Disclaimers: I do not own. That would be Mr. Wolf.
Spoilers: Well, unless you haven't watched the last nine seasons it could be a bit confusing.
Part I: Poker Face
And just like that – she was back. For nearly four years Detective Olivia Benson had imagined the moment when ADA Alexandra Cabot would walk back into her life. In her dreams, there had been all manner of fanfare, parades occasionally and even a twenty-one gun salute. The more subdued versions just had her sending a letter, or flowers, and one weird one with the singing telegram. But this: here, out in the open, in the middle of a city street, headed to a crime scene was not how she pictured seeing Alex again.
Olivia barely remembered the brief exchange because it was mostly Elliot, her partner, who spoke. She vaguely remembered mustering a "hey". Given her present position, leaning over the commode in the bathroom of the police precinct, she was impressed with her ability to breathe in the woman's presence. Satisfied that she had purged the coffee and bagel from four hours earlier, Olivia flushed and then made her way to the sink. She splashed water on her face and rinsed her mouth out. Hesitantly, she peeked over the frame of the mirror and glanced at herself. She smirked. "Not quite raccoon", she remarked about her appearance. She dried her hands under the blower and then ran her fingers through brown hair that she instantly decided was too long.
Olivia took three deep cleansing breaths and made strange faces in an effort to perk her skin back up. It was enough that she had been eerily silent on the car ride back, but then she bolted for the bathroom leaving Elliot confused and curious. "Alright Benson, get a fucking grip." She blew out another breath and began adjusting her clothes. "It's cool. And you're fine. So what you haven't spoken to the woman in nearly five years." She adjusted the badge and gun on her hip. "So what, she looks like she just walked off the runway at the hot lawyer's convention in Milan." Her mind easily conjured up the image of Alex from earlier. Mid-length cream colored coat which was clearly covering an expensive tailored skirt and blouse. Her alabaster skin stood out against the overcast day and Olivia would swear her blonde hair was glistening. Simple black framed glasses completed her memory. It was the sight of her coupled with the sound of her voice, the sweet honey husk that accompanied all her words, that made the seasoned detective lose her breakfast. Olivia brushed imaginary lint from her sleeves, blew out another breath and put her game face on. "You don't get to win Cabot. You're not going to destroy my world again." She was ready. "No way. No how." She grumbled the words under her breath and then forcefully pulled open the bathroom door.
She tossed her jacket on her chair and sat down at her desk. Elliott, and the peanut gallery at his back, Munch & Fin, attempted to keep one eye on Olivia and the other on computer screens or random sheets of papers. Elliott Stabler knew Olivia like the back of his hand. Nearly a decade together had ensured that fact. She had gone beyond being simply his partner so long ago that neither of them could remember a time when it was different. At times he couldn't discern if she was his partner, wife, sister, brother, mother or stubborn child. They were all those things to one another at any given moment. And in this moment, as she avoided him by trying not to seem like she was avoiding him, he knew two things clearly: One, Olivia Benson had only been really in love and really happy once her life. Two, the love of her life and the woman who ripped her heart out was back. He watched his partner unabashedly for a moment gauging her demeanor. Her brow was furrowed as she concentrated on the file in her hand – it was Warner's report. Elliot amended his earlier thought to three things he knew very clearly about the woman across from him. Sooner, rather than later, Olivia Benson was going to explode.