Previous Disclaimers Apply

Chapter 26

After spending the afternoon in bed making love, the ladies decided it was time for supper and then to have their Christmas. They had brought their gifts for each other with them planning on having a private Christmas celebration with just the two of them.

They threw together a quick pasta meal with a salad instead of trying to make their own Christmas meal. They would get that on Christmas day at Alex's uncle's house. The ladies finished their meal and cleaned up the kitchen before moving into the living room to exchange gifts. Alex turned on the stereo and found a station playing Christmas songs while Olivia stoked the fire. They both went to the small tree and got their few gifts then opted to sit on the floor in front of the fireplace.

"Me first!" Said Olivia as she handed a good size box over to Alex.

Alex started tearing into the paper to the box, which was non-descriptive. She easily broke the couple pieces of tape that was holding the box closed to reveal what was inside, a rolling laptop case. Olivia explained to Alex how she was always carrying around a shouldered briefcase and a separate shouldered laptop bag. This way she has the room in one bag for everything and she won't kill her shoulders having to tote both around. Alex was appreciative of the thoughtfulness of Olivia's gift. Alex slid a box over to Olivia for her turn to open a gift.

Alex watched Olivia; she was like a kid on Christmas day versus an adult. Alex thought maybe that had to do with Olivia's childhood and the likelihood that she had very few typical Christmas' as a child. Once all the paper was removed Olivia was popping the tape on the sides of the obvious clothes box. With the lid off she pulled at the tissue paper to reveal a brown leather jacket. It was similar to her black one.

"Wow, Alex! This is great." Said Olivia as she turned it around looking at it.

Olivia quickly stood and put the jacket on and modeled it for Alex. As she was walking around the room, she thought about how long she had saved for her black one. This really meant a lot to her.

"It looks great on you, Sweetheart. Just as sexy as I had imagined."

"So you bought this because you thought I'd look sexy in it? Are you saying that I need a leather jacket to make me look sexy?"

"Hardly, this just adds a whole other level of sexiness to you, Detective."

"Thank you, Babe. I love it."

"You're welcome."

"OK, open this one next." Said Olivia as she handed another sizable box to Alex.

Alex started ripping the paper as Olivia sat back down. She had kept her coat on, but before Alex could get the box open Olivia was shedding her jacket. Being so close to the fire it was definitely warm. Alex got into her box and she also got a new coat. Olivia had gotten her a new long winter dress coat.

"Oh, Liv, this is beautiful. I'd been wanting a new long coat." Said Alex as she stood to try on her coat.

"I know, I've heard the comments you had been making about your old one. If you don't like it or want a different style I still have the receipt."

"No, Liv, this is perfect. I love it. OK, here's my next gift for you." Said Alex as she took off her new coat and sat back down.

Alex gave Olivia small rectangular box which Olivia assumed to be jewelry. Olivia tore off the paper and pried the felt box open. She stopped for a moment and was still, looking at what Alex had given her. It was a diamond interlocking heart necklace.

"Allie, it's…it's gorgeous."

"I'm glad you like it. I wanted to give you something that symbolizes our love for each other. I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to get then one day I was in the jewelry store picking up my watch and I saw this. I knew as soon as I saw it that this is what I wanted. The interlocking hearts, that's how I think of us; that we are connected and can't be broken apart."

"Here, help me put it on."

Olivia handed the necklace to Alex who unclasped it and reached around Olivia to put the necklace on and then hooked the clasp back together. Alex leaned down and placed a lingering kiss on the back Olivia's neck where the chain lay now. Olivia felt a shutter ripple through her body when she felt Alex's lips against the back of her neck. She reached for one of Alex's hands and brought it to her mouth returning the kiss. Olivia turned back around to face Alex and handed her the last gift.

It was a very small gift bag. Alex reached inside and pulled out an obvious jewelry box. She opened the jewelry box and found a necklace with a small pendant, but not just any kind of pendant. The pendant was a little police badge and it was encrusted with diamonds.

"Liv, this…It's beautiful."

Alex was examining it more and that is when she noticed that it was engraved with the NYPD logo and Olivia's badge number.

"You had this custom made?"

"I did. John's cousin also designs jewelry. When I was shopping for your engagement ring, I just couldn't find exactly what I wanted. So Joe, Munch's cousin, told me to pick the three rings I like most and what it was about the ring that I liked. He disappeared into the back of his shop and when he came back he had a picture of this." Said Olivia as she picked up Alex's left hand toying with her ring.

