Nail Polish And Brandy

Author's note: The idea of pairing Alex Cabot and Serena Southerlyn together has stuck in my head for so long that I felt that if no one else was going to act on it, I would. And I might be the first one to write this couple, I don't know. But I like the idea and if you don't, screw you. This takes place early on in SVU season four and LAO season 13. In other words, Alex has bangs and Serena's hair touches her shoulders. And keep in mind of one more thing… this is by first attempt at a homo fic. If it sucks…keep that thought in mind.

The night had started out innocently enough. Serena Southerlyn, one of Alexandra Cabot's colleagues and close friends, had asked Alex if she was doing anything after court. Alex had said no, and the ladies had gone out for a post-court drink. Serena had said that she needed somebody to have the occasional drink with aside from McCoy.

Then, somehow, they wound up at Alex's brownstone in Chelsea, chilling on the sofa, doing each other's nails. Their coats and jackets hung on the rack by the door, their briefcases on the floor next to the sofa along with shoes and stockings.

"McCoy's a good boss…a little tough at times and a bit of a womanizer, but he's okay. I've known worse guys. At least he's never tried to put a hand up my skirt." Serena sighed as Alex painted her toenails crimson. "If he did, he knows that I'd tell 'ol Arthur, the Southern-fried DA and have his aging ass out the door in ten seconds."

Alex giggled. "Thank God I don't have to answer to him. I just happen to answer to Branch. More times than I'd like, mind you." She paused to re-dip the brush in the polish bottle. "You have such cute toes."

Serena smiled and wiggled her toes. "I know. Got anything to drink?"

"Like what?" Alex asked.

"Brandy." Serena answered. "Arthur always has excellent brandy."

"Actually, come to think of it, I do have some." Alex got up from the couch and headed into the kitchen. She came back a few moments later holding a bottle of brandy and two snifters. She set it down on the coffee table and poured them the brandy. She handed Serena a glass before picking up her own.

"Why are all the men we work with such sons of bitches half the time?" Alex asked. "Except for the detectives I work with, the office is surrounded by bastards and on top of that, they're always telling us that we spend too much money. Especially Branch. The other day he came into my office and told me that I should just plead this rapist out to spare the expense of a trial. I had the urge to tell him that if he was so concerned with how his prosecutors spent the taxpayer's money, he should just prosecute our cases for us. That way he can see how much of the taxpayer's dollars he can save himself." Her comment caused her companion to burst out laughing.

"They're that way because they're men secure in their positions."  Serena replied, composing herself after Alex's snappy comment. "They don't respect us. They think that we're worthless bitches and when they do notice us; it's to harass us or make us look incompetent. And as for Branch, well, up his." Alex giggled.

"McCoy doesn't harass you, does he?" Alex asked, sipping her brandy. "And I know that he doesn't try to make you look incompetent. If you look bad, so does he."

 Serena smiled. " You got that right. I'm his deputy and he's my mentor. If it looks like I can't do my job correctly, it also makes me look incompetent as well as him. And the last thing that the great Jack McCoy wants to look like is a big idiot who can't even train his women right. And to answer your other question, no, McCoy can be a son of a bitch at times, but like I said earlier, he doesn't harass me. He's tried to charm me, but I'm immune to him. Well, partially immune."

"Partially immune?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm bi." Serena explained. "I like both girls and guys, but I prefer ladies, thank you very much."

"Well, that makes two of us." Alex said, at last feeling comfortable enough to say it.

"You too?" Serena asked.

Alex nodded. "At first, I thought I was a lesbian… and I panicked." She laughed at the memory. "I was in college at the time, you should have seen me lose it. You'd have died with laughter. I thought that there was something seriously wrong with me."

"It's perfectly normal, Alex." Serena explained reasonably. "I felt a little odd at first, but we all do. You get used to the urges."

"Urges?"  Alex questioned. "What kinds of urges?"

"You know, the ones that push you towards a pretty woman." She said. "The kind that kept me noticing you." She smiled, and then looked around the room. "Everything here says that you're old money…kind of like me. I come from a 'Wall Street' family. And you?"

"Boston money." Alex said. "Complete with an Ivy League education. And I'm guessing that you had one too."

"Guilty as charged." Serena threw up her hands as Alex continued to paint her toes. "So tell me, what's it like?"

"What's what like?" Alex asked.

"Working the Special Victims Unit. I heard that the living victims and the child ones are the vics that rip your heart out. Is it true?"

