I started this story last year but didn't get a chance to finish it, so I decided to continue with it this year. This fic takes place in season 18, since that's when I began it, although the events of "Heightened Emotions" never happened so Amanda's sister isn't living with her. Also, Olivia is not dating Tucker, and Noah and Jesse don't exist. This will just be a fluffy, cheesy, lighthearted friendship fic for me to enjoy writing throughout the Christmas season. :)

I also wanted to mention that I know it's extremely implausible for the entire team to have the Christmas weekend off work together, but for the sake of the story, let's just say that it could actually happen. :)

I'm hoping to have chapter 9 of "In Your Arms" posted later today or tomorrow. I'm having major writer's block with chapter 10 of "Hidden Scars" and I'm finding it difficult to remain in that really dark head space for long periods of time, but I'm still working on it.

xxxxxxxxxx

"The only gift I'll ever need is the joy of family

Oh, why? 'Cause that's Christmas to me."

xxxxxxxxxx

The first thing Olivia becomes aware of is a trio of chipmunks belting out an obnoxious Christmas tune in high-pitched, squeaky voices and she cracks an eye open in confusion, dark gaze darting around the dim interior of a vehicle. Her face is pressed flat against the inside of a frosty car window, nose squished right into the glass and the breath from her mouth causing a foggy patch to appear each time she exhales. There is someone curled up so closely beside her on the seat that they are practically sprawled in her lap and when she turns her head slightly, she sees that is it Amanda; her colleague leaning heavily against her shoulder, eyes closed and lips parted as she emits a loud snore right into Olivia's ear. Frannie is on Amanda's other side, the dog stretched out across the remaining portion of the backseat they are sharing, flat out on her back with all four legs sticking straight up into the air and her mouth hanging wide open, a long pink tongue lolling over sharp white teeth. The animal appears to be as sound asleep as her owner is and quite content with the seating arrangements in the car, but Olivia is not sure how it can possibly be comfortable to sleep in that position.

Carisi is sitting in the driver's seat with a Santa hat perched askew on his head, Fin slumped next to him on the passenger side, and her younger subordinate is currently singing along with Alvin, Simon and Theodore's "Christmas Don't Be Late", doing an impressively annoying job of imitating the shrill voices of the chipmunks while Fin snarls at him to shut the hell up. Olivia sighs and scrubs her hands over her face in exhaustion, squinting out the window to try and get a look at where they are, but there is only snow and darkness and the occasional tree stripped bare of its leaves for the winter, and she is not sure how long they have been driving as she had drifted off into a fitful slumber shortly after they had left the city.

They are heading to the Carisi family cabin in some tiny town several hours away that Olivia can't even recall the name of; she and her teammates and Amanda's dog packed into the car like sardines, along with all the luggage and liquor that they need for a weekend away. It is Friday, December twenty-third, and they had left for the cabin directly from the precinct for a three-night stay over Christmas and will be returning on the twenty-sixth; a very short holiday together before going back to work.

This had been a last-minute arrangement and one that Olivia has very mixed feelings about, not entirely sure if spending Christmas with her colleagues is a preferable option to spending it alone; torn between the desperate need for some quiet time to herself but her heart aching a little at the thought of waking up on Christmas morning alone yet again, like she has done for so many years now. Carisi had been absolutely appalled upon hearing that each one of his squad mates had no plans for the holidays; Fin's family vacationing down south, Amanda deciding against going home to Georgia to spend time with her fractured family, and Olivia not having much family to speak of. He had insisted on treating them all to a good old-fashioned Christmas at his family's rustic country cabin, refusing to take no for an answer after his generous announcement had been met with less than enthusiastic responses from everyone, clearly having been expecting much more excitement from his co-workers than what he had received.

Carisi had insisted that it was fine to take some time away from his own family to spend Christmas with his colleagues, since he had just seen everyone at Thanksgiving; and one by one, they had all grudgingly agreed to spend the holiday in each other's company, even though they already see one another more than anyone else in their lives, spending hours and days on end working together. Olivia is somewhat nervous about how the weekend will proceed, as Carisi is quite clearly the only one of the group who is even remotely in the Christmas spirit, and Fin and Amanda had both looked like they were on their way to prison as they had all piled into the car earlier, instead of heading to a charming cabin out in the snowy countryside.

