DISCLAIMER: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and its characters are the property of NBC and Dick Wolf.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
SERIES: Part of the Holiday Shorts series.

Holiday Short - Winter Solstice
By sunsetwriter

 

10:00 am - December 21st – SVU Squad Room

"Benson," Olivia answered her cell phone in her usual manner.

"Do you know what today is?" the voice of Alexandra Cabot greeted the detective.

"Monday…" Olivia eyed the large stack of paperwork waiting for her on her desk. "Definitely Monday."

"Besides that."

The detective glanced at her desk calendar, suddenly wondering if she had missed some important date she was supposed to remember. Nothing immediately came to mind. "The 21st?"

"December 21st." Alex paused. "Do you know the significance of that date?" Olivia's brain began to churn through relevant dates. Not a birthday, not an anniversary, not a day she was to appear in court, not the last shopping day before Christmas, she was drawing a complete blank.

"Uh…"

"It's the Winter Solstice," Alex's voice reminded her.

The detective breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh. Yeah, I guess it is."

"And do you know what that means?" Alex's voice had almost turned sultry.

Olivia blinked, wondering where this conversation was really headed. She looked over at her partner who was busily adding his chicken-scratch writing to a DD-5 he had put off for as long as possible. He seemed to be ignoring her. Olivia lowered her voice slightly, so as to not attract his attention. "The first day of winter?"

She should have just kept up her normal conversational tone, because the change in voice levels had the exact opposite effect than she had intended. Elliot looked up out of curiosity. She ignored him with the hopes that he would just go back to his paperwork.

The voice in her ear, however, was impossible to ignore. "That's true. But it's also the shortest day of the year."

Another glance at the paperwork, and Olivia smiled and said, "Thank God for that."

Then the voice on the phone, which had almost turned into a purr, made her smile for another reason. "Which means it's also the longest night of the year. And do you know what that means, Detective?"

Olivia felt her face flush slightly. "I'm getting a good idea." She brought her hand up to her forehead under the guise of propping her head on it. In reality, she just wanted to shield her face from Elliot without being too obvious.

"Good. You keep thinking about that and we'll talk again later." The phone disconnected.

Olivia sat still for a moment to compose her thoughts before moving her hand. She could feel Elliot watching her. She cleared her throat, removed the phone from her ear, and clipped it back to her belt. She tried to be nonchalant as she picked up her pen and returned to her paperwork.

"Everything OK?" Elliot asked as he continued to watch his partner curiously.

"Peachy." Olivia answered, keeping her eyes on her desk. She shifted in her chair and looked for any reason to change the subject. "Have you finished the Jackson report yet?"

Elliot stared at her for a moment longer before answering. "I just started it, remember?"

"Well, write faster then."

11:45 am – December 21st – SVU Squad Room

It had been a surprisingly quiet day for a Monday in the SVU squad room, so the ringing of Olivia's cell phone was very apparent to the detective and her partner.

"Benson."

"Have you been thinking about our earlier conversation?" The sultry voice was back.

"It's been hard not to," she answered. Olivia tried to keep her voice as even as possible to avoid more questions from Elliot.

"Good." Then Olivia was granted a reprieve when Alex's voice returned to her normal alto. Still sexy in Olivia's book, but normal for the ADA. "It looks like I'm going to have an unbelievably short day since Seligman just granted the Brown defense a continuance and my afternoon arraignment was postponed since Judge Preston is out with the flu."

"Bummer. I mean… You know… Not about the short day, but all the rest." Olivia was already getting flustered and they were, so far, having a fairly normal conversation.

"Mmmh. I guess you have been thinking about tonight if you're already getting tongue-tied." The amusement was obvious in the ADA's voice. "Would you like to share your thoughts?"

Olivia fidgeted in her chair. "Not at the moment, no." Elliot cut his eyes up to his partner without raising his head.

"Would you like to hear my thoughts?" The purring was back.

"Uh…"

Elliot raised his head and stared at his partner as her face once again flushed as she held the phone to her ear. She abruptly stood up and said into the phone, "Can you hold on a minute?"

