A/N: Thank you all for the amazing feedback! It really warms my heart and gets me writing! :) Sorry for the delay in this update, I had a lot going on lately and I didn't want to rush it. I hope you enjoy!


1940

The blonde ran through the busy streets of London. She'd gotten held up surveying the destruction the bombers had caused the night before, a scene that would forever be emblazoned in her mind. The destroyed buildings, the carnage, just thinking about it slowed her progression to the US military headquarters, where she worked to avoid being sent to the fronts.

Running inside, she was quickly cleared and sent to her station, where she would be trained to scan the skies for planes. They needed as many hands on deck as possible within the city. If they could spot a potential attack, they could possibly prevent it.

Walking up, she prepared to apologize to the Lieutenant in charge of training her group for her lateness, when his next comment caught her off guard. "If a bomb lands on the rooftop and does not explode, your job is to pick it up and throw it off the building to prevent damage."

Her jaw dropped at the words, and she was sure she was probably shaking, that was until a fiery redhead spoke up. "I will do no such thing. If you want an undetonated bomb thrown off the building then you can do it yourself."

Everyone stared at the overly bold and confident woman, as the Lieutenant approached her, "And your name is?"

"Cassandra McClurg and I will not throw bombs off of buildings..." The redhead stated clearly, before looking the blonde's way, "And neither will Alexandra Thorne."

Alexandra pursed her red lips at the redheads words. Who the hell did she think she was speaking for her? Who was this mystery redhead period, and how did she know Alexandra's name?


Present day...

Casey woke to her alarm ringing. Without hesitation, she knocked it from the nightstand and on to the floor, cringing at the sound of it clearly breaking. Sighing as she snuggled deeper into bed, she thought, 'Oh well, I always hated that clock anyway.'

The redhead didn't want to wake up. She'd been up far to late the night before trying to explain to Michael why she couldn't marry him. In truth, it was something even she didn't understand. Something the day before just told her, he wasn't the right one for her, but she couldn't even pin point it exactly.

Then there was the thing with Alex yesterday. She couldn't even quite process that this morning. There was just something about the infuriating blonde.

As if a light bulb suddenly went off in her head, she threw the covers off of herself and leapt from the bed. She'd completely forgotten about her breakfast meeting with the other ADA. Quickly rushing into the bathroom, she got ready for the day, spending only a few minutes longer picking out her outfit and doing her hair.

When she finally arrived to the diner two blocks from the DA's office, she noticed Alex had taken a booth in the back. The blonde looked sleep deprived and was nursing a cup of coffee, something Casey noticed but had no intentions of discussing. Sitting down across from her supervisor, she glared at the woman through her sunglasses. Alex Cabot, looked a little more at ease around her. That thought alone made her a little nervous. Were the tables turning in Casey's favor, or was this a trick?

"Good morning," Alex said in a warmer tone than normal.

"Good morning," Casey mirrored as she removed her sunglasses and set them in her bag, before flagging the waitress for a coffee of her own. "Have you eaten breakfast yet?" She asked picking up a menu.

"No, I usually don't eat breakfast," Alex admitted.

"Then why in the world did you ask me to breakfast!" Casey snapped tossing the menu to the table to scowl at the blonde.

Alex jumped slightly at the unexpected tone, "To get to know each other, it's what Branch wanted us to do. I now know you aren't a morning person."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Casey snapped again.

Alex smirked at the fiery redhead, before blowing gently on her coffee. As her lips curled into a smile, she spoke, "Just that you are a bit cranky this morning, normally I see you after, as you put it have 'coffee'd up.'"

"You're so funny, counselor," the redhead said with a unamused glare, "Did you think of becoming a comedian?"

Setting her coffee down, Alex gave Casey a hard stare, "Okay what's bothering you? Normally, you are the jokester and I am the snide bitch?"

"Am I being bitchy..." Casey asked happily taking her coffee from the waitress and fixing it while thinking her own statement over, "Yeah, I am. Sorry, I just don't get what we are doing, and Michael and I broke off our engagement last night, then I murdered a defenseless alarm clock this morning, so it's starting off to be a shit day."

"Sounds like it," The blonde replied with a chuckle. "Well, why don't we get some eggs and bacon and talk about something I am know we have in common, Harvard."

Giving Alex a genuine smile, the redhead replied, "I thought you don't eat breakfast."

