248.

Time to check in with the Tuckers!

Olivia and Ed made their way with the twins to Noah's school wondering aloud if their son would appear from his classroom as his usual happy self or if he would still be disgruntled as he was when he entered the building eight hours earlier. The possibility of Zach touring the school had been floated over the weekend, and everyone except Noah had forgotten about it. When Sunday night rolled around and the boys were prompted to say final goodbyes, Noah, confused, screwed up his face and reminded everyone he still owed Zach a tour. Olivia gently broke the news that the school was very strict with visitors, and Noah, on the verge of tears, shut down. On the ride home, he was impervious to "the school needs to make sure everyone is safe" and "they need to make sure the only people there are supposed to be there," so Olivia and Ed let him stew thinking that, in the morning, he would be fine. That turned out not to be the case.

They were early and the weather was mild for late February, so Ed and Olivia took the twins to the small park across from the school's main entrance. Maggie and Wyatt, freed from the stroller, immediately took off running down the path which circled around like a shorter version of a racing track. There were a few people on benches with books-it was that pleasant outside-and Ed muttered an apology under his breath.

"And the peaceful afternoon in the park comes to an end."

Olivia smiled and carefully tracked the twins as they started their second lap. On the way, Wyatt dropped a toy, and a bench reader picked it up. Before going over to get it, Wyatt looked in Olivia's direction. She nodded, and he approached the stranger with a smile and a "tay'ou" and continued on his way. Ed didn't notice, for the kids were starting to pour out of the school doors, but Olivia bit her lip and wasn't sure how to feel about how her kids seemed to have a sixth sense about their mother and how much she worried about them.

"I'll go grab Noah," Ed said.

"Okay. We'll be right here. Fingers crossed."

"Yeah, right." Ed gave her hand a squeeze and walked across the street, joining the familiar moms and nannies. Every once in a while there was a guy present, but today he was the only male. Noah walked out with Mateo and another boy. Ed's eyes darted around, looking for Mia, but she was nowhere to be found. Being Monday, it was possible she was still out on Long Island with her mother. Through Noah, Ed and Olivia were very well aware of her struggles in school, and her poor attendance record certainly didn't help.

Feeling the spring-like warmth, Noah quickly unzipped his coat and skipped over to Ed. "Hi Daddy!" He said cheerfully.

"Hey, bud, how was your day?"

"Good. We did a tornado drill."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," Noah replied with utmost seriousness, "Good thing Zach couldn't come 'cause it wasn't fun! We had to be super quiet and cover our heads in da hall!"

"Oh, yeah, I remember doing that when I was in school. We didn't like it."

"Yeah, and we don't even get tornadoes here!"

"You never know. Gotta do the drills just in case."

Noah nodded in agreement and tugged on his backpack straps.

Ed gave him a quick side hug. "Glad you're feelin' better, bud."

"I'm not sick."

"I know, I meant, you were kinda sad this morning about Zach not bein' able to come to school. So, I'm glad you're not bummed out anymore."

Noah smiled and leaned into Ed. "I hope I can go to Texas and see Zach."

"One of these days we'll get to Texas."

"Is dat true? We always say it!"

Ed glanced down the street, pretending to concentrate on making sure there were no cars coming, but he was attempting to hide how amused he was. Noah was making a great point, and Ed was imagining a much older Noah rephrasing the statement:

Yeah, we always say this, Dad, but we never get on a fucking airplane.

"Tell ya what," Ed said, "After mom and I come back from Italy, the next trip we plan will be to Texas."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

…

Noah being back to normal came as an enormous relief to Olivia. He was such a happy child and so rarely upset that she had a hard time figuring out how best to help him when he was angry, disappointed, or sad. He also had a knack for looking at the bright side and getting himself out of the doldrums, but, in this case, when he was up against iron-clad school rules, he struggled. Ironically, it was going to school that helped.

Feeling celebratory, she suggested going out for pizza which thrilled everyone, and on the way home they stopped for cookies which were gone by the time they arrived at their building. After everyone was bathed and in pajamas, Noah parked himself on the couch with a book while Ed and Olivia read to the twins in their room. The process of getting Maggie and Wyatt to bed could take anywhere between ten and thirty minutes, and tonight fell on the later side. By the time Ed and Olivia were certain it was safe to leave them alone, Noah had fallen asleep, his chapter book splayed across his chest.