"That's when I got the idea for the pendant. He took a few photos of my badge and I told him to encrust it with diamonds and this is what he came up with." Added Olivia.

"Here, you turn, you do the honors." Said Alex as she handed the necklace to Olivia for Olivia to put it on her.

Alex turned around and Olivia put the necklace on her. She kissed Alex on the back of the neck just like Alex had did her. Alex turned back around and captured her fiancé's lips; after she pulled away, she picked of the pendant from her chest and kissed it too.

"I'll wear it always. I'm never taking it off." Said Alex.

"OK, my turn. Here." Said Alex as she handed Olivia her last gift.

Olivia tore through the paper to find a plain card board box. She popped the flaps open from the tape that was holding them closed and under the tissue paper she found a metal lockbox with a set of keys tied around the handle with ribbon. When she pulled the lockbox out she could tell from the weight that there was something inside the box. She untied the keys and unlocked the box to find out what was inside. In the box she found a beautiful wooded box. She took it out to open it and as she did, she was amazed by what she saw.

"Alex? How?" Was all the Olivia could say.

"I paid attention to the reading material you have on your coffee table. From there I just followed the corners of the pages you had turned down. Then I went to Elliot. He said you had been saving for a while to by the replica."

"I…yeah. I thought it would be great to have a piece of history and have a replica of the first service weapon issued to the first female officer for the NYPD."

"Well, this isn't a replica; it is the first service weapon that was issued to Shannon O'Brien. Elliot helped me going through the NYPD archives to find who the woman was. I wasn't sure if she would still be alive or not, but she is alive and kicking in a retirement community southern Florida. Remember a few weeks ago when you and Elliot worked three days straight on that missing kid case? Well, I took the day off from work and flew down to Florida to meet Shannon. I had spoken to her on the phone and she agreed to meet. I told her about you, your dedication to the job and questioned whether or not she would be interested in selling the gun. When she retired, NYPD gave the first gun back to her as part of her retirement. She and her husband never had children; she has nieces and nephews, but none of them would appreciate the gun for its history. She agreed to sell me the gun." Explained Alex.

"This is the real thing?"

"Yes, I had printed off quite a few of the newspaper stories about you. I wanted her to know you and about the person receiving the gun. We had it appraised, but she wouldn't take that amount. She said it was too much. So we finally agreed on a price but before I left Florida, I arranged with the administration office of the retirement community to put the difference plus a little more into her account for medical expenses, anonymously."

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me."

"We transferred the ownership to me and then once I was back in New York, Elliot helped me get it transferred to you. I took the gun to a friend of Elliot's who own a gun shop and deals with antique guns as well. He cleaned it and polished it and then had the box made for it. I have all the paperwork in my safe at home."

"Alex, I…this is the best Christmas gift I've ever received. No one has ever been that thoughtful and went to the lengths you did to get this for me."

"I love you, Liv. I want to give you everything. Once we find a place of our own we can figure out how to display it. Oh, and Shannon had one request."

"Oh, what's that?"

"She wants to meet you."

"Really?"

"Yep. Once she started reading about you and hearing my stories, she said she just had to meet you. I told her I would try to arrange that as soon as I could."

"Wow. Did you know she work 30 years on the force? She only made it as high a Sergeant though she really didn't have a lot of the authority until the last 5 years or so."

"No, I didn't know that. Looks like we'll have a lot to talk about when we see her again."

"Yeah." Said Olivia as she was looking over the gun, gently caress it, thinking about the history and what this one gun represented.

Alex gave Olivia her time with her thoughts concerning the gun. She left Olivia alone while she cleaned up the wrapping paper and such. She moved their opened gifts back under the tree and then finally returned to her fiancé.

"Hey you? We should probably head up to bed soon. Margie and Bucky are supposed to be here at 8 o'clock in the morning to take us to the airport." Said Alex.

"Yeah, OK." Said Olivia as she put the gun back in the box and the wooden box back into the lockbox; then locked it.

She put it under the tree with the rest of the gifts while Alex banked the fire. They went upstairs and got everything packed except for what their would need in the morning. Soon they were snuggled in bed waiting for sleep to overtake them.

"Allie?"

"What, Liv?"

"This was the best Christmas I've ever had."

"Me too and there will be many more to come. I love you."

"I love you too, Allie."

"Liv?"

"Yeah?"

"Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Allie."

Soon both ladies had fallen asleep wrapped in each other's arms.

TBC…