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“Well, looks like we wrapped up early today. Nice work on the projects, guys. Really. Still got about a half hour left–we can jump into-Oh, yeah, Camille, do you have a question?” Amanda said, looking up from her planner as a student’s hand shot up in the air.
“Professor Rollins? Can we talk about the Sir Tobias Moore case going on right now?”
Chatter from the other rows of students, eager freshman to learn about a case that was splashed on nearly every news channel. The department heads warned her about this–studnets wanting to hear concepts they learn about in the classroom applied to real-life situations and how better was it to share than from a former SVU Detective? They gave her freedom to share whatever she wanted, whatever she was comfortable with and to be frank, she had broken little of that ice yet with her students. But her students, she cared about them; they were a talented group and she could see the potentials shining already in students she’d be certain to see in more advance courses throughout the years.
“Yeah! I heard Manhattan SVU handled that case. Hard to believe the trial took this long to happen.” “Were you a part of that, Professor Rollins?”
Amanda leaned back on her desk, amused at the sudden discussion amongst the students. She wasn’t exactly sure what she could tell them. She made a mental note to discuss it with Liv on when they met for coffee on Sunday. They knew this was bound to happen eventually. Luckily, another student saved her tail.
“Well, you know with the pandemic and everything, things got delayed. Plus, according to the defense, didn’t he have a hundred heart conditions?”
“My family and I have been watching it every night. Its really interesting. I’m glad they air it, I’m really learning about it.” Another student, Rachel, chimed in.
“Me too.” Camille agreed.
“Well my mom is too busy watching the lead prosecutor. Won’t shut up about how cute he is. If she actually listened, she’d realize he’s smart too. They’ve really made a great case especially for all the time that’s passed since it happened.” A girl in the back, Kelsey said. Rollins eyebrows rose.
“Seriously! My sister did the same thing during the Kelsey Jones and Austin Collins trial. Wouldn’t shut up about him.”
“Didn’t he go viral when that Diggy Wheeler case happened? Ugh, TikTok is a poison on our society.” Austin, front-and-center, said.
“I think Congress is trying to ban it from the US.” Camille added.
“Okay, he went viral for that but you know what he stayed viral for? Putting his arm around the woman next to him so she wouldn’t get hit with trash. Then Willa Burtola went on her Insta and said he was a nice guy.” Rachel defended.
“We stan chivalry.” One girl nodded in approval.
Rollins bit her lip, trying to fight back her laughter. It was true, he’d gone viral briefly but he refused to touch that app with a ten-foot pole and quick enough, it passed for the next cute dog on a skateboard or whatever took the interests of Gen Z. It was refreshing to see her students communicating with one another, sparing back and forth about opinion was one of the most important parts of her class. She wanted her students to not only speak their mind but also learn how to form arguments and support them. She wasn’t sure how she felt about her husband being the topic of the class but to be honest, he earned it. It was cute.
“Professor Rollins, we were just talking about ways to add participation points! Can we turn it on for a few minutes then discuss what we see? I think that would be an awesome idea.” Camille said.
Rollins liked Camille and thought she would soon become a familiar face in her classrooms. She reminded her of a certain detective turned advocate with a penchant for jumping into things head on.
“I think so too! It should still be on!” Rachel said.
“Alright!” Rollins laughed, waving her class to settle down. “I really appreciate your enthusiasm for your participation grades and I think turning the case on for a few minutes or assigning parts of it to watch and to take ten or fifteen minutes of class time to talk about, or spar about it, is a great idea. I think it's over for today though.” She said, looking to check her phone. It had chimed a few minutes before.
“Dismissed early. Home and cooking your favorite, picked the girls from school and daycare. Gave Gigi the night off. Love you.”
“Wait really? How do you know?” Rachel asked.
“Because the cute prosecutor just texted me that he’s home early and just picked our kids up from daycare.” Rollins deadpanned, smiling down at her phone and replying.
Class is over a little early. Gave them some of their weekend back. Or maybe I just wanna get started on mine. (or maybe I just want some of spaghetti). See you soon.
“What!”
“You’re married to the prosecutor?”
“I ship it.”
“Here’s what were gonna do.” She chuckled, ignoring the comments. “They just did opening arguments this week. Why don’t you all catch up on it by next class and we will talk about it then? It will be a good way to slide us home before the semester is over.”
“Prof, you can’t leave us hanging like that!”
“You guys did great work with your projects and it's Friday. Let’s end here.” Rollins said. “We’ll pick up Monday!”
A wave of excitement ran through the students as they eagerly packed their books and belongings. Amanda did the same. Her students had worked hard this past week and if she made it quick, she could be home before the sauce was on the stove. It had been a long few weeks of trial prep for Carisi and she wanted nothing more than a weekend with him and their girls.
“Mama’s home!” She heard Carisi call as she opened the door to their new apartment. Since getting adjusted in her new office at work, their next big challenge was moving into an apartment that wasn’t just hers or his, it was theirs. Her two blonde tornados met her legs right as she moved to set her leather bag on a barstool.
“Mommy!”
“Mama!”
“Hey girls, careful.” Carisi warned from the other side of the island, cutting up ingredients. His wife shot him a look of appreciation.
“Oh yeah, sorry Daddy. Billie don’t hug mommy too hard we might hurt sissy.” Jesse said, stepping away from her mother.
“Sissy? Did we decide it’s a girl now?” Amanda asked, dropping a kiss onto the tops of their heads.
“Daddy still thinks it a boy.” Jesse said.
“It’s a girl, boys are yucky.” Billie said.
“It’s a girl.” Jesse said confidently.
Amanda laughed and moved past them to press a kiss on her husband’s cheek while he focused on a diced pepper. “Both of us home, on a Friday, before 6? Wow.” Carisi chuckled and turned to capture her lips in a quick kiss, before turning back to the pepper.
“Anything I can do to help?”
“Sit there and look pretty.” He said, looking up at her. She rolled her eyes and took a seat on the barstool next to her bag.
“Summer’s comin’ up. The girls were going on and on about the beach on the way home.”
“The beach would be nice.” Amanda agreed. “3 missed calls from your mother this morning about the wedding.”
“Well, it’s almost here.” Carisi sighed. “I’ll tell her to tone it down.”
“Wait till she finds about-”
“That’s why we’re waiting till we get back from Italy to tell anyone.” Carisi smiled at her, tossing the vegetables into the pot. “We got enough stress goin’ on lately. Doctor said second trimester we’d be…more in the clear.”
“Just us for now. Might be the start of a pattern, Counselor.”
“Well, that secret turned out to be one of the best secrets of my life so…I think I am alright with it.”
“The case was a topic with some of my students today.”
“Really? I guess it would be. What class?”
“Intro to Criminal Justice.”
“The freshman, right?” Carisi said.
“The freshman.” Amanda confirmed. “Turns out you have some fans.”
“Oh geez.” Carisi rolled his eyes.
“It’s gonna be the Kelsey and Austin case all over again. So many people stopped you for that.” She laughed, getting up from the stool and moving to the other side of the island. She wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning her head into his back. “I don’t really wanna think too much about it though. We get you for the weekend and that’s all I care about.”