Author's note: Thank you for the awesome reviews, everyone. I apologize if the last chapter was a little dull. I didn't want this story to be all about their personal lives. I do try my best to write in a similar format to the show, so courtroom and squadroom drama is essential. This next chapter should more than make up for it. I can't wait to see what everyone thinks. I had fun writing this chapter.
Casey sat alone at her favorite booth in her favorite restaurant. The server had been by three times in the last hour to ask if she was ready to order, and Casey continued to say no each time. She had run through a million excuses for Olivia being late, and not calling. She was stuck in traffic. She was busy in an interrogation, or in a high speed chase. She was in a meeting. But by now, she had run out of excuses, and patience.
The server cleared her throat, jolting Casey from her thoughts. "Would you like some more tea?" she asked, her impatience practically palpable. As Casey nodded silently, the server poured her a fresh glass of iced tea, placing a little bowl of lemons beside the glass. Casey thanked her quietly, and the server bustled away.
Casey checked her phone to see if Olivia had texted, or called, or instant messaged. But nothing had come in. She sighed, taking a sip of her tea and dropping a lemon into it. When she realized she had been here for two hours and hadn't bothered to order any dinner, she sighed. Enough was enough.
Just as she stood to leave, Olivia rushed in, quickly finding her in the corner. "Casey, I'm so sorry. I know I'm late."
"Late?" Casey questioned. "You passed late around an hour and a half ago, Olivia."
Olivia sighed, throwing her coat into the booth and sliding into it. "I know. I was...busy."
"Busy?" Casey questioned. "Busy doing what, and where?"
"You'll find out," Olivia answered simply. "And when you do, you will no longer be angry that I am so late. When you find out where I was and what I was doing, you will understand what took so long." Casey opened her mouth to question her again, but Olivia held her hand up. "Drop it for now," she instructed.
Casey sighed. "Alright," she murmured, staring at the lemon swimming in her tea for a moment.
"Any word from Buchanan?"
Casey shook her head. "No. Not that he had much of a chance. I had to get back to the office pretty quickly after the hearing, so I didn't have time to wait around for a million questions from the resident worm. I do look forward to whatever amusing motion he comes up with next. Maybe he'll claim arresting his client was unconstitutional...or that his client has some disorder that makes him confuse his apartment with everyone else's."
Olivia smiled, reaching for a roll and placing it on her bowl. Choosing a plain butter from the dish, she opened it, sliced the roll, and quickly buttered it. "Do you know how difficult it is to stand in the same room as you and act as if nothing has changed?" she asked.
"I do know," Casey replied, looking down at her own plain, uneaten roll. "Standing in front of you, I had everything I could do to not think about everything we have done and said that we have never done and said when we were friends. And standing in the conference room together, after the hearing was torture. I have never quite been so aware of those cameras as I was in that moment," she admitted, her gaze dropping from Olivia to her plate.
Olivia nodded, reaching across the table and gently taking Casey's hand in hers. "It was difficult for me too. I wanted to kiss you, to congratulate you, to do everything I can never do in public without being questioned. But that was earlier. That was the courthouse. This is now, in a restaurant where no one would think to look for us. Casey, no one is here," she murmured, reassuringly brushing her fingers over Casey's skin. "We don't have to hide here."
"I know," Casey answered, but her hesitation still burbled beneath the surface, like a potion threatening to spill over the edges of a cauldron. When had Olivia, often thought of as the biggest prude of all, become so willing to display their affection in public? When had Olivia, of all people, become the most loving one? "Olivia, how do you think people will react when they find out?" she asked, meeting Olivia's gaze across the table.
"What do you mean?" Olivia asked.
"Are you ready to order?" Casey and Olivia both jumped as the waitress interrupted them. She looked at Olivia for a moment. "What would you like to drink, Ma'am?"
Olivia sighed. "Just coffee, please. No creamer. And I do believe we are ready to order. Casey?"
Casey nodded after a moment. "Yeah, I'm ready." She closed her menu and handed it to the server. "I would like the Swiss dark chocolate stuffed French toast, please. If you could make sure that the bacon that comes with that is on a separate plate and extra crispy, that would be fantastic. And leave the bananas off, please. Thank you."
The server nodded, quickly jotting everything down. She turned to Olivia, who smiled, not even bothering to check her own menu. "I'll have the avocado and corn chicken salad with extra avocados and light lime juice. I would also like a side of crab legs, please."
Once the server was gone, Olivia sighed, folding her hands on the table and looking at Casey. "Since when do you like dark chocolate?"
