AN: Man I love snow sometimes. It really effects my happy thoughts. It doesn't really snow much in Chicago, but when it does, it's pretty. It's like a winter wonderland outside of my window. Anyhooooo- Here's ye'old update...well I guess it's not really old cause it's new, but you all get my drift. Ha hehe drift...get it...it's snowing. OH god- I am so not punny!

Noble

Elliot stood next to the Crown Vic parked in front of Olivia's building waiting to surprise her with a drive to work on her first day back. He knew she'd challenge the thought with her need to deny a kind gesture, but he didn't care. Accepting his, out of sorts kindness was going to be her new habit if he had to beat it into her. Besides that, he was getting tired of sharing her with Kathy. And even though he was having a hard time admitting that to himself, something allowed him to ignore the guilt and give in. Whether the world was ready for it or not, he was ready to give them a try.

When he woke up that morning he felt renewed, ambitious even. Something had changed. Yet, the closer he got to Olivia's apartment the tighter his collar became. The thought of them…together, felt a little out of place. He wasn't even sure how she would know. Or if she would know. And could he tell her if she didn't know? The nerves ate at his insides. He felt like he should be holding a dozen cheap carnations with a head full of hair, gangly arms, and about twenty years worth of age lines shaved off of his face.

The thought of secretly courting his best friend and partner in crime was definitely a preposterously juvenile idea. The kind of idea he wouldn't even have tried the first time he was legally single let alone while he supported a family and an ex-wife that he still slept next to every night. If he had been near a cigarette he most certainly would have sucked every last drop of it into his uneasy lungs.

The fear of losing everything was crushing him from all angels. Still a nitch in the center of his mind willed him to proceed. He'd gotten through twenty years of a rollercoaster marriage, raised four kids, made a fifth mistake, killed a few men, busted the scum of Manhattan everyday, and still the thought of Olivia Benson being "the one" was enough to bring him to the ground like a sack of unmuscled bones. She was the David to his Goliath, the arrow to his side. She made him furiously angry while forcing his cheeks to blush at the same time. The woman was a damn menace to the well being of his already unbalanced universe, and somehow one approved glance from her gravitating brown eyes could make his life feel so complete. That didn't make the acceptance of it all any easier. There was so much on the line. He wasn't sure if he should pull a Johnny Cash and walk it or run for the hills to take the path most often traveled.

And there he stood jingling his keys and leaning on the dirty blue cop car. Olivia's neighbor walked past him and nodded. The nod was enough to make him second-guess the silence of his thoughts. Was he speaking out loud or does that guy say hello to everybody?

Quickly he shifted his weight and looked down at the gold watch on his wrist for the tenth time in two minutes.

He was beginning to think that the damn thing was broken when the front door opened. Olivia's neighbor just barely dodged the swing of it.

"Ow, sorry Joseph. I didn't see you there," she smiled.

"Morning Olivia."

"Good morning. Do you need a hand?"

"A hand?"

The old man pulled himself up the steps squinting his face to see Olivia's. "Dear, I don't need a hand I need a foot."

She laughed and helped him into the building. "How's the wife?"

"Beautiful as a sunrise on a warm summers day," he smiled. His beady blue eyes sparkled beneath the wrinkles of his cheeks.

"You're so sweet. How do you two keep things so fresh after all of these years?"

"Ah, I stopped taking my meds years ago. I can't even see my own dick let alone my wife's nagging face. Details and Delusions!"

"Oh…" Olivia, who was smiling, crinkled her nose and turned towards the street. "Have a good day, Joseph."

That full head of brown hair blew haphazardly in the wind, and their eyes met.

She gave him a sharp glance and headed down the front steps. It was one of those hidden excited stares, where neither person is sure what to say or do because of the distance. Elliot was ready to break the space between them when she inevitably beat him to the punch.

"Is this another feeble attempt to kiss my ass for no reason at all or did my head injury do more damage than I know about?"

