A.N. Yes, another sappy romance story. A short story I've wanted to share for a while. It's crack, not meant to be realistic at all, and maybe lame, but it fills me with feels and I hope it will you too. Happy reading :)
P.S. Alex went to Harvard, but I didn't know that when I wrote this…so yeah this story is not canon-compliant.
The Proposal
Cragen stood in front of his desk with his hands stuffed in his pockets. "Precinct 39 in Boston went through a helluva rough patch. Half of their Special Victims detectives quit and there's no one tenured enough to show the rookies the ropes."
"What does it have to do with me, sir?"
"Lieutenant LaFrance is a good friend. I promised him one of my best detectives."
Olivia quieted.
"6 months at the most, that's it."
"...you want me to go to Boston?"
"The special duty pay will be worth it."
"What about Elliot?"
"We're covered here. That's why I can give you this opportunity."
Silence hung in the air.
"You can take a day to think about it—"
"No…I'll do it."
Alex's Office—6:20PM
She'd burned through six cups of tea, her latest record amount. Although, it didn't make up for the four hours of sleep she'd missed. But she didn't complain, those late night hours on the phone soothed her more than she wanted to admit.
Her eyes stung behind her glasses. She'd been fighting it all day, and now the evening outside her window drifted away. Three short stacks sat on her desk, each a different case. One ready for court, one waiting on evidence, and the last, a new addition to the clutter. She hadn't opened the folder yet.
On her legal pad she penned a pre-trial motion to dismiss. The client, a teacher shot in the classroom by a student, decided to drop the charges. The kid's family should've been happy. The case should've been open and shut. But now the family wanted to fight, saying the teacher provoked their son, driving him to his decision to use the weapon.
Alex sighed. She longed for home. Not just a warm apartment to walk into, or a plushy couch to relax on. Not that kind of home. No, she longed to sink into arms wrapped around her. To close her eyes and drift to the even melody of a heart beat under her ear.
*knock, knock*
Her door opened, but she didn't look over.
"Hey." Elliot said as he stepped into her office.
"What's up Elliot?"
Alex didn't look at him once.
"Team's going out for drinks. You should come."
"Thank you, but I'd like to finish this paperwork tonight." She finally looked up with a soft smile.
"You look beat, counselor."
Alex sucked her teeth behind an incredulous smile. "What a lovely thing to hear, Elliot. We can always count on you to lift spirits." Alex said, then sat back in her chair with an acquiescent sigh. Elliot could hardly offend her. In fact, she valued his "tell it like it is" attitude. He wasn't afraid to say the things she was forced to hold back. "I'm…overextended." She pointed to the stacks on her desk. "But if I power through, I can get most of it done by next week."
"That's why they pay you the big bucks."
She smiled at that. Their relationship might've started out rocky and adversarial—Olivia caught in the middle, keeping them apart when they stood nose to nose, fuming with scowls and turning heads with their raised voices. They'd come along way in three years. Though rough around the edges, Elliot was a good man. He cared about the unit just as much as Olivia but he'd never show it.
"Sure you can't take a break?" Elliot eased further into the office and Alex yawned where she should've spoken.
"You've been buried behind the books in your office for weeks. Come on Cabot. Live a little." He thought a minute. "You'd come if Liv were going."
"Not necessarily. I've turned her down too."
The room quieted as Alex stretched in her chair.
"Just say it Cabot, you miss her, don't you?"
Alex sighed again and pulled off her glasses, meeting the smug expression on his face. "Where did that come from?"
"She's been gone for a while…and we don't see you in the squad room as much anymore."
Alex slipped her glasses back on and looked to her work. "It's been busier than usual, that's all." That was the truth, just not the whole truth. She always took more work to ease her mind. Staying productive kept her thoughts from wandering, and made time pass faster.
Elliot quirked a brow, like he needed a better explanation. One she couldn't give. She waited for him to leave, letting a few silent moments pass before she gave in and looked at him when he didn't move.
"Sure. Is that what you want me to say?" Alex sat forward and set her pen to the legal pad. She'd said too much and felt Elliot watching her. "She'll be back in four months. I think we can all hold out until then."
"Okay counselor." His smile said he wasn't buying her excuse. "If you change your mind, we're at Andy's."
"Got it."
Elliot left.
On the other side of the door Elliot pulled out his phone, clicked on Olivia's number, and started a text.
'Cabot misses you. You should take a week and visit.'
