Liz gives Alex the rest of the day off, and although Alex is unsure whether this is out of empathy or prudence, she's more than happy to have some time with Olivia to figure out what to do next. And, if she deigns to admit it, to let Olivia comfort her and hold her and reassure her that everything will be okay.
They don't speak on the cab ride home, but Olivia holds Alex's hand tightly in her own, caressing it with the pad of her thumb. It helps, a bit.
They go up to their apartment and Alex sits down on the couch. Olivia goes into the kitchen and Alex calls after her, "Liv?"
Olivia makes a face. "I'm making you your whipped cream."
Alex smiles. "Thanks, Liv." Liquid whipped cream was her favourite drink when she was younger – she had been trying to make whipped cream with her cousin one day, but it hadn't whipped properly, so they'd ended up drinking it in liquid form. Ever since, liquid whipped cream has been her favourite comfort food.
Olivia comes back into the family room, holding a glass of liquid whipped cream. "You know how bad this stuff is for you, right?"
Alex rolls her eyes. "So you tell me every single time I have some."
Olivia smiles and hands over the glass. "Tradition."
Alex takes a sip. "Thank you, Liv," she says sweetly.
Olivia sits down beside her and wraps an arm around Alex's shoulders. "Love you, baby."
Alex curls against her girlfriend and sighs. "Love you, too." She smiles slightly. "Or perhaps I would just love anyone who made me my whipped cream."
Olivia kisses her forehead. "So that's why you asked me to move in with you." Then she sobers. "We're going to get through this, Alex, I promise."
Alex sighs. "I did hurt her, though."
"I know you didn't mean to. A grand jury will realize that, too, so I don't want you to worry."
"She's confused, Liv. She doesn't know –"
"Alex, I'll talk to her. I'll take care of it, I promise. Don't worry."
"Olivia, they aren't going to let you near her. You know that."
Olivia takes a deep breath. "I'll figure it out. For you."
"I can deal with this. I didn't do what she said I did." Alex sits up. "I'll be okay. Don't do anything stupid for me."
Olivia gently rubs Alex's back. "I'll just ask her if Anderson said anything about you to her, that's all. And I'll explain to her –"
"She's just a kid, Liv. She doesn't realize what she said."
"I know. Don't worry." Olivia kisses Alex's forehead. "I promise you, I'll make it okay."
Alex sighs and curls toward Olivia again. She wants to tell Olivia not to make promises she can't keep, but she doesn't.
Neither Alex nor Olivia sleep that night, and the next morning, Arthur Branch calls Alex and suggests in a way that isn't really a suggestion that Alex take the day off. Olivia offers to stay with her, but Alex shakes her head. "You go, Liv. I'll be okay by myself."
Olivia looks uncertain, but she nods. "I'm going to talk to Lauren."
"Liv –"
"I know, I know. I won't." Olivia leans over to give Alex a kiss. "See you in a couple hours. Call me if you need anything, anything at all."
"I will."
"Love you, princess."
"Love you, too."
An hour later, Olivia's sitting in a conference room with Lauren. She doesn't know how she's managed this, but she's gotten extremely lucky.
"I don't want to talk to you," Lauren says, picking at one of her cuticles.
"Why not?" Olivia asks as gently as she can.
"Because you lied to me. You said Alex was nice and she wouldn't hurt me, but she did. You lied."
"How did Alex hurt you, Lauren?"
"She touched me under my skirt. And she hurt me yesterday, too."
"How did she hurt you yesterday?"
Lauren pulls her knees to her chest and starts rocking herself back and forth. "She touched me. She hurt me."
"Where did she touch you?"
"I don't want to talk about it –"
"Where did she touch you, Lauren?"
"Under my skirt," Lauren finally says. "Like before. She hurt me. Only mommies and daddies are allowed to touch you under your clothes."
Olivia sighs and runs a hand through her hair. "Sweetheart, no one's allowed to touch you under your clothes. Not even your mommy or daddy."
"Alex isn't allowed to touch me under my clothes, but she did. Damien says that's wrong and she's gotta be punished for that."
"What else did Damien say?"
Lauren ignores her. "I get punished when I do something wrong. Alex did something wrong, so she's gotta be punished, too."
"Lauren, what else did your stepfather tell you?"
"That Alex shouldn't hurt me and I don't have to talk to her ever again. I don't have to talk to you, either. I want to go now. Damien says I don't have to talk to anyone I don't want to."
"Lauren, honey, listen to me for just a moment. You know how when you do something wrong, you get a time out?"
Warily, Lauren nods.
"So if people think Alex did something wrong, she's going to get a really big time out."
"Good," Lauren says sharply.
"But you know what, Lauren? I really care about Alex, and I don't want her to have to go away, because I won't get to see her again for a really long time. So if she didn't hurt you, you need to tell me now."
Lauren starts to cry. "She did hurt me! I never want her to hurt me again, so she needs to go away."
Olivia sighs, recognizing they aren't going to get anywhere right now. "Okay, Lauren. You can go back to class. But if you change your mind, or if there's anything you want to tell me, here's my business card. My phone number is right here on the back, and you can give me a call. Okay?"
Lauren nods and takes the business card Olivia is holding out to her. She gets up and scurries out of the room.
Alex quickly moves toward the door. Serena is a bit early, that's not like her. She's usually fashionably late. Alex smiles to herself at the excuse Serena always gives to explain her tardiness.
"Wow, Serena. I might finally be rubbing off –" Alex trails off as she sees it's not Serena at her door, but two police officers.
"Ms. Cabot?" the taller of the two men says.
Alex feels sick to her stomach all of a sudden. "Yes. May I help you?"
