Author Notes: IT'S FLUFFY ROMANTICY TUCKSON GOODNESS I'M GONNA DIE

no, but seriously, it made me all gooey inside.

Christmas Eve and Ed had an overdue gift for Olivia.

The couple spent a bit of time working out the weight distribution of the two boxes, so when they got to her place, they'd both be able to take both boxes up in one trip.

"Now, I get why Santa carries a magic bag to haul all those toys," Ed commented, his voice a little strained, as he picked up one of the boxes to carry it toward his front door. "So much easier than this."

"Well," Liv spoke, with her own voice coming out strained from the weight of the other box behind him. "If we wait up for him, maybe we can steal it."

They made it to the door and set the boxes down. Ed quirked an eye at her and let out a little gasp. "A cop suggesting stealing from Santa Claus on Christmas? We break up and you turn to a life of crime. You're lucky I'm not at IAB anymore, otherwise I'd have to open an investigation."

"You thought of it first," she quipped. Liv moved to grab the bag with the cookie dough. "So, you ready?"

Ed started back toward the bedroom. "Not yet. Need a change of clothes for tomorrow."

He disappeared into the room and out of her line of sight and Liv had a quick flashback of his grabbing things out of his bedroom when they were packing for Paris. If she remembered correctly, she was standing in the exact same spot, too, waiting for him.

Inside his room, after packing a set of pajamas and some clothes for tomorrow and bathroom essentials, Ed grabbed the last two gifts he'd intentionally left out of the boxes and placed them in his bag. Both of them were for Olivia, and one of them was fragile, so he didn't want it lopped in with the other items. The other … well, that he wanted to keep with him and hoped it worked.

He grabbed his bag and headed out. They managed to fit both boxes into the backseat of his car, along with his bag.

When they arrived at Liv's building, the doorman helped them out, making sure they'd only need one trip up, but when they got to her door, Liv set the box she was holding on the floor, on one side of the door.

"Set that one down, too, out of the way so he won't see it," she told him. "I have to figure out a way to distract him and we can put them in the coat closet, if there's room."

"Okay," he replied and set the box out of sight. "Hey."

She was turning to unlock the door when she heard him and whipped her head around. "What?"

"Give me the cookie dough; I'll distract him and take him into the kitchen," Ed suggested. "Have Lucy help drag these in."

She smiled at him and handed him the bag with the cookie dough. "Good thinking." She unlocked the door and opened it slightly.

"Liv?" Lucy's voice called out before appearing around the corner. She saw Liv and Mr. Tucker standing there, nearly blocking the opened door. "Mr. Tucker, nice to see you again."

"Nice to see you, too, Lucy," he greeted her.

Noah suddenly appeared around the corner. "ED!" He moved forward to hug the man, and Ed took a step forward to stop the boy from getting too close to the door while Liv did her best to block the exit.

Lucy was perplexed by the weird behavior while Noah was completely oblivious.

"Hey, Noah!" Ed exclaimed. "I got cookie dough for the Santa cookies. Why don't we go into the kitchen and start making 'em, okay?"

"Okay!" Noah responded and the two guys walked away, Ed glancing back to see Liv's relieved smile, while Noah went on about trying to make a snowman at the park.

Liv looked at Lucy and indicated her coat closet and spoke in a quiet voice. "Can you open that, see if there's room?"

"Yeah, sure," Lucy responded and moved to open the door.

Liv took a peak toward the kitchen, just to check, and lifted one of the boxes and moved it into the cramped space. "There's another box."

Lucy looked at both boxes filled with gifts. "Wow."

"Yeah, he kinda went shopping already for Noah." They both managed to get the boxes secured in the closet and shut the door. Liv grabbed Ed's bag and brought it into the apartment and set it on the chair. "I really appreciate you being here today, Lucy."

"It was fun; he had fun in the snow and we manage to make a snowman, but some older kids knocked it down when we started to walk away," the younger woman explained. "Noah didn't get upset, but he wasn't happy about it." Liv made a sad face, feeling for her son. "But those boys were knocking a lot of snowmen down and making little kids cry. Then this dad showed up and those boys ran for it." They both laughed. "But it was a good day. He's, like, really super ready for tomorrow morning."

