A Day at the Mall

by Dani-Ellie03

Olivia blinked in surprise. That was certainly the last thing she had expected to come out of Casey’s mouth. “Why does she want you, of all people, to take her dress shopping?”

Title: A Day at the Mall
Summary: Olivia blinked in surprise. That was certainly the last thing she had expected to come out of Casey's mouth. "Why does she want you, of all people, to take her dress shopping?"
Spoilers: None.
Pairing: None.
Disclaimer: Casey Novak and Olivia Benson belong to Dick Wolf and NBC. It's not my fault he left the character vault unlocked for a little bit. ;)
Author's Note: Lynn and Stephanie Novak have appeared in "Stalemate" and "A Day With the Cole Brothers" and are completely un-canon. Still not tagging this AU, as Casey had no canon family. I'm technical like that. Hopefully, this is funny to people other than me. Enjoy!

---

"All right, you have to help me."

Olivia Benson started at the sound of the familiar voice. Last she knew, she had been alone in the squad room, finishing up her end-of-the-week paperwork. She looked up and raised a single eyebrow at Casey Novak, who was standing next to her desk, switching her weight from one foot to the other. "Okay, we have to attach bells to your briefcase or something," she muttered, mostly under her breath. "What are you, the stealth ADA? I never even heard you come in."

"I'm serious, Liv." Casey grabbed an empty chair, pulled it up to the side of Olivia's desk, and eased down into it. "You have to help me."

"What's the matter?" Olivia asked, setting down her pen. Now that she was thinking about it, the ADA did look slightly panicked. Not enough to make Olivia's cop instincts kick in, but certainly enough to cause a tiny little bubble of concern to make its way to the surface.

"Stephanie wants me to take her shopping for a dress for the eighth-grade graduation."

Olivia blinked in surprise. That was certainly the last thing she had expected to come out of Casey's mouth. "Why does she want you, of all people, to take her dress shopping?"

Casey sighed, shrugging helplessly. Clearly she was wondering the exact same thing. "She says Sarah would make her get something babyish. Honestly, I can see that, and apparently Sarah agrees because she gave me the okay to take her this weekend--"

"Oh, that's right!" Olivia gave her friend a smile. "You have the girls this weekend."

"Yes." This coming weekend, Casey was performing her Good Sister Duty and watching her brother Jeff's daughters while he and his wife Sarah went on a rare overnight getaway to Atlantic City. The ADA loved spending every moment she could with eight-year-old Lynn and fourteen-year-old Stephanie, so a weekend of babysitting wasn't so much a duty as it was a fun girls' weekend. However, it was obvious that Casey's tolerance for girls' weekend activities was restricted to manicures and cheesy movies. "But Olivia, I can't take her dress shopping!"

"Why not?" Olivia asked, truly confused.

Casey threw up her hands in frustration. "Do I look like I know the slightest thing about what kind of dress is appropriate for a fourteen-year-old to wear to a school function while still being in style?"

The detective bit back a laugh. "And you want my help because you think I do?"

"I don't want your help, I want your company," Casey clarified. "I can't stand shopping as it is. You know me, get in, get what I want, get out. Steph, however, loves shopping. Loves. It. She'll be trying on dresses for hours and hours while I'm sitting there, thinking of ways to gouge out my eyes with the Chap Stick in my handbag. Add that to the responsibility of picking out my niece's graduation dress--"

"Okay, you're stressing," Olivia chuckled, holding up her hands in surrender. "I get it. Doesn't Lynn hate shopping, though? You could kind of use her as an excuse to keep the afternoon from getting too out of control."

Casey lifted a brow at the detective, clearly indicating that she disliked the idea of using her eight-year-old niece as the bad guy. "Lynn can't stand shopping, because she truly is a girl after my own heart. Unfortunately Steph already took care of that and promised that she'd give her five bucks so she can play that Dance Rebellion game or whatever the hell the damn thing is at the arcade if she doesn't whine too much."

Olivia smirked, both at Casey's run-on sentence and the sisters' antics. Bribery really shouldn't have been funny, but somehow everything was funny when the younger Novaks were involved. "Dance Rebellion?"

"Rebellion, Revolution, something like that. The last time I paid attention to video games, the big players were Mario and Yoshi. I have no idea what's going on anymore." She sighed, seemingly out of nervous energy, and ran her fingers through her hair. "So. Will you come with me and help keep me sane? Please?"

The detective smiled almost indulgently. "You make a convincing argument. I'll go with you, only because I don't think the squad could handle having a blind ADA."

How Casey could want to both kiss the detective and strangle her at the same time, she'd never understand. "Thank you," was all she said out loud. "Meet me at my apartment tomorrow morning at ten?"

