"In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories."

It Comes with the Badge

Last time:

Placing a hand on her stomach and sighing heavily, she fiddled with her engagement ring as she fell fast asleep. Tomorrow was Ryan's Christmas Eve party...and Fin was in critical condition at Holy Hope Hospital. Merry Christmas everyone.

Chapter Fourteen

Merry Christmas

Ryan sat up and stretched her aching body. Her back stiffened argumentatively as she tried to stand. The florescent lighting of the hospital room invaded her vision and her eyes shunned their bold outcry. Finally, they adjusted and she saw Fin sleeping in the hospital bed next to the chair she'd slept in.

She faintly remembered Elliot leaving around twenty-two hundred to go home. Sam remembered him promising to take care of Mariah. So she'd stayed. From the looks of it, Fin was already improving. The GSW had punctured his lung, according to the doctors, but they'd spent a few hours in surgery and managed to repair it. His skin was already back to it's healthy color, and he groaned as she opened the creaking bathroom door. "Hey sleepyhead. I'll be right back."

When she reentered his room, he was trying to sit up. "Do you think you can..."

He cut her off. "I'm fine, alright? It's not like I've never been shot before!" She sure hadn't, then again, she had only worked homicide in Albany and Phoenix and almost no one actually shot at a cop.

Sam frowned. "Sorry."

Fin gave her a crooked grin. "My bad, it must be the morphine." A few moments of awkward silence passed between them. "I'll be at your party tonight, don't worry."

She doubted it but nodded nonetheless. In fact, she knew that if through some odd fluke he did make it to her house for the party, she'd drive him back to the hospital herself. Ryan stood up as her pager went off. "I've got to get down to the DEA. It's an emergency they say. Sorry." Giving an apologetic smile and promising to hurry back, Ryan ran out to the sedan she'd driven last night. What in the hell happened now?

Ryan ran up to Stratford's office. "What's up?"

He frowned. "Our only inside source is gone. We've got to send someone new in. Someone good. I need you to help me look for a..."

Sam cut him off, "I'll do it."

Andrew laughed. He grinned at her. "Good to see you still have your sense of humor."

Her grey eyes were stone cold and dead serious. "I'm not a familiar face so none of his buddies will recognize me. I'm young and I can pull off the ritzy girl role. I can do it Detective Stratford!"

When her partner realized she wasn't kidding, he frowned. "Ryan, you're new to the unit..."

She cut him off again. "Which is exactly why I need to prove my skills as an undercover detective!"

"This case is very important to several different police branches. Homicide, the DEA and your SVU squad."

Ryan's glare didn't fade. "I'm part of the DEA now. Maybe you didn't get the memo but you're my partner."

Detective Stratford sighed. "Alright. Fine. I'll bring it up at the strategy meeting this afternoon." He knew they'd never allow it but it beat arguing with her. She was more stubborn then Stabler ever was.

"There's a..." she stopped and frowned. "If you don't want me to help, fine, just say so, but you're sure as hell not getting anywhere without me!" Sighing exasperatedly, she stormed off to her desk and opened one of the files just to preoccupy herself. It was older sister who'd been murdered most recently. Her eyes locked on the picture of the girl and she bit her lip. Picking up the phone, she called Olivia.

Olivia had been up since before dawn. Her son wouldn't stop kicking and she couldn't sleep. She picked up a book she'd been reading. Another James Patterson novel that'd she purchased about a week ago. Elliot was sleeping next to her.

At seven, his alarm went off and he looked surprised to find Olivia was not there. He showered quickly and headed downstairs in khaki dress pants and a half-buttoned khaki shirt. By now he could smell the bacon and sausage. Kathleen was already downstairs and she was brushing Mariah's hair for her. Elliot kissed his daughter on the cheek and walked in to the kitchen. "You look beautiful."

Her brown eyes gave him a reproving look but she smiled. "Hope you're hungry."

"How long have you been up?" He finished tying his tie and kissed her gently, putting a hand on her stomach to greet his unborn son.

Olivia shrugged. "Four thirty or five, this little one wouldn't stop kicking." She patted her stomach ever-so-gently and continued flipping the last batch of pancakes.

The phone rang, and she picked it up eagerly. "Benson."

"Olivia? It's Ryan."

"Oh? What's up?" Olivia motioned to Elliot to finish up the pancakes while she walked in to the hallway. "Go ahead."

Ryan sighed. "How's Mariah?"

A warm smile crossed Olivia's lips and she turned to watch Elliot setting the table. "She's just fine. I think she misses her mommy though."

These words brightened Sam's day. "Well, tell her I'll see her tonight. The party's still on. Fin says he'll make it, I guess we'll see. Can you bring her or do I need to pick her up?"

She did a mental head count. "Well, Maureen has her own car too so we'll have two. That should be plenty. We'll bring her." Giving her a joyful good-bye, Olivia hung up the phone and sat down to breakfast with her new family.

The rest of Ryan's day passed at a painstakingly slow rate. Finally, at 3pm, she managed to get out early. Saying a brief good-bye to Detective Stratford, she sped home to set up the final preparations for her party. She blushed faintly when she entered and saw Ricky looking very distressed. "How many people am I cooking for tonight?" He'd seen the guest list on the counter.

Ryan smiled guiltily. "Umm..." Doing the math in her head, "Fourteen?" she replied nervously. "Is that okay?"

He looked annoyed. "Fine, fine." A smile broke across his face. "You better have bought enough wine for me too."

