Tangled Webs II: Normal For The Spider - An SVU fic

15.Aftermath

Cassidy home...

"I'm over it!" Alex declared with a sigh as she finished wrapping the last of the many gifts she and Brian had bought for the children for Christmas. "Tell me again why we bought so much?" She asked and took off her glasses, pinching the space between her tired eyes while squeezing them shut.

"Don't be a Grinch" Brian said, finishing with the box in front of him and adding it to the massive pile that sat in the middle of the dining room. "Christmas is the only time we indulge them like this. Plus..." he continued as he pulled her onto his lap so that they were facing one another, her long legs straddling his lap "It's Jakey's first real Christmas that he'll know what's going on and be able to enjoy it with the rest of the kids. God, you smell so good!" he said as he began sensually nuzzling her neck while pulling her closer.

"Speaking of kids... babe, that feels good!" she sighed, wrapping her arms around his neck while his lips continued on hers, trailing ever lower...

"Hmmm?" he hummed against her skin, his fingers quickly undoing the buttons of her blouse. His teeth skimming her collarbone before his lips lightly sucked and kissed her there.

"I think I want another baby" Brian stopped cold and looked up at her

"Babe, do not say things you don't mean because I have no doubt that I can get you pregnant right now, in this chair!"

"I'm serious. I mean I know it's crazy, we already have five and we said we were done but we're still fairly young and we're both in great health and I don't know if maybe it's being around Liv and watching her belly grow that's giving me baby fever all over again but I really want one! So can we...please?"

"You really want five - or maybe six boys running around here?"

"I'm hoping that we'll get a girl this time" she smiled.

Their moment was cut short by Brian's phone suddenly ringing "You should tell your girlfriend not to call so late" she joked. He shook his head and laughed as he removed his phone from his pocket.

"It's Travis. Hey man...WHAT?"

***

Phelps Memorial hospital...

Eerie. As they all sat and stood around the hospital waiting room, they were all haunted with an eerie sense of déjà vu, reminded of a time not so long ago when they found themselves in the same situation, Trevor feeling it the most; his wife and child, both their lives at risk while he sat here able to do nothing but wait, except this time around, instead of just the child that Olivia carried inside her, their oldest was fighting for her life on an operating table as well and Trevor was completely overcome with helplessness.

"Here, drink this, you need it!" Brian said as he sat beside Trevor and handed him a paper cup

"I don't want coffee" Trevor could feel his nerves coming further undone with each passing second

"It's not coffee" Brian said. Trevor took the cup with a shaky hand, relieved when the smell of alcohol hit his nostrils as he raised the dark liquid to his mouth and downed the whole cup in one swallow before crushing it in his hand.

"They're gonna be okay" Amanda assured him "...They have to be"

"I should have been the one to pull that trigger" Trevor murmured

"What?" Fin asked, not having heard him properly

"I said, I should have been the one to pull that trigger" Trevor repeated

"Trevor..." Brian started

"He's a floor down from my wife and daughter, lying in a hospital bed and he'll probably never answer for what he's done to them; not to me or to the law... he just gets to lie there and sleep while my wife and children are fighting to stay alive. I should have been there...I should have been the one to end his miserable life, to tear him apart with my bare hands, to make him suffer the way me made my wife and daughter suffer! The way he made Casey suffer and Liz..." he couldn't contain the angry tears that fell from his eyes and made him tremble with rage.