Elliot was beginning to wonder what was going on. "You OK, Liv?"

"I think I'm going down with something."

He frowned.

She shook her head as she quickly made her way toward the hallway. "Coming down with something," she called over her shoulder as she sped toward the rest room.

Munch and Fin walked in just as Olivia hastily exited.

Fin looked at Elliot. "Where's she off to in such a hurry?"

Elliot shrugged. "Bathroom I guess. Thinks she may be getting sick."

Munch opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a can of spray disinfectant. He sprayed around his desk, causing Fin to cough and wave his hand in front of his face. "What are you doin'?"

"She may have swine flu," Munch replied as he put the can back in the drawer. "I don't want it."

Fin rolled his eyes and Elliot chuckled at the two of them as he returned to his paperwork.

A few minutes later, Olivia returned to her desk. Elliot looked up and couldn't help but notice the pink tinge remaining in her cheeks. "You feel OK?"

"Could have been something I ate."

Elliot nodded, but something didn't seem right. He frowned. "You've only had coffee this morning."

Olivia looked at him for a moment. "I had breakfast at home."

"You look a little flushed, maybe you should-"

"Elliot, I'm fine."

2:30 pm – December 21st – Ladies Room Outside SVU Squad Room

Olivia was washing her hands as her cell phone rang. She quickly dried them and then unclipped the phone from her belt.

"Thank God I'm in the bathroom this time. You've got the whole squad thinking I have the flu."

"Why on earth would they think that?"

Olivia laughed quietly. "Because every time you call I turn beet red or have to get up and leave my desk so I don't say something I shouldn't in front of them."

"So my 'sweet nothings' are embarrassing you?"

"No, I wouldn't call it embarrassed, and I certainly wouldn't call what you said last time 'sweet nothings'."

"So what would you call it?"

"Something I'm really looking forward to."

"Come to think of it, you do sound a little feverish. Why don't you come home and let me take good care of you?" Olivia could hear the smile in Alex's voice.

The detective looked at her watch. "It's not even three o'clock."

"I'm sure you have plenty of over-time in. And if they think you have the flu, I'm sure the guys will be happy to see you go." She paused for a beat. "And, believe me, I'll be very happy to see you… come."

Olivia held the phone for a moment while the double meaning of those words sunk in. "I'll see you in half an hour," she said as she snapped the phone closed and headed back to the bullpen.

3:30 pm – December 21st – SVU Squad Room

Elliot hung up his telephone and looked at the two detectives remaining in the squad room. "Anyone talked to Cabot today? Her cell's going straight to voicemail."

Fin answered. "I called her office a little while ago and her office voicemail said she had gone for the day."

Elliot frowned. "That's unusual for a Monday. She never takes time off."

Munch looked up from his paperwork. "I'll bet she has the same thing Olivia has." He pulled the spray from the drawer and furiously sprayed around his desk again.

7:00 pm – December 21st – Apartment of Alexandra Cabot

Olivia breathed a sigh of satisfaction as she leaned back into the warm water. She nestled her body into that of her lover as she rested her head against Alex's shoulder. Long arms enveloped her as Alex gently nipped at her earlobe.

"Feeling better now?" Alex asked, her voice low and silky in Olivia's right ear, and laced with just a hint of sarcasm.

Olivia laughed quietly. "I probably should feel guilty about lying to the guys… but I don't." She paused for a moment. "I really was feeling feverish when I left, but it had nothing to do with the flu."

"All those 'sweet nothings' got to you, huh?"

"You play dirty, Counselor," Olivia said with a smile.

"And it worked like a charm."

That earned her a playful swat on the knee from Olivia, causing a splash and sending bubbles flying into the air.

The ADA chuckled. "You'd best conserve your energy. We've only finished round one." The hand that was gently caressing Olivia's flesh slipped a little lower. "We have the longest night of the year ahead of us, remember?"

"And I don't plan on wasting a single minute," Olivia said as she turned her head to capture Alex's lips in a heated kiss.

The End

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