Further Down The Road
(Chapter Three: An Old Friend)
Olivia sat in the floor playing with her girls while they watched cartoons and waited for Elliot to get home from work. She laid Abby on her back in the floor and twirled her fingers in her hair as she traced her little cheek. The baby smiled and cooed and kicked in excitement waving her little hands around before finally putting her fist in her mouth.
Hannah laughed and tickled her baby sister's belly causing Abby to cackle and reach for her. Olivia smiled watching them as they played together. Her two beautiful little girls, so perfect and she could never want anything more than this. Except for maybe a son. Later, much later. For now she was content. For the first time in her life, she knew without question that she was exactly where she was supposed to be. Where she belonged. Here with her husband and her daughters, her family.
"Hannah, can you bring mommy a diaper and some wipes from the nursery?"
"Okay," she said standing up and running down the hall to retrieve the items for her mother.
Olivia changed the baby and looked at the clock. It was just after one o'clock and Elliot would be home around six. Tonight they had a special guest coming to dinner and she had a special meal planned. For now, she was going to attempt to get the girls down for a nap for at least an hour or so to ensure pleasant moods when their company arrived later. She might even catch a short one herself, she thought as she rolled up the wet diaper and went to throw it away.
"Hannah, why don't you find us a good movie and the three of us will go lay in mommy's bed and watch it."
"Mommy, I don't want to take a nap!"
"Don't fight me on this Hannah Grace. We can either put a movie on in mommy's room and lay down for a little while. Or you can go take a nap alone in your bed with no television."
Hannah wrinkled her eyebrows and scrunched her nose up in disapproval. She was obviously distressed by Olivia's control over the situation and this was her silent protest. But she looked so cute doing it that it took everything Olivia had in her not to smile or laugh. "Go now, get a movie. Sissy needs a nap and mommy is tired, too. If you don't want to go to sleep, you don't have to. But you are going to lay down for a couple of hours and rest."
Hannah stood there watching her mother as if calling her bluff.
"One," Olivia said as she picked Abby up from the floor. But Hannah didn't budge. "Two," Olivia tapped her foot and stared her daughter down.
Hannah's eyes filled with crocodile tears as they began to spill down her cheeks. "But mom."
"Now," Olivia pointed to the shelf that contained all of Hannah's movies. But Hannah just stood there. This normally would have frustrated Olivia beyond belief, but she had to respect this stubbornness in her daughter because she knew Hannah got it from her. "Three," Olivia raised an eyebrow.
"Okay mom," Hannah scurried across the room to pick out a movie.
She had never really experienced what happened after her mother said three, but she didn't dare find out. The truth was Olivia wasn't really sure what she would do if Hannah ever pushed her that far either. She never spanked her children. She was more of a time out kind of parent. And Hannah hated time out. She would sit in her chair across the room with no TV or toys and pout until her time was up. Or daddy walked in and felt sorry for her and shortened her sentence. But he always had a little talk with her to make sure she understood whatever it was she did was wrong. Then he would send her to apologize to her mother.
Elliot had a soft spot for his little girls. And as much as she was mama's girl, Hannah at just under five years old, had already figure out how to work her big brown puppy dog eyes to get what ever she wanted from daddy. And now Abby had those same eyes and already had Elliot wrapped around her tiny fingers as well. Poor Elliot didn't stand a chance.
Olivia carried Abby to the bedroom and laid her on the bed as Hannah climbed in beside her. She had chosen the Disney movie Beauty And The Beast. But it didn't really matter what movie she chose, over the last five years Olivia had managed to memorize them all. She positioned Abby between she and Hannah on a pillow in the bed and pulled the blanket up over Hannah. She tucked Abby's baby blanket in around her and kissed her forehead then laid her head on the pillow.
Abby was the first to go. She had fallen asleep in about ten minutes. Hannah held out for about half an hour in protest until her little body just couldn't take anymore and her heavy eyes closed. Once both girls were asleep, Olivia turned her cell phone on vibrate and placed it beside the bed on the nightstand. She reached for the remote control and set the DVD to loop itself so that it would just continue to play when it was over. That way if one of the kids woke up before her, they would be occupied until she woke up. She kissed her little girls again and closed her eyes to try and catch a short nap before they woke up.