"I do when a colleague needs to clear their head over breakfast, and there is no way I am allowing you to go to court in your current state," she smirked.

"Nice play, Cabot." Casey smiled as she again waved down the waitress.

As they ordered breakfast, Casey couldn't help but notice the familiarity of the blonde. She'd known Alex for awhile, but this was different. This was as if she'd known Alex for a much longer time. She even knew how the blonde liked her eggs without her ordering them, fried with the yolks cooked almost the whole way through.

When the waitress walked away, Alex spoke, "So, who was your favorite professor at Harvard?"

"Dr. Townsend, he forced me to look at the world outside of the box. By the end of his course, I knew I wanted to go into law. I wanted to change the world." Casey mused, "What about you?"

"Easy, Dr. Waring." The blonde revealed, "I found his lectures very enlightening."

"I found his lectures uber boring, and you asked way too many questions. I was sure you were in love with him." The redhead confessed, earning a quick frown from her breakfast mate.

"Excuse me?"

"You didn't realize we had the same class together?"

"No, I didn't..." The blonde blushed furiously.

Picking up her cup of coffee, Casey blew across the hot liquid, before looking up and meeting Alex's eyes, "I did."

X

After breakfast, both women headed back to their office. As Alex walked back into her own, she set her bag down by her desk and began to pace the small space. This was a ritual she often implied when trying to figure out a problem for court, but today she fell back on familiarity to figure out the problem across the hall. The problem that was Casey Novak.

Who was this woman exactly and why did she both infuriate and intrigue her? How is it she never noticed this fiery redhead in college and law school if they had the same classes? Did she know Alex well enough to purposely get under her skin? Was it a gimmick or was the redhead sincere? And most importantly why was it she couldn't stop thinking about her?

"Alex?" She heard the redheads familiar voice break her thoughts.

"What?" Alex answered a little too forcefully.

She couldn't help but notice as Casey blushed and ducked her head just a tad. It was a movement she'd probably normally miss, but now she couldn't seem to miss a second when around this woman. "Sorry, what is it, Case?"

Casey couldn't help but notice the nickname the blonde had just used on her. Case. The familiarity of the name struck a deep chord inside of her, as flashes of she and Alex snuggled in bed together rushed through her mind. Lazy days, with rain splattering the windows, bad coffee, and lots of laughter. It seemed like a beautiful thought, but Casey couldn't understand why she was daydreaming about her superior.

Taking a breath she righted her brain, "I was bringing you the papers you needed me to read and sign."

"Oh," Alex gasped, as she realized how much work she'd put off on the redhead. "Right, thank you, Case."

Alex suddenly realized the fact that she'd shortened the woman's name. Not to mention, she thought she'd used the sort of nickname twice in close conversation. However, what she found most peculiar was the slight blush that seemed to creep up the redheads neck and cover her cheeks at the use of said name.

"I'm sorry, do you mind me calling you, Case?" The blonde asked in a much softer tone.

"No, not at all," she replied in an equally low voice.

The two women didn't speak for a moment. They only stood a mere three feet apart, eyes locked in a silent stare, as if trying to search the others soul for answers to questions they didn't know how to ask. When they finally came back to the present, Casey held out the files.

Looking dumbly for a moment at the papers before her, Alex reached out to take them, her fingertips brushing against the redheads. As if on cue, again the warmth rushed her body as images of Casey laying back in her arms laughing rushed her mind. Neither woman moved, they both just let the flood of sensations fill them, until there was a knock at the door.

"Hey Alex," Abbie's Texan voice broke across the room, as both women jumped apart, causing a confused look to fall upon the brunette. "Um, am I interrupting?"

"N-no!" Casey blurted a little too eagerly, "I was just dropping off files," she continued as she rushed to the door stumbling across her own two feet, "I'll catch up with you later, A-Alex!"

Practically running from the room and across the hall, Casey couldn't help but notice the slight shake of Alex's head as she began to answer questions from Abbie. She couldn't help but wonder if the blonde was wondering why she was such a nut. Surely, everything was just in her head. Then again, what exactly was she feeling for the blonde, and why could she not stop daydreaming about being with her.

Hearing her phone ping with a message alert, she fished it from her pocket, frowning when she saw a new message from her mother. Unlocking the device, she quickly navigated her way to the text messages. An audible groan could be heard escaping her lips as she read, "Cassandra, what are you thinking calling off your wedding?! Call me ASAP!"