Title: Before

Author: ZombieJazz

Fandom: Law & Order: SVU

Disclaimer: I don't own them. Law and Order SVU and its characters belong to Dick Wolf. The characters of Will (and his family) and Noah have been created and developed for the sake of this AU series.

Summary: Liv attempts a merry Christmas with her small son and neighbour friend. It proves a bit more complicated and less merry than she may have hoped. For the fans of my Undeserved stories who are in need of a Liv/Noah/Will AU fix. This is a stand-alone series of chapters that form an incomplete story that won't likely be updated. It is set about four months before UD.

Author's Notes: This story is part of the AU series that goes along with Undeserved and features Liv/Noah/Will. This series of chapters was written before Undeserved some time ago. It is set about four months before the start of UD and before Noah has cancer and before Liv/Will are in a defined relationship. These chapters are meant to stand-alone. They were written a year-ago and then it was decided that UD would start closer to Noah's diagnose and these were scrapped. I'll post the chapters over the next few days for those who need a Liv/Noah/Will fix. But please understand that this is an incomplete story and that it is not likely going to be updated at this time. However, fans of the series may enjoy the chapters for context and background on their relationship - and maybe it will hold you over until I update UD. For new readers, this AU series is for SVU fans and readers who want Olivia to have something that resembles a more normal life outside of work and a family of her own - hopefully somewhat realistically within the canon of SVU. Her relationship with Elliot is that of partner and protective older brother and colleague. It won't devolve from that - they aren't ever going to get together in this series. If you're an E/O shipper, you likely won't enjoy these stories. Please let me know what you think and if you distribute elsewhere.

Karen had been right. Noah had passed out in the pew before the end of midnight mass.

Getting him back up and dressed to head out to the church had been enough of a challenge that she'd questioned even more whether it was worth the bother. But she had been glad she had.

Noah was fascinated with the decorations at the church – the giant trees decorated with the white lights and the poinsettias all over the alter. He'd spent a long time over at the nativity scene with Will, looking at the manager and the rest of the figures and apparently asking questions. She'd decided to stay in the pew and let Will handle the religious explanations. She wouldn't have any – not real one. And, she'd felt Will's stance on his religious upbringing would temper any responses he actually gave to her son. But based on some of the little questions and comments that Noah had apparently let slip from his mouth, she was regretting that she hadn't gone over to participate too.

The religious aspects of the season just wasn't something she'd ever really bothered to go into too much detail with him. She wasn't sure she wanted to start now. Though, it was clear that his parents were taking some glee in the fact that they'd come to church with them. It actually made Olivia a bit uncomfortable and made her think that joining them probably wouldn't be something her and Noah did again. She didn't want them to get the wrong idea. This wasn't them taking an interest in their religious doctrine. This was just her trying to be polite and respectful of their traditions – and really, just try to spend the time with Will.

Noah liked it when the carols started on the big organ before the mass had started and had stood on the knee rest to get a better view at the beginning of it during the procession. He'd carefully watched Will and mirrored his movements for when he stood, sat and kneeled – opening the liturgy and looking into it too. But as the service went on, she saw him fidgeting more, his not so quietly whispered questions and comments to her increased and so did her hushing and then as she finally managed to truly still him in the pew, his eyes started getting heavy. By the end of it, he was leaning against her asleep. She hadn't felt too badly about it – considering when she looked down the pew at Rob's family his 14-year-old also seemed to be drowsing and the other three just looked bored out of their minds.

It had then been a whirlwind since getting back to Will's parents' house. Tom and his family were was back at this point, and he and his wife, Becky, had stopped in with their wild boys in tow. Though it seemed casual – he cajoled Will into "just one more beer and a little nog before you hit the sack." And then there'd be chitchat and dragging down the Santa presents and stockings.

Olivia was exhausted by the time it was said-and-done and she got the impression it was socially acceptable for her to call it a night. She didn't know how Will did it every year. She wasn't sure that this would be her vision of Christmas every year – but figured it was about all he knew.

