A/N: Hi! Thanks to everyone who continues to read. I want to quickly apologize for how sporadic my updates have been. We have had a lot of stuff pop up in our lives over the past few months, including an adoption and saying goodbye to our beloved pet. However, I have found that retreating into this story allows me to take a break for a little while and immerse myself into AO world—always a good place to be! Please feel free to comment and let me know what you are thinking about this story. Thanks so much for reading!

Chapter 42

Weekend

The water flowed freely from the stainless steel faucet into the empty tub, making contact with the shower gel at the bottom and foaming into a mountain of bubbles. Olivia stood watch as she undressed; she kicked off her shoes and threw her socks into the hamper when she felt Alex begin to unbuckle her belt. Her gaze fell to the beautiful blonde and she watched as the attorney's delicate hands loosened the leather from Olivia's waist. Alex dropped the belt to the floor and unbuttoned Olivia's jeans, lowering the zipper to reveal Olivia's lace ivory boy short underwear.

"Step out," Alex said as she gathered the jeans and underwear on the floor, helping Olivia out of her clothes before she laid them in the hamper. The detective removed her long sleeve white shirt and stared down at the huge blotched bloodstain that covered most of the material from the elbow down.

"I really liked this shirt." She wore a halfhearted smile as she tossed it into the trash and removed her bra before sinking into the bathtub. Alex took Olivia's hand that rested on the side of the tub, caressing the back of her knuckles.

"You ok?"

The detective looked over at the blonde and responded genuinely. "Yeah. I am." Silence hung in the air for a few seconds before she began to speak again. "I don't want you to worry about this. It's just bad timing, honestly. I would have done the same thing if this were before the Carlson situation. I was pursuing a suspect, he assaulted me—" Alex cut her off.

"Olivia, you don't have to justify anything to me. I know what happened, and I know how you responded. You did what you had to do." She paused before the words poured out of her mouth, unable to stop them. "I just hope IAB doesn't think this was excessive force."

Olivia's head turned and she sat up in the tub, inches from Alex's face. "Excessive force?" By her tone, Alex could tell she probably shouldn't have said that. "He broke my fucking nose, Alex. And I'm probably going to have to have another surgery to fix my finger." Olivia was getting heated, and Alex could tell.

"I know Liv, I know. I'm just saying that it may come up, but I don't see him pressing charges. Because he already has assault of an officer added to his charges, I'm sure." She patted Olivia's hand and stood up to kiss her. "I love you, Olivia Benson. And all that matters is that you are safe and healthy."

Ten minutes later Olivia emerged from the bedroom dressed in green flannel pants and a navy blue sweatshirt featuring the Statue of Liberty. Alex laughed at the sight of the shirt—she knew Olivia despised almost every tourist attraction in the city, as they mostly just caused two things Olivia hated the most: trouble and traffic.

"Nice shirt." Alex tried to lighten the mood, as she was still a little concerned about bringing up IAB in the bathroom earlier.

Olivia looked down and smiled. "Funny story actually." She continued speaking as she tucked in close to Alex on the couch, pulling a blanket over the two of them. "One Thanksgiving, right after my mom died, Elliot and I had been doing a lot of work on the restaurant so he invited me over for Thanksgiving dinner. When I got there, I was so busy playing with the kids that I think I distracted Kathy and she ended up burning the turkey pretty badly—like, past the point of anyone being able to eat it. She felt horrible, but we all laughed and decided on Chinese." She paused and looked over her glasses at Alex, using a cautioned tone. "Keep in mind, this has nothing to do with the shirt, but it's a good story."

Alex smiled back lovingly at Olivia before the detective continued. For a minute, Alex didn't listen to what she was saying. Rather, she focused on the way Olivia's golden eyes sparkled when she talked about people she loved. The way she laughed, Alex noticed, lit up her face, and the glow throughout the room only reflected her joy. It was almost as if her face wasn't so badly abused and this was any other night. Something struck Alex, though: as respectful and loving as Olivia spoke about her mother, she didn't light up like this, even with happy memories. She wondered if Olivia looked like this when she spoke to other people about her, but as she wondered, she tuned back into Olivia's story, noticing her animated hand gestures.

"So, they found out that I hadn't ever actually been to the Statue of Liberty. Of course, this was a huge deal to Maureen for some reason. So, we went—on Thanksgiving Day, of all times. But, what we didn't realize was that it would be closed. So, the next day Elliot came in and tossed me this sweatshirt with a note from Kathy and the kids—something about how I'd never forget that Thanksgiving." She laughed and ran her hand through her hair, relaxing back into the couch. "So, long story short, Elliot got me this sweatshirt." Olivia chuckled and looked over toward Alex, studying the attorney's face.

