Title: Escape
Rated: PG
Fandom: Alex/Olivia, SVU
Notes: On tumblr (yes, I'm on there), someone quoted a recent article of Mariska Hargitay interviewing Stephanie March in which MH recalled watching SM read the New Yorker while they were in hair and makeup and they requested an A/O fic of that. Well, this isn't hair and makeup, but it's the short (tiny) little idea that came to mind. :)
Words: ~370
Escape
After they'd been together for a while. After they'd gotten over the novelty of waking up in the same bed and getting ready for their day in the same apartment, they began to settle into more of a routine. Olivia got up first, made coffee, got in the shower, made breakfast. Alex soon followed, joining Olivia at the kitchen table for a yogurt or an oatmeal.
And for The New Yorker.
Apparently, before Olivia, The New Yorker was what kept Alex company over breakfast each morning. A quiet 20 minutes, sometimes 30 that the attorney gave herself every day.
Alex had asked – several times – if Olivia was okay with the attorney reading it at the table. The blond wanting to ensure that Olivia knew it wasn't about not wanting to talk to Olivia, it wasn't about disinterest in the detective; it was really just about the joy of starting her day with stimulating, yet enjoyable and NOT sex crime or law related information. Something to awake and tickle and expand her intellect.
Olivia assured her it was more than okay, that the detective completely understood. After all, she had her own morning ritual: People Magazine. Also completely not sex crime or order related. And while it wasn't exactly something that tickled and stimulated ones intellect, it did serve as temporary but needed escape from the realities of her job and her life.
But…truth be told…Olivia didn't really read a single further word in People after the attorney had broken out with that New Yorker.
Because, well, because she had Alex.
Alex.
Wearing her glasses.
Sipping her coffee.
Reading the New Yorker.
Licking her lips as she dove in to something new... Tilting her head over something particularly interesting... Eyes lighting at something she really enjoyed... Mouth falling open at something that surprised her... Smiling to herself over a cartoon.
Next to Olivia at the table.
During breakfast every morning.
After a night spent in each other's arms (and frequently in each other's bodies).
Yeah.
So, though Olivia kept getting a subscription to People, though she kept up appearances by pretending to read it, really, she just spent breakfast watching Alex.
For *Alex* was all the escape she needed.