Nick's POV

"Are you guys ready?" I ask over the phone as I drive closer to the house, I keep checking in the mirror to see Amanda in the backseat with the baby.

"Yes! Daddy when will you be home?" Zara asks through the phone.

"Almost home, just make sure you guys are ready. All three of us are very excited to see you guys" I say earning a squeal from her.

"Okay" She says.

"Just keep behaving for your grandma, I love you" I tell her.

"Love you too" She says and then hangs up.

"Was that Zara?" Amanda asks from the backseat, not once taking her eyes off Bella.

"Yeah, she didn't even let Gil talk, that's how excited she was that were coming home today" I say with a laugh.

"Yeah, I felt bad that the first few days of their break was spent with your mom instead of us" She says, finally looking at me. She fell in love with those kids the moment she fell in love with me, maybe even sooner. It was the relationship she has with them that made me so confident in her abilities to be a mother, even if she couldn't see it I always could.

"Don't feel bad, it wasn't your control about when the baby was going to be born. Besides, they came and visited us in the hospital a lot" I tell her, trying to make her feel better. She has told me countless times how she was worried about if they would feel left out now that we had a baby, I reassured her that I went through the same thing when I found out about Gil, and now him and Zara are very close and there isn't any jealousy between them. I love them both equally, no matter the fact that I have known once since birth and the other since they were 10 years old, it won't be hard to go through that same process again, this time with a third child in the mix. I turn onto our street and see my mother and the two kids standing outside in the cold and snow with a big banner they made that reads 'Welcome home baby sister!' it is painted pink and each letter is colored in a different color, they probably spent all morning working on this as they anxiously waited for us to come home. I pull into the driveway and park the car as the three of them run up to see us, I step out of the car and go over to open Amanda's door for her with a very excited audience, I see my two children peering over my arms, trying to get a glimpse of their new sibling. I laugh to myself knowing how many times they have already seen her, held her before and yet they still want more and they want it now.

"Hey guys" Amanda says as she pulls the blanket over the car seat as she gets the baby out of the car, there are already flurries of snow falling and it is already so cold out, I see the disappointment on their faces already when they aren't seeing her face, instead the blanket that my mother knitted for her newest grandchild.

"Let's get inside, it's too cold out for Bella. You can all take turns holding her once we are in the warm house" I reassure them and get them walking along. I hold onto Amanda's arm as we walk up the driveway and into the house and I scan the ground for any signs of ice. When I guide her safely up the steps the door is already opened and waiting for us to walk inside, I can see Gil holding the door opened and Zara waiting patiently for us to make it inside while she holds Frannie by the collar. I can see the dog's tail already wagging, so excited for Amanda to be home, Amanda and I share a look and she hands me the car seat as a precaution in case Frannie decides to jump. I take the car seat into the living room and set it down on the couch and pull away the blanket, staring up at me with her big deep brown eyes is my daughter, Amanda would never agree with me but I already see so much of her in that tiny little face. I look around and am surprised that my other two children aren't flocking around me but when I look up I can see them hugging Amanda, they may be excited about their sister but their love for Amanda is seeming to trump that excitement for the moment, I can see it in their eyes how happy they are that she is finally home with them. I carefully unbuckle the car seat and gently take Bella out, she is so small and it makes me realize how long it really has been since I've been with a newborn.

"There she is" Amanda says from behind me, she comes around and plants a small kiss on the top of our daughters head and I watch the amazement in the eyes of Zara and Gil.

"Can I hold her daddy?" Zara asks me and I nod my head in response, Amanda takes the blanket off the couch and drapes it over Zara's lap as she sits down in the spot the blanket once was, I hand her over and watch as Zara gets the baby in a comfortable position and then stares down at her intently. I look to Amanda and can see that her eyes are not filled with worry but instead a complete trust and ease that I know comes from her trust in Zara. I can also notice that look of happiness, that smile that hasn't seemed to go away even with the long nights that come with a newborn, Amanda may have never panned or wanted to be a mother but that look of love she has for not only our baby but our family of five makes me know that she wouldn't trade any of it for the world. Amanda sits down next to Zara and Gil who has now sat on the other side and my mother rushes in from the kitchen with her phone in hand.

"Nick, sit down, this would make the cutest family photo" She says as she raises the phone to capture the family moment I've been dreaming of for so long. I sit down and we all turn to face the camera with the biggest smiles on our face, the five of us are surrounded by the unconditional love. I look down at my baby girl who is now in the middle of her older brother and sister, having my three kids all together is the best thing I could have ever asked for and with Amanda by my side I know that we have so many more moments like this to enjoy for many years to come.

Authors note-Hey guys! First I want to apologize for the lack of posting, it is for a very good and exciting reason though. So all my life I have always wanted to be an author and I actually came to this website as a way to publish my work and a few months ago I got in contact with a publisher about potentially having one of my books published. It was such an amazing moment and I have been working very hard to write my book, I really hope you guys can understand. Fanficion is very much a priority but this is such an amazing opportunity that I have been working so hard to prefect it, and along with that my uncle who has basically been a father to me was in the hospital for a little while, it was very scary and obviously I dropped everything to be with him, but everything is thankfully good now. I also have been working a lot and recently realized that I really needed to take a step back after pulling a muscle in my chest that caused me severe pain for days, I actually could not move much for a whole day because the pain was so intense, but now that I am healing I have gone back to writing my fanfiction and I want to thank you for being so understanding, because I am essentially on rest and unable to go to work for a couple of days I will be back to posting fanfiction as much as I can and while this story is over I really hope you guys will check out some of my other ones and if you are already following some of my other ones then I am pleased to inform you that I will be updating within the next day or two. I want to again thank you all for sticking with this and me and my unpredictable life because I had so much fun writing this and hope that the ending was satisfying for you guys because I am proud of what this became and loved writing it, SVU has always been one of my favorite shows and the couple that Nick and Amanda were was always one of my favorites on the show, while this fanfiction is over I do not have any future plans to write anything else from SVU but like I mentioned I am writing currently Criminal Minds, Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, Hunger Games, and Glee fanfictions so if you are a fan of any of those shows/books please check them out, I love you all so much and I hope you enjoyed this fanfic, it was so fun to write and until next time-Izzy