Chapter 13

Comfort

They slept the whole night like that: Alex sitting on the couch, with her legs up on the grey suede ottoman, her hand atop Olivia's head, tangled in her hair. When Olivia stirred the next morning, Alex quickly awoke, on the alert for anything that the detective would need.

"Hi." Olivia smiled a groggy smile and peered up into the attorney's eyes.

"Hi." She looked down and began to rub the detective's forehead, and tangle her hand in Olivia's hair. "This is nice."

"Yeah, it is…" the detective paused and blinked slowly, taking Alex's free hand into her own, atop her stomach. "You're so wonderful, Alex. Thank you so much for taking care of me. And for talking to me last night—like we used to."

The attorney blushed and ran her hand through her hair, as she looked up towards the TV.

"Oh shit. What time is it?" Alex rarely swore, but Olivia always liked when she did. "You have therapy at 9!" She was almost yelling, frantically standing up from the couch and rushing around the apartment. She grabbed Olivia's discharge and exercise papers, her purse, and was in the middle of putting her jacket on when Olivia stepped over and placed a small kiss on her lips. Immediately, Alex stopped and looked into the detective's eyes as her world stood still.

"Everything is fine. It's only 8:40. I will call and let them know we might be a little late. I feel like walking—is that ok with you, beautiful?" Olivia spoke slowly and calmly, and Alex melted into the sound of her voice. Olivia Benson was calling her beautiful—everything in her world was right.

Alex shook her head to redirect her thoughts. She couldn't speak, but gazed into the detective's eyes and smiled. She nodded her head as she located Olivia's gym shoes. She walked over and asked Olivia to sit down, as she placed the shoes on the ottoman. Olivia did as she was told, but when Alex started to place the shoes on her feet, she stopped her.

"Alex, I can put my shoes on myself. You shouldn't have to do that. I'm good babe. You just wait a second for me and we will be good to go."

"Babe?" The attorney stepped back as she asked, and looked down into Olivia's eyes, crossing her arms in front of her chest, playfully.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is that not ok?"

"Actually," she thought for a second, "it sounds great," the attorney said as she smiled and blushed.

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Therapy was going well, or at least Alex thought it was. She waited patiently for Olivia to finish up, and when the detective emerged from the activity room, the sling and brace were off, and Olivia's arm was hanging by her side, normally. She located Alex and started to walk towards her, with the physical therapist in tow.

"Hi," Olivia said with a smile as Alex stood to meet her.

"Hi," Alex answered back, as she rubbed the detective's upper arm.

"This is Mark. He's my physical therapist. He said he wanted to talk to you." Olivia deferred to the tall, muscular man and he spoke to Alex enthusiastically, but gently and with great understanding.

"Hi, I told the detective that due to her muscular structure and the nature of her job, of course she is in much better shape than the average Joe, so I think we can be a little more aggressive with her treatment than I typically would be. I asked if someone would be with her, and she said you would—is that correct?"

Alex smiled on the inside, but was all about the business on the outside. She liked the thought of Olivia knowing that Alex would be with her—for now, and for as long as she wanted her. The lawyer in her came out in full force, and she easily answered the question. Her eyes traveled to Olivia and then back to Mark.

"Yes, that's correct."

"Ok cool. I just wanted to make sure that if we are going to choose this intensive therapy option, she will have someone that will be supportive and be able to help her if she needs it." Alex nodded in understanding. "Ok, then. Here is a sheet of the exercises we did today, but she needs to get her stitches out today. I checked them and they look good, so I made an appointment for her back here at 11. Will that work for you both?"

Alex checked her watch and nodded. "Sure, we can grab some lunch and be back here then." She paused for a second but then started to speak again. "Are you sure she is OK get them out? It's only been a few days…Will it hurt her?"

Mark smiled at this question and took Alex's hand in his.

"She will be fine. I have checked them and they look good…the sutures they used to sew her up are a new material. They help heal wounds quickly and are really effective. Now I understand why she is so happy to have you around—you obviously care about her a lot. You've taken great care of her so far. If it hurts her, I can always give her a local anesthetic when we take the stitches out."

