A/N: Mostly fluff with a sprinkling of angst.
"Gracie, you've been on there long enough, sweetheart, let someone else have a turn now." Olivia spoke from where she sat on a park bench nearby when she realized that Gracie was hogging one of the two spring riders.
Hearing Mommy's voice, Gracie obediently jumped off the toy horse and ran toward the slide. Olivia cringed, hoping that the metal slide wouldn't be too hot on Gracie's bare thighs, and wondering if it would have been better to put Gracie in jeans before they left the apartment, but she relaxed when Gracie slid down the slide giggling happily, not the least bit bothered by the heat. Gracie went down the slide two more times before she ran toward the jungle gym.
"Excuse me, are you Captain Benson?"
"Yes, I am." Olivia smiled when she was greeted by a Muslim woman approaching her. The woman looked familiar, but Olivia couldn't place her off the top of her head.
"I thought I recognized you and Detective Muncy from the paper. I don't know if you remember me, three months ago you arrested the man who raped me in my jewelry store."
Olivia wracked her brain, trying to think back, and a lightbulb went off over her head as she recalled the woman's case.
"Oh, yes, I remember you! Your trial is coming up. Zara, right? How are you?" Olivia asked genuinely.
"Not great, but it's getting a little bit easier every day like you said it would. I got into therapy like you suggested and it's helping. I just wanted to come tell you that the last time I saw Detective Muncy when she came to interview me in the hospital, she looked so tired and sad, and I'm so glad to see her looking so healthy and happy. Obviously, I had no idea she was your little one, mine is over there on the swings." Zara pointed to a little girl giggling happily on the swings.
"Well, I'm glad to see you doing well, I think Sergeant Tutuola sent your case file to our- oh, excuse me."
Olivia got up from the bench and hurried over to where Gracie was attempting to climb a tree, and not succeeding very well.
"No." Olivia gave Gracie a sharp pop on her tender thigh unprotected by her diaper. Gracie was a climber at every opportunity, but there was a specific rule at the playground that the little ones were not allowed to climb the trees. Gracie was familiar with the rule, she just didn't like it.
"Owie!" Gracie winced and gently rubbed her spanked thigh as Mommy set her back on her feet.
"Trees are not for climbing, young lady. I think you need to come sit on the bench with Mommy for ten minutes."
"But Mommy, no fair! Dat's too long!" Gracie whined as Mommy led her by the hand over to the bench, earning another pop.
"Don't whine. Would you rather sit in time-out for twenty minutes with a sore tushy?" Olivia spoke sternly, raising an eyebrow.
"No, Mommy. I's sitting." Gracie reluctantly sat down and folded her arms across her chest, pouting as she thought about all the fun she was missing. She was no fool, the spanking bench on the other side of the playground was totally a thing and she was going to keep her tender little tushy as far away from it as humanly possible, thank you very much. Mommy didn't bring the hairbrush with her to the playground, but Mommy's right hand was equally as sufficient, and there were plenty of little sticks laying around on the ground to use as a switch, an implement that Gracie had only experienced one time and had no desire to experience ever again. Gracie looked across the playground and saw that the spanking bench was currently occupied by a little girl who had her blue and yellow panties pulled down and was being switched on her bare bottom over her Daddy's lap while some of the other Mommies and Daddies nearby quietly warned their little ones to behave themselves to avoid a similar fate.
"Time-out is over, sweetie. If you think you can make good choices for the rest of the afternoon, you can get up and give Mommy a hug, then you can go play." Olivia spoke kindly ten minutes later.
"I's sowwy, Mommy. I loves you." Gracie jumped up from her captivity on the bench and happily gave Mommy a hug. Her sour attitude had melted away halfway through her time-out, and now she just wanted Mommy to hug her and kiss her and make her feel like a good girl again.
"You are all forgiven, baby, Mommy is so proud of you for sitting so quietly. Off you go; no more climbing trees, only the jungle gym or the monkey bars. Mommy loves you." Olivia spoke lovingly, gently kissing Gracie's temple and sending her mischievous little one off to play with an affectionate pat on her diaper. Gracie smiled and ran happily toward the jungle gym. When Gracie got tired of playing on the jungle gym and the monkey bars, she went over to the blacktop and sat down to draw with chalk, and she ended up joining a small group of little girls playing hopscotch.
"Mommy, I got a owie!" Olivia looked up from her phone when Gracie came running to her with unshed tears in her eyes and showed Mommy her skinned elbow from falling on the blacktop.
"Oh, poor baby. Let Mommy see." Olivia sympathetically examined Gracie's minor injury.
"I has a ban'-aid an' kisses, peeze?" Gracie's lower lip trembled.
"Of course." Olivia indulgently reached into her bag and pulled out a Blue's Clues band-aid and placed it over the scrape on Gracie's elbow, then she gently kissed Gracie's elbow and smiled. "There, all better now."
Gracie smiled, all traces of tears gone. She gave Mommy a hug and then ran off to join her new friends playing jump rope. Kisses made everything better.
Three days later, Olivia and Grace were still staying with Amanda. After talking about it with her big girl, Olivia had decided that she and Grace were going to move to another apartment, and they had moved all the rest of their things from their old apartment into Amanda's apartment while Olivia looked at available apartments to see if there was one that would work for them. Gracie was overjoyed to have her dollhouse back and her big girl side happily gave her opinion of all of the pictures of apartments that Olivia showed her online. Olivia was considering renting a house instead of renting from a building so that Gracie would have a yard to play in, and found several houses for rent close to the precinct.
