A few hours had passed in the station of the squad entertaining Ophelia, and Josh and Amanda talking about her behavior, and well being. Amanda hadn't hugged her own daughter in five years. She was eleven years old, but she looked much smaller than that. She was often picked on in school, and she didn't have many friends. Ophelia said many times that Amanda was her best friend, and the woman wasn't sure if that was heart breaking, or the loveliest thing a mother could hear. Josh was explaning how Ophelia was dealing with school when the younger blond walked up to the pair. "I'm tired."

"Okay, sweet pea, do you wanna go home?" Josh asked, looking down at his clock. "It's eight."

"I want to go with mom." She responded, plucking at her rubber band.

The two were surprised. Josh, actually, was surprised. Ophelia had always been a daddys girl, and almost always prefered to sleep at her fathers than at her mothers. And considering the fact that she needed routine, it was even more of a shock. Amanda raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. I want to go home with mom." She repeated.

Josh swallowed. "Okay. I'll go to the hotel and get your things and drop them off with your mom, okay?"

"Sure." Ophelia sat next to her mom, and tucked her legs underneath of herself.

So her dad sat up, pressed a kiss to his daughters head, which she grimaced at, and he walked out without another word.

"So...Phe, you know that I have Jessie."

She nodded. "I know."

"Are you okay with that? Meeting her?" Amanda was hoping she was.

Ophelia blinked, and met her mothers eyes. "I love babies, mom."

"Do you?"

"Our neighbor has a baby. She has me babysit." She stated. "Babies like me more than adults."

Amanda felt her heart pang against her chest, and while she tried to gather her words to speak, Ophelia continued to speak,

"and kids my age. Childern are much kinder humans. They like me because I'm different, and everyone else hates me because of it." She stated bluntly, and plucked at her rubberband much more roughly. "Maybe that's why Kyle raped me. Because I was different?"

Amanda's bottom lip quivered. "That's not a reason, baby. He did it because he's a dick, and he has a dick, and he wanted to use it."

Ophelia smiled lightly at her mothers choice of words. "I missed you, mom."

"I missed you too, baby." She said softly.

Suddenly, Carisi came barralling in with a bag of food. "Hey, I ran out to get some food. You said you like waffles, right, Phe?"

Amanda raised her eyebrows at the pet name Ophelia hardly ever allowed anyone to call her.

"I did." She agreed.

He pulled out a tray with a belgian waffle on it, and a bag of condiments that could go atop. "Thought you might be hungry."

"I was. Thank you." She smiled, and opened the lid.

Amanda, almost slipping back into routine, grabbed for a syrup cup and a butter cup and began lathering the butter lightly on the waffle, and trickled the syrup into the individual holes.

"Manda, I got you your own." Carisi stated.

Amanda sent him a look. "This is how she likes it, I'm fixing it for her."

"I could do it, mom." Ophelia said.

Amanda blinked, and looked down at her daughters hand that was reaching for the syrup cup. "Right. Of course you can."

So she did, and continued in every hole. Once she was finished, she set up the napkin into a triangle and draped it over her thighs, she picked up the fork in her left hand, the knife in her right, and began cutting into it. "Thank you, Sonny."

"You got someone to call you, Sonny, huh?" Amanda smirked at Carisi, who seemed pleased.

"Me and Phe, we get each other, right?" He held out his fist for her to bump and she raised her brows.

"Are you going to punch me? Am I supposed to duck?"

"No, no, y'see it's a fist bump. You bump your fist with mine."

"But...what's the point of a...fist bump?" She asked.

"It's like...a hand shake, just much cooler." He stated.

She picked up a fist and held it out, and Carisi tapped his with hers. She giggled. "Cool." Then returned to her waffles.

Amanda took a deep breath. Not many people connected with Ophelia the way Carisi had been able to. She'd make a mental note to remember to thank him.

"After that, you wanna head home, bub?" Amanda asked.

"Okay." Ophelia agreed, stuffing a big bite of waffle into her mouth.

Once Ophelia was finished her waffle, Amanda drove her back to her apartment. The two walked up the stairs to the apartment, and once at the door, Ophelia said, "One hundered and thirty."

"What's that?"

"That's how many steps it takes to get here." She responded.

"Is it?" Amanda struggled with the keys, and finally jammed the right one into the hole.

"Uhuh. And it was one thousand to get to the station from the hotel."

"That's a long walk, babe." Amanda told her daughter, and shoved the apartment door open.

"Oh, yes. It was. It was crowded. I don't like crowds much." Ophelia tucked her blond hair behind her ear.

"Maya?" Amanda called out.

