Catching Her

Disclaimer: I do not own Rizzoli and Isles, including the book and the TNT show; Maura Isles belongs to Tess Gerritsen and Sasha Alexander. I do not own Law and Order: SVU; Olivia Benson belongs to Dick Wolf and Mariska Hargitay. The plot for this story is my own, but that is all I could or would stake claim to. Leave feedback if you would like to; these girls are wonderful, and my muse would be grateful for your affirmation!

Synopsis: There was something about her eyes, and the way the sweater seemed to hug her tightly—it made her never want to look away. Will one early-morning encounter at a coffee shop mean new beginnings for Olivia Benson, or will she let the chance drive away? Crossover w/ R&I. No Rizzles.

Chapter 3

Olivia was feeling pretty proud of herself while the cab crawled up 3rd Avenue. Since she'd watched Maura enter the one-nine, Olivia had done three loads of laundry, replaced the leaking showerhead in her bathroom, watched an odd documentary about the conspiracy theories surrounding Pixar's movie-making, and only consumed a pot of coffee. It seemed like she was always trying to cut down on her caffeine intake without ever being successful, but today she had managed just fine. Every time she thought about dinner that evening with Maura, she'd experienced a flutter of excitement missing from her life for several years which had boosted her energy much higher than a cup of coffee ever had.

Elliot had been texting her non-stop throughout the day, in spite of the work he was supposed to be doing. She'd answered his first few inquiries shyly, but as soon as he'd discovered that she had actually met Maura, he'd been insufferable. After the third or fourth text hinting for clues about where their date would be, she had become irritated with his childishness. The last response she had sent included several colorful expletives and a warning not to continue his line of inquiry any further. Elliot might be her best friend, and he might be the closest thing she had to family, but he wasn't going to get any more credit for what happened between her and the blonde visitor.

Now, as the cab driver let her out in front of the Brick House, Olivia made sure that her phone was on silent. Elliot might have given her the kick in the pants she needed to buy coffee that morning, but she knew it would only take one wrong joke from his direction to make her nervous enough to mess up the whole date.

The restaurant smelled, as it always did, of spice and rising bread, which eased some of Olivia's nerves. She nodded to one of her regular waitresses on the way in, immediately spotting Maura in a booth near the back of the long room. Making her way towards the golden curls, Olivia began to catch snippets of a phone conversation between her date and someone on the other end of the phone.

"Oh, but you know how I am, Jane!" Maura sounded frustrated but the laughter from a nearby table covered up what she said next. The other person obviously responded because Maura nibbled anxiously on one fingernail while she listened. "No, there was nothing awkward this morning." Another pause. Her leg was shaking slightly. "Of course she's not crazy! I'm the only one who is in danger of turning this evening into an utter mess." More silence. "Oh, Jane, stop. You're simply trying to frustrate me into shaking my anxiety." A sigh. "Yes, it's working."

Olivia felt bad for eavesdropping, she really did. Later, if anyone asked her why she had slowed her steps and silently hung her leather jacket on the hook next to their booth without letting Maura know she had arrived, she would blame it on the beautiful lilt of Maura's nervous voice, or the way her dimples peeked out from behind the iPhone held in one manicured hand. "What do I talk about? What does one usually discuss on a date such as this one? I don't know anything about her." The voice on the other end of the phone sounded teasing, but also a little exasperated. "That is true." A pause. "Do you think it will go alright?" Olivia couldn't let it continue any longer, lest Maura talk herself out of the date completely. Letting her last footfalls clip against the tile floor and resting her hand lightly on Maura's shoulder, Olivia slid into the booth across from the blonde. "Oh! Jane, I have to go. Olivia's arrived." Maura ended the call without waiting for a response from whoever Jane was, and slid the phone into her purse.

"Hey, you can finish your conversation if you need to," Olivia assured her. "I know work can be crazy sometimes. I don't mind, really."

"Oh, it wasn't work." Maura seemed flustered as she tucked a curl behind her ear and shifted on the cushioned bench. "That was my best friend, Jane." A waitress arrived at their table and placed two tall glasses of ice water in front of them.

