She seemed to be surrounded in a halo of sparkling light, her blond hair shimmering – and Olivia realized that she must have drank too much. Alexandra Cabot was a beautiful woman, but an angel? She swished what was left of the red wine around in the bottom of her wine glass and leaned her hip back against the bar. No, it was quite possible she was an angel. Unaware of the Detective's intense scrutiny, the ADA was tipping her head back, laughing with her entire body at something her handsome companion was saying. It was a glorious sight. To keep from involuntarily moaning at the smooth column of Alex's throat and the way her blond hair fell across her shoulders as she was overcome with mirth, Olivia swallowed the last of her wine in one large gulp. She nearly choked on it as Alex dropped her chin again, setting her elegant hand on her companion's bicep, an intimate gesture. The corners of her delicious lips were still turned up into a half-smile.
"Let me take that," Fin had snuck up on her, she was so intent on watching Alex through the haze of alcohol and adoration. Deftly, he plucked the wine glass from her tightening grasp, helping to avoid it being shattered in her iron grip. He set the glass down on the bar and then put his arm around Olivia's shoulders, trying to turn her to face him. "Hey, Liv."
She glanced over at him before fixing her gaze back on Alex. The halo around her was growing, nearly blotting out the view of the man with whom she was speaking. Maybe she should have eaten something before coming out to the party, the last rational part of her brain argued, but it was far too late for that. She had so little time between wrapping up the paperwork on her latest rape/homicide case and the start of the Annual Policeman's Ball, that she'd only been able to run to her apartment and throw a new outfit on before she had to catch a taxi. And once she had arrived, she realized belatedly she hadn't eaten since the night before.
Elliot and Kathy were nowhere to be seen, so she had made a beeline directly for the bar. Hard liquor seemed a little tacky considering how much she had spent on the shoes and dress she was wearing, so she had opted for the classier wine, though she had consumed an amount now that was bordering on obscene. Really, she had meant to keep it to a minimum, but then Alexandra Cabot had glided into the room in a crimson dress with a daringly low back and her hair brushing her creamy, nearly bare shoulders on the arm of some WASPy Prince Charming in a tuxedo. But, the quantity of wine was beginning to pay off, she mused, the halo spreading out from Alex had completely obscured the man in the tuxedo, now she could pretend that Alex was simply standing there looking charming and waiting for Olivia to sweep her off her feet.
"No, you really can't. Girl, pull it together!" Fin shook his head, tugging on Olivia's shoulders a little harder. Her surprise at the fact she had spoken some of her thoughts aloud caused her to weaken against Fin's grip and she finally allowed herself to be pulled away. He gently but firmly guided her toward the dance floor and away from both the bar and the enthralling ADA. "You are like thirty seconds from making a fuckin' fool of yourself, Liv. Why don'tcha dance with me instead?"
She couldn't find a way to unfurl her tongue in the proper motion to create audible, comprehensible sounds to respond to Fin's question, but he was willing to take her silence as acquiescence. They reached the middle of the sparsely populated dance floor, and he slid one hand around Olivia's waist and took her other hand with his free hand. She swayed against him, wine was not conducive to dancing and she had never really been good at in the first place. "You know that gettin' in a drunken brawl with her date will not endear you to her, right?" Fin murmured, his voice low enough that it wouldn't carry over the music.
"Nothing can endear me to her. I've practically thrown myself at her for months, and here she is with a man," Olivia slurred out. The part of her that was capable of good choices was deeply grateful for Fin's intervention. They weren't the closest detectives in the SVU, but he had always projected a strong sense of solidity to her. Like a big wall. The idea made her nearly giggle.
"Have you told her that's what you're doing, or are you expecting she's pickin' up ESP with her glasses?" Fin flinched as Olivia brought her heel down on his foot. Who would have thought such a capable and physically impressive detective would be such a klutz?
