When Olivia returned it was a few minutes past eleven. She set her overnight bag down next to the chair she would be sleeping in. She hoped that Alex would still be on the drugs tomorrow when she told the blonde she had called Donnelly and gotten her two days off.
She wasn't sure if Alex was asleep, so she picked up the book she had brought the blonde and crept around the curtain. She smiled when she saw the blonde still diligently at work.
"You really should learn to relax," Olivia walked over to the nightstand and put the book on it.
"Relaxing doesn't win cases," Alex smirked. She saw the book and picked it up, "Thanks Liv. I love this book."
"You don't strike me as a poetry type," Olivia walked back to the foot of the bed.
Alex shrugged, "There's no reason for you to know that I am. The only time you see me, I'm in a suit."
"So your suit makes you a lawyer?" Olivia grinned.
Alex chuckled, "No. My J.D. makes me a lawyer. Being a prosecutor isn't an easy job. If a defense attorney sees a weakness, I'm done for."
"Well, why don't I take you to breakfast after you get out of here and we'll explore the civilian side of Alex Cabot," the detective offered.
"If you think you're ready for it," Alex smirked.
"I think I am," Olivia crossed her arms.
Alex looked back down at her papers, "Good because something happened and I don't have to go to work for the next few days, so I'm free."
Olivia's jaw dropped. She immediately looked away and then back at Alex who was looking at her from behind her folder. "I-uh…How did you find out?"
"Donnelly called me after you got off the phone with her," Alex replied. She was trying to keep a smile from her face, but wasn't quite succeeding. "I appreciate your concern Olivia, but I could have gone to work tomorrow."
"You shouldn't," Olivia countered, "You never rest. At least me and the guys take turns picking up a case. You're prosecuting a whole island's worth of crime by yourself. I took tomorrow off too. I'm going to force you to relax if it kills me."
"It may," Alex grinned.
Olivia rolled her eyes, "Consider it payback for you and Elliot tricking me into eating."
The blonde deadpanned, "Oh yeah. How horrible of us."
"Well I appreciate you and Elliot being nice behind my back," Olivia answered. She glanced at her mother behind on the other side of the curtain, "Has she been okay?"
Alex nodded, "She woke up once and asked where you were and then went to sleep."
"Thanks," Olivia smiled quickly, "Let me know if you need anything okay?" She was still worried about her mother and how bad she had hurt Alex.
"Okay," Alex slowly took her glasses off, "And I meant what I said about this incident never leaving this room. As far as the rest of the world in concerned, I was hit by a cab that sped off."
"There's still your medical record," Olivia gestured to the clipboard hanging on the end of her bed.
The blonde slowly smiled, "There's nothing in there."
Olivia didn't believe it so she picked it up herself and opened it. There were medical information about Alex's injuries, but the part where it was supposed to explain how it happened was empty. "How did you get them to do that?"
As she slid her glasses back on she smirked, "I'm very persuasive."
"I didn't know you were that persuasive," Olivia put the chart back, "How many of your records have been redacted?"
Alex nonchalantly shrugged, but couldn't suppress a small smile.
Olivia quirked an eyebrow, "That smirk tells me that you've done this sort of thing before."
The blonde forced her smile down and answered in the most professional voice possible, "You can't prove it."
"I guess not," the detective stood next to the chair next to Alex's bed. "Any work I can help with?"
Blonde hair waved as Alex shook her head, " I don't think so. Just legal stuff."
"Well, it's almost midnight," Olivia placed her hands on the back of the chair, "You should get some sleep."
"Maybe later," Alex flipped a page on the file in front of her. She kept on writing and referencing a different file.
"I'll be over there if you need me," Olivia gave up and went back to the chair next to her mother's bed.
She didn't know when she fell asleep, but when Olivia woke up, she found Alex and her mother in a deep conversation about literature. Her mother was sitting on top of the sheets, already in the clothes Olivia had brought for her and Alex was packing up her work.
Serena smiled when she saw Olivia awake. "Good morning honey."
