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Fin was used to having to do the seemingly impossible. He’d worked in NYPD’s toughest unit for almost thirty years after all, but this was a level of impossible he’d never seen before. “You want what?” He’d been expecting his godson to say he wanted a new gaming console or something, not this.
Noah Benson rolled his eyes, like he hadn’t just asked for the impossible, “I want to have a holiday with Mom where she’s not getting called in. She got called in on Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day, Easter, last Christmas. I want to be able to have Christmas without her being called in.”
Fin wanted to tell the kid that while he was willing to move mountains for him and Liv, he couldn’t ask every perv and asshole in Manhattan to not perv or asshole for one day so Captain Benson could celebrate Christmas with her son. If it were that easy, he’d be out of a job.
Then, he thought of all the years Liv, Munch, and Cragen would cover Thanksgiving and Christmas so he and Stabler could be with their kids. Every time she’d been forced in on a holiday instead of being with Noah and how frustrated and disappointed she’d been. He made a decision, “Look, I’m not going to promise absolutely that she won’t be called in, but let me see what I can do.”
Noah nodded, “Thanks, Uncle Fin.” He ended the call at the sound of the key in the lock, signaling his mother’s arrival, leaving Fin feeling like he’d bitten off a lot more than he could chew.
*****The Next Day*****
Fin brought up Noah’s request the next morning once everyone was in. Liv was scheduled for meetings at 1PP until noon, so he was confident she wouldn’t overhear the plan.
As he’d expected, Rollins was immediately onboard, remembering the years Liv worked Christmas and Thanksgiving so she could play referee to her family. Curry, Bruno, and Griffin were less convinced.
“Liv is the first one that gets called,” Curry said, “How will we keep her out of the loop?”
“I’ll talk to the Desk Sargent,” Rollins said. “Make sure he knows that Fin or I are to be called instead and we’ll decide if Liv needs to be called. He’s been with SVU for years, he’d do anything for Liv.”
“Cap’s going to kill us when she finds out,” Bruno said, but Fin could see that he was convinced.
“Maybe, but Noah has promised that he will tell her Christmas night if everything goes well. If it’s something super high profile, we’ll call her.” He looked around at the squad. “Everyone in?”
The squad looked at each other and nodded. Christmas was not a fun time in SVU, and would be hard without Liv around, but all agreed that their captain had earned a peaceful day.
***Christmas Night***
“Next time, Fin, clear it with us before you make any promises to Noah,” Curry groaned, sinking into her chair with a groan, Bruno and Griffin were almost asleep at their desks. Rollins was slumped in her chair.
“I don’t know how Liv and Munch did this by themselves on the holidays for all those years,” Rollins groaned.
“Stabler would bundle his kids up and bring Liv a plate from dinner,” Fin remembered. “They always loved seeing Liv and she loved spending time with them. I’d send Munch his favorite order from Shapiro’s.”
To say the day had been rough was an understatement. They’d been called out to two DV incidents, a groping incident at a Christmas party, a very nasty Santa, and an assault at a bar before lunch. So many times, he’d been tempted to call Liv, he hadn’t promised Noah that they would absolutely NOT call her, after all. But every time he thought about it, the memories of Liv working every holiday so he and Stabler could be with their kids came back, and he’d take his thumb off the contact.
Suddenly, Carisi was there with enough homemade Italian food to feed an army. “Hey guys,” he said, pausing to kiss Rollins before continuing. “I told Ma about what you were doing for Liv and she was so touched that she made up plates of a full Italian Christmas dinner for everyone.” He began unloading the food, much to everyone’s delight.
Suddenly, Fin and Rollins’ phones started going off. It was a text from Noah titled, ‘BEST GIFT EVER’. Rollins looked at the photos in the message and smiled, “Let me hook this up to the monitor, so we can all see.”
The photos showed an Olivia Benson that Fin hadn’t seen in years. Every photo showed Liv laughing and having fun. Her helping Noah and a couple of kids Fin didn’t recognize make a gingerbread house. Her holding a baby dressed as a little reindeer.
“Who are these people?” Curry said, with a frown. “Did Noah mention they were celebrating with anyone?”
Fin shook his head, then saw a familiar face, “Wait, that’s Kathleen Stabler.”
Rollins paused, “As in Elliot Stabler?”
Fin nodded, “Yeah, she’s his middle daughter. She went through a mental health crisis in her teens that SVU got involved in. Liv convinced her to get the help she needed and they were close.” He scanned the photo, a group picture of everyone in matching pajamas, sure enough, there was Elliot, his bald head concealed by a Santa hat, his arm wrapped around Liv’s waist. Other pictures showed Elliot ‘catching’ Liv under the mistletoe, her just sitting with her head on Elliot’s shoulder, her reaction to receiving a piece of jewelry from Elliot that made everyone wonder about how much money was made in Organized Crime Control, a video showed them dancing to ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’.
“Cap looks happy,” Bruno said softly, Curry and Griffin nodding in agreement.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this happy,” Rollins said, watching a clip of what seemed to be an epic Stabler Family snowball fight, Liv’s laughter ringing out over the chaos. “Maybe the day Noah’s adoption went through.”
Finally came the last video. Noah’s face filled the screen. “Okay, so it is 7pm and Mom hasn’t had a single call. Elliot and I were going to tell her about this present but…” The camera turned to reveal Liv snuggled up against Elliot, clearly asleep, “I think we wore her out. What do you think, Elliot?”
Onscreen, Elliot chuckled, “Yeah, I think your mom’s had more fun than she could handle.” He pressed a gentle kiss to the top of Liv’s head, before easing out from under her, being sure to cover her with a blanket, before turning to the camera.
“So, first of all, thank all of you so much for helping us with Liv’s gift. I know giving up Christmas with your families was tough, Noah and I are grateful for your help, right buddy?” Noah nodded, vigorously.
Elliot continued, “So, full explanation. Noah and I were talking about what to get Liv for Christmas and I had always felt bad that Liv never seemed to have a…fun Christmas experience as a child and that she spent so much of her adulthood working at Christmas so I could have Christmas with my kids, then Noah brought up that she got called in a lot on holidays and that he wanted to have her to himself for one Christmas.” Elliot chuckled, “Well, I couldn’t QUITE give him that, but I think we gave her a pretty fun Christmas. What do you think, Noah?”
Noah nodded, “Yeah, I don’t remember the last time I saw Mom this happy. She looked like she was having so much fun.”
“I was,” The SVU crew started laughing at Elliot and Noah’s startled expressions as their heads turned to reveal Liv sitting up, sleepy-eye and tousle-haired, but awake.
“How much of this did you hear?” Elliot asked, making room for Liv in the camera.
Liv wrapped an arm around him and Noah, “Enough to know that I have an amazing crew, which I already knew, an amazing son,” she pressed a kiss into Noah’s hair, ignoring his grumbled ‘Mom!’, “and a wonderful partner.” Elliot smiled and they shared a kiss while Noah gagged, before turning to face the camera.
“Fin, Amanda, I know for a fact that you two probably spear-headed this, and I thank you so much for this. Bruno, Griffin, Curry, if you were part of this, thank you so much for your help. I really had fun today. I’m going to call in some favors so we can all have a peaceful holiday. Go home.”
The video cut out and the Desk Sargent came over, “I just got orders from Captain Benson to kick you all out, the weekend crew is coming in and they’ll be taking care of everything until Monday.”
Everyone gathered their belongings, including their dinner from Mama Carisi. Today had been stressful but it had been worth it to see their Captain so happy. That was enough for anyone at Christmas.