looked around and realized the Transformer ride was insight.
"Dad, I think that's Transformers," he blurted out suddenly. So suddenly it'd startled Olivia a little and she'd nearly toppled the little they had left of the popcorn. And the little boy's whole arm pointed urgently. "LOOK! I think that's Optimus! On the building! RIGHT THERE!"
Brian leaned forward with Emmy in his lap a bit and looked around the bit of foliage in the 'park'. "Could be," he acknowledged and gave Olivia a nudge. "Where'd the map Magellan."
She rolled her eyes at him but moved to dig the crumpled paper out of her capri's pocket. She'd barely retrieved it before Benji had snatched it away from her and set to checking out the situation for himself.
"Manners," she pressed firmly into the side of his cap. But he was absorbed and attempting to orient himself on the colorful and wordy paper.
Benji had a love-hate relationship with maps. He seemed fascinated with them. He'd taken an interest in geography. He liked that maps were art and science combined. Lines and colors and information – without too many words. But he'd also expressed that maps made him dizzy. It wasn't something that her or Brian had quite understood what he meant. But they had been told that it was a common sensation with dyslexia. Still, their son much preferred gathering and extrapolating information from maps than he did from any other kind of dense document. He could figure out how to navigate them – if given proper time.
"Mama," he murmured thoughtful, starring at the sheet. "Check your phone. See if it says the ride times."
She allowed her eyes another little roll but retrieved her phone. She didn't really need to. Brian already had his out.
"It's forty minutes," he told her, swiping through the app.
She gaped at him a bit. "For Transformers?"
"People live Transformers, Liv," he said. "Everyone but you."
She rolled her eyes harder. "Do our Express Passes work on that ride?" she asked. Actually – she prayed.
He made a listening sound. "I think so," he muttered, still staring at his phone. That didn't sound sure.
"Does it say how long that wait is?"
He shook his head. "Nah. We'll have to walk over," he said and gave Emmy a bit of a shake. "We gonna do this?"
"JAH!" she cheered. Apparently those fleeting moments of her almost looking like she might be ready for a nap were just that – fleeting. "LET'S DOOOOO DIS!"
"Big Man?" Brian leaned over to look at Benji again. "You up to saving the All-Spark, bud?"
And Benji gave him a big smile and a firm nod.
"Think Mom is?"
Benji shrugged. And Olivia gave him a gentle slap in the chest. It just got a bigger smile out of their son. Him grinning cheekily up at her with that gapped tooth grin of his, full of those missing baby teeth and adult incisors that hadn't come in just yet.
They gathered their things; Brian strapping the souvenir popcorn bucket, that apparently he seriously was planning on keeping and presumably refilling in the next day or two, on the outside of their backpack. And they started their short trek over to where the massive robot was on the roof of the nearby building.
"Is this supposed to still be New York?" Benji asked, swinging her arm hand-in-hand with hers, as Emmy skipped and hopped along with her Dad.
"I think so," Olivia allowed. Though, she'd definitely concede at this point it didn't really look like much of anything beyond any street USA. There was a Mel's Drive-In Diner on the corner. She actually thought that looked kind of fun – if they skipped their reservation. Though, it'd mean nothing to the kids. But, they might've enjoyed looking at the old cars parked out front almost as much as her and Brian. Benji was definitely all-boy when it came to vehicles and had been slowly indoctrinated over the years by her, Jack and Brian – as well as his own interests – about what constituted a classic and quality vehicle. Though, she supposed if it was really supposed to be the diner from American Graffiti the corner was supposed to be back in California. The layout of this park just didn't geographically make sense. The mapping was making her dizzy too.
"Well, it doesn't look like home at all," Benji huffed.
Olivia shrugged a bit. "It's make-believe, Benj. Did it really look like Metropolis yesterday?"
"Yes," he huffed even more offended at her. "From the comics. And it doesn't even make sense if this is New York," Benji informed her and then looked back at Brian. "Right, Dad?"
"Mmm," he allowed. "What you thinking, Ben?"
"Shouldn't it be Chicago. Right?"
"Sounds about right," Bri agreed.
And then they all looked behind them as a siren whirled and a battered, ancient police cruiser with a speaker strapped to the top of it slowly rolled by as Brian pulled Emmy up onto the curb and out of the way. They all stood and stared at the passing car.
"Maybe it is Chicago," Olivia said. Benji squinted at her and she pointed at the car. "Those were the Blues Brothers. It's a movie."
"An old movie," Benji said with a real obnoxious tease and look to him.
She smiled and shook her head at him. "A movie from when Mommy and Daddy where kids."
"So it a reaaaaaaaallllllllllly old movie," Emmy emphasized.
"What's it about?" Benji asked, as they started walking again. "Detectives?"
"No," Olivia said. "It's about two brothers who are musicians and they want to save the orphanage they grew up in. So they're trying to play a bunch of shows to raise money before it has to close its doors."
Benji made a listening sound at that and looked at her. "It sounds kinda good. Can we watch it for Sunday Fun Day Movie one day?"
"Ah, no," Brian interjected. "Not for a long time. It's not a kids movie."
Olivia gave him a look.
"It's R," he put to her. "And I was probably about his age when it came out and don't think I saw it until I was in college."
Olivia just made a listening sound and thought about that. It'd been a long time since she'd seen it. She couldn't think of what might've been in it that earned it an R rating – but she could hazard a guess: drugs, language and sex. And probably smoking and drinking too. Likely vast amounts of misogyny by today's standards too. Though, she also suspected some of the reasoning for the rating likely looked hokey by today's standards and compared to some of the cartoon-action-super-hero violence and innuendo their kids watched and engaged in in videogames and online and just in daily life. No matter how much and how hard they tried to regulate it.
