Disclaimer: I don't own Law and Order: SVU. It is the property of its respective owners.
Chapter Twenty-Two
SVU In A Nutcracker (Christmas special)
In New York City, Christmas was especially a special type of holiday. If you had to choose one city that decks itself in holiday gear, it would be this city. Though some don't celebrate it like others, and few seem to celebrate the holiday in other ways, Christmas was certainly a special holiday for everyone. Which takes us to the 16th Precinct, where the detectives of Manhattan Special Victims Unit were treating this time of year as they would any other day.
It was almost two weeks until Christmas and the squad room looked unbearably mundane. They was little to no decorations around the squad room (or even the precinct), considering that the holiday was less than a few weeks away. Whether it having to do with the squad's unwillingness to celebrate the holidays at work, or the separation of church and state, they're wasn't much celebrating going on in the squad room. And nobody felt like doing something.
One day, as the detectives were walking into the squad room with Captain Cragen, they were doing usual work as they walked down the hallway and into the squad room. Nick, Munch, Barba, Fin and Amanda were the ones who were accompanying the commander as they were having a discussion.
"Do any of you have a complaint, or at the very least, have a case to work on?" Cragen asked them.
Nick shrugged and replied, "Sorry captain, for some reason this time of year is quite slow."
"Does that mean we get the rest of the year off?" Munch inquired.
"No, Munch." said Captain Cragen, "We'll do our work as planned. You all want your holiday bonuses, right?"
They all nodded, including Barba, who didn't exactly work for the NYPD. As they entered the squad room, they were surprised to see what had happened to place. They're were Christmas decorations all over the place, something that wasn't there not long ago. There were bows and poinsettias, candy canes and such. And even a gigantic tree, that was at the moment being decorated as well. They wondered who did all of this and asked around – but to no avail.
Amanda said in disbelief, "What happened to this place?"
"Looks like somebody here is in the Christmas spirit." Fin remarked, looking around at the decorations. They noticed how each desk had a candy cane with a bow wrapped around it. But as they looked around, they witnessed Elliot Stabler walking out of the captain's office, carrying multiple weapons in a box. Suddenly this did not look right.
"Elliot? Is that you?" Cragen asked, hoping to confirm that it is him.
He turned around and replied, "Oh hey, captain. Long time no see."
"Nice to see you back, El." Fin smiled, seeing his old colleague after so long. Meanwhile, Nick and Amanda didn't understand what was going on – plus the fact that they didn't know who he was. Barely that is.
"Yeah, I'm just setting up as all." Elliot told them, then noticed Nick and Amanda confused stares; then asked, "Who the hell are these two?"
"Um, allow me to explain." Cragen replied, introducing them to the old detective, "Elliot, this is Detective Nick Amaro and Amanda Rollins. They came in a few years ago. Amaro, Rollins – this is Elliot Stabler, he was one of our own."
Nick and Amanda leaned over and brought out their hands, then Nick greeted, "Nice to meet you. I heard a lot about you."
"Yeah, good to know."
"Pleasure to meet you as well." Amanda also greeted, then she asked, "Did you put up all of these decorations?"
"Hate to break it to you, but it wasn't me." Elliot answered.
"Then who was it?" Munch asked. Until they heard a sudden voice from behind, which unsurprisingly, turned out to be Olivia. But it wasn't her responding to his question but she in face grunted, as she carried a heavy box into the squad room.
Olivia placed the box on the floor and noticed them speaking to her old partner, so she said, "Hey guys, about time you guys came."
"Liv, you did all of this?" Nick inquired.
"Damn straight." she smiled, "You all should have been here sooner, I've been here all day putting these decorations up by myself."
"I have to admit, Benson. You did a damn fine job putting all these up." Barba stated, as he was in awe of how an amazing job she did, "These decorations looks so elegant, how much did you spend on all of this?"
Olivia said bluntly, "Wasn't cheap, I'll tell you that. I saved up over three months worth of paychecks to buy these and then some. I almost forgot to pay my rent."
"So you'd rather spend your money on Christmas decorations, than paying rent?"
She stood there in silence and said, completely off-subject, "Well, I decided to spend a pretty penny to deck out the precinct for the holidays. But it's not all Christmas stuff after all, I even put up some Hanukkah stuff for Munch."
When they took a look, they noticed something wrong about it. Which Munch asked, "Why is it all in the trash?"
Again she stood there silent, and once again, said off-topic, "So I got some beautiful poinsettias, these wreaths, bells, stockings. I really went all out."
"I bet you did." Cragen replied.
"Well, I assure you all. This year will be the best Christmas ever!" Olivia proclaimed.
"How so?" Fin inquired.
"Well, I convinced George to come home to celebrate with us. Alex, Casey and Melinda will be around more this year. Also, I have you guys to celebrate it with me. So this will be the best Christmas ever. And anyone who disagrees, is a dick."
