Chapter 1
Olivia Benson pulled into the parking garage of her building a little after 5:30pm. She turned off the engine and leaned back into her seat, letting her eyes close for a just few seconds. Olivia hadn't had a particularly taxing day; there were no new cases, no new victims, no nothing, just mountains of un-ending paperwork which always made her eyes sore. In fact, it had been a really quiet week but no-one dared mention it, because as soon as someone did, there'd be a new case falling at their feet. The detective rubbed her tired eyes and exited her vehicle, locking it behind her.
As she rode the elevator and got closer and closer to her apartment, the butterflies in her belly grew because she knew it wouldn't be long before she would be greeted by her girlfriend of two years.Just a glance at Alex Cabot and all Liv's weariness would fade away. The brunette reached her door and dug into her pockets for her keys. She was about to open the door when her phone vibrated in her jacket pocket, she smiled when she saw the name of the caller.
"Hey you," Olivia absentmindedly pushed the door open with her knee.
"Hey," Alex answered sounding exasperated. "Just wanted to call and let you know that I have an unscheduled meeting with Liz so I won't be home for at least another hour."
"Has it been a long day sweetie?" Olivia asked, dropping her gun and badge on the bed while simultaneously kicking off her shoes.
"It really has, I can't wait to get home."
"Well, I'll make sure that when you do get home; your long day will be well and truly forgotten." Olivia said huskily.
"Is that a promise?" The blonde's mood shifted, thoughts of what was in store for them both later making the hour she had left seem a little less harder to bare.
"You know it." The brunette replied and Alex could hear the mischievousness in her tone. "Now go get back to work so you can get here faster." Olivia chuckled.
"I don't need to be told twice, I'll see you soon. Love you."
"Love you too." Olivia grinned as she tossed the phone onto the bed then locked her gun and badge away in her lockbox and headed straight for the shower.
After showering, blow drying her hair and getting re-dressed in more comfortable attire, the brunette padded into the kitchen. Tonight was one of the rare occasions where Olivia was home before Alex and the detective was going to make the most of it by firstly cooking a dinner for her lover before she got home. She opened the fridge and peeked inside, assessing her ingredients to figure out what she could make. Not many people knew that Olivia could cook, but she could and when she put her mind to it, it turned out pretty damn tasty. A satisfactory smile spread across the brunette's features as she figured out she had all that she needed to make one of Alex's favourite dishes, spaghetti carbonara.
About twenty minutes later, she had laid the table, even placing candles in the middle to set the mood. Everything was going smoothly in the kitchen, the spaghetti was almost done and Alex would be arriving home in ten minutes or so. The only thing Olivia had left to do was finish off the sauce. As she was stood over the stove, stirring the sauce, she flicked on the radio and began tapping her foot to the beat of the song, then her head started bobbing along to the beat, and her body began swaying a little bit.
Before long, the detective was humming along and became so engrossed in the dancing; the humming and the sauce that she didn't hear Alex enter the apartment or even see her standing in the kitchen doorway.
The attorney crossed her legs at the ankles and grinned to herself. She surveyed her girlfriend from head to toe, taking in that not only was she cooking, but she was dancing at the same time and all the while wearing only a simple white tank top and grey boy shorts. Alex couldn't help but find the scene before her highly amusing and highly arousing. Alex was going to cough and announce her presence but she figured she'd wait and see how long it would be before the detective noticed her.
Olivia, still humming along, was completely oblivious to her admirer and as the chorus kicked in, she sang out. "If you could see that I'm the one who understands you, been here all along so why can't you see-eee-eee, you belong with me-eee-eee. . ." Olivia spun around and jumped about 10 feet in the air when her eyes fell on Alex. "Shit!" she exclaimed throwing the spoon she held in her hand as a microphone, backwards.
Alex burst out laughing. "Oh please don't stop on my account." She said, shaking off her grey suit jacket.
Olivia turned the radio off and her cheeks reddened. "Quit laughing at me." She said, through laughter of her own.
"I never pegged you as a Taylor Swift fan, Liv." Alex quipped.
"I just like that song . . . I made dinner." She said quickly trying to change the subject.
