Psychoanalysis over Coffee
Author's Note: BloodHeron has no idea why she's writing this, except to say that a completely off-the-wall plot bunny insisted she do it. Besides, Heron hasn't actually seen this pairing yet, and agreed with the plot bunny that it might be interesting, cute, even, though Heron rarely does cute. Besides, a lawyer and a psychologist? Who could resist the possibilities? Never has Heron seen a George Huang/ Alex Cabot fic, so…bear with her please? As to possible occurrences of OOC-ness, well, Heron is currently typing at the whim of a plot bunny at checks clock, um, 0216 hours, or for you non-military-time types, that's 2:16 in the morning. Anyway, on with the insanity, shall we?
"Mmm, how did you find this place?" Alex Cabot inquired as she sipped appreciatively at what was quite possibly the best cup of coffee she'd ever had. Across the table at the out-of-the-way coffee shop, George Huang offered her a disarming smile.
"Even psychologists need coffee sometimes, Ms. Cabot. I thought I overheard you telling Olivia something along the lines of craving coffee every minute of every day, so I thought you might like it here," the Asian man replied, and Alex tried to decide whether the warmth in his dark eyes was real or manufactured to make her feel comfortable. She might wish for the former, but that suspicious-lawyer part of her brain suspected the latter.
"You shouldn't have even been in the building when I said that," she countered, the suspicious-lawyer in her brain winning out over the trusting-friend part. "I believe it was after-hours, and…"
He raised a hand to still her tirade. "I had forgotten a few bits of paperwork. I was retrieving them when I overheard your conversation. I apologize if it sounded as though I were eavesdropping."
The trusting-friend part of Alex's mind stuck out her tongue triumphantly at the suspicious-lawyer part, who in turn pouted, still not completely appeased. Then a third part of her inner-psyche appeared, telling both the trusting-friend and the suspicious-lawyer to shut up, as they were sitting across from a psychologist. Rational-reason glared at trusting-friend and suspicious-lawyer, and, for the time-being at least, they were both cowed into silence.
Oh, if Huang could only see her inner self, he might get a kick out of analyzing it – them – whatever. Alex wondered fleetingly if her strange inner conversations were diagnostic, perhaps indications of something very, very wrong with her.
"I suppose your alibi checks out," Alex replied lightly before letting some more of that wonderful caffeinated beverage roll over her tongue. Definitely the best cup of coffee she'd ever had. No questions there. "But you still didn't answer me. How did you find this place?"
George shrugged, answering simply, "I just stumbled across it one day."
Yeah right. George Huang never 'just stumbled' over anything, physically or metaphorically. The man was too keen and graceful, methodical and analytical, to do anything by accident, including finding a good coffee shop. He was being deliberately evasive, or maybe it wasn't so deliberate. As far as Alex Cabot knew, the man had no social life, and rarely did he ever say anything if he wasn't psychoanalyzing a suspect. Maybe he was evasive all the time.
Now who was playing psychologist?
Again he offered her that charming, disarming smile, which took years of worry lines off his face. Actually, it made him look kind of cute…
Where the hell had that thought come from? Rational-reason, suspicious-lawyer, and trusting-friend all turned to glare at inner-woman, all voicing complaints at her sudden appearance and lack of sound reasoning. Rational-reason stated that becoming interested in a co-worker was a really big mistake. Suspicious-lawyer didn't trust psychologists. Trusting-friend didn't want to compromise friendship with unwanted chemistry.
Inner-woman matched them all glare for glare, rolled up her sleeves, and beat them into submission.
Alex Cabot was forced to realize that she really did think George Huang was cute. Perhaps a bit short for her tastes – the man was Asian after all, and Asia always was a continent full of short people – but attractive all the same.
"Are you okay?" Huang asked, concerned at Alex's sudden 'disappearance'. "You seem lost."
Alex snapped to guiltily. "I'm sorry, I was arguing with myself over something." "Yeah, actually, I was arguing with a bunch of mini-me's in my head about whether or not I find you attractive. Analyze that why don't you?"