Olivia was saved from having to answer by a tap on Fin's shoulder. "Mind if I cut in?" Elliot's asked. Fin released Olivia, easing her into Elliot's arms to avoid her falling on her ass. Kathy was standing behind and to the side of him, her eyebrows raised in concern. Fin offered her his hand and they began to dance, leaving Elliot to prop Olivia up.
"You are sloppy tonight, Liv," Elliot stated, a hint of disapproval tainting the obvious concern in his voice. He looked crisp in his dark navy suit and maroon tie which Kathy had undoubtedly picked out for him. She had given up entirely on dancing, the effort was too much for her in her current state. Instead she leaned against Elliot, grasping his coat in two balled fists.
"Not sloppy." She shook her head, but there was simply no way to clear the fog out of her brain or hide the obvious slur in her voice. "But it's her fault!" Detective Stabler was a man with highly trained deductive skills, so he didn't require any further explanation to assume that somewhere in the vaulted ballroom there was a blond ADA, probably looking fabulous because she always did. Something more than Alex's presence had to have driven Olivia to drink so much. They had been partners a long time, and he was well aware of the fact that Detective Benson could drink heavily without arriving at this sloppy sorority girl level. Usually, when she got drunk she got angry – really, dangerously, aggressively angry, but tonight she was just sort of gooey and upset. He wasn't sure that he liked this side of her.
"Did Alex kick your puppy?" Elliot voice was sharper then he meant it to be. He decided to give up on getting Olivia to do anything other than sway and step on his feet, and supported her toward a table on the edge of the dance floor where he could watch Kathy dancing and laughing companionably with Fin. Olivia slumped thankfully into the chair that Elliot pulled out for her and folded her arms across her chest. She was wrinkling her new dress, a black sheath with tiny straps that showed off her arms and shoulders to their best effect, but she didn't care.
"No." Olivia dropped her chin to her chest and wished that she had something to drink. "She brought a…date."
Instantly, Elliot's eyebrow arched. The cogs in his brain turned and ground together, processing and analyzing the evening from a new direction like the good detective he was. "And you're mad that date isn't you?" His voice sounded startled even to himself. Sure, he had noticed over the years that there was great chemistry between his partner and the ADA, and he and the other boys in the Unit had mentioned in passing over drinks how hot the two of them together would be. Olivia had never, ever mentioned anything to Elliot that suggested she desired something romantic. They went to dinner sometimes and Olivia expressed admiration for Alex's brains and her passion, but he had always assumed that Olivia was straight.
"I'm mad her date is so insipid looking." Olivia countered angrily. "He's a pasty, boring looking little worm with an ugly tie."
Elliot rubbed his palms together. An emotional Olivia was always a minefield that had to be carefully treaded, but a drunk lesbian Olivia seemed like the sort of challenge that it was unfair for a man to have to take on while he was wearing his nicest suit. "If you promise to stay here and not move, I'm going to bring Fin back to keep you company. Kathy and I'll go have a look at Alex's worm. A little recon."
Olivia reached over and punched Elliot's arm, or she tried to except that she missed. "You learn how to do that sort of thing in the Marines, right?" She laughed softly. "A little recon on the ADA. Be sure to find out of if she likes her worms straight out of the ground, or if she washes the dirt off them first."
No matter how hard he tried, Elliot just couldn't figure out anything to say. The sound of the music and the rising tide of the hundreds of little conversations filled the room and Elliot decided it was easier to say nothing at all as he stood up. He leaned over and spoke directly into Fin's ear before offering his arm to Kathy and disappearing through the crowd toward the bar and the corner of the room where Olivia had seen Alex last. Fin straightened his coat, smiling after Elliot and Kathy before making his way toward Olivia's table. He contemplated calling Munch to see how long before he arrived to help Fin babysit, but finally decided against it.
