Strains of music were what brought Casey out of her slumber; it was the sunlight streaming through the edges of her shades that kept her awake. Groaning, she pulled the sheet over her head and turned onto her other side, away from the window. Just as she was drifting off again, she suddenly became aware of her pounding headache. She only wondered why her head hurt so much for a moment before the events of the past evening came rushing back to her. Sort of.

She remembered the embarrassment of drinking entirely too much in front of Elliot and Olivia, she remembered them teasing her, she remembered being very affectionate … oh God, she thought. Her headache got about ten times worse as she realized just what had happened the previous night, what had gone on between her and Olivia.

After lying still for about ten minutes, the headache became too much for her to bear any longer. Taking a deep breath and preparing for the headache to intensify, she pushed herself into a sitting position. Wrapping the comforter around her shoulders, she climbed out of bed and opened the door. The music was coming from her living room, she realized. Carly Simon. She smirked and slowly made her way towards her bathroom.

As she passed her living room, she saw Olivia sitting on the couch, absentmindedly paging through an old magazine. "You know, you make fun of my musical tastes, but you're the one playing Carly Simon," Casey said softly so as not to startle the detective.

A look that was equal parts panic and amusement crossed Olivia's face. "Casey?" Olivia said, trying not to sound teasingly condescending. "This is your Carly Simon."

"Oh, yeah." Casey sighed and walked past the sofa on her way to the bathroom. "My head hurts too much for me to think of a good comeback for that."

"Jesus, Casey, you look awful," Olivia said after giving the ADA a once-over.

"And here I was wondering when you were going to turn on the charm, Detective," Casey snidely called over her shoulder. "I feel like crap."

"Where do you think you're going?" Olivia asked.

"To get some aspirin." She indicated her head as if it should be obvious to anyone where she was going. "My head hurts."

"No. Sit down." Olivia tossed the magazine aside and stood up, then took Casey's hand and led her back to the couch. "I'm getting your aspirin. You keep it in the bathroom?"

Casey nodded as she flopped down on the sofa, pulling her feet off the floor and hugging her knees to her chest. As she looked across the room at her television, she caught the clock on her cable box. It was a little before seven-thirty in the morning, which made her wonder just why the sun had been so bright through her shades. She only thought about that for a moment before her attention was grabbed once again by her massive hangover. Her head was throbbing and her stomach felt strange, not quite queasy but not exactly normal, either. "Why on earth did I drink that much?" she mumbled under her breath, dropping her head onto her knees.

It wasn't until she felt Olivia sit back down on the sofa that she lifted her head. Olivia dropped two small white tablets into one of Casey's hands and gave her a glass of water. Casey downed the pills and took a large sip of the water, then set the glass down on the endtable. "Thank you."

"You're quite welcome."

"Why are you up so early?" Casey asked Olivia after a minute of silence.

"Elliot called my cell phone."

"To see if you were still here?"

"No. He figured I'd still be here, considering how late it was when we left your office and the fact that I didn't have a car."

Casey smiled and brushed her hair out of her eyes with her hand. Oh, God, I didn't even brush my hair before I came out here, she thought in embarrassment. She was a little surprised by the quick moment of panic. Why should it matter if her hair was brushed or not? Little butterflies started to rise in her stomach. "Yeah, sorry about that," she said quietly, trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice. Get a grip, Casey, she chastised herself silently.

"Don't worry about it." Olivia looked over at the ADA, who was fidgeting nervously in her seat, and sighed. There was no use putting off any longer the conversation the two of them needed to have. "Casey, we need--"

"I know," she said. She averted her eyes, staring instead at the flower pattern on her comforter. She began absentmindedly tracing the pink roses with her index finger.

"How much do you remember about last night?"

"Enough."

Olivia shot her an exasperated look. "Casey, that's not an answer."

Casey rolled her eyes. "It's a little fuzzy after we got in the car."

"That's when you started to lose consciousness," Olivia teased, smirking.

Casey gave a light chuckle. "Everything that happened before we got in the car is still there in my memory banks, but not in any particular order or anything."

"But you do remember--"

"Yeah."

Olivia nodded and seemed to be processing that bit of information. "Did you mean it?" she asked after a small pause.

Damn it, why didn't I think to ask her that first? Casey wondered silently. She eyed the detective carefully, trying to see if she could glean from Olivia's demeanor what she wanted to hear. Closing her eyes and bringing a hand to her head, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I-I don't know. Maybe. I guess so."

"Way to be decisive, there, Casey," Olivia said, frustrated.

"Well, what do you want me to say?"

"I want you to tell me the truth. Pretend we don't work together. Pretend there are no strings, so complications, no one to gossip. Tell me the truth: did you mean it?"

