A/N: I DO NOT own any part of the Law & Order franchise, or the rights to the song Not Ready To Make Nice by The Dixie Chicks.
Not Ready To Make Nice
"Shit." Jodi moaned before rolling and getting out of bed. In the process she awoke John, who was just on the brink of sleep.
"What's wrong?" he asked, sitting up and putting his glasses back on.
"They're kicking." she muttered, opening their bedroom door and leaving the room.
John threw himself out of the bed, following her. He had noticed an incredible decline in her mood the last week. She had gone from delightful and happy to downright depressed. He was starting to get kind of worried.
He followed her into the kitchen, where she was digging out a quart of Brownie Fudge ice cream and attacking it viciously with a spoon.
"Babe what's the matter?" John asked quietly, walking over to her.
"Nothing." she snapped before sucking the spoon and sighing before slamming the container down and putting her hands on her stomach.
Naturally John had dealt with her mood swings during her...well he just liked to call it her "dragon woman time" but this was about ten times worse. He was sure they were going to get away without them, but apparently not.
He walked over to her, putting his hands around her waist before kissing her nose.
"We're going to have to get a new car." she suddenly said.
John thought about it before putting a hand on her cheek.
"We'll worry about that when the time is right." he said before kissing her cheek.
As he began to walk away Jodi smiled.
"I love you." she said, before grabbing the ice cream again.
"Where's he off to?" Elliot asked Olivia as John grabbed his jacket and almost ran out of the squad room.
Elliot watched her face as she said it. It was evident she was holding something in.
"Liv, you alright?" he asked.
"Yeah." she replied quickly, looking away.
Elliot knew her better than that. He knew her well enough to tell even when she was lying. Right now she wasn't even really trying.
"E-excuse me. Are you Detective Stabler?"
A young girl was standing before him. She didn't look any older than Dickie was. Long brown hair, braces, prominent nose and jawline.
"Yeah can I help you?" he turned around in his chair.
"My name is Rachel. They said I should come to you."
"Who said? Did someone hurt you sweetie?"
As soon as he said the words she broke down before him, putting her hands on her face.
"Yes I-I was raped."
"Oh, I love this!"
John watched as Jodi grabbed a frilly pink dress, tossing it into their shopping cart which was now absolutely full of baby clothes. They hadn't even gotten to the section with the cribs and high chairs and stuff. The things they really needed.
"I think we have enough clothes." John began but was quickly silenced by a menacing look from Jodi.
"Well, they're certainly going to have enough clothes." he looked down. The cart was absolutely full of dozens upon dozens of outfits. Whites and pinks for the girls. Blues for their son. She was going to have Suri Cruise beat.
He didn't even want to think about how much this was going to come to. Nordstrom wasn't as expensive as say, Bergdorf Goodman but they were still paying a heavy price. Although she tried to hide it he spied to Burberry tag on one of the little dresses she had picked.
They were going to spoil these kids entirely too much.
"We still have to get shoes." she said.
"Can't we do that another time?" John snapped.
Jodi looked at him before sighing and tossing one last pair of pants along with the others and pushing on. As he looked at her he wondered. Where the hell had she even gotten a cart from?
"Fine. Why don't you go pull the car around to the front doors and I'll get these checked out."
"Anythin so I won't see the price tag right?" John aske.d
Jodi giggled before grabbing the cart and steering off into the other direction.
John watched before before going towards the doors of the store. They still had to hit a few more stores, not to mention finish clearing out the rooms downstairs.
"Hi, all ready?" one of the salesgirls asked.
"Yes I am thankyou." Jodi smiled before piling up the clothes on the counter.
Six minutes and four figures later, Jodi left with bags of clothing, none of which were for her. She knew that Caleb would be surprised when he saw her credit card bill, considering the fact she had not yet told him she was pregnant. They certainly had some catching up to do.
As soon as she walked outside into the ninety degree heat John was sitting in front of the department store, the car idle. He got out, opening the door for Jodi and helping her in before tossing the bags into the backseat and pulling away.
Anthony sighed as he climbed the stairs to his sisters townhouse, dreading what he was about to do, but...it had to be done.
"Do you want me to go inside with you?" Olivia asked.
"Um...no. I don't want you to see that side of her." Anthony shook his head before knocking on the brass front door loudly, ignoring the protest from his knuckles.
