A/N: I was really feelin' my Tuckson playlist today... But the Twitterverse is largely responsible for this one. Darkclocks quoted a tweet that said, "Say 'I love you' without using those three words, go" and she answered "Always" in honor of Tuckson. I guess the muse liked that, because this came out of me like word vomit not long after. Enjoy!

##

"Hey, Lucy," Olivia called out tiredly, depositing her keys on the table by the door and shrugging off her coat. "Sorry I'm la—" As she went to hang her coat on the coatrack, she did a double take, her thought interrupted.

"Welcome home," his voice said. "I sent her home early."

Ed was leaning against the partial wall that started her kitchen, dressed in a crisp light blue Oxford shirt and black slacks. Her small dinette table was set for two, with a candle lit in the center. He'd turned on minimal lighting and the ambiance he'd created was extremely romantic.

"What're you—" Her eyes scanned everything before her. "What is this?"

"This," he declared, pushing himself off the wall and stalking toward her, a smirk firmly planted on his face, "is what some people call a surprise."

Her eyes found the two plates sitting on the table, plastic lids hiding the contents from her view. Her eyes widened in disbelief. "You cooked?!" He stepped closer to her and her hands found their way to his forearms before sliding up around his neck.

He looked at her incredulously. "Who do you think you're talking to?" He rolled his eyes. "Of course I didn't cook." He leaned in, "I dial a mean phone, Benson."

His lips landed on hers and she whimpered, succumbing to the kiss and taking the moment to absorb the bizarre turn this evening had taken.

"That was nice," she said, pulling away and smiling at him.

He kissed her again. "Glad you thought so. I have more of that on the agenda for later." He took her hand and led her to the table. "Now let's eat. I slaved over a phone for this. I don't want it to get cold."

She rolled her eyes. "What's on the menu tonight, Mr. Tucker?"

"The food of my people," he said, lifting the plastic lids and revealing… chicken parm.

Olivia looked from the plates to Ed, a crooked smile adorning her face. She deadpanned, "Ed, you're Irish."

"Same difference." He shrugged. She snickered, and he pulled out her chair, silently asking her to sit.

"This looks really good!" She started cutting her food while he poured two glasses of wine. Taking a bite, she moaned, "Oh my God, this is amazing."

"Thanks!" he replied cheekily, a twinkle in his eyes.

She grumbled. "Smartass."

"Hey, I went through all this trouble to surprise you. The least I should get in return is to not be insulted," he declared, feigning offense.

Smiling, "So, how did you pull this off?" He opened his mouth to answer, but she kept talking, pointing her fork at him. "And you can start…with what you did with my son." She winked.

"Rollins was gracious enough to offer her childcare services for the evening," he said, matter-of-factly. "As for everything else, your Sergeant and I have reached something of an understanding."

Olivia's eyebrows rose. "An understanding," she repeated.

"Yep," he shrugged again.

"That's all I'm getting?"

Ed nodded, smirking. "That's all you're getting." He gestured toward her plate. "Eat."

Rather than obey his command, because really, she was Olivia Benson… She picked up her wine glass and leaned back in her chair, evaluating him. "Just when I think I've got a handle on you…" She shook her head, smiling wistfully. "You do something like this and take me completely by surprise."

"That's the plan," he smirked.

"What is?"

"To take you by surprise," he replied simply.

"Why?"

He regarded her seriously, setting his own fork down and just looking at her. "When was the last time someone did something like this for you, Liv?"

Her mouth opened as she tried to remember. After a few seconds of her catching flies, he interjected. "That's what I thought." He took her hand across the table. "I can't begin to understand what you saw in Cassidy or that Haden guy that made you think they were worthy of even a second of your time," he said bitterly.

"I hope this is going somewhere good…" she interrupted, narrowing her eyes at him.

He grinned. He loved pushing her buttons. "And I know you're way outside of your comfort zone, being with me."

She squeezed his hand, shaking her head. "Wrong." At his quizzical look, she went on. "I feel more in my comfort zone with you than I did with any of them."

He leaned back, as if the wind had been knocked out of him. "Well, damn. That makes me feel better about this," and he pulled a velvet box out of his pocket.

She gasped immediately, snatching her hand back from his and covering her mouth. "Ed, what did you do?"

"Not what you think," he smirked.

