241.
Olivia gave Ed a break from preschool pickup and went herself the day after the twins broke down in tears after they were separated for, what they learned, was a mere ten minutes while art smocks were being issued. Maggie and Wyatt were not exactly glued at the hip, but they were used to being together all the time at school, so Ed and Olivia decided not to make a big deal about it. In fact, they suggested to the teachers that they separate them more often-an approach the teachers didn't exactly embrace with open arms. Olivia groaned to Ed after the brief conference and wondered aloud if they should change preschools next fall. They previously joked about the twins' reputation, but after tattoos and passwords and now sobs, the humor was fading.
Much to Olivia's relief and delight, the twins ran to her looking every bit as happy and cheerful as she knew them to be most of the time. She had made sure to avoid any semblance of sameness, so they were not dressed anywhere near alike. They rarely wore exactly the same outfit, but often she coordinated colors. Today, Wyatt wore khakis and a navy henley and Maggie had on jeans and a lightweight burgundy hoodie with her hair pulled back into a ponytail.
"Mama, lookit my 'moji!" Maggie took Olivia's hand and dragged her to a nearby bulletin board plastered with emojis. The title of the board was "how we're feeling today" and Maggie had chosen a huge smiley face.
"Oh, wow, this is nice," Olivia cooed as she looked at the emojis, most of which were similar smiley faces, "I see your M! Good job!"
"I wri'da'EM for MAGG!" Maggie said, jumping up and down.
"Yes," Olivia said, "You're so good at writing your letters." Olivia looked around for Wyatt's emoji, but she couldn't find it. She also couldn't spot Wyatt in the room. "Magg…where's your brother?"
"Wy said NOMOJI!"
"No emoji?" Olivia's stomach flip-flopped. Had Wyatt actually refused to do an assignment?
Maggie grabbed Olivia's hand and led her to another bulletin board, "Wy daw hi'own," Maggie explained. Sure enough, on the next bulletin board, there were a series of student free drawings and Wyatt's was front and center. He'd drawn his self-portrait with hair much longer and much spikier than it actually was, but his mouth was a smile and he made his cheeks rosy red, probably on the advice of a teacher who said it would make the face look happy. In one stick figure hand, he held a car and in the other it looked like he'd tried to draw a hot dog. Olivia couldn't help but laugh.
"WY!" Maggie shouted.
Olivia winced. Maggie had an unmistakable, impossible-to-ignore shout when she really wanted to get her point across. "Honey-"
"-I here Magg!" Wyatt called out from an area behind the cubbies where he'd disappeared for a few minutes, "Dat's me," he said to Olivia while proudly pointing at the artwork.
Olivia crouched and hugged him. Each of her kids had a special place in her heart, but she had to admit, Wyatt maybe had a larger portion than the others. His "dat's me" was delivered in a very Ed-esque raspy voice, casual yet deeply sincere, and Olivia wanted to hug him forever.
"I see you, sweet Wyatt," Olivia said, "I love it. Tell me about your drawing."
Wyatt pointed out the obvious parts and then clarified that the hot dog was, in fact, a hot dog. "W'mussard!" He said proudly.
Olivia side-hugged him and said, "I know you love your mustard, Wyatt Edward." She looked around for the teachers and they were all focused on other students. After the twins got their coats and mittens on, she took the twins by the hand and checked out with the aide she knew best.
"The Tuckers are gone for the day," she said breezily.
"Bye, Tuckers!" She said cheerfully.
"Bye Miss Anna!" Wyatt and Maggie said at the same time.
"Okay, sweet twins, let's go home," Olivia said, taking their mittened hands.
"No," Maggie said, "Lessgo shopping."
"Shopping?"
"Kissmas shopping."
"Christmas was a long time ago," Olivia explained, "We probably need to think about birthday shopping for your Daddy and Grandma."
"Kissmas LONG TIME 'go," Maggie insisted. "May Kissmas, Mommy."
