A/N: Thanks again to all of you who have reviewed this story and given feedback. It is greatly appreciated. Here is the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 7: Full Disclosure

"What do we have?" Olivia asked walking up to the scene. She found her partner, Nick Amaro, standing next to police barrier.

"Couple on an evening stroll found the body of a female jogger over in the bushes. You can probably guess what they were about to do over there before they stumbled on the body." Nick said lifting the yellow tape for her. "Vic's ID says she is Danielle Preston, age twenty-seven lived a few blocks from here on East 73rd."

Olivia slipped on a pair of gloves and moved closer to the body. "Signs of rape?"

"She was found with her clothes torn and pants pulled down."

Olivia stepped closer and got down to get a closer look at the victim. She shuttered. The victim looked so young and innocent. She had long dark hair with lifeless blue eyes. Olivia looked up as Melinda Warner approached.

"Hey Melinda, what's the story here?"

Dr. Melinda Warner stooped down next to Olivia and started giving her the rundown.

"Judging by her body temp and rigor, I'd say she's been dead for at least ten hours maybe longer. I can see wood chips in the skin here on her face and scalp. Whatever she was struck with was definitely wooden, a bat maybe. No bruising on the lower body, which is a little odd given the other injuries. She has ligature marks and deep bruising around her neck. I can't say for sure if it was the blow to the head or strangulation that caused her death until I get her back to my lab for a thorough examination." The doctor shook her head sadly. "Your perp really did a number on her."

"Thanks Melinda."

Olivia stood just as Nick was returning. He was trailed by Executive ADA Michael Cutter and they both had strange looks on their faces.

"Cutter? I'm a little surprised to see you here?"

"One of the officers on the scene recognized the victim and made a call. I was asked to come down."

"What do you mean… recognized her?"

"Danielle Preston is the daughter of Scott and Amelia Preston of Preston Enterprises."

Olivia blinked. "The huge cosmetics company?"

The EADA nodded. "The DA and the mayor want this case handled…. shall we say, delicately?"

Nick rubbed his face. "You mean quietly and quickly."

Cutter smirked. "Glad to see we have an understanding, Detective."

Olivia frowned. "Shouldn't Cabot be handling this case?"

An odd look crossed Cutter's face. He tried to hide it, but Olivia was very observant and trained to notice the things the average person typically overlooked. "Cabot is out sick. McCoy asked me to cover for her, so I will be handling this one."

An uneasy feeling pooled in the pit of Olivia's stomach. She had just left Alex less than an hour ago and she sure as hell hadn't been sick. Something was up. She just didn't know what… yet.

Nick and Olivia spent the next few hours canvassing the area and questioning the couple that had found their latest victim. It was nearly midnight when Nick yawned and started packing up his desk.

"Why don't we call it a night and pick this back up in the morning? There's nothing more we can do until we get something back from the ME anyway."

"Yeah. Maybe we can find out about her personal life when we meet with the parents tomorrow." Olivia said absently.

Nick eyed her for a moment. "Cutter said Cabot was sick. That was a little weird. Hope nothing's going around."

Olivia's eyes flicked to his but she said nothing. He stood and grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and slipped it on. "Well, I'm getting out of here. You should too. Maybe you could go check on Cabot."

The squad room was unusually quiet as Olivia sat at her desk alone. She pulled the square electronic key out of her pocket and turned it over in her hand several times. Finally making up her mind, she stood, gathered her jacket and headed out.

Olivia made her way into the posh lobby of Alex's building. The security was fairly tight, definitely superior to most buildings. Every visitor had to sign in and out and be accounted for and there were camera's that appeared to cover every possible angle. Some might think it was all a bit much, but considering what Alex had gone through in the past, Olivia could certainly understand her need for heightened security. Olivia made her way over to the desk to sign in and saw the evening doorman. She immediately recognized him from the night before.

"Hello… James." She said glancing at his name tag.

"Ah, Detective Benson, we meet again." He smiled graciously even at the late hour. 'Even the doormen are classy in this place.' She thought to herself. She was rather impressed that he already knew who she was. He stopped her before she started signing in.

"Ms. Cabot requested that I give this to you, Detective. It's a permanent pass to the residential elevator. She said you should be given complete access from now on. There will be no need to sign in. We'll be able to keep track your comings and goings through the passkey."

