A/N: A surprise guest on Christmas Eve turns their world on its ear, but they return the favor tenfold.

DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and all related characters. TStabler owns the following story.

"Can you pass the potatoes?" Maureen asks, looking at her father.

Elliot blinks once, then hands the oldest child the bowl of home-smashed, buttery, garlic-riddled spuds. "Here, honey," he says, smiling.

The rest of the table is silent, and they're all looking at each other, asking the same question mentally that ten-year-old Eli is about to voice. "Who's the guy, Dad?"

"You...you don't remember me?" Cragen asks, a bit of hurt in his words.

Eli shakes his head as he shoves a forkful of ham into his mouth. "Should I?"

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Olivia scolds gently.

Eli looks at her with an impish, apologetic grin. "Sorry, Mom," he says as he swallows. He's the only one of Elliot's children from his previous marriage to call Olivia his mom, but it's fitting. He is the youngest, and was practically raised by her. "So who is he?"

Elliot scruffs his son's hair a bit. "You were just a baby when you met him," he says. "He's been gone for a long time, but this is the guy that introduced me to Mommy. He's..."

"Oh!" Eli says, understanding. "Your old boss!"

"Yeah," Elliot nods. Then he sends a wary look down the table at Fin, who's been quiet the entire meal. "Hey, man," he says, getting his friend's attention, "Can you send those rolls down here?"

Casey Novak, sitting beside Fin, reaches for the bread platter before Fin can grab it. "Are these homemade?" she asks, tearing into a warm, fluffy roll.

Elliot nods, taking the plate from Fin. "You okay?" he asks, catching Fin's glare.

Fin shrugs. "This is...a surprise, Elliot," he says, eyeing Cragen. "Never expected to see him again."

"Speaking of," Casey says, pointing her fork at Cragen, "Where the hell have you been?" She scoffs and adds, "At least after Stabler took off, he had the sense to call Olivia and explain, he kept himself in our lives. You...you just...disappeared."

Cragen stops chewing, he drops his fork, and he wipes the corners of his mouth with the red napkin in his hands. "I had to go," he says.

"Like when Liv had to go to Oregon?" the young man Cragen used to know as Dickie asks. He goes by Rich, now, though, and he is not as naive or as prone to bullshit as he used to be. "Or like when Dad had to go to Germany, or when they both had to go to California? Or did you just take off?"

"Mom cried for two weeks," Liz, Rich's twin, divulges. "Dad had to..."

"Guys," Elliot interrupts. "Just...leave it alone. If he wants to talk, he'll talk."

"It's fine," Cragen says, sighing. "No, it wasn't like that. I just...things were happening that I couldn't stop, and I...I felt like I let my family down." He shakes his head. "I know Olivia blamed me when Elliot left," he says softly. "I thought it would be easier if I left, too."

Olivia looks at him, confused. "I never blamed you," she says. Then she scoffs. "I blamed the world."

Fin turns his head. "Where'd you go?" He narrows his eyes. "Why didn't you call? See someone?"

"I went out to Arizona," Cragen tells them. "There's a ranch out there that...I just needed to think, to be by myself for a while." He smiles. "I met someone. She moved back here with me."

"Oh," Elliot almost whispers. "Where is she?"

"It was bad enough I was going to knock on all of your doors, tonight," Cragen says sheepishly. "I didn't want to spring her on you, too."

Casey sips her wine. "Oh, like this hasn't already been a night of surprises?"

Maureen, biting her lip, looks around the table. "Um, speaking of surprises, I..." she takes a deep breath. "Luke called me from the base. He...he asked me to marry him."

All eyes turn to Elliot, expecting him to fume, but he is smiling, his fork jabbing into a bit of broccoli. "I know," he says. "He called me two weeks ago. He asked me first." He popped the broccoli into his mouth. "I like that kid."

Maureen laughs, a release of nerves. "Jesus," she spits. "Do you have any idea how scared I was that you'd flip out?"

Kathleen looks at her sister. "Congratulations," she says, smiling.

"Great," Rich snarls. "This family is just never gonna stop growing, is it?"

"Nope," Olivia says, smirking as she scoops some more potatoes onto her plate.

Liz eyes her. "Uh, Liv, you're...you're not..."

"Not yet," Elliot interrupts his daughter, calming her. "Please, can we get Noah out of diapers first?"

The table laughs, and it seems some of the tension has been eased. Fin looks around, then, and he squints. "You invited Munch, right?"

Olivia sighs. "Of course we did, Fin," she says. "He didn't call back, though."

Elliot takes a gulp of his water. "He'll be here," he says knowingly.

Cragen's eyes snap up. "Really?"

