Chapter 7: Into the Night

When the door finally closed behind them and they were all standing inside the hotel room, Alex put Riley down. Immediately he set to exploring the suite and eventually found the TV and plopped down on the floor to watch a cartoon in Dutch.

Alex was still holding onto Olivia's hand, not wanting to let it go, and unwilling to break the contact. She couldn't believe they were both here, actually here.

Eventually the stress and the magnitude of exhaustion Olivia had felt over the past few days overtook her body and she flopped down on the bed. Her hands landed above her head and her legs still dangled off the edge of the bed.

Alex sat down next to her and let her hands fall on either side of her lap and her shoulders slumped slightly forward. "I wasn't sure I'd ever get to see you again."

Olivia sat up on the bed and faced Alex now concerned. She reached out her hand and placed it on Alex's knee. "'Lex, why would you say that?"

"It's just the way I left . . . I wasn't sure you'd want me back." Alex let her whole guard down. That wall she had built up, that impenetrable defense of pride and stubbornness had collapsed the minute she had opened that door. Her eyes were soft and vulnerable.

"We both tend to want to escape when we're scared; when we want something so much that it hurts to voice those thoughts." Olivia searched Alex's eyes to see if she had hit the right point. When Alex gently smiled and laid her head on Olivia's shoulder, she knew she had. Liv wrapped her arms around her girlfriend and hugged her in close, resting her chin on top of her head, protecting her, claiming her. "What happened in the Congo that made you so determined to come back?"

Alex kept her head down on Olivia's shoulder, enjoying the warmth and the protection, needing it and craving it. "I saw what those beasts did to some of those kids. I held a dying child in my arms as we fled an encampment."

Olivia looked down at Alex. She had never told her that before and it surprised her that Alex would keep something like that a secret from her. Olivia let out a large sigh. She knew what it was like to watch a child die in front of your eyes and not be able to do anything about it.

"I made a promise to those women and to myself that I would get justice for them, but there's no justice to be found in the Congo, only more death." Alex looked up at Olivia but kept her head resting on Liv's shoulder.

"You could have told me I would have understood," Olivia said.

Alex sat up and glanced over at Riley before she turned back to Liv. "I know what it's like to be taken away from your life, to have to leave it all behind and start over new. I didn't want you and Riley to have to do that, so I gave you an out."

"But by keeping that from me you took away my choice." Olivia let her words settle in before she continued. "When you feel all alone and the world is crashing down on you, let me be there for you. Let me in and let me bring you back. If you want to fly off to the other side of the world, then I want to fly away with you into the night."

"And what happens when I lose the indictment? What happens when everything I worked so hard for falls apart and I crash and burn? What if there's no happy ending?" Alex looked down at her hands, still unsure of herself.

Olivia reached her hand out and lifted Alex's chin. "Then I'll be here to pick up the pieces. You're not alone Alex. I will always be here for you."

Alex's eyes watered but she kept in her tears and swallowed them back. "Always?" she asked.

"Always," Olivia said.

*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/

After a few hours of resting, and after having a bite to eat as a late lunch, the three of them headed back to the ICC to take a look at Alex's new office and to get some of her things settled in.

They arrived at the front desk and Alex walked up to the desk clerk.

The clerk eyed Olivia who stood very closely next to Alex.

"I am here to pick up my new ID card, and I'll need two visitor's passes." Alex said. Riley began tugging on her pant leg and so she bent down to pick him up.

"Name please," the clerk said as she opened a drawer to dig around for the new ID.

"Alex Cabot."

"Oh so you're the MS. Alex Cabot." The clerk found the ID and eyed Riley, "He looks more like your son," she said as she looked between Alex and Liv.

"He is my son," Alex said clearly confused by the clerk's choice of words.

Olivia hadn't told her about the altercation she had with this woman earlier in the day. She hadn't wanted to spoil a good moment.

"I has two mommies!" Riley said and held up two fingers at the clerk. "See, one two!" he pointed at Olivia and then at Alex.

"I'll take those visitors passes now," Olivia said and reached over to grab them. She pinned one to Riley's jacket and the other to hers.

The clerk was still eyeing the three of them obviously not liking the fact that these two women were in a relationship and happened to have a child together as well. Regardless, she handed Alex her ID and Alex and Riley walked off.

"Do you have a problem?" Olivia asked.

"Two mommies, pfft . . ." the clerk visibly dismissed Olivia with a grunt and a wave of her hand.

"Well," Liv turned to make sure Alex and Riley weren't watching and then turned back toward the clerk. "It beats having just one!" Liv held up her middle finger at the clerk and then turned after Alex after she got the appropriate response of shock.

They spent the rest of the day laying out some of Alex's new things and meeting other employees. They toured the building and went and visited Judge Donnelly in her new office as well.