Alex sighed. "Every last detail. It would kill you, Serena."

"Some of these cases would kill me." Serena pointed out. "But I stuck around. Someone needs to keep 'ol Jack in line."

"I get rape, sodomy, child molestation, murder, you name it, chances are, and I've seen it. And if you saw the crime scene photos, that would make you sick."

"Can't be any worse than some of my seriously grisly murder scene photos." Serena said. "But I can think of one person who has it worse than we do."

"Who?" Alex was intrigued. Up until that point, she'd always thought that she had it bad.

"Ron Carver, the ADA for Major Case." Serena said. "You might have heard of 'em. They're the squad with that really brilliant detective…Robert Goren."

"Oh, I know who you mean. I've met Ron… he always looks hassled." Alex said. "He must be. I heard that Major Case handles high society people… the real high profile stuff." She rubbed Serena's feet. "All done."

"Oh, wow, they look great!" Serena wiggled her toes. "You have great taste in polish."

"Oh, thanks." Alex grinned. "But since we're about the same shade, what works for me will work for you."

"I've never met anyone I could do that with." Serena said. "And my God, you look so cute with when your hair is flowing over your shoulders like that."

"You think so? I should have tried this style years ago." Alex said. "Now, I'm glad I did. I think that my hair looks great, too. I did like it when it was much shorter, but I just decided to let it grow out. I figured 'what the heck? If I don't like the way it looks when it grows out, I can always just cut it off.'  And now, I'm so glad that I grew it out. It does look really sexy, doesn't it?"

"Well, everything about you is so adorable and so unbelievably sexy." Serena confessed. "I've always thought so. Ever since I saw you walking down a hallway during my first time at work, I was so blown away by you that it made me feel…hot all over. I was stunned." She twirled a lock of hair around her finger. "Nice to see another blonde being taken seriously around here."

Alex chuckled. "What, do they really think that just because we're blonde, they think we're morons?"

"It's a stereotype that will never die, Alex." Serena shook her head. "Want me to paint your toes?"

Alex relinquished the nail polish bottle. "Be my guest."

Serena took the bottle and then smiled. "Let's go up to your bedroom."

Later…

"So, what happened to your pearls?" Alex asked as Serena worked on her fingernails. "If I remember correctly, you used to wear pearls."

"I traded 'em in for two reasons." Serena said. The women where stripped to their skirts, lying on Alex's queen-sized satin sheeted bed, and painting each other's fingernails.  "One, I needed a new wardrobe and two… they made McCoy hot."

Alex nearly fell off her bed with laughter. "They made McCoy hot?" she cried. "I don't believe that!"

"Believe it, honey." Serena replied in a near perfect imitation of Arthur Branch's Southern drawl. "Ol' Jack came right up to me and told me so. I slapped him, left his office and took the next day off."

Alex squinted at Serena and cocked her head to one side. "Why'd you take the next day off?" she inquired. "What did you do?"

"I went shopping, baby! I needed a major makeover. I couldn't wear something that McCoy finds hot to work everyday! So, I bought myself a more urban wardrobe… a vast improvement, don't you think, love?"

"Vast…this new wardrobe of yours is very sexy. It gives you a brand new image. You look mature, confident and proud. It's great when you want to scare the living daylights out of a perp, especially a male one who strongly believes in the 'dumb blonde stereotype'. They can never believe that a blonde woman could cook their bastard gooses."

"Some men just don't like women with authority." Alex explained reasonably. "They don't respect us and screw them. That's why I never go out with men anymore. They just make me crazy. You can never understand men anymore anyway. You have no idea what they want. Women are easier to understand. You know how and what they think and you know what they want. Only women know how women think and what women want."

"We're are own  'Mr. Right'." Serena added. "We know what we want, so why should we look to men for satisfaction when we can look to ourselves? Why does woman need man?"

"Survival." Alex said as she drank from her brandy snifter. "We actually need men for one thing: reproduction. We can't make babies without men… without their sperm. And without babies…"

"The human race cannot survive." Serena finished. "Wonderful. We've just made the history of men correct. Women really do need men. Ugh."

"Well, we can always have babies without men actually having to be with a man."

"Oh yeah? And how's that?"

"Artificial insemination. Thank god for the wonders of science."

Serena nodded and then asked, "Can I have a sip from your snifter?"

Alex smiled and offered Serena the glass, and watched, intrigued, as Serena's dark red lips closed around the edge of the glass and as she drank.

