A/N I'm so sorry that y'all needed to wait this long for an update for this story. With everything that's going on in my personal life, I developed a writer's block. I'm just happy when I'm able to get something decent on my screen. Too much uncertainties makes me unable to focus and concentrate well on writing chapters. So I'm afraid I don't now when I'll be able to update again. But for now y'all have this new chapter to read.

Enjoy reading this chapter and as always all your reviews are welcome and appreciated.

Chapter 11

It's two days after Olivia has been shot. Alex thought that Olivia was sleeping and sneaked out the room to call Casey. Just when she sneaked out a nurse came to check on the Detective and Alex let her promise that she would try to let the Detective sleep while she was checking her. After the nurse went inside Alex calls Casey.

"Novak." Casey answers the call.

"Hi Casey, it's Alex." Alex says.

"Hey Alex. How's our patient doing?" Casey asks.

"Being a royal pain in the ass as expected. Driving everyone crazy. And she almost walked out of the hospital yesterday." Alex answers dryly.

"Just being her usual self I see. Well if she almost left yesterday I give it till tomorrow tops before she walks out of the hospital dragging you with her." Casey says.

"We'll see how long we can keep her here. Did you guys find out more about that crazy bitch?" Alex asks.

"No nothing not one single lead. We did get Olivia cleared by IAB thought. With that other officer and your testimonies Tucker had no other choice than close the investigation with a good shooting." Casey answers.

"Well that's good news, Casey. I'm sure Liv will be relieved that he dropped it." Alex says happily.

"Yes, to tell you the truth I was rather surprised he gave up so soon." Casey replies.

Alex wants to answer but they get interrupted by Olivia who's yelling at the nurse.

"Get me the damn Dr. in here now! I'm saying I'm fine and I don't need the damn IV anymore!" Olivia yells.

The door to Olivia's room opens and the nurse walks out of the room slamming the door behind her.

"Detective Benson is the most stubborn person I met in my entire life!" The nurse says frustrated at Alex and walks away.

"I guess that's my cue to go back inside." Alexsighs at Casey.

"Sounds to me that the two of you are coming back to NY tomorrow." Casey quips.

"Don't sound so smug Novak. I would like to see you handling Olivia when she's like this." Alex counters.

"Nuh uh. I leave that to you, Cabot. Go back to ourtwo year old toddler and I see the two of you tomorrow." Casey says.

"Yeah. Yeah. See ya tomorrow, Counselor." Alex says and ends the call.

Alex walks back inside Olivia's room just in time to see Olivia removing the IV from her arm.

"Olivia Benson! What the hell do you think you are doing?" Alex asks sternly.

"What does it look like? I'm getting the damn IV out of my arm. I'm fine and I don't need it. I'm sick and tired of this damn hospital." Olivia answers angrily.

"And where do you think we are going, it's too late to go back to NY now? You should stay here at least till tomorrow. You were shot for heaven's sake!" Alex asks trying to keep herself calm.

"I don't give a damn. For all I care we go to a hotel tonight and go back to NY tomorrow. What I do know is that I won't stay here any longer, Counselor." Olivia answers.

Alex knows that it's pointless to try to keep the Detective here in the hospital and unless she wants one of their big fights she knows it's better to do what Olivia wants, if she agrees with it or not.

"Fine, we'll go to a hotel. But you do as you are told to do and take your rest and stay calm. I have no problem getting you admitted to the hospital as soon as we are in NY, understood Detective?!" Alex asks warningly.

"Yes, understood, Counselor. Anything to get away here." Olivia mutters.

"God a two year old behaves better than you do." Alex mumbles.

"I heard that, Cabot." Olivia snaps.

"Good than stop acting like one and behave yourself like the grown woman you are." Alex replies.

Olivia knows she's taking it out on Alex and that the blonde ADA actually didn't do anything wrong. The Detective is just frustrated being admitted to a hospital and wants to get out of it.

"I'm sorry Alex. I'm frustrated and I'm taking it out on you. I shouldn't do that." Olivia apologizes sincerely.

"I know you are, Olivia. I know how much you hate hospitals. Promise me that you will do what you need to do and what I tell you to do and I promise we'll leave this hospital tonight." Alex answers softly.

"I promise, Lex. I can't promise I will do it without a fight, but I do promise I'll try the best I can." Olivia says.

That's all the younger blonde can ask for. The Dr. arrives at Olivia's room 5 minutes later dreading the conversation he knows he's gonna have with his stubborn patient. They argue for and backwards until Alex has enough of it and tells the Dr. that she'll make sure that Olivia keeps the promise she made to the attorney and that she takes care of the Detective. Relieved to release the stubborn Detective Dr. Patton agrees with Alex and tells her how to take care of Olivia's wounds and that she needs to rest completely for at least a couple of days and that Olivia may not use her arm for the next weeks unless it's for the PT the Detective needs. After Alex assures the Dr. that she will take care of that Dr. Patton goes to get the release papers and prescriptions for Olivia's meds. In the mean time Alex makes a hotel reservation. Half an hour later Alex and Olivia walk out of the hospital and take the cab Alex called to the hotel.

