Office of Casey Novak

Casey was sitting at her desk, fishing through her paperwork. Ever since Alex had rejoined the squad, she found that she was more nervous than usual. Not because of the cases though, they were going great. They hadn't lost one yet. No, for some reason she was very concerned about her appearance and actions around the blonde. And that made her extremely disorganized. A tap at the door made her drop everything. Literally.

"Oh, Casey, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I was just seeing if you were ready to head over to court."

Casey gave Alex a nod, not trusting herself to say anything intelligent while the attorney was looking at her. Alex looked at Casey trying to figure out why she was so quiet. Giving up, she left the room, telling Casey she was going to see Liz before they headed off. Casey was still off in space, so they only farewell Alex received was a slight wave.

Casey sat down on the couch, placing her head in her hands. She was wondering how she had gotten to the point where she couldn't even perform basic human functions around Alex. She wasn't used to being so flabbergasted around people. It was that moment that Olivia chose to walk into Casey's office.

"Oh no, not again."

Casey could tell that Olivia was kidding, and started laughing along with her.

"No, not again. Thanks for asking though." Casey resumed sifting through the junk on her desk, and Olivia managed to stop chuckling and get serious.

"Casey, what's wrong?"

Casey thought about how to approach Olivia's questions. She didn't want to embarrass herself in front of another one of her coworkers, bet decided that Olivia would understand.

"Well…its just… I mean, its wonderful having Alex prosecuting cases with me, but…"

Olivia nodded. "You're feeling a little intimidated?"

Casey walked over to the bat hanging on her wall, not wanting to look at Olivia directly.

"I don't know. I can't seem to think straight whenever she's around. She congratulates me every time we win a case, but she always carries the case. She has skills that I could never duplicate."

Hearing this, Olivia couldn't let help but to let a smile spread across her face. Trying to get Casey to realize exactly what she was feeling, Olivia hinted at the possibility that Casey might just be interested in Alex.

"…and I'm not sure why this is happening, I mean I've never let what another lawyer thinks affect me before, so --"

"Casey!"

The ADA jumped at Olivia's attempt to get her attention. She had been talking a mile a minute about how she wasn't sure what she was feeling, and hadn't noticed the devilish grin that had crossed Olivia's face.

"What is so funny?"

"Maybe its not the job Casey. What you said a minute ago is true. You never let what anyone thinks affect your cases."

Casey paused to think for a moment.

"But if its not the cases, then what is it?"

Olivia raised her eyebrows, not believing that Casey didn't know deep down what the answer was.

"Maybe Alex is affecting you somehow… maaaybe you are thinking of her as something more than a great lawyer."

Casey's face fell, and she started to panic.

"No, you can't possibly think, it has to be something else…"

"Casey, think about it…"

Olivia was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Casey, are you all set… Oh hello Olivia!"

Alex walked into Casey's office, and Casey gathered her stuff from her desk.

"Olivia, I'll see you later."

Before Olivia could object, Casey was out the door, and Alex turned to give Olivia a confused look.

"Is she always like this?"

Olivia had to laugh, causing Alex to become even more confused.

"Am I missing something?"

"No Alex," Olivia said, walking over to her, "She's not usually like this. I think she's just adjusting to having someone help her with the cases, that's all. She's used to working by herself."

"I didn't know it was that hard to adjust to lil old me."

"Don't worry about it," Olivia assured her, pulling her toward the door. "She was like this when she first met all of us. Now, if you don't hurry up, your going to be late!"