A/N: I am in love with this outlet that this story has provided me. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed—you guys really keep me motivated. Reading your reviews is honestly the highlight of my day. This chapter is, I think, a pretty good portrayal of two working women in the 21st century, where we can't always (unfortunately) stay in bed all day, but have to find other ways to communicate. I especially like this, too, because it's not something we see in the show, although we know that there has to be a bunch of technological communication between partners. I also like seeing Olivia and Alex in day-to-day situations and love to write how I think they would communicate with each other. Hope you enjoy and I look forward to reading your reviews!

Chapter 38

Hidden

Olivia turned to hear the door of Serena's open and close, allowing Elliot and his son to enter the mostly empty foyer.

"God, Dickie, you grow more every time I see you." He wore a wide smile and strode over to her, wrapping her into a tight hug. Olivia's head rested against his cheek, much like when she hugged his father. Dickie was slimmer than his father, but could hold his own—at 17, he was finally growing into his body.

"Richard, Olivia." He rolled his eyes, let go of the embrace, and held her on one of her shoulders, much like Elliot did. "Richard."

"Ok, ok!" Olivia responded through a smile. "You're just so cute, I can't call you a man's name!" As she said this, she pinched his cheek and he blushed as he hid his face. She turned and faced the interior of the restaurant as she exhaled. "But, I'm gonna need a few good men for this job, that's for sure."

The three of them smiled and headed towards the main dining area, scoping out the damage as they went. Elliot had recruited Olivia when he and Kathy moved into their new house in Queens almost 10 years ago, and now it was his turn to repay the favor—the first time they rehabbed the restaurant, Elliot was a great help, but knew that he owed Olivia much more.

"Well, the insurance guys called me earlier and said they were here fixing the exterior—so those are new windows and a new door. So, I'm thinking, that if you guys can help me with this drywall, hopefully we can seal it all up and come back tomorrow and sand it down." Olivia nodded towards the large sheets of drywall and all three of them started to work.

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"Liv, honey, it's almost 11. Do you want me to come pick you up? I don't want you riding the subway." Olivia could hear the worry in her voice, but also heard a little bit of sympathy—Alex knew she was tired and Olivia didn't want to let on that she was as worn out as she actually was.

"Al, you act like I haven't lived here my whole life…if it'll make you feel better and you want to come up here and get me, that's fine. We should be done pretty soon." She listened to Alex speak for a few seconds and turned away from Elliot and Dickie, holding the phone tightly to her ear as she quietly murmured, "I love you too. See you soon."

"Hey-o! What's that about?" Dickie didn't turn around when he said this, but laughed as he and Elliot puttied the drywall together. He raised his eyebrows to Elliot and smiled, guessing that his dad probably knew exactly who his partner was talking to.

"Eyes on your own paper, huh?" His father lightly smacked the back of his head and all three of them chuckled. About 25 minutes went by and Elliot, Olivia, and Dickie climbed off of their ladders and began organizing the tools on the floor in the corner of the restaurant when they heard the door open.

Alex Cabot walked through the door and Olivia couldn't take her eyes off of her. She wore a long, tan trench coat that covered her pale pink cotton t-shirt and the top half of her torn blue jeans. Her black glasses had specks of rain on them, and she took them off to wipe them on her shirt as she made her way down the small step and into the dining area. Olivia watched as Alex placed her glasses back on her face and swept a delicate hand through her hair, pushing it back behind her ear. Olivia stood in awe as Alex walked under the newly added canned lights in the ceiling and watched as her body was illuminated; even in jeans and a trench coat she was absolutely stunning.

Alex walked over to Elliot and gave him a quick hug. "Elliot thank you so much for your help." She patted him on the arm. "No matter what anyone else says, I know you're a good man." They both smirked at each other—after all the years of bumping heads, they knew that they had finally come to understand each other. Before Elliot could say anything Alex stepped back and exclaimed, "Holy shit, Dickie!?" Everyone laughed and Alex approached the teen, touching his shoulder. "I'm sorry, I just haven't seen you in so long! Wow…well, thank you for your help too."

"No problem—I'd do anything for Aunt Liv."

"Well, that makes two of us." Alex smiled as she said this and turned her attention to her girlfriend. God, she looked sexy. Olivia wore a folded up red bandana around her head, keeping the sweat off of her face. Her carpenter jeans hung from her waist, about a size too big, much like her other jeans, but what really did it was the black tank top that clung tightly to her torso, tracing the swell of her breasts and each crevice of her abs. Alex watched as Olivia took of the bandana and ran her hand through her hair. She folded it and tucked it into her back pocket, wiping the residual sweat from her forehead.

No one really saw Dickie's face, until Elliot motioned towards him. "Dickie, close your mouth. You know Liv is a lesbian. What's the problem?"