Olivia smiled at Alex and looked back at Mark with a satisfied look. "I told you I'd be fine. I just want to be back in working order by September. I'm ready to work hard for my recovery to be 100%."

"What's in September?" Both Olivia and Mark asked this question in unison.

Olivia smiled. "Jeeze, guys. I just want to be able to start the new month as good as I was before." Knowing it was already mid-August, Olivia knew this would be a tall order, but was dedicated to being back busting perps by September.

"Well detective, the good news is that your joint and bone weren't completely broken all the way through, but the bone was shattered on the top, so it will take a little bit of time. I'm going to say 4-6 weeks before you'll be feeling 100%."

Olivia looked from Mark to Alex and had a simple response. "We'll see."

Alex knew that determined look, and would have bet her life savings that Olivia would be off the desk in less time than he had anticipated.

"See you in an hour or so," Mark said as they walked out of the office.

"How was it? I was worried because when we woke up this morning, I realized you never took that pain medication last night before you fell asleep," Alex asked in a concerned voice.

"I'm fine, Al. Just a little sore." She smiled as she said this, and the attorney held the door open for her to walk out onto the sidewalk. As Olivia reached the edge of the threshold, Alex wrapped her in her arms and placed a soft kiss on her lips, the door automatically shutting behind them.

"Wh- what was that fo…," the detective stuttered as Alex placed her finger on her lips.

"You are so brave, Olivia. I just want you to know that. I used to get up every day and wonder where you were or what you were doing, but now, I get up and thank God, with every fiber of my being, that I can be near you. You've saved my life Olivia, both literally and figuratively." As she spoke, she held Olivia's elbows, being gentle with her injured arm, as the detective wrapped her arms around the attorney's back.

Olivia ducked her head and blushed. She was embarrassed, but Alex was confident in holding her hand to cross the street, and gave her a few minutes to think.

"You feel like bagels?" Olivia asked as they strolled casually down the street, careful to keep Olivia's injured shoulder on the inside of the street, hopefully lessening the probability of someone knocking into her.

"That sounds good, baby." Alex hadn't meant to say it, but it slipped out so naturally that neither one of them minded. Olivia smiled as Alex opened the door. They ordered and sat down at a small table in the back of the deli, ate their bagel sandwiches, and went over therapy exercises, until Olivia changed the subject.

"So, not to put a label on this…" her hand motioned between the two of them and she began smile slyly, "but can I take a little pride in being able to call you my girlfriend now, counselor?" As she spoke, Olivia smiled and winked at Alex, effectively melting the attorney's heart.

"I think that would be the best label I've ever been labeled with, detective." They both laughed and smiled at one another.

"Better than the Ice Queen?" Olivia smiled and looked questioningly into Alex's eyes.

"Oh yes. Better than Ice Queen, Teflon, and my personal favorite, crazy bitch." Alex laughed and remembered each of these names fondly, however, she had to admit that her new label, as 'Olivia Benson's Girlfriend,' was her favorite.

Alex took Olivia's hand in her own and held it across the table. They passed more time talking, and an hour later, they were back at the physical therapy office.

Mark was waiting for them, and escorted them to an exam room. He called in one of his nurses, who delicately removed Olivia's shirt and examined her two wounds. Mark and the nurse then left the room to let Olivia prepare for the removal of her stitches.

Since she didn't have a bra on, Olivia was slightly embarrassed and held her arm and hands over her bare breasts. Although Alex would have loved to stare, she averted her eyes, and instead, handed Olivia a sanitary paper shirt she saw in the corner, and helped Olivia wrap it around her torso.

Mark and the nurse entered again and began to speak to Olivia. "How are you feeling, detective? I know therapy earlier was a little rough."

"I'm good. A little sore, but feeling ok."

"Alright. Patrick is going to start removing your sutures, then. You may feel a little pulling and some pressure, but if you feel any pain, please let me know. I know you've had stitches before, but I tell people all the time—it's easiest if you don't watch."