The next morning after Alex and Olivia got up and had breakfast they took a cab to the Cabot family's house and from there they went back to NY. First they went to Alex's apartment. Alex unpacked her things while Olivia was sitting on the couch with her back against the arm of the couch. When Alex is done she goes back to the living room and sits down on the other end of the couch.

"Well I guess I have to go the precinct and find out of my apartment is still a crime scene or not. If not I should go there and look at it myself. So how about we go to the precinct after lunch?" Olivia asks.

"Olivia, you need to take it slow. Going to the precinct and your apartment isn't exactly taking it slow. And your apartment won't walk away. Besides from what Casey said you can see it on the pictures good enough and that you can't live in it now or in the near future even if you want it." Alex answers.

"Fine we won't go to my apartment today. And speaking of a place to live, what am I going to do? If my apartment and everything in it is as bad as Casey says, not only do I need a new place to live, I also need everything new. How am I going to do that, it's not like I have 200.000 dollar on my bank account or something like that." Olivia asks.

"You could stay here. I mean as long as you are recovering you need to stay somewhere. You can take the guest room to sleep in and the second spare room to use for anything else you want to use it for. And as for your belongings, why don't we wait till we have seen your apartment or your closets to see if you need new clothes etcetera. Take things one step at the time. Don't you think that's the best thing to do now?" Alex asks.

"Alex, I'm not ready to move in with you already. I know that the shooting changed some things and I do love you but I still want to take it slow and take you out on a lot of dates before I want to do that." Olivia says answers softly.

Alex looks at Olivia and sees at the panic on her face that the tough Detective misunderstood her. Yes she wants to live together with Olivia but she knows that neither of them is ready for that yet, perhaps she is more ready to move to the next step than Olivia is but that's not what's important now.

"Liv, I didn't mean for you to move in with me. I know you're not ready for that, I'm not ready for that. I would like to go on dates first too. What I mean is that you need a place to stay to recover and you can't go into your own apartment now, that's why I'm offering you the guest room. But if you would prefer to stay somewhere else, I can live with that, as long as you do what you need to do. Take the rest you need to take." Alex says gently.

Relieve is clearly on Olivia's face when she hears what the blonde attorney means.

"I'm sorry that I didn't understand what you meant, Alex. And in that case I would like to accept your offer. I'd rather stay with you than with anyone else. Besides you're the only one who can put up with me when I'm getting cranky and stubborn. And of course hard headed. So why don't we go to the precinct after lunch and look at the crime scene photos of my apartment? And ask the guys or Casey if my clothes are still alright. If not, I need to buy new clothes. I don't say we need to go buy them today, I have clothes here from our vacation." Olivia smiles.

"That I can agree to, Detective. Alright how about I make lunch and then call Casey to see if she can come to the precinct too? I think she wants to see the both of us too, well especially you." Alex smiles.

"I like the way you think, Counselor. Alright let's have lunch and then go to the precinct." Olivia answers.

An hour later Alex cleans the dishes they used for lunch before the women leave the blonde's apartment and go to the precinct. Alex had called Casey and the redhead agreed to come to precinct too. 20 minutes after they left the apartment Alex and Olivia arrive at the precinct. Alex kills the engine and looks at Olivia.

"Ready to go upstairs?" Alex asks.

"As ready as I can be, so let's go." Olivia answers.

They step out the car and walk to the elevator. When they are inside the elevator and wait till they are at the right floor, Alex grabs Olivia's hand and squeezes it. When the elevator pings Alex let go of Olivia's hand. Both women take a deep breath and walk out the elevator and into the squad room. Fin is the first one who spots both women.

"Hey, look who are here to visit us." Fin smiles.

"Teflon and Detective Badass!" Munch yells happily.

Both men walk fast to Alex and Olivia and pull them into a and Casey heard both men and walk out of his office. Both with a smile on their faces. After Olivia is released by both men Casey pulls the brunette Detective in a hug.

"Next time you make a woman fall in love with you can you leave the drama behind? It's not good for my heart, Detective." Casey asks smiling.

Olivia looks at Alex and for moment they look into each others eyes silently asking if they both are ready to tell everyone that they are together. Both see the confirmation in the other's eyes.

When Casey let go of Olivia and briefly hugged Alex, Olivia takes a step towards the blonde ADA and looks around at the guys, Cragen and finally Casey.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing that we already had the drama in the years behind us then." Olivia says winking with her eyebrows.

Four pairs of eyes looks confused at the Detective.

"What do you mean?" Casey asks.

"You asked me next time I make a woman fall in love with me to leave the drama behind. And I think that we had enough drama the years behind us with Alex going into Witsec and leaving us to make the world a better place in the Congo, being accused of murder myself and Sealview. And of course all the fights we had through the years. I'm proud to introduce you all my girlfriend, ADA Alexandra Cabot." Olivia answers with a huge smile on her face and taking Alex's hand in her own.