Sylvie lay in bed, it was six in the morning, Antonio would be waking up soon for work and it was the first day she would be alone with their daughter, no help from anyone. "Babe, stop thinking so loud, I can't sleep" Antonio groaned and rolled over throwing his arm over her stomach. "Sorry, I'm just worried, I'll be fine go back to sleep". He rolled on his back "Nope, I'm awake, alarm's going off in thirty anyway."
She rolled into his side putting her head on his bicep, eager for the contact. "I need to take a shower, can't be late on my first day back" she pouted as she drew circles on his chest, "You'll be fine, Gabby's off shift do you want her to come over so you'll have company?" he could feel her shake her head. "Bring Soph down to district later, some of those guys still haven't met her, maybe it'll put Platt in a good mood today." Sylvie nodded. "Go take your shower, I need to check on Sophie." She kissed his chest, climbed out of bed, and pulled her robe on.
Antonio was sitting at his desk thankful to be back at work, he didn't realize how much he had missed it. The team was working a case they had been on for nearly three weeks and he was trying to get up to speed. His phone buzzed, he opened the text and smiled.
"Someone sending you dirty texts? I used to get those to" Adam joked from across the room. Antonio shot him a look, "Watch it" Antonio warned as Kim threw a Sharpie at Adam hitting him in the chest, "As a matter of fact Sylvie's here" he stood up and headed for the stairs. Sylvie had texted him that she just pulled into the lot and she was on her way in.
Getting to the bottom of the stairs Antonio could hear Platt arguing with someone. "No, I'm not calling him, leave or I'll have you escorted out" she was agitated.
"Please Trudy he won't return my texts or calls, I need to talk to him, just tell him I'm here."
He recognized the voice, he threw the gate open. "You need to go now" he spoke low and serious and walked toward her. "Please just listen to me" she was begging.
"What part of restraining order do you not understand? Do you want to be in handcuffs again? Cause there's thirty cops here that'll do it with out question. Laura you are not this stupid!" he growled trying not to yell.
Sylvie walked through the door, Sophia attached to her chest in her carrier. Antonio moved to stand between the two women. "Trudy buzz her up, Sylvie take the baby and go, I'll be there in a minute" Sylvie just stood there, "Go!" she wasn't moving. "I'm not going anywhere." he glanced back at her; she had a determined look on her face. "Take the baby upstairs now and wait for me!" he wasn't in the mood for this.
Laura started begging, "Please just let me talk to her, I want to apologize, I want to make it right" she was starting to become hysterical.
"You're not talking to her, now get out of here" he spat. Sylvie stepped forward; "I can speak for myself, Tonio". He looked at her and she could tell he was pissed, anger starting to roll off him.
Trudy stepped from behind the desk "Give me Sophia, you guys take this into the room." She motioned to the small office off the side of the lobby. Sylvie undid Sophia and handed her off. "Now get this out of the middle of my lobby and me and Soph here will go have some girl time." Platt walked back behind the desk telling an officer she was taking a break and to watch the desk.
"You have both of us here, what could you possibly have to say that we want to hear?" he was seething. Laura was trying to pull her self together, she had been trying to get a hold of Antonio for almost two months but she was told every time she came in that he wasn't there and he wouldn't return calls or texts. She wasn't brave enough to go to the apartment knowing she would probably end up back in jail.
"I want to apologize, I want to see my kids and talk to them, I miss them and I know the only way to make that happen is to fix this between us." She motioned between the two of them. "And I want to apologize to her" she glanced at Sylvie.
Antonio instinctively readjusted his stance so he was more in front of Sylvie and grabbed her hand behind his back, keeping his eyes firmly on Laura.
"She didn't deserve the way I acted, have been acting." She exhaled. "Damn right she didn't, none of us did" he was trying to keep his temper in check.
"I'm jealous, I admit it, she's okay with your job, she understands it, I don't, it terrifies me, always has and I know that's not her problem, it's mine, and I didn't know how serious you two actually were, the kids don't tell me anything."
Antonio snorted "Marriage and a baby is pretty fucking serious Laura" she looked down. "I didn't know any of it, if I had I wouldn't have acted the way I did, I love kids and would never hurt one and she is Diego and Eva's sister, she is their family, if I hurt her, I hurt them and I wouldn't do that."