Alex locked eyes with Olivia and noticed that those dark brown eyes were staring directly into hers. She adjusted her glasses and quietly piped up. "What?"

Olivia turned towards Alex and tucked her leg underneath her. "I just want to apologize. I know that I got pretty defensive in there and I just want to say I'm sorry. I know that you're just preparing me, and I shouldn't have reacted like that."

"It's ok." Alex paused as the wheels spun in her head. "But, I just want to look out for you—it's not often that I get to do that." She continued when Olivia gave her a confused look. "I guess what I mean to say is that you're just so independent—you always do everything on your own, and I just want to be able to help you in any way I can. And, I know sometimes I can come off as a know it all, but I just want you to be prepared for any situation that may come at you."

"I get it." With a reassuring smile, Olivia opened her arms and Alex melted into them as she turned on the TV and quickly navigated to the guide to select an old black and white movie.

"Let me get you an icepack for your nose. What do you want for dinner? I'll order in."

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Saturday morning Olivia woke with a horrible pain between her eyes. She carefully squinted through the sunshine that fell over the bed, but she smiled when she felt her head gently lying over Alex's breast. She snuggled her head a little closer to Alex's neck when she felt the attorney's arm wrap around her and tousle her hair. The feeling of Alex's fingers in her hair scratching her scalp caused her eyes to roll back in her head as she burrowed ever closer to the attorney, placing a light kiss inside the deep v cut of her cotton shirt.

"Good mor—afternoon, detective. Are you feeling ok?" Olivia opened her eyes completely and sat up, looking at Alex. The attorney was laying in bed reading when she sat up and smiled at Olivia before her smile faded off of her face, replaced by a worried look. "Oh Liv, honey, both your eyes are black." She reached up and caressed her face, lightly kissing her cheek.

"Yeah, I figured that would happen." Olivia got out of bed and walked into the bathroom to brush her teeth. "Holy shit, Al. It's 1:15." Alex laughed and joined Olivia in front of the sink and watched as the detective brushed her teeth and ran some water over her hands and through her hair.

"I know. I wanted to let you sleep. I know you can't be feeling good. I just want to make sure you recover as much as you can before we see the doctor tomorrow." Alex paused for a few minutes and took a seat on the toilet lid as Olivia finished washing her face. "What do you want to do today?"

Olivia studied her face in the mirror while she considered this question. The swelling in her nose had gone down significantly, but it still stood out in pinkish contrast to her olive-toned skin. She reached down and opened a drawer in the vanity, dipping her finger delicately into a moisturizer container. She dabbed a small amount of the lotion under both of her eyes and rubbed it in tenderly. When she was done, she stepped back and examined her face again. "Well, it doesn't matter to me, really. Is there anything in particular you want to do? I feel fine—just have a little bit of a headache." As she said this, she opened the medicine cabinet and tipped two Advil into her hand before she tossed them into her mouth, dry swallowing them.

She had resumed examining herself in the mirror when Alex walked over and kissed her on the cheek. "You are beautiful." Olivia felt the blonde's hand brush against the back of her neck as she walked out and continued talking. "And, to answer your question, no, I don't really have anything in mind. I just want you to be able to relax." She paused for a second and then felt the need to suggest something to fill the silence. "I have a bag of stuff that I need to return to a few places if you want to go into the city…?" She awaited Olivia's response as the detective emerged from the bathroom, stripping her clothes from her body, throwing them into the hamper in the corner.

"Yeah, we can do that. It might be nice to get out for a little while." She smiled at Alex and the attorney couldn't stop looking at her. She had removed all of her clothes except her flannel pants, and as she turned around to open a drawer Alex admired the strong muscles of her back flexing as she searched for the t-shirt she was looking for. Alex watched as Olivia put on a black sports bra, careful to not use her injured pinky. She pulled a white t-shirt from the drawer and covered it with an old Sienna College hoodie. She dropped her flannel pants and surprised Alex when she stepped into a blue thong, pulling it up before her jeans. "Could you button these? I guess you never realize how much you use your whole hand until you can't use one finger." Alex had spent too much time trying to memorize the sight of the older detective in the blue thong and shook the image from her head when she nodded to Olivia and seized the button on her jeans.

"I hope this is ok…?" Olivia displayed her clothes to Alex with a questioning look.

"Of course. We're just running into some stores. We won't be long." Olivia took Alex's proffered hand as the attorney led her down the hall and out of the apartment.