"Sounds like a plan." Olivia smiled comfortingly at the ADA but couldn't resist getting in one final dig. "I'll bring the cherry Chap Stick if you bring the regular kind."

Casey simply exhaled through her nose, clearly not amused.

-----

At exactly five minutes of ten the following morning, Olivia stood in the lobby of Casey's apartment building, scanning names to find the correct buzzer. She pushed the appropriate button and a moment later, a tiny voice exclaimed through the intercom, "Hi Olivia!" Before Olivia could reply, Lynn apparently turned away from the speaker. "What, Auntie Casey? Oh, right. Sorry." The girl's voice grew louder as she once again addressed the intercom directly. "Who is it?"

Olivia bit her lip to keep from laughing out loud. "Hi, Lynn. It's Olivia."

"Hi Olivia!" Lynn repeated, even more excitedly than before. She must have turned away from the intercom again to address her aunt because Olivia just barely heard her ask, "Can I let her in now?"

Casey obviously gave her permission because just a second or two later, a loud buzz indicated that the front door was unlocked, at least for the next moment or so. Olivia stepped through the door and up to the lobby elevator. She inhaled deeply as she pressed the call button and waited for the car to return to the lobby, shoring herself up in preparation for an afternoon of shopping. She hated shopping almost as much as Casey did, but she had a funny feeling that the younger Novaks would make the afternoon fun.

As Olivia stepped onto the elevator, she let out a breath through her nose. A couple of years ago, she would have laughed at anyone who tried to tell her that she would actually enjoy spending time with the squad's ADA, a fourteen-year-old, and an eight-year-old. In that time, however, she and Casey had become good friends.

Unfortunately, Olivia's first encounters with Casey's family had been business-related. A little over a year ago, Lynn's entire elementary school had been taken hostage with Casey and Olivia inside. And just a few months ago, Stephanie had come into the squad room to report her science teacher for being inappropriate with her during an after-school study session. Due to Stephanie's testimony and the testimony of a few of her classmates, the teacher had been sentenced to twenty years behind bars.

Now Stephanie was about to graduate from the eighth grade. The ceremony was set for the following Friday, meaning that the girl was cutting it pretty close with the outfit thing. Today and tomorrow were, realistically, the only shopping days left. It was clear that today's shopping trip was not going to be over until the perfect dress was found. At least, the most perfect dress they could find.

The elevator dinged on the correct floor and Olivia stepped out into the hallway. Before she'd gotten even halfway down the corridor, Casey's apartment door opened with a soft whoosh and Lynn bounded outside. "Olivia!"

"Hi, kiddo," Olivia said, smiling at the little girl. Lynn wrapped her arms around Olivia's waist and grinned up at her. "I'm happy to see you, too."

It never failed. Every time Olivia saw Lynn, she was always surprised by how much the little girl looked like Casey. The straight, dark red hair, the bright green eyes, even her mannerisms and speech patterns were classic Casey. No one would have questioned it if they had said Lynn was Casey's daughter and not just her niece.

Grinning widely, Lynn took Olivia's hand and led her into the apartment. As soon as Lynn closed the door behind the two of them, Casey exited the kitchen with a cold glass of water and handed it to Olivia. "Oh, thank God you're here."

Olivia raised her eyebrows at the ADA. "One of those days already, huh?" she whispered after taking a sip of water.

"Let's just say that I'm not exactly looking forward to this shopping trip."

"I'm not, either," Lynn spoke up, tugging at Olivia's pant leg to recapture her attention, "but Steph told me she'd give me five bucks so I can play Dance Dance Revolution at the arcade when we're done."

Casey snapped her fingers and smiled at the detective. "That's the name of the video game she likes! I knew it sounded like some kind of '80s war movie."

Before Olivia could even think of a retort, Stephanie emerged from Casey's bedroom, a small purse slung over her shoulder. She was the very picture of a teenage girl on a mission. "Hi, Olivia!"

"Hey, Steph." The detective smiled at the young girl. Although the Novak genes were dominant in Lynn, Stephanie was practically the spitting image of her mother. Brown hair that was so dark it was almost black hung just past her shoulders. Her dark brown eyes sparkled in the sunlight and she had a tiny sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of her nose. "Do you know what kind of dress you want?"

"Something summery," Stephanie answered, returning the detective's easy smile. "I don't exactly have a specific dress in mind or anything. I figure it'll help keep the shopping trip shorter for you guys if I go in with just a vague idea."

"Summery but not four-year-old party-girl frilly," Casey said to Olivia, reciting Stephanie's specifications from memory. "I'm also not allowed to let her get something too high above the knee, something that doesn't cover her shoulders, something prom-ish, or something you guys would use for undercover work, if you get my meaning."

