Title: A Cabenson Christmas
Pairing: Alex Cabot/Olivia Benson
Rating: T
Summary: A collection of unrelated stories for the 12 Days of Christmas.
Author's Note: As always, these characters aren't mine. They belong to Dick Wolf and NBC.
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Day One: Prompt by Batpig: Christmas tree faux or real?
They are 22 and they are invincible.
Well, not really, but that's how Olivia feels as she walks into her – no, their – apartment, a bouquet of red roses in her hand. She stops just inside the doorway and just watches as Alex dances to the Christmas music playing loudly from the stereo.
Alex spins around, stopping dead in her tracks as she sees Olivia, her hand resting over her heart. She smiles widely. "You scared me."
Olivia grins, her heart aflutter with the amount of love she feels for the woman standing in the living room. "I didn't mean to."
Alex shakes her head, rushing forward and throwing her arms around Olivia. "How was your day?"
Olivia sighs, sinking into the embrace. "It was a day," she says, "but it's better now that I'm home."
Alex laughs. "God, you're such a sap."
Olivia shakes her head, laughing. "Yeah," she says, "but I'm your sap."
"Speaking of sap," Alex begins and Olivia rolls her eyes at the horrible segue, "we need to get a Christmas tree."
"Why?" Olivia whines, pulling out of the embrace. "It's just going to make a mess everywhere."
"But it's tradition, Liv."
Olivia tries to resist – she really does – but Alex is pouting and she can feel her resolve wavering. "If we ever have kids, I'm screwed," she mumbles. She sighs, pushing her hand through her hair. "Okay, okay," she says. "We'll get a tree. A fake one, Alex. We don't need that mess in here."
Alex nods, trying her best to look serious. "Yes," she says, "of course."
Olivia sighs, her shoulders dropping. "We're getting a real one, aren't we?"
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They end up at a tree farm an hour later. Alex closes the car door and looks out at the pathetic display of leftover trees. "We really shouldn't have waited until the 23rd."
Olivia sighs, taking hold of Alex's hand. "I guess we're getting a fake one then."
Alex shakes her head and swats at Olivia with her free hand. "Don't be ridiculous, Liv," she says. "I'm sure we can find a decent one."
Alex spends over an hour combing through the trees while Olivia follows her around, frozen hands shoved into the pockets of her jeans. Every time she thinks Alex has finally decided on a tree, Alex finds something about it she doesn't like.
"It's our first Christmas in our new apartment, Liv," she says time and time again. "It has to be perfect."
Olivia can't fault her there – she always wants this Christmas to be perfect – so she just shuts her mouth and continues following Alex around.
"Perfect!" Alex exclaims, scaring Olivia so badly that she actually jumps. "This one's perfect."
Olivia squints, looking at the tree. It's small, definitely less than five feet tall, and thin, and it looks like it's missing some branches in a couple spots, but Alex is grinning like it's the most beautiful tree she has ever seen so Olivia grins too and reaches out to grab Alex's hand. "Perfect," she says.
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