"Ugh, why do I hear singing chipmunks?" a groggy voice suddenly grumbles right next to her ear and Olivia turns her head to see Amanda sitting up beside her, the other woman wiping a hand over sleepy blue eyes, blonde hair mussed from leaning on Olivia's shoulder for half the ride.

"Carisi is playing his own special brand of Christmas music," Fin sneers in a disgruntled tone from the passenger seat. "Half the songs I've been hearing seem to feature some kind of singing forest creature."

"And we've got our own giant chipmunk singing behind the steering wheel," Olivia mutters in irritation, wincing slightly as Carisi hits a particularly high note while continuing to imitate the furry little animals from the song.

"Okay, that's just wrong," Amanda grumbles tiredly, giving Frannie a pat on the head as the dog suddenly twitches in her sleep, right leg shaking as if she is having some sort of bizarre dream. "Carisi, can you please do us all a favor and kindly shut the hell up?"

"Yup, that's exactly what I just said," Fin replies with a heavy sigh as he reaches over to flick his co-worker in the ear with his fingers. "He won't listen to me, though. You ladies are lucky that you've slept for nearly the whole trip. I've been listening to this shit since we left the city."

"Aww, you guys are no fun," Carisi protests in a hurt tone as the songs comes to an end and everyone else in the car seems to breathe a collective sigh of relief. "I'm just trying to get everyone into the spirit of the season here."

"I'll be a little more in the spirit when I'm drinking the spirits," Amanda chuckles under her breath, and Olivia can hear the clink of seemingly dozens of liquor bottles coming from inside the trunk.

"That sounds like an excellent plan," Fin chimes in eagerly, the older man's voice emanating with more enthusiasm than it has since Carisi had first organized this little getaway.

"Guys, we are not spending the entire weekend getting drunk," Carisi chides very firmly, like he is trying to exert his authority over the group. "I invited you all to the cabin so you can experience a proper family Christmas. I consider our team to be a family and getting drunk is not how families spend the holidays."

"It's not? Well, that's news to me," Amanda snorts with a mirthless chuckle. "That's the only way my family spends the holidays."

Olivia glances over at the younger woman as she privately agrees with her, and hears Carisi let out a giant sigh of exasperation from the driver's seat.

"Okay, Christmas has to mean more than just drinking," he chastises wearily, continuing to speak in a somewhat condescending tone as if he is addressing a kindergarten class instead of a car full of his colleagues. "What else does it mean?" He looks over at the man sitting next to him and lifts a questioning eyebrow. "Fin, what does Christmas mean to you?"

The older man's head is tilted slightly to the side and Olivia can see Fin scratching his chin as if he is actually giving the question some serious thought, his shoulders lifting in a careless shrug after a moment of contemplative silence. "I guess I would have to say Christmas means eating candy cane ice cream straight from the carton until I puke."

"Wow, that's classy, Fin," Amanda snickers in response, Olivia rolling her eyes and shaking her head as a smile pulls at the corner of her mouth.

"Okay..." Carisi's voice trails off somewhat uncertainly, the younger man starting to sound a little disgruntled himself now. "What about you, Amanda? What does Christmas mean to you?"

"Probably drinking vodka straight from the bottle until she pukes," Fin answers with a knowing laugh, Amanda reaching forward to cuff her partner lightly across the back of the head.

"Alright, this conversation is clearly going nowhere," Carisi mutters in disappointment and Olivia is very relieved that the discussion seems to have come to an abrupt halt before he can ask her, as she doesn't think her answer will be any better than the others.

"I think you guys will be more in the spirit when we decorate the tree," the younger man continues in a brighter tone of voice and Olivia stifles an impatient sigh as this topic of conversation is apparently continuing, Carisi refusing to let it drop. "It's definitely too late to do it tonight, but we'll get it done tomorrow so we can have it decorated in time for Christmas Eve. I hope you guys packed those warm outdoor clothes I told you to bring. Since we'll be getting such an early start in the morning, I'll make us all a big breakfast before we head out into the woods."

"God forbid we don't have a tree in time for Christmas Eve," Olivia hears Amanda mumble sarcastically beside her, the other woman suddenly sitting up straight in her seat and a confused frown marring her delicate features. "Wait, what? Did you just say we're going out to the woods? What for?"

"For the tree," Carisi replies in a somewhat surprised tone that indicates the answer should have been blatantly obvious. "We always cut down our own Christmas tree every year. It's a tradition."

