DISCLAIMER: See Chapter One.
AN: I am completely overwhelmed by the response my little story has received so far! I honestly thought I would have gotten a handful of views and a comment along the lines of don't give up your day job. All the faves, follows, reviews - you gals (and maybe some guys) are too kind. Addressing some of the comments, yes Liv & Alex will talk about and/or a flashback to that night in the motel will occur. When, I don't know and which yet, but it will certainly happen. All summer? Well winter for me, but yes, this story will be several chapters. I don't know how many though. Oh and I've only just seen episode "Girl Dishonoured", so that's a few more episodes until the finale for me. I was also asked via PM about this and I'll share my thoughts here too. I truly hope nothing bad happens to Olivia, but I honestly would not be surprised if something bad did. And I don't want 'Sir Brian to ride up atop his noble steed to rescue Fair Maiden Olivia from the clutches of evil', that's too predictable. This chapter is a bit longer, but seeing I'm going away in a couple of days for a short holiday I hope it will suffice. Again, constructive criticism is better than outright criticism. Oh and I forgot to mention, angst will occur too. What's Cabenson without a bit of that huh? ;-)
Olivia walked back to desk, rubbing her eyes, desperately fighting but slowly losing the battle of the migraine headache that was building behind her right eye. One of those migraines that you just want to rip your own eyeball out to stop the pain. This case with Lewis William - if that was his name - was going to hell in a handbasket very quickly. She and Nick Amaro had spent the best part of an hour interrogating Lewis William for the torture and rape of Alice Parker before his lawyer arrived. They got everything but nowhere, as all of the answers Lewis provided were stated as hypotheticals. It made her skin crawl as he described in detail the 'alleged' torture he subjected Alice to, over those 18 hours in her own apartment. A place that most people would describe as a sanctuary, or a safe haven from the world.
Amanda and Olivia had just finished discussing the possibilities of alternate spellings of the name Lewis William, in the neighbouring states from where he said he'd lived previously. As she sat down to rummage through her desk drawer for some ibuprofen, her iPhone rang. Seeing the caller ID on her screen, her headache seemed to lessen significantly.
"Benson" Olivia answered the phone, professional as always.
"Olivia, I know you know it's me," laughed Alex.
"Hey Alex. I've been meaning to call you about the exhibition at the Whitney, and I really need to talk to you."
"That's what I'm ringing you about. We'll have to make it Friday becau-"
Olivia cut her off mid-sentence, "FRIDAY?! Why Friday?! That's days away!" Her heart sank. She glanced at the desk calendar, it was only Tuesday afternoon. "And what I need to talk to you can't be discussed over the phone."
"I'm sorry Liv, but Friday is the earliest I can manage after what the Homicide detectives just got. Unless you can use that Benson charm of yours to finagle a couple of days off, somehow get assigned to help extradite our suspect Thomas Scanlan linked to a number of murders, and get all this done before the next available flight to Canada that leaves in just under 3 hours. If you can do that, then I'm all yours!"
Olivia heard the playful tone in Alex's voice. "Well, I'll see what I can do. That Benson charm you mentioned only works on certain people, though." Liv played along, knowing there was no way in the world it was possible, even without everything currently happening in the Lewis William case. "So, where in Canada are we going?"
"Long haul. Specifically, Vancouver. So that's all Wednesday written off. Thursday will be arraignments and prep work because Friday will finally start proceedings of the Janson trial. So, seeing the Whitney stays open late on Fridays and there is a restaurant there, we can see the Plein Air Painters and have dinner. And we can talk until our hearts are content, because I might have some news to share with you by then" said Alex, as she packed her attaché bag.
That last comment piqued Olivia's interest. "Good news or bad news?"
"Rumour news that I'm still waiting to have confirmed" Alex replied vaguely. "Anyway, I better get going. I still have to go home, pack a bag and get over to LaGuardia".
"I'll let you go then. Stay safe Alex"
"Well sadly, I won't have New York's Finest detective with me, but I will some of New York's finest with me. You stay safe too, Liv. Bye" Alex smirked.
Smiling, Olivia noticed a text message on her iPhone as she ended the call. It must have arrived during the interrogation.
"Catch up soon? Brian"
Before Olivia could even speak a word after Brain answered the call, he said "Can't talk Liv. Working. Catch up later, yeah" then ended the call instantly. What the hell? She tried calling again, but it went straight to voice mail.
Olivia felt her migraine headache come back with a vengeance. The current headache that was playing out in her life was just as bad.
With the two consecutive Motions Court hearings regarding the Lewis Williams case on Wednesday and Thursday, Friday seemed to arrive sooner than expected for Olivia Benson. Alex and Olivia had mutually agreed that Alex would pick up Olivia from the precinct after court and then go to the Whitney.
The sudden death of Alice Parker made this case go from a headache to a down right nightmare.
As the body of Alice Parker was loaded onto the guerney, Captain Don Cragen turned to study Olivia for a moment. He could tell something was weighing heavily on the Detective's thoughts.
"This case is really getting to you, Liv." It wasn't a question.
"It's not just the case, Cap. I have some personal things I need to sort out, and I haven't been able to with everything happening with this case" she sighed. Olivia didn't want to elaborate any further than necessary.
"There's nothing more we can really do until Melinda does the autopsy later, so why don't you take the rest of the afternoon off once we get back to the precinct?" Don suggested.
"Thanks Captain. Really appreciate it."
The thought of sneaking into the gallery to watch Alex command the court room was strong. It was a guilty pleasure for Olivia and was something she hadn't been able to do since Alex's transfer. Casey Novak was very good, as was Rafael Barba. But watching Alex Cabot in the court room was just mesmerising.
