Wishful Thinking
Disclaimer; I own nothing
Been a while since I have done a one shot and this came to me tonight. Can be stand alone but I was thinking of doing a couple of follow ups. Just some nice mush at this stage. Let me know what you think.
It wasn't often that Alex woke up disorientated, head pounding, with no memories of the night before. In fact she was sure the first and last time had been a few years ago in College. She winced as she opened her eyes to harsh sunlight streaming through the curtains of her own apartment. Thank God. Last time she had woken in a jocks room, semi naked and it had taken her weeks to convince the leach she had been drunk and not exactly thinking with a clear head when she returned to his dorm room. After a couple of weeks of anxious waiting to make sure there had been no repercussions other than a headache she had vowed never to do it again.
So much for her vow. Although as she tentatively lifted the covers and checked her state of dress underneath she was happy to notice that she was at least dressed in her pyjamas. This hopefully just meant that she had gotten trashed last night and hadn't done anything stupid.
Her head pounded, her mouth was dry, her bladder was full but at least her dignity was intact. All she needed to do was grab a drink and some Tylenol, empty her bladder and she should be good to have a lazy Sunday morning in bed. If her semi functioning brain was half right last week had been a slow week and there was nothing urgent waiting for her attention come Monday, just a court hearing at 11.00am.
Sighing she stretched, throwing the covers aside before pausing and blinking in surprise. She sniffed the air around her, thinking she caught a familiar scent before she shook off the thought. It must be wishful thinking, no way would the earthy scent of the delectable Detective Benson be clinging to the 1000 thread count sheets. She didn't think she had the scent of Olivia wrong, she had perched on the detectives desk often enough to drink in the scent on a regular occasions. Maybe she was suffering from Phantom smells, the reminder of what was fast coming to be her favourite scent on Earth.
She shuffled into the bathroom to go about her business at the same time trying to sort out the quagmire that was her memory from last night. The last thing she remembered was going out for drinks at Maloney's at the urging of Detective Benson. It was a rather uncouth, rowdy pub that catered to unruly cops, either first responders or detectives.
She remembered ordering the house white then deciding to stick to beers as it had left a lot to be desired. She remembered Detective Stabler and Detective Benson, Olivia, ordering a round before Munch was convinced. She didn't remember much after that, although she was suddenly hit with a vision of playing pool, or attempting to as the Detectives laughed at her. Hmmm, not her usual style.
Finished with her toilet she searched her cabinets for Tylenol, popping a couple of the white pills and utilising a cupped hand under the tap to help drink enough water to swallow them. Sighing she determined that she needed to go back to bed and get more sleep before unravelling the mystery of last night and she shuffled her way out of the bathroom and back to bed.
As she collapsed between the sheets she once again thought she detected the heavenly scent of one brunette detective. She sighed and shook her head, this little crush was getting out of hand. She was straight, Detective Benson was straight, and anything else was just wishful thinking.
Shortly thereafter she woke to the feel of someone slipping onto the bed beside her. She froze as several facts hit her at once. 1 - Someone was in her apartment when they shouldn't be, 2 - that someone was obviously indulging in a cup of heavenly smelling coffee and 3 that someone carried the exact same scent as Detective Benson.
Eyes flying wide open the same time she flew upright in bed, making sure the sheets were tucked up and under her chin like armour as her gaze connected with the smirking brown ones on the other side of the bed.
"Detective Benson, what are you doing in my room?" she croaked aghast at the situation. One would think Alex would be aghast at having at most, a work acquaintance sitting so casually on her bed like she owned the place. That would be sensible. However what Alex was aghast at was having the detective sitting there while she undoubtedly suffered from bed head, bad breath and suffering a hangover. She was sure the detective had only ever seen her 100% put together.
Olivia herself looked well put together, if not comfortable in a pair of what appeared to be borrowed track pants and hooded jumper. Both items were a little small on her, especially the jumper around the chest area. Alex told herself determinedly not to look, straight women did not look.
