Author's Notes:
Written a while ago in answer to a challenge: Alex and Olivia get trapped in an elevator but DON'T do anything smutty (lol). After this one the pace of posting will certainly slow down. But I appreciate beyond words all the comments along the way. :)

~~ Comfortable ~~

They had been snipping at each other all week, all month, actually. Okay, pretty much since Alex had joined the unit. But this case, well this case had thrown them together and forced them to work even more closely than usual and spend more time together than usual and it was really getting to them both, culminating in a rather explosive argument in the squad room earlier that day.

And if Cragen hadn't ordered her to go apologize to their ADA, Olivia wouldn't find herself where she found herself at that moment: stuck in an elevator with the aforementioned ADA.

It was 6:30 when she had arrived at One Hogan Place. Olivia had honestly expected Alex to have been long gone. But when the doors slid open on the floor where Alex's office was, they did so to reveal the blonde just heading out. The attorney had been surprised to see the detective but with Olivia's assurances that she didn't need to see Alex in her office, that they could talk on the elevator, the attorney got in.

The doors had closed and the elevator started down. Alex had just started to ask what it was Olivia wanted to talk about and Olivia had just started to launch into her ordered apology when there was a loud screech and the elevator jerked to a stop.

A moment panic was followed by 5 minutes of getting someone on the elevator's emergency phone was followed by 10 minutes of waiting for a rescue estimate. An estimate that came in at between 30 and 60 minutes. At the earliest.

Upon hearing that, Olivia immediately plopped down unceremoniously onto the floor, too weary and tired from the day and the week to contemplate standing that long. She then watched amusedly as Alex seemed to examine the floor of the elevator, judging its cleanliness and obviously finding it unworthy. But also obviously not wanting to stand, either.

Finally, gingerly, Alex lowered herself to the ground, bending her knees and legs under her a little awkwardly; the short skirt she had worn that day not made with sitting on an elevator floor comfortably and modestly in mind. When she finally got herself settled with a slightly disdainful look on her face she looked over at the elevator's other occupant.

Only to find Olivia smirking back at her, obviously amused at the blue-blooded lawyer's discomfort.

Her nerves frayed, her annoyance at the situation, and her lingering anger over this afternoon's argument had her biting out her question, "Does this amuse you, Detective?"

Olivia shrugged. "SVU is a dirty assignment, Counselor," she spat back, "I'd think you'd have learned and gotten used to that by now."

"Oh, so getting stuck in here with you is just some big metaphor for my life and not just pure rotten luck, is that it?" God they were both in a bitchy mood.

Olivia's only response was to chuckled derisively.

Alex glared at Olivia, her expression demanding an explanation for Olivia's scoff. Olivia obliged, "It just figures that you'd consider being forced to spend time with me 'rotten luck'."

Alex's face hardened, getting ready to rise to the bait. Getting ready for another argument. Oh, she wanted to. She wanted to rip into Olivia for that unfair comment. Man, part of her wanted to so badly. So annoyed, was she, but more at herself and her own uncontrollable reactions to this infuriating and frustrating and maddening and...and incredibly sexy woman sprawled out on the floor across from her.

So instead of biting back, she took a deep breath. Her shoulders eased down. Her face softened. "Actually, that's not at all how I think of getting to spend time with you," she said quietly, purposefully changing the term Olivia had used to describe it, "I'm sorry if it sounded that way."

Olivia stared at the blonde, trying not to gape at her. That was not at all the response she had been expecting. But with that response she had a choice. Alex had just offered the first olive branch. She could throw it back in the blonde's face or she could pick it up. It took her only a moment to decide on the latter. She exhaled loudly and looked away, "It didn't sound that way. I knew that's not what you meant."

If Olivia had been looking she would have seen Alex cock her head slightly to the side, "Then why did you say it?" The question wasn't accusatory, it was genuinely curious.

Still without meeting the blonde's eyes Olivia clenched her jaw and considered. Fighting with herself over what to say, how much to reveal, whether to reveal it. For in a heartbeat the whole day and evening had flipped from one of confrontation to one of intimacy and her head was still spinning from the change. But ultimately, she was powerless to keep quiet and powerless from speaking the truth to the blonde. She shrugged, "To get a rise out of you. To push you away," she answered honestly.

It was Alex's turn to try to keep from gaping. After several moments of silence, Alex found her voice, "Why?"

Olivia finally brought her head up, just enough to meet Alex's eyes and in those eyes was something Alex had never seen there before; something that took her breath away: vulnerability. But Olivia's words served only to confuse her more, "You make me uncomfortable."