Olivia nodded and looked toward Alex. She was sitting in a chair to the left of the exam table, which was convenient because the stitches were on Olivia's right side. She felt a slight tugging and pulling, and winced in pain a few times, but Alex kept her eye contact, looking at her sympathetically. A few minutes later, the nurse was done, as he smiled at Olivia.

"Looks good, detective. Try not to get shot again." They all laughed, as Mark dismissed Patrick.

"Ok, Olivia. So here it is—your stitches are out, so this therapy structure can begin. I want a standing appointment with you on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 9AM. Will that work? It'll need to be about an hour, so we can ice you before you go. This week though, I want you to come back tomorrow to see how you're reacting to what we did today."

"Yeah. That'll be fine. I'll be riding a desk for a while once I go back anyways."

"Ok. For now though, no brace until bed. No over working, but no babying either." With this last comment, he turned towards Alex and lifted his eyebrows. "It will be very important for her to do the prescribed exercises twice a day, and use ice for pain or inflammation. No babying her, but please call me if she is having any pain. It's crucial that she doesn't overcompensate with her other arm and get used to not using this one. If she needs to do something and can't, please let her try before doing it for her."

Alex nodded, and said they would call if they needed anything. After they had thanked Mark, he left the room and Olivia called Alex over to help with her shirt. She dropped the sanitary shirt and reached for her cotton one as she looked at Alex. The attorney was averting her eyes out of respect for Olivia when the detective spoke.

"Don't like what you see, counselor?" There was a taunting tone to Olivia's voice. She opened her arms, palms up, and raised her eyebrows when she saw Alex glance at her breasts.

Alex let out a moan and a sound. It wasn't exactly a word, but it was something between 'ummph' and 'yum.' "Oh. Of course I like what I see, detective. I was just trying to be…" Alex searched for the word she needed. Normally, she could easily supply five or six synonyms for any given word, but now, she was having trouble thinking of any, as she was seeing Olivia's bare breasts in front of her. "…respectable."

She placed her hands on Olivia's sides, looking into the detective's eyes. It had been so long since she had actually seen Olivia's full breasts in real life. She often saw them in her dreams and memories of the night they had ravaged each other so many years ago. She didn't want to look too long—after all, they had only made their feelings known to each other the night before.

"You make respectability sound…disrespectful," Olivia laughed. "Maybe we can work on some of these exercises…together." Her eyebrows raised and her tone reached a whisper as she placed her hands around to the small of Alex's back and kissed the attorney hungrily, nibbling on Alex's bottom lip as they separated.

"Ooh. That sounds intriguing. BUT, none of this" Alex was close enough that, when she wagged her finger between the two of them, her finger touched them both, "is happening until you are healed," Alex commanded as she helped pull Olivia's shirt over her bare torso.

"Really!?" Olivia exclaimed as Alex responded.

"Really," the attorney spoke softly, as she ran her fingers up and down Olivia's arms. "It will happen when it happens…although I would absolutely be lying if I said I'm not thinking about it right now, but what is most important is that you get healthy and strong again."

"Whatever you say, counselor," Olivia responded as she stood up and looked at Alex. They both laughed as they walked out of the office. There was that determined look again, Alex noticed, but she just laughed it off.

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When they reached the apartment at the end of the hall, Alex took Olivia's keys out of her purse and unlocked her door. She wasn't inside for three seconds when Olivia turned around and pushed her against the door, effectively shutting the door and taking the attorney's breath away. Olivia gripped Alex's biceps above her elbows and applied light pressure back towards the door. Alex was happy to be submissive to the detective, as she reveled in her strength. Even with Olivia's bad arm, she was still leaps and bounds stronger than the detective, and easily led her where she wanted her to be.

Olivia seized Alex's lips as the attorney gasped for air. She moved her hands away from Alex's arms and gripped her hips, as their bodies smashed together against the door. A warm wave rushed through the blonde as she seized Olivia's face with both hands. The detective opened her mouth and slipped her tongue into Alex's as Alex massaged hers along with Olivia's.

Alex tasted Olivia's mouth for the first time in years, and she knew she couldn't get enough of it, but also knew they needed to stop. Alex applied light pressure to Olivia's face and pushed her away. She gazed into the detective's golden eyes, as she tried to catch her breath.

