A/N: So, it's been about two years since I last added any chapters to this story. I bought a house, gutted the house and fixed it back up again, which took time and energy. I fell out of love with this story for a while as I reached a point that I got really stuck on. I'm kind of getting around that now so hopefully I will start to make progress with it again soon. I don't know if anyone is still reading this. If you are, you have my sincerest apologies and my deepest gratitude.
Having spent the last hour organising her paperwork to hand to her boss, as well as a prop for her big reveal to the boys, Amanda walked into Olivia's office just after lunch. She knocked on the frame as she passed through the open door. Liv looked up and smiled at the welcome intrusion. She watched as the blonde closed the door behind herself, then approached the desk.
"Hey, I brought you my report on the case from last week," the blonde explained handing a folder to Olivia across the desk. "And I want your opinion on this."
She walked around the desk, to the side where Olivia sat, and laid a second file in front of the brunette. She flicked the folder open showing Liv the contents. "What do you think?"
Liv smiled when she saw what the younger woman had prepared. There were two copies of the sonogram picture that they had been given at the clinic a couple of days ago. Across the white strip at the bottom, there was a message written in Amanda's neat handwriting. One said 'Hi Uncle Fin!', the other said 'Hi Uncle Sonny!'. Underneath, there were two unsealed envelopes waiting for the pictures, one addressed to Detective Tutuola and one to Detective Carisi.
"Amanda, this is such a sweet idea," Liv said, studying one of the pictures closely. She had slipped the copy Dr Lucas had given to her into her wallet, alongside the one she had been given by Dr Mills a few weeks ago. They made her smile every time she caught sight of them. "When were you planning to give them these?" She passed the photo back to the blonde so that she could put it into the waiting envelope, seal it and place it back in the folder with its counterpart.
"Today at some point," the blonde said, chewing her thumb nail, nervously. "I don't want it spreading around the whole precinct right now, but you're right, the guys deserve to know." She turned and perched on the edge of the desk right next to Olivia.
Behind the desk where she couldn't be seen through the window, Liv reached out a supportive hand, resting it just below Amanda's knee, her fingers curling lightly around the younger woman's calf, the pad of her thumb stroking gently across her knee.
"I mean," Amanda chuckled, running her hand across her lower belly, "pretty soon everyone is gonna notice. But I'd like to be the one to tell Fin and Carisi." She looked at Liv who just nodded in understanding. "I wondered if I could tell them both together in here? That way we could have a little more privacy."
"Of course," Liv nodded, she glanced out to the bullpen, seeing that both her male detectives were sat at their respective desks, their heads bent over their files. "Do you want me to call them in now?"
Amanda's eyes went wide with instant panic. "W-what do I say to them?" She asked, standing and pacing around the front of the desk once more. She had been trying to work out how to break the news to the two men she considered brothers, but so far had come up mostly empty.
Liv thought for a moment a small line appearing between her eyebrows as they furrowed in concentration. After a minute, her expression cleared, "I think I have an idea," she smirked, "do you trust me?"
"Liv, of course I trust you." Amanda stood opposite the brunette, folding her arms across her chest. "What are you thinking?"
"You'll see," Liv answered, her smirk becoming a full-on grin, showing off her perfect white teeth, "just follow my lead. Okay?"
Amanda couldn't help but return the smile. She nodded, and as Liv moved towards the office door, she began closing the blinds.
Olivia schooled her features into a serious expression as she opened the door. "Carisi! Fin! My office, now!" She yelled across the squad room. She caught sight of the two men looking worriedly at one another, wondering what they could have done to warrant the ass-chewing they seemed about to receive. She disappeared back into her office before they got there, quickly directing Amanda to sit in the armchair in the corner of the office, handing the blonde her 'prop' folder.
By the time the two men appeared in the doorway, Fin had his poker face on, but Sonny still looked a little nervous. The pair looked askance at their lieutenant, who simply pointed to the small sofa adjacent to the armchair Amanda now occupied. "Sit," she barked, her expression unreadable.
As they moved towards the corner to take their assigned seats, Liv closed the door behind them, then grabbed one of the chairs from the front of her desk, spun it, and sat down to face the three detectives in front of her.
"I called you in here to tell you that I have a very important case coming in, which you need to be aware of. It's not happening just yet but you deserve a heads up." She eyed all three of her team members. Fin was his normal calm and collected self, leaning back with his arms folded, head on one side as he took in her news. Carisi looked less worried now, but sat poker straight, paying rapt attention. Amanda was doing her best to hide her surprise at the story Liv was telling, but there was a glimmer of amusement in those azure eyes as they met Olivia's.
"We are going to have an infant coming into our custody soon, in need of our protection." The lieutenant explained, seriously, "Now, the mother is a VIP and I need to make sure you are all capable of handling this case." She saw the two men look at each other with surprised expressions, they were intrigued.
Olivia turned her attention to the blonde woman in the armchair. "Rollins already knows the particulars of the case, so I'll let her fill you boys in on the specifics. Amanda?" She turned her head to such an angle that the boys couldn't see her wink at the younger woman.
