LEGAL: I do not own any of the characters from SVU – they belong to Dick Wood and NBC – I just borrowed them for a play date… I promise to return as they were taken – Additionally, I have borrowed the music from Nickelback's The Dark Horse for inspiration.
Riding the Dark Horse
Chapter 1 ~ Shakin Hands ~ Present
I flew up the three flights to my apartment, anxious to get the grime of the streets off of me as quickly as I could. I threw open the door to my apartment and went straight to the stereo to blast my newest obsession, the latest from Nickelback Dark Horse. I put it straight on track 8 Shakin Hands, my current favorite song, which was a bit ironic given my profession and the fact that it talked all about a professional high-class prostitute. With a little laugh, I headed to the kitchen to grab a glass of wine to unwind and from there headed straight to the bathroom. I was a woman on a mission of relaxation and beautification with limited time to spare. I looked anxiously at the clock and realized that I had just 2 hours to get ready and get to the destination of the evening.
Upon entering the bathroom, I set the wine down on the side of the tub. I blasted the hot water and poured in some of my favorite bubble bath, Japanese Cherry Blossom. I watched the bubbles fill for just a moment before moving about the rest of the plan. I lit the matching candle that never left the bathroom. It always made unwinding so much easier when there was good music, wine and beautiful smells flowing around the bath.
With that, I headed to my bedroom and began slowly removing the articles of my career, and placing them in their home for the night. Detective Benson was in for the evening, tonight was all about Olivia, so first off came the gun, safety secured and hidden in the drawer of the nightstand, second the badge placed right next to it, and finally the handcuffs, the only piece of the trio that I had thought would be an interesting accompaniment to the evening. "Now that would be a little presumptuous, don't you think?" I thought to myself.
Once the items were secured for the night, I removed the remainder of the day's clothing, rapidly, in a hurry to get as far away from that world as I could for even just one night. I refused to let my mind wander and think of the files, the victims or the theories. Tonight was about me and it was going to take a lot of reminders for me to remember, but I was determined.
Settling into the bath, I grabbed the wine and took a few sips before resting my head back and sinking down into the water up to my chin. There was nothing like a hot bath at the end of the day to take the stresses away. This was often my cure for work overload. I let the warm water soak away all of my troubles and issues from the day, and then set about the hair removal process. I made sure to shave all the important areas, after all there would be some need to show them off for once. I laughed to myself, and thought, "As if they haven't been seen in worse shape before…. Anyway, this night is about you and no one else. Get dressed for yourself, primp for yourself, whoever else pays attention is just a bonus in the end."
I toweled off and set about the process of getting my hair under control, which some days was a bigger challenge than the cases I dealt with at work. I decided that putting it up would be the best way to show off the new earrings that I had purchased for the evening. As the music continued to blare around me, I got into the idea of primping and pruning myself for a fun evening out… even started to enjoy it. I laughed at myself in the mirror at even the thought of such a thing. It was not like me to be like this. "It must be the company I plan to be keeping this evening," I thought to myself. Once my hair had been completed, I headed into the bedroom to get dressed. Almost forgetting that I had just spent a good half hour fixing my hair, I almost went for a simple pullover shirt. "No there is hair with hairspray up there… we must find something hair friendly," I laughed to myself. Not being one of the "girls" I rarely had this problem, so it was hard to find something that would work out right. I decided on a red sleeveless wrap blouse. It tied in the back, but gave me the comfort of the button down shirts I was used to, while providing a decent view of the girls.
I sat down on the bed and put on the matching body lotion from my bubble bath on my legs and arms to smooth the skin after shaving. I then pulled on black thigh-highs and attached them to the bottom of the strapless corset that I wore casually under my shirt and added a beautiful matching lace thong that was a recent purchase. I grabbed my short black pencil skirt with the side slits up to the thigh off the ironing board, where I had left it this morning so that I wouldn't chicken out of wearing it. Finally, I grabbed my black side cutout five inch heels from the bottom of my closet and put them on my feet. I took a step back and took a quick moment to check it out in the mirror.
"Yea that will do," I scoffed before heading to the bathroom. In the bathroom, I put on my makeup and everything was going along flawlessly until I went to put the final touch on my lips. I hunted everywhere for my favorite lip gloss, Satsuma Lip Gloss. It was a must for any evening out and I always have tons on hand. In a fury, I threw apart the bathroom before it dawned on me where it was – sitting on my desk at work just waiting for me to bring it home.
I looked at the clock, 25 minutes until I was supposed to be at the restaurant, surely I could swing by and make it to the restaurant on time. I hemmed and hawed for a few minutes, before giving in and deciding to just run by the squad room and pick up my lip gloss. I just knew that my night would not work out for the best if I did not have it – it was like my good luck charm. I sighed at the thought of having to deal with the guys, but knew I was used to it and that I also knew how to ignore them. I would just run in and run back out and not say anything to anyone. I crossed my fingers and prayed that it would work. With that, I shut off everything, grabbed my keys, wristlet and cell phone and flew out the door, hoping like heck there would be available cabs outside. Luckily, I found someone getting out of one and flew into it. I gave the cabbie the station address and sat back to take a breath. He got me there in good time. I tossed him the fare and ran into the station. Not wanting to appear too rushed, I slowed my pace as I entered the squad room. I ran to my desk avoiding eye contact with Fin, Cragen and Elliott, who had pulled the night shift to work the case at hand. Cragen was the first to comment,
"You better have forgotten where you were going." I just grabbed my gloss, gave him a wink and spun on my heel to leave, but not before hearing Fin say,
"So, who's the lucky one tonight?" I just laughed to myself and flew to the front door knowing that I had just ten minutes before I would end up being late.
