The Honeymoon
Alex and Olivia both found their inner child in Disneyworld.
"I want to go on Splash Mountain!" Alex declared.
They decided on rides during the morning and food/walking around in the afternoon.
"And after that we can go to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad?" Olivia had a map marked of all of the places they wanted to get.
Cassie was up for anything and everything, but there was one must on her list. "Can we meet Minnie Mouse?"
"Of course!"
They went to Splash Mountain first. Olivia had thought that paying for VIP passes was unnecessary, but after seeing the line that went on for miles she said, "I think you made the right call."
Two hours later, they found Minnie Mouse.
"Can we get a picture?" Alex asked as Olivia carried Cassie on her shoulders.
"Of course. You have such a pretty little girl. What's your name?"
"Cassie!"
"Hi Cassie."
The girl hopped down so she could stand next to Minnie in the photo.
"I think I've been replaced," Olivia laughed.
"Say cheese!" The cameraman took their picture and a copy would be at the hotel desk for them to pick up when they got back.
Four hours later, Cassie was fast asleep. They had a golf cart take them back to the hotel, and Olivia carried the little girl into the hotel suite.
"It's a good thing she was tall enough to get on the rides."
Otherwise, they would have had to stay on the ground the whole time.
"We should take advantage of this, before we have more kids," Alex told her. Once they had a baby, they wouldn't be able to go on so many outings for a little while.
"When did you want to start?"
"How about we look at options we get back?"
Olivia kissed her. "I can't wait."
May 2008
Alex and Olivia had been looking at houses since they got back from their honeymoon. They narrowed their choices down to three homes, one on Staten Island, one in Queens, and one in Brooklyn.
They made appointments to visit each one.
"Cassie," Alex called. "It's time to go!"
The young girl was excited to look at houses. Hopefully, they'd be able to get a dog. She tied her shoes and then came out. "I'm ready Mama!"
They all got in the car and headed to Brooklyn since that appointment was first.
The neighborhood was vibrant, lots of restaurants and parks. There seemed to be a lot of young people here, teens on skateboards, 20 year olds drinking coffee all day in the café.
Olivia was concerned about the noise. "Do you think this neighborhood will be too rowdy?"
Alex wasn't so quick to worry. "It's not like our household is entirely quiet. Maybe we'll blend in well here."
After exploring the neighborhood, they made it to the house. From the outside, it looked a bit small.
Their real estate agent came out to greet them. "Alex, Olivia, Cassie, welcome!"
His over-exuberance was well … something. The trio followed Barry into the house.
"This house is absolutely lovely, three bedrooms, two and a half baths."
Olivia looked at Alex. "I thought we were looking for a four bedroom house- one bedroom for them, one for Cassie, one for a nursery and guest room/future child's room."
"We were. I thought you said this was a four bedroom house," Alex prompted.
"Uh … the den can be converted into a bedroom."
When Alex saw the den, she scoffed. "The den looks barely big enough to be a den." It had a tiny desk. When Alex sat down at it, she could barely get her long legs under the desk.
The house was in fair condition. It needed some paint and a bit of patching, but the walls and floors looked to be in good condition. The appliances would need to be replaced.
"What is their asking price?" Olivia asked their realtor.
"They are asking for 3.9M, but I think we can talk them down to 3.5"
Olivia raised her brow to Alex.
Alex's eyes said FUCK NO!
The next appointment was in Queens.
They followed the realtor to the new house.
Cassie fell asleep in the back seat.
"We should stop for ice cream on the way home," Olivia suggested. This was not the most exciting event for Cassie. They could have left her with Aunt Liz, but they wanted her to have a say too.
"Ooh," Alex liked that idea. "We can get malted milkshakes."
"Milkshake?" Cassie started to wake up.
The second house was bigger than the first.
"And it has a nice yard," Barry pointed out.
The house had four bedrooms and an open kitchen.
The sellers of this house had put in a bit more work for presentation.
"They just painted," Barry told them.
"The colors are dreadful," Alex hissed to her wife, puke green and some funky shade of brown, no thanks.
Barry tried to recruit Cassie into talking up the house. "Look how big the bedrooms are. As the oldest kid, you get first pick!"