"I think under the circumstances you can call me Olivia don't you" the brunette cocked an eyebrow and took a sip of her coffee before reaching for a second cup she hadn't seen until now and handing it over "Here, I took the liberty to make you a cup. If I remember correctly from the precinct it's white and one"
"Um...thankyou" Alex blundered, gratefully taking the cup and sipping at the lovely brew to stall for time. What exactly had detective...Olivia meant by circumstances? She searched her memory bank for answers from last night, once again she found besides a few other pool playing memories it was a fog.
"Detective..."
"Olivia" the brunette corrected and Alex paused, trying to control the flush she could feel spreading up her cheeks. Damn fair skin.
"Olivia, I'm afraid last night is a bit of a blank" she admitted ruefully and the grin spread across Olivia's face. Oh no, she had the feeling she shouldn't have admitted that.
"Really? Not anything?" the brunette put aside her coffee and turned to face the blonde, her eyes searching her face.
"Well I remember drinking beer, Munch bought a round..."
"Wonders never cease" Olivia chuckled and then used a casual hand to wave for her to continue.
"I have a vague memory of playing pool" Alex admitted "I don't play pool"
"I noticed." Olivia chuckled still watching her intently "You don't remember our bet?" she seemed to ask casually, too casually.
"Bet?' Alex squeaked, oh no. No, no, no, no. She was never drinking again, not ever. Would she ever be able to show herself at the precinct again? "This is mortifying" she groaned.
"Never fear, it was just between us, by then you'd outdrunk the others and they left" Olivia teased, loving to see the ice Queen wasn't so cool after all.
"What about you?" Alex looked the detective over "You don't seem to be suffering from a hangover" She would really hate it if Olivia was one of these people that could drink like a fish without any repercussions. That would be so unfair.
"I stopped after a few" Olivia shrugged and Alex decided she was a very wise woman "Besides, someone needed to look after our inebriated ADA. You're very entertaining when drunk Alex" she tacked on.
"Oh God, just put me out of my misery now" Alex moaned slumping back down into her bed and taking refuge in her coffee, glaring at the brunette when she dared to chuckle. Olivia merely stretched out further on her bed like she owned it, tucking her hands behind her head as she stared at the ceiling. Seriously? "So ah what was the bet?" she enquired
"Lets see if I have this correct" Olivia smirked and Alex knew it was going to be bad "If you win, I was to go home with you, if I won I was going to go home with you"
Oh my God. Mortified Alex covered her face with her hand and just wished for the earth to open up and swallow her. What had possessed her, even drunk?
"Of course I had to ask what made you think I wanted to go home with you. Do you know what you said Alex?" Alex didn't dare look at the brunette for fear of dying of mortification. She just offered a mortified groan to let the detective know she was listening and the brunette chuckled "You said wishful thinking" Oh no, this was very very bad. Alex put her coffee on the nightstand and pulled the sheet up to cover her red mortified face. Olivia laughed harder.
"I'm so sorry, I have no idea what came over me. I'm never drinking again" Alex groaned from beneath the sheets.
"Well now, they say when one is inebriated the truth often comes out" Olivia teased the blonde, enjoying watching the beautiful younger woman squirm. The cool blonde had gotten under her skin from day one and initially had been too cold and stand-offish to be receptive to any overtures.
In recent weeks she had seen that side of the blonde mellowing, a smile here, a gentle word there, even sitting on her desk. Well, when they weren't in the middle of a full blown argument that was. Maybe it was her own wishful thinking. Gathering all her courage she had dared ask the cool attorney to come have drinks to celebrate a quiet week, you could have knocked her over with a feather when the blonde said yes.
She watched the blonde digest her words now, saw the flush once again spread across her cheeks and the idea that this lovely woman could be interest in her had her smiling. Of course she was a little overwhelmed herself, having never been captivated by a woman before and never one so clearly out of her league. Never let it be said however that she wasn't prepared to try everything just once and maybe from this small seed, something may grow.
