A/N:A Christmas Day that is truly memorable, for more than one reason.
DISCLAIMER: SVU and all related plot/characters originally belong to Dick Wolf. This story, words, and dialogue are mine. © TStabler
"It's crooked," Olivia said, grinning playfully as she watched Elliot fussing with the stockings on the fireplace. She chuckled when he turned to her, annoyed, and she tugged on the sleeves of her bright red sweater dress. "I'm kidding, it's fine," she waved a hand at him. She winked and then asked, "Is there anything you need me to do? You told me to be here at four, I assumed it because you needed help."
Elliot shook his head as he stepped over to her. "No, uh, everything's done, I just...didn't want to be alone when she…"
"Elliot," Kathy's voice broke into his words, and as she came down the stairs with two bags in her hands, she spotted the woman he was talking to and her demeanor changed. She plastered on a smile, sauntered over to Elliot and dropped her bags, then draped her arms around his neck. "I don't have to go," she said to him. "Tell me to stay." Suddenly her eyes welled up and her lower lip trembled. "Please," she whispered.
Elliot scraped his teeth over his lip and shook his head as he backed away from her, pulling her arms off of him. "Go," he said, and he checked his watch. "Before people get here." He gestured toward the front door and licked his lips as he shook his head and walked fast into the kitchen.
Olivia narrowed her eyes as he gaze followed him, but she snapped her focus back to Kathy. "You're walking out on him," she surmised, "Leaving him and the kids, on Christmas?"
"Don't start in on me," Kathy warned, "I wanted to wait until after New Year's…" she rubbed her lips together and gave a dark chuckle. "No, he, uh...he has a resolution he needs to make and he made it perfectly clear that I am to be...out of the picture, far far away, when he makes it. Last night, he…" she picked her bags back up and sighed. "He made it perfectly clear that I was no longer welcome in this house." She turned and sniffled, unshed tears finally falling. "Lord knows, I haven't been welcome in his bed in…" she eyed Olivia up and down. "Three years."
"What did you do?" Olivia asked softly, her arms crossing over her chest.
"Oh, right away, it's something I did!" Kathy yelled. She shot her eyes to the ceiling, cringed, and then turned back to Olivia and lowered her voice. "He hasn't been home for more than six hours at a time in years, and then you come along and that whittles down to four. The second he met you, it's like I didn't even exist anymore, and his world suddenly revolves around you! We should have Liv over for dinner, maybe Liv would like to come to the movies with us, I think I'm just gonna take Liv to the gala this year, I'm taking the kids to Liv's for the night!"
Olivia's eyes widened and she smiled incredulously. "If I would have known it bothered you, I wouldn't have…"
"Of course it bothered me!" Kathy barked, laughing in spite of the situation. She shrugged and said, "Makes me wonder what else the two of you were doing."
"Don't be ridiculous," Olivia snapped in a whisper, mindful of Elliot in the next room and the kids upstairs. "He is an incredibly moral man, dedicated to his family, to your family! He wouldn't throw his entire life away…" she shrugged. "For me," she almost whispered. "Never. Not once. Whatever you're thinking, nothing happened with…"
"No, I know that," Kathy nodded, "But I know he wants it to, and I know…" she took a deep breath. "I know that he's more in love with you than he has ever been or could ever be with me, and that's why…" she closed her eyes. "I let myself do what he tried like hell to keep from doing."
Olivia's eyes closed. "Damn it, Kathy," she hissed, shaking her head. She brought one hand up to her forehead, rubbed, and said, "On Christmas?"
Kathy swallowed hard and moved toward the door. "If I go now, then everyone will have a...Merry Christmas." She looked toward Elliot who appeared behind Olivia. "I'll call."
"Don't bother," he spat back at her. He watched her open the door and walk out, and then he let out a loud and heavy breath. "Jesus," he huffed, and he pulled on Olivia's sleeve, bringing her toward him. "I needed you here for this."
"How could she…" she started, but she stopped when she noticed that his hand had moved down her sleeve to link with hers. She looked at their hands, then up at him. "She, uh...she said that you…"
"I heard her," he interrupted. Then he smiled at her. "Maybe my, um, maybe we'll talk about that later." He squeezed her hand and said, "Right now, I just...need you." He shrugged and pulled on her hand again.
She sighed as she hugged him tightly, the most physically intimate contact they'd shared, and she was about to ask him a question but she changed her mind. "I'm here. I'm right here."
He nodded into her neck, and when he took a breath he moaned. Her honeysuckle shampoo and gardenia perfume filled his lungs and his heart. "Liv, I…" His words were interrupted when the doorbell rang, and he glumly pulled away from her to answer the door.