"If it's not for kids why are they here?" Benji asked.
Olivia shrugged again. "Some things in the movie would be family-friendly for everyone, Little Fox. There's lots of singing and dancing. Maybe they have a show here." She cast Brian a look. "That might be fun …" she offered.
But he only gave a little shrug. So she left it for the moment. After they got through today maybe she'd look at the maps and schedules a little bit more and put forward a couple things that she might actually like to see and do at these parks while they were here. She'd really been very focused on getting through these things for the kids up to this point. Just enjoying watching the kids reactions. Enjoying her family.
They rounded the street corner at the big industrial military complex looking building that was housing the Transformer ride and the four of them came to a full stop in their tracks. Olivia was certain that all four of them had their jaws near hit the ground.
An alarm was sounding just as a garage door pulled up and open revealing a massive Optimus Prime. But it was a real – hulking, moving – Optimus Prime. One that didn't just stay inside that doorway. He came walking out toward the gathered people.
"My name is Optimus Prime," the … robot said. Olivia couldn't actually tell if it was a robot or some kind of animatronics puppet or some sort of elaborate custom. What she could tell was that it was incredible – and entirely believable. And that it looked exactly like the character they'd been watching in the movies had come to life and was now towering in front of them – feet taller than even Brian.
"I am an Autonomous robotic organism from the planet Cybertron," Optimus said with full gestures and movements. "An Autobot for short."
Olivia didn't know whether to look at Optimus – or Benji … or Brian … or Emmy. But all three of them were just seeping with awe. And that wasn't an easy feat. They looked even more gob smacked than they had with Spiderman. Brian looked like as much of a little boy as their little boy and little girl had the day before.
"Welcome Recruits, you honour us with your alliance. But I must warn all of you, if you find the All-Spark and Megatron is in its possession, only if you can take it from him may we have a chance to save this world."
Optimus promised them all that Bumblebee would help them on their journey. And with that introduce the doors again came up and the bright yellow robot danced and strutted out, striking poses to only the music that his vocal circuits were able to create. If Optimus had looked like everything that Brian had imagined since his childhood – Bumblebee looked like everything that Benji had expected since he was a little boy. Since he'd come home to her and that was the first Transformer he'd found among the toys that had been left behind by Calvin. A toy that had opened a flood gate to Transformers – and Rescue Bots and firetrucks and children and Brian and Jack and Emmy and her whole family and the life she had today.
And her little boy squeezed at her hand even tighter as there stood those two incarnations of so much of what their family had been built on in its infancy. Optimus and Bumblebee. And Brian who knew how to transform those figures from robots to vehicles and back again when she just couldn't figure out how to get the pieces to fit the exact right way.
And they stood there watching them interact with other families as they lined up to get their photos taken before they got in line for the ride. As Optimus offered them assurances and Bumblebee played them motivational soundtracks striking a variety of moods and poses meant to blend with each family and individual who went up and joined them.
It wasn't a question that they got in the queue to have their picture taken. There wasn't even a discussion about it. They just gravitated and got into the line. Inching forward – memorized – as they waited their turn.
"Greetings. How are you today?" Optimus finally called to them and the characters' handlers dressed in beige military fatigues gestured for them to come forward.
Brian nudged Benji and Emmy forward. But Olivia pressed him to move into the photo-op area too. He gave her a look.
"Bri," she nodded. "This is a family photo."
"It's Daddy's birthday," Emmy was already telling Optimus before Brian had a chance to put up any kind of argument about joining the kids. Bumblebee reacted blaring some 'Happy Birthday' music. "You've been his fav-it since he was little like me."
"That is a true honor," Optimus said and actually looked Brian's way. "It is nice to meet you Earthling."
Olivia smiled and nudged him again.
"Yea. Nice to meet you too," Brian muttered.
"These two are rather tiny. But I see their spark is very strong," Optimus said.
Benji was standing in slack-jawed awed, just wide-eyed amazement examining them. He was looking right at Bumblebee and Bumblebee was looking right back. Bits of machinery were whirling on the costume and clips of music and audio were blaring in little blips of excited expression and emotion likely mirroring the ones that Benji couldn't seem to get out.
The staff there with cameras gestured at Olivia – who was the only one who didn't seem in a stupor about the Transformers. And she worked to gather her family and get them to face the camera.
Bumblebee and Optimus huddled around them too. Bumblebee's arm draping almost completely over Benji's body and Optimus' hand first hovering over Brian's head before resting at his shoulder.
"My hand is bigger than your skull, Earthling," he chuckled.
Brian made an amused noise. But Olivia could feel – out of the cop who'd been shoot, stabbed and spent years under cover – some nerves in him at that situation. At the presence of fantasy become reality and it being larger than life.
But it was a fantasy that had been a gateway into giving both of them – all of them – a life. And that made Olivia smile for the camera. They'd all been transformers in their family. They all were.
"Younglings, remember, freedom is a right of all sentient beings," Optimus provided as the photographer gestured their turn was over. "That is your mission – not just today. But today – you must be careful. Megatron is lurking near and we don't want any violence."
They started to move away. But Olivia wasn't sure they'd ever really move away from that moment. Or from Transformers – or their transformation – entirely.
"Roll out!" Optimus called after them as they exited that area.
That familiar call that had occupied so much of Olivia's life in those first months and years that Benji had come home. In that transition and new balance. That transformation where she'd come to have a family. A boy and a husband and a little girl. And a life all of her own.
Roll out.
AUTHOR NOTE:
Reviews, comments and feedback are much appreciated.
Step at a Time is currently being updated too.