Sylvie stepped closer to Laura "You may not have known but you still hurt me, if I wasn't pregnant would you be standing here apologizing or would you still be trying to tear us apart? Because you've been trying to do that for almost three years, can't you see that this" she glanced over at Antonio, "isn't going anywhere, you've put us through hell and we keep coming out the other side."
She sighed and gripped his hand tighter "I want to get along with you, I really do, I love Diego and Eva but I'm not trying to replace you, I have my own daughter. If you keep this up though you're going to lose them completely, Eva's an adult she can see what's going on, and we try to protect Diego from it but he's fifteen, he's smart, he understands." Sylvie wasn't angry but she made her point and stepped back closer to Antonio.
Laura lifted her head and looked Sylvie in the eye "I'm done, I promise." She sounded defeated and sat down in the chair exhaling loudly. "Can I give you something Sylvie?" Sylvie looked at her skeptically and glanced at Antonio, he shrugged. "I guess," she sounded unsure.
Laura dug through her purse for a minute, looking for something. She emerged with a small box. "It isn't for you, it's for the kids, you can open it first but I wanted to give them something as an apology." Laura held it out in front of her and Antonio took it and handed it to Sylvie. "Please just give it to them." Sylvie looked at the box and back at Laura, "I will." She said placing the box in the diaper bag.
"Are we done here?" Antonio was irritated, this was supposed to be a nice lunch with his wife to introduce his daughter to his other family and it turned into a shit show.
"Can I see her, just to look at her?" Antonio started to answer but Sylvie interrupted. "You can" Sylvie gave Antonio's hand a squeeze, "Can you go get her from Trudy please?" he bore his eyes into her begging her not to do this, he wasn't ready. "Please, I'll be fine here" she squeezed his hand again and he turned to go out the door.
The room was silent for a minute then Laura began to speak "I started therapy, I'm trying to deal with it all, I really am sorry" she kept her eyes on the floor.
"Look at me" Laura looked up meeting her eyes "I can accept the apology if you promise this won't happen again, I hate that we have a restraining order against you, I never wanted that. I know he's your ex-husband, I know there's always going to be feelings there, you were together for a long time, and I respect that but he's my husband now and I need you to respect that too. He's the father of both of our children, we are always going to be connected, we are going to attend graduations, and weddings, and birthdays and so many other holidays and special events in between and I don't want it to be awkward for the kids or for them think they have to choose between us."
Laura nodded "I know, it clicked while Gabby had me pinned against the wall, I've never felt so ashamed in my life, I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive myself and will understand if you never do either."
Antonio walked back through the door and handed Sophia to Sylvie. "Hey baby girl, I missed you" she kissed her on the forehead. "Do you wanna meet brother and sister's mommy?" she whispered to the infant as she stepped closer to Laura.
Antonio had his jaw clenched tight, he still wasn't okay with this, "You can hold her if you want." Sylvie offered, she heard Antonio move nervously behind her, she looked back at him and smiled trying to assure him it was okay. She handed the baby to Laura and Laura accepted her, snuggling her into her chest.
Laura stared down at her for a moment. "She looks like Eva" she looked up at Sylvie then at Antonio, she could tell he was nervous. "Hi, Sophia, I'm Laura, your bother and sister's mom, you're beautiful just like your sister, you know that?" She was gently stroking her head. She looked to Antonio and smiled.
"I know you're too little to understand but I'm sorry if I hurt you and I hope one day we can be friends." Sophia started to fuss and Antonio stepped forward to grab her snuggling her against him, instantly she settled down.
"Thank you" she stood up meeting Antonio's eyes. He willed himself to look away but he couldn't he just stared at her, body clenched tight, he didn't want to forgive her for the torture she has but him through over the last five years. Sylvie touched his back; he flinched at the contact and then relaxed a little.
"It's okay to forgive her," she whispered in his ear, only he could hear. He turned his head and looked at her and she nodded and he returned his gaze to Laura and nodded, that was all he could give her, he turned towards the door and started to leave, he was done with this conversation, he wanted to get upstairs.
Sylvie was following behind him and Laura touched her arm to stop her. "Thank you too, I know you didn't have to." she looked sincere. "Will you please ask the kids to call me?" Sylvie nodded. "I'll talk to them." And she walked out the door following Antonio up to the bullpen.
