Olivia comes to the door almost immeaditely. She looks surprised to see Alex, but her shocked expression turns to a smile very quickly.

Seeing Olivia chokes Alex up. It's only been a couple days since she has been gone from home - she even still has most of her stuff at the house - but it seems like a lot longer to both of them.

"Hi," Alex says awkwardly. "I'm sorry to just show up. I, uh, have to pick up something. I left one of Casey's birthday gifts here."

Olivia motions for her to come in. "Of course. You're always welcome and you don't have to have a reason."

Alex goes in and standa in the kitchen as if she's a stranger. "I was just doing some housework. You still have a lot of clothes and stuff here. Would you like me to pack it for you?"

"That's quite all right, I can. But thank you."

Alex goes to the bedroom to retrieve Casey's gift. She gets a tugging feeling in her chest when she enters the bedroom. It used to be her bedroom. Now it's like she's unwelcome.

Alex gets the gift box out of the top dresser drawer and grabs some of her undergarments as well. She will come back on another day that she isn't so pressed for time to get the rest of her stuff.

As Alex turns around from the dresser, Olivia hands her a red gift bag. "I picked up something for Casey. Hope she has a good birthday."

Alex smiles, taking the bag. She is proud of Olivia for taking this so well and being so cool about it. "Thank you." Alex hesitates a moment. "Would you like to come over for cake? I picked up ice cream cake."

Alex already knows what Olivia is going to say but she thought inviting her would be the right thing to do. And she really does want her to come; she still wants Olivia in her life. She's still very important to her.

Olivia smiles again. "I appreciate that but I can't make it today. I'm going to go see Noah."

Noah, the child she wants to adopt. Alex hopes that it works out for Olivia. A child would give her something other than work to focus on and look forward to.

"Do you have a picture of him?" Alex asks.

Olivia immediately whips out her phone and brings up a picture. "He's almost five. The sweetest boy ever."

Alex looks at the picture, a smile on her face. He's a cute little boy with an adorable smile.

"He's adorable Olivia. He would be lucky to have you," Alex says with a smile, and she means it.

"Thank you. I've been visiting him at his foster home. I'm going to take him to a movie tonight. You and Casey will have to meet him sometime."

Alex and Olivia chat a bit more, the atmosphere relaxing. It doesn't feel as if they just ended a six year relationship; it feels as though they are friends catching up.

When Alex gets back to Casey's apartment, Casey is laying on her couch playing her XBox One. She grins when she sees her and sits up properly. "Thought you ditched me on my birthday."

Alex sits down next to her and she immeaditely puts her head on her shoulder. Alex loves that Casey is so affectionate and always has to be touching her.

"Turn that game off. It's cake time. And I have another gift for you."

Casey turns it off and follows Alex to the kitchen where she takes the ice cream cake out of the plastic bag and puts it on the table.

Casey looks at it in approval. It's beautiful and she can't wait to dig into it.

Alex smiles and hands Casey the small gift box containing her Captain America necklace.

"Alex, I didn't need anything else."

"I wasn't planning on getting this. I got it several days ago at the mall. Couldn't resist."

Despite her protests, Casey does open the box. A huge smile spreads across her face as she removes the necklace and kisses her girlfriend. It's perfect, and she loves it.

"How much do you think I would be made fun of if I wear this to work?" she asks, clasping it around her neck.

Alex laughs. "Since when do you care about that? Anyway, it's badass, I say go for it. Oh, and I had to stop at the house to get the necklace since I forgot it there and Olivia gave this to me for you." She puts the red gift bag on the table.

Casey looks at her quizzically and opens the bag. She removes the wrapping, and pulls out a cardboard gift card holder. It's a seventy-five dollar gift card to Applebee's with a handwritten note - Please take Alex to a nice dinner. Casey is touched that Olivia would give her such a selfless gift, and grateful.

As they sit and eat the cake, Casey can't help but this is the best birthday she has ever had. And it has nothing to do with the insanely expensive mattress or Captain America necklace she recieved, or even the Applebees gift card.

It's because when she looks up and sees that warm smile and those beautiful sparkling blue eyes staring at her adoringly, she knows she already got the best gift ever. A gift she could never put a monetary value on.

