Summary: Ella’s life from seven to nine months is full of major developmental milestones, lots of smiles, and many tears not only from her but her mother as well.
Characters: Olivia Benson, Ella Alina Benson, Original Character
Relationships: Olivia Benson x Original Character (Mother/Daughter)
Warnings: N/A
*Also I will now be posting Baby Benson every Thursday! I have a lot of ideas and I want to work through them as quickly as possible for y’all. So enjoy. My heart and soul fic is now going to be on display every week.
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Seven Months (May)
Olivia awoke on her first mother’s day to Ella’s smiling face and the smell of fresh coffee and pancakes. She sat up in bed pulling Ella to her lap as Megan settled down next to her. Between the two of them she placed the plate of heaping breakfast, handing a fork to Olivia. Once Olivia was fully settled Megan handed her the coffee she had prepared.
“Happy Mother’s Day my beautiful daughter,” Megan smiled.
“You really didn’t have to Mom. You already do so much for me,” Olivia said before taking a sip of her coffee.
“It’s your first mother’s day! I had to make it special,” Megan replied pulling a bag from beside the bed, “Ella and I got you a gift.”
Olivia took the black box carefully in her hands pulling it close to her chest. Ella reached out for the box giggling happily. Olivia let her help take the lid off before peering inside. A gold necklace greeted her with Ella’s name and birthday etched into a heart. Tears began to fall slowly down Olivia’s face as Ella took the necklace into her hand and reached it up towards her. Olivia kissed Ella’s forehead gently and then reached over to take Megan into a hug.
“I love you Mom.”
“I love you too sweetheart,” Megan said kissing Olivia’s cheek.
After breakfast everyone got dressed to take their usual walk through Central Park. Every time they passed a large flower bush Ella would lean out of the stroller to try and grab for the flowers. Finally Olivia leaned over and plucked a large flower from a tree, handing it to her daughter. She took it in her hands and began to babble quickly while pushing the flower to her nose. The whole scene made Megan laugh as Olivia stopped to take a photo. After their usual route they sat together in the grass watching Ella roll around on the blanket.
When she finally drifted off to sleep curled up against Olivia the older woman looked at each other. Olivia reached out and took Megan’s hand.
She squeezed it gently, “How was your first mother’s day?”
“My first mother’s day? I guess I never realized that,” Megan laughed, “It was wonderful because I got to spend it with my favorite girls.”
Eight Months (June)
Eight months was a rough time for Ella. Her first tooth was already starting to poke its way through causing constant tears unless she had one of her ice pack toys. Megan had run out to the store and had stocked up on ten of them when they realized that two was not enough to keep a constant rotation. Most days Ella spent rocking back and forth trying to make her way across the floor with a toy hanging from her mouth. When it would drop a long line of drool would follow it making Ella laugh.
The worst part of Ella’s first months, however was something that broke Olivia’s heart. Ella now cried and screamed hysterically anytime that Olivia left for work. As soon as she started to walk towards the door without Ella beside her the tears would begin. On more than one occasion Olivia even called in sick so that she could soothe Ella and stay home with her. Finally Megan said enough was enough. Olivia had to go to work and Ella had to cry it out. So every time Ella left the door and she could hear the screams of her daughter she would pause just outside the door for a moment. In this moment tears would rush down her face and her heart would ache for her baby girl.
One day when she got into work she looked at Elliot who was pouring himself into his paperwork. He finally put his pen down and looked up at her, “Liv. Just ask your question instead of trying to stare a hole into my head.”
“Does it get easier? Leaving the kids behind,” Olivia whispered looking down at her phone to see a picture of Ella.
Elliot let out a small sigh, “A little but not much.”
“I feel like a piece of my heart is always on the outside of my body,” Olivia sighed before Cragen called to both her and Elliot.
Nine Months (July)
Olivia made sure she was not on call for Ella’s first Fourth of July. She was fearful that her daughter would be up screaming all night with the loud noises and didn’t want to leave Megan to deal with it. Ella spent the whole day crawling around on the living room carpet showing Liv all of her favorite toys. They spent over two hours playing peek a boo. Every time Liv poked her head out from behind the baby blanket Ella would start to hysterically laugh. It was Liv’s favorite sound. Anything that made her child happy was something that she wanted to keep forever. As the night started to grow darker, Olivia's fear began to grow. However, after Ella had pointed and made excited babbling noises at the first couple of fireworks she passed out in Olivia’s arms. When Olivia tucked her into the crib she gently kissed the top of her forehead. Ella let out a small smile before drifting back into her dreams. Olivia spent the rest of the night on the fire escape of her apartment watching the fireworks bursting into the air trying to figure out the bigger picture.
She was taken from her thoughts as she heard Megan call out to her from her window next door, “Olivia Margaret Benson. What are you doing hanging off the fire escape like that?”
Olivia laughed and scooted back so she was no longer on the edge, “I’m trying to see the bigger picture mom.”
“The bigger picture?” Megan mused,. “I think you are overthinking it sweetheart. You are living in the picture right now. You are creating it as you go. If you try to plan it out to much you will miss the art that you are making now.”
“When did you become so wise?” Olivia smiled.
“With age honey! With age! Now try to get some sleep in all this ruckus. You have work tomorrow.”
With that Megan and Oliva said their final I love you and the window shut. Olivia stayed outside for another moment watching the bright colors come to life in front of her. Maybe her mom was right. There was no need to plan the future when everything she needed was right in front of her.
