Previous Disclaimers Apply
Chapter 14
The next few days passed slowly and Friday finally arrived. Alex told Abbie that she was taking a much needed day off after working so much overtime trying to make a smooth transition to Bureau Chief and make sure Abbie was good to go. She gave Abbie the impression that she would be taking it easy this weekend and try to relax and rejuvenate herself; she just didn't tell Abbie that she would be doing this out of town at her family's cabin with one sexy brunette detective.
Alex arrived at Olivia's just after 6:30am that morning. Olivia was ready to go; they had a quick breakfast of coffee and bagels. Alex loaded Olivia's things into her Mercedes and then they left for the hospital for Olivia's PT appointment. Alex went in the exercise room with Olivia and watched her therapy session. After everything was all said and done, her therapist released her from the crutches. She was advised to still take it easy, the ankle was still healing. The more it was used, the more it would hurt and swell. So the therapist said to ice it and elevate it when it does swell and that she could take ibuprofen when it did hurt. Her visits would be scaled back to twice a week and the therapist wanted her to begin working out again, swimming for cardio and she could do any weights that did not stress the ankle. As they left the PT office, Olivia was moving very slow.
"Liv, you OK?"
"Yeah, it's just weird walking again. I had gotten used to the crutches."
"Here does this help?"
Alex had moved over to Olivia's side and took her hand in hers lacing their fingers together.
"Yes, it does."
They walked hand in hand through the halls of the hospital to the elevators out to the parking deck to Alex's car never letting go. They got into Alex's Mercedes and headed out of the city. They talked for a little while, mostly Olivia asking questions about the cabin. Alex said that they would stop in the small town where the cabin is located for groceries for the weekend. After a little while, Olivia had gotten quiet and Alex realized she had fallen asleep. They had stopped after a couple of hours; Alex needed to answer nature's call. She woke Olivia up and she decided to do the same. Soon they were back in the car on their way.
"How much further?" Asked Olivia.
"About an hour? Are you getting hungry?"
"A bit."
"There's a nice little diner in town. We could get a bite to eat then get our groceries before going to the cabin?"
"Sounds good."
Olivia had been watching the scenery. As they got closer to the small town, they kept crossing bridges of a lake; she kept seeing signs for camp grounds and boat landings.
"So is the cabin on this lake?"
"It is. When you see the cabin from the driveway side, there are trees nestled all around. It's not till you walk onto the back porch that you can see the lake. There's a nice big back yard that leads down to the dock and a big sandy beach. Of course this time of year, our cove will be frozen over. We used to spend all our summers here. My father would take long weekends and come be with his family. We would swim, ski you name it, if it could be pulled behind a boat or had a motor of its own we did it."
Olivia noticed Alex's voice trail off and a sadness come over her. She decided not to push while Alex's was driving. She decided to change the subject a bit.
"So other than playing in the water, what else is there to do?"
"Well, the cabin sits on about 15 acres of land. The one thing about this lake is that it is managed by the Army Corps of Engineers; so there is a ton of natural wildlife and it's not commercialized like most lake resort properties. Us kids managed to create a few hiking trails throughout the property; then a few of my cousins got four-wheelers and we made a whole lot more."
"Somehow, I can't picture Alex Cabot on a four wheeler."
"Well, my parents would never let me try to drive one; but they did let me ride double if one of my cousins was driving. You know, if we look hard enough, I might be able to find the photographic evidence to prove it."
"Oh really, and just what other photographic evidence might there be?"
"I guess you'll just have to use your highly trained detective skills and find out."
They continued talking about the lake. Alex told Olivia of the few summer time festivals that occur. They decided that they would take a week next summer and come to the cabin during one of the festivals. Soon they were pulling into a small quaint town located right at the water's edge. Alex drove through town pointing out a few land marks and such. They went down to the marina when Alex turned around to head back to the diner. Most of the parking was on the street; a few businesses had small lots in the back with backdoor entrances. Since it was winter time, there was not a lot of traffic in town as opposed to the volume that would be there during the summer.
They parked a few spots down from the diner; they window shopped at a few of the gift stores before going into the diner. As soon as they walked in Alex was immediately recognized.
"Well, if my eyes don't deceive me. Bucky! Bucky ! You'll never guess what the cat dragged in." Hollered an older grandma type woman with fire red hair.
"Margie will you keep it down! You're gonna scare the customers more than usual." Called a man's voice from the kitchen.
"What customers? Our three regulars over there? If I ain't scared them off by now they ain't leaving. Stop your belly aching and get your ass out here." Replied the red head who was making her way from behind the counter towards the ladies.
Alex blushed a little; Olivia was totally enjoying the scene. By the time the woman reached Alex with her arms open, Bucky came through the kitchen door and stopped dead in his tracks, before continuing on to the ladies.
"Little Lexie?" Said Bucky.
"She ain't so little anymore, Bucky." Said Margie who was now hugging Alex.
"Margie, it's good to see you." Said Alex as she was hugging Margie.
"You too Bucky." Added Alex as she moved to hug the now old man.
"So what brings the big city lawyer back up to these parts?" Asked Margie.
"A weekend out of the city." Replied Alex as she noticed Margie giving Olivia the once over.
"Oh, yes. Margie, Bucky, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Olivia Benson. Liv, this is Margie and Bucky Tellison. They own the Little O'Café." Added Alex.
Pleasantries were exchanged. Margie led them to a table for four and they all for sat down. A young girl came to take their order.
"Alex, you remember our boy Brian; well this is his youngest Jennifer." Said Margie.
They talked a moment and then Jennifer left with their orders. Soon Bucky left to go back to the kitchen to fix the ladies lunch orders.
"So Olivia, tell me, what do you do? How did you meet Lexie here? I want all the details." Asked Margie.