"Could I get you ladies something to drink?" Olivia pulled her water towards herself and, smiling, shook her head. Maura ordered a chai tea, and the waitress left.

"Does she live in Boston?" This seemed like a simple question to start with, although Olivia was burning to know everything.

"Yes. She is a detective, the one I told you about this morning." Olivia nodded in understanding. "I'm sorry if my conversation seemed... silly." Maura looked down at the table in front of her and fiddled with the napkin under her glass. "I'm more experienced when it comes to dating an individual I have something specific in common with, such as an event or our careers. Jane was simply... reassuring me."

Olivia contemplated the medical examiner, remembering the young woman's confidence and poise at the coffee shop that morning, and the brief kiss she swore she could still feel tingling on her cheek. Making a snap decision she hoped she wouldn't regret, Olivia placed her hand on Maura's and grinned cheekily.

"My best friend, Elliot, is actually the person who convinced me to go back this morning to get coffee." Maura's eyes met Olivia's, eyebrows furrowed in curiosity. "I mean, to go back in case I might have the chance to run into you."

"You were there just looking for me?" This time, Olivia blushed.

"I know it sounds a little odd, which is why my partner had to talk me into it. Normally, I'm way too chicken to meet someone in a coffee shop once and then end up on a date." Maura chuckled and flipped her hand over so that their fingers were laying together, hers face up and Olivia's face down.

"So, we both have our best friends to blame if this goes belly up?" Catching site of the waitress headed back to their table with Maura's chai, Olivia winked.

"They also might get some of the credit if this goes well, don't you think?"

. . .

"You're not serious!" Maura thought her cheeks might go numb, she had been laughing so much in the last hour. Olivia grinned and nodded her head.

"One hundred percent," she replied. "He came stumbling in, wrapped in about twelve strands of lights, and every single one of them was lit! I can't even get my one strand of lights to stay lit for a week and this idiot, high off his rocker, had every single one working off a battery generator in his underwear." Maura shook her head in disbelief and lifted her tea cup to her lips only to remember it had been empty for a while. She didn't remember drinking it, but she also hadn't been paying attention to much besides Olivia's beautiful face since their meals had been cleared away. They had exchanged work stories ranging from the tough to the hysterical, discussing, and giggling at, topics which had probably made at least a few eavesdroppers raise their eyebrows. Her sides hurt and her voice felt dry, but she felt happier than she had in a long time.

"What did you do?" Olivia signed her name at the bottom of the check—Maura hadn't even noticed when she handed her card to the server—and chuckled.

"Elliot, my partner, asked him if he was looking for a Radio Shack. 'We often get confused for a convenience store,' Elliot told the guy." Maura giggled at Olivia's impression of her partner, with thrown back shoulders and deepened voice. "He said he had 'seen the lights' and followed them to us."

"Seen the light, as in had a religious epiphany? Was he looking for a rehabilitation center?" Olivia slid out of the booth and held out her hand for Maura who accepted it gracefully.

"At first, that's what we thought," Olivia responded as she held open Maura's coat so she could slip into it. "But he kept repeating it and finally Elliot realized that he'd followed a lit up patrol car from midtown. He was following the actual lights!" Maura laughed and followed Olivia between the tables until they were outside.

"I don't think quite as many ridiculous things happen in Boston as happen here." The blonde slid her hand into Olivia's elbow and walked as closely alongside her date as she could. "Still, Jane's stories are almost as entertaining. She likes to impersonate suspects." Olivia hummed in response and covered the hand in the crook of her elbow with her other palm. She steered them in the direction of Maura's hotel, her gait unhurried. "I—" Maura paused, seeming unsure. "I'm sorry if I have mentioned Jane too much. I feel like I've talked only about Boston this whole evening."

"Jane seems to be an important part of your life," Olivia commented, "and first dates are about getting to know each other, right?" Olivia pulled them to the edge of the sidewalk, next to a bus stop covered in posters advertising for Wicked, the Musical, so they were out of the way of other pedestrians. "I'd like it if this was the first of many dates, actually." Maura blushed and slid her hand down the brunette's forearm until she could link their fingers.

