******Author's Note: This story is pretty fluffy and is part of Christmas in July. It earns it's M rating in later chapters, so beware. I've been away from writing for a while so thought I'd ease back in with something light. Thanks to all who've contacted me wondering where I've been and when I'd be back. Hope you enjoy this light little "how Alex and Olivia might find each other among the holiday spirit" story. I write for fun not profit. All characters belong to Dick Wolf and Wolf Productions. No harm, foul or infringement intended. Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Enjoy!*******

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Detective Olivia Benson leaned against the back wall of the viewing room with her face in her hands. Detective John Munch was still in the interview room trying to get something out of the scrawny Hispanic man. "So we don't even have enough for a warrant yet?"

Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cabot stood facing the interview room, watching the continuing interrogation through the two-way glass. "On a Tuesday at two in the afternoon, maybe. At twenty past eight on Christmas Eve...not even close."

"Well, I'd believe in Santa Claus if we could put that piece of garbage behind bars." Olivia scrubbed her face with her hands and took a deep breath. "What can we do, Alex?"

Alex turned around to face Olivia. The detective's face was drawn, tired, and yet still intense. "Book him on the assault charge. Make sure he gets to spend Christmas Eve at Riker's with a cellmate with a lot of mistletoe. We'll see how he feels about sharing information in the morning."

Olivia smiled a little at Alex's insinuation. She nodded her agreement and ran one hand through her shoulder length russet hair. She looked in to Alex's eyes and slowly noticed how she was dressed. Alex was headed to some fancy society Christmas Eve function. Her hair was up. She wore a stunning red dress that hugged her slender frame and revealed the right amount of porcelain skin. Yet, when Olivia had paged her, she had dropped everything and come right over. Olivia's smile widened when she realized she had been staring and that the prosecutor was fixing her with a stare of her own. "Oh, uhm, you look nice. Suits you better than navy and pinstripes, counselor."

Alex smiled back. "Thank you, detective. What are you up to this evening?"

Olivia shook her head. "Nothing, really. My cup of holiday spirit is usually only ever about half full anyway."

"But what about Kathy and Elliot?" Alex tilted her head a little with concern.

"They're in Connecticut with Kathy's family this year." Olivia exhaled slowly.

Alex bobbed her head in understanding. Since her father's death, she rarely went home for Christmas. In recent years, it had become more about the Christmas Eve parties than a house full of family opening presents on Christmas morning. A wistful smile crossed her lips at the memory. She fixed an errant strand of blonde hair that had worked its way out of the clip. "Oh, I'm sorry."

Olivia gave a half smile. "Don't be. I'm fine. Really." She crossed over to Alex and gave her shoulder a pat. "Go to your party. Have fun for me."

Alex reached out with one arm and turned her gesture in to a side arm hug. "Merry Christmas, Olivia." She whispered.

"Merry Christmas, Alex." Olivia allowed herself to savor the rare intimate gesture offered by the usually stoic attorney. Then she pulled out of the embrace and turned toward the task at hand.

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Alex pulled on her long black wool coat and slipped in to her black leather gloves. She wrapped the matching scarf around her neck and tied it. She attempted to open the door to the precinct and could barely push it open against the howling winter wind. Once outside, she shivered against the bite of the cold wind.

She had only gotten about half a block when the snow began to fall. A few tiny flakes that dotted her dark wool coat quickly became sheets of snow the wind was casting about like linens about to be hung to dry. Alex tried to adjust her scarf to cover the lower half of her face but lost the battle.

Alex took momentary refuge inside a small bodega. She stood watching the snow swirl dangerously in the wind outside and wondered utopically if it was a fluke storm that would pass.

A young Asian woman interrupted her wonderings. "Lady?"

Alex rubbed her gloved hands over her already wind-burned cheeks. "Yes?"

"How I help you? We close soon. Weather bad." The woman's eyes were wide and she smiled warmly.

"Ah, I see. How bad is the weather supposed to get?" Alex questioned.

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Alex stumbled back through the doors of the 1-6 clutching a brown paper sack to her as though it contained the Hope Diamond. Snow stuck to her hair, face and coat. Her face was bright red and she was out of breath from fighting the wind and snow. She stood just inside the doors and tried to catch her breath.

"Alex?" Olivia was standing in the hallway watching the snow slowly melt off of her ADA and form a puddle on the precinct floor. "What the hell happened?"

Alex took a couple more breaths and swallowed hard. "Blizzard."

Olivia's eyebrow arched. She knew they were calling for snow, but figured it was no big deal. She had been preparing to head out in the next few minutes herself. "Wow. Is it that bad?" She looked at Alex's now sopping wet hair, the cold water running down her face and her damp red complexion and realized what a silly question that was.

"No, no. It's really not. I just wanted to cause a scene." Alex huffed. The paper bag she was holding was now soaked too. She looked for a place to put it down when Olivia grabbed it.