The blonde teenager didn't realize that his mouth was hanging open until his father mentioned this, so he closed his mouth and put his hands in his pockets. He cleared his throat and started his explanation. "No, Dad, I know…but I just didn't know that Aunt Liv was…I mean, I just didn't expect…I was just surprised."

Elliot smiled, and knew that what he was about to say would probably leave everyone in the room speechless. "Ok, Dickie, man-to-man, I know what you're thinking, and yes, they are both very attractive. But, this is your Aunt Liv you're talking about here. So, just stop that in it's tracks." Sure enough, everyone in the room sort of gaped at Elliot, so he continued. "Now, if you are surprised that she is dating Alex, that's fine, but that's how it is, so get used to it. They love each other very much."

"Oh, yeah. Of course. I mean, I don't have a problem with it." He walked over to Olivia and hugged her. "I'm glad you're happy Aunt Liv." They smiled at each other before Elliot's voice interrupted the moment.

"Alright, Dickie, we've gotta get back home. You've got school tomorrow." He hugged Olivia and Alex before grabbing his own light jacket. "Liv, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thanks Elliot. Bye Richard." Olivia smiled as she emphasized Dickie's preferred name as him and his father disappeared from the restaurant.

Olivia walked tiredly over to Alex and embraced her delicate body when she heard the blonde begin speaking. "You tired baby?" Olivia nodded a little and wrapped her hands around Alex's back, pulling her closer, taking in her scent.

"You look…god, you look great, Alex." Olivia's voice was an adorable mix of fatigued and husky, and Alex was caught up in the moment.

"Why are you so good to me?" Alex whispered toward Olivia as she felt the blonde run her hand through her hair. Alex felt Olivia's breath hitch and felt her let out a sigh of breath. Silence hung in the air as they both felt the other cradled in their touch. "Kiss me, baby."

It was odd how Olivia still got butterflies when she was so close to Alex. The detective pulled back a bit and looked into the familiar ocean blue eyes before placing her hand on Alex's neck, pulling her close, and kissing her ever so delicately. They both felt the intimacy of the moment and held each other a little longer, savoring the feeling of each other in their arms.

"We should go home. Let's close this place down. It already looks better!" Alex smiled as she started to turn the lights off. They walked out the front door and Olivia locked it. Thirty minutes later, they were home, snuggled in bed. Olivia didn't remember her head hitting the sheets, but fell asleep happily with Alex in her arms.

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It somewhat bothered Olivia that they still couldn't ride to work together for fear of people seeing and making something more out of their relationship than what it was. They both knew that their involvement had never skewed any cases, but until they disclosed, they had to keep things relatively on the down-low. It ended up working out this particular morning, though, because Alex had to be in early to meet with Casey about their opening argument for Cody Remley's case today.

Olivia took a cab to Starbucks and dropped off a Grande White Chocolate Mocha with Raspberry and extra foam to the large cherry wood desk in the first floor office that she had become so familiar with. She wrote a small note on her pad and placed the coffee on top. "Does your coffee order always have to be so complicated?" She drew a heart at the bottom and scribbled a small cursive 'O' inside it. As she was walking out, both Casey and Alex met her in the threshold of the door.

Taken off guard, Alex immediately went into office mode. "Detective Benson, how can I help you?" Olivia couldn't help but smirk a bit as she responded.

"Oh I was just looking for…" Casey interrupted them.

"Really guys? I may be out of the loop, but I'm not a complete moron." They both smiled at Casey as Olivia left the room, waving behind her.

Alex sat down in her chair and noticed the coffee and note and sighed lovingly. "Yeah…see, even if I didn't know, that would have given it away. Man, you are in deep." Casey waited for a response but was answered with a smile and rosy cheeks. Alex sat back in her chair and sipped her coffee, thinking about their case, when she heard Casey. "So have you guys talked to Donnelley yet?"

"No. I know that has to happen soon. There's really no way I can hide this any more, Casey. It's killing me."

"Yeah—there's just so much chemistry between you two."

"I love her. It's just that simple…" Alex smiled and placed her coffee back down on her desk. "I sent an email to Donnelley but I need to reach back out to her and Cragen. I just hope they don't take me off SVU."

"There's no way. You guys have worked together all this time, and nothing has been that bad." They both knew that the detectives at SVU had all had their troubling times, but none of it was ever related to their relationship with their ADA.

Casey and Alex talked about the case for a good hour or so, before the redhead left the office. "Ok, I'll see you in court at 3:30. I think we're ready to go." Casey took her briefcase and exited the office.

Alex leaned forward in her chair and took the note into her hands. She couldn't help but smile when she saw Olivia's handwriting, and the sarcastic thought that she had left. Alex knew that even though sometimes Olivia gave her a hard time about her complicated coffee order or her 68 pairs of shoes, that the detective would truly do anything for her—she had proven that outside of Carlson's cabin. She opened her laptop and drafted an email to Liz Donnelley and Captain Cragen.

