BBQ

"Alex, we're going to be late. It's a BBQ, not a ball."

Olivia was pacing the living room. They should have left 20 minutes ago to get to Queens in time for the Stabler's BBQ. The weather had been nice since it was spring, and Elliot had been itching to fire up the grill. The entire squad was planning to come unless they caught a case, and even so, Fin and Munch were on call. Olivia was looking forward to a social event for once, especially now that Alex and she could be out in the open with their relationship.

"Relax, Olivia," Alex said, finally appearing. She was wearing a pair of perfectly fitting jeans with a tight white t-shirt and a royal blue jacket over it. "It's not like we're all sitting down to eat dinner. Haven't you ever heard of being fashionably late?"

"Elliot doesn't like fashionably late," Olivia said. "Besides, I said we'd help Kathy in the kitchen."

"Then let's go," Alex said, grabbing her purse and meeting Olivia at the door.

#

Kathy greeted them at the door. Despite leaving later than Olivia hoped, they were the first ones to arrive.

"Olivia! Alex! So good to see you," Kathy said, hugging each of them as they came inside. "And, you actually get to show up someplace together finally."

"Yeah, that's kind of a weight off our shoulders," Olivia said. "Where's Elliot?"

"He's getting the grill ready," Kathy said. "I have a tray of meat if you can take it out there to him and help. Alex can help me, if that is okay."

"That's why we're here," Olivia said. She took the trays of burgers and chicken from Kathy and went out back to deliver it to Elliot.

"Hey, you made it," Elliot said.

"Yeah, sorry we're a little later than I said we'd be," Olivia said. "Alex..."

"Say no more," Elliot said. "Besides, we're running a little behind here, too, and no one else is here yet either."

"Actually, I think I heard Cragen and Munch come in as I headed back here," Olivia said. "Need any help?"

"Yeah, hand me that barbecue sauce over there," Elliot said.

Olivia grabbed the barbecue sauce dish and brush and handed it to Elliot once he got the chicken on the grill.

"How is the living together stuff working out?" Elliot asked.

"It's going well, mostly," Olivia said.

"Mostly?" Elliot said.

"You know, it's different spending a lot of time at someone's place than it is living together," Olivia said. "You pick up on things that you didn't before, or that didn't bother you because it wasn't your home. But overall, it's okay. We just let each other know when something bothers us."

Elliot chuckled. "Good luck with that. I remember when Kathy and I moved in together. It was tough at first, but then you get a routine, and it works."

"I think the hardest part for me is remembering I have someone at home," Olivia said. "Like a couple of weeks ago when I was working and didn't want to go home and just planned to sleep in the crib...and that's one of Alex's big things. I have to come home when I'm not working."

"Yeah, Kathy is like that, too," Elliot said. "Of course, when you have kids, it's different. But I guess you won't have to worry about that for a while at least."

Olivia opened her mouth to say something, but ended up just nodding along. Everyone else had arrived and had finally made their way out side, so Olivia was saved from the conversation.

#

"So, Elliot tells me you and Olivia have been able to make everything official at work and are all moved in now," Kathy said to Alex as they were putting together the potato salad and finishing up the baked beans. "How is that going?"

"It's good," Alex said. "It's nice being able to see her more, though, you know how it is when you first move in with someone. That's been some adjusting, but we're figuring it out."

"I understand that," Kathy said. "I mean, Elliot and I were babies, 17-years-old, when we got married. Talk about culture shock. Have you fully recovered from the accident?"

"Yes," Alex said. "Occasionally I'll have a little soreness, but I'm officially all good, minus a spleen."

"Well, I'm glad you and Olivia have each other," Kathy said. "I have to be honest, it's a bit of relief to me."

"What do you mean?" Alex asked.

"Just, Elliot and Liv are so close," Kathy said. "I used to wonder about their relationship. I mean, don't get me wrong, I trust Olivia completely, and Elliot, too, but you know cops and marriage. It can be tough."

Alex just nodded. It wasn't exactly the kind of thing she wanted to hear. She wasn't worried about Olivia and Elliot being together, or at least, she didn't think she needed to be. In fact, truth be told, she was more jealous of their friendship than anything else. It seemed that Olivia was sometimes more willing to talk about things with Elliot than her.

Alex and Kathy carried the side dishes outside while Alex watched as Elliot and Olivia handled the grill, laughing, and playing with the kids. Everyone grabbed a plate and began to load up, grabbing seats around the patio and picnic tables set up. The beer was flowing freely, except for Cragen, and Munch and Fin because they were on-call.

"So, Teflon, now that you and Liv here are official, and we get to see you not in the office, what kind of secrets can you tell us about her?" Munch asked when they all sat down.

"If you tell you my secrets, I get to tell hers," Olivia said, looking sideways to smile at Alex and put her hand down to squeeze her knee.

"It's true," Alex said. "We take our vow of secret keeping seriously, so you're getting nothing out of me."

"Come on, at least tell us when you all really started dating," Fin said. He looked over at Captain Cragen.

"Fine by me, I'll just deny I knew suspected anything before you told me," Cragen said.