"Oh, this is good stuff." Serena said. "Your taste in liquor is superb. Much better than Branch's."

"Well, I do come from money." Alex said. "I was raised to have such taste."

"Is that a boast?"

"You know it." She laughed and gave Serena a little push.

"Oh, you are truly adorable." Serena said. "We should have gotten together much sooner."

"Come on, we live in two different worlds." Alex said. "I work SVU and you work homicide. What kind of relationship could we have? And isn't it risky for us to have something other than a working relationship?"

"We already have a relationship, Alex." Serena wiggled closer. "We share a love of the law and we're ADAs.  We can only develop the relationship further. I mean, come on. What have we got to lose? We take risks everyday, when we make a deal, when we prosecute a case. We take the risk that we might not win or that we will make a deal with the wrong person."

"Define 'the wrong person', Southerlyn." Alex said.

"I think that you know exactly I meant, Cabot." Serena replied.  "Come on, don't tell me that you ever made a, uh, 'deal with the devil'." She raised an eyebrow for emphasis.

"Once or twice." Alex said. "But I always made it right in the end."

"So tell me, one ADA to another, is this any different from one of those times?" Serena asked.

"Not really…" Alex replied. "But we could lose our jobs if we were ever caught."

"Who says we're going to get caught?" Serena asked teasingly. "I mean, the only way people can catch us in the act is if they catch us at a bar during 'ladies only' night… or if they follow us back to our homes."

"And nobody will be dumb enough to follow us around." Alex agreed. "But you're asking me to have an affair with someone I work with. Do you have any idea what sort of a risk you're asking me to take?"

"You already asked that question, Cabot." Serena said. "And you need to loosen up." Then she noticed that Alex was rubbing her neck and shoulders for about the ninth time that evening. "And I think I mean that literally. Are you ok?"

"I'm just stiff." Alex replied. "My neck and shoulders have been stiff for days on end. I can't seem to get them to loosen up and I have tried very resource I can think of to correct it." She groaned as she rolled her head around. "And it's beginning to hurt."

"Aw, poor baby." Serena said. "Here. Let Serena help." She urged Alex to move forward, got behind her and began to massage Alex's neck. "I actually took some massage classes in college. I thought that they might come in handy. How does that feel?"

"Damn." Alex said in appreciation. "That feels really good."

"Does it, now?" Serena asked, really getting into her massage. "How'd you like to feel this good all over?"

"I'd love it." Alex replied, earnestly. "You can do that?" She gave Serena a questioning look.

"Oh yes, I can." Serena gave Alex a rub. "Hey, can you do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Put your glasses back on. I just think that your glasses are very cute… like the rest of you."

Deciding to indulge Serena, Alex reached over and put her glasses back on. "I read in a magazine once that my type of frame looks harsh on me. I don't think so."

"And neither do I." Serena agreed.  "What surprises me more is that you actually have time to read."

"Very funny, Serena." Alex replied sarcastically. "You know that all work and no play makes ADAs very dull girls."

"Tell that to McCoy." Serena said. "And I should amend my earlier statement. Just because McCoy doesn't make it obvious that he notices me, doesn't mean that he doesn't do it in the first place. Last month, I managed to get away with wearing a very short skirt to work and everybody noticed. Guys were crashing into things right and left just to try and get a look at me."


"What they were trying to look at were your thighs." Alex joked.

Serena laughed. "Anyway, I was sitting in McCoy's office that afternoon and just to see how far I could push him and just to tease him, I crossed my legs. If he'd look at me in the right angle, he'd get a good glance up my skirt. Guess what. He took the bait. I think he was a little ashamed of it, though, because the next thing he told me was, 'Serena, for the sake of myself and every hot-blooded man in the DA's office, would you please not wear skirts that are that short again?' And I said, 'Sure. No problem.' Then, I walked out, knowing full well that I was winning the battle. So, the very next day, I put on the tightest pants I could find and his reaction was delicious. I knew that as I was leaving his office that he was staring straight at my ass. I could tell. I could feel his eyes on me."

Alex burst out laughing. "You just love teasing him, don't you?"

"The only thing that gives me more pleasure than busting a perp is teasing McCoy." Serena said earnestly. "He's just too easy. He's fighting an internal battle to keep himself from jumping on me and screwing me till the cows come home. And so far, his rational mind is winning. And of course, I admire him for it."

