Olivia's stomach growled. "Can we go to breakfast and think while eating?"
Alex wasn't sure if she'd be able to eat. "Sure."
The couple went downstairs. Munch left the papers with them. He was relieved that they didn't try to kill him; he could have stopped them. He should have stopped them. "Oops!"
When they got to the lobby, Olivia turned to go to the restaurant she had seen the day before but Alex turned the other way.
"There's a restaurant for all of the penthouse guests this way."
"But I'm not a …"
"Cabot for 2."
"Right this way Miss."
The restaurant looked industrial, like a renovated warehouse with multiple shades of grey and black. There were modernist sculptures and the tables were spaced out far apart.
"There were no prices on the menu," Olivia noticed as she looked at it.
"It came with the cost of my room. Get whatever you like."
Olivia was beaming at that. "I'll get the lemon ricotta pancakes, a side of bacon, and can I get some hash browns and a poached egg on top and coffee."
The waiter wrote down furiously. "Very well, and for you Miss."
"I'll get the butterscotch waffles with breakfast sausage, and can you make that coffee a carafe?"
"Very well."
"I swear I could eat this table," Olivia said once the waiter was gone.
"I think your stomach would have problems digesting it."
Olivia rolled her eyes. "Thanks."
Alex smiled. "So."
"So."
"We're married."
"Yeah, we are." Olivia couldn't believe she, of all people, was married. She would have sworn Munch would get married two more times before she ever got married.
"What are we going to do?"
Alex was the lawyer. Why is she asking me? "Is extreme intoxication grounds for an annulment?" It sounds like it should be.
"Probably." An annulment sounded best. A divorce would be unnecessarily complicated.
Olivia's eyes widened when she saw how fancy breakfast had been plated. She was just expecting a big plate of food on it, not three perfectly done plates with sauces smeared on the bottom and garnishes on top.
"This is the fanciest plate of bacon anyone has ever given me." It was topped with smoked paprika and sea salt with a caramel gastrique on the bottom.
When Alex got her waffles, she realized how hungry she was and started to eat.
"Oh these are so good." She cut into a waffle and butterscotch came out of the middle. "Do you want a bite?"
Olivia had plenty of food, but it sure looked tasty.
Alex cut off a piece and fed Olivia on her fork.
Suddenly a memory came back to the detective.
After they got married, they went back to the bar where Abbie got on a chair and announced the nuptials. They bought a cake to share with the fellow patrons and they all did a toast.
Alex sat on Olivia's lap and fed her the first piece of cake.
"The cake we had last night was good," Olivia told her. There's always that.
Alex wondered what her family would think. I was too drunk to remember my own marriage, but at least the cake was good. She purged the thought from her head as she signed the bill, and they left the restaurant. The blonde needed to call the family lawyer.
Peter usually had Saturdays off, one of the perks of being a partner. Who's calling me? "Bash!"
"Peter, it's Alex. I got myself into a bit of a pickle."
"What's wrong?"
"Well I … accidentallymarriedastrangerlastnight."
He didn't get that. "What did you do?"
"I married someone that I met the night before; I was extremely intoxicated. We both were."
He whistled. "Now that's a new one," even for me. "Where did this happen?"
"In Las Vegas," where else? "We're still here."
How fast can I get to Vegas? He googled it. Las Vegas was four hours away by car or he could fly there in about an hour. He'd need another hour and a half for getting to the airport, security, and boarding. Driving it is. "How about we meet for a late lunch, and we can go over your options?"
"Sure. 3PM?"
"I'm on my way now."
On his way out the door, Bash called his partner in crime Franklin.
Franklin had been enjoying his day off eating cinnamon toast crunch in his underwear and watching cartoons. "Franklin!"
"It's Bash. We got a case."
"Really?" What can't wait until Monday?
"Alex Cabot drunkenly got married last night. We have to help her get an annulment."
Franklin struggled to remember her. "Who?"
"You know, she got into that bar fight with the mayor's daughter." They had to help her beat the allegations, so it wouldn't interfere with her legal career.
"One Two Cabot? She got hitched?"
"Yeah, and I gotta meet her in Vegas."
"You, I want to come too!"
"I need you to research."
"No way. Get Haskins to do it!"
Bash sighed. "Fine, I'll call her. Be ready by the time I get to your house."
Anita didn't see why they were taking this case. "We're a defense firm. What are we defending her from?"
"We defended her in the past, and she pays good money. We do what she wants us to do. That's what lawyering is."
More like I'm the bitch who gets to do research while you two goof off in Vegas. "What is her problem?"
"She got drunk last night and married someone she didn't know. We need to help her quietly dissolve the marriage."
She sounds like a real winner. "What do you need me to do?"
"Look up Nevada's laws on annulment and crosscheck that with her file; find out anything that will help us or hurt us."
A photographer had come to the Alex and Olivia's impromptu wedding. He had been walking by and thought it would be a chance to make some good money. He sent the proofs to Alex's hotel room along with an order form. Hopefully, she'd want some.
"Did you want to go swimming?" Alex asked Olivia after they walked around on the inside. Vegas looked different sober.
Did I bring a suit? "Sure?"
