Author's Note: I decided to explore a "what-if" scenario where Olivia develops alcoholism. Eventually a relationship between Alex and Olivia will develop. This story takes place in the Season 11 time frame, so Elliot is still Olivia's partner. We may have some Munch, Cragen, and other surprise visitors as well. Obviously, SVU and all characters belong to Dick Wolf and company. I'm just checking them out of the library for a little while.
Olivia held up her drink and stared at the mouthful of liquid left at the bottom. Tipping her glass forward, she gave a salute to the air. "Cheers to another night of my life down the drain," she announced to the empty room.
She polished off the remains of her drink and set the glass down on the coffee table. Olivia steadied herself on the couch's armrest as she struggled to get to her feet. She bent over to retrieve the glass from the table, but instead, she accidentally knocked it to the floor. The glass softly thudded as it landed on the area rug.
"Good thing it was empty," Olivia chuckled. She left the glass on the floor and focused instead on balancing herself. Once she was on her feet, she slowly made her way to the kitchen.
Olivia opened her refrigerator and surveyed its contents. The shelves were mostly bare except for a white takeout box of unknown origin, a few cans of diet soda, and Olivia's last remaining bottle of vodka. She grabbed a soda can and the vodka and set them on the countertop. She then took a glass from the cabinet and placed a few ice cubes in the glass. Olivia poured vodka over the ice, until the glass was half full, and filled the rest with soda. She then clumsily swirled the mixture in the glass, spilling some on the kitchen tiles.
She ignored the mess on the kitchen floor and stumbled back into the living room, holding both her drink and the vodka bottle. Olivia sank into the couch and reached for the remote. She turned on the television, mindlessly flipping through the channels until she found the Mets game. The combination of the alcohol and the steady sounds of the ballgame soon lulled her into a deep sleep.
Olivia slowly opened her eyes and groaned. Sunlight streamed through the window as the living room came into focus. Glancing over at the cable box, she saw the time. 10:06! Crap! She was incredibly late for work. Why didn't her alarm ring? The detective tapped on her phone screen but it remained black. She forgot to charge her phone. As soon as Olivia got to her feet, a wave of sickness hit her. Her head was throbbing and her stomach was brewing. She raced to the bathroom just in time to vomit. As she finished throwing up, she heard pounding on her door.
"Liv! Hey, are you in there?" shouted the familiar voice of her partner.
"Just a minute," she yelled.
She glanced at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. "You look like hell," she thought to herself.
She walked back into the living room and opened the door.
"You look great," Elliot remarked as he stepped through the doorway.
She glared at him. "I'm really sick. I had some Chinese food from a new place around the corner last night. Bad decision," she lied.
"You forget about calling?" he asked.
"I was so sick I forgot to charge my phone last night. So my alarm didn't go off and I was in such a deep sleep that I only just got up a few minutes ago"
"Ok," Elliot replied. In his usual detective mode, he scanned the room. He noticed the glass on the floor and the alcohol bottle on the coffee table.
"You sure it was that food?" he asked skeptically as he smirked at her.
"Well, I had a drink last night with dinner, but it was certainly not enough to make me throw up my intestines!" she shot back.
"Charming visual. We were worried when you didn't show up this morning. I'm glad that everything is ok - well, relatively speaking. I'll let Cragen know about your food poisoning. Let me know if you need anything," he offered.
"Thanks," she said, as she escorted him to the door.
"Feel better, Liv," Elliot responded.
"I will," she assured her partner, as she locked the door behind him.
Elliot grinned as he walked towards the elevator. He could see right through her food poisoning excuse, but he would relay the news to the captain. "After all," he thought, "she works herself to death, and everyone's had a night like that."