Olivia was surprised at both the level of security and at the fact that Alex had given her complete access to her home. She would have to remember to talk to Alex about that. She took the passkey and added it to her keys as she bid James goodnight. She leaned back against the back of the elevator as she made the trip up to the top floor. That nervous feeling in her gut had returned. She needed to find out why Cutter had lied about Alex and what Alex knew about it.

Olivia hesitated for a moment when she reached Alex's door. It was after one in the morning. Surely Alex would be asleep by now. 'Maybe I shouldn't disturb her… But she did say to come back no matter how late.' Olivia thought. Finally making a decision, she slipped the key into the slot and watched the light flicker. A moment later, she could hear the locks release.

The apartment was dark and quiet as she had expected. She closed the large wooden door as quietly as possible and moved down through the living-room and into the large kitchen where she pulled a bottle of water from the refrigerator. She leaned back against the counter while slowly sipping the cool water; taking a few minutes to collect her thoughts in the silence of the empty room.

"I'm glad you decided to come back. I wasn't sure if you would."

Olivia jumped slightly, turning to see Alex in the doorway. She slowly trailed her eyes down the long lean body on display before her. Alex was leaning casually in the doorway wearing a pair of blue boxers and a tiny crimson t-shirt with Harvard written across the chest. Her hair was pulled back in a loose pony-tail and she was wearing those familiar black framed glasses. The entire package was attached to a pair of gorgeous legs that went on for days and Olivia thought the overall look was magnificent. She took another long swallow of water before she spoke.

"I missed you… and apparently… I needed to check up on you."

"Check up on me?"

"Yeah." Olivia looked her dead in the eyes. "EADA Cutter showed up at the scene. He said you were sick."

Alex sighed and looked down at the floor. Olivia watched her for a moment waiting for an explanation.

"Olivia, we need to talk."

Olivia had heard those words before. She started mentally preparing herself for what she was sure to follow.

"Is this your way of telling me that you made a mistake and we can't see each other anymore or are you about to go off on another sabbatical in some foreign country? Either way, I'd rather do this quickly because I'm exhausted."

Alex seemed shocked by the coldness of Olivia's tone and a look of hurt flashed in her eyes. "Are you ever going to be able to forgive me for leaving, Liv?"

"That's not… Alex, just tell me what the hell is going on." Olivia tossed the empty water bottle in the trash with force. "What the hell am I supposed to think? I have Mike Cutter showing up at my crime scene saying that you're sick and that he's filling in when I know for a fact that you are anything but sick but I can't say anything because…"

"Because no one knows about us." Alex finished. She looked at Olivia sadly. "That is what I wanted to discuss with you tonight, but we got distracted then you got called away."

"Talk about what?" Olivia asked growing more frustrated.

"Olivia, where do you see this…" She gestured between them. "…us going?"

"Alex…"

"Because I already know what I want. I want to be with you. I want to build a life with you."

"You know I feel the same way, Alex. You know that I love you. We've had this discussion already. You're it for me."

"Good. That's why I can no longer work with you or the special victims unit."

"What? Why?!" Olivia was outraged.

Alex sighed and moved across the kitchen. She gave Olivia a soft kiss on the lips before taking her by the hand. "Come with me." When Olivia hesitated, Alex tugged on her hand again. "Please."

Olivia dutifully followed as Alex led them through the living room, up the stairs past several other rooms until they reached a set of double doors. Olivia looked around and realized they had entered Alex's bedroom. Alex pulled her over to the bed pushing her to sit on the edge. She sat down next to the detective and took her hand.

"Olivia, if we are going to make this work, we are going to have to disclose our relationship to the DA which means I can no longer work with you."

Olivia blinked trying to process what Alex was saying. "I get the disclosure. I've been down this road but why can't you continue to work with the unit?"

"All it would take is one sleazy defense attorney to accuse you of falsifying evidence or giving false testimony to strengthen your girlfriend's case. It would only take one judge to give the claim merit then every case we've ever worked on together would be called into question. SVU would be bombarded with appeals from every sick bastard we've ever put away."

"You can't be sure that will happen."

"Even if we were lucky and it didn't, I would never be able to call you as a witness or allow you to execute a search warrant for me or anything else. Not to mention, you would become a walking target for IAB. I could never put you in that position."

Everything began to become clearer to Olivia. "That's why you called Cutter tonight."

"I knew when you left that I would probably get a call, but I didn't think it would be so soon. I thought I'd have at least until tomorrow before I would need to be directly involved. I thought I would have time to talk to you first but…"

"But our vic turned out to be high profile which changed the game." Olivia finished.