"You're lucky I haven't already filled your position, yeah couch potato."

"Ha- funny. I'm surprised they haven't forced us both into retirement after the health insurance bill this month."

He grinned his way into familiar territory and opened the passenger door. "We're just a couple of head cases, now aren't we. Ah, but you know we're not that lucky. Besides I couldn't retire, I'd have to pay for unlimited cell minutes just to make sure you didn't miss me too much."

"You think I'd miss you?"

"Get in the car, Benson."

She blinked at the passenger seat and mockingly leaned on the back car door to tease him. "Would youmiss me?"

She waited for the smartass comeback.

"You know I would," he replied seriously.

But when she didn't get it, her eyebrow questioned the odd behavior.

"You getting soft on me?"

"No, just brave," he winked.

A smile formed across his face as she blinked away from his flirtatious stare. She then ignored the signs of deeply caring communication and got into the car with the feeling of peculiar butterflies dancing in her stomach. When he sat in the seat next her, the smile was still there. That grin. The brightness in his eyes. She hadn't seen him in such good spirits in a long time. The itch to call him out on it was unbareable, but for some reason, she kept the comments to herself.

SCENE

The Precinct

Afternoon

"So Lake says ', Munch your German right?"

"Noooooo," Olivia gasped through a smile.

"Exactly, "Elliot continued. "Munch chokes on his beer, and the next thing we know he's going on a wild tangent about Jewish does not a German make, and Lake is a made up name forced upon his people by the Angelo British Nazis of America. Well, little does he know this woman who Lake brought over to introduce to Munch is not only German, but she's from Germany…and she's drunk. They get into this huge fight. Fin and I are losing it, because Munch is getting his ass kicked by this woman and Lake is jumping around the two of them like a broken marionette. Finally, he talks them out of the fight and then ends up driving both of them home. We still don't know what happened in the car, but now every time Lake has to deal with Munch he softly sings 'Edelweiss' into his ear."

Olivia and Elliot entered the office space laughing hysterically. It was a commotion that the rest of the floor hadn't realized they missed until it's contagious sound filled the hallway again. Yet, even in the need to hear the sound of joy it was quickly put on hold when the two detectives looked up to see their unit sitting in front of the video board patiently waiting for them to quiet their laughter.

"Oh," Olivia stopped.

Elliot straightened himself and cleared his throat. "Sorry."

They walked to their desks to gather the information they needed to get on with their own case. Their eyes flickered back and forth across the desk holding back silent laughter as Cragen, Fin, Casey, Lake, and Munch discussed the pictures on the video screen.

Cragen continued his thought "We have a suspect. Arnold Crumpski."

A picture of an old man with a white beard popped up next on the screen.

"He's worked for Macy's as their Santa Claus for ten years. His costume particles were found under our victim's nails. As far as we can tell he's a loner, a pedophile, and this was his first murder. He was last seen in this coffee shop one block from his apartment. The building is being watched-"

Olivia heard the words Santa and Macy's and turned to look at the board. "I know him."

The group of them paused in thought as Olivia walked to the board. "I hired him."

"For what," Fin asked sarcastically.

"Don't ask don't tell, " Elliot said as he took a pile of files past Olivia.

She slapped him on the head. "For my building's Christmas party yeah numb skulls. He was the only Santa I could find on the Website who lived in our area and didn't have a criminal record."

"Website," Lake asked.

"Yeah, um…gosh what was it called…"

She walked over to her computer and started typing at the keyboard. "Here. Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas. My neighbor told me about it. Said he used to be a member until he decided that the only urine he wanted on his pants was his own."

Elliot leaned over her shoulder to see the website and with a twinge of giggles still left over from the earlier car ride gave a held back snort.

"What," she replied. "Direct quote, I swear."

Lake pushed Olivia out of the way and began clicking through the pages. Elliot stood behind her with his hand on the center of her shoulder blades. His warm hand was jolting.