"Yeah, okay then." Amanda nodded, then turned attention to Elliot and his weapons, "By the way, what are you doing with those weapons anyways?"
At first, Elliot didn't believe that Amanda was talking to him, but he noticed how she was looking at him and replied, "Oh me? Yeah, I'm just preparing for another Christmas battle with Alex."
"Oh my god." Fin groaned, "Y'all are doing that again?"
"Yep."
Nick chimed in, "Wait, what does he mean a Christmas battle?"
From afar, Olivia explained, "Every year, Elliot and Alex participate in this ridiculous fight against each other that lasts until Christmas."
"Yeah, it's tradition." Elliot added, "Well, except for those other years where Alex was in witness protection."
"Last time you were here, you two almost ran each other over with your cars." Cragen stated.
"That was the weirdest holiday I can remember." Munch recalled.
Though that did get ugly, Elliot shrugged, "Yeah, but like I said – it's tradition. And this year, we'll be picking up on what we left off."
"Already I know that this doesn't sound good." Cragen sighed, he walked into his office before Olivia interrupted him and asked:
"Hey, aren't you coming with me to the mall?"
Nick was curious of this, and asked, "Why are you going to the mall?"
"Correction: We are going to the mall. I wanted to last week, but it was brutal." Olivia explained, grabbing her jacket and yelling out, "Come on, guys!"
They all looked at each other, all of which not wanting to go with her. But they didn't seem to care anyways; besides, nothing was keeping them anyway. Amanda shrugged and said, "Alright, guys. We got nothing better to do. Let's go."
They all followed Olivia straight to the mall – except Munch, who exclaimed, "Oh no no, miss. There is no fucking way I'm going to the mall with her."
"How come?" Nick inquired.
Munch turned over to Fin and Elliot, and asked, "Don't you remember the last time she went to the mall for anything? She wound up driving a car through the place trying to catch someone."
Fin, Elliot and Cragen had the unfortunate pleasure of remembering it, which Fin nodded, "Oh yeah, I remember that day. I'm surprised that she didn't come out with more that just a suspended license."
"As a matter of fact," Elliot recalled, "I'm pretty sure her license was suspended."
They continued to walk away; this time without Munch, as Cragen said as he walked off, "Well take care, John. Someone has to watch the squad room while I'm gone."
"Sure thing, captain." he replied, watching the others walk out the squad room.
-Later that day-
In one of the malls in the New York area, not going to identify the mall but either way, they were there. The detectives followed a unusually ecstatic Olivia, who ran into the mall as if she was a little girl. They hoped that she didn't try to get on Santa Claus while she was there. They really couldn't assure that she wouldn't. But they did notice how crowded the place was, and it reminded them of how insufferable it was to shop at malls at this time of year – especially in New York.
They all went their separate ways, most notably Nick and Amanda, who did their own Christmas shopping. Nick had things to buy for his little girl, while Amanda was almost entirely buying things for other people. But that was the entire purpose of the concept. Cragen went elsewhere, not so much as telling where he was going, but he left either way. Which left Elliot and Fin, who were walking through the mall, taking this time to perhaps buy presents for loved ones.
Until they just happened to run into Alex, who was dressed in a seemingly racy Christmas outfit. She was more than happy to see Fin, but not so much with Elliot. She knew that it was that time of year, and all she did was glare at him; but she still approached him – as did he.
Now face to face with one another, Elliot said to the blonde, "Why hello, Alexandra. Another year already?"
"It certainly is, Elliot." she replied, sternly. "Are you prepared to continue where we left off?"
"You two need some help." Fin exclaimed.
Then suddenly, Alex switched gears when she saw Fin, so she ran to him and greeted with a smile, "Fin! Merry Christmas!"
This made him slightly uncomfortable, but Fin hugged her back and said, "Yeah, Merry Christmas to you too."
"So are you willing to admit defeat this year, Alex?" Elliot asked her, but before Alex could give a rebuttal, Olivia showed up unexpectedly. She was still unusually happy at the moment, which they couldn't understand. But like what she did with Fin, she turned over to Olivia and mustered a smile.
"Olivia! So nice to see you." Alex greeted, opening her arms for a hug.
She ran straight to her and greeted whist hugging her, "Alex! I'm so glad you're here!"
The two engaged in a tight hug, which lasted for a little while; but as Alex stopped, Olivia on the other hand, did not let go of her grip. This was starting to become more uncomfortable as she held her tight; and though she was done, she said:
"Um, Liv? You can let go of me." Alex tried to pry her off, but she countered it by hugging her tighter, which Alex pleaded, "Okay, Liv. Hug is over, now let me go!"