Olivia sat down, making sure she had an unobstructed view of the court room proceedings. Both Alex and the Defence Attorney were at the Judges Bench, whispering animatedly to Judge Barry Moredock.
Turning around to return to the lawyer table, Alex's eyes widened briefly as she was surprised to see Olivia in the gallery. The professional mask had slipped, but was back in place a moment later. But Olivia had definitely noticed. She never took her eyes off Alex while the ADA resumed gently guiding the young Homicide Detective through his testimony over the next hour or so. Proceedings finished for the day after the detective stepped down from the witness stand.
"This is a nice surprise. I wasn't expecting you" Alex said, slinging the attaché bag over her shoulder.
"You can thank Dad. Released early on good behaviour," grinned Olivia. Alex just rolled her eyes at the bad joke.
They took Alex's car, making idle chit chat along the way for the drive to the Upper East Side. Alex could tell Olivia wasn't ready to talk about what was on her mind just yet, so broached the subject of her own news.
"Rumour news has been confirmed. There is there's a new job opening about to come up very soon. I'm going to put my name in to transfer –"
"You're leaving again?! You… you promised Alex. You promised me you wouldn't leave again. And now you're going to up and leave for the Congo again –" Olivia's heart dropped to the pit of her stomach.
"No! I'm not leaving, Liv! Barba's –"
"Barba's leaving?!"
"Olivia Benson! Stop jumping to conclusions and focus like you were focused on me back in the court room earlier!"
Busted.
Alex paused a moment before continuing, "Rafael Barba is putting in a request for an additional ADA for SVU. I'm putting my name in to transfer back. The fallout from the Delia Wilson scandal is all but forgotten now from the DA's point of view."
A wave of relief washed over Olivia. "That's fantastic news Alex! Wait, what about Casey? Is she going to apply?"
"No, Casey said she is going to apply for my position in Homicide. She felt being moved back to White Collar was a demotion, and quite frankly, I agree with her" Alex explained, pulling into an empty car space.
"But don't you see moving from Homicide back to SVU as a demotion?"
"No. Some co-workers might see it like that, but not me. To be honest, I see it as coming home to where I belong, with my SVU detectives" Alex snuck a glance at Olivia. 'To a certain detective in particular' she added mentally.
Olivia smiled. Maybe things were starting to look up for her.
Wandering around the nearly empty gallery room, both women were admiring a seascape when Alex commented "I really like art like this. It's a moment in time of the artist's life captured for all to see."
"Sadly, my current moment in time wouldn't look anything as nice like that," Olivia sighed. Alex gave her a quizzical look before Liv continued, "With this current case we're working on, and Brian… I'd pick a pot of black paint, go all Jackson Pollock and just throw the paint pot at the canvas."
Alex guided Olivia over to some seating at the back wall of the gallery and sat down. "Come on, Liv. What's wrong? You said you needed to talk to me."
The SVU detective brought the ADA up to speed with the Lewis William case, and the frustration is was causing the squad, but stopped short of mentioning anything about demoted male police officer currently in her life.
"And Brian?" Alex prompted.
Olivia gathered her thoughts. "You remember when I first told you I was seeing him, and you asked if I was happy. I'm not happy, and I'm not sure I ever really was to begin with. When I slept with him that one time all those years ago, he wanted everything. Dating, a relationship, the works. But I wanted none of that and shut it down very fast. This time I was willing to try and give him what I could, but he gives nothing in return emotionally. It's very draining, and I can't do it anymore."
Alex gently took Olivia's hand in hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You have to be happy in a relationship, Olivia. Mentally and emotionally happy. You know that's one of the main reasons I ended it with Robert. I'm in a much better place now then I was back then. And you know how bad things were for me at that point in time. Robert gave me nothing either. And Jim just gave me a release to forget Robert for a short while."
"Don't get me wrong, Brian is a nice guy. A bit of a high school guy that's never grown up really, but a genuinely nice guy. And the sex is… well it's… sex. But I understand what you're saying, Alex."
They sat there for a few minutes in silence in the now empty gallery, lost in their own thoughts. Olivia glanced down at her hand, still being held by Alex. Was now the time? Or would it ever be the right time? Maybe saying what she wanted to say would make her that kind of happy they had just been talking about. After everything both women had been though over the years, she had a feeling that Alex could possibly provide that happiness. Olivia was nervous, but took a chance.
"You… ah… you said something else to me that night when I told you about Brain."
Alex stayed silent, letting Olivia continue when she was ready. "You said… you said that if he didn't make me happy to –"
"To come see me. I remember," murmured Alex as she looked at Olivia.
"I know you were flirting like we always do. Like we always have. I want… I want to see you. I want a… a relationship with you."
Alex continued to look at Olivia, not saying a word.
"I'm sorry Alex. I knew I shouldn't have said any-" Olivia was silenced by Alex gently kissing her.
Ending the kiss, Alex smiled. "I would like that very much."
She leant in to kiss Olivia again, but Olivia pulled back slightly. "Don't get me wrong Alex. I want to kiss you again. Really, really want to kiss you again, but I also want to do this right. Let me end things with Brian, and we take things slowly."
"I think that's a very good idea. And right now, I know what my moment in time canvas would look like. I'd paint the entire canvas grey, except for a small circle in the middle. Like a light at the end of a tunnel" Alex replied, and softly kissed Olivia again.
Yes things were definitely starting to look up for Olivia Benson.
END NOTE: And before anyone thinks it, NO Olivia doesn't have a brain tumour/cancer/stroke/cerebral hemorrhage. The headache is just a symbolic metaphor/allegory/hyperbole. As is the mention of nightmares.
