Fic: A Roommate for Christmas 1 of 33

SVU: Alex/Casey fic.

Notes: This is a holiday fic based on the prompt: OMG they were Christmas Roommates!

I think I have proved that I am complete fandom trash, or at least coming along - when you are in the trope dumpster, you do as the Romans do and go headlong for the trope. Also, someone tell my muse what ficlet means… smh. Warning 2- swapped the order of the chapters to make it make more sense

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Casey followed the noise down the, still, surprisingly long hallway.

It wasn't just a noise though, and she knew it.

It was a yelp, or a whimper or whatever it is called when a nightmare is bad enough to make you call out in your sleep.

It was loud enough for Casey's ears to pick it up in the outer-room. (The living room? Did Alex call it a living room? Was it a sitting room? A parlor? Did penthouses have parlors?). It was loud enough to disturb Casey's sleepless self as she sat in in the darkened room alit only by the twinking white lights of Alex's beautiful Christmas tree.

It still felt a little bit intrusive, roaming about Alex's home. And now she was entering her bedroom uninvited.

But, she also knew nightmares. And this nightmare… she didn't want to let this woman, who had been so nice to her, go through what sounded like a bad one.

She found Alex deeply buried in the duvet and plush pillows, but her face was visible from the faint light in the hall and it was pained in a twisted grimace. Casey gently sat down on the bed next to her, found her shoulder and shook it.

The woman sat up so quickly that Casey nearly gasped. In sitting up, she was also suddenly so close to Casey, breathing quickly and trying to get her bearings. She seemed so much younger without her glasses, and her shoulders were nearly bare from the thin spaghetti straps of the silken camisole as her hair fell disheveled around them.

The feeling of intruding on such an intimate setting intensified ten-fold.

It got even worse when Alex put a hand out to brace herself on Casey's arm.

"I'm sorry," Casey said. "I just… you were having a nightmare."

"No… yes." she said, voice raspy before clearing it. "I was, thank you." She continued to be a bit dazed though, and in the battle to clear her thoughts and adjust to consciousness, she seemed to give in physically, and lowered her head to Casey's shoulder. And Casey nearly stopped breathing as her heart began to hammer in her chest.

Funny how trying to wake a woman from her nightmare, only confirmed for Casey the theory that the universe was laughing at her - that she was stuck in her own nightmare, one that had little to do with the actual danger she was in.

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The difference between Olivia Benson in full command mode and Olivia when she was venting (bitching) about a case never failed to unsettle Casey. And Casey had spent years being unsettled during her suspension.

Olivia had the situation locked up with an efficiency and a authority that had the police, bailiffs, DA's investigators, and yes, even the FBI agent, working together to assess the situation. She even knew Casey well enough to let her pace, because she was forced to be cooped up in the most secure room in the building.

"You cannot be 100% sure that they were shooting at me," Casey fumed.

Olivia, to her credit, did not roll her eyes.

Rollins did, though. "Right. You only received a death threat." She said. "And we've only lost one witness - to an assassin in this case already."

"Alleged assassin," Casey said, tiredly. "The forensic accountants and techs are still trying to pin down the Bit-coin payment clearly enough for court."

"Casey, it's Willis. You know it, we know it," she said. "A few hundred million makes you believe you can do anything and take out anyone willing to put you away."

"Yeah, but no matter how many times he shoots at me, I am going to put him in jail," Casey said, pausing her pacing.

"You need to take this seriously, Casey," Olivia said.

Casey leveled a cold glare her way. "I'm not letting an arrogant rich perp scare me away."

"What part of he's already had one witness assassinated," Rollings said, "Do you not understand?"

Casey sighed. "What is it you want me to do?"

"We have to look into the threat, a full investigation," Rollins said, trying to stall an all to common argument between Casey and Olivia. "Properly. And we have to let the Feds help." She nodded to the agent in the room. "And we need to get you somewhere safe."

"No," Casey said. "No way. I'll agree to the threat investigation and whatever you need for the shooting, but I'm not going into hiding."

"We're not talking hiding," Rollins said. "Just maybe a safe house."

"It's almost Christmas. I'm not going to spend Christmas in a safe house."

"We're going to need to search your apartment," Olivia said, holding a hand out to forestall the impending protest from Casey who was already shaking her head. "We're have a team chasing down evidence on Willis, and one on the assassin. But figuring out the shooter means looking at how he follows the targets, how he knew where you were going to be and you know we have to investigate fully so you have everything you need for court."

