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Alex and Olivia took a good five seconds to take in the sight of the other. Olivia hadn't yet taken her hand off of Alex's shoulder, and Alex wasn't in a hurry for the loss of contact.

Finally Olivia drew her hand back and grinned. "You really look like you want to get out of here."

"Oh God, do I," Alex sighed.

"I could pretend to arrest you," Olivia joked, winking at Alex.

"Yeah, I'm not sure that would serve my reputation all that well."

"But it would certainly give you an excuse to leave."

"Luckily, I don't need anyone's permission to leave. Especially if a certain detective would care to accompany me for some coffee."

"Well, I'll call Elliot and see."

"Cute."

They took their seats across from each other in a booth in the corner of a small café across the street from the cemetery gates. Olivia shimmied out of her jacket as quickly as possible; Alex didn't touch her cardigan.

"You're not warm?" Olivia asked.

"No, when you spend so much time in a climate where you rarely get below eighty at night, sixty degrees is pretty chilly," Alex replied, rubbing her hands together.

"I guess that's true," Olivia mused. "I'm really glad you're back," she said sincerely.

"Well, for seven days anyway. But me too," Alex replied as the waitress came over to take their orders. Olivia ordered a coffee with cream and sugar while Alex asked for a triple espresso.

"Wow. Either you have a reason to be staying awake or you've been awake for too long," Olivia observed.

"Yeah, one of those. So, anyway, how's everyone?" Alex asked changing the subject quickly.

Her jumpiness did not go unnoticed by Olivia, who furrowed her eyebrows briefly but didn't press the matter. "We're all doing okay. Poor Elliot's dealing with Eli's troublesome phase, and some son of a bitch perp whaled on Fin a couple weeks ago, but other than that things are pretty normal. Although our conviction rate's way down…"

Alex smiled. "I met Hardwicke a time or two. She seemed alright."

"She is alright. But when you've had phenomenal, alright isn't what you're used to anymore," Olivia replied.

"Didn't she have something like a 92% conviction rate coming in?"

"Doesn't really matter what you had coming in, does it?"

"Guess not."

The waitress returned and the pair gratefully took their beverages. Olivia sipped hers gracefully. Alex seemed more interested in warming her hands.

"So? What's been going on at the station?" Olivia restarted.

"Nothing really. Same old stuff," Alex said, clearly disinterested in the subject. "How are the rest of Stabler's kids?"

Okay, Olivia thought. Nothing against her, but when has she ever asked about the Stabler family? She never met a single one of them other than Elliot and Kathy.

"They're good. Maureen's living in Philadelphia now, going to graduate school. Kathleen's still in college, and the twins will be graduating high school at the end of the year," Olivia said.

"Oh, that's good," Alex replied nonchalantly, twirling her cup in her hands.

She wasn't sure if it was such a good idea, but the detective in Olivia had to know why Alex was avoiding her questions.

"Alex, why won't you tell me about the Congo?"

Alex glanced up sharply. "Well, maybe I wouldn't have to explain anything if you hadn't stop emailing me."

Olivia looked at her incredulously. "What? I sent you two emails and you never responded!"

"You did not! I sent you an email about Coughlin's dense new secretary and I never heard from you again!"

"No, I got that email and responded with the new idiot at the front desk."

"You're imagining things, Olivia."

"You just suck at using technology, Alex. Did you check your spam folder?"

"I would know if it was sent to the spam folder. But I'll check it now, if it will appease you." Alex pulled out her Blackberry and opened the email app. She smiled smugly and held the phone up to Olivia's face. "Empty."

"Is that so, Counselor?" Olivia replied, moving her fingers around under the table.

"Unless you've suddenly grown blind, I think I've presented irrefutable evidence, Detective."

"I highly suggest you review your evidence."

Confused, Alex turned the phone back towards her eyes. Out of nowhere, a (1) appeared next to the word spam. Olivia smirked as Alex's eyebrows shot up. Alex clicked on the folder and opened the new addition.

"Exhibit A—'I told you so.' Nice touch." Alex sighed. "Oh, Liv, I'm sorry. I automatically assumed you'd stopped the contact."

"Yeah, the spam folder automatically deletes the emails after a few days if you don't open them. I'm just curious to know why your email account considers me trash!" Olivia laughed, placing her iPhone on the table.

"I don't know, but I certainly don't consider you trash," Alex replied softly.