"Merry Christmas, Maggie," Olivia replied.
"May kissmas, Wy!"
Wyatt craned his neck around Olivia's body and glanced curiously at his sister. But, he shrugged and returned the greeting. They stopped at a cafe for a hot chocolate, and Maggie wished the barista and a few patrons a Merry Christmas. They all smiled and told her to have a Merry Christmas while Olivia shook her head and silently thanked them for their kindness. When they arrived at home, the doorman also got a Merry Christmas.
"I don't know what happened at school today," Olivia said to him, "But we're suddenly back in the holiday spirit."
"Fine with me," he said, crouching down to Maggie's level, "You have a Merry Christmas too, young lady."
"Ta'you."
Olivia chuckled and led the twins to the elevator. "C'mon, you two," she said, "Let's go tell Daddy we had a good day at school."
….
Monday kicked off College and Career Week at Noah's school, and, true to his personality, he wanted to go above and beyond his assignment to color a college pennant. Knowing Justin was a student at Columbia, Noah took it upon himself to call him and ask if he would take him to campus. "Justy, I need a flag…or…somethin' else with da college name on it," he said, "Can you take me?"
Justin, who would later remark how much he loved that Noah asked to actually go to campus rather than simply requesting Justin bring him something, of course agreed. After school the next day, Justin came over to pick him up, and he immediately complimented Noah on his outfit.
"You look sharp," Justin said of Noah's khaki pants, navy oxford, and navy double breasted pea coat. "Exactly like a college man."
Noah smiled proudly.
Ed put his hands on Noah's shoulders and said, "He wanted to make sure he fit in."
"You'll fit in perfectly," Justin replied. "Ready to go?"
"Uh-huh! Are we takin' da one?"
"Yup."
"So we don't have to switch trains?"
"Nope."
"Cool," Noah grabbed his bag and slung it around his torso. He patted his right coat pocket for his wallet and explained he couldn't put it in his back pocket because the pocket wasn't big enough then appeared relieved when Justin showed him he kept his wallet in the upper pocket of his cargo jacket. They said goodbye to Ed-Olivia was putting in a few hours at the Center-and went on their way.
Justin wasn't alone often with the kids, but, when he was, he went on high alert. Noah knew his way around the neighborhood, especially to the nearest subway stairs, and the ease with which he navigated the streets unnerved him a bit. Before descending down into the train station, Justin grabbed his hand. He expected resistance, but Noah posed none. He only assured Justin he would keep an eye out for the next train.
"What's da stop?" Noah asked.
"One-sixteen," Justin replied. "The bookstore will be right there."
"But we get to see some of da school, right?"
"Sure thing, little man," Justin said as he sized up Noah's attire again and grinned.
"Thanks," Noah saw headlights round the bend, "S'here! It's da one!"
On the train, which they found mostly empty, they took seats and Justin put his arm across Noah's shoulders. "You remember the last time we were on the one?" He asked Noah.
The second grader looked up, brow furrowed, and shook his head.
"When we went and got you the EMT stuff," Justin said, "For Halloween."
"Oh yeah," a smile crossed Noah's face, "I 'member now. You don't do EMT anymore."
Noah sounded slightly disappointed, so Justin's response was more apologetic than it should have been. "No…but…I'm helping people in a different way. Helping them get back on their feet after they've had problems."
"You always like helpin' people, Justy," Noah said.
"You do, too," Justin replied, smiling proudly down at him.
Noah smiled back. His eyes sparkled-he appeared gratified and maybe a bit relieved-that someone he admired, other than his parents, had recognized and complimented a quality of which he was extremely proud. The train pulled into the next station, and Noah grinned. "Seventy-second Street. Strawberry Fields."
Justin chuckled. "How do you know about Strawberry Fields?"
"Daddy showed me," Noah replied, "Cause I like da Beatles."