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"So why are you returning all of this stuff?" Olivia was leaning against the side of the escalator examining the bag that Alex held in her grasp. The blonde wore some loose boyfriend jeans and a Yankees t-shirt from Olivia's side of the closet, and she never looked better. Her hair was pulled back into a long, straight ponytail and Olivia noted the absence of her trademark glasses and realized that she had chosen to wear her contacts instead. Alex Cabot was truly the definition of beauty, Olivia thought.

"Well, when I moved back here I wasn't sure about whether I would have my old job back so I went and bought some more business casual clothes because I thought I would be working with Trevor at his practice." Olivia remembered Trevor Langdon well—he actually tried to date Alex once. The detective was glad that it had never worked out; they were better friends than they would be anything else. A few years ago, Trevor started his own practice and Olivia thought that if Alex ever got out of the courtroom, she would certainly go there. The detective tuned back in just in time to hear Alex actually answer the question. "So, when Liz and Cragen called me and told me that they wanted me back at SVU, I knew, unfortunately, that it was back to the matching suits and courtroom attire." She paused a little and rolled her eyes. Olivia knew how much she hated being so formal all the time. "Besides, I have a ton of clothes, and I don't really need these—as much as it pains me to say that." She smiled at Olivia; after all, they both knew that Alex was a borderline shopaholic and hardly ever admitted to going overboard.

They worked their way through two floors of Macy's, stopping at numerous departments before they emerged into the light of the early afternoon. Almost immediately, Olivia's eyes darted across the street to find the jewelry store where she bought Alex's ring. 'Well, not Alex's ring yet,' the detective thought as they strode across the busy avenue, Olivia following Alex's footsteps amid heavy tourist foot traffic.

A few seconds later Olivia heard a suggestion that churned her stomach. "Hey, baby let's look in here. I have a pair of earrings that I need repaired and I hear they are really good." Olivia tried to disguise the fearful look that she knew washed over her face.

"Umm, sure. Yeah I hear they're good too." Olivia opened the door, allowing Alex to enter before her. Immediately the same jeweler that helped Olivia pick out the ring approached with a wide smile.

"Hi. I'm Todd. What can I help you w—Wait, don't I know you?" He looked at Olivia and she knew that he had remembered her correctly. She scooted her body a bit so that she was behind Alex, speaking to him somewhat over her shoulder.

"Yeah, I was in here a few weeks ago." Her mind raced—what excuse could she use? "My friend Max was in here picking out an engagement ring for his girlfriend." It was a good thing that Alex wasn't looking at Olivia at this moment, because she would have given it away. Her eyes were wide in a 'don't-say-a-word-about-the-ring-that-I-bought' death stare. She pointed to her own left ring finger and then quickly pointed to Alex. As she did this, she watched Todd's eyes follow her motioned story and knew that he understood.

"Oh yes! I remember now. Well, what can I help you with today?"

Now it was Alex who was happy that Olivia wasn't face to face with her. She knew Olivia had never been a good liar, and even though she hadn't seen her face, she could tell by her tone that she was being dishonest. 'Holy shit. This is the place. She bought that ring here.' Although the attorney hadn't seen the ring completely yet, she knew that it had to have cost a small fortune. She quickly wanted to turn to Olivia and admit that she had caught a glimpse of it, and plead her to return it, as she knew that there was no reason for Olivia to have spent that much money on her. But, quickly she tried to focus on the task at hand. "Well, I have these earrings…" Alex dug in her oversized purse, fishing for the small box that she knew was hiding under her other items. This gave her enough time to collect her thoughts and calm herself down after the realization dawned on her that Olivia had bought her a ring from the very store where they were standing. After a moment, she offered the box to Todd. "They were my mother's, and my father gave them to me after she passed away. You'll notice that there are a few small diamonds missing from around the center stone in each earring and I was wondering if you could fix them."

He inspected the sapphire earrings and quickly assured her that they could be fixed. When he took the earrings back to the shop, Alex began scanning the glass cases, trying to get an idea of what Olivia might like from here. She couldn't help but wonder if she was getting ahead of herself, but then she remembered that she wasn't the one that had already purchased an engagement ring. The blonde felt Olivia creep up behind her and chuckle softly.

"What are you looking for in here, miss?" Alex laughed quietly and continued to peer through the top of each case without answering Olivia's question. "Surely there isn't anything in this particular case you were interested in. Perhaps this one would be of more interest?" Olivia pointed across the way to a jewelry case featuring watches and a few diamond bracelets.

