A follow-up of sorts to 'A Merry SVU Christmas' if you will. I know I'm a bit late as it's now the 3rd of January, but what can I say, I'm still posting it.

Flashbacks in italics as per my usual.

DISCLAIMER: Still not mine

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been one week since that night, Christmas Eve night to be exact. Elliot had given Olivia just what she needed for a gift. A real family dinner, the one thing she had always wanted growing up. The next morning had been perfect too. From the moment she woke up in his bed until the day was over.

As soon Olivia had woken up Christmas morning she immediately began to think that it'd all been a dream. While she was sure she had eaten dinner with Elliot and his family, she was certain that the events that took place after dinner had been just the result of her overactive imagination. Glancing down and the comforter wrapped around her she suddenly realized that it hadn't been a dream. Here she was actually laying in Elliot's bed. Just when she began to break out in a grin thinking about it she felt his arms wrap around her waist from behind her.

"It's not a dream you know." Elliot whispered in her ear.

"What makes you think I'm even wondering that?" She asked him, smirking.

"You forget Liv, I know you all too well."

She rolled over in bed so that she was now laying on her other side and looking into his eyes.

"Merry Christmas, Elliot." Olivia muttered, bringing her lips down onto his.

"Mmmhmm…definitely a Merry Christmas." He chuckled.

Just then there was a knock at Elliot's bedroom door.

"Dad? Liv? Can we open presents yet?" Dickie called through the door.

"Sure, we'll be out in two minutes." Elliot replied.

The pair reluctantly climbed out of bed and headed to the living room to open presents. Olivia hadn't been expecting anything but she had brought gifts for each of Elliot's children. She was, however, pleasantly surprised when the kids all had gifts for her as well as Elliot giving her another gift.

She had saved the box from Elliot for last, even waiting to open it until she was ready to leave to head back to her apartment for the night that night. Opening it up her eyes were met with a beautiful gold heart shaped locket. Underneath it was a piece of paper, much like the one that had accompanied her gift from him at the station.

Livvie,

It would make my Holiday season if you would please be my guest for dinner on New Year's Eve.

Love, El

"It's nothing fancy. The locket, I mean, just something I saw and thought of you." Elliot told her as she was looking it over.

"Thank you. I love it. I love you. And yes, I will be your guest on New Year's Eve." She let him know, pulling him into another kiss.

As they pulled apart both said their goodbyes and Olivia headed out to her own apartment.

Now, one week later, it was New Year's Eve and time for their date. The past week hadn't been any different around work. There were still cases coming in all the time, and Benson and Stabler still kicking ass and taking names. Nothing had changed between them, that Olivia made sure of. Just as with Christmas Eve, the two were on duty until 2pm, at least that was their scheduled time to leave. Both knew that in their line of work the time you're supposed to leave meant nothing compared to the time you actually left. Today was no different.

It was 1:35pm when the call came in, nothing out of the ordinary it seemed, a rape victim at the hospital, the perpetrator being the victim's 28 year old boyfriend. Elliot and Olivia, being the detectives who were catching until 2, were sent out to go meet with the victim.

"Well, looks like we're not getting out of here at 2." Elliot said as the two walked out to their sedan.

"Nope, sure doesn't look that way. I hope this doesn't throw a kink in your plans there Stabler." Olivia teased as she stepped into the vehicle.

"Trust me, no kinks anywhere." He winked, closing the door behind his partner.

The drive to the hospital was a relatively quiet one, which wasn't unusual. By this point in their partnership Elliot and Olivia were just as comfortable sitting in silence with each other as they were talking up a storm. As they pulled up to the parking lot and got out of the car they started walking into the Emergency Room of Mercy General.

"Detective Benson, this is my partner Detective Stabler. We're here to see Missy Reynolds." Olivia told the triage nurse as they walked in.

"Ah, yes, she's in room 123." The nurse replied, pointing down the hallway to her right.

Elliot and Olivia followed her gesture down the hallway and went to talk to Missy. Since she was underage they had to have consent from Missy's parents to speak to her in private, however Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds were not allowing that. While it was a bit tougher gathering information with the parent in the room the two detectives did get all the information that they needed as well as having the rape kit sent over to Melinda.

