Pairing: Alex/Olivia

Spoilers: Season 11 of Law and Order: SVU, and basically all 20 seasons of the original L&O

AN: A triptych of events that takes place in the Magnetic Resistance universe, although you don't have to read that one first.

...

Texas Hold 'Em:

...

"Do you ever think we're crazy for hanging out with four lesbians?" Casey asked, nudging Connie's shoulder to draw her attention away from the climbing digital numbers of the elevator.

Ever so slowly, Connie turned her head and gave the redhead her most seductive smirk. "Why, do you think it's contagious?"

Casey quickly backpedaled. "I never said that. It's just..."

"That all four of them are constantly radiating sex pheromones and go at it like energizer bunnies while we just kind of watch in awe?"

"... I was going to put it a little more gently, but yeah. It's like a train wreck. You can't look away."

The elevator stopped, the chime sounding over Connie's sudden laughter. "I'll be sure to tell Alex that you think she looks like a train wreck, Case. I know she'll love that."

"That's not what I meant," Casey growled, stepping out of the elevator as soon as the door was open. She was slightly claustrophobic and barely tolerated the damn things. "I've taken on bigger and badder punks than you, Rubirosa. Tell Alex and you're a dead woman."

Since Alex and Olivia resided in the penthouse, it was just a short walk down the hall for the two women. When they paused at the door, Connie gave Casey a pointed look. "You mean you're a dead woman."

Before they could ring the bell, the door opened to reveal a beautiful dimpled face, sleek dark hair, and blinding white teeth. "Howdy, ladies," Abbie Carmichael purred, looking both women up and down. "What took you two so long? Lover's quarrel, or were you making out in the elevator?"

Casey snorted. "I'm only an honorary lesbian, remember? You know, actually being able to throw a baseball without breaking a nail? Owning a cat?"

"You keep telling yourself that, butch." With a devious smirk, Abbie turned to call over her shoulder. "Alex! Olivia! Put away the strap-on and come greet your guests! Lord, were you two raised in a barn?"

Casey blushed, but Connie started laughing. "If I didn't know you were like this all the time, I'd guess you were drunk, Miss Carmichael. And Casey isn't butch, not compared with Miss I-Wear-A-Gun-And-A-Sexy-Leather-Jacket Benson."

"You're right, Casey's not butch, she just has terrible taste in clothes and a strange affinity for sports," came the low, honeyed voice of Alex Cabot as she came out of the bedroom wearing a tight blue sweater, a suspicious red mark on her neck, and a smile. She examined the three women standing in the doorway over the frames of her glasses. "Liv isn't butch either, not always. I've seen her in a cocktail dress and lingerie."

"And I've seen her in nothing," Abbie quipped.

"Once, Carmichael, once. Now shut your mouth before I shut it for you."

"See?" Connie stage-whispered in Casey's ear, making sure that her voice was loud enough for Abbie and Alex to hear, "I told you they all go at it like energizer bunnies! It's incestuous."

"In your dreams, Rubirosa. You know I only invite you straight gals here so you can hand over your money to me." All four of them laughed, mostly because Abbie was notoriously bad at playing cards, even if she was an excellent lawyer and even more excellent company. Usually, Alex and Connie cleaned house, although Olivia had surprised them a time or two by creaming all five of them.

Alex raised one blonde eyebrow. "Invite them here?" she asked, hands on her hips. "Whose apartment is this?"

Abbie shrugged. "As often as I've had sex with Serena in the master bedroom, it might as well be my apartment."

"Some best friend you are. I give you and your girlfriend the master bedroom out of the goodness of my heart, and you defile it while Liv and I are camping in the guest room."

Abbie pretended to look offended. "Hey, I change the sheets, I do have some manners. Besides, if you and Olivia haven't already defiled that room, nobody can."

Casey groaned and grabbed Connie's wrist, dragging her past the two barbing attorneys and into the front room. "Let's leave Statler and Waldorf to their not-very-amusing commentary. I need some alcohol if I'm going to lose money and listen to a bunch of lesbians talk explicitly about their sex lives."

"You attorneys all talk too much," Olivia complained, wandering out of the same door as Alex. Like her girlfriend, she also had a suspicious red mark on her neck, but she did not seem to notice or care.

"That's why we don't play scrabble, mon amie," Alex cooed, cradling Olivia's face in her hands and giving her a soft, almost chaste kiss. "You'd lose every time."

"Hey, I beat you once! Remember?"

"I bet they were playing strip scrabble," Abbie couldn't help throwing in.

Alex laughed. "That wouldn't work, Carmichael. We'd end up with Olivia completely naked and me still in my power suit." Blue eyes glazed over as the attorney considered that idea. "Actually, that doesn't sound so bad..."

