**So this is my first "published" (so to say) attempt at fanfic. I've been a reader for quite a while but I've never posted until now. Thank you guys for the positive feedback! I'm more than open to working suggestions/feedback and such into my next chapters/works. I have a pretty clear idea of how I have the consummation happening in this story, but it might take another chapter or two to get there. I'll keep updating as often as I can, but forced writing is not my best writing.**
They conducted business as usual-ish after that- preparing for trial was not news to either of the seasoned women. Luckily, Alex had plenty of white wine to replace the bottle Liv had dropped on the floor, and they soon found themselves looking into the empty bottom of the first one. Halfway through their second, they had called their work efforts quits and switched over to office gossip, lounging comfortably on Alex's plush and not-so-practical white sectional sofa.
As a rosy-cheeked Alex voiced her exasperation over having to cover Elliot's ass after he almost beat a recent perp to a pulp, Liv noticed the white tips of her little square teeth, the curvature of her crossed legs in those nondescript but oh-so-tight black leggings, and her less-than-subtle bright red toenails. Alex moved her delicate hands with fervor as she spoke, her voice detectably distinct from her typical courtroom voice. Liv noticed how much more Alex's tone took on a bedroom tone in her own apartment and gulped anxiously.
"...and if you can't get it through his thick skull, I certainly can't," a defeated Alex muttered, rolling her eyes, which Liv noticed, were not adorned by her usual small black frames.
Olivia nodded. She knew El had a mind of his own, even as much as she influenced many of his actions. "Yeah. Well, it really isn't up to us what happens to him. We just kind of have to sit and watch it happen."
Alex's plump lips flattened into a line. "Like a trainwreck," she added somberly. Then, a flicker of deviance passed through her eyes, but Liv noticed.
"What was that look for?" Olivia asked, half-jokingly.
Alex feigned innocence. "I didn't have a 'look'."
"I'm not that drunk," Liv pressed. "Well, maybe I am, but I still saw it. Fess up, Cabot." She stared wide-eyed with intensity at the attorney, pursing her lips, and raising one curved, dark eyebrow.
In turn, Alex felt her cheeks warm. "I was just thinking that it wouldn't be so terrible without Elliot because that'd mean more time I got to see you," Alex forced out quickly. And then added, "Which would be a good thing because my stress levels spike every time I walk into your squadroom," For multiple reasons, Alex thought.
Liv looked at her questioningly for a split second, wondering if the attorney had let it slip that she's flustered by Liv's presence. She wouldn't be alone in that sentiment, if that were the case. "As much as he's dear to me, I wouldn't mind the extra attention on me, " Liv said shyly. Her heartbeat quickened with the honesty of her statement.
Alex stared at her again, picturing some quality time with her favorite detective; in the crib in the late hours of the night, right before Liv would catch a half hour of sleep, in her own grand, dark and secluded office, with Liv called in under the pretense of a subpoena. Somehow, her work fantasies were much, much more racy than her fantasies set in the bedroom (or general apartment), so she cleared her throat, mentally shook away images of a naked Liv draped over her desk, and changed the subject.
"God, it's been so nice to not talk about work with you," Alex sighed happily.
Liv smiled a crooked and knowing smile, about to correct her- they had, in fact, spent much of the night commenting on work-related topics. Alex smiled, shook her head, and said, "This wine clearly did its job. I meant more along the lines of, it's nice to talk to you outside of work. Where we can talk about work because we want to, not because of the orders being shoved down our throats." She rolled her eyes again.
Liv laughed and nodded her head. "Cragen."
"The DA office is no breeze either. But you know what? Let's expand our horizons and talk about something new."
Liv nodded enthusiastically.
"I feel like I know so little about you, considering how much we talk on a daily basis," Alex lamented. "It's all work or vague small talk because your friends on your little detective squad over there are always lurking."
Liv made a sound of mild disgust. "I know. They have no idea how to mind their own business. Not like i have anything particularly juicy going on in my life right now."
Alex's ears perked up and her heart quickened, pleased at the thought that Liv was probably not seeing anyone. "Huh. So maybe I'll start there," Alex pondered. "I'm feeling particularly childish tonight. Maybe it's the wine."
