A/N: I'm not quite happy with it, but it was slightly less painful than gouging my eyes out after Storm and/or Rockabye. R&R if you care to.

Rating: K+

Spoilers: Storm, Rockabye

Disclaimer: These characters belong to Dick Wolf.

As Olivia poured the wine, Casey sat curled up on the couch, pouting slightly. Olivia brought the wine over, setting a half-full glass in front of the attractive now-blond woman. The ADA never could hold her alcohol very well. Plus she had a tendency to spill.

Holding her glass in one hand, Olivia ran the fingers of her other hand through Casey's hair. There were just a few streaks of underlying red, although the attorney did manage to keep up with her roots pretty well. Olivia sighed slightly. Casey was sweet. She was cute and funny, and she tried really hard. Sometimes too hard. Like the hair. As if she could somehow, with a five dollar bottle of chemicals, transform herself into her sexy-as-hell, amazingly intelligent, and incredibly competent predecessor. Well, she was no Alex, but she did have her merits, Olivia thought, as she leaned in to catch the scent of the blond strands. She set her wine down and started kissing the pale skin of Casey's neck, stopping suddenly when she felt the tendons tense under her lips.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Olivia asked, pulling back.

Casey turned towards her, her mouth pulled down into a frown, and her eyes shiny with unshed tears, as if she was about to engage in some rather unpretty crying. "Olivia," she said slowly, "Why are you here?"

"Um, you invited me, I mean, we always--we're together, remember?" Olivia was very confused. The attorney couldn't be that dumb, could she?

Casey shook her head slightly. "I mean, why are you here…with me?"

Oh, now Olivia got it. Casey was feeling insecure. Maybe she had read Olivia's mind about the Alex comparison?

"Uh, I have a thing for switch-hitters?" Olivia tried to lighten the mood, recalling an instance of witty repartee at one of Casey's softball games.

Casey frowned again, and furrowed her brow.

"Sorry," Olivia murmured, taking Casey's delicate hand in her own. "Sweetie, you know how much I care about you. There's no reason I wouldn't want to be with you," she soothed. "Besides," she couldn't resist trying to crack a smile from the ADA, "who else would put up with me?"

It worked, as a small grin appeared on Casey's face. The expression was soon replaced by the pout, however.

"But," Casey continued her thought from several paragraphs ago. "You…you're amazing—so beautiful, so dedicated to your job… and I can barely even get dressed in the morning."

"Hey," Olivia said, slightly shocked that Casey was even cognizant of her style 'eccentricities'. "You're getting better with that. Although," she mused, "that sweater-shirt combo you had going earlier was definitely not working. Maybe you should try more pink, like me…Anytime you want to talk about it, you know I'm here."

"No, you're not always here. You're off single-handedly saving the entire city from anthrax and exposing a huge government cover-up."

Olivia smiled condescendingly, and said soothingly, "Well, Casey, that's just who I am. You know, Saint Olivia…I can be all things to all people, and look great doing it."

"I know," Casey sniffled. "That's what I love about you. I wish I was like that."

"Aw, Jesus, Case, you can only be expected to do so much. Remember when you won that trial?"

"No," the ADA replied, confused. Had she ever won a case?

Damn, Olivia thought. This is a tough one. "Um, yeah, remember…the kid who beat his girlfriend's unborn baby to death? The jury found him guilty, remember?" Phew, that wasn't so hard.

"Yeah, of assault, not of the real charge, illegal abortion. Branch ripped me a new one for that."

"Well that's his problem. You don't let direct orders from your superiors stand in the way of what you want." Olivia justified. "And I like that in a woman," she added, as she leaned closer to the full lips. She took a quick glance at the blond tresses before closing her eyes. Olivia imagined her cheek brushing against black-framed glasses as she pulled Casey into a breath-taking kiss.

"She really does love me," Casey thought contentedly.