A young girl, around twenty, popped around the corrner with one and a half year old Jesse safely in her arms. "Hey, Ms. Rollins."

"Hey, baby." Amanda cooed at the sleepy baby, and walked towards her speedily. "How was she today?"

"Great. A little fussy. I think she just missed her mommy." Maya handed the girl off to Amanda who continued to coo at her, and kiss her face repeatedly.

"Thank you so much, Maya. I'll see you tomorrow morning at the same time?"

"You sure will. Thanks, Ms. Rollins." Maya readjusted her purse on her shoulder, sent Ophelia a curious smile, and walked out of the door.

Ophelia looked at the door, then her mother, then the door, then her mother. "Who is Maya?"

"She babysits Jesse for me while I'm at work." Amanda responded. "Do you wanna hold her, Phe?"

Ophelia nodded excitedly, and Amanda handed Jesse over to Ophelia. The teenager grinned down at her baby sister. "Hi, Jesse. I'm your sister, Ophelia Juniper Rollins, but most people would just call me Phe. You're probably better off doing the same, it's a mouthful for anyone."

Amanda smiled at the sight of her two babies under the same roof. She couldn't believe it. There was a knock at the door, and Amanda became alert. "Probably your dad." She walked to the door, and opened it wide. It was Carisi.

Amanda eyed him. "Uh."

"Oh, was I...not supposed to...be here...?"

The woman groaned. "Get in."

He stepped in warily, a red blush creeping up his neck. "You probably didn't tell her, huh?"

"Are you two having sex?" Ophelia covered her sisters ears.

Carisi's eyes bulged. Ophelia was convinced he was about to stroke out.

"Was that impolite? I'm sorry." Ophelia said softly.

"We are...dating." Amanda explained slowly.

"Okay." Ophelia shrugged. "That's nice."

"You don't...care?" She asked.

"Well, you and dad dated, and that didn't work out. So now you and Carisi can date, and maybe it will." Ophelia stated. "Where am I going to sleep tonight, mom?"

"Well, the guest bed is in the room with Jess. Are you okay with that?" Amanda was glad for a change of discussion.

"Of course." Ophelia smiled. "Me and her will have some sister bonding time. Can I go shower?"

"Sure." Amanda took Jesse from her arms. "I'll bring you your clothes when your dad gets here."

Ophelia didn't respond, or acknowledge her mom at all. She simply walked to the guest room without another word.

"That was...weird." Carisi muttered.

Amanda groaned. "I'm sorry. Agreed, it was, but she has no filter, and not on purpose. You'll have to get used to that."

"Right."

Amanda cracked a smile. "When she was a kid it could be pretty funny. We'd pass a cemetary on her way to school, and one day she asked me what it was for. When I told her, every time we passed someone that was passing it too, she'd inform them that that's where the dead people slept. I think people thought she was like that kid from the sixth sense or somethin'."

"I like her, she's my kinda kid." Carisi said.

"I'm glad you're treating her so kindly. Adults don't take to her well, teens...anyone that's not under the age of ten. People can be cruel."

"You've got good kids, Amanda." Carisi mumbled softly. "I'm sorry people are so awful in this world. I don't know what you're going through right now, but..."

"She's going through it a hell of a lot worse." Amanda sighed. "Thank you, though."

Carisi kissed the blond on the lips comfortingly. "I'll go to the bedroom and get this one changed. That way your baby daddy wont see me."

"Don't call him that." Amanda groaned.

"Sorry." He chuckled softly. "Your baby's daddy." He left chuckling, and Amanda wasn't impressed.

She could hear the shower go off, and assumed that it was Ophelia. It was only a few moments later that Josh knocked, and dropped off her belongings. "Amanda..."

"What?"

"Maybe...if we can hold back our arguing...the three of us can go out somehwere tomorrow for lunch? As a family? I think Ophelia would really like that."

Amanda pondered on it for a few moments before agreeing. "Fine. No fighting though. She's stressed enough as it is."

"Agreed."

The two were left staring at one another, before Josh said, "Well...uh, have a good night, Amanda."

"Goodnight." She shut the door, and in of that shut the cloud of tension as well. She sighed in relief and locked the door behind her. She didn't exactly want to have lunch with her ex, but there wasn't much she could do about that. It was for the sake of her daughter. It was still hard for her to believe that her oldest baby was in the next room. That she could hug her as much as she would allow, and could talk to her for as long as they wanted. There was no longer a barrier, and she couldn't help but be happy about that.

So I see some people are enjoying? Please give feedback as to what you'd like to see, or what you wouldn't! Anything would be great. :)

-Sam