Liv nodded and opened her mouth to agree, but a tipsy Alex Cabot is also a loquacious Alex Cabot, as Liv soon found out. "Let's indulge our teenage selves and play a game of 'never have I ever'." Alex narrowed her eyes and waggled her blonde eyebrows playfully.
Liv laughed good-naturedly at Alex's juvenile display of excitement. "Just because you're so enthusiastic about it. And let's make it not so teenage by adding wine into the equation."
"Ha. Booze was definitely part of my teenage equation, I don't know about you." She smirked a self-satisfied grin teasingly and Liv laughed again.
"Oh, so you weren't such a good girl back then," Liv teased.
"Who said I'm a good girl now?" Alex murmured, voice teetering on the fine line of playful and suggestive. Both of their cheeks lit ablaze now. Liv thought of the show that she accidentally witnessed and remembered that Alex was most definitely not a "good girl".
Alex crossed and uncrossed her legs, looking like those of a rare, exotic spider, in the soft black material. She looked at Liv, inquiringly, unsure if her last comment was too much information.
Liv realized how deafening the silence was becoming, and responded (a few beats late), "I guess I'm about to find out if you are, aren't I?" She gave Alex a teasing smile, her chocolate eyes narrowing and dancing with mischief. "Although, I find it hard to believe you're hiding any serious skeletons in your closet."
Alex scoffed, half to herself. "There's a lot about me you'd be shocked to hear, Liv." Her gaze was intense, but the emotion behind the intensity was difficult to decipher.
Liv looked at her, her mind running. "Okay. I'll go first. Never have I ever...hm." She chewed the inside of her cheek and stared intently at a floating bookshelf on the wall. "Never have I ever read a book by Malcolm Gladwell," she stated decisively.
Alex's eyes followed her gaze to the bookshelf and feigned shock. "Playing dirty, detective," she drawled, mock-slapping Liv on the inside of her thigh. She let her hand linger for a split second before retreating it and adding, "Some may consider that cheating."
Liv, still recovering from the short, albeit intimate contact on her thigh, retorted, "And some would call it clever. Now drink."
Alex gave a faux sigh of exasperation and sipped her pinot noir. She licked her lips, hummed, and commented, "Not much of a punishment." She dragged her thumb delicately along her lips and left it there while she thought of a way to get payback. "Never have I ever been a detective," she said plainly. She grinned, flashing her pearly whites beyond thick, now wine-stained lips.
"Fighting fire with fire. Fine." Liv chuckled and took a sip of her own glass of pinot. "You know, it really is a good red. It's a little sweet, but not overbearingly so. It's a little...spicy."
How I like my women, Alex mused to herself. "Yeah, exactly like that." She looked down into her wine, swirling the glass by its base.
Liv continued on with the game. "Okay, I'll get creative, then. Never have I ever been to Asia."
Alex lifted her wine glass and brought it to her lips. Just as Liv was about to say, "Got ya again!" Alex put the glass down and said, "Nope! Haven't been to Asia."
Liv grumbled playfully and gulped down yet another sip of the red.
The game continued on with somewhat innocent, inquisitive questions for a few minutes. It was revealed that Alex had never eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, she was afraid of caterpillars, and she received nothing lower than an A- throughout the course of her law school endeavors. Liv had never been to a middle school dance, had seen Dirty Dancing more than 5 times, and in their latest interrogation, was severely allergic to pineapple.
"It's a shame, really. Pineapple is one of the better fruits," Alex said.
"I wouldn't know," Liv said with false bitterness. They both laughed.
Liv was growing anxious with anticipation. She knew that this would be a smart opportunity to use the game as leverage to find out some more personal things about Alex, but didn't want to do it in a way that might scare her off or make her uncomfortable. But she figured that if Alex suggested the game, she knew that it might turn a bit racy. She took a deep breath and it came out louder than she meant, the air gliding sharply into her lips. "Time to get at those skeletons, Alex," she attempted to say with playful conviction, but even she could hear the slight shake in her words.
Alex's eyes widened for a split second, and then she regained some of the coolness of her usual demeanor. "Bring it on."
"Never have I ever," Liv began carefully, "been choked." She could feel the sweat rising to her palms. "During sex," she added, feeling embarrassed beyond belief.
