Olivia walked into the precinct 45 minutes later, due to traffic, only to be sent right back out by Cragen,"Alex wants to see you. She said she tried to call you, and it kept going to voice mail, so she called here," Cragen said the moment he saw Olivia in the squadroom.
Olivia nodded,"I put it on silent before I went up to see Lizzie, I guess I forgot to turn the sound back on," she said, turning around and heading for the DA's office.
"Come in," Alex called when she knocked on the door.
"Hey, Cragen said you wanted to see me," Olivia said, stepping into the office.
"I saw you with Nick," Alex said simply.
Olivia stayed calm,"What do you mean?" she asked curiously.
"Don't play dumb with me, Liv. I saw you in the parking lot, in the car, kissing. This is not a good idea," Alex said as Olivia sat down in one of the chairs in front of her desk.
Olivia sighed,"Why would you say that?' she asked, leaning back in her chair.
"Liv, look what happened last time you fell in love with a coworker. He left you," Alex said.
Olivia shook her head,"Alex, that coworker was married. Nick isn't anymore," she said simply.
"Liv, I'm just trying to protect you. Dating someone you work with is never, ever a good idea. Especially when you are partners. You know that's not exactly allowed, right?" Alex asked.
Olivia nodded,"We are aware of the rules, that's why we are kind of keeping it quiet until we are absolutely sure it's going to work out, then we will deal with whatever we have to deal with," she said.
Alex shook her head,"I really don't think this is a good idea," she insisted.
Olivia shrugged,"You're my friend Alex. One of my best friends, even. I appreciate your opinion, but it is still my choice, and I really want to to see where this goes. I like Nick, a lot, and he likes me too. I appreciate your concern for me, but I know what I'm doing this time," she said, standing up, and heading for the door.
Alex stopped her with her words,"If you don't stop seeing him, I'm going to have to tell Cragen," she said, eyes closed tight. She really didn't want to have to do this, but she thought it was best for Olivia, and didn't want to see her friend hurting the way she was when Elliot left ever again.
Olivia turned around, a shocked expression on her face,"You would do that to me?" she asked.
Alex sighed, opening her eyes, and nodding,"If I had to," she said.
Olivia shook her head, a bitter smile on her face,"From now on, when we talk, it should just be about a case," she said, dismissing their friendship as she closed the door behind her, walking out of the office. She let a single tear slide down her cheek as she made her way back to the squadroom, wiping it away just before she entered the room.
"What did she want?" Nick asked, looking up as she walked in.
Olivia shook her head,"I'll tell you later," she said, plopping down in her desk.
"You two," Cragen said, pointing to Nick and Olivia,"Go ahead and head home. You didn't get any sleep last night. You can finish the paperwork tomorrow," he said.
Nick and Olivia both nodded their thanks as they gathered their things, heading out of the squadroom, and to the elevator together,"So, you wanna' tell me what Alex did to upset you so much, now?" Nick asked as the elevator doors closed.
Olivia sighed,"She saw us kissing in the car earlier," she said, leaning against the wall.
"And?" Nick asked.
"And, she threatened to tell Cragen if we didn't stop seeing each other," Olivia explained.
Nick looked shocked,"What? Why? I thought you guys were friends," he exclaimed.
Olivia nodded,"She said she's just trying to protect me. I basically told her to shove it and left," she said.
"So, you don't want to stop seeing me?" Nick asked as the elevator doors opened, and they headed to the car, both sliding into a seat at the same time.
Olivia looked around, before leaning in and giving him a quick, but deep kiss,"Absolutely not," she said as she pulled away.
"Good, then, we can have that date I've been talking about," Nick said, turning the key in the ignition.
"Right now?" Olivia asked.
Nick nodded, pulling the car out of park,"Right now," he said. The ride was silent, comfortable, but silent. Until, Nick pulled into the parking lot of a diner.
Olivia turned towards him, a smile on her face,"This is the first place we ate dinner together as partners," she said.
Nick nodded, shutting off the car,"I don't know if it would really be called dinner, considering it was three in the morning, but it was our first meal together, nonetheless," he said, getting out of the car, and heading around to the passenger side to help Olivia out.
They made their way inside, and were seated at their favorite booth, in the back corner of the room. The waitress took their drink orders, and went ahead and got their food orders, considering they always ordered the same thing, and didn't really need to look at the menu. Nick checked the restaurant, before sliding into the same side of the booth as Olivia.
"What are you doing? What if someone sees us?" Olivia asked, looking around nervously.
"Calm down, Liv. Look around, there's no one here, and I'm pretty sure the waitress isn't going to tell anyone," Nick assured her.
Olivia seemed to calm down, allowing herself to lean into Nick farther,"I'm sorry. I'm just kind of on edge after what happened with Alex," she said.
Nick kissed her softly," I know," he said as their food and drinks were delivered.
The waitress gave the couple a warm smile,"Don't worry, I won't tell," the older woman said, walking away.
Nick smiled,"See, nothing to worry about," he said, wrapping an arm around Olivia.
Olivia smiled, taking a bite of her burger,"You're so confident," she said.
Nick shrugged,"I'm just not worried. We'll deal with whatever happens, when it happens. There's no reason to waste our time worrying about it. We should be careful, yes, but we can't sit around scared to do anything, because we might get caught, or this relationship will never work out," he said.
Olivia nodded,"You're right," she said, eating a fry.
"Woah, hold up. Did you just say that I'm right?" Nick asked, fiegning shock.
Olivia swatted his arm playfully,"Ass," she said, taking a sip of her coffee.
"So, Zara called today,while you were gone," Nick said.
Olivia turned her head to look at him,"Zara called?" she asked.
Nick nodded,"Yeah, she was basically talking for her mommy, because obviously she didn't want to talk to me. She's sending Zara back for a visit next weekend," he said.
Olivia smiled,"That's great!" she exclaimed.
Nick nodded, beaming,"Yeah, I'm really excited. I was just wondering, if you would stay with us next weekend? I mean-" he started to explain.
Olivia cut him off with a soft kiss,"You don't need to explain why you want me to stay. If she's ok with it, I'll stay with you," she said. Nick simply leaned in, kissing her deeply, cupping her face with his hands, until they were broken apart by Olivia's phone ringing. She groaned as she pulled it out of her pocket,"Benson," she answered. "Oh hey, sweetie. Yeah, sure. I'll be there in about half an hour. Alright sweetie, see you then," Olivia hung up, giving Nick another sweet kiss.
"Lizzie?" Nick guessed.
Olivia nodded,"She said she had a nightmare, and she remembered something about her first attack," she said, motioning for him to slide out of the booth, and throwing some cash down on the table. Nick picked up the cash she had thrown down, handing it back to her, and putting down his own money. Olivia rolled her eyes,"We'll talk about that later, we have some where we need to be right now, or I would argue with you on that," she said, leading the way out of the restaurant. The woman walking into the restaurant at that moment, with Trevor Langan, sighed deeply, watching the couple get into the car and share a sweet kiss before pulling out of the parking lot. She had to do what she thought was best for her best friend, even if her best friend disagreed with her.