DISCLAIMERS: See Part 1.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
MISBEHAVIN' (Part 10)
(story 4 in the Miscommunication Series aka It Sucks To Be You Series)
By cnrocks/CaseyROCKS
Cabot Lodge
December 23, Saturday 8:30am
Olivia made her way into the kitchen, her nose following the scent of freshly brewed coffee. She stopped and leaned on the door jamb. Sitting at the breakfast counter was Alex and Casey. Both had part of the newspaper in front of them and a coffee cup. Liv looked at the part of the paper that was showing. She snorted silently. Casey has the sports page and Alex has business. Go figure.
She stifled a laugh when she watched them both turn pages in some sort of a synchronized display. The paper turned, they refolded and flipped it out and they resumed their reading. When they both reached for their cups at the same time, Liv lost it.
The papers dropped down and both women stared at the laughing detective. Then they both turned to each other and mirrored a shrug. Olivia stopped, pointed and then started laughing again. She bent over her hands on her knees to catch her breath.
"Good morning to you too." Casey uttered.
Olivia stood and walked over to the attorneys. She leaned in and kissed Casey then turned to Alex. Alex put her head on her hand and stared. She puckered, playfully, and shut her eyes. Olivia looked at Casey and then swiftly kissed Alex on the top of her blonde head.
"Chicken." She mocked.
"Chicken's girlfriend in right here." Casey answered dryly.
Olivia looked over the counter. "What's for breakfast?"
"There are bagels on the other counter. Help yourself." Casey pointed to the counter.
"Or I think Abbie left her Ring Dings in the cabinet." Alex added
Abbie came sliding into the kitchen, Risky Business style. She reached out and used the counter to stop her forward movement. The attorney put herself between the cake and the other occupants of the kitchen. "Touch those and die." She made a gun gesture with her fingers.
"You'd kill me over a chocolate cake?" Alex asked. She lowered the paper a bit to speak to the brunette.
"You? No. You can have anything I have." She smiled sweetly at the blonde. "But if Butch here takes one more step, I'm going to have to do something drastic."
Olivia had quietly sidled over to the sink while Abbie's attention was on Alex. "Will you stop calling me Butch, please?" She grabbed the sprayer off the sink and pointed it at Abbie.
"It's not loaded, Sherlock." Abbie snarked.
Olivia turned the water on. "Thanks for the reminder, stupid."
"Now Bu... Buddy... you don't want to do that." She lifted her hands in surrender.
Olivia grinned evilly at Abbie. "Oh yes I do. You have been driving me nuts."
"Olivia?" Alex's authoritative lawyer voice brooked no argument. "Put the gun down." She paused a moment. "If you get water all over my floor, even if it is a valid reason, I am going to bury you in the snow."
Abbie smirked.
"And also your instigating... buddy."
The smirk disappeared.
"Casey? Aren't you going to say something?" Liv pleaded, looking over at her girlfriend.
"Sure." She lowered the paper and looked over it. "I'll get started on the eulogies right after I finish reading about the Ranger game last night."
Abbie sat pouting in the back seat of the SUV while everyone else got out.
"Coming, Sundance? Or should we call you Snowpants?" Olivia laughed.
"Liv. Be nice." Alex admonished. "It was her first time." She patted Abbie on the knee and got out. "C'mon." Abbie opened her door and got out as well.
Olivia stepped up close to Abbie and whispered in her ear. "Was it good for you, baby?"
Abbie turned and glared at the brunette. "It could have been better, but I'm sure you've heard that before," she sniped back. "I can't believe you took pictures."
"Souvenirs." She turned away and walked toward the house door. Olivia was a couple of steps behind the two attorneys.
"Souvenir this." As Liv turned, Abbie let fly with a snowball. Unfortunately, Olivia turned, ducked and the snowball hit Casey on the shoulder.
"I am so sorry. That was meant for Butch here."
Olivia was jumping around in front of Abbie. "Neener, neener. You couldn't hit the broadside of a barn."
"Oh, Olivia." Abbie said sweetly. "I don't think of you as a broadside of a barn... yet. But you better layoff the donuts."
"Snowball fight!" Olivia yelled. She pointed her thumb at her girlfriend. "Casey and me against you and Alex."
"Oh, no. I am not getting involved with this." Alex argued back and turned to open the door.
Just then Abbie lobbed another snowball that nailed Alex in the back.
Alex took a deep breath and turned. Her eyebrow rose and she glared, evilly.
Casey looked over at the person standing at her shoulder and was sure she saw horns growing out of her head. "Oh you are in so much trouble now." She took a step forward.
"I want Casey." Olivia called.
"I want Casey." Abbie called out a second behind Liv.
"I want Casey." Alex called out as well.
