A/N: I love you all. Hope you had a blessed holiday, and wish all of you a very Happy New Year. Thank you for reading.

DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and the characters. TStabler owns only these words and storyline.

Nathan ran across the room, a cookie in one hand and Munch's glasses in the other.

The older man ran after him, laughing, catching him and lifting him up into the air. "You can't outrun a cop, pal," he said, tapping the toddler on his nose. Hearing the high-pitched giggle from the two year old in response, He laughed, then sighed and headed back into the kitchen with Nathan on his hip. He walked through the archway and stopped, the scene in front of him was one he wanted to commit to memory.

"You okay, Munch?" Elliot asked, as he tugged on the sleeves of his black suit jacket.

Munch nodded, but his eyes were running the panorama of the room. He saw Olivia, her rounded belly accented by the belted empire-waist of her black dress. He smiled knowing another little Stabler would be part of his life soon, then he chuckled and looked toward Trevor and Alex, an unlikely couple that'd found each other in the middle of a very tragic year.

Nick Amaro and Amanda Rollins were at the sidebar, bickering over who had poured the stronger drink, and Munch rolled his eyes. The last thing he needed was another pair of detectives with drinking problems. Nathan swatted him in the head and laughed. "Unca Much!" he yelled, getting the older man's attention once again.

Munch looked at the child, Elliot's bright eyes and noble chin along with Olivia's dark hair and perfect smile staring back at him. "Yeah, I'm your Uncle Munch," he said, kissing the boys cheek. He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. He looked up and shook his head, unable to truly believe what they'd all gathered together for, and still having trouble understanding why.

"Well," he said after a moment, speaking up, getting everyone's attention. "I think it's only fitting to, uh, have a few moments of honor. Of silence." He looked at Elliot, then Olivia. "First, let me say that this has not been an easy time for any of us. We've had some rough times, this past year, and we've suffered a great many losses."

"Fin," Olivia said softly as she looked down.

Trevor kissed Alex once, quickly, and said, "Porter."

Elliot narrowed his eyes and spat, "He wasn't that great a loss."

Olivia smirked and hit him playfully in the shoulder. "Not today," she whispered, kissing him.

"But..." Munch said, switching Nathan to his other side, "We gained a lot, too. Welcome back to the unit, Olivia. And to you, Chief." He saluted Elliot and his wife. "After playing cat and mouse with Porter, you managed to solve not one, not two, but three cold cases and clear the names of not only yourselves, but everyone in this unit." He blinked back the tears and cleared his throat, remembering the night it had finally happened, when Tucker used Olivia as bait, setting up a meeting with Porter.

Olivia had put herself in a greatly compromising position, one in which she'd been before, as Elliot found himself again listening, watching, and waiting in an adjoining room. One bare suggestion of the possibility Olivia would sleep with him and Porter told her everything. He had managed, though, to get one hand halfway into Olivia's dress when Elliot broke down the door and nailed him, extra hard for the hand.

And though Tucker had only temporarily reinstated them for that one sting, they'd never asked to be let go.

"Don Cragen..." Munch said, taking a sharp breath. He squeezed his eyes shut and handed Nathan to the closest person.

Amanda held the child like a festering bag of garbage, her arms outstretched and a confused look on her face. "What do I do with it?" she asked Nick.

Nick laughed, sipped his drink, and shrugged.

Munch's head was reeling. He couldn't understand why Cragen would have put himself in danger, why he would ever stack the deck the way he had and yet be the one to spill blood on the cards. He took another shaky breath and thought about what it must've meant to him. How guilty Cragen had felt for letting certain things happen and go unpunished, and for how it destroyed the family he'd worked so incredibly hard to build.

Shooting Fin on the steps of the courthouse after the trial and proclaiming to Olivia that he never stopped thinking of her as his daughter was his way of apologizing, making it right. However, it was also an act he must've known would cost him his own life.

"Captain Don Cragen," Munch said, reiterating as he righted himself, "gave his life...sacrificed his life, for his family. For us." He looked at Olivia and Elliot. "For you. His last breath on this earth was taken after seeking his own personal justice for the moments, the memories, and the many happinesses that were taken from us by someone who, even in the face of judge and jury, showed no remorse."

Elliot gulped the beer that had been in his hand, preferring to feel the burn in his throat than his eyes, then he pulled Olivia closer to him, kissed her forehead, and said, "I will never be able to thank him. Or forgive him. For any of it."

"I know, El," Olivia whispered, letting her head fall into the crook of his neck.

Munch sniffled, then looked up, holding up a glass. "Go with God, Don."

Elliot held back his own tears. "Semper Fi," he whispered, holding Olivia tighter.

Silence filled the room. Amanda quietly passed the child over to Tucker, who smiled and held him properly, his own eyes glancing heavenward. He nodded once, in solemnity and solidarity, and made a silent promise to step in and pick up where Cragen left off. He vowed, beyond that, to ensure nothing like the events of the past year ever happened again.

Munch breathed in the quiet as he looked around the kitchen again. Things seemed right. They seemed normal. It was not the same team, no, but somehow everything had regressed into a state of rightness. Olivia was back at SVU where the world felt she belonged, only this time it was at a desk all her own. Munch didn't mind being passed over for captain. He knew at least once every two years he'd have eight months of the job as long as Olivia and Elliot kept their brood growing.

Elliot had been returned to his place as Chief of Detectives, no one even questioning the morality of him being Olivia's boss after all they'd been through.

Tucker made one hell of an IAB Sergeant, now that he had a better relationship with everyone below him, and by the look on his face as he played with Noah Stabler, it was a blessing to him.

Nick and Amanda would grow into their desks, Munch knew, but they would never, ever, be Benson and Stabler.

Inhaling one last time, Munch clapped his hands together, breaking the silence. "Thank you," he said to the room. "Shall we?"

Nods and murmurs filtered through the kitchen as everyone made their way out the back door, on their way to the Cragen's funeral. As Munch watched Elliot help Olivia into the waiting black limo, he smiled. He thought back on all the years of their rollercoaster partnership, how they'd worked so long and so hard to build a life away from the one-six, and how much had changed in the months she'd been back at SVU. In order to make any progress, he thought to himself, you need a little regression.

A/N: Until next time. You're amazing, and I thank you.