By the time they were pulling back into the station it was already going on 3:15pm. While this was an open and shut case, there was no question here that Missy had been raped or who had done it, there was still protocol to follow. Fin and Lake had come on duty at 2pm and been sent out shortly thereafter to pick up Matthew Snyder, Missy's boyfriend.

"Elliot, Olivia, I want your paperwork on my desk before you leave, then I'll see you on Wednesday." Don said to the two as they walked back in the squad room.

The two sat at their adjoining desks and quickly typed up their DD-5's on the case before Olivia walked both sets of paperwork into their captain's office and laid them on his desk.

"So, what time are we meeting?" She asked Elliot as she walked back to her desk.

"It's 4:30 now, and I've got reservations for 7, so how about I pick you up at 6:30? Does that give you enough time to get ready?" He asked.

"Yep. So I'll see you then." Olivia said as she grabbed her coat and the two headed out of the squad room.

Walking in her apartment, Olivia suddenly became nervous. She really had no idea why, this was just Elliot. She'd gone out with Elliot many times before. Alright, really she did know why she was so nervous. This wasn't just Elliot who she'd gone out with many times before. This was Elliot who she was finally going on a date with. Elliot who just one week ago she'd woken up in bed next to. Elliot who she'd been secretly in love with for years up until last week when they'd both finally admitted to each other how they felt. Or at least she had. He had told her he loved her too, but then since that next morning everything had been back to the status quo with them. She wasn't expecting grand declarations of love at every turn, but she had kind of hoped for something to change with them. The way this was going was scaring her that he hadn't meant things the way she took them. Maybe he didn't love her that way.

Knowing that she was totally over thinking things and needed to get moving if she wanted to be ready for Elliot when he arrived Olivia started to run the water for her bath. Normally she would just jump in the shower, but today she needed a nice relaxing bath to calm her nerves. Thankfully she'd lucked out when she'd gotten her apartment and it had a gigantic tub in it.

Nearly 45 minutes later, after an unexpected brief nap, Olivia climbed out of the tub hoping that by the time she finished getting ready and Elliot showed up he shriveled fingers from the long bath would go away. Wrapping in a luxuriously warm towel she padded out to the bedroom to try and find just the right outfit to wear to dinner that night. Not really seeing anything that looked right she picked up the phone and called her best friend.

"Novak."

"Hey Case. I need help." Olivia whined.

"What's up?"

"Elliot sort of asked me out to dinner tonight and I don't have anything to wear." She sighed.

"When's he coming over?" Casey asked.

"He'll be here at 6:30."

"Perfect. I'll be over in 15 minutes. Bye Liv!"

Olivia hung up the phone and went back into her bathroom so that she could dry her hair. She was really starting to like it long even if it wasn't exactly the best hairdo for chasing perps. When she had finished drying her hair she quickly set it in hot rollers hoping to give a little boost to the natural waves she had. Just as she was wrapping the last bit of hair there was a buzzer going off signaling Casey's arrival downstairs. Olivia walked over and pushed the button to allow her friend to enter her building and within a matter of moments she was at the door and being ushered into Olivia's apartment.

"Alright, I know you're a tiny bit shorter than I am, so I didn't bring anything that was floor length. I wasn't sure how high of heels you had." Casey told her as she opened the dress bag and began removing dresses.

"Everything looks nice, I don't know. God Casey, this is Elliot. I need to stop freaking out here."

"Where's he taking you? Let's start with that." Casey said reassuringly.

"That's just it, I don't know where we're going." Olivia huffed.

"Okay, well we'll just take a different approach here then. No big deal. Personally, I think with your coloring we should go with a dark color. What about this one?" She asked, holding up a knee length black dress.

"Very nice. I like that. " Olivia told her.

"Then it's set, you're wearing this dress." Casey told her, packing the other dresses away. "Now, for your accessories. Let's take a look at all your jewelry."

