Fanfic: SVU: A Night at Casey's

Title: A Night at Casey's
Summary: What on earth could two well-behaved, lovely kids possibly do to run Casey so ragged? Three minutes later, Olivia found out.
Word Count: 4298, so says Works.
Spoilers: None.
Pairing: None.
Rating/Warning: G. No real warnings to speak of, but you might want to be careful of the saccharine and the silliness.
Disclaimer: Casey Novak and Olivia Benson belong to Dick Wolf and NBC. I borrowed them when they weren't looking, but I promise to return them when I'm done!
Author's Note: Lynn and Stephanie Novak have appeared in "Stalemate", "A Day With the Cole Brothers", and "A Day at the Mall" and are completely un-canon. Since no one ever bothered to give Casey a canon family, I figured I was allowed to give her one myself.
Author's Note 2: I've never really given a strict timeline to this little series of stories, but in my head, "Stalemate" took place in the early part of season six (so, late 2004). The two following one-shots take place about a year and a half later, with "A Day at the Mall" ahead of "A Day With the Cole Brothers" by a couple of months. The following is set during the same year (2006), a few weeks before "A Day at the Mall."
Author's Note 3: This is what is known as a majorly insistent plotbunny. It just lodged itself in my head and would. not. leave until I indugled it. I apologize if this isn't up to my usual standard, but the fact that I like something enough to post is kind of a big deal right now. And finally, the following is ridiculously silly. Have fun!

-----

“You know, there’s still time if you want to back out.”

Olivia Benson sighed as she pulled the car to a stop. Casey Novak had suggested backing out of their plans seven separate times since leaving the DA’s office. And that wasn’t an exaggeration; Olivia had counted. “You’re acting as if I don’t know what I’m getting myself into.”

“Liv, you do not have the slightest clue what you’re getting yourself into.” Casey threw a wary glance at the brown brick apartment building outside before returning her attention to the detective. “Don’t get me wrong, I love those girls as if they were my own, but …”

“But?” Olivia prodded.

A heavy breath escaped Casey’s lips. “Look, it’s been a really long week. I won’t be at all offended if you tell me that the last thing you want to do is spend an overnight with me, an eight-year-old, and a fourteen-year-old.”

Olivia cut the engine as she bit back another sigh. “I wouldn’t have offered to spend an overnight with you, an eight-year-old, and a fourteen-year-old if it was the last thing I wanted to do. And it’s not like I’ve never spent time with the girls before.”

“You’ve spent a few hours with my nieces on their company manners,” Casey corrected. “You’ve never spent an overnight with two kids who are psyched not to have parental supervision.”

The detective eyed the ADA, a troubled expression knotting her brow. Why on earth was Casey having a minor panic attack about her joining the Novaks on their overnight? “I’m sure it won’t be that bad.”

“But if Lynn has it in her head that we’re doing a Light Night--”

“Casey, just go get the girls. Everything will be fine.”

“All right, all right,” Casey said, raising her hands in surrender. “Remember, I haven’t had a chance to tell them you’re joining us tonight, so, you know, prepare to be tackled. With Lynn, it’s entirely possible that I mean that literally.”

Olivia gave a bewildered shake of her head as Casey exited the car and hurried up the concrete steps of her brother’s apartment building. Usually Casey loved every single moment she spent with those girls. Why she was insinuating that attending an overnight with her and the girls was the worst possible way the detective could spend a Friday night, Olivia had no idea.

Casey had offered to watch eight-year-old Lynn and fourteen-year-old Stephanie tonight so that her brother, Jeff, and his wife, Sarah, could properly celebrate their sixteenth wedding anniversary. But that was before she had lived through the Week From Hell. A rough trial had left Casey wanting to do nothing more than take a hot bath, nurse a glass of wine, and hang out in front of the television.

Olivia, sensing that she didn’t have the energy to deal with whatever her nieces planned to throw at her, had offered to help. Though Casey had readily agreed at the time, she’d been trying to talk Olivia out of the decision ever since.

