One-word prompt: Gift

I Won't Ask For Much This Christmas

~oOo~

"Open them at the same time?" Olivia asked, holding the small wrapped present in her hands. She glanced up at Elliot, who she had asked specifically not to get her a present. Well, in all actuality, he'd asked her not to get him a present either.

Yet, in classic Benson and Stabler fashion, they completely disregarded the request altogether.

So, as they sat next to one another on the couch in her office, the quiet murmur of sound and music from the squad room drifting underneath the door, she felt her anxiety building.

"Together." Elliot nodded, his blue eyes locked onto the small box she was holding in her hands. "But, wait –" he began, shaking his head, closing his eyes, "I… yeah. You know what, together."

Olivia bit down on her bottom lip, nervous about the reveal of the present she had bought for him. 'What if he freaks out? What if he leaves? Oh, God, what if he leaves? I won't survive.'

"Okay." She nods, glancing back down at the box in her hands, then to the identical envelopes that they had each placed on the table in front of them. It was curious, their boxes were almost the same size, and so were their envelopes. "On the count of three."

"Okay." He nods, eyes darting from the envelope to the box. 'What if she freaks out? What if she takes this wrong? What if she tells him to leave? What if she leaves? I can't lose her, she's my rock.' Why he thought opening the presents first was a good idea, he'll never know for sure, but he's hoping that they will be alright afterward. He put a lot of thought into this present.

"One," she says, eyes darting from the small box to his eyes and then back again. He feels his heart racing in his chest. "Two." He looks from the envelope to her eyes and then down to the box, his knee starts shaking. She's feeling slightly nauseous because of the movement of the couch and her nerves. "Th—"

"Wait," he cuts her off, and she releases a sigh. He stands abruptly, placing his box on the table and her eyes widen, she's hoping that he's not freaking out. She eyes the envelope. Maybe she can take away one of the two things she got him. Maybe, maybe, that would be a better idea. He's pacing, his fingers linked behind his head when she finally looks up at him.

"Elliot?"

He stops at the sound of her voice, turning his body toward her.

"I just – Olivia, I…" He's stumbling over his words, and she actually finds it more endearing than anything, because it reminds her of all their heart-to-heart talks they have had at one point or another throughout the years, where he would stumble over whatever he was saying.

"We agreed to communicate, El. Tell me."

"I just don't want you to take what I got you the wrong way," he whispers, dropping down onto the heels of his feet, placing his hands on her knees. Her eyes look from his down to his hands, her throat going dry as she's taking in his proximity, the weight of his hands on her, the feeling of his fingers brushing her leg.

"Wow." She swallows, shaking her head, glancing from her box to the man in front of her. "I don't want you to freak out and leave, without saying anything to me for months… when you open my present."

His brows furrow as he looks from the present he'd sat on the table to the woman before him. The woman who has always been there for his family, always been there for him – even when she shouldn't have. "Liv? Nothing could make me run away."

"You say that now…" she trails off, her head cocked to the side as she gives him a sad smile. "But you don't even know what I got you."

"Yeah, and you don't know what I got you," he states, pointing to the box in her hands. "Tell you what, we open them at the same time, and then we will be open and honest with one another – no freaking out. Okay?" He stands, moving back to his position on the couch next to her, sitting even closer than he had before, reaching forward to grab the small box in his hand. "Together."

"Together." She nods. "One." A deep breath from him. "Two." She turns her body toward him, glancing back down at the package in his hands.

"Three," he finishes, as they both slide their fingers underneath the tape on the side of each of their respective boxes. Once the wrapping paper had come off, they both sit, staring down at the small velvet boxes in either of their hands. Her brown eyes glance from her box up to meet his blue eyes which have just made a similar movement.

"We don't freak out," she whispers, barely audible. He nods, as his fingers trace the lip of the box. Each of them inhales as they flip the lids.

Her eyes widen as she looks down at the item inside the box. His do the same as they both look up at the exact same moment, tears in both their eyes.

