SVU: The One Shots

Goodbye

Olivia sat quietly at her kitchen table, her fingers tracing down a list of guests for her wedding. She carefully drew a checkmark beside each guest that RSVP'd, before sitting their card to the side. As Olivia moved towards the bottom of the list, she frowned deeply.

"Hey, El?" Olivia called as she capped her pen.

"Yeah?" Elliot called back as he left their bedroom.

"Did we get a confirmation that John's invite was delivered?" 

"Which John?" Elliot questioned as he joined Olivia at the table.

"Munch... It's been a few weeks since we sent out the invites, and I haven't heard back from him yet. Can you check the tracking?" Olivia asked, and Elliot nodded quickly.

"Of course. Give me a few minutes," Elliot smiled, before leaning close and kissing Olivia softly.

While Olivia was pouring herself a glass of wine, Elliot walked slowly from their bedroom and swallowed hard.

"Liv," Elliot breathed, his voice thick with emotion.

"Do you need me to find the tracking?" Olivia laughed as she turned to face her fiancé. Elliot frowned deeply as Olivia's face went pale.

"W-what happened?"

"I just got a call from Don... Munch passed away a few days ago," Elliot breathed. Olivia slowly sat her glass down as tears burned her eyes.

"You gotta be joking, El. This isn't funny," Olivia whispered as Elliot walked to where she stood.

"I wish I was joking, Liv. But it's true. I'm so sorry, babe," Elliot replied.

Olivia cried as Elliot reached her side, his arms wrapping tightly around her waist. When Olivia noticed Munch hadn't RSVP'd, Olivia was wondering if the invite had been lost while traveling overseas. Not that their dear friend had passed.

///

The excitement of their upcoming wedding faded as they waited for information on the funeral. At first, they expected to travel for the funeral, but then Cragen informed them that Munch had decided to be buried in New York and a large police funeral was planned. 

"Momma?" Noah asked as he moved into his mother's bedroom. Olivia sat on the edge of her bed, her fingers shaking as she tried to clip her tie into place.

"Kid, is there something I can help you with?" Elliot questioned, as he left the bedroom in his dress uniform.

"I can't get my tie to clip into place," Noah replied with a soft sigh.

"Me neither, sweet boy," Olivia whispered, as she stood slowly and turned to face her fiancé and son.

"I can help you both," Elliot frowned deeply. 

After Noah's clip-on bowtie was in place, Elliot walked to where Olivia stood. He smoothed the wrinkles from her jacket before securing her tie. After a few moments, Elliot wrapped his arms around her and gave her a tight squeeze.

"Are you going to be okay?" Elliot asked, and Olivia nodded weakly, her face buried in his shoulder.

"I think so... I never expected for him to die, El. Seriously, I thought he'd outlive us all," Olivia mumbled.

"I know, babe," Elliot replied plainly, as he stroked her back. 

They stood there for much longer than they should have before parting and moving to leave. Olivia held Noah's hand as they walked down the stairs.

"Momma?" Noah questioned.

"Yeah?"

"I didn't get to say goodbye to Uncle Munch. Did you?" Noah asked, and Olivia shook her head as tears burned her eyes.

"N-no, I didn't either. I wish that I would have called him sooner, but I didn't. Now I regret it," Olivia whispered.

"Do you think he's angry at us?" Noah asked. Olivia pulled her son to a stop on a landing before squatting down in front of him.

"No, baby. I don't think he's angry at us. Please don't feel bad about not talking to him recently, because you are just a kid. I'm an adult who failed to call her friend to catch up. All I did was send him an invitation to my wedding and didn't call to ask if he received it," Olivia breathed, as tears burned her eyes. 

Elliot walked up the stairs and heard Olivia and Noah's conversation. He knew Olivia would take this hard, but he didn't realize how hard. Elliot didn't realize how guilty Olivia would feel over the loss of John Munch.

///

The funeral was long and filled with several eulogies. Olivia cried quietly through most of them, her hand holding on tightly to the hands of Fin and Nick. Everyone came together to lay their friend to rest, no matter how busy they had been. Everything was dropped, and Olivia even rescheduled a dress fitting to ensure she didn't miss the funeral. Nothing was more important.

"Captain Benson?" someone spoke. Olivia blinked several times before realizing she was standing at the front of the room, tears burning her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I-i just need a moment," Olivia breathed.

She closed her eyes tightly as she thought of all the good times she had with Munch, especially all the teasing and conspiracy theories. He never judged her when she broke down after Elliot left her, and he was one of her first calls after she and Elliot finally got engaged. Now he was gone, and she'd never be able to thank him for all the good times and the surprising amount of support in the bad times.

"Sergeant John Munch was the real deal. He may have stayed back at the precinct as the years went on and he got closer to retirement, but that didn't change the fact that he was one of the best detectives I have ever worked with. I never expected to have outranked him in the end, but my title doesn't change my respect for that man. I never told him, but I loved him and enjoyed every second we worked together. He kept me out of trouble, but he had to bail out my fellow detectives when they ignored his words of wisdom," Olivia breathed as she looked at Nick. He gave her a small smile as he thought about Munch bailing him out when he didn't believe he deserved it.

"We lost one of the best detectives to make it into the NYPD, and I know I will miss him for the rest of my life. I believe that many of us, especially those who worked side by side with John, will live their lives to make him proud. To make sure we continue the fight he started long before many of us were even born. Goodbye, Munch. I love and miss you so much," Olivia breathed, as she turned and placed her fingers on the casket.