"Olivia." Kiss. "We have to." Kiss. "Stop."

Olivia heard her, but didn't want to acknowledge what Alex was saying. She wrapped her arms around Alex's waist and rested her forehead on the attorney's. They looked into each other's eyes before Alex began to speak.

"I hope you know how much I want to…" Alex's eyes traced over the detective's breasts, and moved her gaze to her lips and back up to her eyes again.

"But…?" Olivia asked this question with a groan, as she knew Alex would have a reason that she couldn't get around.

"But, as hard as it is to resist you, I need you to work on your physical therapy and get closer to a normal recovery before we go any further. Not just so we have to wait to be together, but also so you don't reinjure yourself before you go back to work. I know you hate working the desk and I just want to make sure you're happy when you go back, and you're ready to be out in the field…and, if I have to wait for…" Alex's eyes trailed back down to Olivia's breasts and eyed her lips hungrily.

Olivia leaned closer to the attorney and whispered in her ear, laying her cheek on the blonde's as her voice dripped with sex in the attorney's ear. "Or…we could just…not…wait." She moved her mouth down to Alex's earlobe and kissed lightly, working her way down the attorney's slender neck, finally resting on her collarbone.

Alex leaned back towards the door, arching her back to be closer to Olivia's touch. She tried to resist with her body, but it was no secret that Olivia's touch rendered her entire being useless. However, she began to speak slowly as she looked into the detective's eyes.

"I'll make you a deal, detective. We stop now, and when you've done enough therapy that you can do a push up, we can go." She paused and kissed Olivia's cheek. "We can go all…night…"

She watched as Olivia's pupils dilated, the black devouring the brown. She smiled and placed a slow, deliberate kiss on Olivia's lips, as they parted—Olivia to the couch and Alex to the kitchen table, placing all of their belongings on it before curling up next to Olivia on the couch.

Many minutes had passed in silence before Alex spoke.

"Liv?"

"Yeah?"

"I can't begin to tell you how happy I am that I'm back, and even more so that we are…," she paused, as she took Olivia's hand in her own, "together." She smiled as she continued to speak. "But, I've missed you so much. Tell me what has been going on since I've been gone. It was so hard for me to not call you, not email, or have any contact with you. Every day I thought about you—how you were doing, if you were safe…It just hurt not to be in your life everyday, and I now understand that I had taken advantage of having you around." She paused and motioned to the window. "Plus, it looks like a day to stay inside and snuggle up to you and catch up."

Olivia looked outside as Alex pulled a blanket towards them. Rain was drizzling down the window and the sky had turned from a blue to a dark grey color. Olivia smiled as Alex leaned on her left side.

"What do you want to know?" Olivia asked this question, knowing that it was leaving her extremely vulnerable, as Alex's lawyer senses were peaking.

"Anything…I'm just happy to be back around, but I want to know what I missed."

"Well, there was a lot. You know how the job is Alex."

"Well don't start with the job then…tell me about you."

"I am the job. You know that."

"Well, when I saw you at that club a few weeks ago you definitely were not 'the job.'" Alex used air quotes and smiled up at Olivia.

"Ok. That's true. I guess I'd say I was making some bad decisions, and we've already talked about Hope—nothing more to say."

Alex could tell that the detective was getting a little touchy. She reached over and placed her hand on Olivia's thigh. "Ok. We don't have to talk. I just miss being around you." Alex nuzzled up to Olivia's neck and inhaled. "You smell so good," Alex said in a seductive tone, her voice an octave lower than normal.

"I thought we weren't starting that," Olivia smiled and placed a kiss on Alex's head.

"You're right…I have to tell you though, Liv, I have never seen you look as sexy as you have in the past few weeks. Maybe it's just because I knew I couldn't get what I wanted, but you've made it really hard for me to stay away," Alex spoke huskily, placed a kiss on her lips, and smiled.

"Speaking of hard to stay away…" Olivia didn't know if she should continue, but Alex started speaking before the detective started again.

"I already know what you're going to say, and yes, we can go tomorrow."