Too amused to reply, Justin gently jostled Noah by the back of the head and wondered if Noah would know a fact or a landmark at every stop along the way.
…
The winter sky was dark and dreary and it appeared later than it really was. Lieutenant Tucker scrolled through emails and checked his calendar for the next day. His office door was open and he could hear Brian Cassidy and another detective talking about Christmas shopping and complaining they didn't know what to purchase for their significant others. Ed rolled his eyes. He couldn't imagine it being difficult to shop for Olivia Benson. The thought of Benson reminded him about a tip that came in earlier about bombshell testimony given in court a week or so ago. Ed dismissed the email at first but went back to it for lack of anything else meaningful to do.
The summary was hardly IAB-worthy, but the beauty of Ed's work was that he decided what was IAB-worthy and what was not, so he grabbed his overcoat and headed over to the 16th Precinct. It was late afternoon and everyone but Rollins was there-Amaro and Fin barely gave him a glance and Benson muttered a bland "Hi, Lieutenant." He nodded and made a beeline for Cragen's office where he was greeted with a groan.
"So ya got a detective in an AA love triangle, huh?" Tucker asked spitefully and glanced around as if he expected Rollins to be hiding somewhere.
Cragen groaned again and replied, "Not anymore."
"She the lead on the case?"
"No, Detectives Benson and Amaro were."
"Rollins was at the girl's apartment when she was arrested?"
"She was," Cragen replied, "But she didn't interfere."
"I'd feel better if I heard that from your detectives," Tucker replied.
"Go ahead."
Tucker strode back into the squad room. Amaro was on the phone, so he waved Benson into one of the empty interrogation rooms. She followed without protest and sat down across from him. For a second, Tucker regretted this whole thing. The last time he'd seen her was when he sent Cassidy undercover and the time before that was after she'd been rescued from the claws of William Lewis. Tucker thought about asking how she was holding up, for, in a couple of weeks, Lewis' trial was set to begin.
Tucker folded his hands in front of him and tried to appear friendly. On the surface, Olivia seemed fine. Calm. Collected. But Tucker could sense not all was well. "Tell me about Lena's arrest. By the book?"
"One-hundred percent."
"No funny business from Rollins?"
"Not a bit."
"Anything else I should know?"
Olivia shook her head. Ed thought she was going to remain silent, but she added another detail and sounded like she didn't mind talking to him, which was a first. "She made a mistake in her personal life," she said, "And it got aired in public. She's embarrassed, but not culpable. Not legally and not with Internal Affairs," Olivia sighed and added, "I suppose…you need to be the judge of that."
"I agree with you," Tucker replied. "Got put on my radar is all. I'm not even going to write it up."
"Okay." Olivia slapped the table with her palms. "Done?"
"Yeah."
Olivia nodded and stood up. She turned to walk out.
"You, uh, everything else good?" Tucker asked quickly and in a voice as shaky as his ever became.
Not at all surprised by the question, Olivia expressionlessly said it was.
"Good to hear," Tucker replied, "Merry Christmas."
This knocked Olivia off balance. She blinked and stammered before finally uttering a soft, "Same to you."
Tucker sat in the interrogation room, alone, for a few more minutes. It would have seemed odd not to talk to Amaro, so he called him in and, not more than a minute later, sent him on his way. Before leaving, Tucker sent a text to Draper suggesting a drink, but Draper had a prior commitment. Tucker went to the bar anyway, solo, and brainstormed Christmas gift ideas for his daughters even though he knew he would resort to cash or gift cards. They seemed to prefer those anyway.
….
The text alerts started arriving minutes after Noah purchased a Columbia hoodie, pencils, and a coffee mug for his teacher. Justin was leading Noah to the heart of campus to show him the library, which he was certain would impress his young charge, when he saw Shooter on the loose after claiming two lives in Brooklyn followed by three more similar messages. Justin read the preliminary information as they walked. NYPD had fanned out across Brooklyn and lower Manhattan, searching for the suspect who they described only as a male and possibly Hispanic. While no shelter-in-place order was given, the authorities did advise using extreme caution while out in public.