"I'm Detective Phillips and this is Detective Carter. We'd like to ask you a few questions."
Alex starts to panic. She knows she has done nothing wrong, but right now she wishes Olivia is here to help her. For a moment, she's a bit out of her element, but she composes herself quickly. Taking a deep breath, Alex gathers her courage and steps aside to let the detectives in.
"Come in. This is about Lauren Davis, correct? It's all just a big misunderstanding and I'm glad to finally have the chance to clear this all up." If she's able to get her story told, she knows these detectives will understand.
The detectives follow Alex inside and sit down on the couch, one on either side of her, their faces dark and set. "We're glad to hear that, Ms. Cabot, but from the statements we received and the evidence already gathered, it is easy to see that it wasn't a misunderstanding." Detective Phillips raises an eyebrow.
"The evidence is circumstantial and can all be easily explained." Alex doesn't like his tone, but she can't keep the edge from her voice.
"We've heard that a thousand times, Ms. Cabot," Detective Carter says wearily.
"And so have I. You know I'm the ADA for Manhattan SVU. I'm not a stranger to these types of cases." Alex isn't going to let them push her around. She can handle this.
"You aren't a stranger to abuse, in that case."
"If you are insinuating that I am guilty of Damien Anderson's accusations, just say so." Alex has had enough. I didn't do anything wrong.
"Damien Anderson has been fully co-operative with our investigation," Detective Phillips tells her.
"Of course he has. Manhattan SVU is investigating him for abusing his stepdaughter and now he's turning it around on me. Have you never worked a sex crime before? That's what perpetrators do to deflect blame from themselves!" Alex can't believe these cops buy Damien's story. Anyone can see that he's coached his stepdaughter and that Lauren is terrified of him."Now are we going to get to your questions or are you just trying to bully me?"
Detective Phillips sighs. "We were going to give you a chance to do this the easy way and come in on your own."
"I am not admitting to anything because I did not molest Lauren. Now unless you have a warrant, I am going to ask you to leave."
"You didn't think we'd come without one, did you, Ms. Cabot?" Detective Carter holds out the warrant.
Alex's eyes widen as she reads it. "How the hell did a judge sign off on this?"
"It seems that since you are a lawyer for a sex crimes unit, they want to make sure this gets taken care of quickly. With your position . . . let's just say time is of the essence. And of course, we wouldn't want this to just . . . disappear. Or be covered up by our lovely bureaucracy. And with the evidence we presented –"
"All circumstantial, and it seems like you're already sure I'm guilty." She closes her eyes. "This is unbelievable. I would never do anything like this. I would never hurt anyone like that, especially a child."
"If you will come with us . . ." Detective Carter puts his hand on Alex's back to guide her to the door. "We don't want to arrest you, but we will if we have to. Please be civil about this."
"Civil? You're accusing an attorney with the New York DA's office of molesting a child. This is ridiculous." Panic is setting in. Olivia, where are you? Where is Serena? "I want to make a phone call. If you will excuse me for just a moment." Alex starts toward the phone sitting on the coffee table, but Detective Phillips takes her arm.
"You can make your call at the station, Ms. Cabot."
"No, I am making my call now. You said I wasn't under arrest." Alex tries to pull out of the detective's grasp, but he tightens his grip.
"Fine. Have it your way. Alexandra Cabot, you are under arrest for the molestation of Lauren Davis. You have the right to remain silent . . ." Detective Phillips pulls her arm back and encircles her wrist with a handcuff, then moves on to cuff her other wrist.
"What the hell are you doing?" Alex yells.
Serena hears the yelling from the hallway and hurries toward Alex and Olivia's apartment. She knocks lightly on the door, but when there's no answer she tries the doorknob and finds the door unlocked. She widens as she steps in and sees what's going on. Her best friend is being cuffed in her own home. "What is going on here?"
"Serena, call Liv! Tell her what's going on. They're taking me to Brooklyn SVU," Alex quickly explains as Detective Phillips leads her out of the apartment, while Detective Carter parks himself in front of Serena.
"Ma'am, please don't get in our way."
"I'm her lawyer. I have every right to confer with my client," Serena says quickly. She doesn't know what's happening, but she won't let her best friend go alone.
"Serena, don't worry about that now. Call Olivia!" Alex says, panic starting to seep into her voice.
"If you're Ms. Cabot's attorney, you can meet us at the station," Detective Carter says as he goes to join his partner.
"You bet I will be there." Serena glares at the officer's retreating back as she takes out her phone.
She dials Olivia's number and after a few minutes, Olivia picks up. "Benson."
"Olivia, it's Serena. Alex's been arrested –"
"What? Is this about Lauren?"
"I have no idea. I'm going to meet her at the station. Brooklyn SVU."
"I'll be there as soon as I can."
"They might not let you see her. It's only because I said I was her lawyer."
"I'll be there anyway. Thanks for letting me know, Serena."
Serena raises an eyebrow, even though Olivia isn't here to see. "I can't believe you're being so calm about this."
She hears Olivia sigh. "It's a bogus charge. I'll explain later. You go be with Alex."
"Okay. See you in a bit."
"Thanks, Serena."
Serena hangs up the phone and starts toward her car.
Alex sits in the cold interrogation room, her hands clasped on the metal table in front of her. She's trying to remain composed, but the handcuffs bite into her slim wrists and she has to admit that she's afraid. She's told the detectives that she won't speak to them without her lawyer present, so they've left her alone for the moment, but they'll be back as soon as Serena gets here.
She knows they're standing outside the interrogation room, watching her through the window, and she won't cry. She won't.