It wasn't until Fin had to pry her off of Alex was when she finally decided to let go. It was one of the longest, most uncomfortable hug Alex has ever received. She brushed her hair to the back and asked, "Liv, what is the matter with you? You seem... happier than usual. Or at all. What's going on?"
Fin chimed in and explained, "Liv is like this because of the holiday season. We don't get it either, but we're just rolling with it."
"Is that why I'm here?" George inquired, who happened to show up out of nowhere, like Olivia.
They turned around and saw that the doctor was standing right in front of them; Elliot was the first to greet him, "Hey, doc. Long time no see. Last I heard you were in Oklahoma."
"Hey, Elliot. Well yeah I was, but Liv called me and convinced me to come back to the city for the holidays." he replied.
"At least you came." Olivia rebutted.
George nodded and replied, "Yeah, I sure did. Now I'm wondering what else should I do?"
Straying away from the topic, Alex pulled out a fruit cake and told Elliot, "Oh and I want to give you this, as a peaceful beginning to another Christmas battle."
Elliot accepted the fruit cake and replied, "Why thank you, Alex. I'm glad you want to start things off on a good slate."
Alex walked away from them and told him, "Be sure to eat it all!"
He smiled at the departing blonde, which turned into a grin as she left. The moment George saw the fruit cake, his eyes lit up and eagerly asked him, "Is that a fruit cake? Can I have some?"
Elliot knew better than to accept anything food-based from Alex, and he obviously knew what may be inside. In a fortune of good will (somewhat), Elliot handed him the fruit cake and answered, "Yeah, doc. As a matter of fact, you ca have the entire thing. Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas, El!" he smiled, walking away with it whist eating it piece by piece. Fin looked over and him, who was mindlessly eating a possibly poisoned cake, and then glared at Elliot when he noticed what he did. He didn't say anything, but he knew all too well.
Sometime later, Fin and Elliot was walking around the mall, this time without Olivia, who just so happened to vanish once again. They were starting not to question why she kept on disappearing, but at the same time, they still had a bit of concern. The two were having a casual conversation, which was more ranged at catching up after he was absent for a few years. But as they walked through the mall, literally out of nowhere, Alex popped up from behind.
"What's happening, guys?" she shouted from behind, startling them both. They turned around only to see that it was her, which they weren't too phased.
"Where did you go?" Fin asked the blonde.
"I needed to take a break. I'm one of Santa's assistants." Alex explained.
Elliot raised an eye brow and asked, "Is that why you are in that ridiculous skimpy outfit?"
"Unfortunately. I felt like getting some extra cash. Besides, we all know that it takes a certain amount of guts to wear something like this." she answered, "Even you wouldn't degrade yourself."
"Good point." he agreed.
Alex ran in front of them and told them, "Come on, you two. Let me show you where I'm working."
They both followed her to the so-called Santa's Workshop, where they would bet a first hand look at where she was working... temporarily that is. When they got there, they got to take a look at the absurdly large line of children hoping to tell "Santa" what they want for Christmas. As they watched from a considerable distance, they were enlighten by the many children telling a man in a Santa Claus suit about what they wanted. Christmas seemed more special when it came to kids.
They watched for around ten minutes and they talked about some hogwash about Christmas. Not to sound like a Grinch, but that's what's happening. Fin turned his head over to Alex and asked, "So this is where you work, Alex?"
"Oh yeah." she replied, then explained, "I like though. Some of the kids may be a bunch of spoiled little bastards, but I got nothing to say about it."
"I suppose your right." Fin nodded.
"Although, this guy really seems to love being around children is what I've learned." she stated.
Fin took a good look at it and replied, "Yeah a bit too much."
Meanwhile, Elliot was staring at the man playing Santa and something didn't seem right to him. He noticed how much long he stroked their backs, and how he licked his lips when he glanced at them. Elliot glared at the man, allowing his fatherly instincts to kick in. He knew it all too well. He then strayed from Fin and Alex, who were in the midst of a conversation; however they noticed how he was walking towards the man slowly and perhaps a bit angrily.
They looked over and Fin called out, "El? Where are you going?"
"Um, Elliot? What are you doing?" Alex called out as well. But Elliot ignored both of them, and proceeded to approach the Santa. In no less that a few seconds, Elliot was right next to Santa; he didn't notice him until a child noticed him. He looked up and saw how Elliot was glaring at him, which got him confused.
"Can I help you?" said the man dressed as Santa Claus.
"Could I speak to you alone for a second?" Elliot asked, in a rather cold and stern tone.
"I don't know what you're talking about?" he exclaimed.
Elliot knocked the child off of his lap and picked him up off the seat and escorted him somewhere. He then told him, "You and I need to have a little talk."
"If you want to tell me what you want, I can gladly do it over there." he told him.
But he wasn't interested, and rebutted, "All I want right now is an empty broom closet."