Olivia went to her room to change, the first time she had been in it since the wedding.
Alex changed in her suite and they met in the lobby.
The blonde had a cute little pink cover up on. It looked like a cloth mini dress. Olivia just had her bikini on and a towel over her shoulder.
Damn she looks good! Alex wanted to drag her back upstairs now.
"Like what you see?" Olivia teased.
The blonde blushed. "Let's get in the water."
The two women went to the outdoor pool. Olivia threw her towel onto a chair and dove in. She moved like a swan.
Alex gasped when Olivia reemerged from the water.
Olivia smiled. "Come in in. The water's warm."
Alex couldn't dive so she cannon balled in. She had on a sky blue bikini. Olivia liked it very much.
As they frolicked, the two women started to get better acquainted.
"So tell me about yourself!" Olivia started.
"What do you want to know?"
"Anything, something you haven't talked about yet."
"I love Earth, Wind, and Fire."
"Really?" Olivia started to laugh. She did not expect that.
"Jerk," Alex punched her arm.
"They're good. I just wasn't expecting that."
"What do you like to listen to?"
Olivia was all about rock and roll. "I've seen Bruce in concert three times."
The girls talked about everything from food to favorite weather. They did not agree on the best summer food.
"You can't beat a fresh New York pizza. Tomatoes, ripe in summer, the sauce is better, the basil is fresher. Summer is made for pizza."
"Summer is perfect for lobster roll." A lobster grilled with brushed on butter, add a little crispy shallot and a green apple slaw on a buttered and grilled brioche bun.
"Pizza!"
"Lobster roll!"
"I guess we'll have to try this out. I'll try your favorite lobster roll if you try my favorite pizza."
"Deal!"
Of course, they fought about sports teams too.
Alex was a Boston girl, Patriots, Red Sox, and the Celtics.
For Olivia it was the Giants, Yankees, and the Knicks.
"I can't believe I married a Yankees fan. My family's gonna take me out back and shoot me."
Olivia was equally disappointed. "I thought we could have been friends too."
Franklin was excited. "I love Vegas. Great food, entertainment, I'm feeling lucky!"
"We're going to make money not blow it!"
"What's wrong with a couple of spins? You never know."
Bash was not looking to lose any of his money on a game that would never pay out. "Maybe I'll get a drink while you try out lady luck."
When they got to the hotel, they called Anita to see what she found.
"Well, in Nevada extreme intoxication is grounds for an annulment."
"We're good to go," Franklin told Bash.
"There's more. Did you know that Alex's grandfather left her a trust fund?"
"What about it?"
"She starts getting her payouts at 35 unless she marries before then."
"So she can start collecting now."
Almost. "If she stays married, but there's a problem." The trust had a provision that if Alex proved to be spendthrift, incompetent, or mentally unfit, the trust would become discretionary.
"What does all that mumbo jumbo mean?" Franklin asked.
"It means if Alex's father goes to court and says Alex is an irresponsible drunk who marries strangers she met in bars, then he can have her trust changed from mandatory to discretionary."
"…"
"It means Alex's father can try to take her money away."
"Oh shit!"
"Yeah, I'm e-mailing you all of the trust documents now. I suggest you actually read them before you meet your client."
Franklin and Bash had a quick pow wow.
"What are we going to tell Alex?"
"Let's hear her story before we tell her anything," Bash said. "Maybe it's not as bad as it sounds on the phone."
"Should we meet the wife?"
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."
When Peter called Alex, he asked her to get any paperwork she had from the ceremony and … "we'd like to meet your wife if that's alright."
"Of course."
Alex got everything ready. Then, she asked Olivia to come with her.
"You don't want to meet them alone?"
"They want to meet you, Liv, and whatever happens affects both of us. You should come."
"Okay, I hope they aren't too fancy and stuffy."
Alex laughed. "I think you'll like them."
"Did you see her?" Franklin questioned. "That woman's legs went on forever. I think she might have broken the laws of physics in that skirt."
Bash nudged him. "Clients at 12 o'clock."
"Alex!"
"Franklin!"
They fist bumped.
"I didn't know you were coming."
"Well, this jerk tried to leave me at home but I said hell no, let's go to Vegas!"
"Franklin, Peter, this is my wife Olivia Benson."
"Hi."
Peter took the lead. "How about we get something to eat, you tell us how y'all met, and we'll discuss your options?"
There was a burger bar in the restaurant.
Olivia was in heaven. "Can I get the cheeseburger deluxe with bacon and grilled onions?"
"Of course."
"I want that too!" Franklin told the waitress.
"Breakfast burger with avocado please," Alex requested.
"Fried oyster burger!"
"Coming right up."
Alex started to tell her story. "Well, I crashed this wedding that my friends had been invited to."
Abbie told the attendant that she needed a second chair because she wanted both of her girlfriends to sit with her. Alex was pretty sure that she had traumatized Kathy's mother beyond repair.
"And you were a guest at the wedding?" Peter asked Olivia.
Olivia nodded. "I was the best man."
Abbie introduced them. They became reacquainted at the bar.
"Excuse the interruption, what's in the folder?" Franklin wanted to see what they had.
