Casey yawned and laid back down on her throw pillows, focusing her attention on the television. With Olivia out of the apartment, she had turned her TV back to The Waltons and was content to just sit and let the show take her back to a happier time in her memory banks. She had gotten up from the couch for a couple of minutes to get some more aspirin, which hadn't touched her headache and had only served to make her sleepy.

Why isn't Olivia back yet? Casey wondered. She had been gone almost forty-five minutes even though the grocery was only around the corner. She was a little surprised by how much she missed the detective and how lonely she was feeling now that the apartment was empty, save for herself. Oh stop it, Casey. Get a freaking grip.

She allowed her eyelids to flutter closed as she turned onto her side and pulled her knees up to her chest. After taking a deep breath, she felt herself drifting off and instantly shook herself awake. She did not want to fall asleep again, not after all those odd dreams she'd been having. But as she relaxed her muscles, her thoughts turned to her dream about the haunted engagement ring and suddenly the story began coming together a little more. Hannah was angry because she had seen her fiancé with another woman; she took the ring off, tossed it to the ground, and started sobbing as she buried the ring in the dirt.

The sound of the key turning in the lock on the front door forced Casey to open her eyes. Olivia pushed the door open quietly and peeked her head in before entering completely. "Oh, hey," she said softly. "I didn't want to barge in just in case you were asleep."

"I was kind of drifting," Casey replied, sitting up a little bit. "Hannah was mad because her fiancé was cheating on her."

"Hannah from the ghost dream?" She closed the door behind herself, tossed the keys onto the coffee table, and set a box of crackers in front of Casey.

Casey nodded, hiding a yawn behind her hand and then reaching forward to open the box of saltines. "Thanks. Is it raining yet?"

"Not yet, but it's going to any second; I can smell it."

"You can smell it?"

"You can't?"

Casey shook her head. "I can smell it once it starts. Everything smells wet. I can smell the snow, though."

Olivia looked at Casey, biting her lip to keep a straight face, but burst out giggling regardless. "You are so strange."

"What, I'm strange because I can smell snow but you're not strange because you can smell rain?"

"There are many reasons why you're strange," Olivia replied teasingly. She stepped out of her shoes and held up the two-liter bottle of soda she had purchased. "You want a glass of ginger ale now?"

"I can get it … I finished the water in that glass." She gestured with her head in the direction of the empty glass on her endtable. Olivia gave her a smile and handed her the bottle. Casey gratefully accepted it and poured a little bit of the refreshing liquid into her glass. After taking a quick sip, she set the glass back down on the coaster and leaned her head back against the sofa cushions. "I'm almost afraid to ask, but what movies did you get?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Olivia said brightly. She pulled three DVDs out of the inner pocket of her jacket and held them out for Casey to see. "I got Poltergeist and The Others to start, and The Exorcist for later."

"I'll deal with Poltergeist, but no way am I watching The Exorcist,Olivia. Poltergeist, The Others, those are fine. The Exorcist? No way in hell."

Olivia grinned at Casey. "If I can't get you to watch The Exorcist, I'll watch it by myself later."

"You're going to have to watch it by yourself because I refuse to watch it."

Olivia turned Casey's DVD player on, stuck one of the discs in, and then settled at the end of the sofa opposite Casey. "Have you seen any of these?"

"I've seen The Exorcist," Casey admitted. She smirked when Olivia looked over at her sharply and, without saying a word, demanded an explanation. "When I was twelve, one of the theaters in my neighborhood re-released it as a revival or sorts. I begged and begged my parents to let me go. My dad eventually got sick of hearing me whine, so he took me. It scared me so much I had to sleep on my parents' bedroom floor for two weeks."

Olivia snickered, relishing the mental image of a scared, twelve-year-old Casey huddling in a sleeping bag and pulling the pillow over her head. "Casey, you were twelve; that was a number of years ago. Don't you think that what you found scary at twelve, you might not find scary now?"

"I'm not watching that movie again, Olivia," Casey insisted. "I absolutely refuse. Unless you want me staying in your room for the next two weeks."