"I got a feeling," Elliot shrugs, and he turns to wink at his wife when the sound of jingling sleigh bells rings through the house.

"Ho, ho, ho!" a booming voice calls.

Elliot's eyes widen in feigned astonishment. "Oh, wow!" he chirps. "Guys," he says looking at the children who still believe in Santa, "Who is that?"

Aiden's face lights up, Lily squeals and claps, and Eli looks around, expecting to see reindeer traipse through the kitchen.

A man in a red suit with a long white beard, carrying a huge sack, comes into the room, chuckling. "Merry Christmas, Stablers!" he calls.

"Santa!" Aiden yells, getting out of his chair.

Lily, though, tilts her head. She walks on her little legs over to the man, and she stares at him for a moment before running and leaping into her mother's lap. "Not Santa," she confirms, pouting.

"Oh, honey," Olivia soothes. "Of course it is!"

Lily shakes her head and leans toward her mother, and she whispers something that makes Elliot spit out his drink.

Olivia laughs, both at her now-wet lover and her perceptive daughter. "Well, honey, he just went on a diet."

After giving that some thought, Lily smiles and jumps down to join her brothers collecting wrapped gifts from Santa.

Cragen waits, then waves.

Santa stands, suddenly ignoring the kids, and he steps over to Cragen.

With tears in his eyes, Cragen stands, and because neither man can help it, they hug. "Hey, Munch," Cragen whispers, patting his shoulder as he pulls away.

Munch nods. "How ya been, Cap?"

"I'm...I'm good," Cragen says, then he points. "Your fans are waiting."

Munch turns, then laughs as he goes back to playing with the youngest kids. He looks up at Elliot. "I brought a lot for the little guy, too. Where is he?"

"He went down for a nap before dinner," Elliot says, grinning. "He's in his crib."

"You didn't have to of all of that Munch," Olivia says with a soft smile as her kids run into the living room to play with their new toys.

"Sure, I did," Munch says, leaning down to kiss Casey on the cheek. He shakes Fin's hand, then moves around the table hugging the older kids and Olivia, then giving Elliot a manly greeting. "You guys are family."

Cragen shakes his head at the thought. "Family," he whispers. "Yeah. You...you were all my family, once."

Elliot clears his throat. "We still are, Cap."

"I've missed way too much," Cragen says, tossing his napkin onto his plate. "Everything is different, now, and..."

"We all started over," Fin cuts him off. "No one says you can't."

Casey pulls Fin's hand into hers. "Things change, people change."

"But family," Elliot adds, "Is forever."

Olivia smiles and says, "Why don't you go pick up that woman you love so much, bring her over. We'd all love to meet her."

Munch's eyes flicker. "Woman?"

Cragen laughs as he nods. "You'd like her, Munch."

"Does she have a sister?" Munch asks, serious.

Cragen chuckles again, as everyone else rolls their eyes, and he realizes maybe nothing has changed at all. Maybe this is all the way it was meant to be.

Fin looks around and says, "Yeah, Cap. When you get back, we'll have some of Liv's cookies and the egg nog that...wait, man," he looks at Elliot. "You did make the egg nog, yeah?"

"Yeah, it's in the fridge, calm down," Elliot says with a smile, wrapping an arm around Olivia.

She hides her smirk as she feels his fingers trail up and down the side of her body. One thing she discovered early in their relationship was his sex drive was always in full gear, something he confessed only ever happened with her, and it always makes her beam with pride.

Cragen sees it, but ignores it. "How long have you all been getting together like this?"

"The year Dad quit," Kathleen pipes in. "It was Liv's idea, actually."

Rich nods as he swallows his mouthful of food. "She thought it would be a way of keeping everyone together, even though things at work were keeping them apart."

"I was going to invite you, then," Olivia says, her eyes turning sad. "But you were gone."

"Well," Cragen sighs, "I'm here now."

And as dinner winds down, Elliot leans toward Olivia and kisses her nose. "I love you," he whispers.

She returns his sweet sentiment, then turns her head, taking in the sight of the people around her table, the sounds of the younger children playing in the next room, then her eyes land on Cragen. "I don't know how you did this," she says to Elliot, "But thank you."

He kisses the crown of her head. "How'd you know I did it?"

She looks up at him. "Because you would." She kisses his lips lightly. "Thank you."

He winks at her, and he laughs as he pulls her close. "Merry Christmas, honey," he mumbles into her neck. And now he knows, everything in life is fickle, and can change at the drop of a hat, but family, the one we are and given and the one we choose, is constant. It comforts him to know that. Especially on Christmas.

A/N: The End. Next: Someone's spending Christmas sick in bed, but that won't stop someone ELSE from making it special.