A/N: Guys...I'm not trying to make Olivia look like a cheap whore. Just give my story a chance.
"Hey Casey! Where are you going?" Alex yelled from down the hall.
"Baseball, why?" she said as Alex caught up to her.
"You play baseball? You're a girl, shouldn't you be playing softball?"
"No, I'm good at baseball," Casey said as the girls began to stroll down the hall, Casey's baseball bag weighing down her right shoulder.
"Oh, you know, Brian Cassidy and Elliot Stabler are on that team. I think Elliot is sooo cute. Have you met them?"
"Yeah, this morning, but don't they play football?"
"The football practices are on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Baseball is only on Monday."
"Oh," Casey said as they walked out the doors and to the baseball field. "Do you play any sports?"
"Me and Abbie play soccer," Alex said.
"That's cool," Casey said.
"I was going to see if you wanted to come to my house. Since you're new and all, me and Abbs wanted to hang out, get to know you."
"Sounds like fun," Casey said. "But give me the directions to your house and I'll stop by after, okay?"
"Alright," Alex said. "Once you leave the school gates, take a right and go all the way down about five minutes on the feeder and take a right on Turtle Grove. Go down a few streets on Turtle Grove and take a left on Red Wood. The number of my house is 4692."
"Okay, thanks, see you later," Casey said as she walked into the girls' locker room. She quickly changed into the baseball pants and Nike shirt she had packed. The fitted, spandex, racer-back shirt clung to Casey's skin as she rubbed sun tan lotion on. She had always been a pale child, sunburning at the slightest exposure. She pulled on her black Nike cleats and grabbed her bat, and then headed out to the field.
In the distance she could see the coach checking stats, and a few players seated on the bench.
"Hi, I'm Casey Novak," she said as she approached the coach.
"I'm Coach Cragen, it's always good to see another girl on the team."
"Oh, there's another girl? I thought I was the only one."
"No, this is Olivia Benson."
Casey looked to the confident, yet shy looking girl that the other girls had called a slut at lunch. She had a little shorter than shoulder length hair. It was in layers, and framed nicely around her high cheekbones. Her harsh brown eyes and smooth skin made her incredibly attractive.
"I'm Casey," Casey said holding out her hand.
"Olivia," the girl said, returning the handshake, uneasily.
"Hey! Casey you're on the team?" Brian Cassidy said, jogging up.
"Yeah," Casey replied when he got closer.
"Damn," Brian said, giving her the once over.
"Hey Liv," Elliot said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Case, you're on the team?" Elliot asked, both eyebrows raised.
"Yeah, I am."
"Wow," Elliot said.
"Let's warm up," Coach Cragen yelled to the players on the bench. "I want Liv to pitch to Elliot; Elliot, you bat. Brian, pitch to Casey, Casey, you bat. The rest of you, pick a partner," Coach Cragen yelled. "Let's see how good you are," he said to Casey. "I paired you up with one of our best pitchers. Liv's a pretty good batter, too."
"Alright, Coach, thanks," Casey said as she followed Brian out to the field.
"Ready?" Brian yelled as he stood about 10 feet away from her.
"Yep," Casey yelled as she tightened the grip on her bat; she had always loved baseball.
Brian threw the ball at an alarming rate, and Casey hit it will all of her might. As usual, it slammed right out of the field and disappeared into some trees. She smiled to herself as she took notice to Brian, Elliot, Olivia's, and the rest of the team's reactions.
"Welcome to the team," Cragen said, when he finally got over the shock.
"Nice job, Novak," Brian said, giving her shoulder a squeeze as he jogged over.
"Thanks," Casey said as she blushed.
The rest of practice went smoothly; just a few drills and two laps to cool off at the end of practice.
"Nice job everyone, get some water, and I'll see you all next Monday," Cragen said as he closed out the practice.
Casey skipped the water and began to walk to her car. "Hey, wait!" Olivia called after her.
"Yeah, hey, what's up?" Casey asked as Olivia jogged up next to her.
"You're an amazing batter," Olivia said.
