I am back!I promise this story will have weekly updates and I'll also be working on my other stories!

This is a VERYdifferent SVU story but I promise it will be good! Full of drama, action, angst and even character death.

Please review!

The day before the world and life itself changed forever was just like any other day.

Alex was working on a migraine by noon, as often was the case since she became Executive Assistant District Attorney.

She had just sat down at her desk and was about to text Olivia when her desk sprang to life, startling her. She sighed and sat her iPhone on her desk. "Alexandra Cabot," she didn't even try to hide the annoyance in her voice.

She let out a huge audible sigh when the voice on the other end informed her that one of the ADAs under her charge had been held in contempt. "Which ADA?"

She wasn't surprised by the answer; Casey Novak. She sighed again. "I'll take care of it momentarily. Thank you." She slammed the phone down onto the receiver.

Can I ever get a break around here? Can any of these people be trusted NOT to cause some kind of trouble?

It's not the first issue she's had with Casey Novak. The reckless attorney had been allowed to come back to the DA's office, despite Alex's objections. And though she has kept her strong conviction record and has performed well overall, Alex finds her to be arrogant and unhinged. The younger attorney doesn't take well to advice or criticism and takes every opportunity to let Alex know it.

Olivia rings through on Alex's phone as she's headed out of the DA's office. "Liv, sorry, I meant to text you. Lunch isn't going to happen today. Of course an issue came up."

"Aww, I'm sorry hon. Is it anything I can help you with?"

"Casey got herself thrown in contempt. I should honestly just leave her there overnight and let her think about her actions."

"Alex!" Olivia scolds. "Don't be so quick to judge. Find out what happened first."

Alex rolls her eyes as she exits the DA's office and starts down the sidewalk. "I already know what happened; she shot her mouth off as usual."

Olivia decided to change the subject. "How about dinner tonight? I'll be out at a decent time tonight. Thought we could take Noah out to that new Italian place."

Alex smiles, for the first time all day. "That sounds wonderful. I'll text you as I'm leaving."

"Sounds like a plan. Have a good rest of the day - and don't kill Casey, please. We need two good ADAs."

Alex rolls her eyes again. "Yeah, yeah. No promises. Love you."

"Love you too."

Alex always feels better after talking to Olivia. The woman is her rock, her voice of reason in all the madness of her job and of the world. She can talk her down from anything. Alex would be lost without her; she knows that without a doubt.

After coming back from the dead almost ten years ago, Olivia has always been the most important thing to her. Though their romantic relationship started only five years ago after Olivia adopted Noah, the two have always been close.

Alex is so happy with her life now. A wonderful girlfriend who has a wonderful son that she loves like her own; a high profile job that she excels at; an expensive car and apartment, and enough money to be comfortable for the rest of her life. There is nothing else she can ask for.

Once inside the jail, Alex flashes her ADA badge and tells the first officer she sees why she's there. He nods and leads her down the hall where Casey is sitting in a bench inside the cell, looking over her notes.

Casey looks up as she hears the jangle of the offcier's keys. He lefts Alex in the cell, and she crosses her arms in front of her chest as she enters and looks at Casey disapprovingly.

Casey sighs and looks back at her notes. "They called you. Great. I didn't ask them to."

Alex narrows her eyes at Casey. "An unfortunate part of my job is bailing out my ADAs when they get themselves tossed into jail. And surprise, surprise - this time it's you."

Casey makes a face. She is aware of Alex's disdain for her, and the feeling is mutual. It takes everything she has to remain professional during all of their interactions.

"Are you even going to ask me what happened?" Casey demands, glaring at her superior.

"I don't need to. I heard about your tactful use of the word 'douche' to opposing counsel."

Casey actually laughs. "You just figure it's my fault, right? It has to be."

"I believe you have free will to speak. You chose to be less than professional. What excuse could you have, Novak?"

Casey looks hard at her. Her judgement is nothing new to Casey; she has come to expect it of the blonde attorney, and has tried not to take it personally. But for some reason, it hurts this time. Though she would never let on that it does.

"You know what it's like to be a woman in this job. An attractive woman. You know how we are looked at by judges, by other attorneys. What it's like to not be taken seriously. How much it angers you to be called 'sweetheart' or 'honey' or something else equally as derogatory."

Alex does know, and suddenly she is interested in hearing Casey's side of the story. "Okay - let's say I do know how that feels, And I hate it. Please tell me how this justifies calling a defense attorney a douche."

"He called me 'sweetie' a total of five times during a discussion in chambers. Five times. When I asked him to please show me the same respect I showed him, he asked me if it was my time of the month."

Alex actually feels herself getting angry; but not at Casey this time. That behavior is not okay, and she's been on the receiving end of it more times than she can count. She knows how it feels. It always made her feel less than equal, like an object.

