December
Alex couldn't believe it was almost Christmas already. "Feels like yesterday it was just Halloween."
Olivia was relived that it was no longer Halloween. They had offered to take Cassie and her friends trick or treating, and although they had planned on four girls, 9 showed up.
Some of the parents handed off their kids and left, not even saying their own names, much less the names of their children.
A bunch of hyper girls running around in costumes and face paint trying to get the most candy, talk about an exhausting night.
"I'm for one am glad Halloween happens only once a year."
"Aren't you a Grinch?" Alex teased before kissing her wife's nose.
Olivia pinched her wife's butt. "I have no problem stealing Christmas."
They started to kiss.
"EW!" Cassie teased when she came into the kitchen.
Alex turned to their daughter and smiled. "Are you all packed up?"
They were moving out of the loft and into their own house.
The Cabots were moving to Brooklyn.
"Almost!" Not even close.
"Liv, why don't you give her a hand?"
Liv raised a brow. "Why aren't you helping her pack?"
"Because I already packed all of your stuff, Miss. Lazy-Bones."
Olivia smirked. "I had to work late."
"You were playing pool with Elliot; he's just lucky I didn't snitch to Kathy."
Olivia made her exit. "Cassie, how about we pack your room?"
Somehow, the young girl had amassed a lot of stuff: toys, clothes, books, games, and even accessories.
The closet was half packed. There was stuff strewn everywhere.
There were three piles: one for stuff Cassie wanted to keep, one for stuff she wanted to donate, and one for stuff that should be thrown out.
"Now," Olivia asked her, "where do we start?"
45 minutes later and Olivia learned that Cassie had no qualms about giving away clothes and shoes to get out of packing them. Parting with any of her toys, however, was a completely different story.
"I love him!" she insisted of Mr. Wiggles, a teddy bear that Olivia swore that Cassie hadn't played with in 6 months.
The girl had the same attachment to her teapot set, her raggedy Ann doll, and her collection of little pogs.
This is going to be a long day
Washington, DC
It's hard to say what kind of city DC really is. It's not the northeast, but it's not really the south either. It's a city split between DC natives and transplants from all over the world.
The one southern thing about the district is its inability to deal with snow. As soon as a flake comes out of the sky, you can forget it. The subway is closed. Classes are canceled. Driving is completely erratic. It's as if no one ever heard of snow tires.
Casey did not get the memo. She arrived to work only to see the emergency personal drinking coffee.
"Where is everyone?"
"The office is closed today Miss. Novak. You can stay home."
"What?"
She called Abbie, and to her surprise, also had the day off.
"I just came in to catch up on paperwork. The office is closed."
"Why, it's fine outside?"
Abbie laughed. "Welcome to D.C. Honey."
Casey shook her head. "Wanna do lunch?"
"Sure … can I do you at lunch?"
"How long have you been waiting to use that one?"
"I'm not telling you."
"Are any restaurants open or are they closed too?"
"We can go to that Indian place by your office. It's always open."
There was a bit more snow by the time noon came, but Casey still thought it was "hardly enough of a reason to have a snow day."
"And how much is enough?" Abbie questioned
"I don't know, twelve inches."
"That's what she said."
Casey hit Abbie with a snowball.
"Hey!" but she was laughing all the way.
They got inside and there was no line.
"I love buffets!" Abbie declared.
Casey knew exactly how this was going to go. "You're going to eat too much, get heartburn, blame the restaurant, and then refuse to come back until you've forgotten said heartburn, and then you'll want to come back here."
Abbie frowned. "You don't know that."
"I know you!"
Abbie made a point to get a small plate. Of course, she was famished after eating it and then came back with a much larger plate.
It overflowed with goat curry, biriyani, and koftka.
Casey shook her head internally. I bet she gets heartburn within the next 90 minutes.
80 minutes later
"Stupid restaurant gave me heartburn. I'm so done with Indian buffet."
"Sure you are," Casey rolled her eyes.
"Shut up! They put way too much spice in the food."
"A Texan can't handle her spice; they'll have to kick you out the state."
Abbie insisted on getting some ice cream. "I need some dairy to cure my heartburn."
"Doesn't that make it worse?"
Abbie glared. She was getting ice cream.
Eventually, Olivia got most of Cassie's stuff in some sort of receptacle.
"How's the packing?" Alex brought them some hot chocolate. Olivia's was spiked with peppermint schnapps.
"You do love me."
"Always," Alex kissed her nose.
Olivia told her, "I don't think Cassie is ready to part with her toys."
Alex wasn't surprised. "I was the same way as a little girl. How about you two take a break, and I'll talk to her tomorrow."
Olivia heard break and bolted from the room. Ten minutes later, she was in her Giants' jersey and some sweatpants. "Time for television."
While Olivia had to work (unfortunately criminals didn't stop for the holidays), Alex took Cassie to a toy drive.