"What?!" Alex didn't think anything made the strong detective uncomfortable and couldn't imagine why *she* would make her uncomfortable.

Olivia looked away again, "I don't like it when people see me. Or really know me. So I don't like telling people, telling anyone, anything about me."

Alex was now extremely confused. Olivia never talked about herself, true, but she didn't understand how this related to their current situation at all. Alex voiced her confusion, "Olivia, you really *haven't* told me anything about you. I don't understand..."

Olivia went for broke, again powerless to keep quiet, and interrupted the attorney, "I know. But whenever I'm near you, whenever we're this close, I find myself wanting to." It was said barely above a whisper.

Alex's breath caught at Olivia's confession. She was stunned. She was honored. Her heart fluttered of its own will and her stomach flipped. She was silent a long time, just processing the completely and utterly unexpected information and all that it meant and the completely and utterly unexpected turn this evening had taken. Her mind unable to fully catch up, she just continued to sit there in silence staring at the downcast face of the brunette across from her.

After the silence had dragged on and on, Olivia started reading it wrong and her heart sank. She chuckled harshly and shook her head as she berated herself, "Great, Benson, just brilliant." She then addressed Alex, "See? *This* is why I want to keep you at arms length. Because I know I'll start saying stupid shit around you and..."

Alex finally found her voice and interrupted Olivia's rant, "You make me uncomfortable, too."

Olivia stared at the blonde, not sure she'd heard right and not sure what it meant, "What?"

Alex looked at Olivia square in the eye. It was time to ante up. "Being this close to you, it makes me uncomfortable, too."

Olivia saw the blush start to creep up the counselor's neck and onto her cheeks and couldn't fathom what that was all about. "Why?"

Alex started blushing more but was determined to press on with her confession just as Olivia had been strong enough to make hers, "Because when I'm this close to you, *talking* is one of the last things on my mind, okay?" Alex looked anywhere but at the detective.

But if she had been looking at the detective, she would have first seen the confusion. And then understanding. And then the shock. And then, ultimately, the return of amusement. The evening had just turned unexpectedly yet again. "So I wasn't just imagining that you were taking a few lingering glances at my cleavage after I sat down and you were still standing?"

Alex looked up to see the sly and teasing smile that had crept onto the detective's face. She blushed even harder but welcomed the change in mood and the banter. Her own lips curled into a smile, "Just as I wasn't imagining you trying to sneak a peak up my skirt at the same time, hmmm?"

Alex felt quite satisfied with the pink tinge that finally colored Olivia's cheeks this time.

"Touché, counselor," Olivia, guilty as charged, smiled embarrassedly.

A comfortable silence fell over them then as their smiles faded and they just looked at each other, both trying to judge where to go from here, both having admitted one way or another, their feelings for the other. However, it had all happened so fast and so unexpectedly that neither had any clue what the next step should be. Or even if there should be a next step. Or whether they should just leave it as is and retreat.

But having turned this corner, unexpected or not, retreat was something neither of them wanted. However, that didn't change the fact that they both had a lot to lose.

So they started at each other for a bit longer, gauging each other. Yet somehow the silence remained comfortable and even content. And that's what allowed Alex to risk it. "Despite what I said, how I feel... it's not just about sex, you know."

Olivia swallowed hard and nodded, appreciating the risk Alex took and returning in kind, "And despite what I said, please believe me, how I feel, it's not just about wanting to talk to you."

At Olivia's words and at the return of a slight blush on Olivia's cheeks, Alex smiled. A smile that Olivia returned before she grew serious once more. But just as she was about to speak again, the elevator jerked and they both startled. Then much to their surprise, the elevator resumed moving downward and they both had to scramble to their feet before the doors opened at the lobby.

They stepped out into the big marble foyer, their surroundings and situation so different than just seconds before that they're heads spun yet again. After assuring the building management and the night guard and elevator repair people that they were fine, really, they were fine, they just wanted to go home, they walked out of the building into the cool New York evening, no longer sure that the previous 45 minutes and their previous conversation had even taken place. Wondering if it were all some sort of dream.

After walking a few steps in silence, truly not sure what to say, the intimacy of the elevator both broken and at the same time still surrounding them, they finally both spoke at once.

"You want to go somewhere..."

"Would you like to..."

They both smiled and laughed at little at their own awkwardness. "You go first," Olivia said.

Alex took a breath, "I was going to ask if you'd like to go somewhere to talk."

Olivia smiled again, "And I was going to ask if you'd like to come up to my place."

They both chuckled and blushed a little again and then just looked into each other's eyes. And they both spoke at the same time again, "I'd love to."