Alex nodded. "When they called me tonight, I knew I could not be involved in this case in any way because of my relationship with you. I called Cutter and told him I had reason to believe there would be a conflict of interest and that I would discuss it with the DA tomorrow. He said he'd handle it. As of right now, I'm out sick until further notice."

"So… what does all this mean for you if we disclose?"

Alex shrugged. "If you're in agreement, I will inform McCoy of the change in our relationship and ask for reassignment. It's really up to him where he puts me or if he puts me anywhere at all."

Olivia's eyes widened and she stood. Alex watched her start to pace in agitation. "You mean you could lose your job?! He can't do that… can he?"

Alex smiled sadly and shrugged her shoulders again. "Not on those grounds, but you and I both know there is a pecking order in the DA's office. Jack McCoy is the District Attorney. If he wants me gone, there are ways he can make that happen."

"But that's not right. That's bullshit!"

Alex stepped into Olivia's path stopping her pacing. She grabbed her hands and pulled her back to the bed. "Calm down. We haven't even come to that yet. That's the worst case scenario. I really doubt that he'll ask me to resign. McCoy and I don't always see eye to eye but he's not a complete idiot. He knows I'm one of the best prosecutors in the city. My guess is he'll send me back to Appeals until he figures out what he wants to do with me."

Olivia frowned. "You hated Appeals."

Alex chuckled. "Yeah, I really did."

"I could ask for a transfer." Olivia said after a long moment of silence. "I could go back to Computer Crimes, that way you could stay with SVU and..."

Alex shook her head immediately. "Absolutely not. That deal is not on the table, Detective."

"Why not? You're willing to give up your job for me."

"Because SVU is not just a job to you, Liv. It's a part of who you are… a part I happen to love very much." Alex turned and cupped Olivia's face. "SVU is what you're meant to do. It's your calling, sweetheart."

"But what about you?" Olivia asked sounding almost like a wounded child.

"My calling is the law. I can practice that anywhere…" She smirked. "… even in the bowels of Appeals court. Besides, if he asks me to resign I can always join Serena's firm. She's been asking me to for years or I can do pro bono work for the Cabot Foundation." She grinned wryly. "I'm almost positive I can get a job there."

Olivia sighed and flopped back on the bed. She stared up at the elaborate molding of the high ceiling. She pulled Alex down to lie against her chest. "Are you sure this is what you really want? There's no going back after this."

"I can live with a new job, Olivia. I can't live without you… not anymore. The question is, is this what you really want?"

"If you want to tell the world that you love me and that you belong to me, who am I to argue, Counselor?"

"Good." Alex squeezed her around the waist and kissed her neck. "Because you're mine." With one final kiss, Alex sat up. "And you're also exhausted, Detective. Get out of those clothes and let's get some sleep."

Olivia smirked. "You're trying to get me out of my clothes already? What happened to all that courting business?"

Alex ignored her and crossed the room to a spacious walk-in closet. She came back and tossed a clean NYPD t-shirt and a new pair of boxers on the bed.

Olivia raised a brow at the shirt. "This looks very familiar."

Alex blushed. "Yeah. I might have borrowed that from you a few years ago when I stayed over."

"Borrowed usually means you give it back." Olivia fingered the shirt. "I wondered where this went off to and you've had it all this time."

"It's my favorite so don't get any ideas about getting it back, Detective."

Olivia shook her head and laughed. "Anybody ever tell you that you're bossy?"

"Of course not. I'm Alexandra Cabot. No one says things to my face; everyone except you that is." She said with a laugh. She pointed over her shoulder. "The shower is just through there."

"Is that your way of saying I stink, Counselor?"

"No. You always smell absolutely divine."

Olivia snorted. "You're delusional."

"But you've been at a crime scene for hours. If I recall correctly, you always feel the need to shower at the end of the night when you've seen that."

Olivia smiled softly. That was something she had mentioned years ago when Alex once asked how she dealt with seeing such brutality. "You remembered?"

Alex just shrugged shyly and pushed her off into the bathroom. "I have a good memory when it comes to you."

Fifteen minutes later, a freshly scrubbed Olivia flicked off the side lamp and slipped into bed next to Alex. Alex turned over and snuggled into her arms. Olivia placed a kiss on her forehead. This was heaven.

"Goodnight Sweetheart."

"Sweet Dreams, Detective."

It would be a while before Olivia fell into a restful sleep. Although she and Alex had decided on moving forward together, she was still worried about what tomorrow would bring and how it would affect their new relationship.

TBC...