The two walked over to Olivia's jewelry cabinet and began looking around inside. They decided that while her 'Fearless' necklace was indeed a very nice necklace it wasn't exactly date material and voted on that coming off for the night. As soon as Casey saw the gold locket hanging in Olivia's cabinet though she immediately knew that had to be worn.

"Where'd you get this from?" She asked her friend as she took it off the hook.

"Elliot. It was his Christmas gift to me, well one of." Olivia blushed.

"It's gorgeous."

Just then Casey's eye noticed the one thing Olivia had failed to notice six days ago when Elliot had given the necklace to her.

"You are my rock, my heart, my soul mate, MY LIV." Casey read off the back of the locket.

"What?" Olivia asked her, highly confused now and frankly a bit worried that her best friend was trying to come on to her.

"The necklace, it's beautiful. You didn't tell me that was engraved on the back."

"That's because I didn't know it was." Olivia said as a tear began to slip down her cheek.

"Alright, let's get you moving though." Casey said as she handed Olivia a tissue.

The two moved into the bathroom and began working on Olivia's makeup. As soon as that was done they began working on her hair, taking out the rollers and making sure it looked just right. Just as Olivia was slipping into the dress Casey had loaned her there was a knock at the door. Of course Elliot would use his key to get in the building.

"Casey, go stall him for a minute, please? I need to finish getting this dress on and put on my necklace and earrings." Olivia said panicking.

Casey walked out to the living room and went to the door to let Elliot in. When she opened the door she was met by the sexiest man she'd ever seen standing there in a black tuxedo with a red tie and white shirt. In his hands he had a bouquet of lilies and roses and Casey swore if Olivia hadn't been her best friend she just might try to steal Elliot away from her right now.

"Wow! You look great El! Olivia will be out in just a minute, she's just finishing up." Casey told him.

"That's fine. I'm actually a couple of minutes early so no big deal." He replied as he walked in the apartment and made himself at home sitting on the sofa.

A few moments later Olivia came walking out of the bedroom and down the hall to the living room. Since her apartment was full of hardwood floors Elliot could hear her coming and turned around to look the second he heard her step onto the floor.

Stunned speechless, all he could do was stand there staring at her. In all the years of being her partner, after all the balls and awards ceremonies they'd been to, after all of it, Elliot could honestly say he'd never seen her look as drop dead gorgeous as she did at that moment. She was absolutely breathtaking.

"You look stunning Liv." He finally managed to get out.

"Your Liv." She leaned over and whispered in his ear.

"I see you finally noticed the back of your locket." He winked at her.

"Actually, Casey did." She blushed. "Sorry that I didn't, El."

"All that matters is that you know it's there. I didn't want to seem like I was pressuring you or rushing things or anything, that's why I didn't tell you about it in the first place." Elliot told her as he walked over to her hall closet and took out her coat.

Neither seemed to notice Casey had slipped out of the door minutes ago as they both went about getting ready to walk out the door. Once they got in the elevator Elliot reached out and took Olivia's hand in his own, lacing his fingers in hers. Turning towards him she smiled and squeezed his hand for a moment. The two walked out to Elliot's SUV and he helped Olivia into the passenger's side before closing the door behind her and walking around to his own side.

After about a 15 minute drive they arrived at their destination. Pulling up to the valet parking at D'Agostino's Olivia's eyes widened. She couldn't believe that Elliot had brought her here.

"El?" She questioned him in disbelief as he walked over to help her out of the car.

"Yes?" He took her hand and they started walking towards the door.

"D'Agostino's, El?"

"Sweetheart, I meant what I said last week. I love you. You deserve the best first date."

The two were seated at their table and brought a bottle of the house wine which their waitress, Vanessa, proceeded to pour two glasses of before leaving them with their menus. A few minutes later Vanessa returned to the table to take their orders and then left for the kitchen to place their orders.

"Thank you Elliot, for all of this." Olivia said as she took his hand across the table.

"Like I said Liv, you deserve it."

The two sat sipping their wine and making small talk, mostly about how Elliot's kids were doing, while they waited for their food to arrive. When Vanessa brought the plates to the table the two began eating, each sneaking a few forkfuls off of the others plate. After the meals had been devoured Elliot noticed there was a dance floor at the front of the room where a few couples had already started to gather.