"Yeah, I'll bet," Liv said with a laugh. "I'm sorry for keeping you," she indicated where Ed and Noah were, in the kitchen, rolling the cookie dough into balls and placing them on the sheet and adding the Christmas-themed sprinkles, "I needed to go talk to him; I missed him."

Lucy nodded with understanding. She had seen Olivia through that relationship and noticed she'd been sad after they ended things. It was nice to see her happy again. "Of course. It's good to see him." Lucy moved to grab her stuff.

"Merry Christmas, Lucy."

"Merry Christmas, Liv," she replied and turned toward the kitchen. "Merry Christmas, Noah!"

Noah, holding one dough ball in his hand, waved at her with his other messy hand. "Merry Christmas, Lucy!"

They laughed, and Lucy and Ed exchanged a "Merry Christmas" before Lucy walked out the door and Liv secured it. She joined her two favorite people in the kitchen and helped to make the cookies and hear about Noah's snow day. Afterward, the pair made dinner – including the festive baked potato that was becoming one of their many traditions – and then they watched a couple holiday movies.

When it was time for bed, Noah helped set out the milk and cookies for Santa. He was a little antsy and didn't want to go to bed, but they could tell he was sleepy. Liv relented and said he could stay up on the couch, to wait for Santa. But, barely an hour later, the five-year-old was out like a light; as Liv knew he would be.

Liv stood up, ready to pick him up, when Ed stopped her.

"I'll do it," he offered softly.

"Okay," she replied.

Ed moved to the boy and moved to cradle him in his arms. "My god, he's gotten so big."

"He's not the same little boy that rode around on your shoulders at Disneyland Paris."

"Nope, not anymore," he spoke and carried Noah to his bedroom.

Olivia turned off the TV and replaced it with the music she'd played the night before. She turned down the lights for a moment and poured two glasses of the cinnamon-infused wine and brought the glasses over to the coffee table and set the down before sitting back down and waiting.

Ed joined her on the couch a moment later and noticed the glasses. "What's this?"

"I found it and thought I'd try it," she answered. "I'd warn you, though, sip it carefully. Had some last night and the cinnamon nearly tried to take out my throat. It tastes good, but it can pack a punch if you're not paying attention."

"Like mulled wine?"

"Sort of, but with a stronger cinnamon flavor."

Ed reached to grab his glass and took a sip. After a moment, he sniffed and scrunched his noses and Liv smiled. He set the glass back down.

"Not a fan, huh?" she giggled.

"Cinnamon's fine on its own, but," he said and sucked air through his teeth, "no."

"Sorry," she told him and put her hand on his arm. "And, I don't have any bourbon or egg nog." She glanced toward the fridge. "I have beer, though," she offered.

"You know, how about we don't drink anything? Maybe we should start putting the presents out."

The pair sat there for a moment, in the quiet, just relaxing, before getting up and taking the presents out of Liv's hallway closet and the ones from the coat closet. Most of the gifts for Noah were labelled as being from 'Santa Claus', but they were from his mom and Ed and Uncles Fin, Sonny, and Rafa, and from Aunt Amanda and Jessie. There were some gifts from Nick Amaro, and he had labeled them as being from himself, so Liv had to mark some gifts from her and her friends. She even told Ed to relabel some of his.

"Why?" he asked.

"Well, I blame Nick for that, but if Noah asks, we can say that we bought things for him, too, and sent them to Santa to deliver them along with the rest of his presents," she explained. He shrugged and they continued until all the presents were set up, including the ones for her.

They ate the cookies together and Ed drank the milk, and then did something Liv didn't expect. He reached up and pulled a few of his white hairs out of his head.

"You did that, why?" she asked.

He shrugged. "He's getting older and we want to keep his belief in Santa alive, so …" He put the some of the white hairs on the plate, by the crumbs, and stuck a few around the rim of the glass.

Liv looked at him like he was crazy. "Okay, but you do know Santa's beard is long, right? Your hair is short."

"He's five, Liv. He sees white hair and he'll believe it's Santa."

Olivia just rolled her eyes and laughed at him. "It's a good thing I love you," she told him and kissed him.