This is what she has wanted for the last six years. What she wished for on every shooting star, every change fountain, every candle blow out, and every other cliched wishing spot. She wanted to call Alex Cabot hers, to be with her and take care of her forever.

And now that her wish has come true, she knows she will do anything to keep Alex for the rest of her life.

.2

"Why do your fitted sheets look like a five year old folded them?" Alex says, taking one out of the hallway closest and presenting it to Casey. It's wrinkled and sloppily folded, all uneven around the edges. Alex drops it on the bed next to Casey and looks at her as if she should be ashamed of herself.

"That five year old was me," Casey confesses. She shrugs. "I can't fold them. It's impossible. That's my best effort."

Looking at her, Alex chuckles. She really does look like a five year old right now. She's in her Minions pyjamas grinning goofily at Alex.

Alex picks it back up and unfolds it, splaying it out in the air. "Watch me. I will teach you."

Alex folds it gracefully and perfectly right in front of Casey's eyes. Casey watched her do it and still has no idea how she actually did it. She looks at her blankly and wonders if there is anything that Alex can't do perfectly.

Alex undoes all her perfect work and tosses the sheet at Casey. "You saw me do it- now you."

Casey throws it back at her. "Let's just decide right now that this is going to be your job. I can't do it."

Alex sighs. "Watch again." She does it again, perfectly, and again Casey doesn't have a clue. Alex then shows her step by step, and Casey shakes her head.

Alex insists, so Casey picks it up and tries to repeat what Alex just did. It results in the sheet looking worse than her original attempt.

Alex finds this amusing and sits down next to Casey, reaching up under her pyjama top and tickling her stomach. This causes Casey to lean back and start laughing. "Let me get this straight - You can stand up in court to rapists and murderer, buck up to Athur Branch, Jack McCoy and Mike Cutter, subpoena Donald Rumsfeld for God's sake, but you can't fold a fitted sheet?"

Casey's laughter subsides as Alex withdraws her hands and stops the tickle assault. "That's about right."

"You're pathetic." Alex says those two words, and then suddenly Casey is slowly easing her back on the bed. She gives no resistance and lets Casey take the helm.

Casey has her pinned, laying over top of her, their tongues fighting for dominance as they kiss. Casey stops long enough to sit up and remove her pyjama top, tossing it aside. Alex clamors to unbutton her own silk pyjama top, Casey assisting her when she takes too long. They rip a button off and Casey starts to apologize, but Alex's mouth on hers makes her quiet.

They say nothing as Casey expertly works all the areas that Alex aches for. It's like she's known Alex in this way all along.

She licks the crases of Alex's breasts, causing the blonde to moan and grip the bedsheets tightly. She gets the response she was hoping for and smiles, her confidence building as she moves downwards.

Casey is kissing her all the way - kissing her bare stomach and her waist, and after Alex manages to shake off her bottoms and panties, Casey caresses her hips and legs.

Every touch sends waves of pleasure through Alex and she moans again, her toes curling and her body arching in anticipation of what Casey is going to do to her.

Casey pauses to tease in the same way Alex had teased her. Alex groans and begs, actually taking Casey's hand and moving it where she wants it to be.

Casey bursts out laughing. "Aren't you forward, Alex."

"Casey," Alex begs in a raspy voice. "Please."

Casey knows what Alex expects her to do, but she has other plans. She locks eyes on her girlfriend and sees the desperate need, and lowers herself to Alex's core. Her soft hair touches both of Alex's inner thighs, tickling her. In a quick motion she licks all around Alex's core, careful not to enter yet but still causing pleasure.

Alex can't take it. She's even more vocal than Casey and is moaning and saying Casey's name so loudly that Casey fears the neighbors will hear and know what they are doing.

But that doesn't stop her. She circles Alex's core again and then enters with her tongue, working her tongue like she's a pro.

Alex is climaxing now, and closes her legs around Casey's head involuntarily. This feels so good and she wants it so much.

"Casey, Casey, CASEY!" Alex shrieks, coming out in a throaty rasp.

Casey pauses a moment and looks up at her screaming girlfriend, quite pleased with herself.

