A/N: This chapter isn't done, but since I teased it on Twitter, I wanted to get out the first half in case I don't' finish before I have to leave tonight. I'll get the rest up before I go, or as soon as I get home tonight (late). Rough edited version.

MUNCH

"Alex, I wish you would wait and drive tomorrow," Olivia said. "It's going to be late when you get to your parent's house."

It was Friday afternoon and the squad room was nearly empty. Olivia had directed Alex up to the crib so they could talk privately.

"I know, but I want to sleep in," Alex said. "Otherwise, I'm going to have to get up early just to get there in time to let the gardener in. I wish you could go with me."

"Me, too, but I'm on-call this weekend, and the Captain is gone," Olivia said.

It was early January. Olivia and Alex had just begun apartment hunting. Alex was headed to her parent's house. They were out of the country, vacationing in Paris, but needed to have some yard and landscape work done to the house that weekend. Rebecca was going to be at a bachelorette party in the city and Adam was too busy with his recently launched campaign to be there, even though he was the closest. Alex agreed to go and was looking forward to a relaxing weekend away from work - even if she was going to miss Olivia.

"I know," Alex said, then lowered her voice to a whisper. "I'm just going to miss you. I don't like waking up without you."

"Soon enough you won't have to," Olivia said. "I mean, it's not like you do now that often anyway."

Alex smiled, and Olivia gave her a quick kiss, something that rarely happened at work. "Be careful on your drive and call me when you get there," Olivia said.

"I will," Alex said. She headed out of the squad room and said goodbye to everyone before she left.

"Have a good weekend, Counselor," Munch said.

"You, too, Detectives," Alex said, glancing back over at Olivia, who tried to hide her blushing by looking down at her desk.

Alex got on the road, and Olivia decided she would work late since she didn't have anyone to get home, too. She needed to get caught up on her DD5s and other paperwork. Everyone was gone with the exception of Olivia and Munch.

"What are you here so late for?" she asked him.

"Captain left me in charge, and well, like you, I don't have anyone to go home to," Munch said.

"What makes you think I don't have anyone to go home to?" Olivia said.

"Oh sorry, I just assumed...since you hadn't mentioned seeing anyone that you were single like the rest of us," Munch said. "Well, except Stabler."

Olivia didn't exactly like lying to her squad, especially since Elliot and Fin already knew, but she knew she had to keep the charade up for just a little bit longer. When they found a place, they would disclose, and it could be open, but until then, they decided to keep it under wraps.

"You know what they say about people who assume," Olivia grinned.

"Yeah, yeah," Munch said. They both went back to working on paperwork.

Olivia looked up at the clock and realized it had been nearly two hours since Alex left. She should be at her parent's soon and would be calling, which meant Olivia probably should be leaving work if she wanted to talk to her.

She looked over at Munch who was still hard at work. She picked up her files and locked them away and stretched out in her chair. It had been a long week and she was looking forward to a hot bath, bottle of wine, and a movie when she got home. Of course, all three would be better with Alex, but she'd take what she could get.

Before she got up, her cellphone rang. She figured it was Alex calling and answered without much thought.

"Benson," she said. Munch was still in there, so she had to at least sound professional.

"Olivia, it's Rebecca. There's been an accident."

#

"What?" Olivia mustered out, despite her head spinning. She heard Rebecca, even through Rebecca's sobs, but she needed to be sure.

"She was nearly home. A semi turned in front of her and she swerved. The car flipped."

"Rebecca," Olivia said, taking a deep breath. "Is she..."

"She's alive, but it's bad, Liv," Rebecca said. "Adam is there now, but you should be there. I'll get there as soon as I can. I'm in the city, too, but I have to get back to my car."

"Do you want me to pick you up?" Olivia said.

"No, go now," Rebecca said.

"Okay, I just have to tell my..." Olivia looked over at Munch. She was going to have to tell him something. "I'll leave right now and get there as soon as I can."

Olivia hung up the phone and realized she was barely breathing, and her eyes were watering. When she realized what Rebecca was telling her, she had walked to a quiet area in the squad room so Munch wouldn't overhear her, but now, she had to talk to him and tell him...something.

"Everything okay, Olivia?" Munch asked when he looked up and saw her walking toward him.

