"Six women and one bathroom," Connie ran a hand through her hair, "This is my idea of hell."

Abbie looked down at her from the railing of the bedroom, "It's like the sorority house all over again."

"Being in a sorority was hell," Serena said with her eyes closed as she laid on the already made couch, with her legs handing over the arm. She had an arm draped over her eyes.

Nina looked at Serena from her seat on the stairs, "You were in a sorority?"

"For three semesters of hell," Serena answered, "I needed somewhere cheap to live and since none of them ever ate, I got free food." She groaned and rolled over, "I am so sore."

"Why?" Connie smirked, "Princess can't sleep on less that four down mattresses?"

"Apparently," Alex answered emerging from the bathroom, "She didn't go to sleep until three."

"Took you long enough," Olivia told Alex with a flirtatious smirk. After a long talk with Abbie early in the morning around the coffee, she decided that she needed to make some moves on Alex to see if the blond really was interested. Abbie was sure Alex was, but Olivia needed to know for herself, in her own terms.

Alex returned the smirk and said, "Looking this good takes time."

Olivia straightened a stray blonde hair that was falling over Alex's shoulder and smiled before shutting herself in the bathroom.

Alex was confused by Olivia's behavior and was more confused by the look that Abbie gave her as she made her way to the stairs. It was a sly smile, like Abbie knew something she didn't and Alex didn't like it.

Never being one to beat around the bush, Alex leaned back on the railing and crossed her arms, "What was that for?"

"What was what for?" Abbie asked, her smile growing.

"That smile on your face," Alex answered, "The one that you give to perps after they walk right into one of your little traps."

The federal prosecutor arched an eyebrow and countered with an unconvincing, "I haven't the slightest what you're talking about."

Alex studied Abbie for a moment and the brunette was beginning to see why people said Alex's stares could turn hearts to ice. Luckily, Alex looked away and took a step closer to Abbie, "I know your game. And I will find out what's going on."

"Good luck," Abbie countered with a coy grin.

After two hours of sitting around, drinking coffee and waiting for everyone to get ready, the women finally left the apartment. They decided that they could walk to wherever they were going, Alex's apartment being close to many great restaurants.

They slipped in on the tail end of brunch at a nice upscale restaurant a few blocks away. They were immediately seats as the matre'd recognized a few of the ADAs.

"I'll have to remember to take some of you with me on the next date I have," Nina mentioned as they settled around the table.

"You don't want Serena there, picking apart everything your date is wearing," Connie told Nina.

Serena shrugged as she looked over the menu, "If you two would date men with better fashion sense I wouldn't get to pick apart what they'd wear."

"We're sorry that we don't date CEOs and real estate emperors," Connie quipped.

"Empresses," Serena corrected without missing a beat.

"Anyway," Alex changed the subject knowing it would only get worse if she let it go on, "Abbie, how's being a fed?"

"You make it sound so dirty," Abbie answered.

"If they would stop stealing my cases and prosecuting them like a bunch of first semester 1Ls failing CivPro then I wouldn't have to," the blonde answered with a hint of venom, obviously not directed at Abbie.

"Ouch," Nina interjected.

Abbie sighed, "You're right. I don't know if it was the best career move I've ever made. I went into law school with the hopes of being a federal prosecutor, but…"

"You work with monkeys?" Alex asked, offhandedly.

Olivia smirked. Alex's distaste for federal prosecutors matched her own and the blonde's way of expressing it was adorable, which was probably not the term Alex would want associated with her witty banter.

"You should move back," Serena offered, "Jack would give you a job in a heartbeat."

"You think so?" Abbie asked.

"When I worked for him, he would mention you at least once a week," Serena answered.

Connie set her menu down, "Funny, he used to do the same with you before he was elected."

"He gave me my job back," the blonde answered, "We worked well together. Branch just didn't like me."

"Who could not like you?" Nina rolled her eyes.

Alex noticed how quiet Olivia was being and softly bumped her foot to Olivia's under the table. The detective looked at her and she mouth You okay?

Olivia was touched by the concern and nodded, "Just tired."

Alex smiled sweetly and understandingly before her attention was taken by Abbie and Serena quickly exchanging words.

"I hate when people hear my accent and assume I'm a conservative," Abbie told Serena, "Sure I have some conservative points of view but people are so quick to label everyone either Conservative or Liberal. They don't seen an in between. You have to be a socialist or a Nazi. It's bullshit."