Olivia carefully picked up the book and inserted the brightly colored bookmark so he wouldn't lose his place. She cradled him in her arms and carried him to his room where Ed peeled back the covers. With another bedtime in the books, the two of them retreated to the living room. Ed poured glasses of wine and looked forward to a couple of relaxing hours on the couch with his wife.

"Oh no," Olivia said to her phone screen fifteen minutes into said relaxation time.

"What's going on?"

"Preschool email."

Ed groaned. He hadn't suggested it to Olivia yet, but he was leaning toward selecting a new school for the twins in the fall. The staff of this one had been on his nerves from the start. "What'd they do now?"

Olivia took teacher feedback much more seriously than Ed, but even she was having trouble with the newest complaint. "They're…getting answers wrong on purpose," she said, laughing by the time she reached the end of the sentence.

Ed wasted no time cracking up.

"During literacy time," Olivia read from the email, "Maggie and Wyatt were deliberately naming incorrect letters. We don't think this is indicative of skill deficits-of course not-but more out of being silly. However, it became difficult for other students to follow the lesson."

Still laughing, Ed replied, "That's the funniest goddamn thing I've heard in a week. Tell her thank you for letting us know."

"What are we going to do with them? Home school?"

"No way. I don't want to deal with them all day. They're terrible."

Olivia buried her head in Ed's chest and laughed. "The worst part is…what are we supposed to do? They're three. I guess we can talk to them, but we can't reason with three-year-olds."

"I'm wondering if we'll ever be able to reason with them. They have a clear and proven advantage over adults. I don't think even Noah wants to attempt to check them."

"Oh boy…" Olivia nudged Ed with her elbow, "Didn't think you were signing up for all this a few years ago, did you?"

"No," Ed kissed her head, "But I'm glad I did."

…..

Olivia loved few settings more than beach house mornings. As the kids grew older, they slept in later, so she and Ed usually had the home to themselves for a couple of hours before it came alive. She relished the routine of Ed making coffee and bringing it to her on the porch where they sat together on the loveseat and did little else but appreciate where they were. Sometimes, if an outing had been promised, they would discuss the day, but most of the time they listened to the waves gain steam and the geese squawk above.

"Mmmm," Olivia said, "I missed this."

It was the first morning of the summer, and, for a week, the five Tuckers would be on their own. Gradually the others would arrive, and, for two nights, there would be fifteen people staying over.

"Me too," Ed half-whispered. He held his mug with one hand and Olivia close with the other arm. "I almost don't care that we have so much work to do today."

"Let's not think about it right now."

"Okay." Ed kissed her head, and silently disobeyed. They had to go shopping for one thing. Then they had to go to the marina and check out the boat and the jet skis. He paid an extra fee for routine maintenance, but he always carefully inspected everything himself before getting the crafts on the water. Finally, the house had to be cleaned. They could have hired a service, but neither Ed nor Olivia liked the idea of strangers in their home. The thought amused him, for they'd justified the purchase with the idea that they could rent out the place when they weren't there. That had never happened, and, considering the personal touches Olivia had put in every room, it never would.

"You're thinking about it."

"Sorry."

The light-hearted reprimanding was cut short, for the door opened and Maggie appeared, fully clad in a sundress over her swimsuit. Wyatt was close behind, but he had stopped in the kitchen for a glass of water.

"We're going to get a smoothie," Maggie said matter-of-factly.

"No you're not," Ed replied.

"Yes. We are. You said when we were double digits we could do some things at the beach by ourselves."

"When did I say that?"

Maggie turned to Wyatt. He didn't disappoint. "Last summer," he replied, "When everyone was tired early except the kids. And we wanted to go get ice cream and you said no because we weren't double digits."

Now it was Olivia's turn to look at Ed expectantly, but she assumed Wyatt was right. Ed often made those types of promises thinking the kids would forget, but by now he should have known better. The Tucker kids rarely forgot anything. And, if one forgot, the others remembered.

"I don't think that's true. I wouldn't have said you couldn't go because you weren't double digits. That's not something I would say."

Maggie steeled her jaw but didn't have enough ammunition for a rebuttal. Wyatt, however, did. "You said maybe if we were older and then I asked how old and you said double digits. And then we asked if Noah could take us but you said to eat the ice cream we have in the freezer. And also Noah didn't wanna go 'cause he was super sunburned."