"What meaning?" Lynn asked.

Ignoring her sister's question, Stephanie frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "Never in my life have I wanted to wear something worthy of undercover work. Why doesn't Mom trust me?"

"She does trust you, Steph," Casey assured her. "It's just hard for her to admit that her first-born is growing up. Is old enough to have to pick out a dress for eighth-grade graduation. Heck, it's hard for me to admit it! I remember--"

"When I was born, three days late," Stephanie finished in unison with her aunt. She rolled her eyes but there was a hint of an amused smirk on her face. "Yeah, I know."

"I don't understand!" Lynn spoke up, commanding everyone's attention by stomping her little foot on the floor. "What undercover work are we talking about?"

Casey laughed and ruffled her little niece's hair. "I'll tell you when you're older, Peanut."

Lynn smoothed her hair back into place and knit her brow in a displeased frown. "No wonder adults are so much smarter than kids. No one ells kids anything."

-----

The Novaks and Olivia had been wandering the mall for close to four hours. All the department stores had been searched, most of the tween boutiques and junior stores had been walked. They'd even gone through the attached Target. Lynn had found a cute headband that Casey had bought for her, but Stephanie had not been able to find a single thing she liked. Olivia didn't fault Stephanie for that, though; there wasn't much of a selection of summer dresses anywhere.

Although it was June, the summer sundresses weren't out on the racks yet. The dresses on clearance were leftovers from the winter collection. There were a couple of cute floral skirts that Steph had liked in in the spring collections, but she hadn't been able to find a short-sleeved blouse she liked to pair with any of them. Part of the problem was that crinkle blouses were very much in fashion so they were everywhere. After trying one on, though, Steph had said it made her feel like a cupcake.

As the foursome exited the sixth tween store and the strains of some generic teenybopper song faded from earshot, Casey sighed. "Let's just go to Sears."

"No one my age shops for their clothes at Sears, Aunt Casey," Stephanie said. The tone of her voice was tired, worn-out, and discouraged.

"It's the only store in the mall we haven't gone into yet." Though Casey's tone was even, Olivia could hear the hint of frustration in it. She knew she wasn't frustrated with Stephanie, though, just the situation. "I know you hate shopping at Sears, but we could at least try. Worst that happens is we walk out of there with nothing. Best-case scenario, we actually find something."

Stephanie considered that for a moment and seemed to see the wisdom in the course of action. She nodded. "All right, let's go."

"And then if we find something at Sears, I can play Dance Dance Revolution!" Lynn exclaimed as she happily licked away at a chocolate ice cream cone. The decision to make a pit-stop for ice cream had been Olivia's. She'd hoped the treat would bring both the energy and morale levels up a little. So far, it had worked.

"What is this Dance Revolution thing?" the detective asked, smiling when Lynn threaded her free fingers around hers.

"It's this really fun game where music plays and these arrows scroll up the screen and you have to step on the arrows on the ground when the arrows on the screen get to the top," Lynn explained in between licks. She giggled when she felt a little bit of the ice cream transfer to her nose.

As Lynn let go of Olivia's hand to wipe the ice cream from her nose, Olivia raised her eyebrows at Casey. "This game sounds like something I need to see."

"She has a home version," Stephanie said, glancing over her shoulder to roll her eyes at her sister. "Trust me, it gets very old very fast."

Lynn simply grinned, almost proud of the fact that she drove her sisters nuts.

The four of them finished their ice cream before heading into Sears. They wandered through the juniors section first, looking for anything that could work as a summer outfit. Again, there were a couple of really pretty skirts, but they couldn't find any blouses that weren't ruffled or otherwise too girly for Steph's tastes. "This is completely impossible," Stephanie grumbled, putting both skirts back. "Forget it. I'll just wear something I already have."

"You're not going to wear something to already have, Steph," Casey soothed. "You only graduate from eighth grade once." She swiped a hand across her forehead and tried to think of something. Suddenly, realization lit her eyes. "Wait a second. How tall are you?"

"Five-three," Stephanie answered hesitantly. It was obvious that she had idea where her aunt was going with this particular line of questioning. Truth be told, neither did Olivia.

"Come on," Casey grinned, taking her older niece's hand. "We're going to Petites."

And there, in Petites, Stephanie saw it. If it had been a movie, a beam of light would have shined directly on the pale blue sundress. As she got closer, she realized that what she thought at first were small polka dots were in fact tiny white flowers.

