Detective Olivia Benson from the 16th precinct closed the file she was working on and put it on top of the ever-growing stack of files that resided on her desk. She leaned back in her chair, stretching her back muscles, which resulted in a cracking sound. She really needed to get out of that chair, she thought. Gathering her things, she looked around in the empty room. Her partner Elliot Stabler had gone home over an hour ago. He had tried to resist when she suggested he should go home, but when she reasoned that going home meant that he could see his kids before they went to bed, he quickly caved. For the last few weeks, he had only been able to watch them while they were sleeping, as he came home when they had already gone to bed, and left before they got up.
Her other co-workers John Munch and Odafin Tutuola had also left a while ago, but Olivia had stayed behind to finish up her and Elliot's paperwork. She wasn't the only one still working, though. Their new ADA, Alexandra Cabot, had walked in just after Elliot had left, marching straight to their Captain's office, and had been there ever since. Olivia sighed. At least she wasn't the only workaholic there, she thought, still being at the office after 9 p.m.
9 p.m. was actually early for her to be going home, compared to the last week. They had been working on a case, a serial rapist, and they had worked tirelessly until they had enough evidence to arrest their suspect. Days where she saw her bed before midnight had been the exception. Actually, days where she saw her bed at all were an exception. More often than not she had just stayed at the precinct, catching a few hours of sleep in the crib every once in a while.
Olivia sighed again. I really need to get out of here, she thought. She shut down her computer, picked up her bag and walked to the elevator. Stepping in, she made a move to push the ground-floor button when she heard a voice.
"Hold the elevator please!" someone yelled, so Olivia pushed the 'open doors' button instead, and saw their new ADA running towards the elevator.
"Thank you, Detective," Alexandra Cabot said, slightly out of breath as she entered.
"No problem," Olivia answered as she pushed the ground-floor button.
The two women stood awkwardly next to each other as the elevator descended. Olivia looked at the younger woman, trying to get an impression of her. They had only been introduced to each other a couple of days ago, and Alex Cabot was not an easy woman to read. All that Olivia knew so far was that Cabot was ambitious, intelligent and absolutely gorgeous. Meanwhile, Alex was trying to think of something to say to the other woman. She hated silences in elevators.
While both women were lost in thought, the elevator came abruptly to a stop. Between floors. Olivia groaned. She had hoped to be able to go home somewhat on time today, but she knew that being stuck in an elevator guaranteed that would not happen. Sighing in defeat, she resigned herself to the fact that they would be there for a while and pressed the alarm button, picking up the phone hanging against the elevator wall.
"Hi, this is Detective Olivia Benson. The elevator just stopped moving," she said when she heard someone answer.
The operator promised that he would send someone over, and he asked her whether she was alone in the elevator.
"No, ADA Cabot is here with me, and – Hey, you okay," she asked worriedly. She had cast a glance at the lawyer and saw that she was breathing heavily and looked deadly pale.
"F- Fine," Alex managed to get out.
"The hell you are," Olivia muttered as she brought the phone back to her mouth. "I'm gonna have to call you back," she announced as she hung the phone back for some privacy, glad that the precinct still had old elevators that used actual phones instead of an intercom system.
She turned back to the ADA to see that her breathing had turned even worse.
"You better sit down," she gently told her, leading her to the ground. "Are you claustrophobic?" she asked, but even without Alex's barely-there-nod, she knew that was the case. "All right, try to take deep breaths, okay? In and out," Olivia coached, trying to calm the other woman. She could see that Alex was trying, but her breathing was still as erratic as before.
"I'm going to try something, okay?" Olivia said, kneeling in front of the blonde and placing her hand on Alex's chest. "Can you feel my hand?"
Alex nodded yes.
"All right, breathe against it. Try to push it away," Olivia ordered gently. "That's it," she continued as she felt the blonde's lungs expand under her hands. "Just focus on me, on my hand. You're okay."
Alex tried to focus on Olivia, on her hand against her chest and her brown eyes filled with worry looking at her.
"You're okay," Olivia kept whispering, and slowly, Alex felt her breathing return back to normal.
Once Olivia was convinced the other woman had calmed down enough, she removed her hand from Alex's chest and placed it on her shoulder instead.
"You okay now?" she asked, brown eyes locking onto piercing blue ones.
"Yes, I… I think I am," Alex responded.
"Good," Olivia said, relief clear in her voice.
She sat down next to Alex and patted her knee.
"You had me worried there for a second," she said.
"You and me both," Alex responded as she turned her head to look at Olivia. "Thank you," she said with all the sincerity she had in her.
"You're welcome," Olivia said, smiling kindly. "Besides, it wouldn't have looked too good for me if the maintenance guys found me with our new ADA lying unconsciously at my feet," she joked, trying to lighten the tension that had arisen between them.
"I imagine that would be rather difficult to explain, yes," Alex chuckled.
Then the two women sat silently for a moment, each pondering what had happened.
"Anyway, I'll see how close they are to rescuing us," Olivia announced suddenly, breaking the silence. She got up and brought the phone to her mouth.
"Hi, this is Detective Benson again. What's the status on getting us out of here?" she asked, completely ignoring the fact that she had just hung up on the guy earlier.
"The maintenance crew is working on it, Detective. You should be out of there in a couple of minutes," the operator promised.
Just as he said it, the elevator sprung back to life, startling both women inside.
"We just started moving again, thanks," Olivia told the guy before hanging up the phone.
When the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened, Olivia politely let Alex exit first.
"After you, Counselor," she offered with a smile.
"Thank you, Detective. You know, considering the fact that you were just groping my chest, I think we should be on a first-name basis. Call me Alex," the lawyer said with a wink and a coy smile, walking away to leave a stunned and blushing Olivia standing there.
"I wasn't groping you!" the detective called out after her when she got over her initial shock. "I wasn't," she repeated in a slightly lower voice to herself and the few confused people that were standing close to her.