Carisi took Amanda's hand and led her out to the bullpen and into the breakroom. Jesse and Jacob were giggling behind a tower of Starbursts, and Billie had chocolate chip cookie crumbs all over her shirt.
"Hey I think these guys have a future in architecture," Velasco said, nodding to Jesse and Jacob. "I'll ah, leave you guys be for a second," he added. "Hey, you don't want those lemon ones, you save 'em for me," he told the two older kids.
"No way! Lemons are the best!" Jacob grinned, slapping Velasco with a high five. Velasco returned the smile on his way out.
"Can I have another cookie?" Billie asked Carisi.
He smiled softly, pulling her into his lap. "Not right this second," he said. "Hey, guys, we need to talk with all of you." He shifted Billie so she was facing Amanda.
"You guys know that…Uncle Sonny's job means he sometimes has to deal with some not very nice guys." Amanda stumbled over 'Uncle Sonny' because that's what her girls were still calling him, but he and Jacob still hadn't quite decided what Carisi was to him yet.
"He puts bad guys in jail," Jesse said matter-of-factly, as if that was all there was to it.
Don't I wish, Carisi thought.
"Yeah, I do," Carisi agreed. "Uh, sometimes…." He searched for the kid-friendly way to explain. "Jess, Jake, you know how sometimes when your classmates are being mean and they say that if you tell a teacher or tell a friend that they'll be mean to you?"
The two older kids nodded. "That sometimes happens in Uncle Sonny's job," Amanda took over. "And he had a pretty mean man say some scary things to him yesterday in court."
"Is that why you were scared when you picked me up?" Jacob asked him, understanding dawning.
"Mommy was scared too," Jesse added.
Carisi nodded. "Yeah, buddy. That's why. I didn't mean to scare you, though."
"Did the mean man say something bad to Uncle Sonny?" Billie asked.
"Yeah. And we want everybody to be safe," Amanda told them. "So for awhile, we're going to have some police officers that stay with us."
"Will Joe be one of them?" Jacob asked excitedly.
"He's cool!" Jesse put in.
Amanda smoothed Jesse's hair. "Yeah, he is pretty cool," she said. "And I don't know, that will be up to Miss Olivia." Knowing Liv she'll be the one that wants to camp outside our door.
"So, will we have two p'lice officers?" Billie asked. "One at our house and one at Uncle Sonny's?"
"Will they come to school with us?"
"Will they spend the night?"
Despite it all, Amanda laughed. "Um, I'm not sure yet, guys. Miss Olivia will let us know. But," she continued, turning serious, "the one thing we want all of you to know is that you are safe. Okay?"
"Promise?" Billie leaned back into Carisi's shirt. He rubbed her back and took Jacob's hand, squeezing his fingers.
"Promise."
35th Floor
New York Crime Lab
"Danny. My office." Mac waved Danny Messer over with the hand that wasn't holding the printouts of the two photos Olivia Benson had given him. Danny pushed back from his desk and jogged across the hall to his supervisor's office.
"Do you know who Dominick Carisi is?" Mac began, shutting his door as Danny slid into one of the chairs.
"Manhattan ADA for SVU," Danny answered automatically. "Staten Island born and bred. Not a bad closure rate. What?" he asked, at Mac's raised eyebrow. "I do pay attention to more than sports scores and steak sides, contrary to my wife's belief."
"Have you been following the Richard Wheatley trial?"
Danny's eyes narrowed. "Yeah. Heard he threatened Carisi in open court yesterday. Not that it'll make a difference," he added. "Wheatley's too good at coverin' his tracks."
Mac slid the plastic bag across to him. "Well we're gonna uncover those tracks. Carisi and his wife, Amanda Rollins, got these photos sent to them earlier today."
Danny glanced at them. "Wheatley's makin' a point. Carisi pissed him off gettin' the best of him huh?" He studied the pictures closer. "Guy's the worst kind, threatenin' kids."
"We need to go over every inch of these, see if we can't pull a reflection, a cell phone brand, anything that might give us a connection to Wheatley. Top priority."
Danny nodded. "Yeah, no problem." He glanced at his watch. "Linds should just be grabbin' Louie from soccer practice at the Y," he said. "I'll let her know I'll be a little late."
"I'm sorry, Danny. I hope you didn't have anything going on tonight as a family."
"Nah, Mac, we're good. This gets me outta helpin' Lucy with her history homework." Danny picked up the bag and signed the tag, officially making it his evidence. He left Mac's office heading for A/V. As he did, he passed a harried-looking Adam Ross coming off the elevator. "Hey, Adam. Sign in and meet me in A/V."
"What? Yeah, okay."
"And wake up first!" Danny yelled after him as he headed for the employee locker room. He shook his head with a grin, pulling the door open to the A/V lab. He opened the bag and took out the pictures, pulling the magnifying glass over to him and flicked on the lights.
A cute blonde child was in the first picture, and Danny felt a pang of something. Lucy had been that young once, and when she'd been in danger, the New York Crime Lab had moved hell and high water for his family. I'm gonna do the same for this family. We're gonna get this guy.
Fin picked up his phone to get ahold of the defense attorney. Rafael Barba had changed his number since leaving the DA's office because he was tired of fielding questions from the Householder trial, but Fin knew someone at his office should be able to find him. When he finally got through, he asked for Barba's extension.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Barba's not in his office. Can I put you through to his voicemail?"
"Yeah, if you would." Fin waited for it to ring through, and told Barba he needed to call Olivia. As he hung up, Elliott Stabler came in at a run.
"Carisi and Rollins, they still here?"
Fin frowned. "Yeah, they're workin' on a safe house for the family, why?"
"I just got a call. The transport that Wheatley was on never made it back."
Author's Note: Canon? What is this canon you speak of. As Ed wishes to run canon off the rails, so he shall ;)