"WHOA!" Noah exclaimed as they approached the library, "That's a lotta steps!"
"Sure is," Justin said, looking around, trying to gather the mood of the hundreds of other people traversing the area. No one looked to be on the verge of mass panic. "Hey, dude, hang on a sec, okay? I need to make a call. Then, you wanna race up there?"
"YES!"
To Justin's relief, Noah was content people watching while Justin stepped aside and called Ed. He explained he'd seen the alerts and offered to bring Noah home via taxi right away. Ed hated to make Noah miss out on the rest of the campus tour, but Olivia still wasn't home and he knew she would want Noah back immediately. Justin agreed, hung up, and delivered the bad news.
"Hey, No," he said, "We have to get you back home." Justin knew he would have to field questions, but decided to go with this initial approach.
"But we gotta race!"
"Well, uh, there's sort of an emergency," Justin replied, "Some guy-he hurt some people and the police are trying to find him, so, until they do, it's best if we just go home. He's far away," Justin added, "But-"
"-better to be safe than sorry?"
"Uh, yeah."
"My art teacher says dat all da time."
"I'm real sorry," Justin said, "But we can come back."
"Da police will get da bad guy," Noah said confidently. "And we'll go on a super long tour next time!"
"We sure will."
"Are we takin' da subway again?" Noah asked.
"No, we're gonna get a cab. C'mon." As they walked to Broadway, Justin used his multiple apps to find the closest, quickest car, and they were on their way back downtown in no time.
Noah peered out of the window and reported he saw no bad guys. When he got out of the car in front of his building, he looked up and down the block and proceeded to tell the doorman there were no bad guys on their street. "But don't worry," he said, "My Mommy and Daddy usedta be p'lice, so they know what to do if the bad guy comes."
"Got it," the doorman said, smiling at Justin yet peering past him at the street, showing a hint of concern.
In the elevator, Noah slapped the button for their floor and looked up at Justin. "Thanks for takin' me, Justy, and for pr'tecting me."
"You're welcome, No."
"C'we call Sare Bear?"
Justin bit his lip. He had texted Sarah during the ride, but she had not responded, which wasn't all that unusual during her work hours. Depending on what she was doing, it was possible she didn't even know about the shootings, and that worried him even more. He could imagine her, clueless, walking out onto the street, headed home, and paying zero attention to her surroundings.
"We'll call her when we get up there," Justin said.
"Yeah, bad r'ception in here."
Noah's precociousness soothed Justin for the moment. He grinned, stared at the numbers as they passed each floor, and prayed Sarah would answer the phone when they called.
…..
The kids huddled around their parents and watched the Saks Christmas Window Display come alive. Ed and Olivia smiled at each other as their trio ooed and ahhed over the production. Earlier they'd remarked to each other how proud they were that their kids could appreciate the simpler things of the world and were not constantly glued to their phones or tablets, and this evening was serving as proof of everything they'd talked about.
"Good stuff," Ed said when the show was over, "Ready to go skating?"
"C'we go into the church?" Wyatt asked, nodding in the direction of St. Patrick's Cathedral.
"Sure," Olivia said, "Let's go."
Maggie groaned. "They don't have lights in the church," she said, "It's just candles."
"I want to see," Wyatt replied insistently. He tugged at his beanie which was not capacious enough for his head of thick hair, "I bet they have something in there."
"I bet they do, too," Olivia replied. She glanced at Ed pointedly, trying to convey the message that she thought she may have had to investigate a case in the cathedral during the holidays at some point in the past.
"And we can light a candle while we're in there," Noah said, "For the Grandmas."
Maggie's intense opposition to visiting church waned at the thought of the grandmother she had known and the other she'd met only via stories and photographs. Nevertheless, she added, "And the grandpas."