"That could be fun," the detective replied, grinning widely.

Casey gulped, silently debating how to respond to that. Was it an opening for more, obviously heavier flirtation, or was it just a joke? "It is an idea that's not without merit."

"You do realize that you slip into vague legalese when you get nervous, right?"

"Either that or I trip all over myself and can't speak at all," Casey answered, nodding bashfully. "I know my limitations and I do my best to work around them."

Olivia laughed and snatched the package of saltines out of the ADA's hand before hitting the play button on the remote control. She fished five crackers out of the package and handed it back to Casey, who accepted it with a shy smile. Casey gave a barely audible gasp when Olivia's fingers brushed her own as the crackers changed ownership. After thinking for a quick moment about whether she wanted to tease Casey further, she decided to just leave her alone.

"What movie did you put in?" Casey asked nervously, setting the crackers down on the coffee table. "If you say The Exorcist, I swear to God, you are dead."

"I put in Poltergeist," Olivia said, giggling. "I'll respect the fact that you're too chicken to watch The Exorcist. I'll just wait until you fall asleep and then I'll watch it. All by my lonesome."

"Don't think that teasing me about it or making me feel guilty is going to make me change my mind." Casey stifled a yawn and curled up on her side, tucking one arm underneath the throw pillow and resting the other on her side. "If this scares me, I'm going to be very mad at you."

"It's not that bad," Olivia assured her. "I can't believe you've never seen this."

"There are plenty of movies I've never seen," Casey replied, shifting position on the sofa so that she was a little more comfortable. "I never really went to the movies as a kid and I don't go now."

"We need to get you out of this apartment, Casey."

"I go out plenty, Detective." She glanced over at Olivia, grinning at her. "You wouldn't be able to keep up with me."

Olivia raised her eyebrows at Casey in mock disbelief. "You think so?"

"I know so." She giggled and was about to say something else when a loud clap of thunder resounded suddenly, shaking her apartment windows and walls. Casey tensed immediately and bolted upright, letting out a small shriek, the comforter settling at her knees.

"You all right?" Olivia asked, startled by both the sudden thunder and Casey's reaction.

"Yeah," Casey replied, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink. I can't believe I totally just lost my cool in front of her, she thought. Way to be mature, Casey. Let her find out you're scared to death of thunderstorms. She'll really like you then. "Th-thunder just startled me."

Her fear of thunderstorms was something she'd kept secret from most everyone ever since she was a preteen. Her mother used to assure her that she'd outgrow her fear of the storms, but she never did, and it was more than a little embarrassing to her. Here she was at twenty-nine and terrified as a four-year-old. But the sheer amount of silent chiding she was doing and just how embarrassed she was for losing her composure in front of Olivia was startling.

Another loud boom of thunder shook the windows and she involuntarily drew in her breath. "You sure you're all right?" Olivia asked, concern swimming in her dark eyes.

One look at Olivia's face, seeing the concern and worry, and Casey felt herself blurting out the truth even though she had wanted to keep it a secret. "I'm not a fan of thunderstorms."

"You're not a fan?"

"I'm terrified of them."

Olivia eyed Casey carefully as a bolt of lightning lit the sky. Fear flashed into Casey's eyes as she flicked her gaze to the window and cowered slightly in the corner of the sofa. "You're not kidding, are you?"

Casey gave an embarrassed shake of her head. "No, I'm not kidding. Have been for as long as I can remember."

"Do you know why?"

"Not a clue. I just am."

Olivia never would have thought of Casey as the type to be afraid of thunderstorms and scary movies. She thought it was funny that if she had found this out a couple of months prior, she'd have been all over Casey for it. Now, she found it too adorable for words. "So Big Bad Lawyer Casey Novak is afraid of thunderstorms?" she teased.

Casey nodded. "And if you ever tell anyone that, you are going to be in serious, serious trouble."

"You have my word," Olivia promised, holding up three fingers. "Scout's promise."

"You were a Girl Scout?" Casey asked, smiling.

"No, but I thought it sounded good."