"So I'm not the only one who does that?"
That question caught Alex off guard. "You mean that seriously? This is just too weird. First I start arguing with a bunch of miniatures of myself in my head, and then I learn that I'm not the only nut who works on this side of the law."
"You're not crazy. It's actually quite normal to personify the different facets of your persona, as long as you don't go so far as to dissociate from the different sides."
Hot coffee nearly came out of Alex's nose when she heard that one. She settled for swallowing very quickly and blinking very rapidly. Her eyebrows shot up over the frames of her glasses, one quite a bit higher than the other. "Excuse me?"
"You know, you're actually less intimidating when you look like that."
First he tells her it's normal to have arguments with herself, and then he admits to being intimidated by her. "What about me intimidates you, exactly?" Alex asked, seizing the opportunity to regain her composure.
"Ms. Cabot, you do realize that behind the credentials, I'm still human, right?" When Alex nodded, he continued. "First of all, you're quite a bit taller than I am. In fact, so is Olivia. Second of all, you're a lawyer, and I'd be foolish not to be intimidated by you."
"You're still being evasive, Dr. Huang. I'm an attorney, I can sense these things."
What was he supposed to say? That he had unidentified and unidentifiable chemical reactions going off in his brain every time he got near her? That she had a razor edged wit that put his academic smarts to shame? He settled on more evasion. "You're sensing the things I'd rather sweep under the rug. Even psychologists have pride, you know."
His voice never lost that gentle, soft-spoken quality it always had, but there was an edge of confusion or something like it in his last answer. Anyone else might have missed it, but Alex Cabot was a lawyer, and a damn good one at that. She caught the hitch in his voice immediately, and also immediately, he knew she'd caught on to the hitch in his voice.
"But we lawyers are a very nosy people," Alex prodded playfully, smirking as she stood from the table. She'd paid for her cup of coffee, but she wanted to purchase a bag of grounds for home. "It's getting late. Would you mind walking me to my apartment?"
George was about to point out that a man of his stature wasn't about to scare off a potential attacker in the city after dark, but shut his mouth quickly. A little moral support wouldn't hurt, would it? Besides, she probably wanted to continue their conversation, and the coffee shop was about ten minutes from closing. "Sure," he replied, collecting his coat, and, deciding that being a gentleman wouldn't hurt either, held Alex's coat for her as she shrugged into it.
The walk to Alex's apartment was occupied with light-spirited chatter about how similar their jobs really were. They both had to psychoanalyze people for a living, and, of course, they both had to subsist on coffee whilst they did their psychoanalyzing. They also indulged in a bit of friendly gossip about their co-workers, like John Munch, the conspiracy theorist, Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler, the ones that took turns being violent loose cannons – always with due provocation, though – and Fin Tutuola, the cop who had 'street-punk' written all over him – which was, of course, a good thing for not getting made for a cop in a non-cop-friendly place. Oh yes, co-workers were a safe topic, and a topic both the ADA and the FBI psychologist happily discussed while they tried to avoid little things like brushing elbows while they walked and staring too long anywhere but the road ahead.
"Uh, if you'd like to come in and chat some more, I'd be more than happy to have your company," Alex said as she unlocked the door to her apartment, both of them having reached there safely. "Normally I just have a potted cactus to talk to, and the one-sided conversation gets a little boring."
"The hours we work, neither of us really has time for collecting casual friends, do we?" George replied, in lieu of an actual answer, but Alex took it as a yes and held the door for him. "No pets, no spouses, no plants that need a lot of maintenance…"
"Life is pretty boring when the best conversations you ever really get are when you're arguing with a rival attorney over a motion, or in your case, I guess, picking apart the brain of whoever's across the interview table," Alex agreed. She waved vaguely at her couch in a gesture indicating that George should make himself comfortable. "And it's not like either of us has the time of day to do what normal people do."