"Livvie, would you care to dance?" He asked, reaching out his hand to hers in invitation.

"I would love to, El." She took his hand and got up with him.

As Elliot led her to the dance floor he guided her with his hand on the small of her back, the caring gesture not going unnoticed by Olivia. When they arrived at the dance floor Elliot pulled Olivia into his arms as they began to sway to the music.

"This feels so right Liv." Elliot whispered as he held his partner in his arms.

"I know what you mean. I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be than in your arms right now." Olivia responded.

They continued to dance to the song until it was almost over at which point Elliot tipped Olivia's chin up and gently placed his lips on hers. What started out as a hesitant kiss turned into something much deeper. As Elliot broke away Olivia pulled him back to her with all the want and need she could muster. While their kiss deepened and Olivia slipped her tongue in his mouth Elliot began to run his hand down her back closer and closer to her ass before resting his hands there with a small squeeze.

"Liv? Promise not to run?" Elliot breathed out.

"Promise. Why?"

"What do you say we take this back to my place?" He suggested.

Olivia nodded and the two headed back to their table where Vanessa had left their bill. Dropping the two fifty dollar bills on the table Elliot picked up Olivia's coat and helped her into it before grabbing his own and slipping it on.

The ride back to his apartment Olivia spent teasing her way up his inner thigh higher and higher until she'd almost reached the growing bulge in his pants. Just as she cupped him he thankfully made it into his parking spot.

"Livvie, you're lucky you didn't cause an accident back there." He chuckled as they got out.

Hurrying into the apartment things had become so heated that it had turned into a race to see who could get the other undressed the fastest. Elliot had managed to get Olivia's dress off when he was shocked to find out that she had been almost completely naked underneath. Sure she had on a bra and panties, but both were so tiny he just knew they couldn't truly constitute undergarments. By the time he had her down to just her underwear Olivia had managed to strip Elliot down to just his boxer briefs.

"And there you have it ladies and gentlemen, Detective Stabler is a boxer briefs kind of guy." Olivia chuckled. "I definitely know of quite a few women on the force dying to know that about you."

"You guys talk about my underwear?" He asked her, as he removed her bra.

"Like you don't sit there across the desk trying to picture me in mine all day long Stabler." She winked.

"I never pictured them like this though Liv, never."

Finally removing the last pieces of clothing separating their bodies, Elliot picked Olivia up so that her legs were wrapped around his waist and carried her into his bedroom. As he continued peppering her with kisses he placed her down on his bed on her back before climbing on top of her and lavishing her breasts with his tongue and mouth. As she began to moan he trailed his right hand down between their bodies and began fondling her clitoris causing her to moan even louder and buck her hips up into his.

"8 ½ years of foreplay already El, please, I just need you in me tonight." She moaned out.

That was all it took. Elliot knew he should take his time and pleasure her more, make sure she was treated right, but fuck if he didn't want her so bad. He positioned his tip at her entrance and slowly thrust into her. As her walls clamped down around him he began thrusting deeper and harder.

"Oh God, Liv, you feel so fucking good!!" He cried out.

"You too. So. Damn. Good."

Within a few minutes Elliot had brought her to her climax and she orgasmed calling out his name to anyone in the building who could hear her. When she had come down from her high Olivia flipped them over so that she was on top and taking control of the situation. She continued to ride Elliot like a cowgirl on a bucking bronco until she was again brought to her orgasm. Sensing that he was perhaps a bit frustrated that he hadn't had his own release yet Olivia let Elliot take control again and he started slamming into her with such force that she knew she'd be sore in the morning. After a few minutes he was finally falling over the edge as well, calling out Olivia's name which brought her right with him for her third orgasm that night.

"Sorry about that Liv." Elliot told her as he pulled her into his arms as they finished up.

"Elliot I have no clue what you're apologizing for but let me tell you baby, there is not one single thing you did tonight that you have any right to apologize for." She said before reaching over and kissing him hard on the lips.

Only then did they both realize that it was just after midnight.

"What a way to usher in 2008, huh Liv?" Elliot chuckled.