The teenager inside Olivia caused her to blush. Her mother using pet names in front of Alex was just like if one of her high school friends had been standing there.
The blonde didn't seem to notice so Olivia stood up, "Leaving already counselor?"
"As fast as possible," Alex joked.
Looking at her mother, she picked up her overnight back and asked, "Ready?"
Serena nodded, ready to followed Olivia out the door.
After they signed out, Olivia walked them to the car.
"Wow," the ADA grinned when she saw Olivia's Mustang, "It's gorgeous."
Olivia smiled, proud of her baby, "Thanks."
Alex deftly climbed into the bench backseat like she did it all the time while Serena settled in the passenger's seat. Olivia slid behind the wheel and started the car, the roar of the engine filling the interior.
A few minutes into their drive, Serena turned around in her seat and asked Alex, "What are you plans today?"
The attorney shrugged, "I was promised breakfast, but after that, nothing."
"Why don't I take you to dinner tonight?" Serena smiled, "I enjoyed your unconventional view of Bulgakov."
Alex smiled, "I'd love to." She dug in her attaché and handed her card to Serena, "Call me when you want to go."
Olivia didn't like where this was going. Most restaurants served wine at dinner and she didn't want her mother to embarrass Alex while they were out in public.
"Can't you come with us to breakfast?" Alex asked.
"I have to get to work," Serena replied, "but thank you for the offer."
When they pulled up to Columbia University, Olivia let her mother out of the car with a quick goodbye and took off again.
Alex climbed into the passenger's seat and looked at Olivia with an unmistakable air of distaste, "Why did you let your mom go to work while you forced me to take time off?"
Momentarily stunned by the attack, Olivia recovered and answered, "She stands in front of a class and talks for an hour. Plus she has two TAs and you took most of the impact from the fall. I know she'll be okay. I'm worried about you and your head and your back and your arm."
"I'm fine," Alex softened, "Are you sure she's okay?"
Olivia nodded, "I've known her for a long time." She hoped that the joke would lighten the mood a little.
Alex smiled and nodded, finally believing that Olivia wouldn't have left her mother had she not really believed she was okay.
They went to a small café that Olivia knew and loved. It was small and quaint. The kind where you could have an intimate conversation without being bothered or even have to realize that anyone else was in the room.
Alex frowned as Olivia fussed over her, opening the door, guarding her as she walked, and pulling her chair out.
"I'm injured," Alex told Olivia, "Not eighty."
"Are you sure you're okay?" Olivia asked, "You're moving a little stiff."
The blonde decided to be honest and say, "My back still hurts, but the pain pills are doing their job."
"Is there anything I can do?" the detective asked, genuinely concerned.
"Stop fussing over me," Alex held Olivia's eyes, "Please."
After looking Alex over, Olivia decided that there wasn't much she could do anyway. At least not while they were seated. "Okay. I'll try."
"So what's good here?" Alex asked as she perused the menu.
The automatic answer came out of her mouth, "Everything." Then she looked up at Alex and noticed the blonde was about to quip back, "I mean the bagels are great. And the eggs and the sausage. There blueberry pancakes are great and the orange juice is fresh. Plus the coffee is way better than the sludge at work. I usually grab some here on the way to work."
Alex smiled great, "I'll have that."
"Have what?" the waitress walked up to the table and smiled.
"A bagel, eggs, sausage, blueberry pancakes, orange juice and coffee," Alex replied.
The waitress grinned at the look on Olivia's face, "Do you want two or four pancakes?"
"Four," Alex answered definitively.
Olivia looked at the ADA wide-eyed. Alex saw this and chuckled, "I missed dinner last night."
"What can I get you detective?" the waitress asked.
Olivia looked over the menu again and sighed.
"The usual?" came from the amused waitress asked.
The brunette nodded and handed the menu to her.
As the waitress took the menus, "Maybe you'll try something else next time."
"Don't count on it," Olivia joked back.
After the waitress was gone, Alex looked at Olivia, "You really do come here a lot."