She watched him go, a million thoughts racing through her head. She combed her hair back with her fingers but her waves fell right back into place, her bangs into her eyes, and she cleared her throat when her boss stepped into the room, with two of her colleagues right behind him.
"Where?" Cragen asked, holding up a stack of presents.
"Oh," Olivia said, smiling, "I'll take them." She grabbed the gifts and carried them over to the Christmas tree.
Elliot pushed you his sleeves as he watched her, the way she bent to place the presents perfectly in piles for each person, the way her knee-high boots made her legs look longer and the way her dress cling to her curves.
"Stop staring," Munch said, slapping him in the arm.
Elliot chuckled, but his eyes never left Olivia. "Can't help it," he said with a smile. He turned, then, and shook the man's hand. "Nice to see you, man. I know you don't do parties."
Munch peered at him over his glasses and said, "This isn't a party, this is family." He winked and then said, "Where's the food?"
With a laugh, Elliot pointed to an elaborately decorated table, a spread of hors d'oeuvres and snacks laid out on green and red platters, silver plates and cups stacked for the guests. "Help yourself," he said. He looked over at the stairs when he heard his kids coming down them, and he moved over to hug each one. He kissed his oldest daughter on the forehead and said, "Remember what I told you."
"Everything is going to be okay," the twelve year old nodded. She skipped over to the snacks, her red velvet dress hopping along with her.
Within an hour, the house was filled with people and music and laughter, but Elliot noticed one person didn't seem to be enjoying any of it. He walked toward her, his hands in his pockets, and he stepped up next to her and stared out the window. "What's so interesting out there?"
She hummed. "Just waiting for Kathy to come home." She raised and lowered her eyebrows once. "I'll leave as soon as she pulls up, so you won't have to…"
"She's not coming back," he interrupted.
"Of course, she is," she told him and rolled her eyes. "She wouldn't really leave you, especially not on Christmas. She's probably waiting for you to call her and beg her to come home." She bit her lip. "I...I don't want to be here when that happens."
"That's not gonna happen," he said as he wrapped an arm around her waist. He couldn't help noticing how beautiful she looked, the way the blinking lights made her glow, the way each twinkling bulb bounced off of her tan skin and bathed her in illumination. "What she said to you...before she left…"
"She's not the first person to accuse us of sleeping together," she said with a scoff. "I'm used to it, I just…" she shrugged and finally turned to look at him. "I lost second dates, you lost...your whole life. I never wanted that, you have to…"
He stopped her by lifting one finger and pressing it against her lips. He stared into her eyes as he slowly shook his head. "No, that...that's not…" he licked his lips and moved closer to her. "She wasn't my whole life. Not...anymore. Not the way she should've been. I meant, when she told you that I was in love with you."
"Oh," Olivia laughed sadly and looked down at her feet. "Yeah, well, we do spend a lot of time together. I can see why she would think…"
"She was right," he admitted. He reached for her hand as she looked back at him. He moved slowly, and he knew that it wasn't the best time, that people were watching who shouldn't see this happening. "She wasn't just assuming or making excuses for her affair, she was...telling you why I let her leave. Why I didn't fight harder to convince her we could work things out."
She paled and squeezed his hand. "What?"
"Look around," he laughed. "Those stockings on the fireplace? You were at the store with us when we had them made, there's one there with your name on it." He turned her chin gently, aiming her face at the beautiful tree. "You helped me and the kids decorate the tree. You put the star on top." He tugged her toward him. "You helped me buy and wrap presents. You helped me cook all that food, and Kathy...wasn't even in the same city as us."
She shook her head, not fully willing to believe this was happening. "Okay, so I helped you…"
"Not just today," he cut her off again. "You've been the one I've run to with every problem, the one I have shared every single happy moment with, the one who has watched me lose my mind and my temper...the one who fixed it all with a burger and a beer for the past three fucking years and, fuck, Liv...I'm in love with you, and I'm not sorry about it."
Her eyes crinkled, her brows knitted, and she asked him, "Is that why you got so mad at every date I've had in the last…"
"Damn right it is," he bit his lip and nodded, slightly embarrassed. "I was jealous, and way more protective than I had a right to be, and I am not gonna lie and tell you I was just being a good partner, and I'm not gonna apologize for trying like hell to keep you from making a huge mistake with someone else when you couldn't see what was right in front of you."