"I'm sorry that happened. It was very inappropriate and I will address it. But don't you think you could have dealt with it in a different way?" Alex asks, softening her demeanor just a little.

Casey shook her head. "I think my reaction was quite appropriate. And I won't apologize, so don't ask me to."

Alex sighs again. Can't Casey just be agreeable for once? Does she always have to make things more difficult than they need to be?

"I'll get you out of here,"Alex says, turning back towards the officer and motioning for him to open the cell door. "Please behave yourself. I'd like to actually have a night with Olivia and Noah tonight."

Casey says nothing as she leaves. She doesn't even look up from her notes until she can't hear Alex's heels on the concrete floor any more.

About fifteen minutes later, she's released. She grabs her suit jacket and attache and doesn't even think twice about what she did.

2.

"I want garlic bread too," Noah says with a smile, looking down at the sticky menu on the table.

"Only if it's cheese garlic bread,"Alex says with a grin, leaning on her elbows and looking at Noah. "And you have to share with me." She side glances at Olivia. "But we don't have to share with your mom."

Noah laughs, and Olivia tosses her hands up. "You guys always conspire against me. Fine. I'll get my own garlic bread."

Alex smiles and picks up her menu off the table. It feels like a million people have touched it before her. She can even see greasy fingerprints on the pages. The parmesan and salt shakers are in the same state of uncleanliness.

The Alex Cabot of just a few years ago would never have found herself in such an establishment. If you couldn't make a reservation and there wasn't an insanely expensive wine list, then she didn't go there.

But now her evenings and weekends are filled with pizza joints, children's stores and Disney Plus constantly streaming.

And she wouldn't have it any other way.

"So I put in my for my time off in July for our vacation in Hawaii," Olivia says, looking up at Alex. "Did you book the condo?"

Alex takes a sip of her Pepsi. "Already done. You guys will love it. It's right on the beach, there's a drive-in movie theater just a couple miles away."

"What's a drive-in?" Noah asks, and Olivia and Alex both laugh.

"An outdoor movie theater where you sit in your car to watch the movie."

Noah wrinkles up his face. "That doesn't sound fun."

"It is. You can have your windows down, eat popcorn. It's a lot of fun. You will love it," Olivia tells him. Noah shrugs, as if it makes no difference to him.

After they order, Alex can't help but smile at Olivia fussing over Noah's curly hair. She's telling him he needs a trim, and Noah is brushing her off and telling her he likes it that way.

Noah looks across the table at Alex for the final verdict. "Tell mom my hair is fine."

Alex shakes her head. "No way. This is your fight - I'm not getting involved in this. I think your hair is cute, but it would be cute trimmed too, so…"

Noah sticks his tongue out at Alex and she cracks up, a deep hearty laugh that she desperately needed. He is the silliest, sweetest boy and never fails to make her laugh. Olivia is lucky. And, as a result, Alex is lucky as well.

Once the food comes, Noah attacks the pizza like a ravenous bird. Alex is always amazed at what a growing boy can eat. If she's honest, she is envious. She watches her figure closely - always has - and has to limit her greasy, cheesy intake. What it would be like to be ten again.

"How was work today?" Alex asks her girlfriend, in between bites of her garlic bread. "Anything exciting transpire?"

Olivia shakes her head. "No interesting stories for today, although Amanda did have some pretty cute pictures of her girls that she showed around. I talked to Elliot on the phone; he's fairly well."

Alex nods and swallows. Having Elliot back in her life had been difficult for Olivia. He had been her best friend for so many years and his absence had greatly affected the then detective. She's been supportive of Elliot entering back in her girlfriend's life, but at the same time she's been cautious. She didn't want Olivia to be hurt again.

But family dinner isn't the place to discuss Elliot, so Alex changes the subject.

"My day was okay too. The Hartman case wrapped up; we got a guilty verdict." Alex handled that case personally, and she beams proudly.

"Good for you, honey." Olivia gives her a peck on the lips. "How about Casey? Is she still alive?"

"Yes," Alex says. "You'll be happy to know that I was civil."

"Good for you. What did she do?"

"This one was really actually kind of excusable. Kind of." She glances at Noah, who is happily munching away. "But also not for dinner discussion."

Olivia gets the hint and nods. She elbows Noah, "What do you want for your birthday?"

Noah's birthday was next month. He had been talking nonstop about his upcoming party and his friends at school he wants to invite. Olivia and Alex are arranging a party at a trampoline park, renting it for half a Saturday.

"An iPhone," Noah says sheepishly, grinning ear to ear at his mother.

Olivia sighs. "Noah - we've talked about this. You're too young. You can have a phone when you're twelve."

Alex eats her garlic bread and doesn't respond. Noah's birthday gift is in her desk in her office.

It's an iPhone