As Olivia climbed out of the car to wait, she tried once more to figure out why. What on earth could two well-behaved, lovely children possibly do to run Casey so ragged?

Three minutes later, she found out.

She heard Lynn before she saw her. The little girl was chattering to her aunt about her day at school and how she’d gotten a hundred on her spelling test and wasn’t that the awesomest? The moment Lynn spotted Olivia, she squealed in delight and dashed towards the car. “Olivia!” She threw her arms around the detective’s waist and grinned up at her. “Auntie Casey didn’t tell us you were coming, too!”

“It’s called a surprise, you goofball,” Stephanie teased, rolling her eyes at her little sister. Then she smiled at the detective, brushing a stray lock of dark hair out of her face. “Hi, Olivia.”

“Hi, Steph.” Olivia returned the teenager’s warm smile. In response to being left out, even for all of three seconds, Lynn tightened her embrace. “And hello to you, too, Lynnie. Let me take a look at you!” She pulled away from Lynn and held her at arm’s length. “I bet you’ve grown about three inches since I’ve seen you last.”

“Nuh uh,” Lynn insisted through a giggle. “But I did lose another tooth! See?” After opening her mouth wide to show Olivia the new gap in her smile, she continued, “And I’ve got another one that’s really loose. Like, really loose. Mommy says it’s hangin’ on by a thread.”

“It’s gross,” Stephanie informed Olivia.

“It’s not gross!” Lynn cried. “It’s awesome. Want to see me wiggle it?”

Before Olivia could even formulate a thought, Casey interjected, “There will be no wiggling of loose teeth. At least not until after dinner.”

“Aw, man!” Lynn whined.

“Thank you,” Stephanie said.

The detective felt like she had whiplash. She frequently felt that way when hanging out with the Novak girls. It was part of their charm.

Finally, the girls climbed into the back seat of the car, Lynn first followed by Stephanie. It was then that Olivia noticed that each of them was carrying two bags. They both had backpacks hooked over their shoulders, but Lynn also had a messenger bag and Stephanie was lugging a duffel big enough for Lynn to hide in. “What’s with all the luggage?”

Stephanie heaved a put-upon sigh as she tried to wrangle the bags in such a way that they weren’t crowding either her or her sister. “PJs and clothes for each of us, Dance Dance Revolution along with the dance mat and PlayStation 2 needed to play it, and a karaoke machine. Oh, and some DVDs. You know, for later.”

Olivia raised her eyebrows at the girls before turning the same look on the ADA. “Do they always bring their lives along with them when they stay with you?”

“Actually, this is them packing light,” Casey smiled. “Sometimes they bring their homework, too.” A quick glance in the car told her the girls were settled, so she eased the back door shut and climbed in the passenger side. Olivia did the same on the driver’s side.

“We only bring so much stuff because we have to have all kinds of things to do when we have a Light Night,” Lynn explained as Olivia turned the key in the ignition.

“And what exactly is that?” the detective asked. She piloted the car back into the flow of traffic and headed for Casey’s building.

“It’s a Light Night!”

As if that explained everything.

“She wants to know what a Light Night is, like, a definition,” Stephanie hissed to her sister. More loudly, she said, “It’s when we stay up all night playing games and watching movies.”

“You never said anything about pulling an all-nighter,” Olivia muttered in Casey’s direction.

Before the ADA could reply, Stephanie leaned forward and whispered, “Don’t worry. Lynn’s never once made it through an entire Light Night before. She usually falls asleep around eleven or midnight.”

“Hey!” Lynn whined, giving her sister’s shoulder a hard shove in protest.

All it took was a warning, “Girls” from Casey to settle them. At least for the moment.

Swallowing her laughter, Olivia glanced up in the rearview mirror and smiled at the girls. “What on earth have I gotten myself into?”

Casey simply sighed. “I tried to tell you …”

-----

“What are we having for dinner, Auntie Casey?” Lynn asked as she skipped into her aunt’s apartment, her dark red ponytail bouncing. She wasted not a moment in dragging one of the bags over to the television to set up the PlayStation. The bag with her clothes she left for her sister to put away in Casey’s room.