She'd left the door open a crack after she'd finished readying herself for bed – making sure Noah would be able to locate her if he did get up in the night or that she'd be able to hear him if he called from the next room over. She was siting on the corner of the bed putting on some lotion when Will sauntered into the room from a shower – dressed only in his briefs. He groaned and threw himself at the bed, tossing aside a towel he'd still been drying his hair with.

She watched him for a moment and rubbed his arm. "Wrong room," she told him quietly. "You'll get your family talking and wondering more than they already are."

He just moaned at her. She knew his family didn't know what to make of them. That it was confusing for them to not have a straight answer about whether they were a couple. It was even more confusing for them to hear that they were just friends. She got the impression that his firefighter brothers didn't believe a man and woman could be friends and spend as much time together as her and Will did. She could only imagine what they'd think if they knew how much time she spent with her partner at work. If her and Will seemed like they might as well be married – her and El might as well be an old, dysfunction married couple toddling down the street together.

Still, she didn't think any of his family catching him in his underwear passed out on the bed in her bedroom – after they'd gone through the awkward song-and-dance to make clear she wanted a bedroom of her own – was going to do much in quieting the family chatter about their relationship. In other circumstances, Olivia wouldn't have really cared. Will was in-and-out of her apartment enough that they'd both seen each other in various states of undress. It wasn't uncommon for him to wander to her apartment door in his briefs in the morning looking for milk for his cereal or coffee or some bananas or yogurt for his smoothie. Or maybe he was just looking for some general excuse to flash his abs and cycler's thighs at her. Or he just had no sense. He really could be a complete idiot. If they were worried about what his parents thought or were saying – she could just imagine what some of the people on their floor who had seen him make his morning trek would be saying or thinking. They probably thought they were just as ridiculous - and generally awful neighbors.

She wasn't about to rag on him about the entire complexities of their dynamic that much that night, though. He had drunk a lot and she could tell he was hurting. She rarely saw him drink - and had only known him to ever have one or two on the occasions she did see him with a bottle. Today she'd hardly seen him at all without a drink in his hand. If he was hurting then, he was only going be hurting worse when Christmas morning officially did roll around.

"I'm too drunk to move," he informed her and rolled off his belly to look at her. "I'm so tired. I won't be touching you. Same as always. Let me pass out here."

She sighed and examined him. He was asking permission to stay – and there was a part of her that wanted to allow it. There were lots of parts of her that regularly wanted to let the walls down and give it a try. But at that point it felt like they had too much at stake. And he wasn't really asking for that anyways. He was just asking to sleep there – likely as protection from himself and his own drunkenness. It'd just make everything even more confusing for her, though, not to mention more complicated for their interactions for with his family.

"Will …" she let out slowly.

He groaned again and pushed himself upright, moving to get out of the bed.

"You should likely sleep on your side – for if you puke," she told him as he did get up. He shot her a dirty look.

So, she got up with him and handed him a bottle of water she'd brought upstairs and then went and dug some tablets she'd dug out of her toiletry bag for him.

"Take them and drink the whole bottle," she nudged him with it again.

He took it all with a nod and started to crack the cap.

"Noah's still asleep?" he asked.

She nodded, pulling back the covers on the one side of the bed and getting in. "He's exhausted too. Pretty busy day for him."

He reached over and switched off the bedside light next to her, having chugged the water.

"How late do you think he'll sleep?" he asked as he straightened back up. He didn't sound quite as drunk as he looked.

She glanced at the clock. It was 3:20. She didn't recall ever staying up that late on Christmas Eve before – even with a sleepless child.

"I don't know. I guess it will depend on where he lands in terms of exhaustion versus excitement. I hope he gives us until at least 6 – but you might be looking at more like 5."

He groaned again. "Try to push him back," he said, heading for the door. "But wake me up for the excitement. Don't let me miss it."

She gave him a thin smile through the darkened room. "I will," she agreed. "Don't worry."

"Night, Liv," he whispered as he stepped outside the door, his stride still obviously under the influence. He started to pull the shut behind him. "Merry Christmas."

"Night," she allowed. "Merry Christmas. Leave the door open a crack …"

She saw him give another small nod from the light streaming in from the hall, stumble a bit more and then his shadow disappeared with his heavy footsteps off towards the room he'd been assigned to.