"Since my tastebuds have taken on a life of their own," Casey answered. She stirred an extra sugar into her tea, watching the ice cubes in the glass swirl mindlessly. She sighed, shaking her head. "Olivia, I'm scared," she murmured. "We told our bosses about us today, but what about the rest of the world? There's always going to be someone who has a problem with our marriage, whether because of our jobs, or just because of our genders. When we go out in public, there's always going to be that one person staring daggers at us, hoping we drop dead, or worse. And then there's going to be people like Buchanan and other defense attorneys, who will try to use our relationship to discredit us."
"Casey," Olivia said quietly. "We already talked about this. I'm not ashamed to be seen with you, because I don't care what other people think. It doesn't matter to me if some Bible thumper is on the streets protesting my lifestyle as I walk by, because I love you, and that's what matters. As for defense attorneys who may try to discredit us, was that not the purpose of our full disclosure? We just need to prove that our marriage will have no effect on our jobs, and no one could ever say anything against it."
Casey gently pulled her hand away, dropping it to her lap. "I know that," she answered. And they had already had this discussion on many occasions, but after court, after seeing Buchanan use something as simple as a taped confession to try to get his client freed, she could only imagine the whispers that would ripple through the courthouse. "Have you heard that Sergeant Benson is sleeping with an ADA in the Manhattan District Attorney's office? I seriously doubt things are as by the book as they say..." Casey could practically hear the whispers now.
She sighed, finally cutting her roll into pieces and slowly popping an unbuttered piece into her mouth. She chewed the dry, unappetizing dough silently in an effort to end the conversation. She could practically feel Olivia's concern burrowing into her. "How do you handle it, Olivia?" she asked, despite herself.
"I handle it," Olivia answered simply. "I don't pretend to be an expert on this sort of thing, since I have never been in a long term relationship with a coworker, or anyone in the past couple of decades. But I have reached a point where I am not afraid to be seen out in public with a woman. People are going to whisper, whether I am with someone or not. That's the nature of our jobs, Casey. That's the nature of being a human being. It takes time to get used to it, but I promise that you will. I say this a thousand times a day, but I love you, and that is the one thing that matters to me, regardless of what anyone else may say. Okay?"
Casey smiled softly. Olivia's words had, in truth, made her feel a little better. She was still getting used to even being with a woman, whether at home or in public, but she also knew that time was the best remedy for anything. So she slowly reached across the table and smiled as Olivia took her hand again. "I love you too," she murmured.
Olivia smiled just as the server returned with her coffee. Olivia thanked her, blowing on it gently before taking a rather large sip. "Now for the grand finale. We have waited all day to discuss our meetings with our bosses." She looked at Casey curiously.
"Cutter approved, in his own way," Casey answered. "He didn't jump up and buy us a wedding present, but I would have been worried if he had. He basically put me on probation, saying he would only fully give his blessing once we demonstrated our ability to keep our personal feelings out of the workplace."
Olivia smiled. "I'm glad to hear it," she answered. "Cutter isn't known for being sentimental, so I am surprised that was he even that accommodating."
Casey nodded, sipping her tea. "And you?" she asked, placing the glass on a coaster. She noticed that Olivia hadn't bothered, just like she never bothered to make her side of the bed, or clean the unused side of the dinner table. Casey supposed she would have to get used to those things once they were married. "How did your meeting with Tucker and Dodds go?"
"It went well," Olivia replied. "Tucker, in his own special way, congratulated us. I informed them that I would be adopting your baby so that we could be real family, and that our relationship had gone on for this long without affecting our jobs. Once I promised that it would continue to do so, Tucker and Dodds provided their own approval."
"That's amazing!" Casey exclaimed. "So our bosses have approved our disclosure and no one has come up to us demanding that we resign from a case..yet," she couldn't help but adding. "Wow." It seemed too good to be true. She had expected at least one of the bosses to disapprove, to throw another wrench into their relationship. She hadn't imagined that this anticipated complication to their love would be so easy to remove.
"Don't sound so happy," Olivia answered, pulling Casey out of her thoughts for the second time that night.
Casey smiled brightly. "I am happier than I could hope to express in words," she answered. "I really am. We have officially disclosed and garnered our bosses' approval. Potential conflicts of interest are no longer an issue. To say I feel as if an enormous weight has been lifted from my shoulders is an understatement." She had always hated that cliché, but pathetic metaphors aside. Mere moments ago, she had been terrified of facing the outside world as a couple. But knowing that they had officially gained the approval of three of the most important people in their lives was like its own security blanket.
And then Casey realized just whose approval would officially make her feel comfortable. "Olivia," she said slowly. "Babe, how do you feel about meeting my parents?"