Casey snorted back a laugh and turned her attention to the movie, turning on the sofa so that she was facing the television. She picked up the saltines and, without realizing what she was doing, nestled herself a little closer to Olivia. Sighing softly, she pushed the comforter to the floor, suddenly warm. The wind was whistling outside the windows, the lightning lit the room with bright flashes, there was a ghost movie on her television, she was sitting next to Olivia Benson, and it was all Casey could do not to lose her composure completely.

Silence fell over the two of them as they both got wrapped up in the movie. Casey, out of fear, began edging herself closer to Olivia; the detective noticed and gave a smirk but didn't say anything to call attention to it. Instead, she welcomed the advances even though she knew Casey wasn't giving them consciously. Any advances were just fine with her.

Olivia glanced over at Casey, who was squeezing the edge of a throw pillow in one hand and holding the package of crackers tightly in the other. "You're crushing the saltines," Olivia whispered, gently tugging the crackers out of Casey's grasp.

"Sorry," Casey replied without taking her eyes off the television. "I just need to--ahh!" She shrieked at something in the movie and hid her eyes in Olivia's shoulder. "Did a ghostly hand really just come out of their television?"

"Yes," Olivia chuckled. "Pretty neat effect, huh?"

Casey just whimpered, turned her head, and peeked at the television through her fingers. Letting her breath out slowly, she pulled away from Olivia and sat up straight. "Okay, that is a really cool effect for what, the early eighties?" Olivia nodded. "I'll never look at snow and static on the TV in the same way again."

"Eh, the snow and static is fine," Olivia teased. "It's when you hear voices in the snow and static that you have to worry."

Casey smirked, nodding. "So the kid's clairvoyant?"

"Yeah. You're not one of those obnoxious people who asks a zillion questions that just wind up getting answered in time, are you?"

"No." Casey glanced over at Olivia, who was nibbling on a saltine while staring at the television, and sighed. She felt a familiar churn in the pit of her stomach; the butterflies, which had been quiet for a while, were now starting up again full force. Her headache was going away, the nausea had gone away, and the fogginess in her head was giving way. With the new clarity came a realization. "You think they're talking about us?"

"Who?"

"The guys. Munch, Fin, Elliot … they have to know where you are and they have to know you've been here since last night. You think they're talking about us?"

"What do you care if they are?" Olivia asked with a dismissive shrug.

"I don't."

Olivia paused the movie and fixed an attentive gaze on the ADA. "Are you sure?"

Casey nodded, giving the detective a small smile. "I don't give a damn what they think, Olivia. Screw the damn consequences. We'll never know if we can make something of this if we don't try."

Olivia turned around on the sofa and faced the younger woman, taking her hand gently. "Are you absolutely sure?"

Casey's smile got wider as she leaned forward and met Olivia's lips with her own. The detective was surprised at first but after a second, she began pressing her lips back against Casey's. The ADA's head became filled with an adrenaline-induced fog and instantly, she was falling again, spinning into the unknown. She wasn't as apprehensive as she was before; in fact, she was excited at the possibility of diving headfirst into a situation where the outcome wasn't certain.

Olivia broke the kiss first, pulling away, taking a deep breath, and blinking at the younger woman. "Wow. Casey, what made--"

"I don't know!" she answered in a rush, breathing heavily. "I don't know if I was thinking clearly then and not now or vice versa … but I don't care. I want to try. Consequences and gossip be damned."

Smiling, Olivia leaned forward and locked Casey's lips in another deep kiss.

Casey pulled away first this time, trying to catch her breath. If this is what falling head over heels feels like, I'll take it, she thought giddily.

She grinned at Olivia, snatched the remote control, and turned the movie back on, resting her head on Olivia's shoulder. As Olivia began running her fingers through Casey's hair, Casey let her breath out slowly, trying to calm herself. She had no idea if what she was doing was the right thing, a good idea, or even going to work. But she didn't care. All that mattered was that she was finally going to listen to her heart instead of always listening to her head. And her heart was telling her to go for it, to try. Casey Novak was trying something different, taking a chance on something and someone, and she couldn't have been more thrilled.