Olivia sighed with realization. She recalled the sunburn. Someone always got fried the first week, and last year, it was Noah's turn. It happened on a day they'd been on the boat, and Noah spent most of the afternoon on the tube with the younger kids. Olivia, of course, felt terrible, but Noah took the discomfort in stride. He did draw the line at taking his siblings for an evening ice cream run.

"That sounds more like it," Ed replied. "You gotta make sure you get the facts straight, bud."

Wyatt brushed off the criticism and asked, "So we can go?"

Ed shrugged and glanced at Olivia. The proposed trip was less about the smoothies and more about the twins yearning for a tiny bit of independence. Going for a smoothie at ten-years-old in New York City was a big no. Here, in this sleepy beach town at eight in the morning with the smoothie place a block away? Ed was fine with it.

Surprisingly-the kids would say shockingly-Olivia was too.

"Are they open?" She asked.

"Yes," Maggie jumped in. "They open at eight. We checked."

"Do you have money?"

"Yes," Wyatt replied.

Olivia did not doubt this. Like they had with Noah, their extended family members and friends constantly forked over cash to the Tucker kids for various ventures. Most recently Sarah paid the twins to move paper files from cabinets to boxes for transport to a digitizer. Maggie and Wyatt were diligent about the work, and Sarah rewarded them handsomely. The twins surely had enough money for a summer of smoothies.

"Make sure you have your phones," Olivia said. "Love you."

"Love you, too," Wyatt said quickly, hurriedly, and rushed back inside before his mother could change her mind.

Briefly frozen, Maggie turned on her heel and followed her brother as she called, "Wyatt, wait!"

Outside, Ed grinned at Olivia. "You made their summer. We can probably forget about everything else we have planned."

"And it doesn't cost us a thing."

"What's gotten into you, Benson?" Ed asked with a twinkle in his eye.

Now Olivia shrugged. "I just…I want us all to be happy. It's different here. And Maggie and Wyatt are smart. I think they can walk a block and back. I have to…practice letting go."

"Good opportunity to do that."

"It is."

"Well, at the risk of sounding condescending-"

"-you're proud of me?"

Relieved she'd said it before he could, Ed grinned again, kissed her, and said, "Yeah."

…

As Olivia and Ed debated how to handle the twins' latest preschool infraction, Olivia soon realized Brooke was literally a text message away and they hadn't thought to contact her for her opinion. She'd been out of education for a while, but certainly she would have some insight. As it turned out, Brooke needed to talk to Olivia, too, only the subject was far more urgent and troublesome than what the Tuckers were currently up against.

"Olivia," Brooke said over the phone, "Sonny's been assigned to a case and they're already talking about putting an officer in front of our building twenty-four-seven." She didn't say it, but Olivia could tell the next word out of her mouth could very well have been "help."

"Do you want me to come to you?" Olivia immediately asked.

"Yes, I mean, if you're okay with that? I don't know what to think or do right now and of course Sonny tells me all of this while Sof is at day care."

"I'll come now," Olivia said, "And then we can go get her together."

"Thank you."

Ed raised his eyebrows as Olivia immediately made a beeline for the bedroom. Noah and the twins were drawing at the table, so he followed her and asked what was wrong.

"They're putting a detail on their building," Olivia said, "Based on a case Sonny's prosecuting." She froze in the middle of the room, "Who could it be?" She and Ed both kept close eyes on the news, and she couldn't remember any high profile trial coverage.

"Damn," he replied, "I don't know. But you know how it is. Could be some mid-level thug who has connections and they're just taking precautions. Nevertheless, it's scary. Glad you're going to her."

Olivia blinked and cringed ever so slightly. "I'm sorry, Ed, do you want to go?"

"No, you go." He walked over and kissed her tenderly on the cheek, "Stop overthinking. And she'd rather talk to you anyway."

"Probably," Olivia replied with a slight, sly grin.

Ed swung her arms and kissed her again. "Love you."

"Love you."

Olivia swapped her joggers and t-shirt for a pair of jeans and a sweater. While she dressed and quickly dabbed on some light makeup, she could clearly hear the chatter from the living room. Noah was trying to coax Maggie and Wyatt into making their drawings connect with his beach-themed design, but the twins weren't cooperating. Olivia wasn't surprised Noah was thinking about the beach. The warm weather of late had made everyone yearn for the spring and summer months.

On the way out she kissed each kid goodbye and got an update on their art project.

"Fissers, Mama," Wyatt explained.

"Yeah," Noah said, "Wyatt's drawin' da fishermen and Maggs…" Noah frowned at his sister.

