Disclaimer: I don't own any of the SVU characters. All matters pertaining to SVU are owned by Dick Wolf or their respective creators.
A/N: I really went back and forth about posting this. I would have liked to have at least half of it finished first, but when I get into something I just want to post it so badly. While I've written fan fiction before of other couples on other sites, this is my first one here and of these two. Feedback would be greatly appreciated. I'll do my best to update once a week, but I can't make any promises. Sometimes I'll be so excited I'll want to update sooner, and other times I'll unfortunately be too busy. Now, I tend to have a thing where I always write and edit my writing in the middle of the night, so I apologize for any mistakes I didn't catch. Also, my rating for this story could change at any given moment, as I have yet to complete the story or all the ideas for it. If any of you think at any time I should change the rating, let me know. So, I will stop now and let you read it already!
Single sounds emanated from the darkness inside Alex Cabot's unresponsive mind. Those sounds soon turned into letters, which merged together into syllables. An invisible thread wove its way through her mind, desperately trying to pull the syllables together. She could feel the word straining to form as a whole, but the thread just wasn't yet strong enough to assemble anything feasible.
What little control Alex could muster in her mind was set to work, never missing a beat. She singled in on the way the syllables sounded, straining to make any sort of viable connection. Her mind flashed with the blurred image of a woman, but she couldn't identify who it could possibly be.
She didn't understand why, but finding a connection felt very important at the moment. Alex strained her mind as far as she could, but to no avail. She tried to focus in on the scene with her other senses, hoping one of them would be stronger than the rest. There it was, just as she had hoped, a very familiar scent. It wasn't much to go by, but she knew she was so close to an answer that she couldn't possibly stop.
So a familiar scented woman had spoken to her, Alex Cabot; this wouldn't be very helpful. Alex knew many women, but none of them seemed to be coming to her mind at the moment. The syllables continued to swirl in Alex's mind, along with the now only slightly fuzzy image and the scent of coffee mixed with vanilla.
In fact, Alex's mind was so focused on this one moment that it never even occurred to her that her body wasn't responding at all. Every tiny but of energy left was focused on the word she was desperately trying to find. And then it hit her, like a flash from the headlights of a car; Olivia. Olivia had been the coffee and vanilla scented woman in front of her. No, actually she had been above her, kneeling. But why?
Alex pulled her memory, desperate to know what the detective had said to her that felt so pressingly important. Her lips strained to let the word roll off, so hard, in fact, that they moved. Right there, suddenly, Alex left the darkness of her mind as the word finally manages to escape into the air. "Sweetheart."
Olivia had called her Sweetheart.
Alex unknowingly and involuntarily smiled as she opened her heavy eyes and took in her surroundings. The sight wasn't much to see. In fact, aside from four clinical white walls, a silver metallic medical stand with a fluid bag, and the rumpled roll-away bed she was placed in, the only other thing in the room was a man by the name of Hammond.
He had a stern look on his face as he watched Alexandra's confusion from his spot in the corner. He leaned against the wall with his shoulders pushed against it by his supporting legs. When Alex tried to sit up to get a better look at him, she grimaced and automatically reached for her shot shoulder. The blaring pain brought back her memories of what had happened that night.
"Where's Olivia?" Alex asked quickly without thinking. Realizing her slight mistake she hesitantly added, "And Elliot."
Hammond noticed her immediate slip, but knew it wasn't his place or business to say anything about it. "Do you recall what happened Ms. Cabot?" he asked sternly, never letting the expression on his face ease or even falter slightly.
"I- I was shot," she stated blatantly. Alex was already sure she didn't like where the conversation was going.
"By Velez," Hammond added with an almost solemn tone in his voice. "Ms. Cabot, you aren't safe here as long as he is still running free," he paused, unsure how to tell the news to the ice hard attorney who could easily bite off his head at any given moment.
"So you want to put me in witness protection," Alex spoke coldly for him. Her eyes drifted to the walls in search for a window, but none could be seen. The room was as empty as her eyes had just become. For a moment she froze in thought, her face showing her spaced out trance. Just as suddenly she came back to reality and looked up sharply at Hammond. "I'll go," Alex stated coldly.
"Okay, good. Now, your funeral is in two days. We move out tomorrow so-." Alex quickly cut him off.
"But only on one condition," she said fiercely, allowing her inner ADA to smoothly take over once more.
Hammond knew he would never stand a chance against the whip-fast lady and nervously asked her what that condition may be.
"I'm assuming Olivia and Elliot think I'm dead. They were with me that night and that is too much pain to put on anyone in their positions. I want to say goodbye to them, to let someone know the truth," Alex said, her mind already made up with or without Hammond's approval.
"I don't know Cabot, that could be dangerous. You would be safer if we moved you straight away…," Hammond hesitated. On one hand, he knew the dangerous possibilities of what she was asking. On the other hand, he was well aware of the wrath of Alex Cabot if she didn't get her way, and he wasn't sure he really wanted to face the later.
"My mind is made up Hammond. No goodbye visit, then no witness protection," Alex said firmly. She was holding his caving gaze with her own fiery glare that could make even the most criminal man uneasy. Alex knew undoubtedly she would get her way. She always did.
Without another word, Hammond pulled his cell phone out of his back right pocket and dialed the familiar numbers of the 16th precinct. Alex smiled to herself, letting this small win distract her from her twisted up life for a short second.
"Cragen, its Hammond," the man spoke firmly into the phone. "Yeah, look I need you to send Detectives Benson and Stabler to that location we talked about," Hammond continued as he put his left hand into his pocket and let out a loud breath. He made eye contact with Alex, signaling her with a mix of 'you win,' and 'I hope you know what you are getting yourself into, Cabot.'
After a few moments of silence from Hammond, Cragen must have been talking on the other line, Hammond snapped his phone shut and placed it back in the original nesting pocket. "Get dressed Cabot, they're on their way to our meeting place now," Hammond said forcefully. Normally Alex would never oblige to being told in any way what to do, but in this case she had no other choice. Hammond pointed with his now cell phone free hand to a small pile of clothes on the corner of her bed. Hammond exited to a spot just outside the door so Alex could have enough privacy to change, yet still be well protected.
A fire rose within Alex as she hurriedly put on the clothes Hammond had left her, well as quickly as one can with a bullet hole and an arm in a cradling white sling. Alex tolerated the pain, however, for she now knew she would get to see Olivia. She didn't know or understand why this made her feel so happy, why a thousand butterflies had just suddenly left their resting perches in her stomach and began flittering around like mad, but it provoked an all-too-familiar drive within her that practically shoved her out the make-work hospital door.
Hammond stood somberly ready for her to her left when she exited the doorway. 'Jeeze, does the guy ever smile?' the ice princess herself pondered as she was swiftly led down a long stone hall and out into a dark van. The large vehicle with tinted windows and a bulletproof shell may have been meant to protect the ADA, but it only made her feel more vulnerable, fragile to Velez and his men.
Alex hesitantly watched out the windows. She was aware they were tinted to keep prying eyes out, but somehow she felt like every set of eyes they passed could see right through the glass. They were even seeing through her, like a ghost. 'So this is how it feels to be dead,' Alex thought to herself. In fact, the blonde was so lost in thought about how transparent she felt that she didn't even realize the car had come to an abrupt stop in a seemingly secluded area.
Alex felt her heart begin to beat rapidly. There was no doubt in her mind; Olivia just had to be nearby.
