DISCLAIMER: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and all characters are property of NBC and Dick Wolf…with some play given to USA. All supplementary characters are completely fictitious.

WINDOW

Chapter 1:A Beginning

Pain. What a way to start a day. Begrudgingly, the groggy detective pushed back cold sheets and sitting up, massaged her temples. She squinted one eye open, then the other, gaging the brightness of the light streaming in through drawn shades. Sighing heavily she glanced over at her alarm, still softly crooning The Beatles tune that had nagged her awake. Slapping the snooze haphazardly, she wrestled with the idea of calling in late to work in lieu of catching a few more Zs and trying to rid herself of this pesky headache, but decided to take the high road as she swung her legs out of bed and willed herself to stand. Clutching her aching head she sauntered into the bathroom and groped for some painkillers.

It was her own fault. She should have seen this hangover coming from a mile away. Celebrating the successful closing of a case with a round of drinks at a local haunt had always been something she had enjoyed, but the events leading up to her inevitable morning-after hangover took on a new twist when their newest addition to the SVU team joined them in their post-case celebration. Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cabot had been with them for several months now, but had never seen fit to join them before last night. Frankly, everyone was a bit shocked.

Fin had actually choked and sputtered some forgettable expletives as he jerked his head in the direction of the door and tried to find his breath. The detectives looked up and Olivia craned her neck to see what had caused Fin such surprise. There, looking majestically out of place and perhaps a bit bewildered was their ADA. Olivia was dumbfounded, her heart jumped into her throat and the room grew hazy. She made a mental note that she was done for the night, telling herself the alcohol had gone to her head. She had encountered similar reactions during previous meetings with ADA Cabot, but always managed to excuse them away blaming lightheadedness on not eating and a quickening of her pace to the excitement coming off an interrogation. The truth was, Alex made her nervous, but she wasn't ready to admit that to anyone, least of all herself.

The evening proved to be entertaining, though a bit constrained. It was true that Alex had been with them for more than a few cases and shown herself capable of not only handling the cases, but holding her own while butting heads with the often stubborn detectives, but that didn't mean that seeing her in the musty bar wasn't a surprise. The guys –Elliot, Munch and Fin– who always had a great time cracking jokes and getting rowdy, seemed to be on their best behavior as soon as Alex pulled up a chair. The jokes were more mild, the humor less crude. And as for Olivia, she usually kept right up with the rest, playing it fast and loose with the rest of the guys, but tonight, all she could do was make comments in passing and nurse her beer. She couldn't find her tongue. She caught herself clutching the bottle and staring over the rim at the charming ADA.

She couldn't help but agree with Fin's appropriate reaction when Alex came into the bar. Alex looked…amazing. She was always so put together, a perfect jigsaw of finely tailored suits, seemingly made just for her tapered waist and showing of her sleek legs which ended in perfectly coordinated shoes. Tonight was no exception. Olivia let her eyes drift around the table but couldn't resist letting them rest once again on the carved alabaster features framed by silky blonde hair. She let a light sigh escape her pursed lips, which seemed to attract the attention of her companions. She didn't notice their quizzical glances until she felt a quick kick under the table.

"Ow! Elliot! What the f..." she trailed off noticing all eyes on her. She felt a blush start to rise and blossom in her cheeks and hastily excused herself. "Um...I need...I'll be right back..." Olivia headed toward the bar and when she was sure her tablemates were back to their own conversation made a quick left and darted into the restroom.

Pushing open the door she found herself in front of the mirror. "What the hell just happened? Pull yourself together!" She gripped either sides of the porcelain sink and leaned in close to the mirror, knitting her brow before giving the tap a quick twist and splashing some cold water on her face. Rubbing her eyes, she groped for a paper towel. When her hands had found it and she had patted her face dry she opened her eyes to a very statuesque woman smiling coyly, hands on hips.

"Alex!" Olivia was obviously startled, "what are you...how did you..." Olivia struggled to find the words. Her skill of conversation seemed to be failing her tonight.

"Ever the cunning linguist, Liv" Alex raised an eyebrow and looked smugly at the flustered Detective. "Elliot saw you bee-line it in here and asked if I'd check on you." Olivia bit her lower lip and looked utterly uncomfortable. Great, she thought, Now Cabot thinks I need a babysitter, Thanks El. Suddenly the room felt small and Olivia could feel the heat rise in her face once more. "I'm fine" she exerted, "Really. It just got a little...warm."