There is complete silence in the car for several seconds as everyone seems to digest this information, Olivia and Amanda trading glances in the backseat and Carisi sounding puzzled when he speaks again. "Well, where do you guys get your Christmas trees?"

"Well, considering we live in the city and don't all have fancy country cabins to spend the holidays in, I just get mine at the gas station," Fin answers with a giant yawn, like he is fighting exhaustion or boredom or both.

"Yet another classy answer from my boy there," Amanda chuckles with a shake of her head and a pat against the back of her partner's seat. "Wow, Fin, you certainly know how to live it up over the holidays, don't you?"

"A gas station?" Carisi repeats in disbelief, and Olivia can't help but smile at the clearly horrified tone in the younger man's voice. "They sell Christmas trees there? Why on earth would you do such a thing, Fin?"

The older man shrugs and lifts a hand into the air, appearing completely unconcerned by the way he chooses to do things. "Because they have them all lined up in a neat little row outside the gas pumps. One-stop shopping. Fill up the car, pick up a tree. No muss, no fuss."

"What about you, Liv and Amanda?" Carisi asks warily after a moment of seemingly shocked quiet, as if he is afraid to hear the remaining responses from his co-workers

"I never get a tree," Amanda replies in the same unconcerned tone as Fin, Olivia murmuring her agreement and not wishing to face the wrath of Carisi just because they have given answers that he does not approve of. She has an artificial Christmas tree packed away in a box in one of the closets in her apartment but hasn't taken it out for years, not seeing much point in decorating when she has no one to spend the holidays with.

"Well, it's a good thing we're doing this, then!" Carisi exclaims with a dramatically heavy sigh like this is the worst news he has ever heard, and considering where they work and the fact that they deal with actual bad news on a daily basis, Olivia is beginning to find his attitude a little ridiculous and annoying.

"Is it your mission to save our Christmas, Carisi?" Amanda asks wryly, sounding just as annoyed as Olivia is feeling. "You're our knight in shining armor, swooping in to save your colleagues from the depression and despair of having to spend the holiday season all alone?" She pauses briefly, somewhat perplexed when she speaks again. "I still don't understand why you're not just spending Christmas with your own family. Why do you care so much what the rest of us are doing?"

"I already told you that you guys are my family too, and I'm not spending it with them because they already have people to spend it with," Carisi answers solemnly as he reaches out to clasp a friendly hand onto Fin's shoulder, the other man glaring at him in return. "Only the lonely are allowed on this vacation."

"Wow, I feel so special," Olivia mutters as she trades another glance with Amanda, the younger woman crossing her eyes and sticking her tongue out like she has already had quite enough of all of this team togetherness, Carisi's overeager attitude seeming to be putting everyone slightly on edge despite the extreme generosity of letting them all stay at his family cabin over the weekend.

"You're very special, Liv," Carisi assures her as they pull into a rundown convenience store on the outskirts of a small town, not another car in sight and the barren winter landscape seeming to stretch on for miles in the desolate darkness. "You're all special. That's why I invited you." He fumbles with the door handle for a moment before flinging it open and stretching his long legs onto the slick pavement. "We're almost there but I can't wait to use the bathroom, so I'm just going to run inside for a minute. Just sit tight; I'll be right back."

"Jesus," Fin mumbles in disgust after Carisi has vacated the vehicle and slammed the car door shut, the younger man jogging through the icy parking lot and disappearing into the store. "Has he always been this obnoxious during the holidays?"

"Guys, maybe we should try to cut him a bit of slack here," Olivia suggests softly, scrubbing her hands over her face in fatigue and throwing a jealous glance over at the slumbering dog, wishing she had slept the entire way to the cabin so she doesn't have to be a part of all the whining. "He was kind enough to let us stay at this place over Christmas and he's taking time away from his own family to spend time with us instead."

"No one asked him to do that, though, Liv," Amanda is quick to point out as she strokes a hand over her snoozing pet's fur. "And you're just as annoyed as we are; I can tell."

"Well, I'm trying not to be," Olivia hedges in reply, frowning over at Amanda when the younger woman starts laughing. "And we all decided to come, even though we could have said no."

"You're not trying hard enough," the blonde detective chortles, reaching out to give Olivia's arm a squeeze. "The annoyance is written all over your face, Liv. And how were any of us supposed to say no to Carisi? He looked like he was going to burst into tears if we didn't give him the answer he was hoping to hear. He's quite a sensitive guy, isn't he?"