"Well, I am a detective in Manhattan and I first met Alex when she was assigned to SVU. She took my breath away then, but we only recently became a couple. Life seemed to have gotten in our way a bit; but no more. We are both in it for the long haul." Said Olivia.
"Good, that is good to hear. Nothing but the best for our little Lexie. So you are only staying for the weekend?"
"For this trip yes. I know we will be back in the summer more; it just depends on our schedules if we can come more often or not." Said Alex.
"I see your cousins every so often when they come up. I was so sorry to hear about your mom. We sent flowers; we would have come to the funeral but our Rachel was in the hospital giving birth to her first. A boy, Michael. Oh, wait right here, let me get the pictures." Said Margie as she left the table heading back into the kitchen.
"They seem nice?" Said Olivia.
"They are, very. They were one of the few locals that didn't treat us rich folks any different. A lot of the businesses would snub us because we city folks would invade their town every summer. Margie and Bucky, they treated us like family."
Margie came back with a small album of photos. She talked and visited with Alex and Olivia while they ate their lunch. Soon they were on their way with a quick stop at the local grocery store and then they were pulling in to the long driveway to the Cabot cabin.
It wasn't what Olivia had imagined. She figured the house would look like it truly came from money, but it didn't. It was literally a log cabin. It was split level; one side was three stories, the other two. There was a rock chimney on one end, the porch on the driveway side was laid with rock as well and it stretched the length of the two story section. They got their groceries and headed inside. They came into the living room, very open and big. Alex led them towards the back into the kitchen. It was very modern for a log cabin. They put the cold items in the frig and Alex took Olivia on a tour. The downstairs of the two story side consisted of the living room, the kitchen a small guest bedroom and one full bath. Through the kitchen led to the back porch. It was screened in; there was an extended patio that was uncovered to house the grill and patio furniture (in the summer). Olivia could see down to the water; the cove was most definitely frozen over.
They came back inside and over to the open stair case in the corner; the stairs were against the wall in the corner. They went half way up and then turned 90 degrees with the wall for the remaining steps to the next level. This level was open all the way across, there was a folded room divider that separated to beds to make two separate sleeping areas. Above this room was a loft. The ceiling came halfway across with an old fashion looking ladder in the middle. There was a short foot high rail that went the length of the open expanse. Olivia climbed the ladder to see and she found another sleeping area arranged with twin mattresses on the floor, obviously for the kids.
Olivia came back down the ladder; Alex then led her to a small alcove with two doors. One led to another full bathroom and the other opened up to large master bedroom. The chimney was placed such that there was the fireplace in the living room, a fire place in the shared bed room on the second floor and on the backside of that a fireplace in the master bedroom. Alex opened the door to the master bath. It was a decent size, not huge. There was a deep claw footed bath tub and a separate stand up shower. All in all, it was very cozy.
Soon their bags were inside, all the groceries put away; Olivia had built a fire in the fireplace place. They were snuggled together on the sofa under a blanket just being together, a little kissing but mostly just holding each other.
"Allie?"
"Hmm." Replied Alex sleepily.
"Earlier in the car on the trip up when you were telling me about your summers here, something seemed off with you, sad almost."
"One summer when I was in college, my cousin had graduated high school. Instead of going to Florida or Mexico for their graduation trip, he and several of his buddies came up here for a week. Things were fine, everyone seemed to be behaving…"
"But?"
"Justin, my cousin, promised my father that no one would get into the liquor. Justin even went so far as to have our caretaker remove it from the house. Justin was a very responsible young man for his age. Apparently when some of his friends were in town, they either paid a local to get them some beer and liquor or the person at the liquor store sold it to them even though they were under age. We never found out how they got the liquor."
"What happened?"
"When Justin and some of the other boys were skiing, the ones that got the liquor had started drinking. As soon as Justin pulled up to the dock to tie up the ski boat, he could tell that they were drunk. He and the boys in the boat got out and started talking to them, to get them to stop. They said no that they were going to have more fun. While this was going on, the boy that was skiing had climbed onto the dock and was pulling the rope in. Justin didn't get a chance to do that before he docked because he was focused on the boys drinking."
Alex paused and took a breath before she continued.
"The boys drinking pushed Justin out of the way, they were going to take the boat out. Justin and the other boys tried to stop them; but a couple of them were football players and they shoved them out of the way. They were in the boat, had it running and were untying it from the dock while Justin and the other were trying to talk them out of taking the boat. No one noticed that Justin's foot had gotten tangled up in the ski rope that the other boy had pulled in until the others on the dock saw him jerked off his feet and pulled into the water as the other boys drove away in the boat."
Olivia heard a quiet sob come from the woman in her arms; she pulled her closer and told her to take her time.
"One of the boys on the boat realized what had happened; they stopped the boat and pulled the ski rope and Justin in and got him in the boat. A couple of boys on the dock went for help, one to the house to call for an ambulance and the other jumped on a 4 wheeler and raced through the woods to the caretaker's house. The boys in the boat got Justin back to the dock, but it was too late he was already gone. The autopsy determined that the blow to the head he took when he was jerked off his feet and his head hit the dock is what killed him. He died instantly."
"I'm so sorry Sweetheart. I never would have asked if I had known it was so painful."
Alex push away from Olivia and off the sofa; she went over to the mantel and got a framed photograph and brought it back with her. She curled up back on the sofa in Olivia's arms. She held the photo out for Olivia to see. She pointed out Justin as well as some of the other family members in the photo. Alex had gotten quiet and Olivia knew that she had fallen asleep. She set the photo aside on the end table and then gently she repositioned herself and Alex on the sofa with Alex halfway laying on top of Olivia. She pulled the blanket up over them both and she joined her girlfriend in sleep.
TBC…