"Couldn't see what…" she spouted, and she moved closer and dropped her voice. Her gaze was harsh but her hold on him was soft. "I saw it. Believe me. You don't think...fuck, I've been feeling like shit for the last couple of years because I let myself fall for the one person in the world I couldn't have! The one person who I absolutely should not be fucking in love with!"
"Me?" His voice was hopeful and he wrapped his free hand around hers and linked their fingers together tightly. "We've been fighting this for too fucking long, and now...we don't have to. I'm not just saying this because Kathy's been gone for two hours and I'm lonely, okay? I know what it sounds like, but...last night, I told her I had every intention of doing this with you. I told her how I felt about you, and I told her...it's why I wasn't more upset when she told me she slept with some guy at work, why I didn't blow a gasket and hunt him down."
"Why now?" She asked the question in a whisper. "Why today?"
He smiled and let go of one of her hands to brush her hair back. "I know you hate Christmas and you've only been going through the motions the last three years to keep me and the kids happy...I hoped, uh, that this would make you realize that Christmas is actually…"
"The best fucking day ever," she said on a dry laugh. She felt herself choking up and she looked to her left. "Cragen is staring at…"
"I know, and I don't care," he said, and he swallowed the lump in his throat. "This is...this is gonna change everything, but I think...I think it's gonna be amazing." He moved slightly closer and he whispered, almost too softly, "Can I kiss you, Liv?"
Her heart stopped, her lungs burned, and she didn't trust her voice so all she could do was nod fast and stare into his eyes.
He moved again, sliding his hands up to her face, brushing her soft skin with the pads of his thumbs. "I'm scared, too," he whispered, and his entire body shook as he drew nearer to her.
His kids stopped running around as they each noticed what was happening, and they slowly walked over to the corner where their father and Olivia were staring at each other.
Cragen looked around suddenly, realizing he was surrounded by children, and he looked in all directions to see what they were all so intently staring at, and then he gasped. "Oh, no," he breathed, his eyes now frozen open watching what was inevitably going to happen.
Not realizing he had an audience, Elliot tried to stop trembling but couldn't, and he laughed nervously as he inches closer to Olivia. "Don't...don't hit me," he teased, and then just before his lips touched hers, he whispered, "I love you."
She moaned softly when he finally kissed her, gasping just enough to allow him to make more of the kiss than intended. Her hands flew to the back of his head, and as they kissed, three years of moments and memories flipped like scrapbook pages in her mind. Cups of coffee at work, late movies and take out on her couch, nights they'd spent in the cribs and mornings they woke up cuddling, the million ways they'd already said I love you in actions and different words and it all snapped her back to the moment and made her pull him closer and press herself into him.
He pulled back only when he couldn't breathe anymore, took a shallow breath, and moved in again. This kiss was deeper, more emotional, and he realized that tears were hitting his fingers. She was crying. He pulled back and looked at her, searching her red eyes. "What? What's wrong?" He panted, terrified he'd made a monumental mistake.
She shook her head. "Nothing, I just...I realized how much I love you, how much I've loved you for a lot longer than either of us…"
"We didn't mean to," he laughed, and he brushed his nose against hers. "But I'm happier now than I ever have been, and I was just given the most incredible Christmas present ever."
A throat to the side of them cleared, it didn't sound happy, and as they both turned slowly toward it, they saw Cragen with crossed arms standing between the smiling and excited faces of Elliot's kids. "Hey, guys," Elliot spoke as gently as he could with a soft smile on his face.
"Daddy," Kathleen, the middle child started, "Were you and Liv…"
"Kissing?" Dickie and Lizzie, the seven year old twins, finished together.
Olivia bit her lip as Elliot nodded. She looked toward Cragen and her heart sank. Something she wanted so badly was about to cost her something she'd worked for her whole life. "Captain, I…"
"Elliot," Cragen started, ignoring Olivia's voice, "I thought we had an understanding."
Elliot looked at Olivia, seeing the fear on her face, and he smiled at her and kissed her softly. "Yeah, Cap," he said, turning back to Cragen. "We did. I'm standing by it."
Cragen's brow furrowed. "So things are…"
"Yeah," Elliot said before Cragen could finish this question. "I promised you, and now... I'm promising her. This is...this is it."
Elliot's kids clapped and smiled brightly as they watched their father and Olivia kiss again, and Cragen let his face slowly break into a smile.
He knew this was happening and he'd made Elliot promise him that if anything ever happened with him and Olivia, it would be permanent. He ushered the kids toward the tree and left Elliot and Olivia alone to bask in their Christmas miracle for a little while longer.
A/N: final one-shot coming tomorrow morning! Merry Christmas Eve to all who observe! Happy Tuesday to everyone else. Much love!