Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own thoughts.
Author Notes
This takes place during Season 19. Tuckson didn't break up and there's no Sheila Porter.
On my tumblr (shay-the-writer) over the course of this year, I've been doing month-long prompts (art and writing). The writing one has one main month theme, then I have two optional ones, one movie quote, one TV quote. The idea is to write something based off of those prompts and quotes. I haven't been entirely successful, but that's how my brain works. I try to do what I can. Anyway, the prompt I used for this one is: OTP MOMENTS – Going grocery shopping together. And, I paired it with the movie quote from Austin Powers: I won't bite … hard. Since it's spooky month, I made it into a Halloween theme, and the movie quote fit perfectly here.
There is a reference to the last Halloween-themed fic I posted way way way back in the day, during my early fic postings for SVU (only on , and I was using a different name then).
Liv ends up being the Evil Queen from Snow White (pre-hag transformation), by the way. It was going to be mentioned in the original plot, but writing took a different turn, so.
The title sucks, but I've never been good at coming up with titles.
"So, Noah wants to go trick-or-treating this year," Liv stated, out of nowhere, as she pushed the small grocery cart around to the next aisle.
"Kinda figured," Ed replied, noticing they'd entered the Halloween candy aisle. Most of the boxes that held the large bags were empty already, even though the holiday was still about a week away. "He's five."
Liv reached beyond him and grabbed two bags – one with assorted fun-sized chocolate candies, such as Snickers and M and a bag with assorted fun-sized non-chocolates, like Skittles and Twizzlers and Nerds – and plopped them into the cart, on top of the milk and juice jugs. She was going to put the candies in a bowl for work.
"Obviously, but I mean he wants to go with both of us; he's adamant about it," she explained. "I already got his Paw Patrol costume that he wanted, and I knew he wanted to go out, but he wanted both of us this year. And …"
She paused as they turned the corner onto Noah's favorite aisle. Chips and cookies and candies galore. If Noah had been with them, he'd be zooming back a forth, asking if he could these cookies or those candy bars. And, that was why she was grateful for Lucy on this particular Saturday.
Since Ed retired and moved in with her, Lucy wasn't needed as much. But, Liv kept in touch with her, and had wanted to do some grocery shopping and had called the young woman up to see if she was available. Lucy told her she was watching a few kids – their parents were doctors and about as busy as Liv used to be – and they'd be at the park; Noah was more than welcome to come join them. Noah was happy – and would get his energies out on one of the last remaining nice days left before the cold came – and Liv and Ed would have a calm grocery trip.
A woman passed by, with her own junk-food-chasing child in tow, before the couple entered the aisle. But, Liv stopped again to look at Ed.
"What?" he asked.
"He wants to go trick-or-treating in your neighborhood," she answered, then clarified, "in Queens."
Ed paused, intrigued. Where they lived, the residents gave out pretty good candy, and Noah had gotten a nice haul last year, according to Liv. Ed was still working Conviction Integrity and had to go out of state on Halloween to talk to a retired cop involved in a past case. Liv had taken the kid out for his very first trick-or-treating experience. "Did he say why?"
She nodded. "While hanging out with your sister's grandkids a couple weeks ago, one of them brought it up and how they got lots of candy all over the place. Now, Noah wants to do that."
"It was probably Jackson," Ed stated. "I swear, my niece gave him his first piece of chocolate when he was nine months old, and it started something." He chuckled, and they started walking again. "Christmas, Easter, whatever. When it comes to candy, that kid …"
Olivia laughed. "After his excitement about Halloween last year, Noah bought into it and wants to go trick-or-treating there. I tried to explain that he'd get the same stuff there as he does here, but he's fixed on it."
Ed shrugged. "Well, it's not a bad neighborhood; the older kids go out on their own," he explained and noticed her tense up. "Mostly the older teens do. The others do, but sometimes their parents are nearby, or an older sibling is forced to take them along. The younger ones are, obviously, with an adult; their parents or grandparents. My sister goes with the younger kids while her kids keep an eye on the pre-teen ones. We can take Noah along with Kath and her grandkids. She kinda gets dressed up for them, too; we'll fit right in."