"I can see that. It smells amazing but," Alex looked Olivia up and down slowly, "I can't possibly eat when you look so hot. Are you trying to seduce me, detective?" the attorney asked suggestively.
"I don't know Counsellor, am I?" Olivia arched an eyebrow playfully.
Alex nodded. "I think you are." The blonde moved a few steps closer to close the gap between them. Snaking her arms around Olivia's waist, she raised her tank top slightly and let her fingertips gently caress Olivia's lower back, knowing her lower back was a sensitive spot. Alex grinned when she felt the brunette shiver under her touch.
Olivia reached behind her, taking Alex's hands in her own and slowly pushed Alex backwards till Alex's back came into contact with the kitchen wall. The brunette leaned into Alex's body, perfectly pinning her into the wall, and moving her arms to either side of her head. "I think, if I was trying to seduce you, I'd be doing this," Olivia bent her right leg and pushed it between Alex's thighs, causing the blonde to gasp at the contact. "And this," Olivia began to pepper kisses along Alex's collar bone, nipping slightly, then soothing with tender kisses. "And maybe this too." The brunette whispered as her left hand released her grip on Alex's wrist and travelled down through the attorney's silky hair, flawless porcelain skin, and settling on a small yet perfectly formed breast.
Alex's breath hitched in her throat, "Liv . . ." She expertly removed her black framed glasses, putting them on the counter and pulling Olivia's mouth up to meet hers. The need to feel her lovers lips on her own becoming too much. As their kiss deepened, Olivia quickly pulled Alex's shirt from her skirt and deftly unbuttoned and tossed the shirt aside.
"You're so beautiful Alex," Olivia breathed against her girlfriend's lips. "And I am most definitely trying to seduce you." She laughed, huskily.
Alex laughed with her and pulled Liv as close as possible by her hips. "It's working."
Olivia kissed her again, over and over again. "Good. I made a promise, remember?" Liv let her fingertips trail down Alex's sides, pushing her skirt off in the process.
"How could I forget," Alex replied, her sky blue eyes clouding over with desire. Without another word, Olivia hoisted Alex, who was now wearing only a black bra and panties, onto her hips and carried her towards the bedroom.
"Liv, dinner?" Alex mumbled between feverish kisses.
"It'll keep," was the short reply Olivia gave as she dropped Alex onto the bed and climbed above her.
The blonde pulled the detective's tank top over her head and made sure that every part of exposed flesh was touching. In one swift motion Alex rolled them both over so she was now straddling Liv. She never broke eye contact with Olivia as she removed her bra and threw it behind her. Olivia sat up and placed butterfly kisses across her toned pale stomach to which Alex threw her head back, revelling in the sweet kisses.
While Alex was preoccupied by what Olivia was doing, the brunette pushed Alex to the side so she was back on top. Olivia hovered above her girlfriend, their lips millimetres apart, both feeling the others hot breath on their already tingling skin. "Tonight, is all about you baby," Olivia said. "Tomorrow night can be about me, I'll let you pamper me." She teased. "The weekend is our own but tonight, it's all you."
"I love you." Alex said, pushing Olivia's hair behind her ear.
"I love you too." Olivia replied before taking Alex's lips in her own once again. Suffice to say, dinner got burned and it certainly didn't keep.
X-X-X-X-X-X
Alex groaned into her pillow as the piercing sound of her girlfriend's cell phone filled the dark bedroom. She squinted at the red numbers on her alarm clock; 4:27am. She looked over her shoulder to see Liv still sleeping soundly, how she couldn't hear her own phone was beyond Alex. The blonde untangled herself from Olivia's arms, rolled over, and reached for Olivia's phone then shook Olivia gently.
"Mmm? " Olivia sighed sleepily.
"Baby, your phone." Alex dangled the device in front of the brunette's eyes.
Olivia leaned up on her elbow and groaned. She knew what a call at this time of night would mean, a new case. "Benson." She answered her voice still full with sleep. "I'm on my way." She slumped back into her pillow.
Alex rolled over onto her side of the bed as Olivia rolled out of her side. "Get a new case?" Alex asked groggily.
"Yeah," Liv said as she fumbled around in the top drawer of the dresser. "A double homicide." Olivia continued to search through the drawer. "Damn it," she mumbled.