"Thanks," Casey said with a laugh. "You're pretty good yourself."
"Thanks," Olivia said, as they walked off the baseball field, the air becoming brisk.
"Well that's my car," Casey said, expecting live to break off and walk to hers.
"Okay, I'll see you later," Olivia said as she proceeded to walking to the gate.
"Hey, wait," Casey called out. "Where's your car?" she asked when Olivia turned around.
"I don't have one," Olivia said, walking closer, the redness in her cheeks beginning to show. "My family can't really afford it."
"Oh, well I'll take you home," Casey offered.
"Um, it's okay," Olivia said awkwardly, probably embarrassed of Casey seeing the way that Olivia lived.
"No, really, I'll drive you," Casey insisted. "Get in."
"Uh, okay," Olivia said as she walked around to the passenger side of the car.
"You want to go to Sonic?" Casey asked when she started the car and begin to drive towards the exit.
"Sure," Olivia said.
"Alright," Casey said, as she drove down the feeder to the Sonic she had spotted on her way to school. "Gosh, I love Sonic," Casey said, breaking the awkward silence as they pulled into a drive-in parking spot.
"I don't go that much," Olivia said, turning to face the window.
"It's okay, I only go every once in a while. And since you weren't doing anything, I thought you might want to go with me. I'm always hungry after baseball anyways."
"Thanks for inviting me Casey, I feel like I hardly know you."
Casey gasped. "Oh no!" she exclaimed.
"What is it?" Olivia asked.
"Speaking of hardly knowing me, I was supposed to meet up with Alex and Abbie, to get to know them."
"Oh," Olivia said, a little bit thrown back.
"Oh well," Casey said, letting the tension ease. "I'll just tell them I couldn't come."
"You would really rather hang out with me?" Olivia asked.
"Yeah, I think you're pretty cool," Casey said, rolling down the window to order.
"Thanks," Olivia said. "I'm starting to like you too."
"What do you want?" Casey asked as she looked over the menu.
"Hmmm...bacon, egg, and cheese toaster sandwich. For some reason that sounds so good to me right now."
Casey laughed. "Alright, Dr. Pepper?"
"Yeah, I love Dr. Pepper."
"Me too!" Casey exclaimed.
"Welcome to Sonic, how may I take your order?" the intercom asked.
"Oh, um yes, can I have a bacon, egg, and cheese toaster sandwich meal, with Dr. Pepper as the drink. And a jumbo popcorn chicken meal, with Dr. Pepper as the drink also."
"Alright, is that going to be all for you today?"
"Could I also have some honey mustard with that?"
"No problem, your total is $5.63, it should be out shortly," said the voice over the intercom before it disappeared.
"Here, let me get my wallet for my half," Olivia said, digging her backpack.
"That's okay," Casey said, "I got it."
"Thanks," Olivia said, smiling at her, mesmerized by the strawberry-blonde's generosity.
Casey and Olivia received their meals shortly later, and parked in the parking lot of a church across the street to eat their food. They made small talk for about 30 minutes, school, life, etc. The subject of boyfriends brought up what Casey wanted to know.
"Hey, you seem like you don't like Abbie or Alex very much. What's wrong with them?"
"They're such gossipers," Olivia said, taking a bite of her sandwich. "I mean, they can be nice and all, but it seems like they have no lives other than to talk smack about people. I don't give a shit though. I mean, if I think someone's cool, I'll hang out with them, regardless who they are or the rumors I've heard."
"That's good," Casey said, dipping her chicken in honey mustard. "They sort of said something about you at lunch today."
"Big surprise," Olivia laughed, taking a drink of her soda. "What'd they say this time?"
"That you're kind of a slut, and that you hook up with Elliot all the time, and he cheats on his girlfriend."
Olivia began to laugh. "Are we talking about Kathy Simmons? That's funny. She's obsessed with him and he hates her. Elliot and me have been best friends since we were in 6th grade. All we have ever done is kiss, I mean, you have to be curious. He is kind of hot."
"Yeah he is," Casey said, giggling at how false the girls' stories had been.
