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Chapter 2

Casey jerked awake on the couch, staring up into the darkness. Damn it. She was starving- and really, really wanted some pound cake.

"Stupid god-forsaken cravings..." she muttered under her breath as she got to her feet and walked into the kitchen, fumbling around for a light-switch. Alex had showed her the cake that she had bought as a present for her one year anniversary, but their celebration had been interrupted by calls from both the precinct and the DA's office. Alex had told her to help herself, so long as she didn't leave a mess.

"Damn it, light-switch, where are you?" Casey mumbled, feeling blindly along the wall when she thought she heard a noise. Hesitating, she stopped moving and listened for a moment, but when she heard nothing, Casey resumed her search with a shrug.

"NYPD, hands on your head!" Casey screamed when something collided her, pushing her to the floor and forcing her arms above her head. Groaning as her shoulder burned in protest, Casey tried to roll away right before whoever it was grabbed a fistful of her hair and pushed her head up against the ground painfully hard. The lights flickered on, but Casey's head was twisted in such a way that she couldn't see whoever was pinning her to the floor.

"Oh- oh my god-"

"Liv? What the hell are you doing?"

"Never mind what she's doing, what the hell is going on out here?" Demanded another voice from the doorway. Casey looked up sheepishly at Alex, who was watching them both, her hair in a tangled halo around her head and arms crossed as she tapped her foot impatiently. "Olivia, I don't know if that black smudge is your gun, but if it is, put it away and you, blondie, you'd best get out of here before I kill you both."

"Alex- Lex, it's Casey. Remember? You said she could spend the night..."

"Yeah," Casey grunted, gritting her teeth as her shoulder continued to ache. "Um, Liv? Not to- ow- intrude here, but- god- mind getting off me?"

Olivia stayed where she was for a moment longer, then gasped and immediately rolled to the side, allowing Casey to tenderly pull her arms down and let them drop to the floor with a groan.

"Oh... sorry. I can't see without my glasses. Olivia, why were you on top of Casey?"

Blushing guiltily, Olivia went to go get Alex's glasses as she said, "I heard something and thought she was a perp. Tackled her before I found out it was Casey- here you go, Lex." Alex put on her glasses and blinked several times to clear her vision before staring down at Casey, who was still lying on her back. Olivia tried to pull her to her feet but stopped when the ADA let out a soft cry of pain. "Case? You all right?" she asked uncertainly.

"Yeah," she said after a moment. "Fine. Think I just pulled a muscle. It'll be fine in a couple days." Casey got unsteadily to her feet, rubbing her aching shoulder and head alternatively as her headache started coming back.

"What were you doing up anyways?" Alex asked, leaning back next to the light switch- which was right next to doorway. Right where Casey had been searching. Groaning, Casey tried to keep her messy hair out of her eyes, with little to no success.

"Pound cake."

"At 1 in the morning?" she scoffed skeptically.

Casey gestured at her stomach, explaining, "Cravings." Alex immediately drifted away, muttering something about having to clean the ceiling, and Olivia laughed, shaking her head.

"Alex doesn't like hearing pregnant woman talk about the side affects. We decided that, once we get married, we decided that she's going to be the one to carry the baby, since her job is much safer than mine... let's just say she's torn between looking forward to it and dreading it."

"Ah, it has it's good parts. Anyways, you two go back to bed. Just don't hear things that go bump in the night and come try to kill me again. My head's already killing me, Liv; one more strike and I'll actually kill you this time, I swear I will."

Olivia scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Case, you always say that, yet you never do. Although I am sorry about hitting you earlier with my ball... and almost shooting you. How about you just not mention this whole thing to your husband when he gets back? You know that, if you don't kill me, he will."

Grinning, the ADA got the pound cake out of the fridge and started eating it hungrily, keeping her eyes on Olivia. "I don't know," she said between bites. "What's in it for me?"

"Well... if I die, you don't get to be anyone's maid of honor- and Alex will kill you. And you, being the good Catholic girl that you are, wouldn't want to be responsible for anyone's death, now would you?"

"First of all, I'm Catholic by birth, not by practice, and second of all, if you think I couldn't take Alex, then-"

"Assistant District Attorney Casey Stabler, if you do not shut up right now and let me go to sleep, I am going to show you that you could never take me, ever!" Alex shouted from the other room. "And that goes for you too, Benson!"

"She's not kidding, so we'd both better shut up," Olivia murmured. "Night, Casey."

"Night." When Olivia left, Casey leaned back against the counter and continued devouring the cake, still too hyped up from Olivia tackling her earlier to go back to sleep. "Baby, you're gonna make me eat myself to death, aren't you?" she whispered, rubbing her stomach lightly. Chuckling softly, she washed the now empty plate and turned off the light, debating whether or not to tell Elliot about today. True, his overprotective nature was annoying at times, but his reaction to this would likely be amusing. Sitting down on the couch again, Casey kicked up her feet and stared at what was probably the wall, though it was too dark to see, just closing her eyes and hoping sleep would come to her.

