The following morning, Alex woke up to an empty bed with light streaming all around her through the windows. She leaned up slightly and rubbed her swollen eyes before slipping out of Olivia's bed. The night before had been hard for both of them; for Alex it was filled with nightmares and a lot of thrashing around in her sleep. For Olivia, it involved trying to calm down the blonde in any way she could. At roughly four am, they had both given up on sleep and ended up talking to each other for hours. Olivia had finally convinced Alex to try to sleep again at six am.

Alex glanced at the clock as she dropped her feet onto the cold hardwood floor, instantly curling her toes in response to the coldness. 10:23 am. She certainly hadn't expected to sleep so long but was relieved that she managed to sleep at all. She freshened up in the bathroom a bit before heading toward the kitchen.

"Morning," Olivia called from the kitchen as she turned around with a cup of coffee in hand.

"Good morning," Alex replied with a smile as she walked over to where Olivia was standing. The detective grabbed a cup out of the cupboard and filled it up with coffee before handing it over to the blonde. "Thank you." Alex curled her hands around the warm mug and sipped gingerly at the hot liquid.

"How'd you sleep?"

Alex paused mid-sip and lowered the cup slightly. "I think you know the answer to that. Thank you for staying up with me, you really didn't have to."

"Nonsense. I'm always going to be here for you, Alex. Are you hungry? Can I make you something to eat?" Olivia asked as she set down her cup and walked over to the fridge. "What do you normally eat?"

"I usually just eat toast for breakfast," Alex replied as she took another generous sip of her coffee. Olivia turned around from her position in front of the fridge and shook her head at the blonde. "What?"

"Toast, really, Cabot? You need something a little more filling. How about eggs and maybe some meat." Olivia paused slightly as her eyebrows furrowed. "Do you even eat meat?"

Alex chuckled lightly. "Yes, I do, Detective. I happen to be rather fond of bacon and eggs sound delightful."

"Bacon, huh? Perfect," Olivia replied as she pulled some eggs and a package of bacon from her fridge. "I'll even make you toast," Olivia teased as she set out the ingredients on the counter.

"You're spoiling me," Alex replied as she leaned up against the countertop and watched Olivia work her way seamlessly around the kitchen. "I may never want to leave."

Olivia continued whisking the eggs as she turned back to the blonde. "Good, I plan on keeping you around for a while." She quickly winked before turning back to the eggs and pouring them into the heated pan. Alex could feel the blush rising on her cheeks as she walked over to Olivia's table and set her cup down, suddenly feeling rather hot.

Once Olivia was done cooking, they both sat down at the table and ate in relative silence. Neither woman was really sure what to say. Alex glanced up and caught Olivia's eyes before looking back down at her food. Before she could speak, a ringing flooded the silent room. Olivia jerked up slightly and pulled her phone out of her pocket. "Benson."

"Hey, Liv," Elliot replied from the other end of the line.

"What's up, El?"

"Dylan Whiteman is in the wind. There have been no recent transactions on any credit cards or anything. The last purchase was from a hardware store a day prior to his attempted kidnapping of Cabot."

"Do you know what he purchased? Maybe that can help us track him down," Olivia replied as she stood up from the kitchen table and wandered into the living room. She wasn't sure how much of this Alex should be hearing or even wanted to hear.

"The store gave us a copy of his receipt. He bought some ropes, a blow torch, a couple things of duct tape, a tarp, a couple of knives, and a few bottles of bleach."

Olivia sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. "And I'm assuming those weren't for a home improvement project?" Olivia scoffed sarcastically. "Damn it. What are we going to do? We can't exactly hire around the clock protection for Cabot."

"We'll keep chasing down leads, Liv. We're going to find him but in the meantime Cragen told me that Donnelly wants Cabot to take some time off for recouping. Apparently Donnelly has already brought an ADA from white collar in. She wants Cabot to come down and brief her on her current cases."

"Okay, I'll let her know. I'll bring her in with me in a bit. Thanks for the update, El."

"No problem. Keep her safe for us, okay?"

"Will do." Olivia hung up her phone and wandered back into the kitchen where she found Alex washing the last of the dishes from breakfast. "Are you okay with swinging by the precinct and your office for a bit?"

Alex set the last dish down to dry and turned to face Olivia. "Has there been any progress on catching Whiteman?"

"No, unfortunately not. Look, Alex, don't get upset but Donnelly is forcing you to take a little time off."

"Why?" Alex instantly snapped as she gripped onto the counter. Olivia glanced down as her knuckles turned white from her hold. "I'm perfectly capable of working. It's not like I was assaulted."

"Alex, it has nothing to do with your ability to work. Donnelly just wants to make sure that you have time to process what happened. She already called someone in from white collar to fill in for you in the meantime. She requested that you fill in the new ADA before taking some time off."

Alex sighed as she released her grip from the countertop and walked out of the room. "I'll be ready in half an hour."