"She's my best friend. I haven't had many of those." Looking up from under curling eyelashes, Maura grinned. "I also haven't had many first dates as wonderful as this one." Olivia reached up and brushed a curl of blonde hair away from sparkling hazel eyes, letting it catch around her finger and whisper softly across the back of her hand.

"Can I take you out again, then?" Maura's shoulders sagged a little, but she squeezed Olivia's hand.

"I'm leaving tomorrow morning," she answered, expecting disappointment or frustration from her date.

"Breakfast, then? You must have a bagel and coffee before you go." Caught by the flicker of determination that brightened Olivia's brown eyes, and entranced by the lopsided quirk of lips pulled into a pleading grin, Maura stepped closer to Olivia and reached up to press her lips against the New Yorker's. Olivia was surprised for a moment, but when Maura pulled away, she leaned in for a second kiss, and then a third. Her thumb slid over Maura's cheek, and her lips parted so that she could swipe her tongue, ever so lightly, across the lips she was kissing. The medical examiner slid her free hand inside Olivia's jacket and wound it around her waist to the small of her back, pulling her in tightly.

It was a few minutes before either woman pulled back enough to remember there had been a question at hand.

"Was that a yes to breakfast tomorrow?" Maura giggled and let her forehead lean against Olivia's clavicle for a moment.

"That sounds wonderful." She leaned up to kiss the taller woman once more, releasing their linked fingers to gently grasp the back of Olivia's neck, until a jaywalking tourist bumped into them accidentally. The stranger muttered an apology, and the couple resumed their stroll towards Maura's hotel, this time with Maura's arm around Olivia's waist, and Olivia's wrapped around her shoulders. They paused, periodically, to kiss one another, sometimes while waiting for traffic so they could cross a street, and other times simply because they wanted to. Outside of the A Taj, their walk slowed once more.

"I'll text you about where we can meet for breakfast tomorrow," Olivia suggested. "I need to be at the precinct no latter than 8, so it will have to be early."

"I'll get on the road as soon as we finish, so early is fine." Eager lips met once more, and Olivia found herself unwilling to let go of the intoxicating taste of Maura's mouth. She leaned against the plaster wall of the hotel and brought Maura in closely, carefully tugging on her waist until they settled together. Even through coats and the awkwardness that come with kissing someone new, Olivia could feel the warmth of Maura's body, her softness and her unashamed delight the best medicine for a too-often lonely soul.

"Thank you for having dinner with me," Olivia said quietly between kisses, her lips pressed against the swell of one heated cheek as they caught their breath.

"Thank you for finding me in the coffee shop this morning," Maura responded, pulling back to grin up at her date who blushed.

"See you tomorrow morning?" Maura squeezed Olivia's hands in her own before stepping reluctantly out of the circle of Olivia's arms.

"Text me tonight," she commanded gently.

"Of course." Olivia remained leaning against the wall for a few moments more, watching Maura pass the doormen with a bright smile and disappear into the depths of the hotel. Her phone buzzed in her pocket twice, shaking her from her reverie, and she started her walk back downtown as she checked the text message. Elliot.

'Hope I'm interrupting... I mean, I hope I'm not interrupting anything. How was the date?'

Ass. Olivia briefly contemplated not responding at all, but an image of Elliot's caring, open expression from the day before popped into her brain.

'Wonderful. Thx for the courage.' She didn't have to wait long for a response.

'Anytime, partner.'

A/n This was designed to be the second half of chapter 2, so I'm sorry that they are both short. More to come!

P.S. Your reviews are amazing! Thank you for all of your words, favorites, and follows!

HistoryGeek1399—Islson? Bensles? :D

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Elliotandoliviababies—that's exactly why I decided to start writing this pairing! :D

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Ravens Trinity—possibly? I'm sorry! I try to update "regularly" but life happens. I'll try harder!

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