Casey inhaled deeply, building herself up for a full-strength argument when the door opened and Alex Cabot walked in.

"You called my boss?" she leveled at Olivia.

"In what world would I not be notified that one of my adas was shot at?" Alex said.

Casey crossed her arms, but stopped pacing. "They're just trying to scare me off," she used the most reasonable, calm tone that she had in her arsenal.

Alex just stared and tilted her head. "Are you really going to try that line - with me of all people?"

Casey's argument and bluster deflated in the face of the impenetrable wall that was Alex Cabot. "That's not fair," she stared at her chest and took a deep breath, muttering. "This is a entirely different situation."

"Please sit down," Alex said, assessing the debrief and planning session that was occurring in the judge's borrowed chambers, "And lets figure out exactly what this situation is."

Casey looked entirely unhappy about it, but sat down.

'Thank you' Rollins mouthed to Alex.

"First things first," Olivia said. "You need to stay somewhere else tonight, and maybe until we get this under control."

"Okay,"she said. "I guess I could stay at a hotel, or with a friend."

"If you're going to stay in a hotel, you might as well stay in one of our rooms."

"I don't want to stay in a safe house."

"Okay then, what is your proposed alternative?" Rollins said.

Casey shrugged. "I'll stay with a friend, that should be okay, right?"

"It will depend on what the building security is like, if we can insert a police presence…"

"My friend Julie is out of town, she'd let me stay at her place, and I wouldn't be a threat to her if she's not there and I'm followed."

"What kind of building?"

"She owns a brownstone."

"Okay, if I can put uniforms at the front and back exits, and maybe one inside with you."

Casey sighed deeply, "My friend Matt lives in a building with a doorman and security and cameras everywhere in SOHO."

"I can check it out, but I'd want to do a thorough sweep of the security."

"This is ridiculous. Don't I have say in this? It's probably just a bluff. I've been threatened before. I'm not -"

"You can stay with me," Alex said, stopping all arguments immediately.

"What?" Casey's eyes were wide. "Ah, no, uh, you don't have to do that."

"I live in one of the most secure buildings in the city," she said, her voice was calm and sure and low. "And I have a full guest room."

"That's true," Olivia directed at the FBI agent. "It's the Hayden Building." He nodded and looked around the room for cooperating nods. "I helped her vet it."

"Okay, lets get a secure transport to the Hayden building," the agent said into his phone.

"I can go to your place, pack a bag if you give me a list of what you want," Rollins said, patting Casey on the shoulder and giving her a reassuring squeeze.

"Okay," Olivia said, already moving on. "What's next."

Casey was left with her mouth hanging open.

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The first time she came home to Alex, she entered to find the woman standing at her floor to ceiling, built-in bookshelves looking for a particular volume. She was wearing the lighter, brown glasses, a perfectly draped white blouse, casual slacks, and polka-dotted chenille socks.

It was something about the socks, Casey decided upon looking back one day, that did her in.

She laid her key card down on the foyer table next to Alex's with a soft snick, and then retreated to the guest room to get rid of her briefcase and get out of her suit. After jeans, and a deep breath, she thought she could prove to herself, and maybe to Alex, that she couldn't be so easily disarmed by a woman in socks with an inscrutable smile.

She decided to head for the kitchen to get a glass of water when she encountered the woman again.

"Any news?"

Casey carefully set her glass down on the kitchen counter. "They're still having trouble tracing the bugs they found in my apartment." She shuddered at the thought of it still, knowing she still had not fully acknowledged the violations of her privacy. "Olivia said she's coming over later to finish up the paperwork on the threat assessment."

"She called, she'll be here soon."

"I am so sorry to put you out like this-"

"I've told you to stop apologizing."

"I'm-" she stopped herself, holing her hands up in front of her in surrender. "Okay."

Alex smiled, once again inscrutable.

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"This is ridiculous. And completely unnecessary," she argued.

The harder Casey resisted, the harder Olivia argued back. "And it's important - you've said that yourself to-"

"Don't call me a victim, I'm fine."

"I wasn't going to. But I also know that you want no room for appeals due to an incomplete search."

"Fine." Casey crossed her arms over her chest.