With a shaking hand, she reaches down and laughs a nervous laugh as she pulls the item out from the cushion it's sitting on. His blue eyes are just studying the item on the inside of his box as he gulps. The sound of the action almost overwhelmingly loud in the room, but he's smiling. She holds the circular object up to the light as a million questions pop into her mind.

He had gotten her a ring. Not just any ring, but the exact same ring she had gotten him. A black tungsten ring with a thin blue line circling the band, the inner band the same blue as the line. She wants to laugh hysterically at this action because she knows why she got him the ring, but now she's running the millions of possibilities over in her own mind as to why he had gotten her a ring. Her eyes flick over to the envelope.

There's no way in hell.

His eyes do the same, as he pulls the ring out of the box, examining the band, and he actually laughs when he reads the engraving on the inside of the band.

Her brows furrow as she realizes that he'd gotten her band engraved as well. Her lips part as she reads the engraving and then she joins him in his laughter.

Not only had they gotten one another the same ring, but their inscriptions were eerily similar. Her mouth is dry when she reads the inscription he had selected.

You are my home. #6313

How the actual hell had he done that? They hadn't spoken to one another. They hadn't mentioned this purchase to anyone, at least, she hadn't.

He glanced at the ring she had given him. How did she just know what to put on the inside of his band? It was like she knew what he had put on the inside of hers.

Come Home. P4L. – Liv

The two of them. She felt as though she had suddenly forgotten what words were. What the hell were words? Could she form them? Wait. What was in his envelope?

"El." She finally managed to speak, to find words. "Before you open the envelope… obviously, I wanted to tell you that I didn't mean anything by the ring except for I saw the concept of having a ring from me that reminds you that I've always got your back… but I also wanted to tell you that the paperwork in the envelope, it doesn't have to mean anything." She's stumbling over her words, and she feels like such an idiot. She should've just followed her own advice when she told him she didn't want to exchange gifts. What was she thinking?

"But you don't want anyone else to define our relationship for us. You want to do this on our own terms," he finishes, his blue eyes searing into her own. "Yeah."

He laughed, sliding the ring onto his left hand. She feels her heart begin racing. Why didn't he just put it on the right hand? She'd gotten so used to seeing him with a ring on that finger for all the years of their partnership – and then, after Kathy died, before he went undercover, he'd removed the wedding band. And that finger had been bare ever since.

But now… her ring she had gotten for him was on that finger. "Liv, I got you the same thing."

A wry smile crossed her face as she nodded, staring down at the envelope, sliding the ring onto her right hand. She wasn't quite ready to just slide it over to her left. When that day came, well, that's when she was going to dive underneath the waves and let the rip current pull her out as far away from solid ground as it wanted to. She'd hope to lose sight of the shore.

"Look at us," she whispered, eyes finally moving up to meet his once more for the hundredth time. "We're…"

"So in sync… still," Elliot finishes.

"El, I'm scared," she admits, realizing that they had agreed to be perfectly honest with one another. They promised to communicate. "I'm scared that this is going to fail."

"Stop catastrophizing." He shakes his head. "Liv, obviously we both want this to move forward. To be… whatever it is it shapes out to be. But don't do that, don't doom us before we begin."

"Look at you, using words that shrinks teach."

"Dr. Carpenter-Grey is really helping." He pauses, "I'm scared too, just so you know. But… we're great partners… so there's no reason why this can't work, Olivia."

As she spins the ring around on her finger with her thumb, she studies the man in front of her, pursing her lips together and nodding quietly. "I'm glad we decided to ignore one another." She finally admits, eyes flicking back to the paperwork on the table. "So, who's gonna turn in the paperwork, you or me?"

"You can." He reaches his hand out, placing it over hers, eyes looking at the rings on either of their hands.

"Partners for life."

"I'm home." He smiles.

Maybe Christmas wasn't so bad after all.