"Oh what I wouldn't give to hear that in different circumstances," Casey closed her eyes and muttered to herself. When she opened her eyes again, everyone was staring at her. "What!?"
"Who you going to side with Case?" Liv asked. "I luvuuvvvvv you," Olivia warbled.
"We colleagues need to stick together Casey," Alex replied.
"I can make it worth your while Casey." Abbie offered, waggling her eyebrows.
"Just what exactly are you offering, Carmichael?" Liv asked seriously; she stood with her hands on her hips.
Abbie visibly gulped. "Ummm. I'll share my Ring Dings?"
They all looked to Casey expectantly. "Abbie? Can I talk to you a second?" Casey asked. At Abbie's nod, she and the attorney walked a few feet away so they could talk privately. The other two looked at each other, puzzled.
"What's up, Case?" Abbie whispered.
"If you promise to give each of them a Ring Ding." At Abbie's immediate look of outrage, Casey held up her hand. "Let me finish." Abbie nodded in agreement. "If you promise to give each of them a Ring Ding as a gesture of good sportsmanship, I will side with you." Abbie's eyes brightened. "AND I will give you an added bonus that you didn't think about."
"What?"
"When we annihilate them and you know we will - let's face it Liv can't throw and I doubt Alex can either - anyway, I will focus on Liv and you focus on Alex."
Abbie looked around Casey as she spoke and blew a kiss at Alex and Olivia.
Casey continued. "Once we start and they know they are outclassed, they are going to get a bit, ummm... exasperated. Liv is going to do the only thing that comes to mind - she is going to charge. Alex will follow suit. I am going to end up with a frustrated brunette all over me in the snow. Alex is not even going to think about it and you will end up with a blonde all over you."
"Oh Casey, I like the way you think." She leaned over and kissed her.
"Carmichael!" Olivia growled out.
Abbie ducked the snowball aimed at her head. "Let the games begin." She kneeled down and grabbed a few handfuls of snow. "You're going down, Butch."
"Sorry, honey, but she's offering chocolate." Casey called out as she ducked behind the SUV.
Olivia, clad in a pair of red sweatpants and a Ranger's hockey jersey, made her way back into the living room. She had a towel draped casually around her neck. "That hot shower felt great." The detective rubbed her hair with the towel.
Casey looked over the breakfast bar at her girlfriend and smiled. Liv winked at her. "Guess it's my turn next." She looked toward the hallway opening. "Where's the terror?"
"Probably using up the rest of the hot water," Liv quipped.
"No chance at that," Alex called over her shoulder, then turned around. She was stirring a pot. "My mother loved long baths, so father indulged her by putting in a huge capacity water heater." She gave one final stir to the pot in her hand. "Casey if you will get out some mugs, the hot chocolate is ready."
Casey opened the cabinet door and grabbed two mugs. She set them on the counter and turned to get two more. Alex poured the dark liquid into them, then set the almost empty pot back on the stove. Alex handed two mugs to Casey who strolled into the living room to join Olivia on the couch. Alex picked up her own mug. She brought it to her nose and inhaled the sweet scent.
"Mmmmm, it smells heavenly."
Abbie wandered out at that moment. She sniffed herself and replied cheekily, "Yes, yes I do. Thanks for noticing."
Alex set her mug on the counter and walked over to the brunette. She made a big show of sniffing her. "Eh." She replied, noncommittally as she walked back over to her mug.
"What?"
She peered back over her shoulder, "Oh, you smell okay, but this chocolate is exquisite." She held out a mug for Abbie. "It's made up of the leftovers of the GoDiva chocolate you sent me." She waited for Abbie to take a sip. "I hope you are a leg person, because the guys ate all the other body parts."
Abbie coughed and sputtered. Once she caught her breath, she pointedly looked at the blonde. "You are evil."
"Thank you for noticing." Alex replied and set her mug back on the counter. "I'm going to go grab a shower now and warm up a bit. I'll make dinner in a little while. Casey, are you going to join me?" She blushed when she realized how that sounded. "In a shower." She continued to stumble, "I mean use the guest shower while I use the master shower. Not join me in my shower." The others snickered. "Oh you know what I meant."
"Yep," Casey handed her mug to Liv who set it on the coffee table. "I'll be right out." She patted Liv's knee as she stood up. "Keep my place warm for me, ok?" As Casey passed by Abbie she looked her over. "Nice jammies. Number thirty one, huh? Interesting." She looked down. "OOoh, love the socks."
Abbie looked down at her apparel and wiggled her toes. "Thanks." Abbie was dressed in a pair of dark blue flannel pants and a blue Giant's jersey. Her socks were red with sparkle stripes.
Abbie took her mug and joined Liv in the living room. She walked around silently for awhile looking at all the family pictures on the mantle and walls. She held one up. "You think she looks like her Mother?"