SVUSVUSVU

"Benson, I heard about what happened yesterday! Enjoying your last hour alive?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Olivia said sagely as she sat down at her desk, glaring at Munch. Fin walked over from the coffee maker carrying two cups and shaking his head.

"Yes, you do. You gave the new Mrs. Stabler a little head injury yesterday, now didn't you?" Olivia transferred her glare to him before grabbing the coffee he was offering to Munch and taking a huge gulp before spewing it across the desk.

"God damn it! What the hell was that? I thought you took it black, Munch!"

"I do," he said, staring accusingly at Fin.

He laughed, walking back to his desk. "Well, he got my coffee order wrong yesterday, so I decided to get his wrong today. And it looks like there's reason number 3 Stabler's gonna kill you when he gets back- you ruined his... everything."

Olivia shrugged guiltily, then froze. Reason number 3? How would he know about last night... unless? "Wait a second, did you guys talk to Casey?"

"Didn't have to," Fin said, smirking. "My partner with no life was...um... in the neighborhood, and he saw you and Alex leave with our ADA this morning. Having an affair with his wife? His pregnant wife, nonetheless? You have no class, Olivia."

"I have no class? What about Munch? He was the one spying on me! What the hell were you doing 'in our neighborhood' to begin with?"

Munch bit his lip and looked down, and Olivia was about to pry the truth from him when Cragen stalked over and said, "Munch was there with his new girlfriend, Clara Ross, she works in accounting. He was leaving for work when he saw you, Alex, and Casey catching a cab, so he proceeded to call Fin and tell him about it like a gossiping little girl. Olivia, you hit Casey with a baseball and put her in the hospital. Fin, you tried to make Munch throw up your disgusting coffee but failed. Elliot... yeah, he's not here. Now, will you all stop playing around and do your jobs? We've got a victim at Hudson Medical. Come on."

Blushing furiously, Olivia grabbed her gun and hurried out of the precinct, casting another glare in the others' direction.

SVUSVUSVU

Casey pulled on her trench coat and started to leave her office, only to run into yet another lawyer from yesterday's softball game. "Oh... Casey... damn, I thought you wouldn't be here..."

"Bashkir, if you thought I wouldn't be in here, then why are you in my office?"

The Russian shifted nervously, setting the cardboard box aside. "Um... I- well, see, I..."

"Wait a second!" Casey grabbed the box, then stared at him in shock. "You came here to loot my office, didn't you?" Bashkir stepped back again, and Casey glared at him accusingly. "You did! You knew they had to take me to the hospital yesterday and thought I wouldn't be at work, so you came by to loot my office!"

Bashkir took off down the hallway, and Casey shouted after him, "Yeah, you run away." Throwing the box to the floor in disgust, Casey locked the door, then stormed off down to Branch's office. She had told him that new hire was a creep, but had he listened? No.

"Mrs. Stabler!"

Casey squealed in excitement, whirling around straight into Elliot's arms. "You're early!"

"Mmmhmm. Guy at the conference had a stroke, so it's rescheduled, and I am not going to that... Case, what happened to your head?" Casey felt the bandage uncertainly, then started pulling him back to her office.

"Softball incident. Don't worry about it. Anyways, I think that's been on there long enough..." Casey bit her lip, then ripped the bandage off. "Ow!" She dropped the bloody piece of gauze into the abandoned box, then smiled at Elliot and asked nervously, "Well? Is it bleeding?"

He raised an eyebrow as he tenderly felt the cut, shaking his head. "No, and three stitches? Sounds like more than just a little softball incident. Come on, I'll take you down to the precinct while you tell me about it."

"Okay, and why am I going to the precinct? I need to stay and protect my office."

"Why does your office need protection?"

Casey shoved him back playfully, rolling her eyes. "You're not supposed to answer a question with a question. That's a lawyer thing. You just get to repeat the same questions over and over until your perp dies of boredom. Anyways, people are trying to steal my stuff, so I need to stay here and scare anyone else off with my bat."

Elliot paused, then just shook his head. "I shouldn't have even gotten up this morning... anyways, Warner's doing an autopsy and wants us there. No, I don't know why but she said it was important."

Sighing, Casey was about to let Elliot lead her outside when she got an idea. Raising her hand up to stop him, she dug around in her desk for a red sharpie a crumpled up poster board from her last case, then chuckled evilly. "Yeah, we'll see who's robbing my office after this, Bashkir..." she muttered as she wrote a warning message on the poster board, then leaned it up against one of her bookcases and stepped back to observe her handiwork.

Elliot stood next to her, staring at it for a second, then bursting into laughter. "'Do NOT touch my stuff, I am watching you, Casey Stabler'... Really?"

"What? You mess with me, you're starting a war. A war with a pregnant, bat-wielding lawyer who's not afraid to play dirty. Now, come on, let's go. I want to know what's got Melinda asking for us."

Coming up next: Action begins and hostages are taken. As always, I love reviews!