“Yeah, Auntie Casey?” Olivia teased. Casey wasn’t much of a cook--she pretty much subsisted on takeout--and the detective could not wait to find out what she had been planning to prepare for the girls.

“We are having spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread, and a salad,” Casey said as she closed and locked her apartment door. She turned, caught her elder niece’s eye as the girl headed down the small corridor laden with three bags, and gave her a grateful smile.

“Yay!” Lynn exclaimed. “Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite!”

The gentle smile on Casey’s face indicated that she knew full well she had chosen to prepare Lynn’s favorite meal. Olivia turned a surprised expression on the ADA. “Wow. I’m impressed, Counselor.”

“Don’t be too impressed,” Casey whispered to the detective. “The sauce is jarred, the salad is a mix, and the meatballs and garlic bread are frozen.”

Olivia choked back a snicker. That was more like it.

Stephanie returned to the living room then with a book and a couple of magazines in her hand. When she flopped on the sofa and opened her book, Casey asked, “Anyone want something to drink?”

The girls replied, “No, thanks,” in unison. Olivia said she’d like a bottle of water if Casey had some.

Casey nodded, but to Olivia she murmured, “I’m actually going to get dinner going now; Lynn gets cranky if she goes too long without food. Care to join me?”

“Absolutely.” Olivia followed Casey into the kitchen and plopped down at the table. Casey grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and handed it to the detective before pulling all manner of pots and pans out of the cabinets.

Olivia smiled as she watched the ADA get everything together. Either Casey wasn’t as hopeless in the kitchen as she’d led everyone to believe or she’d made this particular meal before.

“Really, Lynnie?” they heard Stephanie whine from the living room. “You’re starting with the DDR already?”

“It’s fun!” Lynn replied in an exact imitation of her sister’s whining tone.

“It’s not that fun.”

“Is too! You just think it’s not fun because you don’t play as good as me.”

“Steph doesn’t play as well as you, Peanut,” Casey called to her little niece.

“That’s what I just said!”

“Aunt Casey was correcting your grammar, goobs,” Stephanie laughed.

Olivia snickered at the girls’ squabbling. “‘Goobs?’”

Casey shrugged. “Short for ‘goober,’ I imagine, but you never know with those kids.”

The detective laughed. “So, the video games and the bickering. Is this how a Light Night goes?”

“Generally. The girls bicker, I try to shush them, they bicker some more, I try to shush them some more. Then we watch a movie or two and finally go to bed once we all start falling asleep.”

“What movies?”

Again, Casey shrugged. “They bring different ones each time, but I wouldn’t get too excited. Whatever they brought will be kid-friendly.” She hefted a pot of water onto the stove and turned on the burner underneath the pot. Then, after wiping her hands on a dish towel and slinging the towel over her shoulder, she poked her head out the kitchen doorway. “Hey, Lynn? What movies did you pack for tonight?”

The little girl was out of breath when she answered. “Toy Story and National Treasure.” And then, in a tiny voice, she added, “And Jurassic Park.”

“Excuse me?!” Casey stepped out of the kitchen and into the living room just to make sure she’d heard that correctly. Her sweet little eight-year-old niece could not possibly think she was going to be allowed to watch a movie where killer dinosaurs chased people all over an island. “Did you just say you brought Jurassic Park?”

“Uh huh.” Lynn finished the song she was playing, pumped her little fist in the air when she found she’d scored a AA, and turned around to look at her aunt. Her face was practically bathed in golden light from above, she looked so angelic and innocent. “Why?”

“Did your parents say you could watch Jurassic Park?”

“Well … they didn’t say I couldn’t!”

Olivia, who had followed Casey out to the living room, had to bite her lower lip to keep from laughing out loud.

“Nice try, Peanut,” Casey said, her voice stern.

“Oh, please, Auntie Casey? Please?” Lynn actually clasped her hands together under her chin and bounced her knees. “We’ve been learning about dinosaurs in school and they’re so cool! I like them.”