"So I was drunk and you brought me home" it sounded like an accusation and Olivia's attention turned back to the woman beside her and found Alex watching her carefully. Probably looking for any tell tale sign of guilt or deception.
"That's right i did" Olivia nodded "Better I than one of the other officers sniffing around you."
Alex shivered, Olivia had a point, goodness knows what happened last night but she had a feeling it was nowhere near as bad as what she first thought or would have been if someone else had seen her home.
"Nothing happened did it?" She asked relieved and saw a smile twitch at the corner of Olivia's mouth.
"Not for the lack of you trying. You're deceptively strong for a skinny little thing" Olivia chuckled while admitting to herself it had been one hell of a turn on at the time and if Alex had been sober she'd have let the blonde have her way, lack of experience be damned. Seeing the blonde's discomfort she hastily informed "I helped you inside, at your insistence I helped you get ready for bed" she paused and sucked in a breath at the memory "You didn't like the idea of wearing your pyjamas, only agreeing when I agreed to stay with you" It had been out of sheer desperation to cover up the blonde at the time but the younger woman had been determined, not letting her renege and threatening to undress if Olivia didn't join her.
"I'm so sorry" Alex told her, biting the bullet and meeting the detectives gaze "I behaved totally unprofessionally, I put you in a bad situation. I can't explain it, I have never acted like that before. It will never happen again."
"Pity" Olivia murmured and ignored the disappointment in her chest, she should have known she was batting out of her league.
"What?" Alex asked startled, surely she hadn't heard correctly. Why would Olivia want it to happen again?
"Well I guess you weren't the only one doing some wishful thinking last night" Olivia admitted so casually Alex would have thought they were talking about the weather if it wasn't for the nervous tell tale tapping of Olivia's fingers on her thigh. Could it be?
"What are you saying?" Alex asked breathlessly while her heart beat in nervous anticipation in her chest. Was Olivia trying to tell her she was interested in her? If so did she dare explore it in the sober light of day? She had plans for her life, political aspirations. In no way did a lesbian relationship with an SVU detective fit into those plans. Her family and friends would have a heart attack.
"Well I guess I'm saying, hoping, you'll have dinner with me tonight" Olivia asked quietly, nervously, all signs of her cockiness gone. Alex could only stare at the beautiful brunette for long moments in time, so long it seemed that Olivia got the wrong impression "Right, Ok well that's slightly humiliating" she chuckled self depreciatively as she stood from the bed "I'll just get my clothes and go, I'll return these borrowed items to you at work tomorrow and we'll pretend this never happened. We'll stay professional right and just forget about it."
"Seven" Alex blurted, not realising she was going to say it or had made the decision until the word came tumbling out causing the dark haired woman to pause and look back at her.
"What?" Olivia croaked, shaking her head as if to clear it. Surely she hadn't heard right.
"Pick me up at 7 sharp" Alex reiterated suddenly finding confidence as the older woman floundered. Guess she had shocked the detective if her stunned mullet impersonation was anything to go by.
"Really, I mean wow... I mean you sure?"
"Detective" Alex crossed her arms and raised an amused brow.
"Yes?" Olivia couldn't help the smile that spread across her face.
"Go, you have a lot to plan. I'm not a cheap date"
"Of course not, I'd never.." the brunette spun away, then back again, Alex highly amused and gaining her cool persona by the minute. "I'll just go and... seven...right"
Alex chuckled as Olivia tore out of the room like a tornado, shaking her head and reaching for her cooling coffee, grimacing a little as she sipped it. Olivia had made it though so she'd at least drink half the cup. As she sat there and contemplated the last few minutes she had to wonder what she was thinking. A date with another woman was not something she should be getting into. Of course she could sit back, relax and enjoy it while it lasted. It was just a date for now, nothing had to come of it and if it was truly awkward they could chalk it up to experience. Of course if it went well Alex had a feeling things could get awfully hot between them.
Smirking she placed aside the coffee and threw off the covers, suddenly eager to greet the day.