Disclaimer – I own nothing
Thanks for all the great reviews, you lot sure know how to praise a girl. Not my usual dramatics in this chapter. Tried for a bit of humour but not sure if I pulled it off, I'll let you and the reviews be the judge.
The next day was busy and Alex and Olivia had little time to talk in private other than a quick hello and a hug at breakfast before they were taken aside to do their statements from the previous day's adventures.
Alex, Olivia and Tyler understood the slow repetitive nature of statement taking. Tate got frustrated with the whole process quickly but finally got it done happily leaving the small office behind and striding for the mess, she needed to cook and the ranch hands were going to love her. So much for the weekend off though.
She came across Tyler, Beau and Olivia checking out what remained of her outdoor kitchen and discussing how they would dismantle it safely. Tate paused and looked at Olivia in her Western gear, realising how it just seemed to suit her, she looked comfortable in it.
Alex was less comfortable in jeans and long sleeved shirt but she looked super hot in it, Then again she looked hot in anything, and nothing. Tate chuckled to herself as she neared her friends.
Tyler saw her approaching and waved her over. As she walked towards them Olivia looked over and offered her a smile
"Torture over?"
"Yeah, finally" she sighed and nodded at the mess "What's the decision?" she asked
"Well the grill appears to be fine so we can salvage that at least." Beau sighed and rubbeded his cheek, "Unfortunately the structure is a write off and has fallen on the table"
"Ok, salvage what you can. Between Tyler, Alex and myself we can design a bigger one" Tate shrugged, sad to see it go but they could rebuild.
"Nope, keep me out of it" Tyler shook her head "Gonna be busy" she gave Olivia a leering look which earned her a roll of her eyes.
"No idea who with, I'll be too busy helping Alex and Tate" Olivia grinned cheekily and thread her arm through Tate's much to her surprise. "Come on Tate, we'll go find Lex, she disappeared inside a while ago to check her emails on her laptop"
Tate didn't need to be told twice, she hadn't seen her woman since breakfast. Looking back over her shoulder she waved to Tyler as she disappeared with her girl. Tyler looked a little flummoxed but knew she needed to stay and help Beau.
As they entered the mess they found Alex pacing in classic Ice Queen mode. Olivia had seen it before and smiled, automatically feeling sorry for the person on the other end of the line.
Tate however was stunned, the woman in front of her wasn't the warm loving Alex she knew. She was however pretty spectacular and she figured this was her court persona. She found it no less of a turn on.
"Wow" she breathed
"Awesome sight huh?"
Tate couldn't reply she was so in awe. That was until Alex snapped
"I don't care Uncle Bill" Alex stormed and both Tate and Olivia had a sinking feeling as they shared a quick look and turned back to Alex "No you listen to me. I am sick of you interfering with my life, I am 36 years old and it's my life. You have set me up with so many losers William but this last one takes the cake. A murderer who had a hired hit man, a hit man he gave the go ahead to kill my partner!"
"What!" Tate croaked her vision blurring and Olivia grabbed her and steadied her as Alex spun towards them, eyes horrified by what she had revealed. She had learnt that piece of information from Elliot earlier and had been livid.
"Tate" she whispered hurrying over to her rather pale lover and slipping into welcoming arms as Olivia took a step back to allow her to comfort Tate. "Look William, I don't care about living in New York, I don't want to marry because it's expected to produce an empire and an heir. I don't care about being the DA anymore and I don't care if the whole world finds out about Tate and I. Now unless you have genuine concerns about how I actually am and are interested in my life as I see fit to live it I suggest you not call me back"
With that she hung up on the man who had always been a second father to her and turned to comfort her lover some more, placing a soft kiss on her chin
"I'm sorry, not exactly how I wanted you to find out about that" she whispered and looked over at Olivia, grimacing. She actually hadn't meant Tate to find out at all if she could help it. She was kicking herself for not watching the door more closely. Olivia pointed to the door, asking if she wanted her to leave but Alex shook her head. Pulling back she looked up at Tate who was gathering her composure. "You OK?"
"Yeah, just a bit of a shock" Tate shivered "I can only imagine what he had in stall for me"
"Don't" Alex cut her off "Don't do that, it's not going to happen. We'll concentrate on putting Wentworth away for now. But more importantly we have to build you an outdoor kitchen." She grinned trying to divert her lover "I was thinking..."
"O Ohh" Olivia mumbled earning herself a glare from Alex and a chuckle from Tate
"As I was saying before the peanut gallery so rudely interrupted"
"Hey!" Olivia protested a look of mock outrage on her face causing Tate to chuckle harder Alex continued on ignoring them both of them as she took Tate's hand and led her over to the laptop she had set up at a table close to a power point.
"I have looked up some outdoor kitchen designs. I was thinking maybe, if the family allows it, you'll let me pay to build something big. The last time we sat in there on the night I got here it was a little crammed" she shrugged her shoulders "I was thinking maybe a stone and wood structure that can be opened up most of the time but we can incorporate some cafe blinds to enclose it when its freezing. We could also build a second structure to cover the fire pit too, maybe put in some permanent seating?" she paused and looked around.