The little girl couldn't believe the mountain of toys they had. "How come there's so much stuff here?"
"Not every parent can afford to get their children toys for Christmas. The volunteers here collect toys so every child can have a good holiday."
There were a lot of toys, but also a lot of parents. A mother got to the front of the line.
"I have two boys, one is 10 and the little one is 4."
She was shown a selection of toys divided by age level.
She picked out the Legos for her younger son and a basketball for the older one.
"Each center gives out one toy per child," Alex told her daughter. "The more toys they have, the more children get something under their tree."
Cassie still refused to part with Mr. Wiggles, but she managed to choose ten toys and games to give away.
Alex kissed her head. "I'm proud of you Cassie."
Keeping in with the holiday spirit, Alex purged 20% of her closet to donate. She did this every year (well except when she was in the program; she did not think those clothes were good enough to give away), and it mostly kept her closet under control.
Olivia laughed when she saw how much space had been made available.
"Wow, your clothes actually fit on your half of the closet now." This was really all moot. In the new house, Alex and Olivia would have separate closets.
"Keep talking like that and there will be a lot more closet space," Alex warned.
Olivia called her bluff. "You wouldn't give away my clothes."
Alex pinched her butt. "Why not? I wouldn't mind having you naked all the time."
Olivia fell backwards onto the bed. "Then perhaps you should undress me."
Alex didn't need to be told twice. Her hands started pushing open Olivia's buttons, exposing her still firm abs.
The brunette pulled the blonde into a kiss, allowing her the chance to unhook her wife's bra.
They started to writhe back and forth. Alex prayed to the woman upstairs that Cassie would stay in front of the television.
She did, but unfortunately, they had another problem.
"Ring! Ring!"
"Damn!" Alex swore. This was just getting good.
"Mama swore!" Cassie called out.
Olivia snickered. "Benson!"
"Liv, we got a critical missing."
SHIT! "Text me the address. I'm on my way." She hung up, not wanting to waste any time.
Alex knew the look in her wife's eyes; it was a mix of panic, anger, and regret for having to bolt without explanation. The Bureau Chief started getting her wife's stuff together: badge, gun, and a change of clothes in case she was out all night, and a package of dried fruit/nuts.
By the time she had it done, Olivia was dressed. She kissed Cassie goodbye before pressing her lips to Alex's temple. "I'll call when I can."
Olivia arrived at the seen to see an officer photographing the crime scene.
"What do we have here?"
Elliot caught her up to speed.
"Sarah Matthews had been doing some last minute Christmas shopping with her son Johnny. He was in his car seat and she was putting the car away when a thief stole the car.
Fortunately, officers recovered the car 40 minutes later, as it was almost out of gas.
Unfortunately, Johnny was not in the car."
"Any blood?"
He shook his head. "We don't see any signs of injury to him." He was alive when he was taken; hopefully, he's alive now.
"Are Sarah and the father still together? Could he have …"
Elliot shook his head. "The father's deployed in Afghanistan."
Olivia's heart sank even further into her stomach. "We have to get him back."
Elliot was in full agreement.
Munch and Fin were getting the surveillance footage from the parking lot as well as footage from any traffic cameras in between the street where they found the car and the mall.
"We got part of the kid's face," the technician told them.
Fin was about to ask so what. They had a photo of the child form his mother.
When she pulled up the image however, they realized, "a kid stole the car."
The thief didn't look any older than 12. His sweatshirt would have blocked his face, but the car mirror showed one side of it.
"Let's run his image through missing children. He could be a runaway."
They were looking for a kid who kidnapped another kid.
"You can't make this shit up," Munch told his partner.
It only took them a few hours to find the boy.
Corey Miller had been in the system for truancy and for getting into a street fight three months prior.
"We think he's in a gang," or at least he's affiliated. Many gangs won't formally initiate you until you're 13.
When Elliot and Olivia rang on his grandmother's door, they heard scampering upstairs.
"How much you want to bet, he's climbing out his window right now?"
They went inside anyway. The grandmother would be less likely to talk to him once he was in custody.
"What can I do for you officers?" The woman sounded tired, weary. She loved Corey, but he just had so much anger. She didn't know how to help him.
While Olivia and Elliot were learning what they could about Corey, Munch and Fin were tailing the pre-teen.
He slipped out of his house and to a known gang member's house.
"This guy's name is Skullz. He was a suspect in a drive by shooting last October, but they didn't have enough evidence to bring him to trial.
They watched the apartment, hoping to find something that would allow them to bring in both Skullz and Corey. If Corey took the boy, then Skullz would know where to find him.
They tried to get a warrant, but Sonya said they needed more evidence.
"We saw him steal the car."
"Which was recovered. There's no direct evidence that he kidnapped Johnny."
There was no sign of Tommy in the apartment. They'd have to wait until they got probable cause.