Alex looked thoughtful, weighing Olivia's words carefully. She took a step toward Olivia. Her hand caught the Detective's wrist and she kept her eyes low, as if watching her hand act of its own accord. "Well, I hope everything's okay. I was really enjoying your company..." Alex let her words trail off as she raised her eyes to meet Olivia's. Olivia's breathing became forced, as if Alex had taken all the air in the room. She grew conscious of Alex's light touch of her wrist and upon meeting Alex's eyes quickly withdrew it. Butterflies.

What's am I doing? What is she doing? Olivia screamed in her head. Alex saw the panic flash in Liv's eyes as her hold on the Detective's wrist was broken. "I really...I mean...I have to go." Liv couldn't breathe. The room was closing in and she had to get outside. Now. She edged around Alex and hastily pushed open the door, leaving the blonde ADA alone in the restroom. She rushed to the table and absent-mindedly tossed out a twenty as her partner raised an eyebrow. "You okay, Liv?"

"Fine, El. Fine. I'm fine. I just...I need...I'll see you tomorrow." She grabbed her leather jacket off the back of her chair and rushed out the door. Once outside, she let herself fall against the brick apartment building next door and sucked in the air she so desperately needed in the moments prior. She felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. With her back against the wall she doubled over, and wrapping her arms around her abdomen let out a frustrated sigh before hailing a cab.

As she slipped her legs into the cab and absent-mindedly gave her address to the driver she glanced back at the doors of the bar. She could almost swear she saw a flash of blonde, the woman in the doorway watching the cab as it shrank into the distance.

This morning all Liv had to show for her frustration was a nasty hangover and the notion that she'd have to deal with a potentially awkward situation with a particular ADA.


"Ah, looked who just blew in, fellas!" Chimed a more than amused John Munch from behind an open manila folder, "It's the SVU phantom! Where'd you head off to last night, Liv?" Olivia winced inwardly as she had not registered the ribbing she'd have to endure for skipping out last night.

"Hot date," She said coyly, playing along. She had found it better to indulge than divulge as it were, "with a bottle of water and some aspirin, my friend. Though I must admit it didn't do me much good." She emphasized this last point by rubbing her right temple. Just as Munch was about to reply, Cragen came barreling out of his office.

"Liv, My office. Now." Liv sighed at his harsh tone. He was chipper this morning. "And where's Elliot?" She shrugged hotfooted it after Cragen to his office. Cragen shut the door behind them. "Where's Elliot?" He echoed himself.

"Dunno. Haven't seen him yet, just got in."

"Well, fill him in later , this can't wait. We just got handed a new case by homicide, and this one's a doozy. I want you and Elliot to go over and check out the scene, pronto. Looks like it may have been contaminated, so be thorough. Be careful. The press will be all over this one and I want us to be able to say we're covering all our bases. Are we clear, Detective?"

"We're clear. But why all the "to do?" I understand that cases handed to us by homicide take special precident, but why is it priority one?" Olivia was used to getting the rundown from the Captain, but something in this new case seemed different. There was something he wasn't telling her.

Cragen paused as if wrestling whether or not to disclose this information. "Homicide got a call around midnight from some seedy hotel saying they had a dead pro in one of their rooms. Said somebody better do something about it cause they have more customers coming. So their guys get over to this place and they find the girl lying in a tub, covered in blood dripping from gashes in her wrist. There's blood everywhere, this place is a real mess. The scene looks too staged, so it's not immediately ruled as suicide. They take a closer look and find signs of a struggle..." He paused. "And fluids on the vic not to mention pretty much everywhere else you can think of. They found multiple prints, but so far nothing has come up in the system. They sent the fluid sample to Warner and she should have results later today."

Liv looked quizzical. "Cap, this all sounds awful and we'll get right on it, but I don't see what all the fuss is about."

Cragen's eyes drooped at the corners, "What's going to make this so difficult is the room was rented under the name "Mitchell Kensington" who doesn't exist, we ran it. But what we did turn up was that Mitchell Kensington is a known alias used when Randall Newsome stays in a hotel here in New York."

"Randall Newsome..." She knew that name. "Oh my god! You mean that sleazy new politician that wants to run for congress who's been splashing his name and his views all over the Times?"

"The very same" Cragen looked a bit distraught at Olivia's obvious tone of displeasure.

"Oh. I'm going to enjoy taking this guy down." Olivia knew it was unprofessional, but the way this guy was thinking, he'd have everyone living in a homophobic, anti-feminist, jingoistic society, where women belonged in the kitchen and men belonged in their smoking jackets in a private club. She couldn't wait to get started on this case. First she'd need to find Elliot. And maybe later she could even hunt down Cabot and apologize for her behavior the night before.

Her day was starting to look a whole lot brighter.