"Alex, where are you going?" Olivia asked seeing that Alex was headed to her car instead of the bar, as planned.
"Oh, I don't know, Liv. I don't feel like being in a social setting too much, tonight," she replied as she continued walking, showing no signs of stopping.
Olivia set into a light jog to catch up to Alex, slowing as she neared.
"So our plans are canceled?" she inquired, looking over at the ADA as they continued their walk. Olivia could feel her heart begin to wilt at the thought of spending another night by herself, doing absolutely nothing in her apartment. She had been eagerly awaiting her plans with Alex all day and was doing her best to attempt to mask the disappointment slowly coming over her, but with little success.
"Well, our plans to go get a drink at the bar are canceled," she informed her as she stopped at the curb next to her car. Alex turned to face Olivia, resting against the window of the passenger seat. "But you haven't even given me a chance to invite you back to my place," she added with a smug smile upon noticing Olivia's disappointment. The detective could put up the tough front all she wanted, but it was during their moments alone that Alex had realized she wore her heart on her sleeve. It just took one glance longer than normal for anyone to figure that out, if they looked hard enough.
"Are you sure? I don't want to impose and you're obviously tired. I should probably just head home and try to wind down, watch a movie or so-"
"Liv," Alex said forcefully, causing the detective to leave her sentence hanging. "Come back to my place. We'll have a few beers, talk about something other than work for once, and I'll make us some dinner," she said nonchalantly, as if shelling out an invitation like this to Olivia happened every other day.
Olivia stood there for a moment, just looking at her. "You cook?" she exclaimed as if dumbfounded that the ADA had any talents that were useful outside of the courtroom.
"Well. No. I'll order us some dinner," she corrected herself with a roll of her eyes, taking her keys to unlock and open the passenger side door. She looked back at Olivia, door wide open. "Coming?"
Going out for drinks with Alex after work was one thing. Grabbing some lunch together during their break, no big deal. But she had never been invited to Alex's place before, and to be honest she was curious to see how she lived. Would her apartment reflect the character that she saw at the precinct, or would she be another woman entirely? The invitation caught her by surprise, yes. And it caused her nerves to become just a little more intense. For what reason? Olivia didn't know. But she knew she couldn't turn down an offer to see how Alex lived. If it was as ridiculous as she had imagined, she was sure the guys would get a kick out of hearing it.
"Okay," she replied softly, sparing a small smile as she walked to the car and sat down. Alex closed the door once she was in the car and stood still for a second. She couldn't stop herself from smiling. She walked around the back of the car, unlocked the door and opened it. In the second it took for her to get into the car and sit down behind the steering wheel, she wiped any place of the smile clean from her face. Olivia Benson wasn't getting her as simple as that. Alex wasn't that easy.
The building itself was extravagant. High class. When Olivia finally got over the exterior and entered the building, she immediately felt out of place. She always felt out of place when Alex was involved. The woman was way out of her league in every aspect that sometimes she sat and marveled at how they had become good friends. The doorman let them in, the people behind the desk greeted Alex by name and when the elevator operator pressed the button for the top floor, Olivia knew that she was about to be welcomed into the best apartment in the building.
The elevator ride was quiet. But not uncomfortable. Outside of the courtroom, Alex was a woman of few words. She took comfort in the silence, instead of feeling embarrassed. She didn't set off a vibe that made Olivia feel the need to fill the silence with useless ramblings. She liked that she could be with Alex and just enjoy being in her company instead of worrying about what she was thinking during their momentary lapse in conversation.
The bell sounded and the doors slid open. Alex was the first to move out with Olivia close on her tail. As she paused to unlock her door, Olivia took the chance to look around seeing that her door was the only one on the floor.
"Top floor penthouse, huh?"
Alex turned the key and opened the door, motioning for Olivia to step inside. "It's the best," she said with a grin. She closed and locked the door behind her and turned around to see Olivia slowly making her way further into the apartment, studying her surroundings.
"So. Does it get the Olivia Benson seal of approval?" she asked, her hands on her hips, weight on one leg as she lightly ground the heel of her shoe into the floor.
It was much more reserved than she had expected. Less extravagant, less showy. It felt like a home. Everything was neat and tidy. Olivia was sure that Alex had someone come and look after the place while she was at work, but it felt like the Alex Cabot that Olivia was getting to see more and more.
She slowly turned around to face Alex and found her looking quite expectantly at the detective. Once again her deep brown eyes got caught up in the ice blue of Alex's for just a moment before they were ripped away and pulled down to pay some attention to the figure that stood before her. Jacket in hand, blue dress shirt, buttoned all the way up to right above where her chest swelled led down to a tight, black pencil skirt. It's length went to just above her knees, showing off toned calves. The entire outfit was topped off by a pair of black high heels that Olivia knew to cost more than a weeks pay. But on Alex, they were priceless.
The grin only grew as she watched Olivia revel in a slow appreciation of the figure that stood before her. Little did she know, most of the dress-up was for her. Ever since she started, a lot of the things Alex did became a little more intense just because of Olivia. Alex thought her silent actions screamed for Olivia to notice her, to pay some more attention to her – and she was right. All it took was a little change of scenery to cause the light bulb in her head to flicker on.
"See something you like, detective?" Alex asked after a few elongated moments, her head tilted and slightly lowered as she studied her over the black framed glasses resting on the bridge of her nose.
"What?" Olivia snapped back to reality. "Oh, yeah. It's beautiful, Alex," she cleared her throat, bringing her eyes up to meet Alex's once again. "Really beautiful."
"Is it too hot in here, Liv?" she asked coolly, setting her briefcase down by the door and kicking off her shoes before she ventured further into the apartment.
"No, why?" she asked, following Alex with her eyes.
"No reason. You just looked a little flush, that's all," she called back while she went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, grabbing two beers and removing the bottle caps and letting them fall on the marble counter top.
Olivia couldn't focus on what was happening inside her head. Not that she knew what was happening inside her head, anyway. She was having difficulty sorting out her thoughts as they all came and hit her as hard as a truck, one right after the other. She wasn't sure she wanted to sort them out, or even acknowledge the fact that they existed. Either way, it wasn't the time nor the place. And the way Alex had blatantly picked up on her gawking and sudden flush of red on her cheeks wasn't helping.
"Sooooooo..." Alex called out, her elbows folded and resting on the counter, "are you going to actually come in and hang out or have I frightened you off already?"
"Is that your intentions for this evening?" Olivia asked, regaining some of her composure as she emerged from the hallway. She took the bottle offered to her and settled back against the counter across from Alex.
The ADA took a sip of the beer and set it down on the counter with a smug grin, shaking her head.
"No. Not quite."