She grinned. "I'm sure a did." Loading the three bags on to the kitchen counter, she sighed. "I've got a few vegetarians I think, so try and cook up some salad too."

Ricky sighed in mock frustration. "You're lucky I'm an amazing chef." He loaded all the alcohol in to the fridge and started to get out some pans. "I'll be fine. Go get everything else ready!" He shooed her out of the kitchen.

Sam eagerly hurried out, double checking that all the bedrooms were set up. Then, she called Munch. "John, do you think you could pick up my mother on your way? She lives on your side of town.." John agreed, taking down the address. "She's paralyzed, but the wheelchair will fold in to any trunk. He gave her an 'okay' and they said their goodbyes, hanging up. Ryan made sure there was at least one gift for each person under the tree and then she sat down to check her e-mail. Much to her surprise, Christina had actually e-mailed her back.

From: Christina (vivaldiandmerlotyahoo.com)

To: Samantha (Rjamerson16hotmail.com)

Subject: Re: (no subject)

Dear Samantha,

While this comes as a bit of a shock to me, I want you to know that I still want to be with you. I'm sorry I haven't written in a while, they had to move me again. Mariah is a lovely name and I look forward to meeting your daughter when I come back. While I must comment on your poor choice of men, I hold nothing against you Sam. I love you. Keep in touch.

Always,

Christina Richards

Ryan smiled, she'd e-mail her back after the party. Ding dong. 'Speak of the devil...' She thought as she walked downstairs. "Coming!" She opened the door to see Fin, Cragen and Casey. "Hey!" She led them in, taking their coats and hanging them on the coat rack. "I'm so glad you could come!" Sam showed them to the Christmas tree, where they deposited their gifts. Next, she showed them where the bathroom was and returned to the living room. Fin had started up the stereo, playing some holiday music.

Casey smiled. "Let's break out the bubbly."

Fin laughed. "I didn't know you were that kind of girl Casey..." She rolled her eyes at him and followed Ryan in to the kitchen.

"We have club soda for you Don!" Ryan hollered.

He grinned. "Now this is my kind of party."

Fin grinned and hollered 'I'll get it!' when the doorbell rang. Ryan and Casey returned to the living room to see the Stablers, Olivia, and Mariah file in. Mariah ran in to the arms of her mother, and her mother returned the eager embrace.

"I missed you Sweetheart!" She smiled and kissed her forehead. "I've got a PS2 and a computer in the study if you want to entertain yourselves." She looked to Dickie, Kathleen and Elizabeth. "Take Mariah with you though, won't you?"

Dickie had already taken off. Elizabeth picked Mariah up. "I'd love to!" She grinned at the three-year-old and Kathleen followed them in to the study according to Fin's directions.

More presents were placed under the Christmas tree. Wine and club soda was served with some small entrées as Ricky introduced himself loudly and disappeared back in to the kitchen.

The last group finally piled in. They consisted of Munch, Mrs. Jamerson and Serenity. Once their gifts had been stored, the group settled on to the various couches. Mrs. Jamerson insisted on visiting the kids, wanting to see Mariah.

Ryan thanked Olivia again for watching her. "I hope she wasn't too much trouble. Her father... He's not in the condition to watch her at the moment." Her mouth the pulled tight in an expression of concern.

Olivia grinned. "First of all, I could use the practice. Secondly, she was no trouble at all. You have a wonderfully behaved toddler."

Fin laughed. "I thought they didn't exist." The group continued to converse, moving to the dining room as turkey, salad, and several other dishes were served. Ryan sat her mother next to her at the head of the table. The Stablers and Olivia took up another side of the table with Fin opposite Ryan at the other end. Munch, Cragen, Serenity and Casey sat along the other side. Mariah was on Ryan's right.

The meal was delightful. The food tasted spectacular, as Ricky continually mentioned, and the company was marvelous. The bond between the fellow detectives, family, and friends was quite obvious. Ryan put Mariah to bed after dinner and the kids retreated back to the study. Sam led her guests out to the back porch, turning on the lights. "Merry Christmas everyone!" It was exactly midnight.

"Merry Christmas!" They toasted, glasses of wine and club soda clanking jovially. Only a week until New Year's Day. All of them looked forward to the optimism of a new year as they celebrated the fabulous winter season.

The next morning, presents were opened and hugs were exchanged. Santa had brought Mariah a PlaySchool vanity and a Barbie Jeep. Olivia smiled broadly when Elliot gave her a silver locket with To Liv with love engraved on the back. Polite 'thank you's and zealous embraces were shared as they sat down to a marvelous Christmas breakfast. Alex was the only thing missing. Ryan tried to ignore it, but she couldn't help wishing she'd been there. Things broke up about five pm that evening and one by one they all filtered out. Ryan was left by herself, Mariah sleeping by the time everyone had left. Ricky waved goodbye and took off too. She decided to write Alex.

From: Samantha (Rjamerson16hotmail.com)

To: Christina (vivaldiandmerlotyahoo.com)

Subject: Merry Christmas

Christina,

I missed you terribly last night. I hope you're having a wonderful Christmas. Elliot and Olivia are getting married! I think there's something else you might want to know. I might be going undercover for the Velez case... I switched to the DEA while Olivia's on maternity leave. He's been raping and murdering young girls, Christina. One's that look just like Alex did. I won't be set up as a potential victim, I made sure, so don't worry. I'll let you know how it goes. I love you too, darling!

Sincerely,

Sammie

End Chapter Fourteen