"Hey beautiful, smile for me." The request was yelled from across the avenue by a man leaning against a truck. The statement resulted in silence from its obvious target.
"Yo, bitch, I'm talking to you!" Alex kept walking but her companion did not.
"What the fuck did you just say to her?"
The anger in the female voice made Alex stop and passersby slow down. Olivia Benson was not happy.
"I wasn't talking to you, lady." The man continued to lean against the truck as she sized up Olivia.
"Well, I'm talking to you now. What did you say to her?" Olivia had now made her way across the avenue and was standing in front of the man.
"Mind your business, sweetheart, I was talking to the blond."
"How about this, asshole, you became my business when you fucking spoke to her like that!"
Sensing that Olivia was not going to walk away from the confrontation, Alex maneuvered her body between the detective and the man.
"Olivia, let it go, he's not worth it." Alex grasped Olivia forearm and attempted to tug her away from the situation.
Alex reacted slower than Oliva and by then it was too late. Between feeling the smack against her ass and seeing a fist connecting with a jaw, Alex had time to vocally acknowledge both acts.
Alex's sharp "no" caused Olivia to realize what she did.
"Shit!" The brunette stood stunned as she watched the now bleeding man cradle his quickly brushing jaw and busted lip.
"Liv, let's go, please." Alex pleaded with the detective before they both quickly hurried away.
Safely tucked away in her office, Alex turned to Olivia, "What were you thinking? You just assaulted a man!"
"He put his hands on you, Alex. What did you expect me to do?"
"Not that!" Alex paced around the room and kept her eyes trained on Olivia. "I don't know, maybe flash your badge. Arrest him."
"Yeah, well, that didn't cross my mind at the moment." The sentence hung in the air as both women acknowledged that despite years of training and obedient adherence to procedure, Olivia's first instinct was not to follow ingrained protocol but to act on emotion. That her judgement concerning Alex was clouded by emotion.
Alex's head tilted to the side and her shoulders sagged. "Liv..."
"I'm sorry, it's just...he shouldn't have done it."
"As much as I would love to have you with me everywhere I go, you can't protect me all the time."
Alex gently rubbed her fingers over Olivia's swollen knuckles. This moment was bigger than her fear and Alex wanted to be brave. She wanted this to be the start of something and to make up for all of the times she should have said or done more.
Alex cupped the back of Olivia's neck and pulled the brunette to her. "Thank you, Olivia." She rested her temple beside Olivia's then pressed a sensual kiss her cheek.
It was the intimacy that Olivia longed for and that Alex was finally willing to give. This was the more that they both wanted and the world be damned if either woman were to turn back now.