“You won’t after you see the movie,” Stephanie murmured under her breath.

“Steph,” Casey warned, shooting her older niece a weary look. To her little sneak of a younger niece, she simply said, “Lynn, that movie is not for eight-year-olds.”

“But Auntie Casey--”

“End of story.”

Though Lynn pouted, she grumbled, “Okay” in deference to her aunt’s decision. With a disappointed sigh, she turned back to the video game and chose another song.

As the adults headed back to the kitchen, Casey ran her fingers through her hair and asked, “Are you regretting this yet?”

Olivia laughed. “Hey, I’m getting good company and a sorta-kinda home-cooked meal. What more could I ask for?”

-----

As it turned out, Olivia Benson was absolutely terrible at Dance Dance Revolution. She flopped down on the sofa, exhausted and out of breath. “Aw, c’mon, Olivia!” Lynn cried, stomping her little foot for emphasis. “You’ve still got one more song to do in this game!”

“Forget it,” Olivia groaned between heavy pants. “I’m done. You can finish my game.”

“But …” Lynn frowned. “Well … if you’re sure …”

“I’m sure.”

“Okay!” The little girl happily took over, bumping the difficulty level up twice before choosing the final song. Olivia just shook her head, not only at Lynn’s seemingly endless supply of energy but also at the insane amount of arrows now scrolling up Casey’s television screen.

“Harder than you expected it to be, wasn’t it?” Stephanie asked with a knowing grin.

“You’re not kidding! Maybe I should have tried slower songs.”

The teenager shook her head. “Slow songs are harder. At least, they are for me. I end up anticipating the steps and stepping too early.”

“Lynn, that’s the last song, all right?” Casey called from the kitchen, where she was finishing up the dinner dishes.

“Aw, can I do just one more after this, Auntie Casey? I want to do ‘Kick the Can’ one last time!”

“You must have done ‘Kick the Can’ twenty-seven times already,” Casey groaned. “I can sing along with ‘Kick the Can’ by now.”

“But it’s fun!”

“I can attest to that,” Olivia called, winking at Lynn.

“See, Auntie Casey? Please?” She drew out the last word, begging her aunt to agree.

“All right. The song you’re doing now and then ‘Kick the Can’ and then we’re turning the game off.”

“Yay! Thank you!”

Olivia was impressed; she had expected Lynn to put up more of a fight over having to turn off the game. Then again, it was obvious that the girl was getting finally tired. She had actually missed a few steps, and Olivia gathered from Lynn’s frustrated huffs that she was not at all used to missing steps.

It took another moment or two more for Olivia to finally catch her breath. That was a workout she hadn’t been anticipating!

She glanced to her left to see what Stephanie was doing. The teenager was huddled in the corner of the sofa with a clipboard in her lap, a workbook on the clipboard, and a pencil in her hand. “What are you working on?”

Stephanie held up the magazine for the detective to see. “It’s my new puzzle book. The one I’m working on right now is a combination of anagrams and a magic square.”

“Steph’s a nerd,” Lynn piped up, giving a sage nod.

“Lynn!” Casey cried. She stepped into the living room, the dish towel slung over her shoulder, her eyebrows raised, and her hands on her hips.

“It’s okay, Aunt Casey,” Stephanie quickly assured her. “I’ve decided to embrace my nerdiness.”

Casey met Olivia’s eyes, and she could tell the detective was biting back laughter. “Well, I’m glad you’ve got such a healthy view on the subject.”

The teenager beamed. “Are the dishes done yet?”

Casey dried her hands on the dishrag, which she then tossed back into the kitchen. With any luck, it would land on the counter. “They are now. Why?”

“Lynnie and I have a surprise for you guys!” She set the puzzle book and pencil on the end table, stood up, and grabbed her aunt’s hand. “Sit there,” she said, tugging Casey to the sofa and indicating the spot she had just vacated. “Both of you.”

Olivia turned a quizzical frown on the ADA, who just shrugged. She had no idea what surprise her nieces had planned.