"So this neighbor of yours. Is he friends with any of these guys," Cragen asked.

"I don't know. We can certainly interview him."

Cragen went on talking about the unit's next frame of action, but Olivia's mind went into deep space nine when the feeling of Elliot's hand began to move lightly on the top of her back. She fought to concentrate….

"..Olivia and Elliot you two will go to the…"

His hand moved up to the top of her neckline and the feeling of his fingers teased her skin.

"We need to locate this guy before it happens a …"

Then he spoke out of turn. "I've met Liv's neighbor, he's got all of his wits about him. Should we put the Linderman case on hold?"

She looked up at him. He briefly winked and fell right back into the professional discussion. Rubbing and talking. His innocent face gave her the assumption that he had no idea what he was doing to her. Touching and fondling and tingling and….GRAB!

Olivia grabbed his hand and moved away. Her heart was practically pounding from within her low cut shirt. "Okay…let's get going."

Her eyes caught Casey's, who gave her a stern glare and turned away. She felt awful about snapping at Casey. If Casey could only see that everything she'd done before that accident was ancient history to her now. Her eyes had been opened to something far more important than the pangs of love. She just wanted everybody to be healthy and happy. If this was it, then she'd come to accept it. As long as Elliot could keep his hands from the base of her neck that is.

"You okay," he asked.

"Yeah, lets do this."

The two of them walked with Lake and Fin towards the elevators. Olivia forced all personal thoughts out of her mind and set it for work mode. Something that she scorned herself for not doing four hours ago. As they piled into the elevator Elliot's sexual presence melted away and she brought herself to the comfortable place of friendship and case cracking.

"So Elliot, you taking EJ to see Santa Claus," Lake asked.

"Boy you really have no tact or timing do you, Lake?"

"Wha- well, I guess it's- hey, it's not like you'll be leaving him with the guy."

Elliot lightly smiled and watched the numbers go down. "Yeah, I suppose Kathy and I will…"

The sound of her name brought him to a stand still. Kathy and Christmas. Two things that Elliot had not thought about. Nobody seemed to notice that he'd trailed off. Olivia, who would have normally caught the fear, kept on talking. It was a sign that maybe she had truly accepted her place or maybe she was just that good at turning on her professional thought filter. "Lake, the little guy is so cute that not taking him to get that photo would be a crime. Am I right El?"

"Yeah…"

The doors opened and they walked out into the hallway. The Salvation Army Santa rang his bell and called to the four of them. "Christmas time is meant for sharing. Think of someone other than yourself this year. Make a donation. Jingle Bells and Happy Hanukah!"

The words and the bell clanged and echoed throughout Elliot ears. He dropped a few coins in the bucket and the two of them headed for the corner. They stood waiting for the light to change. Their hearts beating out of time and in unharmonious syncopation once again.

"Think of someone else this year…someone else…think of Kathy. Kathy would be devastated," he said to himself as the clouds grew fat for the fall of snow and the cool New York breeze pushed Olivia in the opposite direction one more time.

His ambitious courting came to a halt as the first snowflake hit his nose and he watched Olivia cross the street in front of him like a lone flower. The white of winter forced him to remain noble. Noble for his family, but mostly noble for her, his Olivia. His family would always see her as the witch who stole Christmas if he continued down the path less taken. And in the bows of his mind the song would taunt him until the snow melted away just long enough for him to pick her stem.

Edelweiss, Edelweiss


Every morning you greet me


Small and white, clean and bright


You look happy to meet me



Blossom of snow may you

bloom and grow forever
Edelweiss, Edelweiss
….

I'd be happy to be with you.

AN: So for those of you who don't know, Edelweiss means Noble White Flower. Yes, I'm just filled with mushy mediphor today. Drop me some lines lovely readers. I have some juicy stuff coming up, but I tend to write faster when motivated. Peace and snow! Ho ho ho! Scar