A/N: Christmas at the One-Six is always eventful.
DISCLAIMER: SVU and characters belong to Dick Wolf. Story? That's all TStabler's
"Look at them," Fin spits, shaking his head. "Under that mistletoe, kissin' like they're alone. Man, people are watchin' and they ain't even tryin' to make it look like they don't want to tear each others..."
"Jealous?" Munch asks, smirking. He takes a sip of his egg nog. "Of him or her?"
Fin glares at his partner. "Shut up," he huffs. He takes a sip of his own milky drink, and makes a face. "How much rum is in this shit?"
"Not enough," Munch says, getting out of his seat. "I am gonna go get another one of these. You really want them to stop kissing like that, bring them a drink."
Fin blinks, watching the older gentleman walk away, then he smiles. He gets up, and he grabs two glasses of egg nog off of a tray as he walks over to the pair, still attached at the lips under the mistletoe. "Hey," he calls to them.
"Go away," the man mumbles, his lips firmly pressed against those of the woman in his arms.
Fin taps the guy on the shoulder. "I brought you..."
"Busy," he mumbles again, earning a laugh from his lover.
"Stabler, man!" Fin yells, pulling him away from the brunette that, up until now, had his undivided attention. "You two are...everyone is starin' at you, man!" He thrusts the two mugs into Elliot's hands. "Come up for air for a minute."
Elliot laughs and hands the woman to his right a mug. He takes a sip, coughs, and looks at her. "Don't drink that!"
She raises an eyebrow. "Okay," she says, a sing-song lilt in her voice.
He narrows his eyes and makes her smell it, and when she grimaces, he says, "That's why." He hands her drink back to Fin. "Thanks, but...she can't drink that. Do they have anything less...ya know what? Can you get her a Sprite for me?" He shoves his hand into his pocket.
"I got it," Fin barks, rolling his eyes. "Ya know, you shouldn't even be here, Elliot. You don't work here anymore so..."
"I came with her," Elliot interrupts, wrapping an arm around the woman he'd been kissing.
"I see that," Fin hisses. "Everyone in the room sees that."
Elliot smirks. "Exactly," he says, then he turns his head. "So, what do ya say, Liv? Think they miss me around here?"
She rolls her eyes and chuckles. "I do," she says, her fingers playing with his red tie. "Fin...not so much."
"I got that," he says, kissing her again. "He's right, though. Maybe we should mingle."
"Mingling," she says with a nod. "That can be good. I can introduce you to..."
"Olivia!" a man yells. He walked toward her, pulling a leggy blonde along with him.
She turns her head and tries to smile. "Them," she says, clearing her throat. "Nick, Amanda, this is..."
"Elliot Stabler," Nick says, holding out his hand. "She doesn't shut up about you."
"You must be Nick Amaro," Elliot says, shaking his hand. "She's told me a lot about you, too." He hides the snicker that he knows is threatening to come out.
"Yeah," Nick says. "This is..."
"Amanda Rollins," the blonde says with a polite nod. "I can introduce myself, thanks. Pleasure to meet you."
Olivia scratches at her head as she tilts it toward Elliot. "Elliot and I were...we were just...um...there was the mistletoe..."
"Oh, we saw what you were doing," Nick chuckles. "We just wanted to know if this was Elliot, because...honestly, the way you drone on about him, it couldn't have been anyone else."
"Is she why you left?" Amanda asks, her eyes narrowing slightly but her smile broad. "That's so romantic. Quitting for love. You wanna be with your partner, but you know you can't. You give up your job so you can have her in every other way."
Nick hears severity in her words and clears his throat. "Could also be that girl he shot," he says, changing the mood. "He feels like an embarrassment to the badge, can't look at the squad room the same way. Not everything has a noble cause, Rollins."
"Actually," Elliot says, squinting at Nick, "It was both. But if you could keep that to yourselves, I would..."
"Oh," Olivia breaks in, pulling on Elliot's hand, "We're being beckoned." She nods at Nick and Amanda, then pulls Elliot over to Cragen, who had waved them over.
"Hey, Cap," Elliot says, hugging the man in the most manly way he can. "Can I still call you that?"
Cragen nods with a smile. "Of course," he says. He leans closer to Elliot as Olivia starts a conversation with someone else. "One question, though, before we make with the Christmas niceties. What I saw over there...I take it you and Kathy..."
"It's been months, Cap," Elliot says, lowering his voice. "Kathy moved out a few weeks after..." he paused. "But, uh, it's amicable. She's being great with me and the kids, and that...that was just...we were under the mistletoe, and ya know, we're both single, so...I mean, it's Liv." He shrugs, at a loss.
"Right," Cragen interrupts. "Is it weird being here without a shield? As a civilian?" he asks. There's a hidden threat in his words.
But before Elliot can answer, the room is silenced by the squeal of microphone feedback. "What the hell..." Elliot starts, rubbing his right ear, and taking hold of Olivia's wrist with his left hand.
"Is this thing on?" Munch asks, tapping the head of the mic. He'd just pushed the singer of the band out of the way, and he holds up his drink. "Merry Christmas," he shouts into the microphone. "I'm Jewish, but that doesn't mean you all can't have a Merry Christmas."
"Oh, my God," Olivia says, biting her lip.
"Someone needs to get him down from there," Elliot laughs.
Fin steps up beside him, hands him Olivia's clear soda, and says, "It ain't gonna be me. I've waited all night for him to start this shit."
Elliot chuckles and gives Olivia her drink with a wink. "Caffeine free," he whispers.
She gives his hand a squeeze, but her attention is drawn back to Munch. "Dear Lord," she moans, rolling her eyes.
