For disclaimers please see chapter one


Alex walked back into her office a few minutes later. She was angry now. Not with Olivia and not with the other woman. No, she was angry with herself. She had no business reacting the way she did. Olivia wasn't her girlfriend. As much as she wanted it, that wasn't true so she had no right getting jealous. She probably just ruined any shot she might have had. She sat down at her desk, put her head in her hands, and sighed heavily. She was suddenly jolted back to her to the present by a light tug on her arm and she remembered the presence of her nephew.

"Aunt Alex, can I have my coloring book please?" he asked her. Alex sighed and reached into her bottom drawer to take out the coloring book and crayons she kept for when Jimmy had to stay with her in her office. He took them and went to sit on the couch. After a few minutes he looked back at his aunt. "Aunt Alex?" he called.

"Yes Jimmy?" Alex asked.

"Why are you mad at Livia?" he asked her. He didn't understand what was going on at the pizzeria, but he knew when Alex was mad. He had seen it enough times.

Alex sighed. "I'm not mad at Olivia, Jimmy," she told him. "I shouldn't have acted the way I did."

"Do you not like her anymore?"

"No, I still like her," Alex told him with a sad smile. She saw that Jimmy was about to respond when there was a knock on the door. "Come in," she called out.

The door opened and a young man carrying a box and a small bag walked in. "Alexandra Cabot?"

Alex nodded. The young man walked over to her desk and placed the pizza box down along with two plates, forks, a knife, napkins, a small bottle of root beer for Jimmy, and a small bottle of diet coke for Alex. Placing down the last item the young man gave Alex a nod and walked out.

Alex looked at everything on her desk and noticed the note attached to the pizza box.

Alex

I'm not exactly sure what happened and I'm sorry if I've done anything to offend or upset you. Neither of you should skip lunch for a mistake I may have made. I wasn't sure on the drinks. Enjoy your lunch.

Olivia

"Damn it," Alex thought to herself. Olivia had done nothing wrong, yet she interpreted the situation like she had. Then she sends over lunch for her and her nephew as an apology. Could the woman be any more perfect? "Jimmy, do you still want some pizza?" Alex asked. She'd figure out how to fix her love life later.

"Yes, please," he said. He put his coloring book down on the table along with his crayons and walked over to the desk. Alex handed him a plate with a piece of pizza and his root beer. He walked back to the couch and sat down.

He sat and ate for a few moments before he looked at Alex again. "Aunt Alex, if you're not mad at Livia and you still like her, then are you mad at Casey?"

"Casey?" Alex asked him. She had no idea who he was talking about.

"Yeah, Livia's friend Casey. That was the lady who was hugging Livia," he told her.

"And she's just a friend?" She asked him. She couldn't believe she was getting information like this from her five year old nephew.

"Yeah," Jimmy nodded while studying his pizza. "Olivia asked her about her girlfriend. Casey said she lives in D.C."

"Ugghh," Alex groaned, putting her head in her hands once more. Before she could ask anything else, there was another knock on her door. "Come in," Alex called, not bothering to take her head out of her hands.

"Ms. Cabot?" asked an unfamiliar voice.

Alex picked up her head and looked at her door way. Standing there was none other than the woman she had seen giving Olivia a hug. "Yes," Alex responded. "And you must be…"

"Hi Casey!" Jimmy greeted.

Casey looked over to the couch. She smiled when she saw Jimmy. "Hey Jimmy. I thought you were having lunch with Liv?" Casey looked at him with a confused smile. Jimmy just shrugged in response and continued to eat his lunch. She then turned to Alex with the same expression.

Knowing that Casey would deserve to know, even though she didn't know why yet, Alex sighed. "Why don't we get this case out of the way and then I'll explain," Alex told her. Casey nodded and they got down to business. Alex briefed Casey on everything about the murdering arsonist/rapist that she knew, including what her nephew had seen. When they were done Alex looked at Casey with a pensive expression on her face. "How exactly do you know Liv?" She asked.

With barely a pause, Casey responded. "I'm dating her best friend. Sure we tried dating back in the day, but we both decided we were much better friends and she set me up with Abbie. It's long distance at the moment, but we're dealing with it," Casey explained. "Why do you ask?"

"This would be so much easier if the two of you were still dating," Alex sighed again. "I guess I'll just start from the beginning. I'm kind of falling in love with her."

"Olivia does have that affect on people," Casey said with an amused expression. "Why exactly is that a problem?"

"It's a problem because I saw the two of you hug, got insanely jealous, and was kind of a bitch to her earlier. I'm not usually like that. It's just that I've been so stressed out lately with my current case load, all of the paper, the fire, Jimmy being the key witness, and now this thing, or lack thereof, with Olivia, I snapped and at the wrong person," Alex explained. "And then she goes and sends us over lunch, apologizing for messing up when she didn't do anything wrong. This would be so much easier if I knew exactly how she felt."

"She likes you," Jimmy sing-songed from the couch. Both women looked at him and had to laugh. He was now sitting on the floor in front of the couch with his coloring book again, pizza to one side, face full of concentration, almost like he had never spoken.

Casey turned back to Alex. "You know if he says it then it's probably true," Casey told her.

"Why is that?" Alex asked.

"I've known Liv for a while now and she has never, and probably will never, lie to a child. I'm also guessing that he came right out and asked her about it."

"He did. He told me over breakfast this morning. I think that is another thing that is getting to me. I mean I know she likes me too, but she hasn't done anything yet." Alex reflected on what she just said and laughed. "God, I sound like I'm in high school again."

Casey gave her a sympathetic smile. "Tell you what," she said while standing and gathering her things. "Why don't I see if I can run a little damage control and also try and see if I can figure out exactly how she feels?"

"You would do that?" Alex asked.

"Sure. My case load was passed off to other people so I could focus on this case and without a suspect the most I can do is review files for now, which is something I can do anywhere. Including a certain lieutenant's apartment," Casey said. "Usually when Liv is confused or upset about something she works out. With her ankle being a little tender still, she's not going to be able to go for a jog, so she is probably doing some kind of workout in her apartment."

Alex smiled and felt slightly flushed at the thought of a sweaty, half naked Olivia. Casey caught the expression and sighed. Alex really did have it bad. "Stay out of Olivia-land for about five more minutes Alex," Casey said in mock exasperation while she wrote something down. "This is Liv's address. Why don't you meet me at the café down the street from there at about six and I can tell you what I found out? Then you can make the next move from there."

Alex took the piece of paper and smiled. "Thank you for helping with this Casey," she told her sincerely.

"Hey, it's not a problem," Casey replied. "Olivia deserves to be happy and I have a feeling this could be a really good thing."

"I hope you're right," Alex told her.

"I am," "She is," Alex heard simultaneously from her new friend and from her nephew. She laughed as she watched Casey walk out of the office. She sat back and hoped that the rest of her day would go better than it had up to this point.