But when Stephanie grabbed the portable karaoke machine from the corner, Casey figured it out. The Novak Family Singers were about to perform an intimate concert.

Lynn was up first, and when Olivia heard the opening chords of “Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes,” she raised her eyebrows. The song was popular a good two and a half decades before Lynn was even born. But within seconds she was no longer focusing on how an eight-year-old knew all the words to a thirty-five-year-old song and instead was listening to Lynn’s surprisingly strong voice.

Olivia had heard Casey humming while working on paperwork and even singing along quietly with the radio. Though the ADA’s voice was passable for the shower and the car, she had nothing on her little niece. Sensing the detective’s surprise, Casey leaned over and whispered, “The voices come from Sarah’s side of the family.”

Lynn finished the song to applause from the adults and then it was Stephanie’s turn. Her voice also amazed Olivia, and her cover of The Calling’s “Things Will Go My Way” actually gave the detective chills. The adults applauded when she was finished, but the girls had one more surprise up their sleeves.

They exchanged a glance and Stephanie nodded, choosing a final song. The Goo Goo Dolls’ “Better Days” began to play, and the girls traded verses while singing together on the chorus. When the song was finished, both Casey and Olivia gave them a standing ovation. Giggling, the girls bowed.

“You two sound amazing!” Olivia exclaimed.

“Why, thank you,” Stephanie replied, giving a mock curtsy.

“You guys have any Savage Garden on that thing?” Casey asked, a wicked gleam in her eye.

“No, but I can get some if you let me use your computer.”

While Casey and Stephanie went to load the karaoke machine with more music for the four of them, Olivia turned to Lynn. “Why did you choose to sing ‘Love Grows?’”

“It makes me smile,” the girl answered with a shrug.

“Most kids your age have never even heard that song.”

She frowned. “It’s on the radio station Daddy listens to, and I liked it right away. If most kids my age don’t know it, I feel bad for them. It would make them smile, too!”

The detective laughed, twirling the girl’s red ponytail around her finger. “You’re adorable, you know that?”

Lynn beamed. “Thanks!”

“Oh God,” Casey muttered with a roll of her eyes. “Please don’t encourage her.”

-----

Almost eleven at night and Lynn and Stephanie were still going strong. They were currently sitting on the floor in front of the television, carrying on a spirited running commentary on National Treasure, and that was after carrying on a spirited running commentary on Toy Story.

The adults, on the other hand, were settled on the sofa and completely worn out. Olivia had caught herself drifting a couple of times and a quick glance to her left told her that Casey was fighting a losing battle with sleep as well.

She leaned over, tapped Casey’s shoulder, and whispered, “Stay awake. You can’t let two little kids get the better of you.”

“Those two little kids have more energy than pretty much everyone I’ve ever met,” Casey murmured back. She sat up straighter, rubbed her eyes, and yawned. “Thanks for the poke, though. I need to outlast Little Miss Sneak down there.”

“Hey!” Lynn cried, turning a mildly offended look on her aunt. “I heard that!”

Stephanie grinned at her little sister. “Well, after your execution of Operation: Jurassic Park, it’s an apt nickname.”

“What does ‘apt’ mean?”

“It means it’s fitting.”

“Hey!” Lynn whined again, louder this time.

“Settle,” Casey instructed through another yawn. “Aren’t you two tired yet? Even just a little bit?”

“Nope!” Stephanie grinned. Lynn, her eyes sparkling, echoed her sister’s sentiment.

Olivia snickered. She had a funny feeling that the girls knew their aunt was exhausted and were trying their hardest to keep her awake. Was this how every Light Night went? And speaking of … “Hey, Lynn, where did the name ‘Light Night’ come from?”

“Because we leave the lights on all night.” The tone of Lynn’s voice plainly said that the answer should have been obvious. The only problem was that Stephanie had turned off the lights when they started watching movies.

“My niece is so very creative,” Casey spoke up.

“I am!” Lynn beamed. “And I’m adorable, too. Olivia said so!”

“Told you you shouldn’t have encouraged her,” Casey whispered to the detective.