Alex turned her attention to a spot on the wall and didn't move for a few seconds. Just as Liv was apologize for taking the game too far, Alex looked her dead in the eyes, and wordlessly took a sip of her wine, maintaining eye contact the whole time. Liv was certain that every ounce of moisture in her body had collected between her legs.
She pictured the Alex that she had seen just a couple of hours ago, the frantic, horny Alex writhing on her bed, but this time, with a faceless figure straddling her, hands wrapped around her delicate, porcelain column of a throat. She imagined fingers clutching Alex's throat tightly, hiding some of the elegant beauty marks that spotted her skin. Was it a man? Liv thought as a pang of anger and jealousy flew to her heart. Whoever it was, they didn't deserve it. To see her like that.
Alex, seeing Liv's slightly troubled face, cleared her throat quietly and said meekly, "Yeah, I'm pretty experimental in the bedroom." She toyed with the elastic band around her bun nervously before unraveling it and shaking out her blonde locks. Her hair fell over her shoulders like waves in a storm. She looked at Liv with expectancy.
Liv snapped herself out of her thoughts and reached over to place a hand on Alex's arm. "I didn't mean it in a bad way, Alex! I hope you didn't take it as that. I'd definitely dabble in it with the right person. You just seem so...proper. You're unpredictable."
Relief visibly washed over Alex's alabaster complexion. "Like I said, there's a lot about me you don't know."
Alex frowned with concentration as she thought of her next question. "Never have I ever had someone else use a vibrator on me."
Liv scratched her hair and looked at Alex with surprise. "That's an oddly specific question," she chuckled.
"Well, it's because I'd be lying if I said I've never used one at all," Alex said, a low hum of confidence and flirtatiousness infiltrating her words.
Liv's jaw dropped at Alex's directness, and smiled with disbelief. "Alex Cabot," she said, her voice dropping a tone at the end. "I'm learning so much about you today. And to answer your question..." Liv picked up her wine glass by the stem and took a sip. One of Alex's blonde eyebrows rose in curiosity. "Honestly, even with someone else helping me, it's the easiest way for me to, you know." Liv couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence.
"Cum." Alex said boldly. She cocked her head and gave Liv a knowing look.
"Welp, yeah." The lightness and playfulness had returned fully to their affects.
"It sounds like I should try it. There's a lot of pressure to finish with someone else," Alex said empathetically.
Liv noticed the lack of pronouns in Alex's musings, and her hope began to rise. "You should most definitely try it." With me.
The women were silent for another couple of seconds, and Alex's phone buzzed with an email notification. She picked up her phone, her manicured finger swiping across the glass screen. "Who in the hell sends a work email at... one thirty in the morning?! Oh god, it's late! I have to be in court at eight o' clock sharp tomorrow morning, and I'll definitely need to shower and I'm going to be so unbelievably hungover..." Alex shot up from the couch in a panic.
Liv reluctantly rose after her, picking up both her and Alex's near-empty glasses. "You'll be fine, just drink a ton of water now and take some ibuprofen tomorrow morning. I'll be in the same boat, remember?"
Alex laughed and said, "Right. I almost forgot about the part of the night where we were actually productive."
Alex took the bottles and strolled over to the kitchen area, Liv following in her footsteps. She tossed the bottles into the garbage, where they clattered against the broken shards of glass from the dropped bottle earlier in the evening. Alex winced at the sound.
Alex retrieved two cups from a cupboard above her while Liv washed out the glasses. "Oh, don't worry about those," Alex shooed her away from the glasses as she gave Liv a cup of water. Liv accepted it gratefully.
"Thank you for having me over tonight. I'm going to look and sound like a hot mess tomorrow," Liv lamented.
"At least you'll be a prepared hot mess," Alex teased. "But in all seriousness, please, let's do this again soon. On a weekend night."
"Absolutely." Liv stood there awkwardly with her belongings in her hands. Alex reached around her and embraced her. Liv gave her back a tight squeeze, and allowed her own cheek to momentarily press against Alex's.
They stepped back, both smiling giddily. "Okay, goodnight," Liv said, and stepped into the doorway.
"See you tomorrow," Alex waved to Liv.
She sighed and pressed her back against the closed door, Liv's soft "goodnight" caressing her ears and her mind.