Casey frowned. But I'm their only kid … she started to wonder if they were going to have kids of their own. Then, I'll just be the adopted one.
The asking price for this house was 3.2M. Barry was sure that they could get talked down to 2.9, but neither Alex nor Olivia was 100% on the house.
"Did you like it?" Olivia asked Cassie once they were in the car.
"It was okay," she mumbled.
0/3, off to Staten Island.
The third house was easily the most promising. The neighborhood had a pool, kids were playing outside, and mothers watching from the front lawn; it just had a safe vibe to it.
"Now this is the best house of all," Barry promised.
Olivia looked ready to kill him.
The house had four bedrooms and a den. The walls were beige for the most part, pretty boring, but easy to paint over.
Alex and Olivia both liked it so far.
"What do you think Cassie?" Olivia turned to see Cassie in the corner. "Honey, what's the matter?"
"I don't want to move!"
Olivia wasn't expecting that. She thought Cassie would like to live in a house. "But you'll have a yard to play in, and more space for all your toys, and wouldn't you like to have other kids to play with after school."
The little girl looked ready to cry. "You're going to have a bunch of babies and then you won't need me anymore!"
Where did that come from? "Allie, can you come in here?" Alex had been carefully inspecting the walls/floors. She would have an expert come in, of course, but she wanted to make sure there were no visible defects.
"Coming dear."
She came back to the living room to see Olivia on the floor with Cassie.
"What's wrong Honey? Did you fall down?"
Cassie pouted.
"She's afraid we're going to have more kids and forget about her."
"What?" Alex had no idea where that came from. "We love you Cassie. We could never forget you."
"Timmy said you're not my real Mama, and when you have a real baby you'll forget about me."
"What a jackass," Olivia snapped. A scolding glance from Alex caused the brunette to cover her own mouth.
"Timmy probably said that because he's jealous," Alex told her. "His parents are getting a divorce, and he doesn't get to see his father as much as he used to."
Olivia raised a brow. How did she know all that?
"But you are just as much our daughter as any of the other kids in your class. In a way, what we have is better. We choose to be a family; Timmy's mother got stuck with him."
Olivia snickered.
"You're not going to replace me?"
"Never. We do want to have more children, but I don't see why we can't adopt another child."
They hadn't talked about it, but Alex would never want Cassie to feel like she didn't belong.
They decided to bow out and get some ice cream.
"We'll fax in an offer," Alex said as they got their daughter into the car. Maybe they'd get the house; maybe they wouldn't, but it could wait.
They got milkshakes and cookies at the ice cream shop. Normally, Alex would have Cassie pick one or the other, but they could all use a pick me up today.
"What would you like?" the server asked Cassie.
"The chocolate milkshake please."
Olivia wanted the same.
Alex wanted the salted caramel and fudge milkshake.
"Coming right up ladies."
After stuffing themselves with sugar, it was time to go home. They put on a movie for Cassie, which she promptly fell asleep one.
"I guess today was not a 101 Dalmatians day." Alex paused the movie.
"I think she would have fallen asleep on anything," Olivia commented before carrying Cassie to bed.
"It was a long day."
Alex and Olivia both fell back onto the couch, an elephant in the room awaiting them.
"Are you okay with us adopting?" Alex hoped she hadn't spoken out of turn.
"Of course," Olivia hadn't had the biggest desire to propagate her genes in the first place. "I just thought you wanted to start from the beginning."
"I did," Alex admitted, "but we could rescue a child from a really bad situation, and we wouldn't have to learn how to change diapers."
Olivia laughed. "How did you know about Timmy's parents?"
Timmy's mother had hired Henshall as her lawyer. Alex had run into her on her way out of a meeting with Trevor and learned, "Timmy's dad got his secretary pregnant and moved out to go live with her."
He didn't seem too interested in the child he already had.
"He only wants Timmy once a month- for an afternoon visit. His soon to be ex wife is trying to get him to take the boy every other weekend and every Wednesday."
Olivia raised a brow. "They're having an inverse custody battle."
"I can't imagine anything worse than thinking your own parent doesn't want you." She didn't want Cassie to ever feel that way, even if just for a moment.
Olivia knew that feeling all too well. "We'll find away. I know it."