A/N: This has been a good week...so far 3 updates. I'm not gonna jinx it though because I am trying very hard to finish this story this week. 2 chapters left at most guys. After 3 years I'll be able to another story to the completed section. :) Thanks to all of you that are still reading, and still sticking with me


"Tell me all about your trip, Alex," Kathy asked excitedly. The blonde had been back for a little over a week, but had been unable to meet with her best friend due to work commitments for both of them getting in the way. It was now Sunday afternoon and they were sitting in a quiet little café they'd both enjoyed over the years.

Alex, for her part, had been thankful for the distraction work brought. It helped to take her mind off of intense brown eyes, short brown hair styled as though she'd just gotten out of bed, an amazing smile. If she was honest with herself though, Olivia was never far from her mind. She'd almost forgotten, in fact, that the brunette had flown home two days ago. Even in sleep, the stunning brunette haunted her dreams, often making her ache upon waking.

Before allowing herself to sing too far into the memory of her most recent dream, Alex realized her best friend was still waiting for her to respond.

She told Kathy almost everything should remember, except Olivia. Alex wanted to tell Kathy all about her and she knew she could trust her to keep her confidence, but she felt it was something she couldn't bring up on her own yet. It still felt too raw. She could tell by the look Kathy was giving her though that she knew Alex had left something out.

"You meet anyone while you were there?" Kathy asked. She waggled her eyebrows to make sure Alex got her meaning.

With that question, Alex couldn't help herself. She told Kathy all about the woman who had stolen her heart. She was practically in tears when she finished.

Kathy, for her part, was silent when her friend finished her tale. "What was her name?" Kathy asked when she realized Alex had left it out. She didn't know why it mattered, but something told her she needed to know the name of the woman who had her usually composed friend out of sorts.

Olivia sat at her desk, thankful to be back at the 1-6. It had always been easy to lose herself in case files and evidence, she hoped that was the case now. Unfortunately though, it looked as if things had been rather slow while she was away. It seemed like the perps all took a vacation right along with her, which made it all too think about her vacation.

After Alex had gone, Olivia didn't feel like doing much of anything. The hotel was paid for the remainder of the trip and she felt it would be inconsiderate to check out early when her partner had gone through so much trouble to pay for it in advance.

She'd walked around more, did a little shopping, but it all felt vacant, as if something was missing. She knew her heart wasn't in it. That had left when Alex left her hotel room. She knew she would get over it eventually, but it would take time.

Elliot walked into the precinct with mild trepidation. His wife had practically demanded he invite his cousin over to dinner this upcoming weekend. She had that look in her eye that told him Olivia would not be the only guest attending this dinner. He really did hate it when his wife tried to fix up his cousin. It was always a disaster, and he always heard about it for weeks, but he knew better than to cross his wife. It was how they'd been married for so long.

He was thankful his partner was the only one there. "Hey, Liv how was the vacation?" he asked. He was trying to gauge her mood before he extended the invitation.

"It was good," she responded. "Exactly what I needed to unwind from work." She then proceeded to tell him about it. She left out the part about Alex. She wasn't ready to reveal that yet.

"Sounds like you had a great time," Elliot said. He then got to work on his own paper work before suddenly looking up again. "By the way, Kathy wanted me to invite you over for dinner this weekend. Think you could make it?"

Olivia took a moment to think about it before she nodded. "It will be good to see her and the kids. It's been a while."

Elliot didn't bother to tell her that the kids wouldn't be there and another guest would be joining them. In his mind, what Olivia didn't know wouldn't hurt her and it wouldn't necessarily hurt him until after if things didn't go well.

Their morning started out quiet, but it didn't last long. Just before nine o'clock, they received a call. Cragen sent Benson and Stabler to check it out. They were almost to the elevator when Cragen reminded Olivia to grab her jacket. After a month in the tropics, even December in New York could almost make you forget to dress warm. Don followed his two best detectives to the elevator bay. He almost turned around to head back to his office when he noticed the second elevator was climbing to his floor. He heard Elliot and Olivia talking has their door shut in front of them, just as the second one opened, revealing a stylish blonde he recognized as their new ADA. He still wasn't sure how he was going to break it to Olivia they had a permanent ADA to go to for all of their cases.

The case they'd received had been fairly simple, but frustrating at the same time. It was just a flasher, but they man was smart enough not to stand around long enough to have his face identified. There were a total of six women from the same building, and four from another that all reported the same thing. From the trench coat he was wearing, the white running shoes, tube socks, even the size of his equipment, but none could tell them what his face looked like. It took them 3 days to finally get a lead big enough to try and get a warrant. Elliot went to handle that while Olivia made her way to the apartment of their suspect.

When their tip proved true, Olivia sat the perp down in the interrogation room and made her attempt to get him to talk. Meanwhile a now familiar clicking was heard coming down the precinct halls.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Cabot," Munch greeted her.

Alex gave a halfhearted smile in response. "How is everyone today?" she asked cordially.

"Finishing up paper work," Cragen said as he stepped out of the office. "We've got a perp in interrogation 1 right now. Our best detective is in there now, so it shouldn't be too long before we get a confession."

Alex looked around the precinct and realized that Detective Stabler was missing. She assumed he was in the observation room, watching his partner, whom she had yet to meet. One of her clerks informed her that 'Ben' had been on vacation for the past month. As tempted as she was to go in a meet the still elusive Detective, she knew she was only there for the daily check-in. She had mounds of her own paperwork to get through. She made her excuses to leave, and made her way back to the office.

When the doors to the elevator closed, the smiling detectives emerged from the observation room. "Full confession," Olivia told them.

"Nicely done," Cragen commended. "The ADA was just here. She'll be glad to know this case will be simple."

Olivia was slightly disappointed to know she'd missed the ADA. She'd been unable to go over to the courthouse to introduce herself since she returned. She couldn't even remember her name. It had probably been mentioned to her, but she'd been so lost in her thoughts, she hadn't been paying attention. Now she was too embarrassed to ask again.

She sat down at her desk and began to fill out the 5. She was honestly looking forward to tomorrow night. It had felt like a long week and she couldn't wait to spend the night with her favorite family.

Kathy Stabler had been trying to contain her excitement all week. When Alex told her the woman she met in Aruba was Olivia Benson, should believe it. The fact that her best friend had met her husband's cousin/partner while on vacation blew her mind. She had honestly been thinking about setting them up for a while, she just didn't know how well they would get along. With the way Alex described their time together though, she knew she'd had nothing to be worried about.

Elliot hadn't been thrilled about having to invite his cousin to the dinner knowing it was a set up. He always got to hear the complaints when it ended badly. But Kathy knew that wasn't going to be the case here. She'd told Elliot who the second guest was, but she hadn't told him they had already met. If Olivia hadn't told him, it really wasn't her place to. She just hoped they hadn't run into each other yet at work. The dinner would be so much more fun if they both discovered the other was from Manhattan at the same time. The next 24 hours could not go by fast enough for Kathy Stabler.