Smiling almost dreamily, she took the dress off the rack and held it up against her body. The hem just brushed her knees, which met her mother's length requirement. The sleeves were short but would cover her shoulders, which met her father's requirement. There was also no way this dress could conceivably be used in any of Olivia's undercover investigations. The one thing in the negative column was the scoop neck, but she hoped it wouldn't cut too low for her comfort. "I need to try this on," she said, turning around and holding it up to her aunt.

"It's gorgeous, Steph," Casey agreed before pointing the way to the dressing rooms.

As soon as the girl was out of earshot, Olivia leaned in close to Casey and whispered, "You think her parents will be okay with that dress?"

"Oh, I really freakin' hope so." Casey sighed and answered the question in all seriousness. "Provided the neckline doesn't scoop too low, I think we've found the dress. Did you see her face light up when she saw it? Thank God."

"Indeed. If only you could have thought of checking Petites like, three hours ago," Olivia teased.

"Hey, Detective, I didn't hear you suggest Petites."

"Touché."

Moments later, Stephanie emerged from the dressing room with a wide grin on her face. "It's perfect, isn't it?"

It truly was. The pale blue of the fabric contrasted beautifully with her dark hair. The lines of the dress were almost adult but the floral print was fun and cute enough for a girl just into her teens. "I already have white shoes at home that'll match it," she continued, twirling once in front of the mirror outside the dressing room. "I know Mom has a white sweater if it winds up being cool out next week. I even have earrings that'll match!"

"I think we've found our Holy Grail," Casey said with a grin.

Stephanie bounced her knees slightly before running off to change back into her jeans and T-shirt. Once again, Olivia waited until she was out of earshot before addressing Casey. "Didn't Jeff and Sarah give you a budget?"

"Oh, I don't even care," Casey said with a small shrug. The shine in her eyes made it clear that she was excited that this was the end of the shopping experience. "If the total is above what they gave me, which I don't think it will be, I'll cover the difference myself."

Although it sounded as if she was simply tired of shopping and wanted the afternoon to be over, Olivia could tell she was happy that Stephanie had finally found she really loved. If it came down to it, Casey probably would have bought the dress for her niece herself simply because it had made the girl so happy.

Stephanie came out of the dressing room then, practically skipping. Even Olivia had to smile at the pure bliss on the teenager's face. "All right!" Lynn exclaimed, jumping up and down while holding onto Olivia's hand. "It's DDR time!"

-----

Arcades were dark and mostly noisy, loud places. Olivia wasn't entirely sure how today's kids could spend hours upon hours in them and not come out with either a headache or mild hearing loss. At least Lynn was on her last few tokens, which meant they'd be getting out of there before all four of them needed to be fitted for hearing aids.

Though Olivia was certainly no expert, she had to admit that Lynn was surprisingly good at Dance Dance Revolution. As a matter of fact, she was so good that a small group of kids had crowded around the machine to watch her. Though Olivia's brain could not comprehend the sheer amount of arrows scrolling up the screen, never mind attempt to coordinate the movement of her feet to match, Lynn seemed to have no trouble at all.

Once Lynn had used the last of her tokens, she finished the game to a small smattering of applause. She took a small now and grinned widely at the other kids before hopping down and relinquishing control of the machine.

"All right," Casey said, taking Lynn's hand in hers and slinging the other arm over Stephanie's shoulders. "We've shopped and we've DDRed. Can we go home now?"

"We can go home now," both Novak kids answered in unison. They looked at each other and burst out laughing. "Jinx!" Again, it was said in unison.

Giggling, the children took off ahead of the adults. Stephanie reached down to grasp her sister's hand. Keeping one eye on the girls, Casey smiled at Olivia. "Thank you for giving up a Saturday and spending it with us."

"You're quite welcome," Olivia replied, smiling back and nudging Casey's shoulder with her own. "Anything so you wouldn't have to gouge your eyes out with Chap Stick."

Casey grinned. "Truth be told," she whispered conspiratorially, "I wouldn't have really gouged my eyes out with Chap Stick. That sounds kind of painful, and I'm not exactly big on pain."

Olivia chuckled. "So that was all just a ruse to spend a day with me, huh?"

A rush of pink to the ADA's cheeks undercut the teasing tone of her voice. "Whatever you want to believe."

"Uh huh." Olivia smirked and shook her head. "Next time, can we leave the Oedipus references out of it?"

"Wait a second, Oedipus gouged out his eyes with Chap Stick?" Casey asked, gasping with faux shock. "They had Chap Stick in ancient Greece?"

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Oh, you know what I mean."

Casey simply grinned before hurrying forward to catch up with her nieces. Olivia sighed softly, but she couldn't hide the indulgent smile on her face. Spending time with Casey, even if it was wandering aimlessly around a mall for four hours, was never wasted time.