"I'll bet you that he also knows that the very nanosecond that he tries a dammed thing, you'd slap him with a big fat lawsuit. For, what I'm not sure." Alex giggled, then rolled her neck around. "Southerlyn…"

"Hmmm?" Serena was preoccupied with Alex's shoulders.

"You're a damn miracle worker! My neck hasn't felt this good in six months!"

"I'll take that as a compliment."  Serena giggled. "You don't mind if I use your bathroom, do you?"

"Nope. Just, don't touch my shower gel." Alex said. "It's through that door." She pointed to a white door that led to Alex's opulent bathroom.

Serena smiled as she got up from the bed. "Be right back." She whispered into Alex's ear. "Don't go anywhere."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Alex muttered as she watched Serena walk into the bathroom, shedding her skirt as she went in. Serena gave Alex a coy little smile as she shut the door.

Womanizer or not, McCoy has excellent taste. Alex thought as she got up to pick up Serena's skirt. I've met Abbie Carmichael. She's gorgeous. I wonder if McCoy picks the women or they just come to him.

"Alex, are these your jeans?" Serena called from the bathroom.

"Yeah, who did you think they belonged to? Olivia Benson?" Alex laughed.

"Who's Olivia?" Serena asked.

"Oh, she's an SVU detective I work with. We have coffee together sometimes. If you want, I'll introduce you. She's very beautiful."

"Oh, I'll bet she is." Serena replied. "Hey…these actually fit me!"

Alex looked up from folding her discarded clothes.  "What the hell are you talking about?"

The bathroom door opened up and Serena came out, proudly modeling a pair of Alex's jeans. "These are a great fit! Where did you get them and are they still in style?"

"They're jeans, Serena. Jeans never go out of style." Alex laughed. "And I got them at Macy's at Herald Square on 34th street. Believe it or not, those are my skinny jeans. I can never seem to get them to fit right unless I'm on a low-carb diet."

"Don't tell me that you've fallen for that Atkin's crap, too." Serena said. "It's complete and total bull. And besides, you of all people do not need to diet. You're perfectly slim and sexy. I know women who would die to have your shape…I've seen them in court. They are usually the defendants."

Alex giggled. "Wouldn't they also just die to be our age and look this good?" She smiled and watched as Serena did a little twirl for her benefit. "Those jeans really do look great on you…and I never noticed what a great ass you have. It's so… perfect."

"Why in the world do you think that McCoy spends so much time staring at it?" Serena asked. "And I have so little time to take care of myself. It's just a miracle that I manage to eat right. The most exercise I get is running to court everyday."

"Same here. Only, it's running to the 16th precinct, running to the office, running to court…does it ever end?"

"Not until we actually leave the DA's office." Serena replied. "Other than that, we're screwed. We'll be stuck doing this for the rest of our careers. But, we'll get through it…somehow."

Alex gave Serena a pointed look, paying more attention to Serena's legs in her pair of jeans than what she actually had to day. "Not this again, Serena…I don't know."

"Play your cards right and I'll make it worth your while." Serena cooed.

"Will you, now?" Alex asked as she placed Serena's clothes on top of the dresser.

"Yeah." Serena sashayed over to Alex's side and put her arm around her waist. "I will. I'll make sure that this is an affair that you'll never regret. You have my word." The last part she whispered was in Alex's ear. She paused, considered the sly smile slowly growing on Alex's face and then continued her whispering. "Trust me. I'll make every moment enjoyable and if you don't like it, just let me know.  I'll even make sure that the break up is good, "

"Serena, is this how you usually court someone or are you doing this just for my benefit?" Alex asked, looking her blonde colleague straight in the eye. "Because, it's beginning to become very, very convincing."

"It's jut for you. I mean, I've never met a woman I had so much in common with and felt so comfortable with." Serena replied. "And trust me, if you say no…I'll just keep coming back for more. I just can't get you outta my head." And for the kicker, Serena raised her eyebrows and gave Alex the sexiest smile she could come up with.  Buy it, Alex…for the love of God, buy it! I can't do this all the time, you know!

Alex bit her lip for a moment, considering Serena's words, then, slowly let a grin spread across her face. "Oh, I think I could be convinced Southerlyn…but under one condition."

YES! "What's that?" Serena asked.

"We don't do a dammed thing in public, unless we're at one of those lesbian bars." Alex replied. "I adore you, I really do, but you are not worth losing my job over."

"Oh, I feel so appreciated, Cabot." Serena's voice was dripping with sarcasm, "And I thought that you were better than that."