Olivia nodded, "And I get the same thing every time."
The attorney just nodded and smiled, adding, "So you're a creature of habit."
"I wouldn't go that far," Olivia added more as a defense than anything. She knew she was a creature of habit.
"Oh really?" Alex asked, leaning stiffly forward, folding her hands on the table, "Then it's a coincidence that every time you get coffee at the precinct you get the sugar and powdered cream out, then your mug, put the sugar in the bottom of the mug, then cream and then pour the coffee in. Set it on the counter, put the sugar and cream back, then get a stirring stick, swirl it around three time, stick it in your mouth then throw it away before returning to your desk."
Olivia thought for a moment, mentally making coffee before her jaw dropped open, "That's uncanny. I must do that a lot or you must be extremely observant."
"It's a little of both," Alex answered with a smug smile.
"How does Elliot make his coffee?" Olivia asked.
The blonde paused, trying to remember. The waitress came back and dropped off their drinks before walking off. She finally gave up, "No idea."
Olivia nodded down and realized she was making her coffee the exact way that Alex had just described and chuckled, "So I'm the only one interesting enough to watch make coffee."
"I guess so," Alex shrugged taking a long drink of her orange juice. She changed the subject and took a deep breath, "So, what are your plans for today?"
"Catering to your every whim," Olivia replied, partially serious and partially baiting the blonde.
She took the bait and focused her blue eyes on Olivia with the strength of a laser, "Then my first whim is for you to drop my off at my apartment and you can go…"
Olivia cut her off, "I was just kidding."
"Oh," Alex's glare alleviated.
"You're the most stubborn person I've ever met," Olivia chuckled.
Alex smirked, "I've heard that more times than you'd believe."
"I've heard Elliot say it to you more than once," the detective smiled.
"Say is an understatement. More like yell."
"You yell at him too."
"I don't deny that," Alex smiled devilishly.
Olivia was about to comment on Alex's love to argue when the food came. An elated grin appeared on the blonde's face as her food took up more than half of the small table.
The detective never thought it was possible for someone to delicately and elegantly devour food, but Alex proved her wrong. The blonde ate like she hadn't seen food in weeks, but still managed to keep her social grace.
Once the blonde cleaned her plates, she neatly stacked them and leaned back in her chair.
Olivia sat, bewildered and wondered where all the food went. Alex's stomach wasn't protruding in the least. She watched Alex stretch and run a hand through her hair.
"I've never…" Olivia stuttered, "You just…wow."
Alex smiled the smuggest smile Olivia had ever seen. "I'll take that as a compliment."
After a few more minutes of stunned silence, Alex grabbed the ticket and walked to the counter leaving Olivia still at the table, counting the empty plates Alex left in her place. Then she realized Alex was paying the check, she jumped up and stopped the blonde's hand from raising her credit card to the cashier. As she pulled it down she pulled out her own and handed it over.
Alex quirked an eyebrow, "What do you think you're doing?"
"Treating you to breakfast," Olivia held Alex's eyes for longer than necessary in a silent power struggle.
Something in the blonde's eyes was slightly unnerving. Olivia felt Alex was reading her mind through her eyes, then reaching a phantom arm into down to her heart and lightly squeezing her heart. Olivia wasn't quite sure how she had become sucked into the blue eyes, but she felt the light around her slowly fading until the only thing she could see what blue.
Reality came crashing down around her after a few seconds and her eyes darted away. She was disappointed with herself for not winning the stare down and for completely losing herself and reality.
She took her credit card back and signed the receipt. When she turned to leave, she caught a glimpse of Alex's smug smile. She won and she knew it.
"So," Olivia tried to leave the loss behind, "Where to counselor?" She had a sinking feeling that Alex wouldn't let her live it down.
The blonde smiled gracefully, "I'm game for anything detective."
Olivia opened the door for Alex, who stepped into the cold crisp air. A smile on her face didn't seem to go away. It was odd for Olivia to see the smile so much, but she felt it was something she could get used to.