Amanda smiled, trying hard not to burst out laughing. Clearing her throat, she said, "Thanks, Lieu," and turned to the boys who wore almost identical serious yet confused expressions. She opened the file in her hands and extracted the two envelopes, handing them to the men to open. "This should give you all the information you need." She said, biting her lip to stop herself grinning too widely.
It was comical, the way they looked at the pictures in their hands, then across at each other's pictures. They gave one another a perplexed frown, then looked at Liv, who grinned, tilting her head towards Amanda. The two men followed her gaze to the blonde with questioning looks. She nodded and smiled, "yes, it's me. I'm pregnant!"
Anyone passing by the office at that time might have thought they were passing Yankee stadium as the batter hit a home run, the cheering was so loud.
Liv laughed as she watched her two male detectives jump up and hug Amanda, then jump around like toddlers in celebration, chest bumping and high fiving. She stood and took Amanda into a tight hug. "Do you think they are happy about it?" She muttered in the younger woman's ear, still grinning.
Fin turned to the brunette then, "hey Liv, how long have you known about this?" He asked, a slight frown on his face.
Olivia looked from Fin to Amanda, a mildly guilty look on her face. "A while." She admitted, sheepishly.
Fin's frown turned to hurt, "You told Liv and not me? I'm your partner!" He said, indignantly.
"Technically I didn't tell her," Amanda defended herself quickly, "she figured it out herself. There's a good reason she is a lieutenant you know?" Amanda bumped shoulders with the older man, giving him a half-smile, trying to pacify him. "She's pretty smart." She winked at Olivia over Fin's shoulder. Liv went slightly pink and gave an embarrassed smile back.
"Fair 'nuff," Fin acknowledged grudgingly.
"Anyway, even if she hadn't worked it out it was pretty hard to miss, once I moved into her place, with me throwin' up every five minutes!" quipped the blonde. They all laughed.
"I thought you were sick or somethin', but you're okay?" Sonny asked, placing a hand on Amanda's shoulder. "You're happy about this?"
Amanda fought the urge to roll her eyes at the young Italian detective's question, knowing that he meant well. "Well it was a surprise but, yes, Carisi, I'm very happy," she laid a hand over his on her shoulder, "Liv has been helping me so much, and I know I can count on you guys too." She smiled from one to the other of her male colleagues.
"Sure thing, baby girl," Fin grinned, placing his hand on her other shoulder. "You know we gotcha back."
"Alright, alright," Liv said in a falsely stern tone as she moved back behind her desk, "that's enough mushy stuff, get the hell outta my office and back to work!" The others laughed but started to make their way to the door, the boys jostling and goading one another about who was gonna be the favourite uncle.
"Wait a second, Rollins. Come take a seat for a minute." Liv said in a kind voice, that nevertheless left no room for argument. So Amanda sat, looking expectantly at her lieutenant as she took the seat opposite. "We need to talk about your work schedule over the next few months."
Amanda sighed, she had known they would be having this conversation sooner or later, but that didn't make it any more welcome. "You're puttin' me on desk duty already?" She asked, frustration clear in her tone. "Liv, I'm pregnant, not terminal. You don't have to treat me like some china doll that's gonna break." She ended the sentence with a huff, folded her arms across her chest and looked away. She glared at a picture on the wall from Olivia's Sergeant's Promotion Ceremony, noticing, even in her irritation, how sexy Liv looked in her dress blues. She bit her lip to prevent herself from saying something she might regret, on either a personal or professional level.
Olivia had known Amanda wouldn't take kindly to the idea of desk duty; she was the sort of person that needed to be active. She was torn between exasperation at the blonde's insistence that she didn't need to slow down, and amusement at her childish reaction to not getting her own way.
"Amanda, before you get mad at me for something that is beyond my control, would you at least listen to what I have to say?" asked Liv, raising an eyebrow and trying hard to keep the amusement from her face. Amanda looked adorable when she was sulking.
Amanda turned her glare back to the brunette, after a moment she relaxed her posture slightly. "Fine." She muttered. "What d'ya wanna tell me?"
"Look, I haven't told the chief about… your situation, yet. I won't do that until it's absolutely necessary. He would chain you to a desk immediately, but I'm not going to do that. I know it wouldn't be helpful for you, so I'm going to make you a deal, okay?"
Amanda nodded, silently asking her lieutenant to continue.
"I was thinking that you can still do some fieldwork, but I'm going to be a bit more selective about what assignments you go out on," Olivia explained. "I don't want you in any unnecessary danger, so I will let you talk to victims, witnesses, families and do some canvassing work." She listed off on her fingers. "I won't have you chasing down perps, or interrogating them."
She saw the blonde about to object, and held up a hand to silence her, "Amanda please? Please just think about your safety for a minute. Your safety, and the baby's. Look at what happened with Handley. And with the Turner case the other week, you were thrown into a wall, and it could have been a hell of a lot worse."
The blonde closed her mouth, and swallowed, somewhat bitterly, conceding that her boss had a point.
Olivia continued, "I'm already allowing you a lot of latitude with this, protocol dictated that I should have you on desk duty for the duration." She reached forward to take the younger woman's hand, making Amanda meet her gaze. "I'm trusting you to let me know if it becomes too much, and we'll modify as and when we need to. I want what's best for you and the baby."