Olivia was definitely surprised by Alex's quick response to her proposal. When she had found the house she knew she would have to bring Alex here to show her she was 100% committed to moving in with her, but she didn't exactly expect Alex to say yes.
She could quite easily convince herself she was dreaming as she sat on the floor of their new living room unpacking boxes. Alex was somewhere else in the house but Olivia could hear her moving around and it was oddly comforting knowing she was close.
It had been a relatively fast process from Alex agreeing and then the moving in date. Elliot had offered to help but both Olivia and Alex declined, they felt this was something they had to do together. There was nearly no arguing and no problems with the house. Olivia was surprised Alex had been so hands on, work had taken a back seat as they sorted out the house together. Olivia had even managed to take a few weeks off.
As she thought about it she felt kind of guilty leaving Elliot alone to work with John and Finn on cases. She retrieved her phone from the kitchen and quickly punched in a familiar number.
Elliot answered quickly and she could sense the tension in his voice from the first syllable. "Olivia, what's up?", she sensed he was busy.
"Just checking in. How are things?", Olivia didn't want to keep him long.
"Oh just normal case stuff and I've got to do this thing for Al... A friend", she frowned when she caught him correct himself. Was he just about to say Alex?
"Okayy well if you need a hand let me know", she was definitely curious about what Alex might want him to secretly help her with.
"I've got to go Olivia, I'll see you soon", he hung up quickly to get on with the case but left Olivia realising she had a little bit of investigating of her own to do.
She found Alex sorting through law books in her new study. She didn't see her at first, Olivia couldn't help but smile as she watched her alphabetising her old books.
"Alex? I just had a curious conversation with Elliot", Olivia saw Alex try not to look too concerned at her question but the surprise was still evident in her eyes.
"Oh really? What about?", Alex barely looked up clearly trying not to give anything away.
"Well he's hiding something and I was hoping you could tell me", Olivia suppressed the urge to smile as Alex whipped her head up.
"I haven't spoken to him in weeks, I don't know what he's up to", Alex was a good liar. Olivia could not pick up a shred of panic in her voice or face. She decided to drop it for now, leaving Alex to sort out her books she went about organising her only stuff which was seemingly less impressive than 6 inch thick law books.
The week went by in a flash of decorating and arranging a mixture of new and old furniture. It hadn't been much of a holiday but Olivia felt oddly rested when she returned to work. She bid Alex goodbye as she dropped her off at her office and then hastily headed for the precinct. She hadn't tried to reveal Alex's secret again but the knowledge of it hadn't left her, she would just have to try and get it out of Elliot.
As always Elliot was hard at work, Olivia had spoken to him last night briefly to see if she had any reading to do to catch up on cases. To her surprise he told her she could wait until a new case came in to jump on to.
She barely spoke to him that morning, Olivia was painfully bored sat at her desk waiting for her phone to ring. Luckily it did around lunch time and her and a much less enthusiastic Elliot headed out to a crime scene.
It was relatively routine, a scary thing to say when your a detective dealing with a rape homicide. They were back in the car and heading across town to inform the family in under an hour.
"Olivia, can I ask you a question?", she had been transfixed on the rain against the window until he spoke.
"Sure", the way he spoke made it sound like he wouldn't be comfortable asking this question.
"When do you think is too soon to ask someone to marry them?", the question threw her; that was the last thing she expected him to say. It took her several moments to think.
"Erm I'm not sure really. Depends on the relationship I suppose", then Olivia realised maybe this was something to do with Alex. "Why?", she watched him closely.
"I was just wondering what your opinion was, for future reference", he answered with more confidence this time.
"Whose future reference?", she wasn't ready to leave him alone just yet.
"I have a friend who asked my opinion a few days ago", he had clearly planned an answer for everything.
"Oh yeah, what friend?", Olivia started to get impatient.
"A friend from my gym, a man friend", he faltered this time and Olivia knew he was in cahoots with Alex.
"Oh right, well tell this man friend of yours to ask their girlfriend what they think instead of asking you", she smiled to herself. She'd bet her next pay check on him calling Alex the very next time he's alone.
Back at the precinct, Olivia finally settled down at her desk to begin tackling the huge amount of paper work stacked up before her. For some reason she glanced up and caught Alex in a heated discussion with both Elliot and that Novak woman. They obviously didn't know she was observing them until Alex looked up and made eye contact. Gotcha! Though Olivia as she smirked and returned her sight to the file she was pretending to read. She could make out a scuffle and then footsteps heading towards her desk.
"Liv? Any idea when you will be done for the night?", it was a rather nervous looking Alex.
"In a few minutes I'm not getting anywhere with this", she began shuffling papers.
"Okay I'll wait for you. I need to talk to you anyway", Olivia rushed to throw everything away and then followed Alex to the elevator.
When the doors closed she finally realised what might be happening. When she got off the elevator and went home with Alex would this talk change everything and was Alex going to ask her what she thought she was? Marriage was a big deal, is it something Olivia is ready for? She had to physically stop herself from shaking. She realised that the dominant feeling was fear and if Alex asked right now, she would have to say no.