Olivia smiled at the attorney. They relaxed into the couch and turned on the TV. An hour later they were napping, tangled in each other.

They had stayed inside the apartment all day, watching TV, working on Olivia's exercises, and ordering takeout. Alex spent most of the day checking her email and trying to get back into the swing of working, emailing Casey Novak and Elizabeth Donnelley thanking both of them for their support and for taking the reigns at SVU while she was out. However, around 9:45, Alex noticed that admiring Olivia had taken up most of her day.

The brunette detective was reclining in her grey suede chair, her legs propped up on the matching ottoman. She was wearing those tortoise-rimmed glasses with her hair in a ponytail. She held 'East of Eden' in her left hand, reading quietly while she was twirling a pen in her right hand. From time to time, she would circle, underline, or scrawl something on the pages. Alex realized that she had never been more in love with anyone, and that Olivia was the most stunningly beautiful woman she had ever seen.

Olivia noticed Alex looking at her a few times, but she was just as guilty of staring back at the attorney. She had missed Alex—not only when she was in WITSEC, but in the past few months when she had tried to create distance between the two of them. Alex was so beautiful, and it seemed even now, as she was slaving over her emails, that she was radiating beauty. Olivia had often fantasized about having Alex here, in her new apartment: doing laundry, cooking dinner, and doing dishes together. Olivia must have been staring at Alex when the attorney caught her gaze.

"You look tired," Alex said.

Olivia snapped out of her trance and placed the pen inside one of her favorite books. "Yeah. I am actually pretty tired." She closed the book and placed it back in the bookshelf and walked over to Alex. She gently closed the top of Alex's laptop and spoke softly to her. "Let's go to bed."

Minutes later, Alex helped Olivia put her brace on, after she had showered herself and put on her own pajamas—she was feeling proud of herself.

"See? I'm good!" Olivia exclaimed as she touched Alex's creamy skin above her belly button. She smoothed her hand around to the attorney's back and pulled her close with her uninjured arm. Alex was in the middle of changing her shirt, her blue lace bra in full view for the detective. Olivia glanced down to her breasts and back up at Alex with a cocked eyebrow. Alex was completely submissive, falling like a noodle in the detective's strong arm. She could feel Olivia's bicep and forearm flexing around her, holding her tightly to her own body.

"You are getting there, detective. We just need to take it slow. You can't reinjure yourself. Not just for your job, but I'm actually a little scared of Mark, too."

"What!? THE Alexandra Cabot, ADA, Ice Queen, is scared of someone!?"

They both laughed and Olivia let go and laid down in the bed, watching Alex change into her pajamas, fantasizing about the attorney's body. Alex stayed modest, turning away from Olivia so nothing was revealed. She put some lotion on her face and started to walk down the hallway.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Olivia asked this question because she was truly confused. Alex stopped halfway down the hallway, turned back towards the bedroom and gave Olivia a questioning look.

"What do you mean? I'm going out to the couch."

"Alex…are you serious? I want you to sleep in here with me…I thought we were…?"

With a smile, Alex bounded to the bed, throwing the covers back and placing a kiss on the detective's lips. "I'm sorry baby. You're right. We are…but I didn't want to be presumptuous."

Olivia laid on her back, pillows propping her to her comfort. Alex curled up next to Olivia, placing her hand over the detective's stomach, expecting to find a soft, yet defined patch of skin. She ran her hand under Olivia's cotton shirt and rubbed her stomach, meaning to be comforting, but instead found rock hard abs, and stopped from shock.

"Jesus Christ, Olivia. How much do you actually work out? I don't remember you being this muscular…" she ran her hand up and down Olivia's abs, feeling the muscles ripple under her hand, as passion burned in her core.

"Well, you'll just have to wait and see. The last time you saw me naked was many, many years ago, counselor…Sweet dreams, Al." Olivia pushed Alex's hand away and lowered her shirt back down, teasing Alex.

Olivia placed a kiss on Alex's cheek, and, with a smile, drifted off to sleep. Alex was still shocked, but managed to snuggle up to the detective and sleep soundly through the night, dreaming of the woman that she could finally say she was completely in love with.