Ninety-four.

"Mama!"

"Dada!"

"Up!"

"UhhhhP!"

With eyes half-open, Olivia reached over and gave Maggie and Wyatt a boost onto the bed. Wyatt burrowed underneath the covers on Olivia's side and Maggie nestled herself in the space that was created between her parents when Olivia rolled over. Olivia kissed Wyatt's head and held him close. He craned his neck backwards, gave her a lazy smile, and shoved his fist in his mouth. She felt a little bad about letting him sleep in Noah's room. Wyatt loved his bed and he was usually the first to fall asleep and last to wake up. He would always be included in the alternative sleeping arrangements, but Olivia knew he was most comfortable in his own space.

"C'toons, Dada?" Maggie only held still for a moment and she strained across Ed's body for the remote control. "Powpuffgirls!"

"How 'bout Transformers?" Ed asked.

"NO!" Maggie frowned and put her hands on Ed's cheeks, "POWPUFF!"

Ed kissed Maggie's nose, "Whaddya say?"

"Peeease!"

Ed flicked on the television and found Maggie's show. Olivia sat up and pulled Wyatt into her lap and Ed did the same with Maggie. Minutes later, Noah and Mia skipped into the room. Ed and Olivia were shocked to see Mia's ponytail still tightly tied at the back of her head. It looked like she'd slept either flat on her face or sitting up.

"Noah said we can have waffles!" Mia announced, skipping any and all morning pleasantries. Her dark brown, almost black, eyes shone with excitement. She grinned and her freckles became even more pronounced. "He say ya have booberries and chocolate chips, oh, I know it's buh-lue-berries, but I like ta say booberries 'cause it's like Halloween then!"

Amused, Ed raised his eyebrows and nodded. He smiled at Noah and grinned. He and Mia had been friends for three years, but Mia's whirlwind-like personality left him bewildered at least once each time they were together.

"We didn't see you for Halloween this year," Olivia pointed out, "What was your costume?"

"A taco."

Noah giggled, "A taco?"

"Yep!" Mia balanced on one foot and then the other as she assessed the room. "You gotta lotta pictures, Livia!" She wandered around the bed to the opposite wall. "Lookit Noah! Baby Noah! And baby babies! Hey!" She spun around on her heel, "These babies are like little kids now!"

"We always call 'em babies," Noah said assuredly.

Mia shrugged and went back to the photographs. "There's the Sare Bear! And there's Ed!"

"Do you have many pictures on your walls at home, Mia?" Olivia asked.

"Nope! We have...jus' pictures of places, but no people in 'em."

Noah ran over to join Mia and to give more context to the photographs. There were shots of the kids at holidays and birthdays, on the Manhattan rooftop and at the beach house. In some they were dressed formally and in others they were wearing jeans and t-shirts and snapped mid-action rather than frozen in a pose. "Lookit dis one," he said, "That's from last year and see? Da presents were taller than US!"

Ed rolled toward Olivia and whispered, "Did we overdo it last year?"

"We always do."

The twins were sitting up now, between them, and clapped their hands at the action. They babbled the names of the characters and Wyatt turned around frequently to make sure either his Mommy or Daddy were paying attention. "P'fessor!" He would bellow. Or, when the villain Mojo Jojo appeared, he would say that name and look back and forth from his parents to the screen with wide eyes. Ed saw the pure joy on Olivia's face and he snuck a couple of quick kisses before suggesting they move their little lazy morning party to the kitchen and living room. He tasked Noah and Mia with finding the breakfast ingredients and helped the twins to the floor. Maggie and Wyatt forgot all about their show and rushed to join the older kids.

Ed leaned over Olivia, "You comin?"

"Yes," she grinned and puckered her lips for the ensuing kiss.

Ed played with her hair and stroked her cheek with an index finger, "Coffee?"

"Yes, please." Olivia reached out, took Ed's hands, and allowed him to pull her to her feet. He wrapped her in a tight embrace and she sighed, "I love this."

"So do I."

…..

Watching Noah happily play among other carefree, cheerful toddlers and elementary-school aged children made Olivia feel even more miserable than she'd felt that afternoon, post-verdict, when she walked out of the courthouse with Darius McCrae's inconsolable mother. It seemed so wrong for her to be enjoying a beautiful June evening with her son and Ed Tucker when, uptown, Cheryl was at home in her tiny apartment trying to figure out how to weather the next seven years with her son in prison. Nearby, Noah rolled his mini-tractor along the concrete wall of the sandbox. Every few minutes he'd look back at the bench, smile, and turn his attention back to his toy. Another little boy approached with a similar truck and the two giggled at the coincidence. Minutes later, they were racing around the perimeter, laughing loudly.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" Ed asked. Olivia had been more reticent than usual, and he knew it was because of the verdict. However, he wasn't used to this type of near silence and was debating whether or not he should simply offer to leave her alone.

