Familiar

Summary: Olivia decides to take advantage of a free weekend by taking Casey down to Atlantic City. While they are there, the two of them run into a very familiar face from the SVU past.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the magnificent SVU characters. I wish I did, but alas I don't.

Olivia's happiness could not be contained as she stepped out of her car onto the sidewalk in front of the District Attorney's office. The cooler New York air hit her bare arms, but it felt nice after being trapped in the SVU squad room all day long. She came there with a mission, and she would not stop until she succeeded. She smiled further as she walked inside.

It only took her a couple minutes to get to Casey's office. The woman she came to see did not look busy, quite the contrary actually. The redhead had a mini dartboard set up and was busy throwing darts at it. Olivia chuckled at the picture of the defendant in Casey's latest trial as she entered her girlfriend's office. "I thought softball was more your thing," she noted with a finger wave at the dartboard.

"And Branch would be down here in two seconds if I started swinging a bat in this office," Casey pointed out. She placed her darts down on her desk and smiled at Olivia. "So what brings you here?"

"An offer," Olivia responded.

Casey turned back to her dartboard. "Liv, I'm not pleading this guy out. He's wanted for rape homicide, and I can prove it. I can't plead all of my cases out. That's not how it works."

"Not that kind of offer," Olivia promised as she moved in closer to her girlfriend. She wrapped her left arm around Casey's waist and ran her right hand through Casey's hair. "This one's more of a personal one," Olivia began seductively.

Casey's cheeks turned a slight red color as she moved away slightly. "Come on, Liv, not here," she begged. "Not many people here know about us." As soon as Olivia released her, Casey did smile back. "What kind of offer did you have in mind?"

"The two of us," Olivia continued seductively. "A hotel room where no one could interrupt us. Not any ADA, no cops. It'd be just the two of us."

"Where?" Casey asked, intrigued by the concept. Since she and Olivia became serious, it was something she wanted, but she was too afraid to bring it up.

Olivia smiled. "Well, I was thinking along the lines of Atlantic City. We have the whole weekend essentially free." She moved a bit of Casey's hair away from her face. "What do you say?"

Casey thought about it for a moment. It did seem like the best weekend for it. She did not have to appear in court. This case would be closed in about an hour. After that, she was free until Monday. Atlantic City would definitely be far away enough to keep people she knew from finding out about her and Olivia. It was not that she was ashamed of her relationship. She just did not want people treating her differently once they found out. The only other people that she told were other ADAs in the same situation. She had confided in Serena Southerlyn before Serena was fired. Kelly Gaffney knew, and she might have told her girlfriend Tracey Kibre. Other than that, no one at her office knew. As for the SVU, only Elliot knew. He was Olivia's partner since Olivia started working there. He already knew Olivia was a lesbian. When Olivia told him about Casey, Casey doubted Elliot was shocked.

"Well, counselor?" Olivia asked. "What's your verdict? Do we go?"

Casey smiled. "We go," she answered. "Let me just land this guy's ass in jail, then we'll be off," she promised.

About four hours later, the two of them arrived in Atlantic City. The drive was over, and they pulled into the parking lot of the hotel where they would be staying. Olivia smiled as she put the car into park and removed the keys from the ignition. "Here we are," Olivia announced as she turned towards the passenger seat. She sighed slightly as she gently shook Casey awake.

"Hey, sleepy, we're here," she whispered as she began to see Casey's tired eyes flutter open.

"Ok," Casey whispered as her eyes closed again. She leaned her head back against the seat.

"No, you can sleep when we're inside our room," Olivia said as she once again shook Casey awake. She quickly rushed over to Casey's side of the car and got her girlfriend out of there. "Come on," Olivia said gently. "Just rest your head on my shoulder. I'll get you inside."

Once Casey was out of the car, Olivia closed the car door with her foot. She would have to come back for the luggage. Looking back, she realized it would have been easier to come back for Casey, but she was not about to subject Casey to more moving around. She would just have to wake her up a little bit. "Case?" she whispered.

Casey shook her head slightly and blinked. "Oh, we're here?" she asked with a yawn. She extended her arms out in front of her then rubbed her eyes.

Olivia nodded. "We're here," she confirmed as the two of them began walking towards the hotel. "And if you can just stay awake for maybe five minutes then we'll be in our room and you can go back to sleep," Olivia promised.

"No, I'm awake," Casey said as the two of them walked into the hotel.

Olivia sighed as she walked up to the front desk. There was no one there. That was odd, Olivia noted. She looked around and saw a little bell to ring for service. She hit it and called "Hello".

A moment later, the employee emerged from the back. Her hair was a light brown color, and it was pulled back into a low ponytail near the base of her neck. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "My contact lens got stuck, and ugh," she began without looking up at her customers. "I hate it, but that's life sometimes." She sighed. "Well, that's my little life story. Welcome to the Belleview Inn. How may I help you?"

Olivia did not hear the question. Well, she heard the words, but she did not focus on the words themselves. She was more focused on the voice. She could have sworn she had heard that voice before.

"Ma'am, can I help you?" the woman repeated. She still did not look up at her two customers. She was looking at the computer with her fingers arched over the keyboard waiting for a response.

Olivia was sure of it now. That was the voice. She thought she would never get to hear it again. It had meant everything to her when she last heard it, but here it was again. The person. The same face. Those same eyes, minus the glasses though. She had heard the woman mention contacts.

Casey eyed Olivia oddly before answering the woman's question. "We have a reservation under the name Olivia Benson," Casey answered for Olivia. "Possibly Casey Novak, but most likely her name."

The woman's mouth dropped open as she finally did look up at the two of them. It confirmed Olivia's suspicion. This woman was in fact Alex Cabot.