Though they wanted to do something about this, Fin and Alex stood there as they both knew what's going on, in which Fin said to Alex, "This doesn't look good."
"No it doesn't." Alex nodded.
After about twenty minutes, only one person returned, and unsurprisingly it turned out to be Elliot. However, he came out now dressed as Santa Claus; the children didn't seem much of a difference, but Alex and Fin knew all too well that it was Elliot. And what happened to the other Santa? Well, he is, at the moment, tied up and naked – all after he was savagely beaten by Elliot. He managed to play it off as if nothing happened, and walked up on the throne and assumed his duties.
"Merry Christmas, everyone!" Elliot said to all the adults and children, unaware of the fact that he had blood on the white parts of the suit, "I had a little accident, but I'm all better. Now who's next?"
Despite the many kids raising their hands, the closest child in the line came up to him instead, rendering their attempts useless. As he spoke to a little girl about what she wanted for Christmas, Alex walked over, also trying to play off what she was about to do.
"Sorry kids, me and Santa need to talk." she said, as she waved and smiled at them. She yanked Elliot up and whispered, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"I'm Santa Claus, Alex." Elliot whispered back, "Is there a problem with that?"
"So where's the other Santa?"
"Oh he's taking a long break. He asked me to fill in." he explained, even though the other Santa, as previously mentioned, was currently locked in a broom closet. Either way, it didn't matter as Elliot showed himself as a far better Santa than the other ever was. Alex continued to smile, even though she was at war with Elliot; no matter how she felt, she had to do her job.
Fin stayed for a little bit, watching Elliot talk to the children; that and he had nowhere else to be. Then a voice spoke out to Fin and said, "Wow. Elliot sure has a thing for kids. Am I right?"
"Mm-hm." he nodded; until he noticed that voice and looked over to his side, only to find that it was Munch – wearing an elf costume. "Munch? What the hell are you doing here? I thought you didn't want to come here?"
"Initially at first, I didn't want to go," Munch explained, "But then I realized that I had to go to work, so here I am."
Fin took a glance of his uniform and exclaimed, "That's messed up."
"Tell me about it." Munch retorted, "I'm the tall Jew, dressed as Santa's elves, surrounded by a clique of midgets."
"I would say they're more of a gang, but either way, you're surrounded by midgets."
Overhearing the conversation, one of the tiny elves turned around and told them, "Hey, we prefer if you call us 'little people'. We find it offensive."
"I'm not offended." said one of the other elves, "Besides, what's the difference?"
"Damn it, Jerry. If you keep talking, then I'm gonna hit you again."
The elf known as Jerry would rip open a soda can, using a sharp part of it and said, "Bring it on, mini bitch."
And suddenly they started fighting, rolling around the area. The others didn't seem to care, as they were either talking, smoking, or worse try to do drugs in front of the kids. Munch and Fin were enjoying this all too well; even though Munch has seen this many times before.
Fin chuckled and smiled at them fighting, and told Munch, "I'm gonna get outta here before I die of laughter."
"I'll record it for you." he replied, as Fin walked away.
While Olivia was off doing something else, Elliot was playing Santa, and Munch was watching two midgets -err, I mean "little people" fight, Nick and Amanda were walking together through the mall, being the only other ones that were alone. No one seemed to want them around for some reason, and they simply decided to walk through the mall, looking around at what is there and mostly having a deep conversation, which was either about sports or Star Trek.
As they walked around, about to walk passed a fountain, Amanda asked, "Hey, how come we're not the main characters of this story?"
"We're not as important as Alex and Olivia." Nick answered; that was when they were met by Cragen and Barba, who also had nothing else better to do but to hang around the mall. Unlike the rest of them at the moment, they actually did some shopping.
"Detectives, what a coincidence to see you guys." Barba greeted the two detectives.
"We all came together, remember?" Amanda stated.
He nodded in agreement, now that it came back to him. Anyways, Cragen asked them both, "So what are you two doing?"
"Nothing. Just walking and talking." Nick replied.
Amanda chimed in and added, "Yeah, we've been talking about Klingons and debating if the Mets will suck again next year."
Cragen stood there in silence, then moved on from the subject. He showed them the bags he and Barba were carrying and said, "Well we have been out doing some shopping for you guys, and a few choice others. And just so you know, we're not showing you guys."
"That's fine. I should be doing some shopping myself." Nick shrugged; his comment raised a couple eyebrows – Cragen and Amanda to be specific.
"What for? Is there something that you're trying to get?" asked Amanda.
He turned over to her and explained, "Well, I have been looking for a dog, you know? One that will bring some joy to my family this year."
"Oh. Well, I can help you with that." Amanda told him, "I know of a guy who'll find you one before Christmas Eve."
"You sure about that?" he inquired.
"Absolutely! Don't worry, I'll take care of it."