He waited several minutes before John opened the door, loooking more stresssed than Anthony had ever seen.
"Hey Anthony, what's up?" he asked.
"I uh, came to see my sister. She around?"
"Yeah." John replied shortly before opening the door from him.
"Thanks man. Where is she? I need to talk to her."
John sighed.
"She's down at the end of the second hall on this floor. Was that Olivia I just saw with you?"
"Oh, yeah."
"You two dating or something?"
"No man. I really don't think it'll ever happen. She just isn't interested."
John nodded before heading back to the kitchen, where he had been nursing a glass of bourbon as Jodi commanded her kingdom back there.
Even if he hadn't known where it was, it wasn't hard to find the second hall. All he did was follow the trail of furniture and the smell of construction all the way to the last three rooms on the floor.
Jodi was inside one of the rooms, wearing a pair of yoga stretch pants and a flowy white top that showed off her stomach as she directed a bunch of men around the room.
"JO!" Anthony yelled, trying to get her attention.
It took her a few moments for her to turn around but when she finally did, Anthony was about ready to abandon ship and turn around and run.
"Hi, what do you need?" she asked shortly, stress and moodiness written all over her face.
"I need to talk to you." he said.
She sighed before storming out of the room, grabbing Anthony's arm and yanking him into the empty room across the hall.
"What the hell do you need? I'm busy as you can see right now." she put her hands on her wide hips.
"Um...well, I got these for you." he pushed a bouquet of flowers into her hands.
She looked down at them. A handful of beautiful long-stemmed black roses, her absolute favorite. And obviously expensive. For her wedding she literally had to run all around Manhattan looking for a florist who carried them.
She smiled as she sniffed them before shaking her head and remembering that he was standing in front of her.
"What the hell did you do now?" she asked.
"What? I can't just bring my sister some flowers?"
"Anthony. Cut the horseshit. What the fuck are you doing here?" she clenched her jaw.
"Okay well, for starters having a coupla kids inside of you don't give you an excuse to be such a fucking bitch. Secondly, I came just to remind you of moms birthday."
She made a strangled noise and her face flushed instantly with anger and the mention of the word 'mom'.
"I don't care when the hell that bitch's birthday is. She's nothing to me." with that she spun on her heel, making her way toward the door, but Anthony grabbed her arm forcefully, pulling her back.
"Jo, she really loves you. I know she wants more than anything for you to be there. Even Betsy-"
"What the fuck does Betsy have to do with this?" she snapped.
Anthony looked up at the ceiling. He had a habit of saying things he shoudn't in the heat of an aurgument.
"I went to her...and asked her to help plan a party for mom."
Thousands of things flew through Jodi's mind. She knew that party planning was a straight up business for Betsy, but was it really that hard to tell Anthony to go to another planner? The chances of him blacklisting her were slim, so why the hell did she agree to it?
"Well, you can tell both her and mom that they can go fuck themselves. I have three bedrooms to remodle. Clothes, cribs, carriages, a new car, and other shit to buy. I have to learn how to be a mother. I have to childproof this big ass townhouse. She is an insignifigant part of my life that I'm not wasting my time on."
With that Jodi pushed him out of the way before throwing open the door and slamming it behind her, leaving Anthony alone in the empty room, just wondering what the hell he would tell his mother.
"Everything alright?" John asked as Jodi stormed into the bedroom, throwing open the door in a whirlwind of anger.
She grunted before falling on the bed.
John moved his folder of paperwork onto the nightstand, scooting over.
"No." she muttered, rolling onto her side.
John took off his glasses before moving in behind her, resting his head on her shoulder.
"You know I can tell when you're lying." he kissed her unbelieveably soft skin, brushing her brilliant hair out of her face, which was getting longer with every day. Half of it was braided intricately into one giant plait while the rest hung down.
"Are those guys still working down there?" he asked.
"Yeah." she sighed before rolling over on her back, putting a hand on his face.
John climbed on top of her, leaning down before letting his lips brush hers. Gently enough that she could barely feel it, but arousing nontheless.
She was so beautiful. Red hair fanning around her head. The blush outlining her high cheekbones. The little features that he had never really payed attention to.
He traced her eyebrows. Her browbone was prominent. Arched towards the outer edge. Her eyes, wide but slanted. That which gave her the feline quality he had always noticed.