“Lesson learned,” Olivia whispered back. She grinned when the ADA smiled at her and snuggled into the corner of the sofa. Then she made herself comfortable in her own corner of the couch and tried to focus on the rest of the movie.

The next thing she knew she was being awakened by a scream. Her cop instincts kicked in immediately; she swiftly scanned the room in the dim light provided by the night light in the hallway, taking in details small and large. The clock on the cable box read half past three. Casey was curled up in the corner of the sofa, asleep. The girls were nowhere to be found.

Another shout reached her ears, this one loud enough to rouse Casey. “Auntie Casey!”

It was Lynn. The two women met each other’s eyes and were on their feet in an instant, following the cries to Casey’s bedroom. Casey flipped on the overhead light mere seconds before a sobbing Lynn launched herself at her. “I’m sorry, Auntie Casey! You were right! I’m sorry!”

Casey held the crying girl in her arms and exchanged a bewildered glance with the detective. “What’s the matter, Peanut?”

Lynn pulled away and wiped her eyes. “You guys fell asleep but Steph and I were still awake. We were bored and there was nothing on TV so we watched Jurassic Park. And I had bad dreams! The dinosaurs wanted to eat me!”

“Oh, sweetie,” Casey murmured as she pulled the crying girl into another embrace. “It’s all right now. It was just a dream. There are no dinosaurs that want to eat you.”

“And even if the dinosaurs did try to eat you, Lynnie, I’m sure they’d just spit you right back out again,” Stephanie teased. “I bet you don’t taste very good.”

That got Lynn to giggle, and both adults shot the older girl a grateful smile. “I’m really sorry, Auntie Casey,” Lynn said again. She’d calmed considerably now that she’d had a bit of distance from her nightmare. “For watching the movie when you said not to and for waking everybody up.”

“I’m sorry for letting her watch it,” Stephanie added.

“It’s okay, girls,” Casey assured them. “Come on, let’s get you two back to bed.”

Olivia smiled and crept back to the living room to give the Novaks a little bit of privacy. She was flipping channels on the TV when Casey emerged from the hallway with pillows and blankets in hand. “Sorry about Lynn waking you up.”

“Totally fine,” Olivia said. “Is she all right?”

“Yeah. She was already falling back to sleep by the time I tucked her in.” She hid a yawn behind her hand. “And I’m more than ready to get myself tucked in. You want the sofa or the pullout?”

“The sofa isn’t the pullout?” When Casey shook her head and pointed at the armchair, Olivia quirked a brow. “Only you would have a sleeper chair.”

“The mattress on that sucker is a little longer than on most sleeper sofas,” Casey shrugged. “I’m tall.”

“In that case, I’ll take the couch.”

The ADA handed over some bed linens and a couple of pillows. As they made up their beds for the evening, Casey said, “I would not blame you at all if you told me this was your last Light Night.”

“Are you kidding? I had a fantastic time.” Casey looked up at her with a weary expression, and Olivia laughed. “Honestly! Those kids are hysterical.”

“I’m sure all that bickering was oh so much fun to listen to.”

“Those girls could take that show on the road. And it wasn’t just the bickering. We had a great meal, I found out that I am horrible at Dance Dance Revolution, and we sang karaoke. I had a blast. I just have one question.”

“Just one?”

“Yep. What’s for breakfast?”

Casey smiled. “Chocolate chip pancakes. They’re Steph’s favorite.”

“Lemme guess: a bag of chocolate chips dumped into a bottle of Bisquick.”

“You got it in one,” Casey said. A light touch of pink colored her cheeks when Olivia snickered. “You all settled?”

“I am if you are.”

“All right.” Casey reached over and turned off the table lamps that Olivia had turned on while she was tucking in the girls. “Good night, Liv.”

“Night, Casey.”

The two of them lay silent in the dark for a long moment. When Casey spoke up next, her voice was sleepy. “Thanks for offering to come tonight, Liv.”

“Any time, Casey.” The detective meant it, too. As a matter of fact, in the morning she planned on telling Casey she wanted to be invited to any and all future Light Nights.