Just a short, and I mean short, little Christmas one-shot for you all!! Takes place after the divorce, but nothing as far as Simon, or the debacle with Kathy & Elliot Jr. ever happened.
Happy Holidays to all!!!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
DISCLAIMER: They're still not mine, perhaps Santa will bring them for me tonight.
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Christmas Eve had finally come and even though Elliot was working the morning he was still looking forward to spending the evening with his family. Ever since the divorce he and Kathy took turns with who got the kids for the holiday. This year it was finally Elliot's turn. His four children would be coming over to his apartment shortly after he got off work at 2pm and be staying until the next afternoon.
The first few hours of their shift had passed relatively quickly, but the last hour was dragging by so slowly. Fin and Munch came in at 1pm since they were working the second part of the day. When they arrived Don had come out of his office to hand out his gifts to everyone.
"John, I hope you don't mind that I saved yours until Christmas." He told his eldest detective as he handed him his gift.
"No problem." John answered, taking the gift.
Don walked around to each of his detectives desks and placed a package on each desk. Once they were all passed out everyone went to open their gifts.
"Wait!" Olivia shouted, causing everyone to stop what they were doing.
"What?" Elliot asked.
"I have gifts for everyone too." She told them as she stood up and went to hand out her gifts.
As she sat down Elliot took his turn handing out presents, blushing as he set his partner's down. Fin and John followed him, placing a sloppily wrapped gift on each desk but their own and handing Don his.
"Now can we finish?" Elliot asked as he began tearing at the gift from John.
"Yes!" The other four yelled.
The squad room was a jumble of wrapping paper and bows as everyone opened their four gifts each. Inside the packages were pretty standard things. Ties for the guys, new coffee mugs, those sort of things.
Elliot say at his desk watching cautiously as Olivia reached for the last gift she had to open. His. She carefully pulled off each piece of tape, almost as if she were afraid the gift would break or be ruined if she opened it haphazardly.
She finally had all the paper off and was down to the box when Elliot sucked in his breath, nervous to watch her open it. Olivia lifted the lid and pulled out the bunch of tissue paper. As she carefully unwrapped it she uncovered a glass ornament in the shape of a pair of handcuffs personalized with her name.
She let out a chuckle and then noticed the slip of paper there.
Livvie,
While I hope you enjoy this, this gift is for show. Come over tonight at 5:30 for your real gift.
Love, El
She looked up at her partner and smiled before mouthing 'Thank you' to him.
It had taken them just about an hour to open gifts so it was now time for Elliot and Olivia to leave for the day.
"Merry Christmas both of you! See you Wednesday morning." Don told them as they gathered their coats and left.
The ride down in the elevator was filled with silence. Both throwing covert little glances at each other. Elliot nervous about asking Olivia to come over later and Olivia wondering just what he had in mind.
They finally reached the parking garage and started to walk off the elevator.
"So, I'll see you later tonight?" Elliot asked nervously.
"Sure!"
They each waved goodbye to the other and headed in different directions to their cars.
The entire trip back to her apartment Olivia's mind was reeling with all the possibilities for what Elliot's gift could be. She almost missed her street even, she was so deep in thought.
Meanwhile, Elliot had all of a sudden felt rushed as he got in his SUV. He headed to the market by his apartment to stock up on the things he needed for dinner before heading home.
As he was unpacking his groceries he heard the door to this apartment open and his kids come in.
"Hi Daddy!" Lizzie called out.
"Hey guys! Can you come in here? I need a huge favor." He yelled out to them.
Moments later all four children were in the kitchen with him.
"What's up Dad?" Maureen asked.
"Okay, no one get mad, but I invited Liv to have dinner with us tonight. She has no one to spend Christmas Eve with." He told them, almost dreading their response.
"That's great Daddy! You need help with dinner, don't you?" Kathleen chuckled.
"Yes." He blushed. "We've got just about three hours until she gets here though is all."
"Alright. Lizzie, you start making the punch. Dickie, you're on salad duty. Dad, start the lasagna. Kathleen and I will work on dessert." Maureen said, taking charge.
"Thanks kids!" Elliot told them, kissing each on the head before starting to work.
Thanks to some great planning on Elliot's part by having everything they needed, the meal was done being prepared an hour and a half later. All that was left was for the lasagna and garlic bread to finish cooking.
"Kids, why don't you go get changed. I'm going to jump in the shower quick." Elliot told them all as he headed for his bathroom.