Olivia wedged her fingertips between the wooden slats and clenched her jaw. She was glad she'd remembered her sunglasses. Even though she'd cried in front of Ed before, she didn't want to completely break down right here in the park and she felt very much on the verge of sobs. She took a deep breath and answered. "I'm thinking...about how, a few weeks ago, Darius was just a kid, going to school, who liked to read and take care of his sister...and his mother had all the reason in the world to hope he'd have a bright future. And now, he'll be in his twenties and have a record when he gets out. So many options...down the drain."

"Think they'll appeal?"

"Maybe. They have a case, but they don't have money. So it'd take someone like Bayard to come along and do it pro bono. And even then...it doesn't bring Avery back. Darius still has to live with what happened. It's a losing situation all around." Keeping one eye on Noah, Olivia glanced at Ed, "You paid attention to the trial. What do you think?"

It was a tricky question. Ed was a rule-of-law man. He had always seen things in black and white. There were good guys and bad guys. Wrong and right. So, a case like the one that had concluded that afternoon challenged his principles. Hashing it out with Olivia had flipped a few of those principles upside down. "I heard about Lindstrom's testimony," he said, "And I thought, after that, there was enough reasonable doubt. That's what made the most sense to me, that, in the moment, the kid lost control."

"And the judge takes it upon herself to agree with attaching the hate crime," Benson scoffed, "It should've never been in adult court anyway. Sometimes...justice screws everyone."

"Jesuits...I think they may have been onto somethin."

Confused at Tucker ostensibly veering from the subject, Olivia furrowed her brow and raised her eyebrows. "The Jesuits?"

"Yeah, they, uh, they had this thing for novel problem solving...when conventional reasoning didn't work. They looked at problems from the inside out, so, instead of applying broad principles, a problem could be solved on its own merits. Too many times we take our principles or predetermined conclusions and apply them to the problem when, really, shouldn't it be the other way around?"

"So why have principles at all?"

"It's not abandoning principles. It's the order we use them. Take this case, for example. I'd say, in law enforcement, we all adhere to 'equal justice under the law', right?"

"Sure."

"But, proceeding in this case, with that principle first and foremost, skewed the case from the start. Zeroing in on who was responsible, making someone pay, made a pretty complicated case less nuanced than it needed to be. Case in point-the other two kids got off scot free, more or less. You think they learned anything?"

Olivia gazed at Noah and thought about Ed's reasoning. The pair had had several deep conversations in the past, but she'd never been exposed to this side of philosophical Ed and it caught her off guard. Despite the context, there was something romantic about the way he articulated his argument and she reached over to squeeze his hand.

"So," she said, "If I'm hearing this correctly, you're saying, the Jesuit way of approaching a case like this would have been to meticulously interview and evaluate everyone involved and decide, from there, what justice should look like?"

"Exactly. It's the order. Our ideas of justice can fail us because, by default, we wanna punish the one who did it, and we can still punish the one who did it, but also maybe get a truer result."

"Perhaps we don't approach cases like this because it'd take even longer to get to a resolution."

Ed chuckled sardonically, "Good point there, Benson."

Bored with the sandbox, Noah trotted over to the bench, kicking his tractor in front of him. Ed stopped its motion with his foot and brushed the sand from the wheels. "Got some good use outta this today," he remarked.

"Duhty!" Noah said, smacking his hands together.

Olivia pulled a package of wipes from her bag and cleaned Noah's hands and face. "Ready to go, sweet boy?"

Noah grinned and held out his hands for the tractor. "I carry," he said.

"Want to grab some dinner on the way back?" Olivia asked Ed. She nudged his side a little as if to make it clear she was talking to him.

"Yeah," he replied, "I, uh, I wasn't sure if maybe you wanted to have some time to yourselves."

"Earlier I thought that's what I would want, but...I feel better now," she patted the center of his back, "Thank you."

"For ramblin' on?"

"For precisely that." She nudged him again, "I kinda like hearing you ramble."

…..

The cloudy morning turned into an even more overcast afternoon, and by the time Mia's father called and apologetically explained he was running late getting back to the city, snow had begun to fall. At first it failed to stick and turned into gray slush, but soon the surfaces were blanketed in white and pedestrians left trails of footprints along the sidewalks. Mia, unfazed by her parents' tardiness, and Noah pressed their faces against the window and wondered aloud if they would be able to go sledding

With a guest in the house, it was impossible to get the twins down for a nap, so Ed and Olivia did their best to stay patient with their two-year-olds who were cranky from fighting fatigue. When they tried to put Wyatt in his crib, he whimpered pathetically. He and Maggie snatched toys from one another, whined, cried, found something else to do and then repeated the cycle all over again. When the doorbell rang relief washed over Ed and Olivia. It would be a lot easier to soothe their brood with only their children in the home.