Olivia and Amanda were in the kitchen dressed for work and having coffee when Grace breezed into the kitchen in her big girl form, also dressed for work and looking nervous, knowing that she needed to be a big girl today and just praying that she had the strength to make it through the day as a big girl. It wasn't helping that both she and Olivia had to have their interviews with IAB this afternoon and Olivia wasn't allowed to be in the room with her while she was being questioned. Olivia put down her coffee cup and opened her arms, and Grace practically flew into them, craving the affection she knew she would find there. Spending these last few days since Duarte's death solely as a baby girl had been extremely helpful and she was immensely grateful to Olivia for letting her be little.
"You're going to be fine today, sweetie. All you have to do is tell Tucker exactly what happened, just like being on the witness stand." Olivia said kindly to her young charge in her arms.
"I completely bombed the last time I was on the witness stand, and you spanked me for it." Grace pouted, and Olivia chuckled.
"Unfortunately, Ed Tucker tends to grate on all of our nerves, and he always looks like he smells something unpleasant, but his bark is worse than his bite. Just keep that radio of yours where it belongs and you'll be fine." Olivia smiled, tapping Grace on the nose.
Grace wrinkled her nose cutely and then turned to the cup of coffee Amanda had poured for her.
Later that afternoon, Olivia and Grace went to have their interviews with Ed Tucker. Olivia went in first, and Grace wasn't sure if not having to go first was a blessing or a curse, because the waiting was killing her. This was her first time having to deal with Ed Tucker directly and she'd heard stories about how rough he could be, especially on the detectives of the Special Victims Unit, who he seemed to have it out for at every available opportunity.
"...I pulled Detective Muncy out from under him, my detectives called the incident in to the department, and EMTs hauled the body away." Olivia explained the story for what seemed like the hundredth time.
"Why not shoot Duarte in the leg instead of the heart?" Tucker asked, almost accusingly.
"Have you forgotten Gun Protocol 101 already, Tucker? If you have to shoot, shoot to kill." Olivia replied.
"Why was Detective Muncy at your apartment in the first place?" Tucker inquired.
"After she left Duarte, she needed a place to stay, and as a friend I offered her my spare bedroom." Olivia stated simply.
"Doesn't that seem like a conflict of interest to you?"
"No. Just because she sleeps in my apartment at night and eats my food doesn't mean she gets special treatment in my squadroom. A few years back, I let another one of my detectives crash on my couch for a few nights after he separated from his wife. I treat all of my detectives equally. I can pull up Muncy's disciplinary file to prove it."
"Not necessary. We already spoke to your two detectives who arrived on the scene, your story matches theirs, and as long as Detective Muncy's story matches, I think we'll be done here. You're free to go, Captain." Tucker motioned toward the door.
Olivia waited until her back was turned to him to roll her eyes as she exited the interview room.
"Well, my lashing is over, now it's your turn. I'm going back to the precinct, I'm expecting a call from the SVU in Queens. Come back to the precinct when you're done with Tucker." Olivia instructed the young detective sitting nervously.
"Yes, Ma'am." Grace replied obediently, a small smile dancing on her lips when she received an encouraging squeeze to her shoulder as Olivia passed by her.
"Detective Muncy, join me." Grace looked up to see Ed Tucker standing in the doorway looking at her sternly and she gulped as she stood to her feet.
When her interview was finally over after what felt like hours, Grace was shaking inside as the baby girl and the big girl inside of her fought for dominance. Ed Tucker had poked at every last detail of Grace's story and all she could see was Duarte coming at her and falling on top of her. Grace stepped out the front door into the world, but instead of taking a left to go back to the precinct as she had been told, she turned right.
Olivia was beyond worried when it was almost time to clock out for the day and Grace still had not returned to the precinct from her interview with Tucker. All of her calls to Grace's cell phone were going to voicemail when Grace didn't answer her phone after the third ring.
"Gracie, answer Mommy. Where are you? Call me immediately, young lady." Olivia summoned her firm, maternal scolding voice as she left yet another message.
Olivia then dialed a number and spoke directly to Ed Tucker, asking if he had seen or heard from Detective Muncy.
"Haven't seen her, Captain. She left here about four hours ago." Tucker said, and hung up on her.
"Rude." Olivia muttered as she set her phone aside and stood from her desk to gather her things.
"Fin, I'm clocking out early, hold down the fort." Olivia ordered as she exited her office with her purse on her shoulder and her leather jacket draped over her arm.
"What am I supposed to hold down for ten minutes?" Fin replied in confusion as Olivia hurried out the door.
Olivia drove around in her car searching for Grace, trying not to let her panicking mind wander to the worst case scenario. Surely if Grace were in some kind of danger, she would have used her radio to call for backup. Grace had already been through hell, how much more could the universe possibly have in store for her? Finally, Olivia breathed a sigh of relief, pulled over to the curb, and got out of her car when she spotted a familiar face stumbling out of the bar, clearly intoxicated, trying to decide whether to hug her or strangle her.
"Grace Marie, what are you doing?"