Ed reached out to grab her waist. "C'mere," he requested softly. She moved into his embrace and settled herself against his solid chest and smiled. His arms wrapped around her waist and she placed her hands on his biceps and they just stood there, basking in the day's turn of events.

Ed still loved her and her son and still wanted to be a part of their lives, the entire time they were apart, but he never wanted to fight with her or confront her because he knew how stubborn she got, and he knew that arguing would only cause her to push him further away. She, and they, needed to confront any issues they both had, regarding their relationship, but he had been afraid that, if he pushed her too far, the combativeness would turn to anger and she'd revert back to the time she hated being in his presence. Having already experienced the feeling of love turning hate with his ex-wife, Ed Tucker did not want to repeat that with Olivia Benson. Walking out her door that night was something he regretted in the months since, but it had been the better option than fighting her. Walking out allowed their feelings for each other to remain, which allowed this moment to happen. If they had fought and she started to hate him and wanted him out of her life, those feelings wouldn't be there anymore and he'd lose the closest thing he had to a son and a family.

He was grateful that this night had happened. She still loved him as much as he loved her. And, as it was supposed to, it had happened on her terms. It made him love her more and it made this night even more special.

Olivia smiled to herself as he held on tighter, and she knew she'd definitely made the right choice when she decided to show up at his place to fix what she'd broken. If someone had told her, five years ago, that not only would she be dating Ed Tucker, but then, after ending things, she'd still be in love with him and would work to get him back and fix things, she'd have told them they were crazy. They were crazy that she'd ever date Ed Tucker; they were crazy that she'd fall in love with him; they were crazy that she'd ever try to get him back to her, given her history of allowing her relationships to go dead. And yet, here she was, in his arms on Christmas Eve. And she didn't want to be anywhere else.

She wanted her Christmases with him and Noah, and all the days that came in between. Her nerves might try getting the better of her again, but she had already reached the conclusion last night that she couldn't live without him.

Liv looked at her tree and down to the presents. That's when she realized that all the gifts there were for her and for Noah, not Ed. She moved to separate from him and look up at his face.

"There's no presents for you, honey," she informed him with a sad look.

He shook his head. "No, Liv, it's okay," he assured her. "I know it sound corny, but you already gave me my present; two, actually." She furrowed her brow in confusion. "You and Noah, that's all that I need."

Her brow smoothed out and she gave him a soft smile. "It's not corny, Ed. It's sweet." She reached up and gave him a small kiss. "And romantic."

They moved toward the tree and Liv looked at it and the twinkling lights and ornaments, as she had done last night, but with a happier feeling in her heart.

Ed glanced down at the presents. "So, if he does have two presents that are the same, what do we do with them?"

Liv thought about it for a moment before answering. "I can give them to Rollins. Jessie is little, but she can always use a new toy."

"Makes sense," he responded, and decided now was as good as time as any to give her the two gifts he had stashed in his bag. He pocketed the smaller one while grabbing for the larger one.

Liv hadn't been paying attention, at first. Her line of sight moved from the tree to the holiday lights outside of her window, the ones put up by her fellow New Yorkers. She hoped they were as happy as she was tonight. When she heard noise behind her, she turned to see Ed approaching her with a small wrapped box.

She took it with the intention of setting it down with the other presents, but he stopped her.

"No, no, Liv. This is for you; you can open it now," he told her. She looked at him. "I meant to give it to you last year, but it arrived later than it was supposed to; already into the new year. I thought I'd save it for a year, but then things between us … weren't great, and then … I just held onto it, not sure what to do with it. But now," he indicated for her to open the box.

Olivia carefully removed the wrapping paper to find an ornament box. She turned it so the clear plastic side was facing her and she let out a shuddering breath. Inside was a pearly white spherical glass ornament, with thin gold lines swirling their way around it; small red and green petals dotted here and there. The 'front' part of the ornament had a personalized imprinted image on it … of the three of them in Paris. It had been taken within the first couple of days of their stay, because they were all in their pajamas and Noah was sandwiched in between them. Those first nights in their hotel room, Noah was not ready to sleep in a big bed in a room that wasn't his in a place he'd never been and he ended up spending those nights with them. Ed had been the one to take the selfie, but he'd sent Liv a copy to her phone. She remembered, then, that they had looked like a real family; she still felt that.