"I'll help her with her things," Olivia said softly and went to find Mia's sequined bag.

"Door, Dada!" Wyatt said, pointing down the foyer. "Door!"

"Let's go see who it is," Ed grabbed Wyatt's hand. He assumed the doorman recognized Mr. Bianchi from previous visits but was, nevertheless, surprised they hadn't received a heads up. He opened the door and quickly got an explanation-instead of Mia's father there stood Sarah and Brooke. Brooke held Sofia in her arms and, in Sarah's, was a small dog.

"Surprise!" Sarah said, holding up the pet for Ed to have a better view, "It's a girl!"

"You brought a dog over here?" Ed asked. He tickled Sofia's chin and kissed her head. He then glanced at Wyatt who was hugging his leg and curiously looking up at the dog.

"Yes," Sarah said, "Are you going to invite us in?"

"I don't know."

"Dad."

Expecting Mia's father, Olivia rounded the corner, stopped in her tracks, tossed the bag to the side, and gave them a hearty hello. She held her arms out for Sofia. "How's my sweet grandbaby?" She cooed in the one-year-old's ear. "Come inside and play with all the kids!"

"Can we bring the dog in, Livvie?"

"Of course," she replied breezily, "You can't leave it outside in the hall."

Inside, Sarah introduced the yellow labrador puppy to everyone. Her name was Pearl and Sarah came to own her the night before when Brooke's neighbor inadvertently mentioned her dog had given birth to puppies she was afraid she'd have to take to the Humane Society. The dog's presence injected some positive energy into the bunch and the five kids delighted in chasing Pearl around. Maggie and Wyatt giggled and fell onto their backs when Pearl licked their faces. Recognizing the dog's penchant for chewing anything within its reach, Noah quickly grabbed Maggie's baby and a few other treasured items and tossed them into the twins' room.

Brooke and Sarah perched themselves on bar stools and Ed and Olivia opened a bottle of wine. "Hungry?" Olivia asked, sliding two glasses across the granite to them and drifting over to the pantry.

"I'm good," Brooke said, "Sonny's mom brought leftovers. I feel like all I've been doing this week is eating."

"Omigod that lasagna was so good," Sarah gushed. "I need to get out to Staten Island more often for dinner."

"Where is Carisi?" Olivia asked.

"His sister's having computer problems," Brooke said. "So he's on tech support duty."

"Did you know his brother-in-law was in prison?" Sarah asked, wide-eyed.

"Yes," Ed grumbled.

"He's doing well," Brooke said, feeling obligated to intervene on behalf of Tommy. "And Bella has a great job doing marketing from home, which is why she needs the computer set up."

"How's their daughter?" Olivia asked.

"Adorable. We really need to see them more often. They don't live too far away...we're both so busy though and time flies. But," she gave her sister a reproving glance, "Tommy's not a bad person. It seems like he's had a lot of bad luck compounded with dumb decisions."

Ed grunted and sipped his wine. He remembered the case and how he'd had to caution Olivia about Carisi getting too close to the action and used the whole thing as an excuse to meet for drinks. The memory of the two of them tentatively sipping drinks at a downtown bar made him smile.

Sarah cocked her head and asked, "What's so funny?"

"Nothin."

"C'mon!"

"The dog's funny," Ed jerked his chin toward the living room. Pearl had somehow ended up in one of the toy boxes and was struggling to get out.

"Oh," Sarah ran to the toy box and freed Pearl. She stood, arms akimbo, over the kids and pretended to be angry. "Which one of you munchkins put poor Pearl in the box?"

"We gave her a boost," Mia said.

"Yeah!" Noah chimed in, "She was lookin' for toys then she crashed in!"

"Noey, you're going to have to come with me and get some new toys for her," Sarah said. "We'll do that next week when I pick you up."

"Kay," Noah said, "Hey! Who's gonna watch da dog while you work?"

"Dogs can stay by themselves for a little bit. And I can always ask G if she can let her out if I'm late. And Justy will be back soon."

While Sarah, Noah, and Mia chatted about dog care, Pearl wandered over to one of the beanbags and found Wyatt sound asleep. He'd somehow found one of his Wubbanubs and was sucking away peacefully. Pearl sniffed around and eventually crawled in next to him, nestling her snout under his chin.

"Omigod," Sarah whispered when she noticed the sweet scene. "Look!"

Olivia whipped out her phone and snapped pictures. They let Wyatt and the dog stay where they were. Sarah was happy that Pearl had calmed down and little Wyatt was finally getting some much needed rest.

"Livia?" Mia asked.

"Yes, honey?"

"You gonna put those pictures on the wall?"

"Maybe," Olivia said, thinking of the thousands of pictures on their phones, computers, and in the cloud that would never see the walls. "You know what? Let's take a nice one of you and Noah. Then we can put you up there."