Judge Donnelley and Captain Cragen,

I wanted to send you an email and arrange a meeting time for a disclosure of an intradepartmental relationship. Because we are friends, I know that you are both aware of the situation but I need for this to be official, because I don't want anything to happen that either of us (or all of us) won't be able to control once it gets to IAB.

Thank you both for your discretion and your support during Detective Benson's recovery time and at this current time. I know it is hectic, trying to arrange everyone's schedules now that we are all back to work and on cases, however, I would like to get this taken care of as soon as possible when it is convenient for everyone involved.

Thank you,

Alex

She kept her personal signature at the bottom of the email, thinking that it might be nicer for them to be kept at a personal level, rather than putting them both at a professional distance. Knowing how close Olivia and Cragen were, and how close she and Liz Donnelley were, Alex had full faith that they would answer and get this taken care of in a timely manner. Alex was more than ready for their relationship to be out in the open, and she unlocked her phone and composed a message to Olivia. Although they had stopped emailing each other for fear of their emails being monitored, she drafted a new message to Olivia.

Detective Benson,

I wasn't sure if you were out on a case or not, but if you could approve a meeting time on your mobile calendar for a briefing on trial procedure, that would be great. If that time doesn't work, please let me know and we can adjust accordingly.

Thank you.

She sent the message and sat back and smiled, knowing exactly what would happen when Olivia read it.

Three floors above her, Olivia read over the email that had just landed in her inbox. She laughed, almost out loud, but slowly realized that this is how it would be until their relationship was out in the open. She could barely wait—the time was growing on her, and each day it was harder for her to suppress the urge to yell her feelings for Alex in the middle of the squad room, for everyone to hear.

She opened her desk drawer and looked at her phone: there was no meeting, but there were three text messages waiting for her.

Thank you so much for my coffee, honey. There are few things better than waking up wrapped in your arms in the morning, but a hot cup of coffee comes pretty damn close, especially when you deliver it. I will admit that I may have fibbed—there is no meeting time waiting for you on your calendar, but that was one of the only excuses I could think of to email you.

I love you so much Olivia, and I couldn't think of anything I'd rather do than spend the rest of my life with you. I know this isn't exactly the most romantic way to say that, but I've been thinking a lot about the future, and I wanted you to know that I want you forever—if you'll keep me around. I don't think this is a surprise, but I wanted to make sure you knew.

Man, I guess that coffee really got me thinking. You know the way to my heart.

Alex wasn't a fan of emojis, but she ended the last message with a winking face and a heart. Olivia felt her heart jump into her throat when she read the messages, and eagerly responded.

Damn! With email clues like that, you should be a detective! Olivia sent back the same winking face to Alex before sending more messages.

I was happy to bring you your coffee. I think you are the only non-cop I know that enjoys (tolerates as a way of staying awake) coffee as much as us on the other side of the blue line.

You know, I am so happy to know that you feel the same way I do. Maybe one day I'll be privileged enough to call you my wife…

She knew that she probably shouldn't have said it, but it was really how she felt, and she didn't think that Alex would really be so surprised to hear it. After all, they knew that they loved each other, and Olivia had told her how she felt before.

Downstairs Alex gasped. She knew that they loved each other, and had toyed around with that idea, but only jokingly. It seemed that Olivia was putting it out there, but she couldn't tell if the detective was joking or not. Slowly, she composed a message back.

Really?

She waited for a few minutes and laughed heartily at Olivia's response back.

Hell yes. I would have the hottest fucking wife in the Northeast.

Damn, babe, I gotta go. El and I are going down to see Melinda. I love you.

Alex smiled and put her phone down into her briefcase. She worked on an opening argument and called Casey at 2:50, letting her know that they were ready for court. Before she moved on to other matters, she checked her email and noticed that she had a response from Donnelley.

Alex,

I am working on a case—your case as a matter of fact. Your schedule and mine are pretty similar. Don, when is good for you? I can do Thursday at 3.

Thoughts?

Judge Donnelley

Alex marked the meeting on her desk calendar and put it in her phone. She didn't want to bother Olivia with the formality of the meeting, but knew that, eventually the detective would have to sign off. Until then, though, she could take care of it.

Judge Donnelley,

I will wait to hear from Captain Cragen, but that time works for me.

Thank you both again.

She packed up her belongings and headed to court. The blonde placed her briefcase down under the prosecutorial table when she felt her phone buzz. Quickly, she turned her phone on silent and checked her messages.

Good luck beautiful. Nail em to the wall.

Alex smirked as she saw Casey walk in and sit adjacent to her. Before long, Judge Donnelly took her place at the bench and opening arguments started. As much as Alex wanted to follow Casey's words to the jury, her thoughts kept circulating back to her sweet, brunette detective. That meeting couldn't come soon enough.