Her nose was the slightest bit crooked, coming to a sharp point. It was by no means large, but she could be mistaken for Italian.
Then there were her lips. Soft. Softer than her skin. Full. Literally shaped as though they had been carved in a factory somewhere. Red tint. The things he had to remember in the force, but had never actually looked at with his wife.
"What are you doing?" Jodi giggled.
"Shh." he quieted her, pressing his lips to her neck before moving down to her feet.
Her usually dainty ankles were swollen, and the veins in her feet were pressed close against her skin. Because of her dancing, her feet were the only part of her body that weren't soft. Her second toe was longer than her big toe, her pinkie curled in towards her foot.
John crawled back up to her before pressing his lips against hers.
"What's that all about?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Just wanting to know your body better." he grinned.
"There's other places you haven't been yet..."
"Don't sweat it, she'll be over it in a few days." Betsy assured Anthony as she tossed back a shot of Kentucky Bourbon.
They were in a bar on the Upper East Side, Betsy scouting for girls while Anthony...well basically did the same thing.
It was actually by total conincidence that they ran into each other here. Betsy had been wrapping up a few last minute details with a client over drinks, when Anthony walked in, looking as though he was going to take an AK-47 to the world.
After her charge left she invited him to a round of drinks, and listened as he told her about his disastrous attempt to get Jodi to show up at her own mothers birthday party. He really didn't understand what her problem was. He had forgiven his mother. Why couldn't she?
"Well, I know it wouldn't have been as bad if she didn't have the kids inside of her but still...I mean, I was just trying to make ma happy here." he shrugged.
Betsy looked around before chuckling lightly. Anthony was drawing a barage of looks from some of the other girls aroudn the bar, checking him out with no shame.
Most of them looked like whores. A few were decent girls who had just gotten turned around int here. She crossed her legs, leaning in closer and puttinga hand on his thigh.
"What are you doing?" he asked, looking up at her in confusion.
"Making half the girls in this room say even worse things about me then they did when they first saw me." she grinned before snatching his shotglass away and downing it.
Anthony turned back, laughing quietly before returning to Betsy. Normally he would be all over all the girls here, but for some reason it didn't appeal to him like it used to.
He wanted more than just a good fuck. He wanted something actually worthwhile. Something special. He was sick of doing nothing but chaising tail, taking turns with one girl after the next. God even knew if he had any kids running around out there.
He grabbed her hand, lacing their fingers together.
"Well, let them say things babe. Don't mean shit to me."
"Amen." Betsy said before grabbing another shotglass and raising it.
"So...what's going on with you and cop lady?" she asked.
"What?" he said sharply.
"You and the cop. Something going on between you two?"
"Oh, no. I really wish but...she's not into me why?"
"I just always got a rainbow vibe off of her to be honest. At Jodi's wedding, there was no way in hell I thought she could be the slightest bit straight."
"She's not a lesbian."
"Is she bi?"
"I think Jo mentioned something about it once but I dunno it's not really my business."
"Huh. Well if you get the chance...fuck her. God knows I want to."
Anthony chuckled. Betsy was becoming quite a delight to hang out with. She was just like one of the guys, except she still had that female intuitoin that told him what to do or not to do when it came to women.
"I like hanging out with you Betsy." he said.
"Of course you do." she smiled before leaning in and whispering in his hear, her breasts brushing against his arm.
"What are you thinking of?" he whispered.
"Something really crazy."
"You know...I have just the idea." he said before fishing around in his pocket. By now a majority of all female eyes were on them, trying in vain to capture Anthony's attention. Wondering why the hell a guy like him was talking to an tattoeed girl with pale skin and jet black hair.
He hopped off his stool, getting down on one knee before fishing a ringbox out of his pocket. There was nothing inside but from across the bar no one would be able to tell.
"Betsy, I love you more than anything. Would you please do me the honor of becoming my wife?"
She gasped, so dramatically that Anthony almost doubled over in laughter.
"Oh Anthony, I would love to be your wife." she gushed before hopping off her stool and throwing her arms around them.
"Sweep me into your arms and carry me out." she whispered.
He did so, trying to hold in his laughter all the while. He had not had fun, really had fun, like this in such a long time, and it was safe to say that he really missed just plain fun.
There was a time for everything.