"God, no, Casey, Casey, don't stop! Casey don't stop!"

Casey didn't know that Alex was capable of begging. But boy is she begging now, and doing a wonderful job of it.

Casey can't torture her anymore. She goes back to giving her what she wants, working her tongue in and out of her quickly and doing things with her hands that would make a porn star blush.

Alex cums again, releasing all over Casey and the sheets but Casey doesn't flinch. She had wanted to make Alex feel this way, and she had succeeded.

When Casey finally slides out from between Alex's legs, Alex gropes at her and grabs a handful of hair, tugging on it. She's breathing so heavily thay Casey briefly fears she's going to have a heart attack.

"Jesus, Casey. Jesus," Alex manages to choke out. "Oh fuck. Oh my God."

She positions herself so she's leaning against the headboard, and roughly pulls Casey's head into her lap. She strokes her hair and tells her how much she loves her.

Alex's body is warm and clammy, covered in sweat. Casey is not vain but she is extremely proud of having done this to Alex.

"In six years, how did it not come up in conversation that you're an amazing sex goddess?" Alex traces a circle on Casey's stomach with her finger.

Casey laughs. "I do have talents outside the courtroom. And I guess it's something you don't talk about, even to your best friend."

"Well you're the queen of oversharing so I'm shocked. You are simply incredible. I think that's the best I've ever had."

Casey blushes. "Come on..."

Alex leans down and kisses the top of her head. Her hair is a mess of tangles and sweat. "It's true. And you're cute and cuddly. You're the whole package."

They remain as they are for at least a half hour, coming down from the high they just experienced. It's Casey who finally gets up and starts to get her Pjs back on.

Alex groans at the sudden loss of her girlfriend. "Casey...Come back..."

Casey laughs. "I'm flattered that you're horny and can't keep your hands off me, but get your Pjs back on. What if the building catches on fire and we have to evacuate and we're naked?"

Alex grins. "Everyone would get a free peep show, then I'd have to prosecute them for leering at my girl." She does finally move and pick her garments up off the floor. "And to think, this all started with a fitted sheet."

They get re-dressed and Casey goes to the closet.

"I want to show you something," Casey says. "You're either going to think it's super sweet or really creepy. I don't know which."

Alex raises an eyebrow, intrigued. Knowing Casey this could be anything.

Casey retrieves a plastic tote from her closet. She drops it onto the bed and gives Alex an unsure look before popping the top off.

"I know I don't outwardly seem sentimental but I always keep things given to me by people I care about. Even small, ridiculous things they may have forgotten about. I have so many cards and trinkets from Charlie. But I think I have more stuff from you than anyone else."

Casey rummages through the box and Alex feels a tug on her heart. That's so sweet. Not creepy at all. Why would Casey think that?

"It's kind of silly I kept this, but..." Casey pauses and drops part of a plaster cast on the bed. It's old and discolored and the writing is faded and partially flaked off, but they both remembered what it said.

Casey had broken her arm riding bike trails two years ago. Alex had wanted to sign her cast, and Casey had teased her, telling her she wasn't twelve and no one did that anymore. But Alex Cabot stood there and signed "Love you, - Alex" and drawn a heart underneath with a black sharpie anyway; no one told her no. She was the only one who signed Casey's cast, and every time Casey had looked at it it had made her smile.

Alex smiles, picking up the peice of the cast. She laughs lightly. "I had forgotten about this. I can't believe you kept it."

Casey sits down and takes the cast from her. "It meant a lot to me. It still does." She runs her thumb over the faded writing and smiles.

Alex watches her, a warm feeling filling her. Casey is so sweet. Every day she does something to make her love her even more.

Casey sets it aside and rummages through the box some more.

She's kept every birthday and holiday card that Alex ever gave her and she hands them to Alex in a large stack. Alex looks over them, smiling at the cards she chose and the handwritten sentiments she had scrawled to her then best friend.

After Olivia, Casey was the person Alex always loved most before they got together. And she always made sure that Casey knew it.

Next Casey drops a photostrip from one of those silly photo booths onto the bed. Alex smiles as she picks it up.

This particular item she remembers. They had crammed themselves into one of those booths at the mall while Christmas shopping last year.