"Okay!"

Mia and Noah stood in front of the Christmas tree. Brooke adjusted the lighting to eliminate glare. Olivia counted to three, and Mia and Noah broke into broad smiles. They were each missing teeth, and Mia's shirt was streaked with the Capri Sun she'd spilled earlier, but the photograph captured their innocent bliss and Olivia promised herself she'd print and frame it in the next few days.

…..

Olivia wrapped another throw blanket around Maggie's shoulders and handed her a cup of hot apple cinnamon cider. Maggie mischievously asked if there was whiskey in the drink and her question was met with an eye roll from her mother and a classic Ed Tucker IAB glare which he was only able to sustain for a few seconds.

"I don't think it'd be good with whiskey," Wyatt said innocently and apparently not recognizing that his comment was incriminating.

"How would you know?" Maggie asked.

"Too harsh," Wyatt replied. He took out his phone and completed a quick search, "See? These recipes all say rum or brandy. What's brandy taste like?"

"It's citrusy," Noah said. "I had it a couple of times after dinners. It's a digestif."

"I need a digestif," Maggie said, "I'm stuffed. But...do you think I look fat? I eat so much at school it's not even funny." All of the Tuckers looked incredulously at Maggie's lithe body and shook their heads. Seeing their reactions, Maggie added, "I'm serious! The food is so good!"

Considering how much money they were shelling out in living expenses, Ed had to believe the food was, indeed, incredibly delicious. "A lot different from when we were in college," he said, "It was slop, and you ate it. And now...you have a sauna in your dorm?"

"Yep. We need it...there's a gym in there too. Need a good steam after your workout!"

"Unbelievable."

"Need to be fit and relaxed for studying!"

"Are you worried about final exams?" Wyatt asked. "Everyone on my floor is."

"Nah," Maggie replied, "Well, the math one maybe a little bit, but I'm not worried. Oh, and I have a paper due which I was hoping you'd proofread for me pretty pretty please, twin?"

"Sure."

"You guys wanna play a game?" Noah asked. He was used to long days and nights and was nowhere near ready for bed.

Olivia yawned. "I'm going to turn in," she patted Ed's knee, "I'll leave the lamp on for you."

"Nah," Ed replied, "I'm right behind ya. Turn the lights off," he said to the kids, "See you in the morning." He and Olivia made their way to their bedroom while Noah, Maggie, and Wyatt debated what to play. A few minutes later, they heard music playing and the sound of cards shuffling. They didn't care about the noise, they were both tired and content and would easily fall asleep. They changed clothes in the bathroom and stood side by side while they brushed their teeth and washed their faces. Ed kissed Olivia and looked at their reflection in the mirror.

"I love you," he murmured.

"I love you."

"Happy?"

"Very happy," Olivia said, "I love having everyone here. Under one roof."

"I do too."

They slid into bed and curled up together under the covers. Ed wrapped an arm around Olivia and held her close. She'd swept her hair up and he kissed her exposed neck. "It's gonna be a great week," he whispered.

"Yes it is," she rolled onto her back, inviting a more passionate kiss on the lips. "I don't want it to go by too fast though," she whispered during a brief pause.

"I wish I could pause time for ya."

Olivia cupped his face and smiled, "I love that about you," she said, "You always want to do the impossible for me."

"You never know," he said, "Sometimes those impossibilities...they end up happening."

"Work your magic, Ed Tucker."

Ed smirked and kissed her again, "Yes ma'am."

….

Ed propelled himself backwards on the mattress and landed with a grunt. "Are we sure everyone's gone?" He asked Olivia who was finishing up in the bathroom.

"Only the people who are supposed to be here," she said, "Are here. And they're sound asleep."

"Good. Come here." Ed reached out and ran his fingers along Olivia's thighs as she crawled on top of him. "Mmmmm...finally, the two of us, in here, alone. Where you're supposed to be."

It seemed like it had been weeks since they'd last made love. Olivia's entire body tingled with anticipation. Ed asked her what she wanted and she immediately replied "everything." He smirked and sat up just enough so he had the leverage to flip their positions. As he started kissing at her neck and then her chest, Olivia noticed the smirk did not fade.

"Enjoying yourself?" She asked.

"Hell yes," he looked up, "You're not?"

"Yes," Olivia fought off the pang of guilt. She hadn't meant for him to perceive the question negatively. "That smile...it reminds me of earlier. When Sarah was talking about Tommy-"

"-Oh yeah," the smirk widened, "It just reminded me of the two of us then. How we were so hesitant, how badly I wanted to be just like this with you."

"You controlled yourself."

"I did. But it was so...so hard."

Olivia grinned. "Don't control yourself anymore, Ed."

"How asleep didja say they were?"

"Very."

…..

#Tuckson