"Abbie, what's taking you so long?" an impatient Serena called from the direction of Alex's kitchen.

Abbie's teasing grin softened for a moment as she heard her lover's voice in the next room. "She's got me on a short leash," she admitted, although her expression clearly showed that she didn't mind it at all. The other four women waited patiently for the explicit sexual joke that was sure to follow, and when it didn't come, they all stared at her in astonishment. "What? Get your minds out of the gutter. Not everything I say has to be dirty. I think the four of you are just perverts."

That had all five of them laughing.

"Pot? The kettle called. Said something about you being black," said Alex.

Abbie just winked and headed for the kitchen. "Break out the cards and the tequila, ladies. It's poker night!"

...

"Oh! Oh! Do me! Do me!" Casey shouted, her voice amplified by the amount of alcohol in her system. She blushed when she realized exactly how that sounded, and everyone shared a laugh at her expense. "It was my Statler and Waldorf comment that started this game anyway," she muttered, trying to cover up her embarrassing faux pas.

Abbie rolled her eyes. "And she thinks I'm the perverted one. Fine, fine. All right, ladies, which muppet would Novak be?"

There was a brief pause as they all pondered the question, trying to come up with a suitable muppet. "Animal?" Olivia suggested, gesturing at Casey's red hair. At least, it was red for the moment. The attorney had been known to change her hair color on occasion.

Casey shot her a glare. "Animal? Come on, my closing arguments were better than 'mnah mnah'."

"At least you weren't Miss Piggy," Alex muttered darkly. All five of the others had adamantly agreed that the blonde pig was her perfect match. "Hit me."

Abbie slid another card over to the grumpy attorney, snatching her hand back quickly. When Alex stared at her, she explained herself with a casual, "didn't want you to bite it off."

Olivia sighed. The Detective had been a tie for Kermit and Sam the Eagle, neither of which she really resembled, but she wasn't complaining. "For the last time, Alex, we weren't calling you fat. We were just saying that-"

"Don't dig yourself in any deeper, Benson, or she might cut you off tonight," Connie said, trying to waggle her eyebrows and somehow lacking the coordination.

Olivia saw through the ruse, however, and punched her on the arm. "Why don't you stop pretending to be drunk, you card shark? You can't fool me. You've only had one and the rest of us are well on our way to happy land."

"Hit me," Serena said, studying the cards in her hand with a slightly irritated expression. Unlike Alex, who had a stone cold poker face, and Connie, who hid everything behind a façade of charming drunkenness, Serena was not very good at concealing her emotions while playing. If it wasn't for her numerous tells, she would have been a much better player. Her strategy, at least, was good, unlike Abbie, who had none and occasionally forgot the order of her cards.

"Okay, ladies, match it or fold. Do you know that the Honorable members of Manhattan's female judiciary also have a standing poker night date?" Alex asked, making all of them laugh. "Olivia, sweetie, your turn. Pay attention."

"I fold," she said, tossing her cards on the table. "And I don't want to think about what Petrovsky or Donnelly talk about on their poker nights. If it's anything like the stuff that comes out of Carmichael's dirty mouth, I'd be scarred for life."

Serena grinned, pushing several chips forward. "Okay, I'll take your bet, Cabot. Also, Abbie doesn't talk dirty-"

"Serena!"

"-in bed."

"Serena..."

"-unless I make her."

"I call bullshit, Serena, and I'll raise you, Alex," Connie said, adding her chips to the pile.

Serena grinned. "What, you don't believe me? I'll match you."

"Too steep for me," Casey said, peeking over at Serena's hand even though the round wasn't finished.

The remaining competitors decided to reveal their cards, resulting in three cries of disappointment from Abbie, Serena, and Alex as Connie took the hand with a full house, kings high.

"Dammit," Alex said, scowling down at her own full house, which had a pair of queens and three tens. "Losing is even worse when you're close enough to taste victory."

"Well, now you can taste poverty as I take all of your money, Cabot."

"I am never going to Vegas with her. Ever." Olivia whispered, making Casey laugh.

...

"What's the worst case you've ever worked?"

If the question had come from anyone but Alex, the others would probably have brushed it off. Perhaps Abbie would have offered a story about some slimy politician in DC, or perhaps Connie would have amused them with one of the 'lost in translation' stories that she was often privy to because of her Hispanic heritage, but coming from Alex, the question couldn't be ignored.

Olivia looked at her girlfriend and slowly pushed her glass over towards Alex, which the blonde finished in one long pull, despite the fact that it was beer and not to her taste. The detective knew from experience that Alex reached a melancholy 'middle' period while drinking that would only pass if she either drank more or waited to sober up. Although a little alcohol made her flirty, and a lot made her downright hilarious, a medium amount often drew out her darker thoughts.