They smiled at each other, then Nick said, "Thanks, Amanda."
Meanwhile, Olivia was... well, it was a little difficult to explain what she was doing. But to summarize it – she has skipped around the mall, spelled the flowers and dropped to the floor and did a "snow angel", something that drew concern with others. Suffice to say, she was unusually happy this year, as opposed to other years where she was downright depressed. As sad as it sounded, it is true; though nobody passing by really wanted to know what she was doing, some actually joined her.
At the same time, Fin was walking around, noticing her doing snow angels on the floor. He looked down for a second and then looked back up, going along with his business. He was not interested in the fact that he was dragged here, so they could keep her happy. But to his surprise, he heard a male voice calling his name; it wasn't his son, neither was it anyone he knew on the job – he looked over and saw Jack McCoy waving and walking his direction.
He managed to get in front of Fin and he said, "So glad I ran into you, detective."
"What do you want?" he asked, not in a blunt manner however. Fin didn't understand why he wanted to speak with him.
"I need you help with something." Jack told him, instructing Fin to follow him.
Now none of this made sense to Fin, as he wondered why this guy would want any help from him. And then he asked, "So what do you need me for?"
"I need you to help me get someone a Christmas present."
He raised an eyebrow and rebutted, "Okay. Who is it your trying to shop for?"
"Casey Novak." Jack turned around and answered, "I want to get her something that I definitely know she will love."
"Why?" Fin inquired.
"Because even though she doesn't work for me anymore, I still hope to get her something nice." he explained, "And I know exactly where to start."
When Jack told Fin that they were shopping for Casey, he assumed that he was going to drag him into a ladies' store – but that would look intensely creepy to others, or even a jewelry store but that depended if he actually had the paper to get her anything there. But among the many, many places that he could have dragged him into, he was stumped when he discovered where Jack led him too. A toy store.
Fin was in disbelief of the fact that this was the place where Jack wanted to buy Casey a Christmas present. In fact, not even Jack himself could really come up with an excuse as to why they were there. Regardless of how they felt, they were doing this for Casey. As it seemed.
"Why are we in a toy store?" he asked.
Searching around, Jack explained, "We're here to find something for Casey. She used to have these stuffed animals lying around her office, so I figured that she might like one."
"If you're gonna get here a stuffed anything, it better be huge." Fin stated, "That is something you need to know. She likes large stuffed animals."
"Judging from what I'm looking at, she won't be satisfied with these." Jack agreed, dissatisfied by the variety of stuffed toys that were in stock. But suddenly, the cashier overheard their conversation, as they were literally right by the counter as they were talking.
The cashier approached them, and asked, "Are you looking for a big stuffed animal?"
Jack and Fin turned around, with interest in their minds. Fin replied, "Yeah, what are you offering?"
"I know a guy, that sells the biggest, largest stuffed animals you've ever seen. Perhaps I can put in a word for you two, to help you out."
They looked at each other, seeing if they should accept this man's offer – even though he looked way too shady. But they turned back and Jack told him, "Give us the location and time where we should meet this person."
"I'll be sure to do that." he nodded, walking away from Jack and Fin. They walked out of the toy store, unaware of what they got themselves into.
It was Christmas Eve, and everyone was preparing for Christmas Day. It was early in the evening, when Nick was at home waiting for Amanda to bring the dog he was asking for. He never bothered to explain why he wanted to get a dog for the family, not even his wife. He assumed that someone was going to bring a dog tomorrow morning, so he decided to go to bed early.
But then he heard the door knock several times, all of which were suspiciously quiet. Before he could make his way to the bedroom, he turned around and answered the door. The moment he opened it, he noticed that nobody was there, which made him wonder if someone was playing a prank on him. But Nick looked down and saw a dog with a bow on its head; given that Amanda told "this guy" that it was a Christmas gift, he thought she made a special request.
However, things turned horribly wrong. The exact moment Nick tried to bring it inside, the dog decided to make himself welcome – by that, he lunged and attacked Nick. The dog went for his wrist, and then he went out for his ankle. Unsurprisingly, Maria came in from their bedroom to find her husband on the floor being chewed up like a toy, but the one thing she was more concerned about was why there was a dog in the first place.
She ran to Nick, and instead of helping him, she yelled, "Nick, what the hell is going on? Why is there a dog in here?"
"Get this dog off of me!" he yelled back, as the dog was literally dragging him out the door. Now she tried to help him out, by separating the vicious dog from him.
As soon as he was free, he ran as far as he could from it. Maria was holding it by its collar, while she asked him, "What is this dog doing in here?"
"It was supposed to be a Christmas present." he replied.
"You were going to give us a dog that just attacked you?"
"I didn't know it was dangerous to begin with."
"Why are we wasting out time arguing? Let's get this thing out of here!"