"The wedding certificate and the photographs."
"Photographs?"
"Apparently, we had a photographer at this wedding."
Franklin started to lay them all out. "Don't mind me."
Alex and Olivia continued with their story.
Franklin seemed too preoccupied with the pictures.
"Franklin, pay attention."
"I am, and I think I have the answer."
Oh boy!
Peter and Franklin had a pow wow.
"What are you thinking?"
"What if they stay married for a year or two, long enough to make it look like it was just a marriage that didn't work out? There's no proof that they were too drunk to know what they were doing other than what they told us."
"You think they will stay married? They're strangers."
"Look at the pictures Bash. They look so happy together."
When Peter went back to the table, he saw a man giving Alex away (Munch), the couple holding hands as they exchanged rings, Alex with her friend Serena, Olivia with her best man (Abbie), the kiss, the couple dancing, eating cake, and sharing a toast. It did look like a perfect love story.
Once Alex and Olivia finished their story, Franklin started to explain the logistics.
"So you can seek an annulment based on extreme intoxication, but you might not want to do that."
Peter started to explain the terms of her grandfather's trust and how a drunken wedding and annulment may look bad. "At best, your dad is just pissed off. At worst, he tries to convince a judge you're too incompetent to handle your own money."
"What else can we do?"
"We have the perfect idea. How about you and Olivia stay married?" Franklin pitched.
"What?" both women exclaimed.
"If you annul the marriage and say it's due to drunkenness, then he'll have evidence that he could use against you, but if you stay married for a little while and then separate, you can just say it didn't work out."
Alex did not feel comfortable asking Olivia to do this. "You want us to fake a marriage."
"It's not faking," Franklin told her.
"It's reinventing," Peter added. "Tell your story again and we'll reinvent it."
Alex started with she crashed the wedding.
"Your friend Abbie invited you to go with her to the wedding."
She met Olivia and thought she was attractive.
"Love at first sight," Franklin added.
"When I saw her at the bar, I sent her a drink."
"You courted her and, she accepted your advances."
Drunk shopping turned into "You both were helping Serena plan for her wedding to your friend in common Abbie. Sparks flew. You got lost in the moment and you were so elated that you two got married on the spot."
Alex was skeptical. "How will this ever work?"
"Alex, you think like a prosecutor. Instead, think like a defense attorney. The facts are just a starting point. The truth is more fluid. It's like a realm of possibilities."
"Have you been tasting the rainbow too much?"
Peter started lining up the pictures. "What do we have here? A happy couple, a kiss, a toast, wedding cake, and as far as we're concerned, we represent a loving married couple starring two women in law enforcement who both decided it was time to stop running and settle down with a good woman. We got Hollywood gold here!"
Alex and Olivia took some time to talk it over privately.
"I can't ask you to do this."
"To do what?"
"To go on this crazy charade. I'll have to find some other way to deal with my father."
Olivia liked the idea of being married to Alex, as crazy as that sounds. She never thought she would be married in the first place, but now, she has a beautiful, smart and fun-loving wife. Maybe this could work.
"I want to help. You're a great woman and you don't deserve to have your father try and sue you because you got a little too drunk one night. You're my wife," Olivia reminded her. "That means til death does us part."
"What if you get sick of me?"
"I haven't yet," Olivia teased. "Well …"
"You jerk!"
"I'm your jerk."
They tentatively agreed to do it.
Peter and Franklin started going over the logistics.
"You two are going to have to move in together."
"But she lives in Boston?"
"Actually, I'm moving to New York soon."
"Really? Why?"
She had planned on moving to New York out of law school, but her mother got sick, so she came back home. "My mom's in remission, and I got an offer from the DA."
She had yet to get her final placement, but she was going to be in the Big Apple.
"That's great. Do you have a place yet?"
She shook her head. "We could find one together."
Olivia was about to volunteer her place, but Alex wouldn't like it. It's a fourth floor walk up. "We could stay at my place until you find something better."
Duh! Of course Olivia has a place. "Why don't we just stay where you are now?"
"I doubt it's where you would choose to live. I got it because it's cheap."
"If it's yours, I'm sure I'll like it."
Franklin and Bash wanted to talk to all of the wedding's witnesses, to make sure that their stories fit in with the narrative that they were telling.
"Do you remember the events that lead up to the wedding?"
"Well," Abbie started. "I remember us drinking and shopping. Rena was on my case about when am I going to propose and I was like don't rush me woman and Alex was all, "It's legal in all 50 states what are you waiting for? They always do that. Gang up on me, blondes!"
"How did the two women decide to get married?"
"Olivia was all 'I'd be better at marriage than you, Munch' and Munch was all 'no way Liv,' and then Olivia asked Alex to marry her and Alex said yeah."
"And what did you think when they decided to get married?"
"Better them than me?"
None of the friends had been thinking that Alex and Olivia were in love. It seemed like just a fun thing to do at the time, but the lawyers were trying to turn the affair into a fairytale.
"They're seriously going to stay together?" Abbie thought that was a little nuts.
"They want to try and make it work."
"All power to them." Though Serena will keep nagging me.