"He is a bit of a pussy," Fin readily agrees as he turns around in the passenger seat and leans over so they are all huddled together in a miserable little circle of chilled limbs and grumpy faces.

"Alright, guys, that's enough," Olivia snaps firmly, holding up a hand to stop her co-workers' juvenile snickering and grabbing Amanda's wrist when she puts her palm up for a high-five from Fin. "I think we all need to make an effort to improve our attitudes once we get to the cabin."

"I'm going to drink when we get to the cabin," Amanda states resolutely, and this time she and Fin exchange high-fives and a twin smirks before she can stop them, Olivia rolling her eyes at their immature behavior.

"Where the hell are we, anyway?" Fin asks in confusion when he and his partner are done clowning around, glancing out the window at the darkness that surrounds them on all sides and permeates the nearby fields with a neverending inky blackness. "I don't think this place is even on the map, it's so damn tiny."

"I don't know, I forget the name of the town," Olivia replies with a yawn, flinching in surprise when Frannie suddenly rouses herself from the deep sleep she has been enveloped in and gives a hearty bark that echoes throughout the interior of the vehicle, everyone wincing at the loud noise.

"I'm just going to take her outside for a minute," Amanda says with a grunt as the dog leaps enthusiastically over both her owner and Olivia's laps, the younger woman falling across Olivia's knees before straightening up with a sheepish grin and apologizing for her pet's behavior.

"Just don't wander too far away from the car," Fin warns in an ominous tone, gesturing out the window toward the bleak landscape. "Did you two ever see that creepy movie called Deliverance, from the nineteen-seventies? This town kind of reminds me of that."

"Well, if I hear any banjos playing, we're going home immediately," Amanda mutters with a roll of her big blue eyes as she ushers Frannie out the door, and the dog responds by instantly taking off into the snow like she has just been let out of jail.

"Look, Liv, you know I respect the hell out of all you guys and I consider us to be good friends, but I just don't think I can spend the entire weekend cooped up in a cabin with the king of Christmas," Fin says in a confidential murmur as they watch Amanda and Frannie play in the snow together, the blonde detective leaning down to scoop up a handful of the white crystals and tossing them high into the air, much to her pet's delight. "I've just never been much of a fan of the holiday season."

"Well, Fin, considering we're only minutes away from our destination, I think it's a little late to change your mind about being here," Olivia replies in amusement, arching an eyebrow at her grouchy colleague. "Carisi is obviously the only one of our group who is excited for Christmas, but we need to make the best of things now that we're here, especially since he's being so generous with us. And we should probably ease up a little bit on all of the teasing. Did you honestly think you were being respectful when you referred to him as a pussy?"

"Well, he wasn't in the car when I said that, so he doesn't need to know about the comment," Fin snorts in response, Olivia watching as both of the older man's eyebrows shoot up in surprise when he seems to spot something outside. "And I don't really think I was wrong about that..."

Olivia turns her attention out the window to see that Amanda has stopped dead in her tracks as she watches their co-worker strut across the parking lot toward the car, Carisi's arms loaded down with various bits of Christmas paraphernalia, including enough Santa hats for the whole group and a giant stuffed snowman wearing a top hat with a cigar dangling from its mouth.

"Good lord, did he just raid that dinky little store for every single Christmas item they had?" Fin huffs out in disbelief as Carisi struggles to open the door and Amanda saunters over reluctantly to help him, the younger man's supplies swiftly spilling across the driver's seat and creating a giant mess of unnecessary holiday material.

"I'm gonna need that booze sooner rather than later," Amanda mutters when she takes her seat next to Olivia again, the entire interior of the vehicle promptly getting sprayed by flecks of slush as Frannie shakes herself off while settling onto the floor at the other woman's feet.

Alvin and the Chipmunks come blasting through the speakers once more as soon as the engine is turned back on, Carisi whirling around in his seat to grace them all with a giant grin, the Italian man looking remarkably like an exuberant puppy, and Olivia can't fight the sigh of trepidation that emits from her lips at her co-worker's next words.

"Okay, guys, who is ready to have a Christmas that none of you will ever forget?"

xxxxxxxxxx

*Song lyrics from Pentatonix's "That's Christmas to Me"