Olivia was giving her the usual "here we go again" look and Tate looked like a stunned mullet.
"Sweetheart?" Alex asked "You Ok?"
Tate snapped her mouth shut with a snap and stared at Alex incredulous.
"That will cost a fortune!"
"I can afford it" Alex shrugged and looked at Tate a bit nervously "You um do know I'm rich?"
"So?" Tate asked confused and this had Olivia and Alex sharing an 'is she for real?' look. Tate caught the look and scowled "You think it matters to me? You think I'm with you for the money?" she asked incredulous.
"No Tate I..."
"Jesus Alex I fell for you as Miss Carsen, I don't give a fuck about your money, give it all away for all I care" Tate growled
"Stop" Alex held up a hand and Tate ground her teeth together keeping her temper in check "I know you love me, I never doubted it. I'm just not used to people not caring about my money, besides Olivia and the guys and even then it did take them a while"
"Only cause you threw it in our faces a few times Lex. Getting the 'favours' you were owed" Olivia grumbled before turning back to the pictures on the screen that Alex had brought up, leaving them to the spat.
"Shut it Benson" Alex replied playfully, earning a finger before turning back to a now slightly mollified Tate "I'll be keeping the money, always handy for a rainy day, besides which schools and colleges aren't cheap these days"
"We are not sending our kid to some hoity toity private school, or to boarding school in England or France. They'll go to the local schools and then they can apply to whatever college they want from there"
They both turned to look at Olivia who had made a strangled noise behind them to see her staring at them like they had grown two heads.
"What?" Alex asked
"Kids?" Olivia croaked
"So? I'm 36. We want kids" Alex bit her lip as Olivia struggled but eventually couldn't hold in her laughter any more. Olivia scowled "Relax aunty Liv, you won't have to change diapers for a couple of years yet"
"That doesn't concern me" Olivia paused and gave them an apologetic look "It was more the timing, it's only been a week"
"It's fine Liv, we're just teasing each other a bit. We discussed it a little last night and have agreed to re visit it in a year" she gave her lover a meaningful look and Tate winked back before they all turned back to the computer.
"Being around you two at times is like being caught in a hurricane. What are you gonna get? Calm before the storm? Walk into the eye of it or just catch the tail end?" Olivia grumbled
"Try being me then Detective" Tate chuckled which earned her a slap
"Want to try sleeping on the couch tonight?" Alex growled, then shooting a look outside at the noise that was going on frowned in concern. They were obviously starting to clean up the mess that was the outdoor kitchen. "I hope they remembered to turn the gas off"
"I told the Feds to do it yesterday" Tate assured, squeezing her shoulder gently, before trailing the hand down her side, smiling when Alex shivered. "Now back to the couch comment, it's my house..." she paused when Alex shook her head
"Co inhabitation means it's now our house" Alex smiled cheekily.
"Damn lawyers" Tate grumbled and Olivia chuckled
"Good luck my friend" she said just as there was a resounding crash outside and lots of yelling. They all looked at each other startled. Then there was a mad rush for the door as they raced outside and around the Mess hall to see what little of what was left of the outside kitchen totally razed to the ground.
"Well hell" Tate growled as Tyler turned to them with and angry glare and then pointed the finger at a sheepish Beau.
"Ummm sorry?" Beau tried and Tyler shot him another glare.
"Well then I guess we'll need to start from scratch" Alex smiled and tried to lighten the situation "I have just the thing in mind too, you'll love it, nice and spacious and won't break my bank account" she took her lovers hand and gently started to lead Tate, who was looking at the devastated kitchen in shock, back towards the Mess door.
She shot a pointed look at Tyler and Beau as they rounded the corner. Olivia stood still, continuing to stare between Tyler and Beau. She was incredulous, what the hell had they done? Tyler recognised the look and knew she needed to speak up to defend herself before she totally got in the shit.
"Baby..."
"Not a word Tyler" Olivia growled
"But it wasn't my fault" Tyler whined. Olivia gave an un-lady like snort and turned to Beau who was smirking
"Wipe that smile off your face and fix it Gates, preferably without pulling the Mess down around our ears" she growled "You have no idea the monster you just created, Alex is going to have a ball with this. You're going to end up with some grand kitchen that could feed an army, no expense spared. Not to mention anything else she can get away with"
"Not complaining" Tyler grinned, the smile fled when Olivia shot her a glare
"A ha, I'll remind you of that when she's practically built a country club out here" she shook her head and walked off "She'll have planning approval by tomorrow and will have a team out here by Tuesday, you mark my words so you better get moving" she called over her shoulder.
Tyler and Beau watched her go, mouths gaping before Beau turned to Tyler and asked worriedly
"She was joking right?"
"I bloody hope so Beau" Tyler sighed scratching her neck "Come on, thanks to you we have even more mess to clean up"
"Aw Ty, I didn't mean to" he grizzled as he followed her back into the mess he had created
"I don't want to hear it, you better hope I don't end up sleeping on the couch for the next few nights"
Beau gulped and hurriedly set about helping his sister.