"Just looking. And, why shouldn't I be interested in anything in this case? Maybe one day I'll have to buy a ring like this." She paused for a second and beckoned Olivia back over towards the glass case. "You like any of them?"

Olivia noticed that her voice was somewhat playful, but she seemed genuinely interested. "You seem pretty confident." Olivia smiled and took Alex into a side hug as she peered through the glass. "But, to answer your question, I never really saw myself wearing a traditional engagement ring. Haven't really put much thought into it, honestly…I think I've got a while to think about it still, though—have to trick someone into marrying me first." She winked at Alex as Todd reemerged from the back area, advising her that her earrings would be ready to pick up in about two days.

They emerged from the store and Olivia hailed a cab. They both crawled into the back and Olivia gave the address to Serena's. Elliot had texted her earlier and said that he and Dickie were going to work on it a little today so Olivia wanted to stop by, and she knew there would be no better time than when they were already in the city. Her phone had distracted her for most of the car ride, until she looked over and noticed Alex looking at her, and she returned a questioning look.

"You know, detective. I don't fall for tricks." There was an imperceptible silence between her sentences, like she had timed it. "But, you're halfway there."

Olivia could feel her eyes squint, and then she realized that Alex meant that she wouldn't have to trick Alex into marrying her. Of course, the detective knew that she was just joking when she had said that earlier in the jewelry store, but the fact that Alex had said she was 'halfway there' caused Olivia to have mixed emotions—she knew that she was going to propose to Alex, probably sooner rather than later and she didn't want to be only 'halfway' there. But, she knew that Alex wasn't always direct about her feelings, to the point where she knew that Alex would reply to her joke with one of her own, saying that she was only halfway there. Deep down, Olivia knew she was further than she wanted to let on.

Moments later they arrived at Serena's and Olivia immediately noticed Elliot's Explorer in the employee parking area. Before she could even open the door all the way, she heard Dickie's voice. "Holy shit Liv! I hope you at least caught the guy!"

Elliot smacked Dickie on the back of the head with a one-word response to his questioning look. "Language, man." Elliot was wearing jeans and a tshirt, which was weird for Alex because she never saw him in anything other than his nice work clothes or his dress blues. He hugged Olivia and Alex and they chatted for a few minutes. "So, you go to the doctor tomorrow?" He winced when he looked at her hand.

"Yeah. We'll see what she says. I'm just hoping I don't have to have a nose job. I don't really care about my hand, but we will see what she says. Hopefully I'll be back to work on Monday." She could have sworn that she saw a glance between Elliot and Alex, but she decided to ignore it to keep her sanity.

"Dickie!" Olivia wrapped the strong teenager into her arms, squeezing him with all her might. "How's my boy?"

"Richard, Aunt Liv. Richard." He rolled his eyes and smiled—as much as he would never admit it, he loved for Olivia to treat him like she did. He loved the hugs, jokes, and rough housing that so often accompanied Liv's visits.

"Fine! Richard. So, what have you guys done?" She looked around the restaurant and noticed that all of the drywall had been hung and sealed together. The stairs had been fixed and the banister was reattached.

Elliot began speaking as he cleaned up the drywall spackle that he held in a bucket. "Well, all of the drywall is done. Just gotta wait for it to dry and sand it down. Dickie fixed the banister and I stained the floor in the back."

Olivia turned to him and smiled. "Thank you so much. Seriously. I couldn't have done any of this without you." Alex was taking a lap around the restaurant, busy making her usual list on the chalkboard of things that needed to be done. Olivia watched as the blonde erased her earlier tasks and wrote down a few more items. She could pinpoint Alex's handwriting from miles away, because it was so reminiscent of Alex: the elegant, slender sloping of her cursive reminded Olivia so much of the attorney's thin, long legs and the small curves of her body. She watched Alex place the blue chalk down on the tray and walk towards her. Almost instinctively, Olivia captured the blonde around her waist and kissed her intimately. She closed her eyes and, for a minute, felt as if her nose wasn't broken and her eyes weren't blackened. Her tongue massaged against Alex's as her mind danced in ecstasy.

When they broke apart, Alex's steel blue eyes were wide with surprise, and she was blushing a bit as she looked into Olivia's eyes. The detective smiled smugly and pulled Alex close. "I have an idea," she whispered into the blonde hair. Elliot and Dickie didn't see this exchange as they were gathering their belongings and exiting out the front door.

"See you later Liv. Call me after your appointment tomorrow and let me know what's up. Bye Alex."

"Love you Aunt Liv. Bye Alex." The door had barely shut when Alex felt Olivia's hands on her waist, tugging at her jeans.