About two hours later Olivia could feel someone looking at her as she slept. She moaned softly but refused to open her eyes.
"Mommy," Hannah whispered softly. "Mom," she whispered again as she leaned her face close to Olivia's.
"What," Olivia whispered as she reached to the side of the bed and grabbed Hannah pulling her back into it. Hannah giggled and squealed as her mother tickled her.
"Abby waked up," Hannah announced pointing into the bed beside her mother.
"She did?" Olivia rolled over and picked up Abigail sitting the baby girl up on her stomach to look around. "There she is," Olivia said as Abby smiled again. "Well ladies, we gotta go get dinner started."
Olivia stood up from the bed and carried Abby to the living room and changed her again then laid her on a blanket in the floor with some toys for a little tummy time. She turned cartoons back on for Hannah as she played quietly in the floor with her sister.
"Hannah, do you want to call daddy for me?"
"Yeah," she squealed as she jumped up from the floor.
"Run in and get mommy's phone off the nightstand by the bed."
Olivia dialed Elliot's number and handed Hannah the phone.
"Hi daddy," she said with a smile as he answered. "I've been good. Mommy made me take a nap. Yes. Yes. Watching cartoons. Abby is playing in the floor with her toys. And mommy is cooking dinner. When are you coming home? Is that a long time? Yes, I will be good. I love you, too daddy. I will. I will. Okay." She held the phone out in front of her and yelled, "mommy he wants to talk to you!"
Olivia stepped around the counter and took the phone from Hannah. She placed her hand on the top of Hannah's head and guided her back toward the living room.
"Hey El, how's work?"
"It's alright. Fin and I are working on a lead. The usual. How about you?"
"Oh things are good here. We all took about a two hour nap and now the girls are playing in the living room floor and I am getting dinner started. How does Lasagna sound?"
"Really good. I'm starving, we were busy and missed lunch."
"Can you swing by and pick up a bottle of wine on your way home?"
"Sure, what's the occasion?"
"I just thought with Jack coming in to visit, a glass of wine with dinner might be nice."
"Sounds good."
"I will see you later sweetheart."
"Bye, El. I love you."
"I love you, too baby."
She hung up the phone and watched as Hannah crawled across the floor to kiss Abby's forehead. She got up and ran to Olivia throwing her arms around her mothers waist. Olivia knelt down to look into her eyes and Hannah kissed her.
"Thank you, honey." Olivia kissed her back. "That was really sweet of you."
"Daddy told me to kiss you and Abby for him."
"We will have to tell daddy that you did a really good job."
Hannah smiled.
"I have an idea. Can you go over in that cabinet and see if there is a box of cake mix."
"Okay mommy," she smiled and ran off across the room.
Olivia walked to the living room and scooped up Abby in her arms and twirled her around in a circle. She placed a kiss on top her head then sat her into her swing. She returned to the kitchen as Hannah sat two boxes of cake mix on the table next to two containers of icing.
She slipped the lasagna into the oven then pulled out the ingredients for the cake. She poured everything into a large mixing bowl and mixed it up with the electric mixer until it was blended well. She pulled out a kitchen chair and pulled Hannah's hair into a ponytail, then handed her a wooden mixing spoon and let her stir the batter. Olivia greased a pan and dusted it lightly with some dry cake mix then poured Hannah's mixture into the cake pan and slid it into the oven.
Later after the cake had cooled she let Hannah help her spread the icing over it. It was a white cake with vanilla icing and they sprinkled coconut shavings lightly over it for a special touch.
"Good job Hannah. That looks really good."
She smiled.
"Now you need to get into the bathtub so you can get ready."
"Can I have toys?"
"Okay, but only for a little while. We don't have a lot of time."
Olivia started a bath as Hannah gathered her toys and tossed them in one by one. She grabbed Abby's bath seat and set it down into the water the gave the baby a quick bath as well. She pulled Abby from the water and carried her to the nursery and dressed her then put her back into her swing.
She let Hannah play in a bubble bath for a few minutes while she cut up a salad and laid out Hannah's clothes. She set the table and lit a few candles around the house. She returned to the bathroom and washed Hannah's hair then soaped her up and rinsed her off.
Hannah wrapped herself in a towel and moved to her bedroom to get dressed. Olivia blow dried her hair and pulled it into pigtails, twisting the ends between her fingers curling them until they bounced back upward.
