Olivia's phone rang shortly before three o'clock, waking both women. The SVU lieutenant reached for her cell, pressing the "accept" button and holding the device to her ear as she yawned. "Benson."
Amanda watched as she listened carefully, her eyes becoming more awake by the second. The ADA cuddled into the other woman's side, knowing these would be their last few moments in bed together for some time. "Need me to come with you?" she mumbled groggily into the brunette's shoulder once she'd hung up, holding her body closer to her own as Liv's hand landed on her head. "I can call Lucy."
"No, love," Benson replied softly, soaking up the embrace and massaging Amanda's scalp. "You get a few more hours of sleep, and you can meet me at the station after you drop the kids off at school." Josh was usually okay for a few hours in the morning, and he was more than happy to help take care of the twins, but the two women did not want the young boy to be responsible for the smaller children, as he had been in his family's house. Olivia and Amanda had quickly set up a sitter for the little ones after they'd come to live with them, and the women paid her extra when she came over in the middle of the night with little notice.
"Okay," Rollins agreed quietly, the idea of going back to sleep enticing, though she would have been more enthusiastic about the prospect if Liv were going to stay with her. "As long as you're sure," she added, kissing the cop's cheek.
She hummed. "Yeah. I'm good." She pressed her skin to her wife's in one last hug, and then she quickly left the bed, pulling on clothes and grabbing her gun from the safe. "I'll see you later," she whispered into the blonde's lips, pecking them quickly. "I love you."
"Love you, baby," the attorney mumbled, already half asleep, and the last thing she remembered before her alarm went off was the gentle closing of the bedroom door.
She was scrambling eggs in the kitchen when the teenager trudged down the stairs, the two kindergarteners on his heels. "Can I visit my mom this weekend?" he asked Amanda once he arrived in the kitchen, beginning to pack himself a lunch.
"Sure, bud," she told him with a gentle smile, spooning eggs onto three plates. "Let me just clear it with your case worker, okay?" He nodded, going to sit at the kitchen table.
"'Manda," Tony piped up, kneeling on a chair to get a better view of the woman, "we have a spelling test today."
Francesca smiled, bouncing in her seat as Amanda placed plates in front of them. "We have an extra credit word this week. We get an extra point if we know how to spell it!"
She gave each child a cup of orange juice and toast—one triangle each for the twins and two for Josh. "What's the word?"
The little girl threw her hand out in front of Tony to prevent him from stealing her spotlight. "Justice. J-U-S-T-I-C-E."
"Very good, Chess," the blonde praised, ruffling the child's hair. "Do you know what that word means?"
"Fair," Francesca said confidently.
"And right," Tony supplied.
"It's like what Amanda and Olivia do for work," Josh told the five-year-olds. "They fight for justice by putting bad guys in jail."
Tony tipped his head to the side. "Bad guys like Daddy?"
"Yes," Amanda confirmed, nodding her head as she sipped her cup of coffee. "Bad guys like Daddy."
"J-U-S-T-I-C-E," the little girl recited under her breath, trying to commit the letters and their placement to memory. "J-U-S-T-I-C-E."
When Amanda arrived at the station, she knocked on the window of the interview room, summoning Benson. She handed her a fresh cup of coffee, and the brunette grunted gratefully. "So, what do we got?" the prosecutor asked.