Olivia opened her mouth and wasn't sure what to say. She could tell him her girlfriend had an accident, and she needed to go, no names. However, she knew Munch would also be upset about Alex's accident. The squad was fond of her, and when word got out that Alex had an accident, Munch would put things together. Before she could say anything, she broke down into tears.

"Olivia," Munch said, pulling her in for a hug. "What is it?"

"Alex..." Olivia said. "She had an accident. I need..."

"You need to go, don't you?" Munch said with understanding. "Don't worry about being on-call this weekend. I'll get you covered."

"We're..."

"I know," Munch said. "I've known or at least suspected for a while."

"The Captain?"

"Doesn't need to know until you're ready for him to know," Munch said. "Go, get out of here. Are you going to be okay to drive?"

"Yes, I just need to go," Olivia said.

#

Olivia made it to the hospital near Alex's parent's house in record time. Despite being a small area, they had an excellent trauma center. Money could at least buy you that. Olivia rushed in and ran up to the nurse's station.

"Alexandra Cabot?"

"Olivia, over here," Adam called from the waiting room. He was standing there with his campaign manager, Bill Hall, who was on the phone.

"How is she?" Olivia said, rushing into the waiting room where Adam was.

"She's still in surgery," Adam said. "She should be done soon, but we won't know anything until then. She's pretty beat up, has internal bleeding, and coded in the ambulance on the way here."

"Oh, God," Olivia said. "But she's going to..."

"The doctors are hopeful," Adam said. "It didn't take her long to get her to the hospital, so that helped."

Just then a doctor came out into the waiting room.

"Family of Alexandra Cabot?" he said.

"Here," Adam said. "I'm here brother. My parents are out of the country."

"I'm Dr. Mitchell. She came through surgery, and depending on the next few hours, she should be fine," he said. "She's not out of the woods yet, but it's looking up."

"When can we see her?" Olivia asked.

"Family will be allowed in a couple of hours," Dr. Mitchell said. "But she's sleeping right now still and needs her rest."

Olivia and Adam both breathed a sigh of relief and went to sit down when the doctor left. Bill walked over and told Adam he needed to talk to him.

Olivia stared off into space as she sat waiting for when she could see Alex. She hoped Rebecca would be here soon. She looked up when she heard raised voices coming from Bill and Adam. She couldn't understand what they were saying, but it didn't matter. She assumed Bill was keeping him updated on his campaign. She was certain he would turn even something like this into a campaign opportunity. She watched as Adam shook his head and looked down. He then shrugged, and they both walked over to Olivia.

"Officer Benson," Bill said.

"It's Detective," she said coldly. She didn't like Bill and she had only just met him, but she'd heard enough about him to know she didn't like him.

"Detective," Bill corrected. "Look, because of Adam's campaign, there will probably be news outlets here soon."

"And?" Olivia said. She looked up at Adam who was just looking at the ground.

"It would be best for all parties involved if you could..."

"If I could, what?" Olivia snapped.

"Look, the media doesn't need to have a photo opp for Adam's lesbian lover at her bedside," Bill said. "I understand you're not planning to hide your relationship for the campaign, despite Adam's request, but this would just be political suicide for him."

"I'm here girlfriend," Olivia said. "I'm not her lesbian lover."

"Look, you can stay in the waiting room if you want, but this isn't your decision," Bill said. "It's Adam's decision, as her family. You're not family and have no rights. If he doesn't want you to see you, you can't. And if you make a scene, I'll have security ask you to leave."

"Are you fucking kidding me, Adam?" Olivia said.

"Look, Olivia, it's just..." Adam said.

"No, fuck you," Olivia said. "I'm calling Rebecca."

"It won't matter," Bill said. "They're already letting Adam make decisions. Rebecca being here won't change anything."

Olivia got up and stormed out of the waiting room. She needed air and she needed to call Rebecca. There was no way she was going to let Adam get away with not letting her see Alex.

"Olivia, how is Alex?" Rebecca said when she answered the phone.

"She's out of surgery," Olivia said. "We're just waiting now. Where are you?"

"I'll be there in about 10 minutes," Rebecca said.

"Good, because I'm about to kill you brother right now," Olivia said.

"Oh no, what has he done?" Rebecca said.

"Just get here and we'll talk about it," Olivia said

#

TO BE CONTINUED