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It wasn’t often that Olivia got a chance to dress up, so when she got invited to the retirement party of an officer she had known since her early days as a detective, she jumped at the chance to go. The problem? She wasn’t fully convinced about the dress she picked for the occasion and her usual judges — Elliot being the primary and Jocelyn being the backup — were presently unavailable.
Still, it didn’t stop her from sending Elliot a text — which one? — with pictures of the two dresses she couldn’t decide between. The first was a magenta dress with an asymmetrical neckline that had been used in an undercover stint to expose FBI agent Dean Porter as a dirty agent. The second dress was maroon and a newer addition to her wardrobe. It had a deep V neck that she knew Elliot would love, especially with the peony necklace he’d given her during their first Christmas together sitting proudly against her bare skin. However, it showed the fuller curves and additional weight she had gained since giving birth.
If Elliot was here, she wasn’t sure he’d let her leave the room.
She loved the color on herself but she wasn’t sure if she liked how much the dress hugged her new figure. But she’d already spent twenty minutes meticulously judging these two dresses without a response from Elliot and Lucy was here and Jocelyn was waiting for her to pick her up at school, so she had no time to pick another dress.
“What do you think Annalise?” She asked as she turned around. “Do you think mommy looks nice?”
She looked down at herself and ran her hands down the dress until she reached her waist. She looked at the area of the floor where Annalise was currently on her belly when she heard her begin to babble, letting out a series of “ba ba ba’s” before topping it off with a high pitched “aaah!” and a grin.
Olivia chuckled as she walked across the room. “You’re not a good person to ask,” she said while bending over. “You’re just happy that mommy’s here.”
She was already blowing raspberries against her cheek the second she had her close enough to her face. She grabbed her purse off the bed and slung it over her shoulder before holding Annalise with both hands. One hand only briefly pulled away from her to open the bedroom door and close it behind them.
“Be good for Lucy, sweet girl,” she said as they came into Lucy’s view. “I’ll be back tonight.”
“She’s always such an angel,” Lucy said with a smile. She looked at Annalise. “We’ll have lots of fun, won’t we?”
Annalise merely cooed in response as Olivia placed a final kiss to her head and handed her over to Lucy.
“You look beautiful, by the way.”
Olivia smiled softly. “Thank you.”
Not that she was fully convinced, of course, because Lucy was the babysitter. Not to say she didn’t trust Lucy’s word, but she was paying her. Of course she’d feel compelled to compliment her.
“Elliot should be home in a few hours. If he’s not, I’ll be back by ten.”
Lucy nodded. “Sounds good. Have fun.”
“I will.”
Olivia walked over to the front door, the sound of her heels filling the apartment. She grabbed her coat and looked over her shoulder.
“Bye bye Annalise.” She waved her hand like adults always waved at children and babies; with her four fingers pressed together and bending at the biggest knuckle to nearly touch her palm. “I love you.”
“Say bye bye mama,” Lucy said, looking at Annalise and waving her hand at Olivia in a similar fashion.
The sound of Annalise’s babbles was the last thing to fill Olivia’s ears as she left the apartment.
——————————
The pickup line at Jocelyn’s school was as busy as always, dozens of kids simultaneously grouped together and in their own smaller groups as they took advantage of the final few minutes of the day that they had with their friends while waiting for their parents. Olivia managed to find an open spot almost right in front of the school’s entrance. She didn’t bother looking through the sea of teenagers until she rounded the car. Usually she would spot Jocelyn and her friends merely seconds before they spotted her.
Today, they found her first.
A chorus of whistles — including a wolf whistle or two — drew her attention away from the school’s entrance and off to the side a ways to find half a dozen teenagers, Jocelyn included, staring right at her with various looks of shock and awe.
“You clean up nice Ms. Benson-Stabler!”
“You look really pretty!”
“Woah,” Liv, Jocelyn’s best friend, said as she looked her over from head to toe.
The commotion from Jocelyn’s friends drew the attention of teenagers nearby who looked toward Olivia too. Some of them appeared disinterested, others raised an eyebrow or briefly parted their lips, and Olivia swore she heard a whisper or two involving “MILF.”
“I feel like we should all be more respectful right now,” Maria said as she shot a look toward the couple of teenagers she overheard. It didn’t stop her from adding her own comment though. “But wow, she looks hot.”
Jocelyn snapped her head toward Maria, visibly alarmed. “Oh my god, do you have a crush on my mom?”
“I thought we established that Jaylen was the one with the crush,” Trevor told her.
As if on cue, Jaylen’s voice carried above the others, an acquired gift from being the captain of the basketball team.
“Damn Ms. B!” He yelled as he openly looked her over, walking over with the rest of the group. “You’re lookin’ fine!”
Of all the reactions she generated from the teenagers in the immediate vicinity, it was the genuine reaction of Jocelyn’s friends that had her smiling, rolling her eyes, and discreetly shaking her head a couple of times, grateful that her hair was long enough nowadays to hopefully hide the way her cheeks darkened from the unexpected attention.