Olivia blushed. "Good to know," she said. Clearing her throat, she continued, "So now that we have that cleared up…"

"Hey, Liv, do you I would be welcome down at the precinct later on? I'd like to say hello to everyone," Alex chimed in before Olivia could say any more.

"Sure, of course. They'll be glad to see you," Olivia nodded.

"Great. I have to go now, though. But—it really is great to see you again," Alex smiled, briefly brushing her hand over Olivia's. She rose from the booth and walked towards the exit, leaving Olivia puzzled at her sudden departure.

Yeah, Olivia thought sarcastically. Glad we caught up.

Alex aimlessly played with her laptop, still cursing her stupid email account for driving her crazy. Even though she was glad to find out that the drop in communication wasn't intentional, she didn't realize how hard it was going to be talking to Olivia again. She felt terrible lying to her friend. Obviously she didn't have anywhere to be.

She herself didn't understand why she couldn't bring herself to talk about life in the Congo. For the most part it wasn't so bad—she could talk about Coughlin and Dominique and Richard and every slam dunk case she tried.

But then she thought about Saadia and every other girl she would never get justice for, and her own pain became too overwhelming. She didn't want to run the risk of going there.

"Uh oh. I know the sound of those heels anywhere," Fin said, lifting his head.

As the clack clack clacking came closer, he smiled at the sight of their old blonde ADA.

"Alex Cabot, a pleasure it is!" Munch piped in perkily.

"Detective Munch, Detective Tutuola," Alex replied warmly, stopping in front of the pair. "Don't think I didn't hear that uh oh, Fin."

"I only said that because I'm used to an ass-chewing when you show up," Fin chuckled. "I hope I'm safe this time."

Alex laughed. "Yes, but the tradeoff is that I can't get you any warrants."

Munch rolled his eyes. "Yeah, neither can Hardwicke."

Fin nudged him. "Quit it, sucker."

"Alex!" Elliot appeared from out of an interrogation room.

"Hey, Elliot," she grinned as he pulled her into a strong hug. "Have you always been a hugger?"

"Don't tell anyone," he winked. "How long are you back?"

"Just a week. Then it's back to the Lost Continent for me."

"I thought that was South America," Munch said.

"As far as I'm concerned, anywhere that's not Manhattan is the Lost Continent," Alex replied. "Hey, where's Liv?"

Stabler grinned and pointed to the interrogation room he'd just exited. "In there, draining the life out of a no-good kiddie rapist."

"Oh, fun."

"We think so."

Finally, Olivia emerged rubbing her temples and frowning, but quickly smiled when she saw Alex. "I see you still remember how to get here."

"It's only been seven months, smartass," Alex returned, shaking her head.

Olivia joined the group and they engaged in about fifteen minutes of light conversation before someone placed a hand on Alex's back. She immediately stiffened and a quick flash of fear passed through her eyes. She turned around quickly, hoping no one noticed her little…moment.

"Captain Cragen, how good to see you again!" she said with a little too much enthusiasm.

"Well this is a pleasant surprise Ms. Cabot," Cragen replied, smiling.

"You've known me eleven years and I'm still Ms. Cabot? Honestly, Don," Alex smirked.

"Force of habit," Cragen shrugged.

An hour or so later, Alex excused herself, claiming to have plans to meet with one of her friends for dinner. Olivia saw her out, offering to call her a cab, but Alex had rented a car for the week, so she politely declined.

Olivia perched herself on the corner of Elliot's desk.

Elliot looked up at her strangely. "Can I help you?"

"What is going on with her?"

"Who?"

"Alex."

"Cabot? I didn't see anything wrong with her. Exactly like when she left. The second time, that is."

"Did you not see what happened when Cragen came up behind her?"

"What, did he startle her or something?"

"No, Elliot, if you startle someone, they jump or shriek or something. Alex…" Olivia paused, trying to piece things together. "She kind of went rigid. And this look went through her eyes. I don't really know exactly what it was."

"I didn't notice."

"And when we were having coffee after the funeral, she was avoiding all of my questions about the Congo."

"Olivia, what are you getting at here?"

"I think something might have happened to her. But she won't tell me."

Elliot scrunched his nose. "Are you sure about this?"

"No. But how can I figure it out if she won't talk to me?"

"You can get anyone to talk. If you're so concerned, just spend some more time with her and she'll open up."

Olivia sighed. "I hope so El. I'm worried about her."