Disclaimer: As you all know, these characters aren't mine. They belong to Dick Wolf and NBC.

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Day 21: thesoundasitfell: Alex meets Noah for the first time.

Universe: Season 16

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"Alex?" Olivia says into the receiver, nervousness obvious in her voice. "It's me – Olivia."

Alex leans back in her chair, grinning. "Olivia," she says, "hi. What can I do for you on this lovely evening?"

Olivia chuckles quietly, thinking about how good it is to hear Alex's voice. "I was wondering if you wanted to do dinner tonight?"

Alex leans forward in her chair so that her arms are resting on top of her desk. Her brow furrows. With Olivia, dinner has always meant one of two things: (1) an actual meal; or (2) sex – typically it is the latter, occasionally the former. The offer is lucrative – no matter which meaning they're going with tonight – but Alex can't bring herself to immediately agree; she's so, so tired – tired of being Olivia's secret hookup, tired of hiding how much she loves Olivia – it's all so taxing. And so she almost says no.

But then Olivia says, "Please, Alex," and she just sounds so utterly exhausted that Alex's heart aches.

Alex sighs. "What time?"

"Seven?"

"I'll be there." Alex hangs up the phone before Olivia has a chance to say anything else and drops her head against her desk, sighing.

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Alex is consistently five minutes early, so when Olivia hears the knock on her door at 6:55 she is not surprised. She is, however, surprised by the enormous bouquet of deep-red roses that greets her rather than Alex's beautiful face – they're cheesy and cliché, Alex knows this, but she's so in love that she doesn't even care.

Alex lowers the bouquet so she can grin at Olivia, but the flowers nearly topple out of her hand when she sees the baby – a bouncing baby boy – in Olivia's arms.

Oh. She is so not ready to be a mother.

Wide-eyed, Alex's gaze flicks back and forth between Olivia and the baby. "That's a baby," she says.

Olivia nods, biting her bottom lip apprehensively. "Yes, it is."

"A baby baby."

"Yes," Olivia says again. "His name's Noah."

Alex nods. "Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant? Why didn't you tell me you had a baby? I would've thrown a party or…or…" – she flounders, searching for the right word – "something," she finishes lamely.

"Oh," Olivia laughs, "he's not biologically my baby. I'm his foster mother."

"Oh." Alex nods, the pieces starting to click together in her mind. "So this isn't a booty call?"

Olivia laughs, shaking her head. "No," she says, "definitely not a booty call."

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Two hours later, after dinner has been eaten and cleaned up and they've decided to move to the living room, Olivia falls asleep on the couch, curled up against Alex, much to Alex's endless amusement.

"Liv," Alex says, gently shaking Olivia awake, "c'mon, let's get you to bed."

Olivia groans, but she doesn't argue, which is a testament to how exhausted she must be. "You stayin'?" she asks, falling into bed.

Alex nods. "You look like you could use a good night's rest."

Olivia laughs into her pillow. "Asshole."

Chuckling quietly, Alex presses a kiss to Olivia's head. "You love me."

"Yeah," Olivia says, "I do."

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Hours later, Olivia wakes to an empty bed. She pads quietly out of her bedroom and finds Alex in the rocking chair beside Noah's crib, rocking gently. Olivia leans against the doorframe, her heart aching in the best possible way at the sight of the two people she loves most in the world curled up in the chair together.

Yeah, Olivia thinks, smiling softly, this could really work.

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