A/N: It's New Year's Eve, and the dedicated detectives of Manhattan SVU are making (and breaking) some resolutions! The new year brings a lot of changes, some good, some bad, and some painful. One thing is for certain, once midnight passes, there's no going back, and nothing will ever be the same.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters or basic plot points, I do, however, own the words and storyline of this particular story, so don't sue me, Dick Wolf.

"How long's it been?"

The voice sounded muffled, almost too far away to be heard. Elliot dropped the paper's in his hand to his desk, and he rubbed his eyes. "Over a month," he said, blinking. He looked up at John Munch, the man who'd asked the question. "We haven't heard from or seen he in over a month, and now this? Shit, the kids...don't seem to be too bothered. They're hurt, they're pissed off, they don't understand...and they're pretending not to care."

"You and Benson, you coming to that thing, tonight?" Munch asked, his ulterior motives hidden behind his bespectacled eyes.

Elliot glanced down, staring for a moment at the decree document, the black and white pages that finalized his divorce, ending a marriage, a phase of his life that took his youth and gave him four wonderful children. Fittingly, he thought, it happened on New Year's Eve. An end to mark a new beginning. His eyes traveled upward and focused on a beautiful woman across the room, his partner, in every sense of the word. "Yeah," he almost whispered. "We'll be there."

Munch slapped the younger detective on the back and said, "Good, uh, it's shaping up to be a night full of surprises."

Elliot narrowed his eyes as one hand tugged on his black and white dotted tie. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Munch just shook his head in response and retreated toward his own desk, sitting in silence.

"You ready?" a softer voice asked, snapping Elliot out of his confusion. She caught his eyes and smiled. "I wanna spend some time with the kids before..."

"They're coming with us," he interrupted. "Kathy, uh, sent a message along with these." He lifted the papers up and folded them in thirds. As he shoved them back into their envelope, he said, "Change of plans. She doesn't want them tonight. Or tomorrow."

Olivia's smile faded, giving way to an angry scowl. "If I ever see her again, El, I swear that she..."

"I'll help you hide the body," he joked, cutting her off as he got to his feet. "We have to be at the hall at nine, so we only have two hours to get ready, and that's barely enough time for them on a normal day." He leaned over, kissed her forehead, and whispered something into her ear. As they put their coats on, though, his gaze drifted to Cragen's door. "He hasn't said anything about us since Christmas."

"He's dealing with a lot," she said, buttoning her coat. She tugged her scarf on and ran her fingers through her hair once. "You think he knows we know?"

Elliot shook his head as he turned. Walking with her toward the unit doorway, he said, "He's been trying like hell to keep it quiet. I just wish he would've told us himself."

"Me, too," she sighed, keeping in step with Elliot on the way to the elevator. "Me, too."

They arrived at the banquet hall fashionably late, owing to his daughters and girlfriend each taking time to look "perfectly imperfect." Ten minutes after ten, they walked into the ballroom, found their table, and sat, just in time to choose appetizers off of a tray, held by a waiter who looked no older than Maureen, and eat their already-plated salads.

Elliot popped a piece of shrimp into his mouth and after he swallowed, leaned over the table. "Sorry we're late," he said to his colleagues.

"Did we miss anything?" Olivia asked, wiping the corners of her mouth with a white silk napkin.

"No," said Casey Novak, the ADA for the unit. "You all...match." She waved a finger around, pointing to each kid and both Olivia and Elliot. "You do that on purpose?"

The youngest girl spoke up. "Of course!" Lizzie chirped. "Family pictures would look stupid if we didn't coordinate, wouldn't they?"

"I'm sorry," Trevor Langan, a smarmy defense attorney who appeared to be Casey's date, wiped his mouth and blinked once. "Did you say 'family,' there, kid?"

Elliot grinned, loving the fact that, even though it was expected, his relationship with Olivia still shocked some people. "Yeah." He took a sip of his water. "She said 'family."

Olivia smiled and kissed the top of Lizzie's head, and then winked at Dickie, who was sitting across from her. "Family," she repeated. She looked closely at her dress, it's pale blue glimmer twinkling in the light of the room. Aside from a few details, it was identical to the ones worn by Lizzie, Kathleen, and Maureen. She let her eyes trail to Dickie's neck, his cute bow-tie was made of the same shimmery material, in the same color, and Elliot's then, the long matching tie knotted with a perfect Windsor. They truly did look like a family, and as she took a deep, slow, breath, she realized, they felt like her family. They always had, since the moment she'd met the Stablers, the day after being assigned to SVU as Elliot's partner. Now, though, it was something deeper, something powerful, and something she had no intention of ever giving up.

"Hello? Earth to Benson!" Fin shouted from across the table.

Shaking her head a bit, she chuckled. "Sorry, Fin, what did you say?"

"I said, Cragen's about to make some kinda speech," Fin spoke. "You know about this?"

She shook her head. "Not at all. Did you?" She directed the question knowingly toward Munch.

