Disclaimer: I own nothing except Calling and my OFC's
Alex sat on the bed of her room and looked around her. The room was beautifully done in a minimalistic kind of way. There was just the queen bed, bedside table, tall boy with mirror and an armchair by the window. All furniture was redwood she thought. The carpet was cream so as not to be overbearing with dark red curtains and bedspread.
Olivia appearing through their joined en suite brought her head up and around. She was carrying a pair of hiking boots that would probably be a size too large for her and a couple of pairs of thick socks.
"I can't believe you came to Montana and brought heels. Seriously Lex" Olivia shook her head. Alex rolled her eyes
"Quit it, I've already had Tate have a laugh at me, apparently I'm going boot shopping tomorrow"
"With Tate?" Olivia's eyebrow arched high
"Apparently" Alex saw the look Olivia was sending her and growled "Don't start Liv. Can't I have other friends besides you? We're not all suddenly turning lesbian"
"Why not? I recommend it" Olivia grinned "Tate looks hot in a baby dyke kind of way. I don't think she has that much experience so you could be the aggressor" she teased and Alex was surprised to feel her cheeks flame
"I have no idea what you are talking about" she mumbled and turned her attention to pulling on the socks Olivia had offered "She is a much younger former pupil who I happened to meet by accident and by sheer coincidence was coming to the same place I was"
"Right, How long has it been Lex?" Olivia grinned and Alex wasn't going to go anywhere near that one. There was a large elephant in the room, each lost in their own thoughts, until she finished doing the borrowed boots up.
"So, you going to show me around this property you seem to love so much already?" Alex asked to try and break the tension as she stood up from the bed. Olivia didn't budge though and Alex sighed.
"Why?" Olivia asked seriously and Alex didn't pretend not to understand, she could only shrug
"Because like everything else in my life, when things seem to be going good I hit the self destruct button and Fuck it up" she sat back down again and Olivia sat down next to her "Because sometimes I get so caught up with people reminding me what my mother's expectations were of me I forget I am not my mother. Because I get scared and before you ask I don't know why."
She grabbed the hand Olivia offered and held on tight.
"I haven't been happy in so long Liv. My career was shot when I was, coming back from the dead..." she sighed and shook her head "I can't explain it. Everyone had moved on and I felt like I was on the outside looking in. Alone. I tried the offered EADA but I hated it, then there was the thing with Robert but I'm leaving that in the past where it belongs. Then coming back to SVU. I felt settled again, once you started talking to me again that is." She looked up shyly into warm brown eyes and flushed
"I had missed you, our relationship, despite the arguments. When we fell into the same routine I got scared. What would happen to fuck it up this time? Something surely would happen. I actually thought if I got out of SVU we'd be safe. We could separate us from work. I don't know what I was thinking about going to the Congo, like that wouldn't put a strain on our friendship" she laughed humourlessly.
"We worked it out" Olivia told her
"Have we?" Alex asked "I know I screwed up bad by not telling you first, that you found out like you did. I couldn't handle the look you gave me which is why I walked away. You made me grovel later"
"As I should" Olivia chuckled
"I give you that. I've fucked up so much in our friendship Liv. When I heard you had broken down in some small town and it could be a while I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to spend some time, get to know the real us without work issues, build on our friendship"
"Meddle" Olivia teased with a smile
"That too, initially" Alex laughed "How dare you make the decision to date a woman without talking to me first" Alex rolled her eyes at her hypocrisy "Abbie set me straight very fast, but I was still determined to come, for our friendships sake"
"Well it sure was a surprise" Olivia chuckled
"Hmmm and not great timing I believe" Alex teased her friend and laughed when Olivia blushed "Callum took great delight in informing us. He seems a handful"
"He is, I had to talk Tyler out of killing him"
"Justifiable I am sure" Alex smiled and they sat quietly as they sat in their own thoughts for a while before Alex said "You're my best friend Liv, more than that.." she paused as Olivia looked rather uncomfortable by the admission "Not that way" she assured then scowled when Olivia sighed in relief
"I not quite sure how to take that" she admitted slightly hurt and Olivia chuckled
"Alex you're my best friend ever and besides being stunningly gorgeous I can safely say I have never imagined you as a lover ever. Not because I find you repulsive but because until Tyler came along 3 days ago I never even contemplated being with a woman"
"Why her?" Alex asked, curious for the answer
"Because right from the start she made me laugh, she made me feel comfortable, protected, feminine but at the same time equal" she smiled "I can be myself without worrying what the boy's will think, without competing. Because when she held my hand when we greeted it felt comfortable, right and at the same time electric. When I talk she listens, when she talks I am captivated" Olivia groaned "I sound like a lovesick sap" she smiled over at Alex and then frowned at her slightly dazed look "Alex?"
"Huh, oh um sounds interesting" Alex tried to recover while her mind was screaming NO NO NO. As she looked at Olivia she saw understanding dawn and groaned as a huge shit eating grin split her friends face "Don't say it" she warned and Olivia chuckled
"Tate?"