Liv took a sip and swallowed. "I met her mother." She paused for a moment and sighed heavily. "At her WPP funeral." Olivia looked away. "She was a very nice woman and yeah, Alex does." Olivia pointed to the switch on the brick. "Could you hit that switch please?"
Abbie put the picture back and did as the detective asked. The gas fireplace roared to life. "Nice." She stopped in front of another picture. "This must be her brother. They look very happy." She continued walking along perusing the shelves. "Nice collection of books, too." Abbie walked over to the piano and sat down on the bench. She hit a few keys softly. "You play?"
"Not even Chopsticks." Liv grinned. "Maybe you can charm Alex into playing something for you."
"You think?" Abbie smiled wistfully.
"More often than you do," Liv replied drolly then turned serious. "What were you thinking out there? Just because you got frustrated by Alex's prowess hurling snowballs, you tackled her." She frowned. "You could have hurt her you know?"
"It was..." Abbie stopped. She stood up and started speaking again, "Nah, the snow was soft and I aimed for the drift. Besides, she's already made me pay for it. Blondie is stronger than she looks. I can't believe she turned the tables on me so fast. She stuffed enough snow under my shirt to well, boy howdy, I understand the old saying now. No wonder witches are always in bad moods." She grinned at Olivia.
"Who's in a bad mood?" Alex ambled out from the hallway. She looked between the two brunettes. "I didn't hurt you, did I?" she asked Abbie.
"Just my pride."
"Oh, so no boo-boos to kiss then?"
"Oooh, oh, owie - the pain... the pain," Abbie began to moan and groan humorously.
"Nice try." Alex shook her head, disbelievingly.
"Oh and my lips... my poor lips... all chapped and stuff from the wind and the snow." She began to make kissy sounds.
"Let me see." Alex came over and grabbed Abbie's jaw in one hand. She squeezed and mashed the cheeks together. She turned the jaw in one direction and then the other as she looked it over carefully. "Ooh, you are right. Those are nasty. A little kiss would not do you any good." She patted her face lightly. "You need to rest them."
"So Dr. Cabot," Olivia asked sardonically, "does that mean the patient should remain quiet?"
Abbie just stood there with her arms crossed looking back and forth between the two.
"Well, she shouldn't overuse the parts in question so yes, it is of my medical opinion that silence is advised."
"Bless you, Dr. Cabot." Olivia bowed teasingly.
Casey reappeared. "Oooh, Alex is playing doctor? Can I be a naughty nurse?"
Abbie snorted her last mouthful of hot chocolate. She began to cough.
Olivia slapped her on the back a few times. "You okay, Slick?" The detective suppressed the grin threatening to split her face. "Overloaded on visuals?"
Abbie tried valiantly to stop the tears in her eyes caused by the hot liquid up her nose. She nodded vigorously.
Olivia leaned in and whispered. "Those visuals better all be of Alex; otherwise I am going to have to put you in traction."
"Ni-ice jammies yourself Casey," Abbie managed to squeak out once she regained the ability to speak. "It looks like we covered the big four."
Casey was wearing bright blue lounge pants and an old faded Met's T-shirt. She looked at the others. Liv had hockey, Abbie had football and Alex had on a Celtic's tank top and long, baggy shorts. "Aren't you cold, Alex?"
"Nah, naturally hot-blooded." She replied matter-of-factly. Alex didn't hear Abbie's new coughing fit as she moved off to the kitchen. "Who's going to help me with dinner?"
"No mas, no mas." Olivia held up both hands in surrender. She then pushed herself up from where she was sitting on the floor near the coffee table. Pacing over to the fireplace, she just kept shaking her head. The others just chuckled. She turned and pointed a finger at Alex. "I don't get it. You and Abbie whipped us three times now. I can't believe we lost... again."
"Face it Liv, you suck at Trivial Pursuit." Alex replied cheekily.
"What makes you so good at it?"
"In law school we have to memorize a ton of statutes, cases, details. Our brains are just trained to absorb bits of information."
Liv turned to Casey. "You're a lawyer," she said in an accusatory tone.
Casey physically gulped then smiled sweetly. "Umm, I was sick that day?" She shrugged apologetically.
Abbie got off the couch and walked over to Olivia. She threw her arm around the detective's shoulder and pulled her in for a hug. "Don't worry, Butch. I can help you."
"Oh?"
"I'll get you lots of little notebooks so you can write your case notes. That way you don't have to try to cram anything into your pea sized brain."
Olivia threw Abbie's arm off and shoved her away. She stuck her tongue out at the laughing brunette, then turned to look at the fire. Alex and Casey continued to box up the game.