If he had thought of this last year, Olivia would've been a little apprehensive about doing the whole family thing. At the time, she was still afraid of committing to something long-term and the concept of meeting his family. Hell, she was still skittish when she did meet his family this past summer, but they seemed to welcome her without being too pushy. In the years since she'd met him, she figured Ed Tucker had no one in his life, and that was why he was relentless in trying to take her and Stabler down.
But, in time, she discovered how wrong she had been. Despite his professional demeanor, Ed was a family man and super close with his mom, missed his late father, loved his two sisters and his brother, their kids and their grandkids. And, yes, even a lot of his extended family … Eugene O'Hannigan excluded; there was still a deep animosity there.
And, Ed also loved the idea of being a father himself. He practically already was Noah's father, just not in a legal sense yet. But, Olivia was coming around to that, after seeing her son with Ed's siblings' grandchildren during the summer. His eldest sister, Katharine, started having kids at the age of twenty, as did some of her eldest kids, so the grandchildren were close to Noah's age or a bit older. Ed's other sister, Rebecca, had a few young grandchildren from her two oldest boys, but her third child with her ex-husband was a late accident, and was still in high school. Ed's younger brother Michael's three boys were in their twenties, and one had just had his first child a year ago. Ed's mother was still happy to be alive long enough to see great-grandchildren, and was happy to welcome Noah into the mix and was fully prepared to spoil him as much as she spoiled all the others.
Liv thought she'd be scared of all this, considering her lack of close family connections and how most relationships seemed to end up. But, she fell in love with it and more in love with Ed Tucker. And, with the suggestion of going trick-or-treating with Ed near where his family lived, Noah seemed to be on the same wave-length. Ed was their family, and they were his.
Ed was excited about this suggestion, too. He wasn't with Liv during Noah's first Halloween with her, plus Noah had just been in the hospital. And, the next Halloween, both Ed and Liv had to work, so Noah – still being too little – stayed home and ate some cookies with Lucy. And, last year … He wanted to do this, too, with Noah before the kid reached an age where he didn't want to be with his parents.
"So, he wants both of us to dress up?" Ed asked and Liv nodded. "As what?"
"He didn't say, so I guess it's up to us … or whatever costumes are left at the store," Liv answered and grabbed a box of Noah's favorite cheese crackers before heading toward the end of the aisle and into the next; the aisle that held real foods and meals and the small items she put in Noah's school lunchbox.
"I think I saw some costumes toward the front," he suggested as he grabbed some canned fruits and the vegetables, and glanced at the selection of canned and bagged beans.
"I think those were mostly kids' costumes, not adults. We'll find something."
"Should we do matching costumes, or those couples' costumes?" Ed asked with a slight expression of disgust and apprehension.
Liv looked at him and smirked, and wanted to taunt him by saying "yes," but even she didn't like the notion of coordinated costumes, unless Noah really wanted them to all match. "Maybe I'll be a Disney princess," she offered, somewhat as a joke.
"And, I'll be Prince Charming?"
"Or my knight in shining armor."
"That's less Disney, more damsel in distress."
"True," Liv replied. "So, do you have anything in mind?"
Ed was quiet for a moment, with his back to her as he faced the shelves of beans, before grabbing a bag of kidney beans and turned dramatically to face her. "Good evening," he began; his usual rough voice taking a deeper tone and a different accent that it was obvious who he was emulating.
Liv was about to laugh, but it died in her throat when Ed swooped behind her, tossing the beans into the cart with one hand while his other swept her hair away from the right side of her neck. She shivered as his lips were close to her ear and she felt his warm breath on her skin.
"I vant to suck your blood," he whispered, the famed Dracula accent sounding more sensual than comical in his voice.