"Actually..." Alex glanced over at Olivia to see if it was okay. Olivia nodded. "We actually met each other right before I was assigned to SVU, and had one date after that literally days before I found out I was being assigned to SVU."

"Well, technically, it wasn't a date," Olivia said.

"You were about to kiss me before Elliot called you," Alex said. "I think that constitutes as a date."

"Wait, what?" Elliot said. "I interrupted your first kiss?"

"Oh, you interrupted our first kiss more than once," Alex said. "Tell him, Liv."

"Well, back up," Olivia said. "After Alex's assignment, we decided we should just be friends and keep things professional. But yes, the second time was after my mom's funeral. Alex almost kissed me...until again, Elliot called."

"Geez, Stabler, you have the worst timing ever," Munch said. "Trying to keep Liv for yourself?"

Elliot shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Oh, that's nothing," Alex said. "There was also the morning he -"

"Woah, Alex," Olivia said. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, sorry," Alex said. "I nearly forgot where we were and who we were with."

"I'm pretty sure I want to hear the rest of that story," Fin said.

"Anyway, we started dating about a month after my mom passed away," Olivia said, ignoring Fin. "But kept it low key for a while until we were sure if it was real."

"Well, I for one, am just glad two great gals such as yourselves, found each other," Munch said.

After everyone had eaten, people hung around talking and drinking beers. It was a relaxing night for the squad, something they rarely had a chance to do. Alex had enough to drink to make her buzzed. Not drunk, but definitely less inhibited, which meant she was being more touchy-feely with Olivia than normal when they were in public.

"Babe, are you okay?" Olivia said.

"I'm fine, Liv," Alex said. "I'm just happy I get to be here, in public, with you and act like you're my girlfriend and not just Detective Benson." Alex leaned forward and kissed Olivia on the lips, pulling them closer together. Olivia could see the guys snickering just a bit, and was slightly embarrassed. It wasn't that she minded the PDAs, but she definitely didn't like the guys to see this side of her.

"Hey, I'm going to go help El clean the grill," Olivia said. "Why don't you see if Kathy needs help with anything? Then we can get going soon."

"Fine, but when I get you home," Alex said. She then leaned in closer to Olivia and whispered in her ear, causing Olivia to blush.

Alex got up and smirked at Olivia before making her way over to where Kathy was picking up some dishes. Alex helped her and the two quickly finished and took a seat outside to chat.

"I hear you all had a pretty rough case a few weeks ago," Kathy said. "Liv found a baby boy in a dresser drawer? That must have been tough for her."

"Yeah, it was hard," Alex said. "Especially finding out after my accident that I may not be able to have kids."

"Oh, I didn't know," Kathy said. "I'm sorry. That must be tough."

"Yeah, it is...or well, it was," Alex said. "But this case, when Olivia finally talked to me about it, we decided we wanted to go ahead and try to have kids. That'd I'd see a specialist or she'd get pregnant, however, it works out for us. I'm sure Elliot told you that, though."

Alex wasn't sure why she shared all of that with Kathy, who she barely knew. She assumed Olivia had told Elliot, and she knew Elliot shared most things that weren't work related with Kathy.

"No, he hadn't mentioned it. That's great!" Kathy said. "Look at the two of them over there talking about work. I swear, you're lucky, you know. I mean, at least Olivia can talk to you about your cases and you understand the work."

"Yeah, you'd think so," Alex said. "I mean, we do talk about cases, but getting her to share when something is bothering her is another story."

"You know, that's been one of the hardest things for me," Kathy said. "Elliot carries so much around and I know he can't talk about it, but he brings his mood home, or won't even share how he feels. Being married to a cop is tough, sometimes. It's like they're married to the job first. And when you have kids, well, it's even more challenging."

Alex nodded, watching as the squad was all debating their current case and the details of it.

"But, like I said, you're lucky," Kathy said. "You at least understand the job and the dangers of it better than I ever will."

"I may understand it more, but I get terrified every time I know Olivia is out in the field," Alex said. "Or gets called out at night."

"Unfortunately, that never goes away," Kathy said. "I wish I could tell you that it did, but every morning when Elliot leaves, I say a prayer, hoping that he'll be coming home to the kids and me. I don't think I'll ever get used to that."

Alex nodded and looked up to see Olivia coming over to where they were.

"You ready to go, Alex?"

"Yeah," Alex said. "Kathy, thank you for having us. It was good to get to know you better."

"Likewise," Kathy said. "I hope we'll see you two more often now. Oh, don't forget the brownie tray you brought."

"I'll go grab it now," Alex said. "I'll meet you at the car, Liv."

Alex headed off to the kitchen and Kathy walked Olivia to the door.

"This really was a nice night, Kathy," Olivia said. "It's always good to see you and the kids."

"Speaking of kids," Kathy said. "Alex told me the good news. That you're going to try soon."

"Ohhh," Olivia said. "Yeah, that, we um, yeah, we are. Thanks."

"Well, I know you'll make a wonderful mom, Liv," Kathy said. "So I hope everything works out for Alex with the doctors."

Olivia walked to the car, half in shock at what Alex had shared with Kathy and half angry, feeling like it was information Olivia should have shared with Elliot first when she was ready. As it was now, Kathy would say something to Elliot and Olivia would hear about it.