Sighing, Casey once again averted her eyes. How was she supposed to answer that question truthfully? There were too many factors to consider, too many confusions and complications. Besides that, what if Olivia didn't feel the same way? Then she would have embarrassed herself in front of a coworker for no reason. And there was no erasing what was to be said, no turning back the clock. However, as she looked up at Olivia, stared into her dark eyes, she found herself falling, speaking nothing but the truth. To hell with the consequences. "Yes." She waited just a moment before turning the question on Olivia. "Did you?"

Olivia didn't break eye contact, not even to blink. "Yes."

The butterflies in Casey's stomach started fluttering intensely. She hadn't been expecting Olivia to answer in the affirmative, and now that she had, Casey wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Her head was spinning just as it had been the night before, though this time there was no way alcohol was the culprit. She tore her eyes away from Olivia's. Her head was pounding too much for her to think. Though, she supposed that was a good thing. The events of the past twelve hours didn't lend themselves to rational thought. "Olivia, I-I've never done anything like this before."

"I really haven't, either," Olivia admitted. "This is all pretty new to me, too. But Casey, I swear to you, I haven't felt the way I felt when I was flirting with you in a very long time."

Olivia leaned forward, comfortingly taking Casey's hand. The contact surprised Casey and she gasped and pulled away a little. She instantly regretted it when a barely noticeable hurt look crossed Olivia's face. "I-I'm sorry," she stuttered. "I wasn't expecting that." Olivia gave her a half-smile and once again tried to wrap her hand around Casey's. This time, Casey allowed her to gingerly take her hand. The butterflies started fluttering so much Casey thought her stomach was going to explode. Olivia's hands were strong but soft. She was falling helplessly, she knew it, and she had to stop. She pulled away again and tore her eyes away from Olivia's. "Liv, we can't do this."

Olivia sighed. She wasn't as exasperated with Casey as she seemed; she was frustrated with the whole situation, the fact that she liked Casey but didn't quite understand why or how, and the fact that Casey obviously liked her but was afraid to admit it to herself. "Why can't we?"

"B-because! It can't mean anything. We were both drunk; we didn't know what we were doing. There are too many … obstacles isn't the right word, but it's the only one I can think of. We can't do this."

"Maybe we were drunk last night, Casey, but we're not now. Are you telling me that you don't feel anything this morning? Because if you truly feel nothing, tell me now, and I won't bring it up again and we'll just forget it happened."

Casey bit her lip, sighing softly. Olivia was giving her an out, but she couldn't in good conscience take it, nor did she want to. And she could tell just from the sly look on Olivia's face that Olivia was aware of that. Damn her, Casey thought. Her head was spinning, from both confusion and her headache. "You're going to be late for work," she said instead. She'd never been one to believe that ignoring the problem made it go away, but she just couldn't deal with trying to reconcile her entire life up until now with the events of the previous night.

Olivia smiled, taking Casey's lack of denial about her feelings as an admission. "What about you?"

"I'm calling in sick," Casey shrugged. "No way I can handle court today."

"Well, I'm not leaving you alone."

"Liv, I'm hungover, not dying." She yawned, suddenly very sick and very tired. All she wanted to do was close her eyes and pull the comforter over her head.

"I don't care," Olivia said, leaning forward and reaching across Casey's shoulder to grab the remote control off the endtable. Casey's heart leapt when Olivia's fingers brushed her neck. "You're sick and I'm not leaving you alone. Lie down, go back to sleep, and I'll wake you up in an hour."

"Yeah, right, I'm not going to be able to sleep," Casey said, rubbing her eyes. "My mind is racing and I can't--"

"Shh." Olivia placed her hands on Casey's shoulders and gently laid her down so her head was resting on a throw pillow. "The only thing that really cures a hangover is time, and it's easier if you sleep." She straightened the comforter around Casey's shoulders and smiled when the ADA pulled her arms out from under the blanket and rested them on top. She took Casey's hand in one of hers and brushed the ADA's hair out of her eyes with the other. "Do I have to sing you a lullaby?"

"Don't threaten me, Detective," Casey said with a giggle. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly as Olivia began rubbing the back of her hand with her thumb. Within minutes, she was so relaxed that she could scarcely feel her limbs. "You're good at this."

Olivia smiled at the sleepiness in Casey's voice and was vaguely surprised by just how adorable she thought it was. "Years of practice," she replied ruefully. "You know, when I was seventeen, a bunch of friends and I had gone on a road trip, and one of the girls wound up getting really bad food poisoning. I automatically took on the role of vacation mommy. It was the only time in my life that someone suggested I become a nurse; I just laughed at that. None of them knew how I was so good at this, of course, but--" She stopped talking, realizing that Casey had drifted off into a deep sleep.

She gently gave Casey's hand a light squeeze before slipping her hand free. Then she carefully stood and tiptoed into the kitchen to begin foraging for the items for the breakfast she planned on making for the ADA.