Everything Changes

Dropping The Children Off

After the park, Amanda and Nick spent the rest of the day together deciding how they would spend their Saturday entertaining a three-year-old and a one-year-old. Eventually, they came up with taking them to The Bronx Zoo. When Amanda called Olivia and Bedelia about it, they were both excited to be sending their kids to such a fun place, but they promised to have them ready and on time in the morning.

"Nick?"

"Hm?"

"What do you suppose my mom and Olivia are going to talk about on their outing?"

The couple were both completely ready for the zoo and eagerly awaiting the arrival of their guests. Unsurprisingly, Amanda's head was up in the clouds again.

"Us?" Nick suggested. "Maggie Blue and Noah, each other, who knows? Nothing that we need to worry about."

"Do you think so?"

"One of them would have told us."

Knowing that Bedelia really was working on turning over a new leaf and that Olivia loved both her and Nick like they were her own children, Amanda found herself nodding in agreement.

"Good point."

She let out a breath and held her hand to the top right side of her slightly distended middle, giving it a soothing rub, trying to get through to her offspring below the surface.

"That's going to take some getting used to."

"What is it?" Nick asked interestedly.

"I can feel them both wiggling around in there. The doctor said I shouldn't feel kicks for quite some time, but wiggling? I can totally feel that."

"You still think there's more than one?"

Amanda nodded and used her hands to show off the shape of her ever-growing midsection. "Oh, yes. An opinion like that doesn't change overnight, buddy. But what does need to change is the number of articles of maternity clothing I have... and the sizes, too. Wow..."

Nick wasn't sure how to respond to that, so when the doorbell finally rang, he occupied himself with distracting Frannie Mae so she didn't pounce on their visitors as Amanda opened the door to let them in. Maggie Blue and Noah were polite and greeted their hosts, but they made straight for Frannie Mae to give her hugs and kisses.

While that was happening, Amanda decided to give Bedelia a quick tour of her apartment (she had cleaned it thoroughly just for that) so that left Nick and Olivia as the last two standing.

"Bedelia and Maggie Blue are a neighborhood away from us," Olivia told Nick as they set the kids' carseats aside. "So we picked them up. Noah and Maggie Blue bonded on the way over."

Nick raised an eyebrow; he knew about the hotrod car she owned, but knew nothing of her having a fully functioning family vehicle.

"Liv, you have a car?"

"A minivan, actually, because that way, I can put Noah into his carseat without hurting myself, and the trunk space also makes it easy to carry his toys and stroller, too."

"I remember those days," Nick reminisced. "And we could have done with a van, but it didn't happen. Maybe this time around."

Now it was Olivia's turn to raise an eyebrow. "You know something I don't?"

"I would very much like to not sleep on the couch tonight, so I'm going to go ahead and say no."

Olivia just laughed at him and then dug into her purse, looking for something.

"Digging for buried treasure?" Nick joked.

"Ha ha." the sergeant responded sarcastically as she pulled out a business envelope and handed it to him. "We've spending money for your expedition."

"Olivia, we couldn't."

"You can, and you will." she curled his fingers over the envelope, strengthening his hold on it. "Half of it's from Bedelia, I think it would make her sad if you rejected it."

Recognizing a guilt trip when he saw it, the detective caved and tucked the envelope into the back pocket of his jeans.

"Thanks, Liv."

"You're welcome, and good call."

"What's a good call?" Amanda asked as she and Bedelia reentered the room.

"Nothing." Nick and Olivia said in unison.

Amanda and Bedelia laughed, also in unison, which was already creepy because they looked just alike. The creepy factor upped itself in Nick's book when he realized that even the Rollins women's laughs were the same.

Nick just shuddered and then glanced at the clock to make note of the time.

"Well, don't let us hold you up." He said to Olivia. "Amanda and I can take it from here."

Olivia realized what he was driving at and looked around for Noah. "Now where did my silly boy run off to?"

Olivia was used to leaving Noah with a babysitter, but it was a little harder for Bedelia because up until that point, she was used to taking Maggie Blue everywhere with her.

The parting of the ways was eventually managed, and before long, Amanda and Nick found themselves parked on the couch, each with a kid in their lap.

Neither Maggie Blue nor Noah were sad to see their mothers go, though, because they'd been told that they were getting an exciting surprise and now they were excited to see what it was.

"Bluebell, did mama or Olivia tell you where we're going today?" Amanda asked her sister.

"No." Maggie Blue said innocently as beside her, Noah shook his head.

"We're going on an adventure!"

Noah was a boy of few words, but he knew what the word adventure meant, so he sat up, showing interest as Maggie Blue reacted to that word, too.

"To where?" she asked, lighting up.

"The zoo!"

It was Noah who really knew that word. Olivia loved to take him to different fun places to play, and the zoo was a place they both liked.

"Zoo!" he clapped his hands in delight. "Zoo! Zoo!"

Maggie Blue was happy but nervous. "The zoo, AJ? I've never been there before..."

In an effort to ease her sister's nerves, Amanda held Maggie Blue's hands and hers and pressed kisses to her tiny fingertips. "I promise you that we can do whatever you and Noah want, and that we're all going to have so much fun!"

Maggie Blue's woes vanished and she flashed Amanda a happy smile before looking to Nick for some reassurance.

"Will it?" she asked.

"Yes!" he told her enthusiastically. "Do you like animals, little Blueberry?"

Positively ticked to have a nickname from her cool Uncle Nick, Maggie Blue nodded. "So much!"

"What's your favorite?"

Maggie Blue didn't have to think twice about that. "Lions!"

She promptly slid off Amanda's lap and pranced around the living room, pretending to be her favorite animal. Noah followed suit and even got Maggie Blue to join in pretending that Frannie Mae was a lion and that they had to catch her.

Amanda and Nick watched the pair both of them, very amused by the scene unfolding. They were also thinking, though neither would admit to the other, that this was a sign that they should really be preparing for more than one baby.

But they still had three more weeks until they'd be finding out if Amanda had been right all along.

For now, they would just enjoy the present.