They wasted no time by throwing the dog outside, so that it won't attack him or her or their daughter; speaking of which, she managed to sleep through everything that happened. But they didn't seem to notice that fact either, so lucky for them. Meanwhile, inside the squad room, rather than being at home with their families on Christmas Eve, Alex and Elliot continued their Christmas battle, which began at the mall when they started fighting with candy canes.
Other than the fact that they managed to scare and/or confuse many children, they were bordering on all-out anarchy. Elsewhere, the squad spent their remaining hours wrapping things up before Christmas Day, despite the fact that they should have been home today, but unfinished work kept them there for a little while longer. As they were about to finish up, they were bothered by something.
Walking out of his office, Cragen noticed some noise coming from outside, but the only people that were there was Munch, Amanda, Fin and George. It didn't stop him from asking, "What is all that noise?"
"I know you may think we have something to do with it," Munch replied, "But it's not us. So I guess we're the good ones."
Amanda walked over and explained to him, "He's right, captain. The noise isn't coming from us. It's coming from them."
By "them", she meant Alex and Elliot – who were throwing stuff at each other and at the moment, they were hiding. Cragen couldn't help but notice the vast amount of broken glass on the floor, a spear that was stuck on the wall and the fact that they were terrible at hiding. It was hard not to notice Alex hiding behind the Christmas tree, while Elliot was hiding behind one of the desks.
"How long has this been going on?" Cragen inquired.
"An entire week, to be specific." Fin answered.
"Something tells me that there's more to this than they've revealed." George chimed in, suspecting something odd about this.
Amanda turned over to the tree and saw Alex taking quick peeks, to which she said, "Hey, are you gonna get out from over there, or should I pry you out?"
"Damn it, you gave away my hiding spot!" Alex growled, even though everybody noticed her. But out of surprise, Elliot jumped out of his hiding spot and launched an attack on Alex, by throwing candy canes at her. As stupid as it was, she retaliated by swiping some of the Christmas ordainments and threw them back at him.
Somewhere along the lines, what was supposedly a throwing contest, turned into straight up violence. The ordainments somehow started exploding like grenades, which he was able to avoid; Elliot used whatever he could to shoot the candy canes like a arrow. But it didn't stop there, unfortunately. Alex ripped down the lights and used them as a lasso, grabbing Elliot by the ankle. He cut it off and got back up, this time by throwing the candy canes as if they were knifes.
They wanted to stop them, but they proved for too dangerous to intervene. At some point, their fighting turned physical, as they started throwing punches and kicks. Not exactly those you would see in a movie, but it was close enough. When Elliot kicked Alex to the wall, something fell down on the ground, something that nobody seemed to notice. Eventually, they had no other choice but to restrain them after it escalated to the point where the entire squad room was trashed.
Fin and Cragen restrained Elliot, while Amanda and George restrained Alex. While trying to keep them separated, Cragen yelled out, "That is enough! Now I am tired of seeing you two fight every year."
"But it's tradition!" Alex objected.
"Well your 'tradition' ends now."
"The captain is right, you two!" Amanda agreed, but there was more to her sentence – until she took a whiff and looked around, and she asked, "Is something on fire?"
This raised some concern at that moment, however her suspicions were true, as they turned around and saw the Christmas tree, among other things, burning down. Turns out, Alex knocked down the menorah, which Munch lit up earlier; this triggered the smoke alarm and within moments, it spread to the rest of the squad room. They acted quickly, and rushed to find a extinguisher to put out the fire. They were lightly successful, but sirens were heard from afar.
About an half hour later, Olivia was leaving the precinct to pick something up. She wasn't really paying attention to what was going on, since she was downstairs, until she was bumped by a firefighter. That was when she looked up and saw smoke coming out of the precinct. Seeing the trucks and firefighters that were there, she immediately ran upstairs to see what happened. Meanwhile, inside the squad room, it was practically charred with nothing but remains of the Christmas decorations.
Amanda and Fin told fire investigators about what happened, while Cragen tried to figure out what to do with Alex and Elliot, who caused the fire. Munch and George tried their best to clean up the pieces, but the damage was already done. Words couldn't describe how angry Cragen was at that moment, because he literally couldn't do anything to either of them; but he maintained his temper and was ready to walk back into his office, which was among the few places that wasn't affected.
"I can't believe this happened." Amanda said, while shaking her head in disappointment.
"None of this didn't have to happen, you guys." Munch replied. Then to make matters worse, Olivia walked in the squad room and was in complete disbelief. She slowly walked in, only to see how bad the damage was. At some point, she was close to tears when she saw her hard work burned, wet and on the floor.
She couldn't think of anything else to say, but look up at them and said, "Why? Haven't I suffered enough already?"
Being one of the central causes of this, Elliot walked over and said, "Liv, this was an accident."