Alex sat up more fully in the bed, "What is it babe?"
Olivia sighed and turned around to Alex, giving her a slightly flustered glance. "It's laundry day . . ."
Alex knew exactly what Olivia meant by that statement. She simply smiled as she pushed the sheets off of her and made her way over to Olivia's side. She wrapped her arms around her waist and kissed her neck as she whispered, "Well I guess you'll just have to borrow these . . ." Alex reached around Liv and pulled a pair of black lace cheeky underwear out of her side of the drawer.
Olivia playfully grabbed them and then went to her closet for her outfit and changed for the day.
Alex climbed back into bed and began to slowly drift back to sleep. She mumbled, "Be careful," as Olivia walked back over to the bed.
"I will." Olivia leaned over and kissed Alex's cheek softly. "I'll call you later."
*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/
Olivia pulled up to a brownstone in Stapleton and killed the engine of her car. Yellow crime scene tape cordoned off a perimeter to the home and several CSU techs were walking around the property. The sirens and lights had also drawn a crowd to the typically quiet subdivision and Olivia had to push her way through. She flashed her badge to an officer and strode up to the front door.
When she opened the door she had to immediately side step several drops of blood. A flash illuminated in her eye sight. "Hey, watch it," she said to the tech who apologized. "Elliot? Cragen?" she called out.
"We're up here!" Elliot yelled from the second story of the house.
"Be careful on the steps," the tech with the camera said. "It looks like your killer bled on his way down the stairs."
Olivia stayed to the left side of the stairs as she made her way up and joined Elliot and Cragen in the bedroom. "Wow," Olivia said astonished as she walked into the crime scene.
"Their granddaughter found them here this morning," Elliot said dismally, "not exactly a good wake up call."
"Munch and Fin took her down to the precinct," Cragen added.
Olivia walked over to the first victim, an elderly female lying decapitated in the bed. Her head lay positioned on the pillow as though she was sleeping but what really surprised Liv was the lack of blood on the sheets. Olivia put on gloves and pulled the sheet off her body. She was lying in her undergarments and had a large gash in her left side. Skin was pulled back and only a small trickle of blood stained the skin and the sheets.
Olivia looked around the room. "She was dead when the killer took an organ; so where was she killed?"
"In the kitchen most likely," Cragen said, "there's a big pool of blood around the kitchen island. It looks like she was slicing an orange when the killer attacked. She never even saw it coming."
"Come take a look at this," Elliot said. He was standing over the male victim. Elliot pulled back the sheet on that side of the bed to reveal a missing right hand. "And it seems he was killed in the bathroom over there."
Olivia looked down at the male victim. His head had also been severed and then gently placed on the pillow and his body then covered by the sheet. He too was also only in his boxers and had minimal blood loss around the severed head and hand. "So are we thinking serial killer who likes trophies?" Liv asked.
Cragen made his way to the bathroom to talk to one of the techs in there. "Any luck?"
The tech shook his head 'no' and grabbed his bag as he stood to walk out.
"This is not our guy's first killing, there were no prints and so far not much evidence left behind." Cragen said.
"Well what about the blood splatter down the stairs?" Liv asked.
"Eh," Elliot said as he bent down for a closer look at the victim, "I wouldn't hold my breath it's probably the wives blood as the killer drug her up the stairs."
Olivia walked into the bathroom to look over the crime scene herself. Blood was splattered all over the white subway tiled walls and a massive pool of blood lay just below the sink. "So our killer sneaks up on our male vic, bashes his head against the sink, and then decapitates him right on the bathroom floor before he drags the dead bodies back to the bed to tuck them neatly away?"
"It seems that way," Cragen said. "What I don't get is why bother to decapitate the victims? The male here was clearly already knocked out when he got to him."
"Ah, look what I found embedded in his severed wrist," Elliot said as he held up a copper coin.
Olivia walked back over to the female victim and held a flashlight up to the cut in the her abdomen. The light glinted and another piece of copper shone. "Looks like I found one here too."
Cragen put on a pair of gloves and Elliot handed him the coin. He turned it over in his hand a few times. "Liv, I think you need to call Alex out here."
"Why?" Olivia asked.
"Because I think she might be able to tell us what this is."