"How about we play cards now?" Abbie suggested. "Draw? Hold 'em? I got it - strip poker anyone?"
"I am not playing strip poker with you," Liv answered instantly. "Not a chance."
"What are you worried about Benson? I've seen it before." Abbie immediately regretted the words. She was pretty sure she was going to be incinerated on the spot from the glare Olivia gave her. She closed her eyes and cringed. When she opened them again, she looked remorsefully at Casey. "I'm sorry, Casey; that was uncalled for."
Casey cut her off. "It's okay Abbie, I've seen it too and I'm not sorry at all." She waggled her eyebrows suggestively. That was enough to diffuse the tension.
Abbie nodded her thanks. Olivia moved back toward Casey and held out her hand. Casey took it and Liv squeezed it and winked at her. Abbie turned to the wall and took the opportunity to peruse the bookshelves again.
"Oooh, lookie here," the Texan drawled. She tossed a book she had pulled from the shelves at Alex and it landed with a thunk on the table. "Can we look through it?"
Alex leaned back on the couch and laughed. "I can't believe you found this. Or that you are even interested."
"Aw, C'mon Alex." Casey looked at the title stamped on the book. "It's not every day that we'd get to see the evolution of an elusive and rare baby Cabot."
Alex whacked Casey on the shoulder with the album, then looked at the other two. Both wore identical exaggerated pouts.
"Fine. The next time we are up here, you all have to bring your baby pictures."
"Next time? You'd have us back again?" Olivia asked.
"Sure. I'm having fun. Aren't you?" Alex asked. All three smiling heads nodded. "Well then, is it a deal?" They nodded again.
Abbie flopped back on the couch to the right of Alex and Olivia squeezed in on the left of Casey.
Alex opened the book, then blushed and cringed.
"OHMIGOD." Casey exclaimed. "I knew people talked about photos like that but didn't think anyone really took those."
"Look it's a bare skin and a bear skin." Abbie pointed to the picture. She grinned at Alex, "You had a dimple. Does it still look the same?" She pushed Alex forward so she could look behind her.
"Stop that." Alex slapped Abbie's hands away. "You'll never know."
"Spoilsport."
Alex cocked and eyebrow. She then turned the page.
"You started skiing young, I see," Olivia said. "Look at those tiny skis."
"Father loved skiing. Actually, all winter activities. I think there are pictures of me ice skating in here somewhere." Alex turned the page.
"Beautiful horse."
"That was Willow. She was my favorite. Such a gentle soul." Alex sighed.
"Hey, Abs, did you have a horse?"
Abbie laughed. "Horses, dogs, cats and anything that could follow me home or be dragged there."
"Is that's how you get your friends too? " Liv asked sarcastically, grinning. Abbie made a funny face back. "I had a bunny." Olivia offered.
"Let me guess - his name was Bugs?"
"No," Olivia answered indignantly. "Her name was Beatrix." All three looked at her. "My Mother was a professor of literature, what do you expect?"
"Alex, did you have any pets?" Casey asked.
"I wanted a dog. A big dog that I could run and play with. I think I asked for a dog for every birthday and holiday." She stared off into space. "My mother was allergic." She shook her head ruefully. "Then they found out that poodles were hypoallergenic since they don't shed. So father bought me a poodle." Alex flipped through the book until she found the picture. She pointed at it. "That's the dog."
Casey looked at the background of the photo. "It was a show dog?" She asked in surprise.
"Yes, what else would a Cabot have for a pet?" Alex answered with a bit of self loathing in her voice. She looked at Casey. "Once they started showing it, I never actually got to play with it... him. He was forever being taken to shows or in training. So while it was my..." Alex made quote marks in the air, "...dog, it really wasn't a pet." She shrugged. "I stopped asking after that. I did like spending time with the horses though."
"Well, you should have known me when you were a kid," Casey said sympathetically. "I wanted to save the world one animal at a time." She smiled. "You would have been up to your eyes in strays. It was a zoo at my house…dogs, cats, birds, rodents…"
"It was a zoo at Abbie's too. She was the head gorilla," Liv snarked.
Abbie leaned forward with her hands on her knees and glanced over at Olivia. "Real funny coming from someone who cage dances," she said matter-of-factly.
Alex's and Casey's eyes widened and they turned to look each other.
"Cage dances?" they simultaneously mouthed. Then they turned in sync to look at Olivia. Liv just smiled sweetly at the two attorneys then she suddenly burst out of her seat. Casey and Alex scooted back out of the way.
"Yow."
"Hey watch it. Liv?"
The detective took a shortcut across the coffee table on her way to Abbie's side of the couch. She just missed grabbing her sleeve.
"Whoops!" Abbie yelled as she sprang from her seat and ran down the hallway with one annoyed cop on her tail.
DOINK DOINK