"Sorry. Let's get you dried off and warmed up. Come on." Olivia led the way up the stairs to the crib. "Take off your coat and those 'sensible' shoes and I'll get you a towel and some other things." She showed Alex where she could hang her things.

Alex looked heavenward and shook her head. As she slowly unbuttoned her damp wool coat, she sighed. 'Just perfect. Christmas Eve trapped at work in a blizzard. I'm not even at MY office where I could get work done. AND I look like drowned rat.'

Olivia returned with some towels, a set of NYPD issue gray sweats and a pair of white cotton sweat socks. "Here you go. I think these will be a little big, but they are warm and dry."

Alex closed her eyes. She wanted to snark at the detective that she had to be joking. That she was going to shed her designer dress for sweats designed for victims and the occasional perp seemed the cruelest joke. But the warmth and caring in Olivia's brown eyes and the hint of an amused smile on her face made Alex sigh instead.

"I checked, but we didn't have a thing in our collection by Michael Kors." Olivia almost read the attorney's thoughts. "I'll leave you to change. You want some tea or coffee or something?"

Alex chuckled at the comment. "Tea sounds great."

"Just come out when you're done." Olivia stretched and rubbed the back of her neck as she closed the door behind her.

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Alex walked out of the crib with a towel around her neck to catch the moisture still running off her hair which now hung down just below her shoulders. The sight that met her eyes was truly touching. Right there in the lounge Olivia had gathered every piece of holiday decoration that had been around the precinct. Among them were a small wreath from the desk clerk, a ridiculous light-up musical snow globe from one of the junior detective's children, a couple of stockings from the bottom of the box of holiday decorations in the back of the supply closet and a paper chain that Elliot's twins had made for his desk. "Wow. Santa's elves have been busy."

Olivia shrugged. "I figure it's not quite Christmas Eve at the Rainbow Room, but I didn't want you to miss out on the holiday." She offered her a mug of steaming tea. "The best I could do was a bottle of Southern Comfort from Cragen's stash."

"Cragen? Isn't he AA?" Alex asked grabbing the mug that was offered and sipped.

"Yes, but he keeps a bottle in his office for us." Olivia held up her mug in a toast. "Merry Christmas?"

Alex shrugged and smiled. Olivia had gone to a lot of bother for her. It was sweet. But was it more than the Southern Comfort warming her insides? She shook off the thought. "Cheers! Merry Christmas!" She clinked the ceramic mug to Olivia's.

"I checked the weather service and we're pretty much stuck where we are for a while. So I figured I'd make us comfortable. I put your bag on the table there." Olivia gestured before bringing the mug to her lips.

Alex nodded her understanding. She flexed her elegant fingers and adjusted them around the warm mug before sipping more of her spiked tea.

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As they worked their way through the bottle slowly, at this point skipping the tea altogether, they sat side-by-side on the floor of the lounge with their backs resting against the sofa.

"Ok, favorite Christmas carol?" Alex took a small sip and looked at Olivia with a smile.

"Winter Wonderland. Favorite Christmas present of all time?" Olivia smiled back and leaned her head back on the sofa and closed her eyes. The effect of the whiskey and that she hadn't really slept or eaten in a day and half started to show.

"Life-size dollhouse my gramma and granpa gave me when I was 7. It was awesome. I would play in it for hours and hours." Alex sighed and leaned her head back and looked at the ceiling. She blinked and looked again. "Mistletoe?"

Olivia opened her eyes. "Oh yeah. Munch's idea of holiday humor...right up until Fin sat under it."

"I thought Munch was Jewish." Alex said sort of speaking to the mistletoe.

"He says mistletoe is non-denominational." Olivia turned her head with a smirk. "Kissing under the mistletoe was actually a pagan rite before it had anything to do with Christmas."

"Well, aren't you a fount of holiday trivia?" Alex teased.

Olivia took a moment to regard the blonde who was stretched out next to her. She'd long admired her from a distance, but this close up she was even more stunning. She bit her bottom lip as she studied the patrician features of her face and her long swan-like neck. Even dressed in sweats there was something regal and untouchable about her. In an instant she leaned in and placed a kiss on her cheek.

Alex jumped at the unexpected contact. "Liv?" She turned her head and stared in to amused brown eyes that sparkled with mischief and something else.

"It's bad luck not to kiss when you're under the mistletoe." Olivia said with a half smirk.

"You're drunk." Alex giggled and gave her companion a playful shove. She grabbed the brown bag off the table. "Want some dinner?" She held up two cans of beef stew.

"You bought canned stew?" Olivia raised a curious eyebrow.

"Well, I didn't know what else to buy. The store was closing and I figured I'd need something I could eat if the power went out." Alex pulled herself up. "Do you have any bowls around here?"

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