Chapter 20
Manhattan SVU, Manhattan, New York
Friday, December 20th 2015
11.49 am
At Manhattan SVU everyone was still bogged down by the shock of losing Don Cragen, he may have retired and Olivia had taken over a long time before he passed but that didn't stop him from visiting every other day and they were really feeling lost without his presence in the squad room.
Olivia had hung his photo up in the squad room with the date he became captain to the date he died on a small golden plaque beneath it, she thought it would help and somehow it did.
As Christmas had gotten closer Olivia and Elliot had really started to miss Anne and Don, it would be their first Christmas as a couple without them and the loss of the two was evident in their home lives. The children were still grieving and it was tough for the two of them to manage, they were very thankful for the presence of Nanny Sue as she was a light in the darkness for them.
The family was no organised for Christmas and Olivia's determination to make it the best Christmas she could was evident in their house, every room on the ground floor had been decorated from top to bottom.
Munch, Fin and Nick had been making the holiday spirit felt in the squad room too, they'd filled the place with trimmings and for the first time ever in the SVU squad room was a Christmas tree and it gave the place a very welcoming feel, something Olivia had never expected.
Olivia had made sure that their holiday traditions would not be dampened by the loss of Don Cragen, as per usual Munch would come round and join the family for their traditional lunch, he being the only one who would be alone at Christmas Olivia had made sure he would still be joining them this year, and again as tradition, she was having everyone over in the evening to have dinner and they would have movies with the kids and movies after the kids went to be and their guests would sleep over night, which had become more and more difficult as Olivia and Elliot's family grew but then Olivia was stubborn and hadn't let it change anything because Christmas before Elliot had been no fun, she'd never had anyone to celebrate it with and she never wanted her family to experience a bad or lonely Christmas.
Tonight was the night of the Christmas party in the squad room, which as usual would mean drunk detectives, lots of mistletoe hanging around and the gift exchange which was their secret Santa which was limited to twenty dollars as every year they bought each other proper gifts to be shared at Olivia and Elliot's home on Christmas day.
Olivia was sat at her desk trying to figure out what to do with the squad when she finally took her maternity leave which she had planned for after the Morris Commission hearing when she would have only six weeks left of her pregnancy.
She knew leaving Elliot in charge was what was best for the squad but he would be on paternity leave for the last week and two weeks after and Munch hadn't been keen on taking over plus that would leave them two staff short so she was hoping to find a couple of Detectives to cover them over until Elliot returned at the least.
A knock on her office door startled her, she looked out the window and didn't recognise the man standing there.
"Come in!" She called, getting up and down was becoming more and more difficult as time progressed and so she spent more time at her desk than anything else.
"Captain Cragen?" The man asked.
He was dressed in a very expensive looking business suit and Olivia had a feeling this was something important.
"Yes? You are?"
"My name is Anthony Woodhall I am the person who co-signed your mother and father's wills." He explained and Olivia felt her stomach drop, she'd not even thought anything about their wills when they died, it hadn't occurred to her in the slightest so she hadn't expected this visit.
"Uh please sit down." She said pointing to the seat in front of her.
She quickly closed the file she was working on and put the computer on sleep so that the person couldn't read anything about their case and waited for him to begin.
"Ok so like I said I co-signed your parents wills, and I'm just here to disclose it to you as their next of kin and so that you can make any arrangements." He explained opening his briefcase on his lap.
"Ok." Olivia replied unsure what else to say.
"Did they ever discuss the contents of their wills with you Captain?" He asked as he searched for what he needed in his briefcase.
"Uh no , it's not something we ever discussed." Olivia replied her throat dry she hated this, having to sit here and see what her parents were down to just material possessions, she remembered what it had felt like when she had found out about Cole's will, it killed her seeing what he was down to a few million dollars, cars and property.
"Right here they are." He said handing them over.
The first she opened was Don's. He had no family but her and her kids. She was shocked as she read down everything. He'd left his house to her, his pension, his medals, everything except for the children's trust funds which would still be taken out of his pension until the day they turned twenty one or had a child whichever came first, Don and Anne had been depositing Money aside for the kids since they'd been born, Melissa and Nicole's was slightly larger from the money from Cole that they had, Melissa and Nicole both received regular payments from Cole's old apartment which was still being rented out, Olivia still hadn't the heart to sell it and had thought it would be a nice place for Melissa when she was older if she needed it or she would at some point sell I but the extra money it deposited into Melissa and Nicole's trust fund had been appreciated.