"That's a lie. You guys didn't want to celebrate Christmas with me, so you destroyed everything I put up." she assumed, even though that wasn't how it happened, "You know what? If you guys want me to stay miserable, then you got your wish."
They tried to say something to calm her down, but she was in no mood to hear any of it. So she picked up her jacket and left; but actually, when she touched the jacket, it combusted and turned into dust. That was when she ran out the precinct, crying. Seeing how torn up she was about this, filled them with guilt – especially Alex and Elliot. About sometime after that, Nick and Casey walked in the squad room only to see what happened.
Nick looked around and exclaimed, "My God. What happened in here?"
They looked around themselves and Munch replied, "You would have thought it would be self-explanatory, but if you need to know, Alex and Elliot were fighting and they caused a fire which burned the Christmas decorations."
"Is that why we saw Liv running out crying?" Casey inquired, then focused her attention to the culprits, "Damn it, you guys. Why are you still doing this? Last time I was here, you two were facing ten years."
"I have a weird feeling that this seems similar to something." George thought out loud.
But they disregarded it and Elliot asked around, "So what can we do to fix all of this?"
Out of nowhere, Cragen told them all, "We will replace every single decoration that was destroyed. Me and John will talk to Olivia, while the rest of you take care of the rest."
"Well in the meantime, I'll go-" Elliot told them, until Cragen told him (and Alex).
"You're not going anywhere. Since you two caused all of this, you two will find a brand new tree."
"Where are we gonna find a tree on Christmas Eve?" Alex exclaimed.
"Don't know, don't care. Find one."
He walked away without saying another word, leaving them to pull a last-second Christmas miracle out of their asses; they were aware that they've messed up (still Alex and Elliot), but with only several hours until Christmas, they had to do something quick. So they all scattered to find Christmas decorations, but it will prove that it won't be easy.
After the fire, all of them went to their homes and took down everything that they had up for the holidays. Virtually everything that they could take down and bring back, they did; and it ranged from lights, to flowers, to ordainments and so fourth. To make it rather quick, they just took whatever they could – didn't matter where they got it from, as long as it made Olivia happy. Even Elliot, who partly caused the fire, went home and stole his family's Christmas tree.
Speaking of Olivia, she was in a deeper depression than she has ever been; seeing how her hard work led to this happening left her distraught and despite the fact that it was an accident, she refused to believe otherwise. But then Munch and Cragen paid her a little visit to try and talk to her, and perhaps see why all of it was so important to her. They knocked on the door, which they discovered was unlocked – but they came in and saw her sobbing in her pillow.
They approached her slowly, and Cragen rubbed her back and said, "Liv? Is everything alright?"
She looked up to see them in her apartment, and put her head back on her pillow and replied, "No it's not alright, captain."
"Come on, get up. I want to talk to you." he told her, as he and Munch lifted her up. "Now, I want to know right now. Explain to me why all of this meant so much to you?"
Wiping away the tears off her face, she looked down for a little bit until she finally explained to them, "You don't know how it feels like to be truly lonely, captain."
"Lonely? You're talking to the man who is just as lonely as you." Munch objected.
"Shut up, John. Now it not the time." Cragen told him, then turned back to Olivia, "Now, you were saying?"
As tough as it was to admit it, she went right out with it and said, "Every year, I've always had the misfortune to celebrate Christmas alone, that is why I'm so depressed this time of year. This is why this year was so important to me. I decided to spend the holidays with the people I've been so close too all these years, because I knew that even though you all were uncomfortable with it, for just this one year – maybe... maybe I wouldn't feel so alone."
As heart wrenching it was for him to hear, there was something else he was hearing also; by that he heard a violin playing while she was explaining herself. Cragen turned around and saw Munch playing the violin; it wasn't surprising at the very least to see him make light of a bad situation like this.
He shouted, "John! Enough of that."
Munch quickly defended himself, "What? I can't play a little violin now and again?"
"I'm glad you two came to see if I'm alright," Olivia told them, getting up off the couch, "But I know that there is nothing else that you guys can do to fix everything that happened. Good night, you guys."
Having heard enough, she walked to her bedroom and hoped to take a nice long sleep. But Cragen got up and asked her, "Liv, before you go to bed. Can you do this one favor?"
She turned around and replied, "What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to come to the precinct tomorrow, we have a surprise for you."
As much as she didn't want to, she nodded and walked straight into her bedroom. Munch and Cragen effectively left as well, but their concerns were quite large, as they wondered how they hoped to decorate the entire squad room before Christmas morning. But throughout the evening, they spent the entire night cleaning and fixing the entire squad room. The process mostly consisted of them cleaning up the burned stuff, and reorganize everything that wasn't affected.
