Too many cases and an obnoxiously large amount of paperwork and it was once again Friday, but better than that: it was Christmas Eve. At 4:00 Cragen walked out of his office, "Everyone out!"
The four detectives were all startled out of their paperwork induced trance, "What are you talking about, Cap?" Fin asked. "We all have massive amounts of paperwork to do, thanks to the pervert convention that apparently decided to visit our glorious city this week, and I for one want to get it done before Christmas."
"Paperwork can wait until after the New Year. Now get out of here, go home, change, and be at the Christmas party by 6:00. All of you!"
The detectives all shared a smile and a laugh as they grabbed their coats and walked out together.
Elliot and Olivia had gone back to her apartment to get ready and at 5:30 Elliot was waiting in the living room when he heard Olivia's bedroom door open. He stood and walked to the end of the hallway, watching as Liv stumbled down the hallway in her floor-length, strapless, red dress, trying to put on her heels as her loosely curled hair fell over her face. She tripped and almost fell, but was saved when Elliot caught her by her upper arms. "Thanks," she said, looking up at him and smiling as she finished putting on her shoes. When she was finished she stood up, forcing Elliot to finally let go of her arms.
They stood in the middle of the hallway, staring at each other. Elliot was the one to break the silence, "You look gorgeous, Babe."
Olivia smirked, "Thanks, you don't look half-bad yourself." She kissed him quickly, "We need to get going, we're gonna be late."
She pushed past him, going to grab her coat and for a moment all he could do was stare after her.
They managed to get to the party on time, sitting down at their table with only seconds to spare. "Cutting it a little close aren't you?" Cragen asked.
"We made it here my 6:00," Olivia protested.
"Yea, why was it such a big deal for us all to be here by 6:00 anyway?" Elliot asked.
"I'd like to know that too," Munch chimed in.
"No reason, just wanted to make sure nobody tried to ditch this year," he gave a pointed glance to Olivia.
"Hey! What did I do?"
"You have missed every, single Christmas party for the 11 years. This is the first one in 12 years that you've actually shown up for."
"Not true!"
"You haven't been to one since I joined the squad 10 years ago," Fin commented, taking the Captain's side.
"Don't help Fin," Olivia chastised him. "Why's it matter if I come or not, anyway?"
"Is it so hard to believe that we might just like having you around?" Elliot asked her, sliding his arm around her shoulders.
She didn't know what to say and everyone at the table could tell. Suddenly, all eight of them: Cragen, Fin, Munch, Melinda, Alex, Casey, Elliot, and Olivia, all burst out laughing.
The party passed quickly with Elliot and Olivia spending most of their time on the dance floor. As they headed to the bar to get drinks, non-alcoholic for Liv, Olivia realized that they hadn't been paying any attention to the time, "What time is it, El?"
He glanced at his watch, "A little after 9:00. Why?"
"What time did you tell Kathy we'd pick-up the Eli?"
"Relax. I talked to Maureen earlier today, she was going to pick-up Eli at 6:30 and together they were going to meet the rest of the kids at the apartment by 7:00. I told her that we'd be home around 10:00. We still have a half hour before we need to leave."
"Okay, just checking."
"Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to dancing with my fiancée, before I have to take her home and share her with my kids," he smiled as he wrapped his arm waist and pulled her tightly against him.
She let him lead her back out to the dance floor, but they left promptly at 9:30. "Liv, the kids won't mind if we're a few minutes late."
"Well, I mind. This is my first Christmas with a family and I want to spend as much time as possible with the kids, now, let's go," she sounded just the slightest bit impatient.
He laughed at her eagerness, "Okay, okay, I'm coming."
They walked out of the building a few minutes later and turned to walk down the street to their car. They'd only taken a few steps when they heard a high-pitched scream coming from nearby. Elliot took off running toward the noise, turning down a dark alley to get to the source of the screaming. Olivia did her best to follow him, but it was made difficult by the fact that she was wearing three inch heels. All the same she managed to turn down the alley just seconds after him.