"Let me put it to you this way." Alex said. "Love doesn't pay the rent, honey. The mayor, on the other hand, does."

"Would be nice to work for something other than meager pay and long hours that make you crazy." Serena said. "I'd like to work for you… in more ways than one."

"You're flirting with me, aren't you?" Alex asked,

"You just got around to noticing that, now?" Serena asked. "Damnit, Alex, you are so dense!"

"I'm not dense, silly Serena." Alex teased. "I prefer to think of myself as being, well, more subtle than you are. And I know that you've been sending signals to me all night."

"What, I have to send up a freakin' flare to get you're attention?!" Serena cried. "Or are you a tease?"

"Oh, believe me, Southerlyn." It was Alex's turn to coo. "I'm just a dammed tease. And teasing you has been great fun."

"Are we going to play games all night, Lex or are we going to do something about it?" Serena asked.  "Because if we have nothing better to do than play games and tease. I can go home."

Alex raised her eyebrow, pulled Serena closer and whispered. "I don't think that you should leave just yet. I'm not finished with you yet, Southerlyn."

"Oh you're not?"

"Not by a long shot." Alex leaned in just a little closer and planted a kiss right on Serena's lips. It was gentle, just what Serena was expecting from her.

"Forgive me if this is slightly awkward." Alex murmured in between kisses. "It's been a while since I last kissed a woman."

"Same here." Serena replied. "But then again, for someone who's out of practice, you're an awfully good kisser."

"I'll take that as an indication that you like it." Alex replied. "And stop complimenting me. You're making me hot."

"Am I?" Serena purred. "Why, Alexandra Cabot, I had no idea that flattery was one of your turn ons. I'll have to make a note of that."

"Stop the teasing before I tie you down to my bed and screw you until it actually hurts and I really do mean that."

"Do you?" Serena asked. "I believe that. I like that. I aspire to that. I live to tease, Cabot and teasing you has been a wonderful challenge. I think that we're going to have a lot of fun together, don't you?"

Alex smiled. "I think that we will." She replied. "Would you mind helping me with my skirt?"

"You're so cute." Serena murmured. "Everything about you is absolutely adorable. I like it when you're cute. I like cute girls."

"Yeah, the cute girl part I actually figured out." Alex said. "Now…about my skirt?"

"Hang on, darlin'." Serena purred. "Turn around for me."

Alex obliged her and smiled as she heard the sound of her skirt unzipping and then felt it slide down her legs and into a black puddle at her feet.

"Mmmm, lilac lace panties with a matching bra." Serena cooed. "Purple colors look so cute on you. Then again, you'd look good in a garbage bag, but maybe that's just me." She pulled at her bra strap, satisfied with the yelp that Alex made. "Now tell, me. Should I take off these jeans?"

"I'm not going to even amuse you with that." Alex said.

"Come on, Alex, baby, humor me." Serena said. "Don't think that I haven't envisioned you undressing me with your eyes…kind of like McCoy does everyday when he thinks that I'm not looking, but that's another story…hey, Cabot! Where the heck are you going?"

"To get more brandy." Alex replied as she exited the bedroom. "Maybe being drunk will actually do us some good."

"Don't you think we've had enough of that stuff?" Serena called.

"Two glasses is far from enough, depending on whether or not you actually want to remember this night."

"Alex, I want to remember this!" Serena called. "I don't want to forget it nor think it was some brandy induced fantasy that my mind thought up."

Alex reappeared in her bedroom doorway a moment later, wearing her underwear and a sly smile. "Well, why didn't you say so, Southerlyn?" she asked, innocently. "C'mere."

Serena smiled and approached her, giggling when Alex kissed her again, deeper this time and her giggling got louder as she felt Alex's hands deftly get to work on her jeans.

"And what color is your underwear, Serena?" Alex murmured.

"Dusty rose." Serena asked, nuzzling her partner. "It reminded me of a Sting song that I like called "Desert Rose". Now, should we get down to business?"

"Oh, yes."  Alex replied earnestly. "Now get those clothes off. It's hard to do this when you're still clothed."

Hours later…

"It's been awhile since I've had sex with a woman, you know." Alex said. "Did I deliver?"

"Well, I think so." Serena said. "You're are a very, very, very good lover. I've bet you pleased a lot of men and women."

"Oh, I have. No one's ever complained." Alex said. "If you do, I'll kill you and make it look like an accident."

