It had started innocently enough, as far as attraction can go.

Alexandra Cabot was not one for crushes, so she surprised herself when she realized that the feelings she housed for Detective Benson were more than platonic. She wasn't sure how it had come about, this juvenile fancy that she'd developed, but ever since she had first became aware of the way she blushed when Olivia strode into the room, she'd worked tirelessly to rectify the problem. From pulling extra hours to filling up her schedule with dinners and suitors, she had gone above and beyond to alter what she refused to accept was simply set in stone: she was falling in love with Olivia Benson, and no amount of boyfriends or paperwork were going to change that.

Still, she tried her hardest to deny her growing feelings and urges. When Olivia was present, she looked down at her desk and recited The Bill of Rights in her head, scribbling away meaningless dribble that would eventually end up being erased due to lack of focus. When the Detective spoke to her, she forced herself to use as curt a tone as possible, weakening under the sound of the deep tones of her forbidden fantasy and trying to cover it up by being extra-aggressive. And when Olivia touched her…she lost all thought process, unable to form coherent speech. So she said nothing, at risk of revealing the fact that when Olivia Benson was around, she became perpetually tongue-tied.

Not surprisingly, Alexandra found her focus slipping at work. Regardless of the efforts she made to ignore her secret infatuation, she could not pretend that her job was going unaffected, and so she began to pull late-nighters in an attempt to pick up the slack. It was on an occasion such as this, where her eyes were set in rings of purple and the clock red 2:45, that she slipped out of her office and realized with a jolt that she had left her keys on one of the Detective's desks earlier in the AM. With a groan, she took off in the direction of the empty precinct, praying that nobody had locked up the place.

Upon reaching the empty precinct, however, she realized immediately that something was wrong: It wasn't empty. Clicking the door softly shut behind her and peering through the darkness at the only light on in the place, Alex recognized the sleeping form of Olivia Benson, head resting on her desk. The Detective was surrounded by the buttery glow of her desk lamp, and though Alex crept forward with little tip taps across the floor, the toffee-skinned woman did not stir from her slumber.

Up close, one could clearly see the lines of stress marking Olivia's brow, furrowed even in sleep, but Alexandra did not notice those things. What she noticed were Olivia's mulberry lips, curled into a pout that was simply adorable. She saw long black lashes, feathered and striking, resting against tan cheeks that had never looked so smooth before. And she saw, quite clearly and unmistakably, the woman she loved.

And it broke her heart.

Turning away for a moment, she realized that her keys were resting innocently on the front of Olivia's desk, and she knew that it was time for her to leave. But looking back at Olivia, so peaceful and so entirely lovely, Alex knew that she couldn't lie to herself anymore. She didn't know what she meant to accomplish by it, but in one huge moment of weakness, she slid her hand over the back of Olivia's neck and inhaled immediately. The woman was so incredibly warm that Alex worried her fingers might melt, but before she could think any more about it, Olivia's head lifted, and she peered groggily up at the blushing attorney.

"Olivia? What are you doing here?"

Smooth, Cabot. Real smooth.

Luckily, Olivia Benson was hardly capable of interrogating her. Quickly, Alex tried to think up a way out of the situation she'd just gotten herself into: She was standing alone, in the dark, with a sleepy detective who was slowly becoming more lucid. This was not a favorable position to be in. Light blue eyes trained on Olivia, it was then that she noticed it…Olivia's darker features, while harder to read than her own, were doing something that Alex had never seen them do before: Olivia Benson was blushing.

"Olivia, do you have a fever? You're burning up."

Without thinking, she pressed her cool hand against Olivia's forehead, just as her own mother would have done, and she felt the skin burn against her flesh. Indeed, Olivia did look a bit flustered…perhaps she was sick? Brushing stray strands of dark hair out of Olivia's eyes, she wondered how much more she could get away with before the Detective became suspicious. Surely she could offer her a ride? Friends did do that for each other, after all, and there was nothing wrong with being friendly towards her coworker.

"Come on Detective, let's get you home. Come on."

Surprisingly, Olivia rose without further persuasion, looking confused and extremely tired. Snatching up her keys from the Detective's desk, Alex placed a gentle hand on Olivia's elbow and directed her towards the exit, remembering just in time to remove Olivia's black leather jacket from the back of her seat. Folding it over the same arm that held her briefcase, she walked side-by-side with Olivia out into the parking lot. After a few moments of silence, Alex leaned close and whispered,

"You're getting sick, aren't you?"

And when Olivia nodded, Alex knew it for sure: Sick or not, Olivia was turning out to be the best mistake she had ever made.