41—(The Last Chapter)

The smell of breakfast emanating from the kitchen was the only reason Sarah dragged herself from bed. She rubbed her temples and then pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to find the exact root of her throbbing headache. On the way to the kitchen she stopped in the bathroom and rummaged around for aspirin or ibuprofen, anything to numb the pain shooting through her skull.

Brooke heard her and called, "It's out here."

"Thank God," Sarah muttered. She swiped the bottle from Brooke's hand and shook out four tablets. "Fuck we drank a lot last night."

Brooke pushed the bacon around in the pan. "Yes we did. And now, instead of relaxing and getting my head straight for tomorrow, I'm gonna spend the whole day hungover."

Sarah opened the refrigerator. In addition to a bottle of seltzer she pulled out a large item wrapped in white butcher paper. "What's this?"

"The prime rib Sonny ordered but we didn't eat."

"Why didn't we eat it?"

"Miscommunication. Gram was making all that stuff so we figured we'd keep this for some other time."

Sarah returned the bulky piece of meat to where it had been and washed down her Advil with the carbonated water, wincing as it burned her throat. "I do not remember getting home. How did we get home?" She looked at her older sister with wide eyes which were ringed with smeared makeup.

"Cab," Brooke answered.

"Did Sonny spend the night?"

"No, he went home. Remember? You and Isaac came back here and he was already gone. We went out again? Isaac bought all those fucking shots? Goddamn."

"He's filthy rich." Sarah put her head on the island, "Ahhh, this is nice and cool. I just wanna be cold right now and for this Advil to work. How badly did I make a fool out of myself?"

"Before or after you asked about me and Sonny getting married?"

Sarah scrunched up her face. "What?"

Brooke divided the scrambled eggs, bacon, and English muffins between two plates and slid one over to Sarah. "You don't remember that?"

"Oh, shit, what I said at Dad's? That was an innocent little comment about Sonny being so formal all the damn time." Sarah took a tiny bite of the bacon. "Ugh. This may come right back up." She chewed slowly and swallowed. "Okay. Okay. Not bad." Confident she could keep the bite down, she interrogated Brooke. "Why did you get so freaked out about that anyway?"

"He already wants to move in with me," Brooke sounded exasperated, "When you said that it…it literally made me almost throw up."

Sarah closed her eyes and put a hand up, "Please, let's not talk about throwing up. I'm struggling."

Not feeling great herself, Brooke conceded, "Well, it made me feel…bad. Everyone—you, Dad, Grandma, I think Olivia—you all want this thing, I think more than me. It's weird. Everything could be perfect if I wanted it to be…and I just don't."

"Why not?" Sarah went to the refrigerator and got a beer. "Don't look at me like that." Brooke had shot her a motherly glare. "I need to eat, drink this, and go back to bed."

"Whatever," Brooke muttered, "Your liver is probably half dead."

"Stop avoiding the question."

"What question?"

Sarah rolled her eyes, "Why is it that you're the only one on earth who doesn't want you and Sonny to be together?"

"It's not that. It's…I'm so awkward with all of this."

Sarah took another small bite, this time of the eggs. "You don't seem awkward."

"It feels awkward."

"It doesn't look awkward. The only thing that did was you yesterday when Sonny tried to put his arm around you."

"I didn't think anyone saw that."

"Livvie did. And I did. And I was gonna say something but she changed the subject."

"It didn't matter at that point. I couldn't get it out of my head and I had to get outta there."

"Did you even invite Sonny up?"

"No," Brooke buttered the second half of her English muffin, "He's working today and said he needed some sleep, he knew something was wrong, so he went home."

Sarah swilled her beer. "He didn't say anything?"

"No. I think he knew I didn't want to talk about it."

"Are you going to talk about it?"

"I guess we should."

Sarah slapped the countertop with both hands, "Of course you should. You have to. Sonny loves you, but you gotta be honest with him."

Brooke smiled. "Look at you making sense and being wise for once."

Shrugging, Sarah replied, "It's about time I guess."

"Well, neither one of us was very wise last night. No more college bars."

"I can't believe Isaac's not here. Why didn't he come home with us?"

"I don't know. It was crowded in that place and we kinda got separated from him for a few minutes, you got impatient, and said we should just go. So we did."

Sarah raced back to her room and returned with her phone. "He didn't text or anything. Guess he wasn't that concerned."

"That's weird. I hope he's okay. He was fucked up."

"Well, no big deal. I think I'm done with him."

"Used him up and throwing him out?"

"He sucked yesterday with Grandma and Dad and Livvie. He's boring. And he ordered cement mixers."

Brooke laughed and immediately regretted it because it made her headache more intense, "You remember that?"

"It just came to me." Sarah pushed her plate away. "Put that in the fridge for me, will ya? I'll eat it later. I gotta go lie down."