Tears formed in her eyes as she touched the box gingerly. "Ed …"

"I had hoped that it would arrive before that Christmas, and maybe things could've been … you know …" His voice was nervous.

Liv used her fingers to cover his lips. "Ed … stop. It's fine, really." She went back to touching the box. "This is beautiful." He reached out and brushed the tears from her eyes as she opened the box and carefully removed the ornament and used the hook it came with to place it front and center on the tree, making sure the picture was facing forward. "It's perfect." He moved behind her and wrapped his arms around her. "Forget about what happened last year. This … This is perfect."

He turned her around, away from the tree. "I have another gift, but I have to explain something."

"What's that?" she asked.

"I bought this before we went to Paris," he began. "I wanted to give it to you, but then the Munson case happened and Dodds … The timing wasn't right. Then, I thought, maybe in Paris."

Liv knew where he was going and her eyes welled up.

"But, it just seemed to clichéd and I chickened out," Ed continued on. "Maybe, in retrospect, I should've done it so you'd know where I was, regarding our future. I was trying to get us back on the right track when I mentioned my plan to retire. I was trying to nudge you in that direction. The next chapter in our lives, me spending more time here with Noah, making things easier. Maybe I went about it in the wrong way, but I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you and Noah. After the sex trafficking case with my cousin … With our history, you stood by, and believed in, me and it almost cost you your career. After things got resolved, we left the bar and I saw this billboard for Tiffany's with a giant diamond ring on it." Ed pulled out the small box from his pocket and handed it to her and she gasped. "It's not Tiffany's, but … I got it and I couldn't let it go. I couldn't get rid of it, like the ornament. Part of me held onto the hope that our separation was only temporary and we could make things right."

She just stared at the closed ring box, but the tears falling down her face told him she was listening to everything and trying to process it.

"I know this is hard for you," he continued, "the concept of something permanent, but I want forever with you and that boy. I do want to retire soon, but I don't expect you to and that's okay. I love that this job is a part of who you are in your heart and I wouldn't change that or expect you to change that; that's one of the reasons I fell in love with you, how I fell in love with you. I just want to be here for you, for Noah, for us. Here." Liv looked up at him with wide eyes and he backtracked a little bit, trying not to overwhelm her; they'd just gotten back together after nearly a month apart only hours ago. "I'm not asking to move in, yet, Liv, but I want you to know one thing: when you asked me to come home earlier, I … This is home to me, too. Wherever you are, wherever we are, that's home. When we were in Paris, we shared a bed and a morning and nighttime routines; it was our bed and our hotel room. I want that to continue here; make this our place and our bed, our life, our holiday traditions … whatever you want and whenever you're ready." Ed sighed heavily and opened the box for her. It held a beautiful diamond ring, but the set wasn't a big rock or anything extravagant; the three stones were small and set near flat to the silver band that made it a bit more practical to wear while on the job. It was designed to not get in the way or risk getting broken if she had to chase down and wrestle with a perp. "It's your choice, Olivia, and you can take the time to think about it, but-"

Olivia stepped forward and fused her lips to stop him. When she finally let go, she laughed softly. "That's the most talking you've done in a long time-"

"Liv …"

"I get why, but I'd very much like to answer the question you have yet to ask," she replied. She let out a calming breath before finally answering. "Yes." It was Ed's turn to let out a small gasp. "Yes, Ed, to everything, all of it. I can't promise that I won't freak out again and get a little distant, but I want you to know I love you and I want us, even if my brain doesn't always agree. I don't want to lose you again."

Ed moved to kiss her again before pulling the ring out of the box and slipping it on her finger. He took the empty box from her and tossed it onto the couch.

The pair stood there, either making out or admiring the ring or staring at each other. Eventually, Olivia moved to turn out the lights and the music while Ed placed the ring box in his pocket, poured the wine back into the bottle – he'd have to buy a bottle of some decent bourbon when he came back over after Christmas with his family – and grabbed his bag, and they made their way back to her bedroom where Liv locked the door, tossed his bag aside and asked him to make love to her.

He proceeded to do just as she asked.