Ed met Olivia's eyes again. They had managed to sufficiently deflect grandfather questions, at least on her side of the family, for many years. Noah asked about him once, but when he was told he died when Olivia was very young, he never asked again. Olivia was certain he sensed her pain and appreciated his unspoken assurance to leave the matter alone. To Ed's relief, Olivia's eyes were still sparkling with joy and cheer-she had, long ago, learned that flooding her life with all the good things would keep the pain at bay.
Even Maggie had to admit, the inside of the Cathedral did not disappoint. The altar was adorned with countless poinsettias. Wreaths were hung on every pillar. And they passed a gigantic Christmas tree on their way in. The kids spun around in slow circles, taking in the ambiance. Then, they solemnly lit their candles.
"Mom?" Noah asked, "Are you gonna light one?"
"Oh, sure," Olivia replied, "I was watching you."
She and Ed stepped forward and lit two more candles. Ed reached over for her hand and closed his eyes. Olivia followed suit. She had never known Ed to be overly religious, but there were certain times of year, especially those, like Christmas, that Caroline had loved, when he was more spiritual.
"Alright, alright," Maggie said when her parents finally livened up again, "Can we go skating now?"
"Yes, Maggie May," Ed kissed the top of her head, navigating around the fuzzy ball on top of her hat.
"Are you skating, Dad?"
"We all are."
"You're probably jus' gonna sit at the lounge," Maggie said matter-of-factly, remembering years past.
Ed and Olivia shook their heads as they often did at something their kids said.
"We're skating," Olivia stated firmly, "And then we'll go somewhere for lunch."
"The pub!" Noah said.
"Pizza!" Wyatt countered.
Everyone looked at Maggie. "I don't care," she said, "I jus' want ice cream after."
The boys cringed. The temperature hovered at twenty degrees. The last thing they wanted was ice cream. Ed and Olivia, however, were perfectly content. Wyatt and Noah would make a deal about lunch. If all they had to do was get Maggie ice cream to make her happy, they would consider the day a success.
…..
Justin expected Olivia to rush to Noah as soon as they entered the apartment, but she and Ed were as calm as he'd ever seen them. Noah barely had his coat off when he relayed details of the entire, albeit abbreviated, trip uptown. He showed off his purchases, carefully packed the mug in his backpack for the next morning, and politely asked if Ed would launder his new hoodie because it "smells like da store."
Ed threw it in the washing machine and Noah ran to his room to change clothes.
Maggie and Wyatt clamored for Justin's attention.
"Fly me, JUSSY!"
"JUSSY! Buil'legos!"
"JUSS-Y! JUSS-Y!"
"JUSSY see my DUMP TRUCK!"
"JUSSY, wanna pay'my'iPad?"
Olivia came to the rescue. "Sweet twins," she said softly, "We're going to get Justin and Noah some dinner. We'll play after they eat."
Wyatt frowned. "We go BED affer eat!"
"It's early," Olivia leaned down and kissed his indignant nose, "We can play." She turned to Justin, "We have lasagna. Want some? Salad? Wine?"
"All of the above," he replied, "Thanks. But, I gotta call Sare."
Olivia's eyes grew large. She had totally forgotten about Sarah working downtown. "Oh, gosh, yes, call her. But…" she fumbled around for her phone, "Oh, yep…about twenty minutes ago she was at FAO Schwarz with G."
Justin grinned and shook his head. "I've never known someone to have a job but manage never to be at the job like she does."
"No kidding," Ed muttered.
"Call her and tell her and G to come over," Olivia said, "We can eat, hopefully they'll catch this guy, and, if not, we'll improvise."
"You did promise Wyatt we'd play," Justin joked.
"I did, so you're on the hook for that," Olivia replied.
"I've been on the hook for much, much worse."
Justin smiled and put his phone to his ear, hoping to hear his wife's voice.
…..
#Tuckson