Brooke amusedly watched Sarah stumble back to her bedroom. She carefully wrapped Sarah's plate in plastic wrap and finished her own breakfast. She collapsed on the couch and turned on the television, hoping to find a Labor Day marathon of some sort. The networks did not disappoint. She chose a long-running cop show she'd loved forever and as she followed the plot she thought of Sonny and sent him a text asking if he'd like to make the prime rib for dinner.

He replied instantaneously.

Absolutely.

….

The Tuckers had just finished breakfast when Olivia got a call summoning her back to the precinct. It was a holiday and she was not on duty, but two more bodies had been found in the park in the early hours of the morning and Fin and Rollins speculated they had a serial rapist/killer on their hands.

"I'm sorry," Olivia sighed and scooped the rest of her mixed berries into her mouth, "I have to go."

"Same MO as the last ones?" Ed asked, trying to hide his disappointment.

"Yes. And…he gets them in pairs." Olivia kissed Noah's cheek. "You're doing a great job with your breakfast, sweet boy. Mommy's gonna get changed and go to police and you and Daddy'll hang out today."

"Kay," Noah mumbled with his mouth full of cereal.

Ed mussed his son's hair. "Stay here and finish up, bud. I'm gonna help Mommy for a second." He followed Olivia into the bedroom even though now was not the time to bring up the website. They wouldn't have time to discuss it, and he kicked himself for not broaching the topic last night. Instead, they ate their tacos, and Olivia initiated a second round of lovemaking after which they fell asleep naked in each other's arms and stayed that way until sunrise.

Olivia didn't realize Ed trailed her and she walked out of the bathroom and gasped with surprise when she nearly smacked into him. "Oh! Hey! I didn't hear you."

He leaned in for a kiss. "Sorry." His eyes drifted up and down her body and he smiled appreciatively. She'd chosen her usual black pants and held her matching blazer in her hand, but Ed loved the way her coral blouse looked against her tanned skin. She'd already donned her shield and Ed reached up to the nearby cabinet for her Glock. "Here, he said softly."

"Thank you." She fastened the holster and her eyes darted back and forth between the gun and Ed. He was acting weird all of a sudden.

She'd pulled her hair back and it was all Ed could do to stop himself from kissing at her exposed neck. He gave her one last kiss and Olivia held him by the shoulders after they broke apart, studying him.

"Are you okay?"

Ed took a quick glance at the ottoman where he'd left the laptop. "Yeah, I'm good, you're just…so gorgeous." He smiled shyly.

Olivia cocked her head to the side. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Absolutely. I have the most beautiful wife in the world and me and our son are going to watch the tugboat races later on, and, hopefully, we'll all regroup later for dinner?"

"We'll try to get the bad guys by then," Olivia said playfully.

"I love you, Liv."

She replied with an "I love you of her own," but the degree of sincerity in Ed's I love you rattled her. He always had a little glint in his eye when he said it, but this time there was something extra—a yearning, a longing that she hadn't seen in his face since the very early days of their relationship when they were still testing the waters of intimacy.

"I better go," she said softly, reaching up to smooth the longer hair on top of his head.

"Yeah."

At the table, Noah waited patiently for the return of his parents. The remnants of his breakfast were scattered about and he grinned at Ed and Olivia. "I done!"

"Yeah, bud. Let's get ya cleaned up and we'll go see the tugboats."

"Bye sweetheart."

"Bye bye Mommy! We see da tu'boats. Toot! TOOOOOOT!"

Olivia laughed. "That's right, baby. Make sure Daddy takes a lot of pictures."

"Kay!"

Ed lifted Noah from the booster seat, wished Olivia good luck, and took his son to the bathroom to get cleaned up and dressed. Olivia grabbed her bag and left, using the moments of solace in the elevator to wrack her brain for reasons why Ed had been so clingy. Sometimes he got in these moods and it was usually when she was working a lot, so maybe that was it; however, she couldn't shake the feeling that, perhaps, something was wrong and he was trying to soften her up before delivering some crushing news.

….

Brooke was on her fifth or sixth episode when Sarah emerged from her bedroom in a tank top and pajama pants. Her hair was pulled into a messy ponytail and she'd scrubbed her face clean of the makeup smears.

"Ahhh, I feel much better," she announced, "Ready to go?"

Brooke frowned. "Go where?"

"Crown Heights," Sarah replied as if Brooke should've known what she was talking about all along.

"It's kinda late now," Brooke replied, "You really wanna go all the way over there?" Despite having had breakfast, a gallon of water, and a few hours of rest, the clanging cacophony of carnival did not sound appealing.

Sarah checked the time, "It's not that late. C'mon. Let's go for a couple hours. At least for the food. I'm hungry now."

"I saved your breakfast."

"I want street food."

Brooke rolled her eyes, but moved to get up. "Fine."

"Should I call Isaac?"

