Picture Prompt #88: Dad fixing his daughter's hair

Fixin' My Hair (The Way You Fixed My Heart)

~oOo~

Detective Amanda Rollins was rushing through the breakfast preparations. Her husband ADA Dominick Carisi, was in charge of getting their three daughters, Jesse, Billie, and Finley ready for the day.

He, according to their oldest daughter, was the only one who could do her hair right.

It was nothing new. Carisi had been helping her with Jesse and Billie from the beginning, before he and Amanda were even together.

Today, though, it was three daughters he was doing the morning routine with, and Amanda was especially in a hurry. It was her first day back with the NYPD, and she was about to be late.

It felt like a second homecoming, returning to the One-Six. She had tried teaching for a while, taking a position as a professor at Fordham. She had thought she couldn't handle being a detective after almost losing her life to a hitman's bullet. She had been in a coma for hours, and while she had awakened and been physically ok, the incident had left her with PTSD. She was constantly on edge. After several weeks, she decided she couldn't do her job the way she had before. Her family needed to come first. She married ADA Dominick Carisi and he had adopted her two daughters from previous relationships. Not long after, Amanda and Carisi discovered that she was pregnant with their first child together.

Amanda was about six months along when she began to feel discontent for her life. Not with her family, never with Carisi and her girls, but definitely with her job. She couldn't understand it. She loved her students. She loved helping to form the next generation of detectives and agents and forensics experts. But she couldn't help feeling that something was missing.

Detective Elliot Stabler was the first to notice. He had approached her about consulting on a case and made an observation.

"Your eyes lit up while we were discussing the case. There was a spark that wasn't there when I was watching you giving the lecture to your class."

Amanda had to admit that the man was right. But how could she admit that to her husband? He had helped her get the job and had been so happy and proud when she had accepted the position. It also meant she could spend more time with him and the girls.

But a few days later, after opening up about her feelings to her best friend and former captain, Olivia Benson, she realized that her happiness was important too.

"Talk to Carisi. Tell him how you are really feeling. He loves you, Amanda. Your happiness is what makes him happy."

Amanda did talk to her husband that very night. As it turned out, Carisi had already figured out that his wife wasn't entirely happy. He was just waiting for her to figure it out for herself and come clean with him.

"'Manda, if you wanna go back to the NYPD, you should. You're a great cop. It's in your blood. If you feel comfortable going back, I want you to."

"But you worried about me when I was out there," Amanda protested.

Carisi sighed. "Amanda, you help people. That's why you became a detective in the first place. You can do that best as a cop. Better than you can as a professor. I…I just want you to be happy."

Finally, Amanda made her decision. The next day, she called Olivia, who told her that there would be a job waiting for her as soon as she had finished maternity leave. She would have to requalify, but the SVU captain had utmost faith in her friend.

Three months later, the Carisi family welcomed their newest addition, Finley Olivia Carisi, named after the family's two closest friends.

A couple of weeks later, Amanda's good friend, SVU Sergeant Odafin Tutuola began training with her. With Fin's help, Amanda was ready to be reinstated within a month.

Now she had just a half hour to get out the door.

While she was fixing the bacon, she heard the sweet sounds of her girls' laughter as Carisi was fixing their hair.

"Do me now, Daddy! Do me!" Billie squealed.

A few moments later, the three girls and their daddy entered the kitchen and Amanda's eyes widened at what she saw.

Jesse's hair was now purple and Billie's was pink. Besides that, Jesse had two Pippi Longstocking-style braids sticking straight out of her head and Billie had ten tiny braids sticking straight up on her head.

"What the…" was all Amanda managed to get out.

"It's Crazy Hair Day at school, Mama. Didn't Daddy do a good job?" Jesse asked.

Carisi shrugged. "I figured, why not go all out?"

Amanda gave a breathless chuckle. "You sure did that!"

The family sat down for a quick breakfast, then Amanda got her badge and gun before kissing her family goodbye and heading to the precinct.

Carisi sent the two oldest girls to brush their teeth as he cleaned up the kitchen. Then, once the sitter arrived, the rest of the family headed out, him to work, and the older girls to school.

At work, Amanda relayed the morning's events and they all had a good laugh.

"You've got a good man, there, Rollins," Fin observed.

"Don't I know it," Amanda agreed.

A few nights later, Amanda and Carisi were on the couch in front of the TV, trying to unwind. Correction. Carisi was on the couch and Amanda was on the floor leaning back against his legs. Carisi had Amanda's hairbrush and was slowly brushing out his wife's hair.

"Ahh. Jesse's right. You are awesome at this."

Carisi smiled. "Well I have a lot of sisters and nieces and now daughters. I've had quite a bit of practice."

With those words, he expertly twisted her hair up into a messy bun and wrapped the hair rubber band around it.

"Thank you," Amanda said softly.

"It was nothing. I can do way more complicated dos than a bun," Carisi quipped.

Amanda laughed, but then got serious again. Climbing up onto the couch and snuggling against her husband, she said, "I don't mean just the hair. Sonny, you've been there for me since we became partners. Before the girls even existed. You've fixed their hair and their meals and even their boo-boos over the years, and by being there, by showing me what real love was, what a real family could look like, you fixed my heart. You're my everything, Sonny. You and our girls."

Carisi leaned forward and kissed his wife deeply.

"You and the girls are everything to me, too, 'Manda. I love you so much."

Amanda took Carisi's face in her hands and deepened the kiss even more, before cuddling further into his shoulder.

"And I love you, Dominick Carisi Jr. With all of my heart. My mended, very full heart."

The author of this SVU - Quills & Shutters story will be revealed in October