"How would you label yourself?" Serena asked back with an amused smile at the taller woman's frustration.

"I don't like labels," Abbie leaned back in her chair, quieting down.

"Dare to dream," Serena rested her chin in her palm.

"Libertarian," she answered confidently, "Although I vote for whoever I think will do the most good for the people they're supposedly representing. If that means Democrat one term and Republican another then so be it."

"I'm apologize if I offended you," the blonde answered as the whole table watched.

Abbie shook her head, "Don't worry about it." She looked down at her menu as Serena fanned herself with her own menu.

Alex chuckled knowing that a worked up Abbie was extremely attractive to the other blonde. She felt Olivia's foot tap her own under the table and looked up.

Olivia looked at Serena and moved her eyes to Abbie and then looked right at Alex, raising her eyebrows in a silent question.

The blonde let out an amused smile and nodded.

The detective couldn't believe she didn't see it before. Serena wasn't a threat after all. She had been into Abbie the whole time. It seemed like an invisible weight had been lifted and Olivia let her guard down, knowing that she was the only one chasing after the SVU ADA.

After they ordered, they sat around talking about nothing really important. Alex smirked every time Serena subtly tried to get Abby to come back to New York and Olivia smirked as she watched Abbie's resolve to stay in DC start to chip away.

After lunch, they all walked out the door and stood by the entrance.

"I think I'll take a cab from here," Serena mentioned, "These heels are not made for walking."

"Me too," Connie nodded, "I knew we were all going to be drinking so I didn't bother with my car."

Nina pointed to the street behind them, "I parked a block that way because there's never anywhere to park by Alex's apartment."

"I rode with her," Serena pointed to Nina.

Everyone said their goodbyes before parting ways. "

As Alex and Olivia walked back to Alex's apartment, "What about you detective?"

"Hmm?" Olivia asked, coming out of some deep thoughts.

The blonde brushed some hair out of her face, "Any plans for the rest of the day?"

"Not at all," the detective shook her head, "Maybe a nap later."

"I get that," the ADA smiled, "Serena doesn't like to stay on one side of the bed, or be still."

"Abbie sleeps like a log," Olivia added, "But I didn't get much sleep."

"Why not?"

Olivia took a deep breath, "It was weird being in your bed and you not being in it as weird as that sounds. I mean it smells like you…" Olivia was suddenly at a loss for words in trying to explain how it felt in Alex's bed without Alex although she'd only experienced it once.

The blonde nodded, "I understand." She thought it was cute watching the detective grasp for words, but she couldn't watch her suffer for very long.

When they got into the elevator to go to Alex's floor, the blonde suggested they watch a movie. The detective quickly agreed, wanting to find any excuse not to leave.

As the movie went on, Alex couldn't keep sitting up any longer because she was exhausted. She tried to find a comfortable position on her half of the couch, but there was no use.

Seeing the struggle, Olivia took a small pillow from behind herself and sat it in her lap. The blonde got the message, raised an eyebrow in confirmation and smiled in a thank you before laying her head down on the pillow.

Olivia ceased to watch the movie at that moment. All she could see were the slender curves of the ADA's body and the gorgeous hair cascading down her shoulders. Before she realized what she was doing, Olivia reached down and stroked Alex's hair, away from her face.

Alex stopped breathing and closed her eyes, praying that Olivia would touch her again. It was soothing while at the same time electrifying. When the touch came again, chills ran through Alex's body. No one's touch had ever been able to affect her like that.

The blonde though she was going to have a heart attack when Olivia's hand moved, absentmindedly, down her side and started rubbing her back in long fluid strokes.

Olivia hoped that her affectionate gestures weren't making the blonde uncomfortable. She just started touch Alex and something inside her wouldn't let her stop.

The detective started to panic when Alex started to move. Her hand reached back and took Olivia's hand that was on her side. She pulled it down to her stomach and intertwined their fingers before taking a deep breath.

A big goofy grin appeared on Olivia's face. It wasn't quite the overt act she'd been waiting for but it was on it's way there.

Since she was so deep in thought, she didn't realized Alex had fallen asleep until she saw the slow deep expansion of Alex's shoulders followed by the slow deep compression. She also noticed that the hand that had been holding her own was somewhat relaxed.

Olivia smiled tiredly and leaned her head on the back of the couch to watch the rest of the movie, but ended up following Alex into sleep.