What took practically the rest of the night was the fact that they had to redecorate everything, back to the way she had it before. None of them really remembered how everything was set up exactly, even though they've seen it for days prior. At some point they were convinced that they couldn't get everything done in time before they dragged Olivia back. There was no purpose in presenting her a half ass attempt at making things right.
Finally, it was Christmas Day, and while most of their families wondered where they went at this time, they were putting in blood (figuratively) to fix the problem that they happened to cause. Well it was difficult to say who really caused it. But anyways, they got some a little sleep after they worked all night and when they came back outside, they stood and sat in waiting.
Among the ones who were exhausted, Casey asked, "How long do we have to wait for Liv to show up? I wanna go home."
"I don't know." Elliot yawned, "I'm hoping that we don't have to do something like this ever again."
Then suddenly, Fin walked back in the squad room, this time with Melinda accompanying him. They didn't know that he was gone until just now, to which Munch asked, "Fin, since when were you were gone?"
"I had to perform a last-second task." he replied, "It has nothing to do with her, I ran into her at the door."
"Sure you did." Elliot smiled, implying that they did something extra before they got up there, "So why are you here, Melinda?"
"I got a call from your captain telling me to come over here." she explained.
"Well, Merry Christmas. I hope it was worth coming back here."
That was when Olivia returned, expecting that they just threw some stuff up to make her happy (which they technically did), but she was in awe when she saw how good of a job they did, in a surprise to them all, she said, "Oh my god. I can't believe this."
Though they were happy to see her there, George said out loud, "I can see it, I'm just hoping that the rest of you will agree with me."
"Merry Christmas, Olivia!" they all shouted, leaving George to keep his opinions about this to himself.
Either way, Olivia was shocked to see how much effort they put in to fix what happened. She said to all of them, "Did you guys do all of this for me? I suppose there is a thing called Christmas miracles."
Although it was a heart warming moment, it wasn't so warming when Elliot rebutted, "Miracle? Bullshit! We spent all night trying to fix this, I even stole my family's tree, for god's sake."
"As much as I hate to say it, he's right." Cragen agreed, "We did work on this all night, just to make you happy."
"Well I'm so happy that you guys did all of this." she smiled, then she noticed something was missing. "Hey, Munch. Where's your stuff?"
Munch pointed behind him, and replied, "I threw it the trash, because it just happened to cause the fire."
Surprisingly, Olivia walked over to the trash can and picked the menorah out of the trash. She walked off with it and took some time cleaning it up, and placed it on her desk – all while she lit the candles that were still in it. This didn't make much sense to any of them, not even Munch, who asked her.
"Liv, what are you doing?"
She turned around and explained, "I don't know. I believe that the reason to my misfortune is associated with how I treat you. But this time, I want to turn over a new leaf. Happy Hanukkah, Munch."
He didn't know if she was playing him, or being sincere. Either way, he smiled and replied, "Merry Christmas, Olivia."
While they were "burying the hatchet" on Christmas, Alex took the time to tell Elliot something, "Well now that we're making amends, I'd like to tell you something, Elliot. I want to say that I would like to end our annual battle. It has caused too much damage, too many risks and we've almost landed in jail because of it."
"Yeah, they are right. We have gotten into trouble over the years." Elliot agreed.
Then Alex gave him a drink, and asked, "So what do you say? We call a truce?"
"Sure, truce." he replied, taking the drink and having a drink with her. They both downed theirs and they smiled at each other, but then Elliot felt odd, "Wait, I don't feel so good. Hold on, did you poison me?"
Elliot immediately following his sentence, fell flat to the floor. To which Alex pointed down at him and shouted, "Ha, ha, ha! This is a war, bitch!"
Then everyone gathered around, except Fin, who happened to notice Elliot was unresponsive. But they didn't seem to care, as Olivia said, "Well, we all learned a valuable lesson these past several days. I guess at this time of year, we all gotta be grateful that we're all together."
"Well time for us to sing!" Nick proclaimed, as they gathered by the tree and sang Christmas songs. Due to some copyright concerns, we can't exactly give you the exact lyrics that they were singing, nor can we tell you which song they were singing. Either way, they were full of joy.
However, Fin was more focused on Elliot, who has not responded to him. He got up and told them, "Guys, I think Elliot's dead. Hello?"
They didn't bother to listen or even care about what he was trying to tell them, as they continued to have a good time together, singing along to Christmas tunes. Thus wraps up a rather confusing, unusual, and rather random Christmas story. While Fin called an ambulance, they were celebrating the best Christmas ever – even if someone was lying on the floor dead, as long as Olivia was happy, they didn't mind.
But it left one completely mind boggling question – What happened to Barba?
End of Chapter Twenty-Two
Good God, this was longer than I expected. Hopefully, it didn't bother you. Either way, this was my "attempt" at a Christmas special, this took too long to finish but I hope you like it in some degree. I hope to roll out more chapters soon.
Until then, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.