She next turned to Anne's. She had Olivia, Tammy and Cole until he passed. The first thing Olivia did was just scan through it. That's when her heart almost stopped completely. She glanced up at the date on the top of the will and the swallowed hard, it had been revised since Tammy and Anne had a big fall out and Tammy had told Anne that she was no mother of hers. Olivia remembered the argument like it was yesterday, she was in complete and utter shock now though, her Mom had written Tammy out of the will leaving everything to her.
"So is everything in order?" Anthony asked.
"I uh…" Olivia didn't know what to say.
"I guess you're in shock what were you expecting to see Captain?" He asked gently.
"I don't know I hadn't even thought about their wills if I am honest." Olivia explained closing the files and putting them on her desk.
"Well the deeds to their houses and everything are in there all you need to do is sign the papers at the back and mail them to me and then that it will be it everything will be transferred into your name." He explained.
"Yes of course." Olivia nodded she was still in shock but she remembered how everything worked from when Cole died.
"Ok well I best head off if you need anything please call." He handed her a business card and then walked out leaving her still speechless looking at the small files on her desk wondering what she was supposed to do now.
Tears filled her eyes. She didn't know why but she missed her Mom and Dad even more at this moment.
"Liv?" Elliot asked coming into the office, he never knocked which often annoyed Olivia.
"Hey." She replied wiping her tears quickly.
"Liv who was the suit?" He asked.
"Mom and Dad's lawyer." She replied. "He co-signed their wills." She explained.
"Oh." Elliot said taking the seat the lawyer had sat in two minutes previously.
"They left me everything Elliot." She whispered the disbelief obvious in her voice.
"Everything?" He asked.
"Everything. Mom left Tammy nothing." She explained, she spoke with Tammy once a month and they emailed pictures of their kids over to each other every now and again, trying to be sisters who lived in different states, but Olivia never got the vibe that her sister accepted her after Cole died.
"Wow." Elliot said in shock.
"What do I do Elliot?" She asked and he just looked at her in surprise she was asking him.
"Olivia you don't need to think about any of that right now." Elliot told her, he didn't want her getting stressed with the baby.
"I could have done without this." She sighed.
"Worry about it after Christmas babes, I was just going to tell you I was going to the dry cleaners to pick up our clothes for tonight and then I'd pick the kids and Nanny Sue up later ready for the party and I wanted to ask if you needed anything from the house."
"The gifts are in the wardrobe." She told him.
He got up went round to her and embraced and kissed her before leaving her be once again.
Manhattan SVU, Manhattan, New York
Friday, December 20th 2015
7.39 pm
The party at the one six was already in full swing. Everyone was eating, dancing and drinking. Elliot, Fin and Munch were going around with a camera each determined to take as many photos as they could. Olivia was sat with Ali on her lap while Casey sat beside her with Eli and Alex with Zachary.
"Liv put the kid down and come dance!" George yelled over.
"No I don't think I can do much dancing." She laughed signalling to her bump.
"Oh come on Liv I've asked them to put 'Treat her like a lady' on just for you!" George replied as he came over and took her by the hands.
"George…"
"Liiiiiiiiv." He groaned and Olivia laughed loudly just as the song began to play.
It was their song. Hers and George's that was. It had been on at Olivia's wedding and George had been stood beside her singing it softly, it then turned into the two of them singing it loudly to each other and dancing like idiots and ever since whenever they were at a party or club George requested the song.
"Oh what goes around comes around oh! What goes around comes around …" George was practically jumping up and down to the song but Olivia could barely move with her bump in the way.
After the song Olivia decided that it was time to exchange the gifts so that the kids could go home with her and Nanny Sue, she was too tired to stay.
The squad had all chipped in to buy something small for each of the kids so they wouldn't be left out when the adults exchanged their secret santa gifts. The kids opened theirs first and they all had their favourite candy boxes which would keep the occupied while the adults opened their gifts.
"Ok so the first one is… Elliot." Munch handed over the gift and he scanned the others trying to figure out who'd bought it.
Slowly he opened it and as he held it up everyone burst out laughing. It was a pair of personalised boxer shorts but on the part which went on the back it said. 'Olivia's property.'
"Casey!" Olivia laughed.
"How did you know it was me?" She questioned trying to deny it as she stroked her own tiny baby bump.
"Because it would only be you or George who would by something like that and I know who George's gift is for." Olivia replied and Casey laughed, she wasn't going to outright admit that she'd bought it but she saw no point in trying to deny it any further.
"Ok so next up is Fin." Munch handed over the gift.
"Alex." Fin smiled before he'd even began opening it.
"What?" She frowned.
"You're the only person who put's ribbons and bows on the gifts, you do it every year." Fin explained.