"Wait a minute. Who are you? Do you remember earlier when you told me you were done with him? Were you still drunk?"

"Kinda."

Brooke groaned.

"Hey," Sarah said sharply, "We planned to go with Isaac all along. And Sonny before he switched days off. I should at least text him and see if he wants to go."

"Do what you want," Brooke said, "Can I shower or are you gonna throw powder all over me when we get there?"

"I'd never do that to you."

Brooke scowled. "Never say never. You're unpredictable."

"All part of my charm."

"Is that what that is?" Brooke joked.

"Get your ass in the shower," Sarah commanded and playfully shoved Brooke into the bathroom. "We're leaving in a half hour."

…..

Olivia listened intently as her detectives reported the evidence they'd gathered so far. Their serial killer/rapist targeted women leaving clubs in pairs. He left their bodies lying haphazardly, discarded, in semi-secluded areas of the park where they were sure to be found, only not right away.

"It's possible he's in the area, watching and waiting," Rollins speculated, "Gets off on the discovery. The last two were off the path near Bethesda Fountain. These two were close to the castle."

"Blood alcohol was off the charts on the last two vics," Fin added, "Prolly the same thing this time. He likes the challenge of two…but there's no contest. They're wasted."

"Weapons?" Olivia asked.

"COD's strangulation," Fin replied, "Whatever he uses, he leaves with it. But the ligature marks are narrow, more like a power cord than a rope or a chain."

"Anything else?"

Carisi stepped forward, "He uses a condom and gloves. Techs found traces of latex residue at both scenes. Left the condom wrapper but no prints. And the brand's ubiquitous."

Fin smirked, "Ubiquitous, huh?"

"Yeah. Means—"

"I know what it means," Fin scoffed, "You're just startin' to sound more and more like a lawyer."

"Ok, guys," Olivia interjected, "Let's stay focused here. If the women were that drunk, they must have drawn attention. Find out where they were, who they were with—every move they made last night. We need to get this guy before he goes hunting again."

"Got it, Lieutenant." Rollins said. "The girls both had stamps on their hands. Won't be hard to find out where they were. Fin, riding with me?"

He looked at Olivia for confirmation.

"Go ahead." She removed her reading glasses and closed her laptop. "Carisi and I'll go canvass the area. Send their pics to my phone, please?"

"On it."

Carisi and Olivia sped north towards the west side of Central Park. A canvass at this hour would probably not amount to much, but certain park denizens were peculiar people and there was a slim chance someone saw something. They parked on Central Park West and Olivia noted the surrounding buildings' surveillance cameras.

"We'll need to pull all the footage from this area and at least twenty blocks north and south," She instructed. "It can't be that difficult to see a man with two extremely intoxicated women at his side."

"Shouldn't be," Carisi muttered doubtfully.

The Lieutenant and the Detective spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon scouring the park for potential witnesses and visiting the apartment buildings and businesses in the area to request video.

"Well," Carisi said, "Guess we can head back. I'll get goin' on the street cams."

"Sounds good."

"Wanna get some lunch first?"

Olivia checked her phone. Ed had been sending pictures from the pier all morning, but she suspected he and Noah were now either at the park or home for a nap because his messages had tapered off in the past hour.

"Sure."

"Tacos?"

The suggestion made Olivia think about last night, and she felt the warmth of a flush invade her cheeks. For expediency's sake, she agreed, and Carisi directed her to one of his favorite places—a little hole in the wall joint. They ordered and ate standing up at the counter overlooking the street.

"That was fun yesterday," Carisi said as he took a huge bite of his first taco. "Love Captain Tucker's mother."

"She is entertaining."

"I hope, uh, I hope you and Captain Tucker didn't think we were rude to leave like we did."

Olivia wasn't sure about mixing personal life talk with an on-the-job lunch, but she figured there was probably no way to avoid it. When Carisi was at their house she easily forgot she was his boss, and when they were working, the fact he was dating Brooke often escaped her.

"We didn't think anything of it." The reply was devoid of emotion.

Carisi continued, obviously intending to delve into more serious topics. "Sarah…with that marriage talk…threw Brooke for a loop. She practically ran home."

"Sarah needs to learn that she doesn't have to say everything that runs through her mind."

"Yeah," Carisi murmured, "I wish Brooke would talk more, though. I never really know where I stand with her. I mean, things are great, but it's like she's holding back. And I can't figure out why."

Olivia stopped eating, pushed her half-eaten lunch off to the side, and leaned on one elbow, facing him. "Brooke's very independent, Carisi. You have to understand that. I get it because that was me. My whole life up until a couple years ago. It's hard…to admit that you like having someone around and then when you realize you like it…you suddenly think, hmmm, I need this person around, and needing someone, when you've never needed anyone? That's scary."

"You ever live with someone long term before Tucker?"

"Long term? No. Less than a year."