"I told you not to say it" Alex growled
"Alex it's fine, why are you so concerned?"
"Sometimes I am really glad you're not actually my sister" Alex grumbled and Olivia shot her a confused look "Earlier, when I said you were more than just a friend I meant you're like my family, no you are my family you're um like a sister to me" she admitted and Olivia was a little stunned, really? That was kinda nice. She thought about it a while, considering, before giving Alex a heartfelt smile
"I like that, I don't have much family" she sighed and Alex beamed and held out her arms. Olivia hugged her tight for long seconds before pulling back "Now tell your sister all about Tate"
"Oh no" Alex stood "I am not going there" she paused and amended "Not yet, let me just try and work through this myself. I promise I'll come to you if I need"
"Fair enough, just promise me not to use her Lex, she's close to Tyler's family"
"I won't" Alex assured and Olivia stood also and grabbed her friends hand
"Come on, let's go find our women" she teased and Alex groaned, she was going to be teased mercilessly. "How long you planning to stick around?"
"How long are you?" Alex counted back shocking Olivia and making her pause. Alex just grinned and pulled her out of the room.
After running into Beau on the way out and advising him of the latest visitor and where to find Callum, Tyler located Tate in the outside kitchen that Tate had requested a couple of years ago. If she was cooking something smelly like fish/prawns/lobster (on special occasions) or if it was a nice day then she preferred to cook outside.
So they had built her an undercover kitchen, complete with workbenches, functioning sink, fridge, and built in hotplate and oven. There was a 12 seater outdoor table off to the side. It shared a wall into the mess's kitchen and two brick walls about 3 feet high ran out at 90 degrees to make two sides to the area. Seating was added to the walls in forms of benches.
The whole area could be enclosed with the use of clear cafe blinds. That way it could be used all year round. Just outside the area they had a fire pit with circular cement seats surrounding it. They fired it up occasionally and sat around it to roast marshmallows. The whole area came in handy when they held their annual community cookout.
Tate had been stunned, she just wanted a bench and grill under cover so she could cook outside on occasion. The Gates family thought they owed it to her, as did the ranch hands who loved her food.
The chooks scavenging nearby indicated that Tate had already gutted the fish at least. She wrinkled her nose at the thought.
She was very happy that taking a chance on Tate 4 years ago had turned out well. Her family had reservations to start with as Tyler had put the then cook in charge of looking out for her. Old Magda had been firm but encouraging and Tate blossomed. When Magda left after 6 months Tate stepped in and they never looked back.
Stepping through the open flap she grinned as she stood back and watched Tate expertly roll a fish in silver foil and place it gently inside the fridge with the other 5.
"If you've come to help, come in. If you've come to stir, do 180 and head back out the door" Tate's voice startled her and moving forward she leant up against one of the benches as Tate thoroughly washed the cutting board and knives she had been using in the steaming water in the sink.
Tyler thought it funny that this 6 foot 4 inch baby faced dyke was now a good enough cook that she could have gone off to some fancy school in Paris and be earning mega bucks in Europe's top hotels or restaurants but decided to stay here and cook fare for 6 fussy ranch hands and her family. Not to mention anyone else who dropped by.
"What do you need done?" Tyler asked as she looked at the fridge "Seems to me you've done everything"
Tate shot her a look of disbelief
"You think 6 trout alone is going to feed what, 15 people?" Tate guessed the number
When Tyler thought about it she presumed not. That's why Tate was the cook and she was merely here to help
"Suppose not" she grumbled
"You suppose correctly" Tate told her "Go see what meat we have in the freezer. Either steak or mince"
"Yes ma'am" Tyler saluted "When I get back maybe you can tell me about your crush on the blonde"
"Her name is Alex" Tate shouted after her then grumbled when Tyler merely chuckled. Wiping down her bench she grabbed two large French bread sticks and started slicing them ¾'s of the way through. Next she ground up some garlic and mixed it in with some butter to make the garlic butter for the bread. She learnt from experience that the boys hated it when she added that 'green leafy shit' to it.
Within minutes the home made garlic bread was being wrapped and placed to one side. Once again she took time to tidy her bench and frowned, what was taking Tyler so long to find the meat? She needed it out of the freezer now, it needed to thaw. Dinner was going to be late as it was.
She heard the door open as she washed her latest lot of dishes after peeling and chopping potatoes and putting them on to boil, along with some eggs. She had chopped up some onion too and needed Tyler to race and get a packet of bacon pieces she left in the fridge inside.
"Jesus Tyler what took you so long? You have to kill the bloody cow?" she washed a knife "And don't even start on me about Alex" she growled as she washed the cutting board next "She's an ex teacher of mine who happens to be a lawyer, she's your girlfriends friend. End of story"
"If you say so" came a voice that was decidedly not Tyler's and Tate closed her eyes and prayed for the ground to swallow her up. Taking a deep breath she turned and looked into the amused blue eyes of the blonde in question "Er Hi"