"There you go, pretty girl." Olivia kissed her on the top of her head and smoothed the wrinkles out of her dress with her hand. "try to keep clean, okay."
"I will mommy. Can I wear my necklace?"
"Sure."
Olivia pulled out the little heart necklace that Cragen had gotten for Hannah when she had Abby and handed it to her daughter. Hannah slipped it over her head and smiled.
"I have another idea. Come on," Olivia said as Hannah took her by the hand. She lead the her daughter into her bedroom and raised her to sit on the dresser in front of the mirror. She picked up a perfume bottle from the dresser and smelled it.
"This one," she said allowing Hannah to smell it.
"I like it," Hannah replied.
It was a light scent and Olivia misted just a bit onto the front of Hannah's dress. Olivia stepped back and pulled off her jeans and tee shirt, stepping into the dress she was wearing that evening.
"Can you zip mommy up?"
Hannah zipped the dress and smiled.
"You look pretty mommy."
"Thank you, honey."
Olivia took the clip out of her hair and flipped it upside down. She combed it and fluffed it with her fingers then flipped her head back up and tucked the stray strands into place. She handed Hannah a perfume bottle from the dresser and let her spray it on Olivia. Olivia picked up a tube of lipstick and put some on blotting with a tissue. The picked up a her gloss and put it over the lipstick. She put just a bit of clear gloss onto Hannah's bottom lip and watched as she pressed them together.
"You are so pretty," Olivia said with a smile twisting a pigtail in her fingers.
"Thanks mom," she smiled. "You are really pretty, too."
"Daddy will be home soon. Let's go check on your sister."
They headed back to the living room where Abby was now asleep in her swing once more. Before long Elliot had come home and Jack called saying he was on his way.
Olivia was in the living room when she heard the buzzer downstairs. She scooped up Abby in her arms and walked down to let him in.
"Hey," Jack said with gifts and flowers in his hands as she opened the door.
"Hi," she answered as he leaned in and kissed her cheek.
"Oh wow, she's gorgeous Olivia." He said looking down at Abby in her arms. "She looks just like Hannah did."
"Yeah, she does. Thank you. I hope you are hungry."
"Starving."
"Good, I made lasagna." She said as they stepped into the elevator.
"I love your lasagna."
Back in the apartment Hannah hugged and kissed on Jack. He gave her wrapped box with a doll in it.
"Thank you," she squealed with a smile.
"You are very welcome," he said kissing her forehead.
She climbed from his lap and ran to show Elliot.
"Look daddy!"
"Yeah, she's very pretty. You will have to give her a really pretty name."
"Yeah."
"So how is work?" Elliot asked Jack.
"It's good. I was in Japan last week."
"That sounds like fun."
"Yeah, I had a few days off there to kind of explore. It was interesting."
They sat down to dinner and had a perfect meal.
"I made a cake Jack," Hannah announced when the conversation had died down. "Do you want to see?"
"Sure."
Hannah grabbed his hand and dragged him to the kitchen to see the cake on the counter.
"That sure looks good, Hannah. You did a good job."
"Thanks. I let mommy help."
"Well, that was nice of you."
She smiled.
"Hannah, why don't I cut the cake and you can take plates to daddy and Jack."
She helped hand out the cake and as everyone ate, Olivia slipped off in the other room to nurse Abby. She returned a little while later and Jack stood up and took the baby from her arms.
"She is so perfect," he said looking at Olivia. "Elliot, you are one lucky man."
"I know I am."
"She looks just like you, Liv."
"Two for two, right?"
That evening Jack kissed Hannah good night as Olivia tucked her into bed. He held Abby as Elliot and Olivia walked him out.
"So when do you think you will be back around this way again?" Elliot asked.
"I'm really not sure. But I need to start coming around here more often. Spending more time with my two beautiful Goddaughters." He raised Abby and kissed her forehead as she grunted and cooed and smiled at him. He handed her off to Olivia and shook Elliot's hand. He leaned in and hugged Olivia and kissed her cheek the brushed his fingertips over Abby's little curls. "I'll see you soon sweetheart," he said as he turned to climb into his cab and head back to his hotel. A few hours sleep and a shower and he was gone again.