Bensler Oneshots

If I Still Believed (Olivia + a Kiss)

She wakes up slowly. It's warm, almost too warm, but she's cozy. Something's different, but it's a familiar smell, and there's an arm around her waist.

Her eyes shoot open, and lo and behold, there he is. "What the hell are you doing in here?" she shrieks.

She shoves him away from her too hard, and he crashes onto the floor. She winces, but he seems fine, sitting up to look at her with an equally bewildered look in his eyes.

"What do you mean? Why are you in my bed?"

She scrambles off the bed, his bed evidently, and tries not to ogle his toned body as he sits there in just his underwear. "Why don't you have any fucking pants on?" she asks even though it's a perfectly normal, guy thing to do.

"I normally sleep in my underwear, Liv, goddammit. What do you want me to do?"

She doesn't answer, hearing Noah call out from outside the bedroom, "Mom?"

Oh, God, how did Noah get wrapped up in this? She hurries and opens the door. "Are you okay, sweet boy?"

He shrugs. "Yeah, where are we?" while she ruffles his hair.

"At my place," Elliot answers for her. He's trying to pull a festive-looking shirt over his head.

"How did we get here?" She can hear the anxiety in her voice now just as she can feel it pounding in her chest.

"How would I know? I was in a motel across the state when I fell asleep last night."

She's ready to snap back at him, but Noah interrupts, "Whoa, when did you get that?"

He's pointing to a diamond ring on her finger, that finger. It's beautiful but discreet, the kind of thing she'd wear to work if it was really hers. There's also an etched golden band underneath it, a wedding ring. She's starting to feel a little light-headed.

"Hey, Noah, why don't you go watch cartoons or something?" Elliot says and she sees his hand flex out of the corner of her eye, hesitating from reaching out for her.

"Cartoons?" Noah scoffs. "When did you and Mom get married?"

"We didn't," Olivia says. "Elliot-" How did he do this? How did this happen? Is this some kind of horrible joke? Because God it's gonna hurt when someone jumps out and says 'gotcha' or her alarm clock goes off.

"I don't have magic powers, Liv. You can't pin this one on me," he says, twisting a matching golden band on his finger.

"Oh no," Noah says, and she recognizes that voice, turning her gaze on him and noticing Elliot do the same.

He hunches up a little, looking sheepish.

"Noah?" she prompts.

He shrugs. "I wrote Santa a letter, asking if he could get you two together. I meant more like so you could see each other on Christmas even with Elliot still being undercover, but I guess Santa took it kind of literally."

That's not possible. Definitely some freaky dream. Thanks, subconscious, just what was needed this morning.

"Noah, Santa's not-" she starts.

"I know he's not real, but how else could this have happened?" Noah shoots back with way too attitude.

She glares, and he winces. "I'm gonna find the living room," he says and runs off.

...

She grabs Elliot by the arm and drags him back to his room. Their room? This is extremely confusing and he's definitely in on it.

She shuts the door, not wanting Noah to hear them argue.

"What did you do? What kind of joke is this?" she demands, though it's increasingly obvious that this isn't his fault.

He holds up his hands as if in surrender. "It's not a joke, Liv. Believe me, I didn't do this."

He looks sincere.

"Well, then what's going on? This is insane. This cannot be happening."

"That bad being married to me?" he jokes, but his eyes have dimmed.

She doesn't mean to hurt his feelings, but she can feel tears burning her own eyes. She doesn't like feeling out of control.

"Not like this, Elliot. Aside from completely impossible and creepy explanations, this, this is..."

"Hey, hey, Liv."

He wraps his arms around her, and she sinks into his embrace. They've only hugged a few times, but being in his arms feels so familiar anyway. She takes a deep breath before speaking again. "I'm sorry. I know this isn't your fault, but you're the closest target, and that's the way we've always fought."

Elliot starts to rub her back. "I'm sorry, too. I am going to get in so much trouble for ditching my UC job, or maybe this is just a vivid fever dream."

This is going to be such a mess.

"Yeah, or we're gonna have a hell of a time explaining it to everyone."

"I don't know. If this were some cheesy rom-com, we'd be the only ones left out of the loop."

Even worse, how are their lives going to be affected? And what about-

"Oh, God, Noah," she says, pulling away from Elliot. "And what am I gonna do about work? My apartment? Are all my clothes here? Oh, Fin is gonna be insufferable." He'd have a field day with this freaky incident. "What if this doesn't go away? What if we have to get our marriage annulled or get a divorce? Not that I don't love-care about you, but this is not how it was supposed to go. We haven't even kissed or been on a date."

"Why don't you take a minute, okay? I'll make some coffee, and you can take a breather."

Coffee sounds good, helpful really, so she nods. "Thank you."

Elliot catches her hand, squeezing it before he walks out.

She sinks down on the bed, wringing her hands. She wants this, somewhere off in the undefined future, this is what she dreams of, Elliot and Noah and their only little crazy combined family. After a few more deep breaths, she gets up and heads for the kitchen, pausing when she hears Noah ask the question.

"Do you love my mom?"

"Your mom is the love of my life, kid," Elliot answers, some kind of far-off, dreamy tone to his voice.

"Good. I think she loves you, too. Did you tell her?"

Count on her kid to be blunt about it.

"I have, a couple of times actually, but I haven't got the best timing."

If that isn't the truth...

"You should tell her again. I bet she'd like to hear it, even if you're just an old married couple now."

Elliot looks up then to see her watching them from the hall. She can't fight the smile, and it seems neither can he.

She says before she can tell herself otherwise, "You know, this is all kinds of crazy, and I'm not convinced I won't wake up in a few minutes and find out it was a dream, but even if it is, this is what I want, all of us together."

"Me, too, Liv," he says, his eyes locked on hers.

"Me, too!" Noah chimes in.

She walks across the room and grabs the collar of those festive pajamas, pulling Elliot down to meet her. His lips touch hers, softly at first until they lose themselves in this long-awaited kiss. Noah grumbles a disgruntled 'eww' before she hears him hop down from the bar stool, evidently trying to run away. She pulls away and looks up at Elliot, smiling.

Somehow, some way they make Noah's crazy Christmas wish work, and everyone lives happily ever after.