20 minutes later he was out of the shower, had shaved, brushed his teeth, and was now standing in front of his closet trying to decide what to wear. He settled on a pair of black dress slacks and a deep forest green sweater. After getting dressed he walked out to the living room to find his kids all sitting around on the sofas dressed up in similar outfits as he was wearing. The only difference being that the girls were wearing red sweaters.
Just as Elliot went to check on dinner there was knock on the door. He walked over to answer it, knowing very well who was there.
"Olivia, it's great to see you." He hugged her as he opened the door to let her in.
He chuckled as he took in her outfit, almost as if she had known what everyone was wearing Olivia had managed to dress to fit in with the family. She had on black dress slacks as well and like Elliot's daughters she was wearing a red sweater. As he ushered her into the living room she noticed the kids all sitting there and began chuckling herself.
"I guess we all had the same idea about outfits tonight." She told them.
"Merry Christmas, Liv. I hope you enjoy your gift." Elliot told her as he went to hang up her coat.
She glanced around the room and suddenly the smell from the kitchen hit her. It was then that his words started to make sense. He had given her a Christmas Eve family dinner for her gift. Something she realized she admitted to him just days ago that she had never had growing up.
"Thank you Elliot." She pulled him into a hug as a tear fell from her eye.
Elliot reached up and swiped the tear away before releasing her from his arms.
"Merry Christmas Liv!!" The kids all called out from their places on the sofa.
"Merry Christmas you guys!" She replied.
"Well, what do you say we go eat? I've just got to take the food out of the oven and we'll be ready." Elliot told them all.
Everyone got up and walked into the dining room where Lizzie and Dickie had set the table for six and placed the appetizers earlier including the tossed salad Dickie had made and the bowl of punch Lizzie had made. As the family sat down to dinner, Elliot went into the kitchen to grab the last of dinner. Olivia followed him in to help him bring the food out.
"Thanks again El. This means so much that you did this for me." She told him.
"No problem Sweetheart, you deserve it." He replied, not noticing his slip of the tongue.
Olivia smiled as the two took the remainder of dinner out to the table for everyone to eat. They all sat down and Elliot said a quick prayer before everyone dug in. Dinner went well, the kids all excitedly telling Olivia about what they wanted for Christmas and Olivia just basking in the glow of having a real family dinner. She realized that this was her family. Whether she was ready to admit it to them or not, Elliot and his children were more of a family to her than anyone had ever been in her whole life.
Once everyone had eaten and the dessert that Maureen and Kathleen had made had been gobbled up the four children went the their rooms to give their father and his partner some privacy.
"So, how was it?" Elliot asked, as they sat down on the sofa.
"Perfect El. Absolutely perfect. I can't believe you actually remembered." She said in disbelief.
"I remember everything you tell me." He told her as he reached down and took her hand in his.
As soon as Elliot's hand enveloped hers Olivia looked up and deep into his blue eyes. There she could see every emotion he had at that moment. Love, adoration, trust, it was all there. It scared her to death to think that her partner felt that way about her, but at the same time she knew it was exactly how she felt for him.
"El--" She began, but was cut off by his lips gently coming down on her own.
The two fell into the kiss, both knowing that they had waited too long already to not just go with it and let this happen. Elliot ran his tongue along the seam of Olivia's lips and deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue in her mouth. She let out a small moan and he knew that he was doing everything just right.
When breathing became an issue for the two they separated.
"Liv, you know I love you, right?" Elliot asked her as he looked deep in her eyes, hoping to convey just how much what he was saying was true.
"Now I do. I love you too, El, so much." She replied, before reaching back over to kiss him again.
They broke their kiss again and Elliot took Olivia's hand in his.
"Stay the night with me Liv. Just sleeping, I'm not trying to rush anything. I just want to have you here with us tomorrow. I need to have you with me tonight." He begged her.
"El? Are you sure?" She asked, a bit hesitantly.
"Livvie, I've never been more sure of anything in my life. I promise, nothing more than sleeping." He assured her.
Elliot could tell that she was hesitant to say yes because she was afraid to rush things and needed to assure her that he respected her and would never rush things with her.
"Alright, I'll stay. " She whispered pulling him back into her arms.
The two then got up off the sofa and headed back to Elliot's bedroom, both failing to notice the four heads poked out of the girls' bedroom smiling as they heard the whole conversation their father and his partner had just had.