Olivia's hands gripped the cart's handlebar and forced herself to ignore her arousal; they were in the middle of a grocery store full of people. "Easy there, bloodsucker; there are kids around."
Ed glanced around, making sure no one was close by before he moved his lips closer to the soft skin of her neck. Liv tilted her head slightly, and he wondered if it was intentional or not. "I promise I won't bite … hard," he uttered, putting emphasis on the last word."
Her grip tightened and she gasped. This was wrong on so many levels.
She was about to respond about payback, but they were interrupted by someone clearing their throat behind them. The couple turned to face a young woman, who was desperately trying not to look embarrassed at interrupting a private moment.
Ed and Olivia, both equally embarrassed themselves, muttered apologies and quickly headed to the end of the aisle, grabbing a few random things along the way before turning down the next aisle of canned goods and bread. They stayed quiet for a moment before finally looking at each other and softly chuckling.
"You're going to pay for that," she told him.
"I will willingly make it up to you," he replied and leaned in to kiss her softly, before they continued on.
"So, you're a vampire?"
"You can be a witch."
Liv waved her hand and shook her head dismissively. "I did the witch thing some years back."
"So, you can't be a witch ever again?" Ed asked, tossing a loaf of multi-grain bread into the court, and gave her an inquisitive look.
She laughed it off. "No, that's not … It was one of the last remaining costumes, and it was one of those 'adult' costumes. The dress was short, very low-cut, and tight. In the bag, there was also a garter belt and … a whip." Ed froze, then looked at her up and down with a lustful look in his eye. Liv smirked. "That's not what was on the picture on the bag; the model's dress had a bit more coverage to it. So, either the picture was wrong, or someone put things into the wrong bag. Yes, I did wear the dress and the garter, along with some other accessories I purchased."
"For a party or …?" he inquired.
She ducked her head and muttered, loud enough for him to hear, "passing out candy."
He blinked. "To little kids?"
She looked back up and him and pinched his arm. "It was fine; they didn't see anything they weren't supposed to. My boyfriend liked it, though. A lot."
"Okay, okay, moving on," Ed responded, rolling his eyes, and walked on. They'd already spoken about her past relationships and his own. He never really understood the whole jealousy thing over relationships your partner had in the past; they had lived and loved before. What mattered was the present … but that didn't mean he wanted to hear about how much that boyfriend liked her costume then.
Liv caught up with him and decided to move on that discussion. "So, what do you think I should be?"
He thought about it for a moment, then an idea came to him. "If we go and trick-or-treat with my sister, she usually dresses up as Disney villain or the fairy godmother from Cinderella. Though, that was because her four-year-old granddaughter Abbey was Cinderella that year. Abbey's nine, now. But, Kath still does things like that. I think she's doing the old hag from Snow White this year. You could do something like that. The kids kinda like it because it's scary, but it's also fun for them. Especially the younger ones."
As he talked, they had been walking through the aisle, picking up things here or there without thinking about it. But, as he talked, Liv watched the happiness in his eyes and felt warmth spread through her; the same warmth she felt every time he was hanging out with Noah, or when he talked about his family. He really was perfect.
She stopped walking and touched his arm. "Hey …"
Ed stopped at glanced down at where her hand was on his arm and then up at her.
"I love you, Ed."
He didn't understand where that came from, but he wasn't one to let it go. "I love you, too, Olivia." He moved into her personal space again, his hand reaching up to touch her face before pulling her into a soft kiss for a moment before pulling away and signaling they should move on with their shopping and ignore the fact that they had been more intimate in this store than what was prudent.
"How about we finish up here, find a costume place and then go pick up Noah?" Ed suggested.
"How about we finish up here, I call Lucy to see how much longer she can keep Noah, and we can go home to finish what you started earlier … without the biting and bloodsucking?" Liv countered, giving him a seductive look.
He glanced down at their cart. "How many more things do we need to get?"
"A few more, then we can go," she answered.
"I like you're plan better," Ed replied. "Let's go."