"I dawin' MAMA!" Maggie exclaimed.

"Sweet girl," Olivia smoothed her hair and kissed her head. She reminded the kids to be good for their Daddy and promised Ed she wouldn't be long.

"Take your time," he said, "Maybe try and set something up for next weekend. We haven't seen them in a while and she might want to get out."

"I will. Don't let the inmates take over the asylum."

Ed grinned. "Always a risk," he replied, "I'll keep ya posted."

…

It took Brooke longer than usual to come to the door, and Olivia could tell, even from the outside, she was being extra cautious about visitors. She apologized as Olivia hugged her, and, in true Brooke fashion, apologized for her emotions. "I don't know why I'm so freaked out about this," she said, "Sonny says there's nothing to be worried about."

"It's unnerving," Olivia replied, "Take it from someone who has been under detail more than once. But, I'm a little surprised Sonny isn't worried." She hugged Brooke for the second time in the two minutes they'd been together. "What's the case?"

Clearly suffering for a day's worth of frustration and fear, Brooke shook her head and waved her arms in the air as she spoke. "It's some…it's a real estate fraud case, you know, one of those landlords who carve up basements illegally? But the guy they're prosecuting, they think he's worse than just a crook landlord. There could be sex trafficking, prostitution, drug running…but they can't get him on any of those charges, like, he has this real estate business as the front-you're nodding like you've heard this a million times before."

"I'm sorry, honey," Olivia said, "I have. You're right. And Sonny's team is probably right. But, I think they're probably sending the detail as an extreme precaution. Those guys…they have long reaches and a lot of people who want to make names for themselves. Sonny's not the lead, though?"

"No, he's, like, the third chair."

"So, consult really. That's good news. He'll probably be listening and taking notes in case something comes out that helps SVU's case."

"He wants to go to major crimes," Brooke blurted out.

Olivia's eyes widened. "Why?"

Brooke shrugged. "I honestly can't figure him out. One minute he hates law and wants to go back to being a cop. Then he wants to leave the profession altogether. Then he's all in again. He's so restless. I guess, maybe, I am too. Maybe that's why we work. Shit, we have to go get Sof or you're going to have to help me get her from a social worker."

Olivia wrapped a reassuring arm around Brooke's shoulders. "That's not going to happen. But, yes, let's go."

Brooke put on her coat and patted the pockets for her keys. "So, what's going on with the twins in school?"

Sighing, Olivia replied, "What's not going on with them. Every week there's something. But, the latest is, they're purposely giving the wrong answers."

Brooke chuckled. "They're probably bored. What is it? Their letters?"

"Yes. Letters. Numbers. Apparently when there's whole group instruction they shout out the wrong answers and laugh."

"Oh shit."

"Yes." Olivia laughed along with Brooke and realized she was going to react more in line with Ed's let-them-be attitude. Given Brooke's situation, the twins being intentionally uncooperative suddenly seemed embarrassingly trivial.

Once they were on the street and things appeared normal, they continued on, albeit with alert eyes.

"I really think they're bored, Liv," Brooke said. "They have a huge advantage over other kids their age. I'm not an early childhood specialist, but…they have an older brother, they spend a lot of time around adults, they have been taught the basics at home…and they like to have fun like any kid, and, well, they have each other. It's a recipe for what they're doing."

"But it's so…planned. It's a little scary."

"It's borderline diabolical," Brooke joked. "But I wouldn't worry about it."

"Is it worth talking to them?"

"Sure. Ask them about it. Ask the teacher for the lesson they were doing when they gave the wrong answers and redo it. See what they say. They're not going to say they were bored-they can't articulate that-but I know…I'm sure they were only trying to stay entertained."

"I feel so bad for the teachers."

"I'm sure they're fine. They're dealing with three and four-year-olds."

"And how many of those parents do they have to email on a weekly basis?"

Brooke couldn't help but chuckle again. "Probably not many. But, I'm sure they deal with worse problems. It'll be okay. Ask Maggs and Wyatt about it, but, you're right, telling them not to be silly or to do their best or to get the answers right…they can't get that."

"Yeah."

"Do they like school?"

"They do," Olivia said, smiling, "They run in there every morning."

"Then I wouldn't worry about it," Brooke said, "Unless you think the teachers are holding a grudge against them."

"I hope it doesn't come to that," Olivia replied, "We've already ruled out home school."

Brooke laughed, "Yeah, I don't blame you."

…

#Tuckson