He opened the box and pulled at the thin necklace, undoing the clasp and getting up to put it on her.

When he spoke, she could feel the warmth of his breath against her ear from his perch behind her, and she fought the shiver that went up and down her spine. A thousand goose bumps erupted across the back of her neck where his fingers touched her as he put the necklace in place.

He whispered, "The pendant is a claddagh. Do you know what that means?" He planted a kiss on her shoulder when he was done clasping the necklace.

She nodded, her fingers going to the pendant and lifting it so she could look at it more closely. "Friendship, love, loyalty," she breathed. Scrutinizing the pendant, she froze. "It's—"

"Sapphire," he nodded, rounding the table to retake his seat. "My birthstone." He took a deep breath, holding up his right wrist, "And this, is yours."

Olivia's eyes filled with tears as she held his hand. He'd gotten himself a black braided leather bracelet, with a claddagh at the center, identical to hers but for the amethyst stone in place of the heart.

"Ed… what is all this?" She asked, shaking her head.

"I'm not proposing to you, Olivia."

"Well, that's a relief, because you know I'm not ready…"

"I know," he nodded, interrupting her. "I just noticed you haven't really worn a necklace since you gave yours away to Ariel."

"She needed it more than I did," Olivia explained quietly, still fingering the pendant she'd just received.

"I know," he acknowledged. "But a beautiful girl still needs a beautiful necklace." She smiled. "And…"'

"And what?" she prodded.

"Without proposing, without giving you a ring, I wanted to show you that I am all in," he said, waving his hands to indicate that all his cards were on the table.

"All in," she repeated, a slight question in her voice.

"Yes." He took her hand again. "Liv, I know neither of us is ready to think about marriage," he raised his eyebrows, "and I suspect we'd both be fine without a piece of paper binding us together until the end of time…" She huffed out a laugh. "This is a commitment to each other, just for us. We can tell people about it, but we don't have to. We can make it more, down the road – make it legal – or we can keep things just like this." He took a deep breath. "I don't care, Olivia. As long as it's you, me and Noah." He squeezed her hand. "So, if you don't want to do this, tell me now…"

"No, I do!" she interrupted. She smiled at the irony of using those words.

I do.

He heaved a sigh of relief, closing his eyes briefly. "Thank Christ." He lifted his wrist at her. "Always, Olivia. That's what this means."

"Always, huh?" she quirked an eyebrow at him, playing with his fingers. "Geez, Tucker. Who knew you were such a sap?"

He hung his head, feigning shame. "What can I say? You have done things to me, Lieutenant."

She pulled his hand further across the table and kissed the back of it, before picking up her glass of wine in her free hand and standing from the table.

"Where are you going?" he asked, confused.

He hadn't exactly rehearsed his speech, but he was pretty sure he hadn't stuck his foot in his mouth, which had been his biggest fear going into this.

"To thank you properly," she replied simply, with a seductive wink thrown in for good measure. She jerked her chin toward his still half-full wine glass. "Bring that."

He allowed himself to be pulled out of his chair, snatching his wine glass before he got too far away from it. He followed her obediently. "Dinner?"

"Can wait," she threw back at him, not turning around as she pulled him into her bedroom and shut the door.

…

Some time later, Olivia collapsed on top of Ed, landing in a sweaty, tangled mess of limbs following their second round of vigorous lovemaking. She rolled off of him, pushing her hair out of her face and looking over at Ed, who was in a similar state.

"JC, Mary and Joseph, Benson…" he gasped, desperately trying to get air to his lungs.

She laughed throatily. "I kinda like you, Tucker," she teased, rolling back toward him so she was lying on her stomach, half on top of him again. "I think I'll keep you around."

Her eyes were twinkling and he caressed her face with his fingertips, his lips twitching into a small smile when she leaned into his touch.

His fingers trailed down her neck to land on the pendant he'd just given her, a heart-shaped stone that coincidentally matched the color of his eyes resting safely within white gold hands.

Her hands.

His voice was husky, even huskier than normal when he asked, "Always?"

She nodded imperceptibly. Their eyes locked, and she pushed herself up to be closer to his face.

Just before her lips brushed his, she replied in the lightest of whispers.

"Always."

##

A/N: I can't even tell you how much fun I had writing this. Thoughts?