"How so?" He realized the potential for awkwardness only after he'd said it, and damn if he wasn't right. This was going to lead into some really awkward conversation, unless perhaps Alex was too tired to notice the oddness of atmosphere that had settled over her couch, where they were both currently seated. Alex picked up the remote and turned on her television, which quietly announced the latest breaking news on channel ten.
"Normal men and women actually date. I haven't in so long, I can't remember when it was the last time…what about you? Ever date much?"
The awkwardness was going straight over her head, wasn't it? "Ah, no, not since college. Between work and work, I haven't really been looking. I'm sorry, but I'm not quite getting your point."
And people called him smart… If he were truly smart, he'd have thought that phrase through before letting it get past his lips. Tired and drunk had the same effect on some people, which meant spilling inner thoughts rather randomly, and of course, getting into awkward conversation when only one half of the conversation even realized it was awkward. Awkward, that word kept recurring, rather redundantly actually, but it was the only word that really fit the situation.
After all, George Huang was a psychologist, not a living thesaurus.
"So, George, was it? Ever consider dating a lawyer before?"
Sleep deprivation and too much caffeine on Alex's part was going to kill George out of sheer confusion, and, of course, ever-so-slight embarrassment. He blushed a bit before deciding that maybe Alex wasn't so tired after all and wanted to see how he'd react under pressure. Then again maybe he was over-thinking it, and then again maybe he wasn't. The light glinting off of her blonde hair was distracting him, making his thoughts go in circles, as if perhaps they weren't going in circles before.
"Ah…" Oh, how to react? Candid honesty probably wouldn't get him hurt too bad, so he figured he'd try that first. "It's crossed my mind…once…or twice…I haven't really kept track, what with work and all."
"Oh. Ever consider dating me, then?" Alex asked, her voice just a bit muzzy from running on caffeine instead of sleep for just a bit too long. Her mind was actually a lot clearer than she was letting on, but she wanted to have an available out in case inner-woman part of her psyche started seriously embarrassing her…without positive results of course. This line of questions was embarrassing enough.
"Is there a right or wrong answer to that one?" Huang asked, genuinely confused. Alex shrugged, telling him to just be honest. "Uh, my answer correlates with my previous answer. I don't know any other lawyers than I'm particularly fond of."
As much of a yes as she was going to get, apparently. The poor psychologist was off-balance, not in his own element or his own home territory, unsure of where he stood and reluctant to say something that might offend her. She didn't know how she could find that insecurity so annoying and so endearing all at the same time.
Rational-reason, suspicious-lawyer, and trusting-friend were all in agreement that inner-woman was all too smug, damn her.
"Would now be a bad time to tell you I'm not as tired as you think I am?" Alex smirked, tucking her legs underneath her on the couch. She'd left her shoes by the door, and it felt very good to be off her feet.
"Would now be a good time to ask what reasoning was behind your questioning?" George countered, trying to remain on firm footing and failing.
"I was curious to see if I was going to remain interested but lonely, that's all," Alex answered, though a bit smugly. "How about dinner tomorrow night?"
Author's Other Note: Time finished, 0408 hours, or 4:08 in the morning. Take a look at Heron's writing times (these are the same morning), and tell her how she did for running on empty, would you? She loves reviews, even polite flames. And, this being her first posted fic outside of the Anime category, she would like to know what people think. But for now, Heron has a vigil to keep – this fic was not only plot-bunny induced, Heron had to stay awake somehow. She hopes it didn't turn out too badly, but hey, it's funny, right?
By the way, for those people who need disclaimers…BloodHeron doesn't own anything regarding L&O SVU, honest. She's just taking sleep-deprived liberties with the characters on a whim. None of this is lucrative in any way, except that Heron doesn't have the idea eating at her brain anymore, but that's beside the point.
At any rate, BloodHeron wishes ye all sweet dreams, wherever you are, whoever you are, and whatever time zone you're in. Oh, and happy belated Mothers' Day to all mothers out there, eh? Y'all rock!