She looks at the picture closely. She's wearing her tan peacoat with a black scarf tied tightly around her neck. Casey has on her purple North Face jacket and a goofy floppy stocking cap with two tossels on either side.

In the first picture they are just grinning goofily at the camera. The second picture Alex has her arms around Casey and her lips pressed to her cheek. The third picture they have their arms slung around each other as if they were drunk.

The fourth picture is Alex's favorite. She had taken Casey's hat and put it on her own head and Casey is looking at her with a smile. The first time Alex saw the picture she just thought it was cute. Now, really looking at it, she can see how adoring the look really is. What Casey is really conveying looking at her in that picture.

Studying these four pictures, it looks like a happy couple having a great time taking pictures. They look like they belong together, and Alex can't stop smiling.

She looks up at Casey. "Can - Can I have this?"

Casey smiles back. "Of course you can. It's one of my favorites."

Alex can tell; the edges are bent and tattered. It's well worn, and Alex can imagine that Casey has taken it out many times and held it in her hands.

Now Alex is really curious as to what else Casey has kept. She has given her lots of things over the years. Surely she couldn't have kept all of them.

Alex really enjoys the trip down memory lane Casey is providing her with. Casey shows her other things she has given her, things Alex didn't give a second thought to, that had meant so much to Casey.

Alex places her hand over Casey's hand and catches her eyes. "My girlfriend is incredibly sweet and has the biggest heart. I'm so proud."

Casey blushes a bit but holds her gaze. She doesn't take compliments about herself easily. And being called Alex's girlfriend so suddenly is going to take some getting used to, even though it's completely natural considering they have had sex twice now.

"You've loved me for six years, haven't you?" Alex asks suddenly.

"Well, yeah. You were my best friend."

"I don't mean that," Alex says. "I mean you loved me."

Casey knows what Alex means; Alex doesn't have to say it. She looks away from Alex and nods.

Alex can see it now, all the signs she missed. Casey was always so respectful and never did anything to try and come between her and Olivia. But part of Alex wishes she had said something; maybe then Alex would be in a different place in her life.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Alex asks, her voice soft and low. She knows why but still wants to hear what Casey says.

"You were happy, Alex. I loved you enough not to mess with that. It would have only complicated things. I was afraid you couldn't handle it and wouldn't want to be my friend and I couldn't have dealt with that. Your friendship meant more to me than anything." Casey is getting choked up, and Alex picks up her hand.

"Sweetheart, it's okay. You don't have to say anything else. I'm sorry I asked." She kisses the back of Casey's soft hand and gives her a reassuring smile.

Casey shakes her head. "No, there is something I do have to tell you. You deserve to know." Alex nods, and she continues. "I never told you this, but when I came back go work after my censure it was incredibly, incredibly difficult. I know I always acted like I was handling it, but I wasn't. There was so much pressure on me, so much judgement, and I felt it all. I was afraid to say or do the wrong thing on probation. It sucked. Like, really sucked."

Alex can imagine. She always admired Casey for having the guts to come seek her job back, though she had been surprised when they actually gave it to her. She knows it's only because she's such a good prosecutor with such a high conviction rate. They wouldn't have taken just anyone back.

"I'm really embarrassed about this, but I spent a lot of time at the bar. I started drinking a lot. And then suddenly, I had you. I talked to you in the elevator and somehow we were friends. I had someone to talk to, someone who understood. I spent so much time with you that I didn't have time to go to the bar anymore. I never even thought about it anymore. But if I hadn't had you, I think I would have walked down a really bad road and things might be different for me today." She looks up at Alex, tears in her eyes. "So you see, Alex. I think you are the one who is amazing."

Alex says nothing, just pulls her into a tight embrace. It hurts her that Casey has been through so many hardships in her life. She squeezes her tight.

"I'm here now, okay? I'm not going anywhere. I never will. You never have to be alone. I love you so much, Casey. I can't even put it into words. I would be lost without you."

Alex already knows she found the person she is supposed to be with, and that she wants to spend forever with Casey. Everyday she says or does something to fill Alex's heart with even more love. When Casey isn't around, all she does is think about her and ache for her.

She is hopelessly and completely in love with her.