Chapter 4: Let the Chase Begin

"Olivia?" Maureen was pretty sure that was her dad's partner there talking to her friend. Her suspicions were confirmed as the woman turned to face her and smiled when she put a face to the voice that had said her name.

"Maureen. Hey. Long time, no see." she said pulling her into a quick hug.

"Yeah, I guess it has been awhile, huh? So I see you two have met."

"Yeah we just kinda ran into each other" Olivia said.

"Yeah literally" Rae said looking directly at Maureen. Her voice was unusually timid and she was working hard to avoid eye contact with Olivia.

Olivia. A beautiful name to match a beautiful face. I wonder what she thinks about me. She probably thinks I'm a clutz and is annoyed with me for messing up her paperwork. Oh, god. She's probably gonna have to spend extra time putting that file back together all because I was too preoccupied to look up. So stupid.

"Hello" Maureen said slightly singing. "Earth to Rae" she said waving a hand in front of Rae's face to get her attention. She had been staring at the floor completely in a daze. Rae's eyes snapped up and met her look of confusion. "Where'd you go just now?"

"Uhhh...Nowhere. I was just thinking about...stuff" Rae mentally slapped herself. Could she be acting like any more of a dork in front of Olivia right now. "What were you saying?" She asked trying and failing to look less uncomfortable under Olivia's gaze.

"I was saying that I'm formally introducing you to Detective Olivia Benson, my dad's partner." Maureen wasn't sure what had happened between the two of them to make Rae so uncomfortable but she sure as hell made a mental note to ask her about it later.

Rae turned back to Olivia and their eyes met again. "Hi" she said holding her gaze, subconsciously licking her lips. She held out a hand and Olivia took it. "It's nice to formally meet you. I'm Araeyah Caston. People call me Rae. I'm Maureen's friend". She continued to look directly into Olivia's eyes with some new-found confidence. "Hi. It's nice to formally meet you too" Olivia said slightly blushing. They held their handshake a little longer than necessary before finally letting go. Maureen stood watching the two of them interact with an amused look on her face. Oh, she and Rae would definitely be talking about this later.

There was a moment of silence before Rae, with all her confidence restored, spoke again. "You should have been here earlier. You missed the show."

"The show?" Olivia asked with a furrowed brow conveying her confusion.

"Oh yeah" Maureen said jumping into the conversion, "Rae here totally captivated the entire squad room as she rope-a-doped my dad. She successfully convinced him that I'd be perfectly safe with her for the weekend. She was very impressive."

"Really now? Well you must be really talented to pull that off." Olivia said with a small smile.

Rae looked Olivia up and down taking in her entire form before saying in very seductive tone, "Oh, you have no idea."

It was the first time Rae had really looked at anything besides Olivia's face. From the floor up, Rae took in the vision before her. Olivia wore black slacks that perfectly accentuated her shapely legs. Her belt, complete with badge and gun, sat perfectly on her hips. She wore a deep red long-sleeved shirt tucked into her pants shaping her flat stomach and her sleeves were pulled up to her elbows revealing her perfectly unblemished skin. The neck line came down to a v stopping just short of her cleavage, almost as if to tease. She was damn sexy. Rae couldn't help but to stare. She really wanted Olivia turn around so she could get a look at her from behind. Maybe she'd sneak a peek when Olivia left them to go to her desk.

Olivia cleared her throat, pulling Rae's eyes back to hers, before speaking again. "So senior year, huh? Are you both excited?"

"Well this one is" Rae said pointing to Maureen, "I, however, am completely ready for it to be over. December can't come fast enough."

"December? Don't graduations usually happen in May?" Olivia asked confused by Rae's remark.

"Yes but our little Rae of sunshine here, pun intended, is an overachiever. She already has enough credits to graduate so she's ditching me in December for early adulthood" Maureen had a pouting look on her face. Rae rolled her eyes.

"I am not ditching you. I'll still be around, just not at school. Besides you'll be the one that doesn't have time for me seeing as how you'll actually be occupied during the day."

"Well if you want to stay occupied, stay in school."

Rae looked at the ceiling as if she was contemplating what Maureen was suggesting. "Nah, that's alright. I'll pass" she said with a little laugh.

As much Olivia tried, she couldn't help being captivated by Araeyah. Whatever insecurity she'd had five minutes earlier was gone and before her stood a beautiful, radiant, charming young woman. Rae glanced out of the side of her eye and saw Olivia looking at her and she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. Could it be that Olivia Benson was interested in her? "I'm definitely willing to find out" Rae thought to herself, "Let the chase begin".

"Well, we should probably go and let Detective Benson get back to work" Rae said before locking eyes with Olivia one more time.

"Oh call me Olivia" she said with a wave of her hand.

"Most definitely" Rae said eyes still locked on her prize.

Maureen could see something was going on with the two women but couldn't put her finger on what it was. With a shrug of a shoulder she gave Olivia a hug. "It was good seeing you Liv" she said before heading towards the elevator with her friend.

"It was nice meeting you Rae" Olivia called out to the retreating form.

Rae turned around walking backwards towards the elevator. "Oh, the pleasure was all mine...Olivia" she said before she turned her back to Olivia again. As she and Maureen were waiting for the elevator she glanced back over her shoulder and saw that Olivia was still standing there watching her. Like a child that had just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar, Liv's eyes got big and her face was flush with embarrassment. She quickly turned away and headed into the squad room. Rae turned back around hearing the ding indicating the elevator had arrived and stepped in next to Maureen. "Oh yeah. She's definitely interested" she thought to herself as the doors closed.