"I'm tryin' to be patient, but I want to be with her. It's been a while now, but I can't seem to get her to take that step."

"I really don't know what to tell you, Carisi. Other than keep talking to her. Maybe she'll follow your lead and open up. But, obviously," Olivia smiled slyly, "I wouldn't bring up the M word anytime soon."

Carisi returned the grin. "Yeah…yeah…good advice, Lieu." He finished off his second taco. "Hey, she did say she wanted to do dinner tonight. We're gonna make that prime rib. You and the Captain wanna join?"

Olivia remembered the morning and her husband's odd behavior. "No…I think we'll have a quiet night at home. But thanks. You two enjoy."

"I hope that Isaac guy doesn't show up," Carisi muttered, "Damn he's annoying."

….

Much to Ed's surprise and excitement, Olivia returned home in time for a five o'clock cocktail on the roof. They brought Noah's paint, brushes, and large easel paper and claimed a loveseat in a partially shaded spot.

"Here ya go, sweet Noah," Olivia cooed as she propped the paper on its stand. "Whatcha going to paint?"

Noah looked around and finally pointed to the northeast, "I paint over dere."

"The buildings?"

"Uh-huh. It Ma'hattan still?"

"Yep. Still Manhattan."

It was hot, but a gentle breeze made the warm temperature bearable and allowed Olivia to snuggle against Ed without the two of them overheating.

"Looked like you had fun at the pier."

"We did. Not too many people either. Got any good leads on the case?"

"Carisi's still going over street cams. And most of the building surveillance in the area gets recycled every twenty-four hours, so, as of now, no. We don't have much at all."

"You'll get a break somewhere. Two vics at a time? Guy hadta screw up somewhere."

"Had to," Olivia agreed. "For now we're digging and we have extra patrols in what we think is his neighborhood of choice. Alerted bouncers, bartenders, cabbies…everybody really."

"Matter of time."

"I hope so."

"Liv?"

There was that tone of voice again—super sweet, innocent, pleading. She backed away a little so she could face him. "Ed, what's wrong?"

"Last night—"

"I didn't think anything was wrong with last night," Olivia purred in a sexy, flirtatious voice.

Ed grinned and blushed a little, "No, nah, you're right," he stammered, "Ah, it's just, when I ordered the food? I saw…well—"

Suddenly, the reason for Ed's behavior dawned on Olivia. "The surrogate site."

"Yeah."

Olivia took his hands and played with his fingers. "After…well…after we put the whole baby thing behind us, I thought it was resolved once and for all, but I couldn't stop thinking about it, about ways, maybe, to make it happen. I…" Olivia swallowed, nervous about revealing the next piece of information, "I had eggs frozen a few years ago. If we needed that. If we wanted to do that. I—"

"What are you sayin, Liv?"

"I'm saying I'm not ready to rule anything out. I thought I was. But I'm not. Not while there's a chance we could have a child together."

"Have you seen your doctor?"

She gave him a little smile, "No…I wouldn't do that and not tell you."

"You didn't tell me about having eggs frozen."

Olivia nodded. "No…I didn't…that was, I did that after I thought I was pregnant…when I was with Brian and I was so thrilled…that being pregnant was still a possibility…and I did it as sort of an insurance policy. I didn't exactly forget about it; I just never had to remember it. I'm sorry. I…should've mentioned it before."

Ed squeezed her hands, letting her know he wasn't angry. "When didja decide to research a surrogate?"

"Fin brought his grandson in the other day for a few minutes…and it clicked. His son used a surrogate…it seemed like, if we still wanted to explore this, that's the answer. To everything."

Ed blinked. Whenever he was flattered or overcome with emotion, he appeared childlike as his chiseled features softened and he pursed his lips expectantly.

"I don't know what to say," he whispered.

Olivia met his gaze. "You don't have to say anything right now."

Ed cocked his head. "You seem like you have your mind made up."

Olivia kissed his cheek. "It's not me. It's us." She kissed him again, this time on the lips, and then glanced at Noah. "How about…we take the rest of the fall, September and October, and just think about it. Pros and cons. Say what's on our minds when it's on our minds."

Ed started to smile, "I gotta admit, I'm glad it's back on the table."

"Me too." She ran her hands up and down his hefty forearms, "I'm sorry you had to see that site and feel like I left you in the dark."

"I coulda asked you last night…I think I was…a little bit shocked."

Olivia leaned forward for another kiss. "No more secrets," she promised. "I love you."

"I love you, too," he replied, "And, no matter what, you're an amazing mother and wife, Liv. You amaze me everyday."

Tears welled in her eyes and she tapped his chin, "There you go with those compliments again."

He smirked at her and played with a few loose strands of hair that had escaped the clip. "I told ya," he said in a voice barely above a whisper. "I'll never run out of 'em."

…..

Watch for a sequel!

#Tuckson