Sylvie caught Antonio's wrist on the stairs, he spun around, he was pissed. "She deserves a chance to make it right" softly trying to convince him. He just stared at her, contemplating what he was going to say.
"I know but she destroyed me, I can't just forgive her" he whispered, he didn't want the whole building to hear anymore about his life.
"She deserves to be forgiven, I understand where she's coming from, if I ever lost you to someone else I would be a mess too" she stepped up to his stair and pulled him into a hug, Sophia wedged between them.
"Try to look at it from her point of view, if I left and met someone else and took Sophia with me and all of a sudden I'm married and having another baby, and another man is acting like her father and Sophia won't talk to you, what would you do?" she leaned down and kissed Sophia's head.
"I would kill him." He growled, the look in his eyes told Sylvie he was serious. "See, she feels the same way, she lost her mind a little, she said she's in therapy and working on it, let's just let her try okay?" he nodded his head conceding "Okay but if she pulls anything else I'm done" she kissed him on the cheek "Okay, now let's get upstairs" she grabbed his hand pulling him up the stairs.
Adam bounded out of his chair as soon as he saw Antonio and Sylvie enter. "Awe my littlest partner, I've missed you" he was stroking her face with his finger as he was trying to hug Sylvie, giving her a kiss on the cheek. Adam was by far the most enthusiastic of the group and he loved kids.
"She is not going to be a cop, doctor maybe or paramedic, even firefighter but no way is she ever going to have bullets flying at her." Sylvie scoffed at the idea. Antonio handed the baby off to Adam "You better be careful Ruzek, have you even held a baby before?" he looked serious. Adam held her up to where she was looking down at him "Yes, this one a lot and besides uncle Adam is her favorite right Sophie? Your dad is just a big grumpy worrier."
Kim and Jay had already made their way over and were giving Sylvie hugs. "Everything good?" Kim could see that something was bothering him. "We're good just a little drama, that's all" he tried to play it off. Kim had heard about the drama down stairs already but decided to just let it go. She patted him on the shoulder and moved to sit on the corner of Adams desk.
Voight noticed the commotion outside his office, "Is that my favorite Dawson?" He walked toward Adam. "Uhn-uh, no way boss, I just got her" he put his arms around her pretending to hold her tight.
"Ruzek you can't hog the baby, everyone want's to see her." Kim scolded setting on the edge of Adams desk. "Then Tony shouldn't have handed her to me" he teased. "Antonio, I've told you before, never hand the baby to Adam first, don't you remember the Gabby-Adam fiasco a couple of weeks ago." Kim laughed. "Gabby almost kicked his ass".
"Where did Upton and Atwater go? They were just here" Antonio was hoping the whole unit would stick around. He knew Sylvie wouldn't be able to stay very long. "They're grabbing a witness, should be back in an hour or so" Jay answered gliding his chair over to Adam to get a closer look at Sophia.
"She's so tiny for two months old" Jay started stroking her hair. "You think that's little you should have seen her at the hospital, she looked like a chicken nugget." Kim joked turning around to face Adam and Jay holding her thumb and finger up to show how little. Kim and Adam had been over at the apartment a lot hanging out keeping them company. Having a preemie means you don't leave the house very much and it was nice to have friends visit.
"She did not look like a chicken nugget, she was bigger than that" Sylvie pretended to pout and moved to pick Sophia up from Adam. Adam swatted her hand away "No" he laughed handing the baby to Sylvie.
"Do you mind? It's been a while since I've been able to hold one this small." He smiled at Sylvie holding his arms out. Hank had visited in the hospital but they weren't letting anyone hold her at that point.
She placed Sophia in his arms and she immediately started screaming. Everyone started laughing, "What? She's a baby they cry" he was trying to shush the baby and comfort her. "Not that one, she barely cries, she has you pegged." Adam was cracking up.
Voight looked around the room "Really? Little miss all these knuckleheads and you're going to cry at me, what's with that huh?" he was rubbing his hand up and down her back trying to get her to stop. "Don't you know that I'm the one you want in your corner, I'll give you my card if you stop crying, it's good for anything you want later" he was trying to bribe her. Sylvie grabbed her pacifier and put it in her mouth and she settled down nuzzling into Voight's arms. "See everyone likes Voight, whether they know it or not" he chuckled.