“Guys,” Jocelyn laughed, a little embarrassed at how much her friends were staring at her mom.
“What?” Mayra questioned, standing a few feet away from the group. “We can’t help it if your mom’s a total—“
Jocelyn covered her ears with a grimace. “I beg you not to finish that sentence,” she winced.
She took a few steps away from her friends and tried to focus on her mom rather than how hot her face felt. From the curl on the ends of her hair and the full face of makeup to the beautiful dress she had picked out, she felt inclined to agree with her very vocal friends.
“You really do look beautiful,” she smiled. She looked over her shoulder. “What do you think guys, do we need a twirl?”
The girls in the small group were quick to agree with enthusiastic head nods and grins. Despite shaking her head, Olivia still humored the teenagers and gave them a basic turn around with her arms outstretched so more of her dress could be seen from beneath her long black coat.
“What’s the occasion?” Jocelyn asked.
“Officer Lancaster’s retirement party, remember?” Olivia replied.
“Oh yeah! I remember you and dad talking about it a few weeks ago. Isn’t he supposed to go with you?”
“He was supposed to, but it looks like work is going to keep him later than he thought.”
Maria swore her jaw hit the sidewalk. “You got all dressed up with no date?”
“Give me five minutes to change Ms. B, I’ll be your date,” Jaylen said quickly.
“No way, she’s looking for an actual gentleman to take her,” Trevor teased.
Olivia chuckled at the boys fighting over her. “I have a different plus one in mind. And without looking at my watch, I know I need to go if I want to get there on time.”
She and Jocelyn parted ways with the group after saying their goodbyes. Jocelyn gently nudged her shoulder during the short walk back to the car, looking over at her.
“I’m sorry dad can’t come with you.”
It would’ve been their first evening out together since he left SVU, and Jocelyn felt like it would have been the final piece of the puzzle to show that they were okay again. Things hadn’t exactly been smooth sailing between them despite how hard her mom tried to make it look like it was. Jocelyn could read the room. She knew her dad had messed up big time in how abruptly he chose to leave, not to mention the dark place he slid into before that point.
Olivia looked at her. “Me too. He was really looking forward to it.”
“Who do you plan to take with you in his place?”
Olivia studied her full face of makeup, her still styled hair, and the casual clothes she had changed into after having her pictures done before letting her gaze flicker to the bookbag hanging on her shoulders and the sports bag hanging on her arm.
“I was wondering if you’d want to go with me,” she said, her voice softening a little. “It’s been a little while since you and I have gotten to do anything together. Unless you’ve got a lot of homework to do.”
“I got a chunk of it done during study hall,” Jocelyn replied, already grinning. “I’d love to go with you.”
She interrupted her mom’s stride with a hug so big it made her stumble into the front passenger side of the car, her sports bag thumping against her a couple of times before settling against her. Olivia let out a laugh and wrapped her arms around her the best she could.
“Your picture outfit isn’t too wrinkled by now, is it?”
“No. I had it hanging on a hanger in my locker and only folded it between my fifth and sixth periods so I could get out of the chaos faster after the final bell. You’re not gonna make me change in the car, are you?” She pulled away from the hug to look at her, a frown already forming at the idea.
Olivia blinked, visibly caught off guard that Jocelyn would assume such a thing. She reached up and tucked a section of hair behind her ear. “I’d never make you do something like that, sweetie.”
As an SVU detective, just the idea rubbed her the wrong way. She took her sports bag and put it in the back seat while Jocelyn slid into the passenger seat and put her bookbag on the floor.
She rounded the car and slid into the driver seat. “You can change in the bathroom when we get there.”
She just turned the key in the ignition when she heard her phone vibrate in her purse. Being the more flexible one between them, Jocelyn automatically reached in the back and grabbed her purse off the back seat. Olivia uttered a quick “thanks” and dug through it for her phone. The screen lit up with a lockscreen of a wedding picture of her and Elliot that Jocelyn had taken.
The sole notification waiting for her was from Elliot.
Elliot
Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I say go with the second dress. I got time for a quick call, if you need me to help chase away those pesky insecure thoughts.
Olivia pursed her lips together to stifle the full smile that wanted to surface. He always did know how to read her, even when they weren’t around each other. It was a blessing and a curse sometimes, because it meant she never had to say things outright but it also meant he could call out anything she was trying to hide.
As much as she enjoyed the phone calls they shared when they could nowadays, she knew this call would leave her wanting to make up some family emergency to have him leave work early to take care of a different issue. Besides, those thoughts had been chased away in the most unexpected way. But she would tell him about that later.
Olivia
Jocelyn’s in the car. Rain check?
Elliot
You bet ;). Have fun. Love u.
Olivia
Love u too
As she pulled out into the street, she made the mental note to not be in a rush for later to come, even as the thought of his hands on her already had her gripping the wheel a little tighter.