"I would have to be seriously dating Elliot to do anything like that with him though. I wouldn't just hook up with a guy because he wants it. That's not cool with me."
"Wow, that's what I think too. That's so retarded about how Alex and Abbie said that."
"I'm used to it," Olivia said. "They're just jealous because they think he's so hot, but he would never date them, and he's my best friend. They just make up stories to put me down."
Casey smiled at the brunette's confidence. "Ready to go home?" she asked. Olivia drew in a sharp breath. Casey could tell she was not ready to go home.
"There's something you should know about my home life," Olivia said as she moved in her seat, restlessly. "My mom's an alcoholic. When she isn't turning tricks, she hits me, when she's sober enough."
"Wow, Liv, do people know?"
"No," Olivia said, a little bit more at ease with the fact that Casey had not immediately judged her, as others had. "That's mostly where the rumors come from. I keep to myself, only Elliot knows. I don't want people to know about it so I don't talk much. They assume stuff because they don't really know who I am. Sometimes I spend the nights at Elliot, but he has lots of brothers and sisters, so it's hard to rely on that, not that he doesn't try."
"Oh I know, Casey piped up. But hey, my mom and me live alone, in a house, about 15 minutes away from here. We have two guest bedrooms upstairs if you want to come sleep over whenever."
"That's so nice, Case, but I can't ask you to do that for me."
"Really, my mom would love you, there's no problem."
"Thanks," Olivia whispered as they pulled out of the parking lot and Casey followed Olivia's intent directions to her house.
They arrived at a small, one story house, in a rundown neighborhood. Olivia looked uneasily at the house.
"Why don't I walk ya in, okay?" Casey asked.
"It's fine," Olivia said, getting out of the car and picking up her bag.
"No wait," Casey said, getting out of the car. "I'll walk you, really."
"My house is nothing special."
"It's okay, it doesn't need to be," Casey said as they walked.
Olivia walked uneasily to the house and opened it, walking inside to discover that her mother had vomited on the floor twice and she was now passed out on the couch, the remnants of a vodka bottle shattered on the floor.
"Oh Liv," Casey said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Seriously, this is so weird I know, we've only known eachother a few hours, but come sleep over at my house."
Olivia looked around the house and finally agreed. "Let me grab my stuff."
Olivia grabbed her things and they walked out to Casey's car. They rode in silence the whole way to Casey's house.
"I can't believe I made friends so fast," Casey said, pulling the Volvo into the driveway.
"Yeah, you're lucky. I might just have ignored you like everyone else," Olivia laughed as they walked inside, to see Casey's mom reading on the couch.
"Hey mom, this is Olivia. Can she spend the night tonight?"
"Um, sure honey. Hi Olivia, nice to meet you," Casey's mom said, holding out a hand.
"Nice to meet you too. I'm sorry this is such short notice, I'm having some, uh, family problems," Olivia stuttered.
"Oh it's alright, honey," Casey's mom said, noticing the uneasiness in Olivia's voice.
Just then, two little dachshunds came running at Olivia. Olivia reached to pet the two dogs.
"Those are our dogs," Casey said with a smile. "This is Pepper Ann, and this is Patty."
"Did you name them after cartoons?" Olivia asked with a laugh.
"Shut up, I was seven."
"Well girls, I'm going to bed, make yourself at home."
"Thank you so much."
Casey led Olivia to her room on the left, right next to the front door.
"How convenient," Olivia said as Casey opened the door.
Olivia admired Casey's large room, unlike hers. It had a bulletin board with pictures of friends, a dresser, a television, a computer, a mirror, a queen sized bed, and some posters on the walls. Olivia and Casey made small, idle chat before each took showers.
"You're really going to like school," Olivia said to Casey, who was looking at her from the other pillow.
"I bet it will be better than private school," Casey pondered.
"It is," Olivia whispered. "I'm really glad to have found you as a friend," Olivia said. "It was getting lonely."
"Me too. On the first day, also. How weird."
"I know," Olivia said, before they both drifted off to sleep.