"It's a toss up," Casey finally said, breaking the silence. "The case that got me disbarred was pretty bad, the one with the dirty cop that raped two fourteen year old girls..." The game had completely stopped now, and all eyes were on her. Slowly, she placed her cards face down on the table. "But I don't know... there was a mentally ill man that recreated the rape of his eleven year old sister because he was psychotic. That one really got to me."

"Mine's a toss-up, too," Alex admitted in a soft voice. "You all know how I felt about Sam's attempt at suicide..." she choked slightly over the word, which surprised Connie, who had never seen the blonde display so much emotion before. She looked over at Casey, asking the question with her eyes.

"Didn't want to testify to his abuse," she offered quietly.

"Cheryl Avery was a close second. I'll never forget watching her being wheeled in to the emergency room, covered in dried blood and bruises... or the expression on Sam's mother's face. God, she hated me, and I don't blame her. I hated myself."

There was another respectful pause.

"My moment of glory happened in court," Abbie said, adding her own story. "I was cross examining a woman who killed the corrections officer that raped her. She had a past with drugs and I wanted her locked up for the max." She sighed. "I was going at her pretty hard, when she suddenly comes out and says the rape was her fault. My brain just... stopped. All these old feelings of self-hatred came back. I offered her a plea."

Under the table, Serena took her lover's hand and squeezed, rubbing a comforting thumb over her knuckles. "The case that bothers me the most isn't about the victims," Serena said, surprising all of them. "Trust me. I've seen the same horrible things as you guys, things that keep me up at night. Dead kids, broken women, grieving parents... but the only thing that might disgust me more than a perp is someone manipulating that tragedy for their own ends with no regard for the loss." They waited for her to explain. "A defense attorney tried to use racism as a justification for a cop shooting. She spat in the face of law enforcement and made a mockery of decades of civil rights work."

Abbie looked shocked for a moment and tightened her grip on Serena's hand. "You've always sympathized with victims of racism and homophobia," she whispered, taking another drink with her free hand. "You're their champion."

"That's sweet of you to say. Maybe that's why that case bothered me. Someone using my sympathies and turning them into a defense for the scum of the earth."

Connie sighed. "The kids always get to me the worst. Maybe because I want to be a mother someday..." The others waited patiently for her to tell her story. Although Alex's face showed the most emotion, an unusual circumstance, especially at the poker table, all of them were affected by the stories being shared. "Mine happened in the courtroom, too. I was questioning a nurse on the stand about an abortion doctor's medical procedures... I wanted to vomit. I hate the entire pro-life, pro-choice debate, it makes my skin crawl, but what the doctor did wasn't even legal under Roe v. Wade."

As a unit the other five women turned to look at Olivia.

The brunette detective took a deep breath. "I've seen a lot of cases. The dead bodies of children stuffed in trash bags... one parent protecting the other and leaving kids in a cycle of abuse... women refusing to come forward and testify against their rapists because of shame." For a moment, Abbie flinched, but the others were staring at Olivia, and only Serena felt her lover's brief shiver. "But the worst..." she turned to Alex. "The Velez case was my worst. Seeing you bleed out on that sidewalk is what all my nightmares are made of."

Not caring that there were four other women at the table observing them, Alex fell into Olivia's arms, clinging to her in an uncharacteristic display of emotion and love. She had no idea whether she was trying to comfort Olivia or ease her own painful memories. As her lover's familiar scent washed over her, she buried her face in Olivia's neck, sighing as warm arms pulled her closer.

Emotionally exhausted, Abbie allowed Serena to embrace her as well, closing her eyes and forgetting all the events of her past, all the things that made her Abbie Carmichael, federal prosecutor, and simply remembering herself as Abbie. Even Casey and Connie hugged, despite the fact that they weren't a couple, overcome by the raw emotions hanging over the table and the need for touch, physical comfort, anything.

It was a long time before any more words were spoken.

Finally, Abbie cracked one eye open, her cheek resting on Serena's blonde head. "Get a room, you two," she said to Connie and Casey. Casey pulled away as though she had been burned, but Connie just laughed.

"I guess they know our secret, Darling," she said, trailing a seductive finger down Casey's arm. The redhead batted her hand away.

"I wouldn't sleep with you if you were the last woman on earth, Rubirosa. I'd probably do Olivia."

"Hey!" Alex complained, her voice muffled by Olivia's shirt. "Hands off, Novak. Besides, you're too butch for each other."

Olivia held her hands up in mock defense. "Hey, hey, I'm not getting involved in this one... you two can fight it out while I get the rooms and sofa bed set up. I think our poker game is done anyway."