"Every year, we have this party...all of us...cops and...coppettes," Munch says, then sips his drink. "The egg nog is always spiked, but no one ever notices or cares, and all of our inhibitions go out the window." He scratches his head and continues. "We are so nice to each other on Christmas, at this thing, that we tend to get a little too honest and just...overshare."
"What is he talking about?" Olivia asks, leaning into Elliot.
Elliot shrugs. "No fucking idea," he mutters.
Munch laughs as he sips his drink again. "Do you know how much shit we find out about each other at this little shin-dig? Shit that, if we ever told anyone else, could mean the end of the world for some of us?"
"No," Elliot gasps with a realization, and he tries to make his way to the front of the room.
"Take my partner," Munch says, gesturing toward Fin. "If anyone ever found out he had the hots for Benson over there, and Warner over there, and Novak, who isn't here tonight because she has a life...he'd be pretty pissed off."
"You don't even know," Fin mumbled under his breath, seething.
Munch laughs, seeing his face. "Yeah! Pissed! See?" He ignores the drummer's attempt to get him away from the mic. "And then of course, we stand around and pretend to be nice to people we can't stand the other three-hundred some-odd days of the year. Like Elliot Stabler!" he yells. "Makes one mistake and takes off like a bat outta hell, breaks his partner's heart, and has the balls to walk back in here eight months later like nothing ever happened. But, since it's Christmas, we all smile and hug him and shake his God damned hand. Granted, we do love the guy, so maybe that was a bad example..."
"John, man," Elliot yells, still trying to push through the crowd. "Stop!"
Munch ignores the shout and looks out at the otherwise speechless crowd. "Speaking of Elliot's partner...old partner...new partner...there she is," he points to Olivia, who tries to hide behind Cragen. "No, no, now...don't hide that pretty little face of yours." He sips his egg nog again. "Olivia...is the most genuine person in this entire precinct. She is loyal to a fault, she's compassionate to the extreme, and she is one fine female specimen," he says.
There are some whoops and hollers from the on-lookers, and Elliot finally makes it to the stage with anger in his eyes. "Munch! Man, do not do this!"
"Hey, If I were Stabler, I would have left to be with her, too," Munch says, wagging his finger. "At least Elliot left to get his girl, unlike those two over there. I would check the security tapes, later, if I were you, Cap." He laughs as Amanda and Nick look on, mortified.
Elliot takes a step toward him. "John, would you please..."
"I got a point, Stabler," Munch interrupts, glaring at Elliot. "Would ya let me make it?" He turns back to the crowd. "It's Christmas Eve, fellow cop-types! And in the midst of all the pretension, and disingenuous behavior, I would like to give the first joyous toast of the evening to a woman who truly deserves it." He raises his glass. "Olivia Benson, on this, the night of Jesus' birth in that little town of Bethlehem, I want to wish you all of the love, happiness, and joy in the world as you await a birth of your own. Congratulations, to both you and Elliot. You're gonna be a wonderful mother." He hiccups. "Just keep the baby away from Fin."
"Baby?" Fin questions, shocked, turning to her.
Cragen looks at her, too, his brow furrowed. "What baby?"
Olivia hears them both, but she doesn't look at them. Instead, her eyes are glued to the man who has pulled Munch away from the mic, and taken it for himself. Elliot.
"Yeah," Elliot sighs, running a hand through his hair. "That...that's why I've been ignoring most of you all night." He clears his throat. "We parked ourselves under the mistletoe and used it as an excuse to just...I was just...lost...in her. In her eyes, in her smile, in the way she looks tonight. She is..." he shakes his head and looks right at her. "You are so beautiful."
She smiles at him, a tear falls slowly down her face, and she hopes no one notices.
"You're having a baby, my baby," he says, still directed only to her. "And Munch may be drunk off his ass, but he's right. You're gonna be a wonderful mother." He smiles. "And we should probably keep the baby away from Fin."
She laughs as she watches him jump off the stage, and she doesn't have time to process what's happening as he runs to her and lifts her into his arms.
Their friends and colleagues clap and whistle, Cragen smiles sadly as he realizes he is about to lose the remaining half of the best team he's ever had, and Fin slinks away to the back of the room, where Munch has taken refuge. "I'm gonna kill ya," Fin fumes.
"Are not," Munch says, waving a filled cup at him.
Fin pulls the drink away from him. "You've had enough," he spits. "Ya know...I do not have the hots for Novak!"
Munch laughs, then hits Fin in the arm. "It wasn't about outing you as a horny bastard, Fin, it was about that," he says, nodding to Olivia and Elliot, kissing in the middle of the room. "They were never gonna tell anyone," he shrugged. "Not until they had to, ans since he's not part of this unit anymore, it would have taken forever. It's Christmas, they deserve..."
"Yeah," Fin sighs, then he smiles. "You drunk son of a bitch," he laughs. "You have no idea what you said, do you?"
"Not a damned clue," Munch says, chugging back the rest of his drink. "On the plus side, Melinda's been staring at you ever since I told everyone you dig her."
Fin looks from Olivia and Elliot, to Melinda Warner, who is, in fact, staring at him. "I owe ya one, Munch."
Munch nods, and he puts down his empty glass. He grins at his handiwork, watching Fin and Melinda flirt, and he leans over to the bartender. "You keep the non-alcoholic thing between you and me, pal, got it?"
"Anything you say, Detective," the bartender says with a smile as he wipes down the bar.
Taking one last look at the four people who look incredibly happy, he stands and he heads for the door. "Merry Christmas," he says to no one, and he leaves, happy.
A/N: Next: A 1-6 Secret Santa...with a twist.