***
Elliot was more than a little intimidated by the sight of Alexandra Cabot dressed to the nines standing beside a man wearing a tuxedo that surely cost more than Elliot made that year. Why did Olivia have to be gay for the most striking and intimidating woman that Elliot had ever worked with? Not to mention the richest. Kathy squeezed his arm reassuringly and then took the lead, pulling him over. "Alex Cabot, you look stunning!" As quickly as he could, Elliot had explained the situation to Kathy as they moved through the crowd. She had seemed substantially less surprised at the revelation then he had been; something he intended to ask her about later. "And your date, you have to introduce me!" she gushed. It was moments like this that Elliot's heart swelled with pride and love. Maybe Kathy should have been in the CIA.
Alex was quick on her feet, a skill that served her in good stead as an attorney in a high pressure situation like prosecuting sex crimes. Smoothly she turned from her conversation with her companion and offered Kathy a large smile. They had met once or twice at police functions like the one they found themselves at now, and Alex had found she liked Stabler's wife for her openness and warmth. She flashed the same smile at Elliot and set her hand on her companion's forearm. "This is Samuel Galbraith, he works in the District Attorney's office down in Boston." Elliot noticed that she didn't mention her personal relationship to the man who was obviously her date. "And you look absolutely amazing, Kathy. I love what you've done with your hair."
Kathy blushed slightly, patting at the elaborate up-do she had spent all afternoon perfecting. She grabbed Elliot's arm, leaning into him as she continued in a voice pitched at that peculiar tone that women used at parties to be friendly to acquaintances, "So, how long have you to been dating? I didn't think you would have time for a love life, Alex. Poor Elliot here spends more time with his gun then he does with me."
Alex laughed lightly at the joke and then took a sip of white wine from the glass she was holding. Everything about her screamed elegance and class. No wonder Olivia was falling down drunk over the girl. Elliot sighed to himself and tried to remember the last time he had seen legs that nice. "My job is time consuming, but I'm afraid it's not as rough as Elliot's," Alex offered modestly. Still, much to Elliot's growing annoyance, she didn't answer Kathy's question. The ADA had always played things close to the chest – she was probably a shark at poker, too.
Undaunted, Kathy pushed on, turning her attention to Samuel who had been amiably quiet up until this point. Olivia was practically a member of her family, after all, and she simply couldn't return to the distraught woman without slightly more information than that Alex's date had a rich sounding name. "You're an Assistant District Attorney too? It must not give you much time to come up from Boston to see Alex."
He shook his head. "I don't get up to New York often, but when I do, I make it a point to check in on Alex. Uncle Harrington would never let me here the end of it." His manner was smooth and friendly as he leaned toward Kathy. "We are in something of a competition, to see which one of us is the better prosecutor, but I'm afraid my win-loss record is nothing compared to my beautiful cousin's."
Now there was some information that Kathy and Elliot could take back to Olivia. Her date was her cousin, and therefore not a real date at all. Maybe that would soothe her some, though in her current state, Kathy doubted she would be any good to herself in catching the ADA's attention. Elliot must have had the same thought, because he tugged Kathy close again. "Well, its been a pleasure, we had best get back to Olivia and Fin or they'll think that we've snuck off."
***
Olivia's throbbing hangover headache had left her nearly crippled at her desk all morning. The rest of the squad had mostly steered clear of her, but Elliot continued to shoot her glances that alternated between disapproving and concerned throughout the morning. Munch and Fin had volunteered to take the day's only call earlier, and left before either could say anything clever about the situation. She was leaning her forehead against a stack of paperwork on her desk, appreciating how cool it felt, and clutching a Styrofoam cup of stale coffee also resting on her desk in one hand when Alex glided into the precinct the morning after the disastrous Policeman's Ball. Her heels clicked smartly against the tile, alerting Olivia to her presence without forcing her to lift her throbbing head. She rolled her head to the side and opened her eyes, affording herself a view of the right side of her desk which was quickly obscured by the appearance of an Armani-clad hip as Alex leaned against it. It was black, back-slit skirt suit day, Olivia observed but her headache disallowed her from enjoying it in the same visceral way she usually did.