He didn't nod, but he didn't need to, really. He jutted his chin toward the small platform stage, where, until now, a band had been playing. "You, uh, you may want to listen to this."

"John," she sighed, "I already know what he's going to say."

"What?" Munch asked. "Who told you?"

Elliot took another sip of water. "You know Ed and me, we don't really hate each other off the clock, right?" He twisted his thumb toward Olivia. "We'd have already been fired if..."

"Tucker," Munch spat, interrupting. "Should've known."

Cragen tapped on his mic once, getting everyone's attention, and then found his unit in the crowd, taking in the face of each member of the squad that had become his family. He watched Olivia brush back Lizzie's hair, the little girl lean her head against Olivia in return. He grinned. He saw Elliot loop an arm around Olivia and the other around his oldest daughter, Maureen. He saw John Munch, looking back at him reverently, and Fin staring, confused. He nodded once at Kathleen and Dickie, who happily chomped on potato puffs. "Good evening, everyone," he began. He cleared his throat. "When I wrote this speech, I thought it would be a lot easier to give, but seeing all of you...some of whom I love like family...a few of you like my own children...it's proving to be more difficult than I could've imagined."

A few clinking forks and knifes scraping against plates hit his ears as he inhaled slowly. "Tonight, we start a brand new year. We make promises to ourselves, like, you, John."

Munch raised an eyebrow.

Cragen smirked. "You promised that you would drink less and smile more. I see you, whiskey in hand, that classic flat frown on your face. Already broke your resolution, huh?"

There was a chorus of laughter as Munch smirked and brought his glass to his lips, as he yelled, "It's Brandy!"

More laughter broke the remaining tension as Cragen continued. "We make promises to each other, on this night. Take Olivia and Elliot. You made promises to not just each other, but to those four little angles sitting with you tonight. To be there, always. Love them, like you love each other. Keep them safe, the way you vowed to do for each other a few years ago, when Benson walked into the squadroom and changed all of our lives, for the better, am I right?"

Elliot raised a glass and said, "Damn right, I'll drink to that." And as people around him chuckled, he saw Olivia wiping away a tear, her emotions building, knowing what was coming."

Cragen saw, too, and his heart broke just a bit more. "We also...we also make drastic changes, tonight, some of which only affect us, like Fin joining yet another gym he will never go to." He smiled as laughter erupted. "Other choices...affect everyone around us. Like...like my choice...to make tonight my final night as Captain of the Manhattan Special Victim's Unit."

There were gasps of surprise, moans of disapproval, a few short, slow claps, but Cragen's eyes were on Olivia's, which were now steadily leaking hot tears. "Please, don't...don't cry," he seemed to say only to her. "It's time for all of us to take next steps, and move into the new year with hope for a brighter future, and I have realized that, in light of some recent developments, I can not effectively lead the Special Victims Unit." He smiled, then, and cleared his throat. "I can, however, effectively bring the entire bureau into the new year, as I proudly and gratefully accept the promotion offered to me, and making tomorrow my first day as Chief of Detectives."

The thunderous applause and whooping cheers didn't phase him as much as the shock and pride on the faces of Olivia and Elliot. He nodded at each of them, and gave them a warning. "So you two still answer to me, understand?"

They laughed and nodded at him, and then turned to Munch with unasked questions on their faces.

"Don't look at me," he said. "I turned it down. They're bringing in some new guy from the Two-Nine." He took a sip of his drink and said, "Cragen, uh, wanted to offer it to one of you, but..."

"No way," Elliot said. "I'm never leaving her side."

Cragen, having stepped down and made his way over to the table, said, "I thought that's what you'd say. So I didn't ask." He looked at Olivia. "Are you okay?"

Sniffling, she nodded, and she tossed her napkin onto the table as she stood. She gave her former captain a hug and whispered, "Why didn't you tell us?"

He pushed her away slightly, to look at her. "You had a lot going on, and I didn't want to shadow your new start with Elliot by a dark cloud and you were both still mad at me for..."

"We know it was his mother," she interrupted, grinning. "But thank you for, uh, helping her. Why didn't you just..."

"I know you, Olivia," Cragen cut in, smiling. "You needed the push toward him, or you would've tried to fix things, and stayed away. I also know you both deserve...each other. And this..." he held out a hand. "This family you've been building and bonding for years. You deserve to start the new year right, together. Besides, as Chief of D's, I can really make sure no one fucks with my kids."

Olivia laughed with him, kissed his cheek, and said, "Thank you, Cap...er...um, Chief."

"Not till tomorrow," he said, raising a finger. "Go dance with your partner. He's waiting."

She turned, and sure enough, Elliot was right behind her, his hands out for her. "Thanks, Cap," he said. "For everything." He squeezed Cragen's shoulder quickly. "Happy New Year."

Cragen patted Elliot's shoulder and watched him lead Olivia to the dance floor. With an hour until the ball dropped, bringing the year to an end, he grinned. So much more was about to begin, and he knew, now, he could enjoy every moment of it. "Happy New Year, son."

A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR! I love you all!