That evening they had dinner at a quaint eatery not far from the ICC. Afterwards, they headed back to the hotel.

Riley was already asleep on Olivia's shoulder as she carried him through the hotel lobby and into the elevator.

"I wonder if my roommate has shown up yet," Alex stated.

"I hope they don't mind having two extra people crashing with them."

The elevator dinged and they were at their floor. "Well, it can't be too long before we find a more permanent residence. So we won't have to suffer too much." Alex set her bag down and slipped the key into the lock. The door beeped and she opened the door for Olivia and Riley.

But Olivia froze just inside the doorway.

"What is it?" Alex asked, but didn't need an answer when she shut the door and saw who it was Olivia was staring at.

"Alex, honey, hi dear. It's so nice to see you again." Katie rested her hand on Alex's arm. "This must be your son." She walked the short distance towards Riley and stepped around Olivia so she could see his face that was still resting on Liv's shoulder. She pushed back a small piece of hair. "He's beautiful," she commented and then looked at Olivia. "Hi Olivia. I wasn't expecting to see you here."

Liv gave a slight nod of her head, "And I wasn't expecting to see you here either." Olivia walked over toward hers and Alex's bed and slowly set Riley down. She bent down to take off his shoes and socks before recovering him with the blanket.

"So what ARE you doing here Katie?" Alex asked.

Katie moved about the room effortlessly and went and sat on one of the chairs in the lounge area of the suite. Alex sat down on the couch and Liv quickly joined her.

"I was put on suspension after our last encounter, and when I went back to work I applied for a new position. I'm an international marshal now, it's a branch off the FBI dedicated to working with very specific international groups. In my case, I work for the ICC." Katie picked up a beer that she had already brought out and took a sip out of it. "I was the one who arrested that lieutenant you're prosecuting you know. So I'm here to guard and escort him now."

"I'm surprised," Olivia said. "It seems like after that last international incident they wouldn't want you traveling anymore." Liv raised an eyebrow.

"Ok . . . Liv you want a drink?" Alex asked as she got up from the couch and walked into the tiny kitchen to grab two more beers.

"Actually," Katie said, "that is very precisely why they took me."

"Why is that?" Olivia asked.

Katie looked behind her at Alex who was still in the kitchen taking the lids off the beers and then turned back to face Olivia. "Because when I have a goal in mind, I reach it; and when I want something, or someone . . . I get them."

Olivia sat back into the couch reading the intermittent threat in her voice, "Well, no one gets caught unless they're missing." Olivia matched the underlying threat in Katie's voice and then added as Alex headed back toward them, "I sure hope you don't plan on putting Alex's and Riley's life in danger again."

Katie's eyes narrowed slightly and she leaned forward, into the conversation as she sat her drink back down on the coffee table. "No Olivia, I don't." She leaned back when Alex sat down and handed a beer to Liv.

Katie smiled at Alex when she sat back down and then Katie turned to Olivia. Her voice reverted back to her charming tone, "It sure is nice to see Alex as a mum isn't it?"

Olivia placed her hand on top of Alex's leg and looked up at her girlfriend. "It is very good to see. She's a very good mommy"

Alex gave a small blush that only Liv would have been able to see and she was even gladder they had come after her because she had almost lost that privilege.

"Well," Katie said, "I don't know about you, but I think I'm going to head off to bed."

"Sounds good to me," Olivia agreed.

Olivia changed and crawled into the middle of the bed. Riley was on one side and Alex climbed in on the other.

"How'd I get so lucky to have you in my life?" Alex rhetorically whispered quietly into Liv's ear. Alex wrapped her arms around Olivia and Liv let her head rest on the inside of Alex's shoulder and arm. Soon they both drifted off into sleep.

*-*/*-*/*-*/*-*/

At some point in the night, Liv flopped over and when she instinctively reached out to check on Riley, she felt nothing but sheets. She bolted up in the bed, only briefly stirring Alex and quickly looked around the room. "Riley?" she called out but not too loudly.

She flipped on the small lamp by her table and waited for her eyes to adjust. She stood up from the bed and glanced about the room. Then she walked into the bathroom and saw evidence of a little boy having been in there in the middle of the night without lights on. He had been sleepwalking again. So she checked around the room again, and beside her bed and on the opposite side of Alex but still couldn't find Riley.

She was about to wake Alex and set off on a thorough search of the hotel when she heard rustling and a boy noise. She walked over to where she heard the noise and froze when she saw where he was.

He was in the bed with Katie and was curled up comfortably in the small of her back.

A/N: So this may not have made complete sense if you didn't read my story Blind Run. Katie is Alex's British ex girlfriend and had tried to steal Alex back from Olivia, but at one point ended up putting Alex's and Riley's lives in danger. Dun Dun! And reviews always loved!