"Do you want to hand this part over to the DAs investigators?"

"No, just finish your questions."

"Maybe I should leave," Alex said. "Perhaps some privacy could make this easier."

"Nothing is going to make this easier and this will all be on the record so it doesn't really matter. So. Fine. Okay recent dating history, here you go. I am not currently seeing anyone. The last person I dated was Regina Barnes, an ER doc at St Ambrose Hospital. We dated 5 or 6 months. We broke up a month ago."

"Was the breakup amicable?"

"More or less. She had a bit of a roving eye."

"Anything there that was weird or made you uncomfortable at all? Was she ever a little too interested in your work?"

"She occasionally defined some medical terms for me, but she was never overly interested in my work. She thought it was dark and sad. Anyway, she was close with her family who are all doctors who do not like lawyers. Her brothers kept hitting on me. When her mother decided to like me and started to be nice to me - it pissed Regina off. So, I called it off, but it's ridiculous to think she'd hire anyone to take a shot at me."

"And before Dr. Barnes."

"It had been a while, but before her was Jamie Feldman, she works for the Brooklyn DA's office. And she has an young child and tight hours already, so there'd be no time to even harbor any ill will. Before Jamie you're looking to get into the time when I was suspended, so I really doubt it would have any importance even to a defense attorney looking for a red herring to blame this on." Casey finished filling in the information on the sheet and handed it back to Olivia.

"Okay. Thank you." Olivia closed the file with enough force to dislodge a paperclip. "Look," she said, taking a deep breath. "We're making progress. Fin thinks he has a line on the assassin. Since the judge gave us a few days-"

Casey scoffed. "The judge gave us a few days to get the case's new prosector up to speed."

Olivia sighed but didn't look too surprised as she collected the rest of her files and got ready to head back to work. "We're going to get this guy," Olivia said. "Both of them."

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"I know this is hard," Alex said, the tension in the apartment had eased considerably once Olivia left. "I'm sorry about your breakup, and having to rehash it this way."

"It's okay. It's not like this is fun for anyone else either."

"It sounds like you're better off without your ex."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"So, you didn't think she was the one for you."

"No. I don't think it would have been good for me if it had lasted."

Alex looked a bit concerned so Casey continued. "Nothing was wrong with her, it's just the way we interacted, I think I need someone… I'm not trying to make it sound like she was mean, because she wasn't mean, she was funny and quick, but I think I would have liked it if she was a bit nicer?"

"We should all have someone who is nice to us." She poured herself a glass of wine and offered one to Casey, and changed the subject. "I know you wanted to keep going on the case. But defense motioned hard to Judge Bradly, and-"

"And Judge Bradly, in particular, doesn't like a hint of a conflict of interest," Casey said accepting the wine. She took a sip and then sighed. "I know. But they could have at least given it to you," Casey said.

"Cutter's good. Jack is even planning a press conference tomorrow."

"I know it was a power move… but truly, you're better than Cutter. He doesn't have the same magic you do," she said so absently that it could only come across as earnest. "I've never seen him make someone quake in their shoes and scare them into a plea deal."

"Thank you," Alex said. "I'm sorry if it feels like everything is being taken away from you."

"Well," Casey said. "At least I have some of my other cases. Though magically," she smirked, "They all seem to be ones that can mostly be handled from my office."

"Huh, how about that."

Casey shook her head. "It's a little like house arrest in a really amazing apartment."

"Thank you," Alex smiled. "But people on house arrest generally relax and try to enjoy their downtime."

"What, you expect me to lounge around in my pajamas watching Christmas movies on cable?"

"Nothing wrong with a little holiday indulgence. But if your backup sleep ware that Rollins retrieved for you is anything like you wore last night, then you can't really call them pajamas," she smirked and her eyes nearly twinkled with amusement.

"They were my pajamas."

"It was most certainly an old running t-shirt from some race and lounge pants. Something you sleep in, but definitely not pajamas."

Casey shook her head, but let out a huff of a laugh at the teasing. Alex looked pleased at the sight.

"Make yourself at home, Casey. Try to relax and deal with being safe. Mindlessly browse through tv, or put music on or even Christmas carols while you read."

"I don't want to annoy you."

"I have more patience than I let on at work,"she winked, and sad down on the couch with her wine, crossing her legs and propping her chenille-socked feet up on an ottoman.