"Oh, you have nothing to worry about, Alexandra." Serena said. "I'm not complaining."

Serena and Alex were lying in bed, after a nice romp in Alex's bed and sharing the occasional kiss.

"Can I tell you something, Southerlyn?' Alex asked.

"Aren't you already doing that?" Serena asked.

"Critic." Alex said. "I think that this is the beginning of a wonderful relationship."

"You think so?" Serena asked.

"Mmm-hmm." She kissed Serena. "What do you think? Could you get used to this?"

"Oh yes." Serena returned Alex's warm kiss. "I could get used to all this opulence."

"I'd like it if you stick around for a little while so that we can see how our relationship progresses." Alex said. "But if you don't want to, I'll understand."

"I want to."  Serena said. "In fact, I've love to.  I just have to get some of my things from my apartment."

"Can that wait until tomorrow?" Alex asked.

"Of course, darling."  Serena replied. "I'm in no hurry…except to get off the leash that McCoy has on me."

"We could always trade places with each other. Just to get a feel for our jobs…and our clothes."

"Serena, do you have an obsession with my clothes?" Alex asked.

"Yes." Serena replied. "Your clothes are very sexy. I'd love to wear them…everyday, just like I would like to wear you everyday…but I think that wouldn't go over well with the rest of the office." She snuggled up closer to Alex's body. "God, you're so warm."

"I know, baby." Alex said. "It's been quite some time since I had a woman in my bed. That's slightly different from my earlier statement. The last time I slept with woman, I was in her bed."

Serena smiled. "Ditto." She stroked Alex's hair and climbed on top of Alex's warm, naked body. "God, Alex… you feel so nice and warm and soft…so perfect. It's like manna from heaven and it's all…" She paused long enough to lick her lips. "It's all mine. I get to have you all to myself."

"Southerlyn, you are a greedy woman." Alex said. "But you are one hell of a woman and a prosecutor. I've seen you in court…when I time to see you."

"I was trained by McCoy. He isn't the only SOB lawyer who can bend the rules. I've done it and so have you. I've heard. You did an illegal search to convict a child molester and 'ol Elizabeth Donnelly suspended you for a month without pay. Pretty ballsy, Cabot."

"I was desperate." Alex confessed. "Since the police couldn't give me what I needed to convict the guy I took matters into my own hands. I did what I had to do. I don't regret any of it."

"You don't?"

Alex shook her head as much as she could. "No way. So, I lost my job for a month and I didn't get paid. Small price to pay to get one more child molester off the streets."

"I agree." Serena said. "Small price. Better than nearly being disbarred."

"Didn't that happen to you?"

"Yes and don't ask me to talk about it." Serena replied. "Anyway, how does me borrowing a suit of yours tomorrow and us going out for a cup of coffee and some sex a la carte sound to you?"

Alex burst out laughing. "You are so naughty."

"I learn from the best, Alex." She replied as she kissed Alex over and over. "I learned from the best."

"Who?" McCoy?" Alex asked.

"I know he's naughty, Lexy. I caught him kissing Abbie Carmichael in his office once. I bet that they're having a little affair or maybe they got secretly married after she left. I don't know what she sees in him! McCoy is such a womanizer. He can't keep his hands to himself, you know. But I can easily see what he sees in her. Have you ever seen Abbie Carmichael? She's a knockout!"

"She and I were friends before she left the DA's office." Alex said. "We had the occasional drink or coffee together. Then, she told me one day that she was leaving the DA's office for a job as a Federal prosecutor. And that came after she told me that she was raped when she was in college and the guy who did it to her got off on a technicality."

"You're kidding." Serena said. "Oh, I don't believe it. She must have been pissed."

"The way she told it to me, she'll be pissed until the day she dies." Alex said. "That's where her vengeful streak comes from. So I guess that she was better suited to be a Fed than an ADA. I spoke to her the other day. She seems happier there, but I miss her."

"Would you mind introducing me to her someday?" Serena asked. "I've only heard about her and seen her once. I've never met her."

"Sure." Alex agreed. "I'll do that. I'd love to introduce you to her."

Serena rested her head on Alex's shoulder and smiled. "Tell me more about this Olivia woman. You seem to like her very much."

Alex relaxed against her pillow and began to tell her lover about her friend, while Serena listened attentively, hanging on to every word.

They spent the rest of the night like that and the next morning, Serena wore one of Alex's pantsuits to work and she got lots of compliments.

Serena was right. It really was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.