"Ok fine but open it already!" Alex laughed, it was true, she loved wrapping Christmas gifts and having so little to buy for she always went over the top with it.
Fin received a personalised pen set which he smiled at and thanked her for.
"Next up we have …Liv!" Munch smiled handing the gift over.
Olivia had no idea who it could be from so she slowly opened it and found an extra-large t-shirt with worlds best Mom on it.
"Munch, thanks." She smiled.
"I got it to go over your bump." He grinned. "And because I couldn't find one that had any comments on the amount of kids you had." He added making everyone laugh.
"This one is for … me!" Munch smiled happily as he began opening his gift.
Olivia looked over at George who was supressing a laugh.
"What on earth?" Munch asked as everyone else began to laugh hysterically.
"It's a pouch." Alex informed him, she didn't see it as funny as everyone else.
"Pouch?" Munch asked. "It's a trunk!"
George and Olivia couldn't breathe for laughing, which made them all guess one of them had bought it.
"Yes a pouch, you know you tuck your penis into it and then put your underwear on over it, to keep it warm." Alex explained as George and Olivia laughed so hard they were crying.
"You didn't?" Elliot asked Olivia. "You bought him a pouch in the form of an elephant's trunk?"
Olivia couldn't speak so she just shook her head and pointed at George.
"Your idea!" George laughed.
"Liar!" Olivia barked still laughing.
"Haha guys very funny." Munch replied tucking the pouch away into his pocket. "But thank you George."
"This gift is for … Alex." Munch replied handing over a pink wrapped gift.
Alex looked terrified as she opened up her gift. Inside was a baby blue teddy with matching thong.
"Uh who bought this?" Alex asked nervously looking at the men.
It was obvious she was worried that one of the men had bought her underwear.
"You gonna tell her?" George whispered into Olivia's ear.
"Not yet, gonna see how long she can hold the explosion back for." Olivia laughed, the gift was from her and she knew Alex would freak out.
"Seriously guys who bought it?" Alex asked desperately, she looked like she was about to cry.
"I did." Olivia smiled deciding not to make the poor woman wait any longer.
"Really?" Alex asked perking up instantly.
"Yeah, I did with the help of George but he wasn't imagining seeing you in it when he helped me chose it." Olivia replied laughing a little.
"Well I was, but not in a pervy way in more of a fashionista way!" George replied putting a very Gok Wan attitude on that had everyone laughing.
"Ok so next is … Casey." Munch handed over the badly wrapped item and Olivia wrinkled her nose, the gift was from Elliot, when she'd seen how badly he'd wrapped it she'd warned him to stay away from the kids gift.
Casey opened it to find a notebook and binder set. Olivia was impressed that Elliot had managed to buy something suitable on his own, she'd offered him help to find out he'd already bought it.
"Wow thank you Fin or Elliot." Casey smiled.
"How did you…"
"There's only the two of you who haven't given yet." Casey explained. "So who?"
"Me." Elliot replied.
"Oh thanks El I love it." Casey smiled excitedly.
"So this one … yeah it's for George and thanks to Casey we know it's off Fin." Munch smiled handing George the wrapped gift.
The intrigue was written all over George's face after he took the gift from Munch. As soon as he opened it he found a candy jar but when he read it he laughed loudly. Olivia took it to read to everyone else.
"After Therapy Mints, this non hysteria inducing confection to be induced orally before, during or after session." Olivia read with a smile on her face.
"That's brilliant thanks Fin." George smiled as Olivia handed him back the mints. "Right come on kids' time to go say goodbye." Olivia smiled, she was looking forward to getting to bed now.
"Is there room for me?" George asked, he didn't live far from the Cragen-Stabler's.
"Sure I'll drop you off Nanny Sue has the black SUV and I have mine." Olivia smiled.
En route to Cragen-Stabler's, Manhattan, New York
Friday, December 20th 2015
9.12 pm
"Mommy I need to pee." Liliana said from the back seat.
"Can you hold on for five minutes baby I'm sure Uncle George will let you use the bathroom." Olivia smiled as she saw George nodding from the seat beside her.
"Ok." Lili groaned.
"Won't be long now baby." Olivia replied.
"Mommy how long till Santa?" Alexandra asked.
"Four more sleeps." Olivia replied.
"Ugh." Melissa groaned, she'd stopped believing when she was nine and she had always hated the pretence with the other kids.
"Mel." Olivia warned glancing in her rearview mirror at her daughter.
Olivia had just stopped at a red light but as she pulled away she failed to see the driver who hadn't stopped until it ploughed into them.
You knew a car crash was coming sometime so yeah.