He got a reply within minutes.
'Cabot misses me? I don't think she actually said that.'
He perfectly pictured Olivia's skeptical smile as he read the message.
'Anyway, wish I could. But it's busy here. These detectives don't know what they're doing.'
'Sounds bad.'
'It is.'
Boston
The harbor breeze rustled through her short hair as she dialed a number and faced the sun's warm but dying glow; oranges and pinks streaked across the sky as the harbor sparkled iridescent colors, where it rippled in front of the horizon.
"Cabot."
At Alex's voice she beamed a radiant grin from over the roof of the loaner cruiser she leaned against, having finally fulfilled the police-officer-in-aviators stereotype. The harbor waves slowly rolled with the wind before her eyes, docked boats and yachts swaying with the gentle current. "So, you miss me?"
"Wow, he couldn't wait five minutes to tell you. I should've known."
"I didn't believe Alex Cabot would admit anything like that. I had to find out for myself."
"Well I do. So don't keep me waiting Detective, you won't like me when I get impatient."
"Oh? What happens then?"
"I kidnap you and bring you home."
"Then what?"
"I take you to my place…"
"And?"
"Liv…you know my work phone is being monitored."
"Right, don't scar them with the details."
A little silence lingered.
"What color are you wearing?"
Olivia chuckled at the strange question Alex loved to ask. "Is that your way of keeping this PG?"
"Just tell me."
Olivia heard the casual smile in Alex's voice and glanced at the sleeve of her button down. "Red…dark red."
"Hm, sounds like a date night shirt."
"I guess it could be. Tell me, after the dinner and wine, what would you do?"
"Get you out of that shirt—"
"Just the shirt?"
"Wait—No. Liv, I told you. Not on this phone."
Olivia grinned as another beat of silence passed.
"You're doing okay though?" Alex asked with a soft but serious tone and Olivia watched the horizon.
"I'm thinking about ditching New York. Boston's nice."
"What? Who are you?" Alex feigned her disdain. "The Liv I fell in love with would never."
"A town house on the coast, have to admit it's got appeal."
"We have town houses here."
With a playful smile Olivia scoffed. "Gridlocked by skyscrapers, greeted to sirens all hours of the day and trash in the street."
"Okay, you're scaring me."
Olivia chuckled.
"I need to kidnap you now, before you turn into a New Englander."
"We should get a boat. Take a break from work and sail on the water."
"Oh God I'm too late. If you come back in a Red Sox jersey and say Harvard is great, I swear."
"Hahvahd—"
"Liv, I'm warning you."
Olivia laughed a little. "But seriously, Boston's nice Alex. I want you to see this with me."
"Wish I could…don't stay gone too long Liv. We need you here too."
Olivia's smile faded at the sorrow in Alex's voice.
"And if you really want to rile me up…"
Olivia forgot her moping and perked at the suggestion in Alex's voice.
"…wear something blue…I like you in blue."
"Noted."
2 Months Left—Friday—11:45AM
She stood at attention in a BPD ceremony hall as the national anthem boomed around her, but her mind strayed to the little box burning a hole in her pocket. She'd been holding onto it for a month already.
Phone calls satisfied the short term need to be close to Alex but made her yearn for home even more.
Only call once a week. She tried to follow that rule but found herself breaking it over and over. Alex kept her up to date with what happened in her absence and stayed on the phone with her for hours after work.
'You love her. You've known for a while, haven't you?'
Her heart thumped eagerly in her chest. Herself as restless as her thoughts.
A night with Alex was never a fling. She knew something was different between them when they first kissed a year ago. Some force had their breath catching in their chests when their lips finally met, in what was just supposed to be an inquisitive kiss.
'I love you.'
Alex said it first, nine months into their relationship. She kissed Alex then, only able to smile in the thick of the moment.
I love you. The words were simple, but her throat tightened before she could speak them, every time.
She got close with "stay with me" but had yet to utter the real three words. Everything would change when she did. She'd fall harder, hurt more, feel more, and show sides of herself no one was allowed to see. She couldn't disappoint her. If Alex walked out and left once she found out—
What was left for Alex to discover? Her past? Alex knew. Her doubts? Alex knew most of them, never hesitating to reassure her when they surfaced. Her quirks? Alex welcomed them or faced them with intrigue.
Olivia's jaw clenched.
She was grateful for Alex's patience, but relationships always went to shit the moment she got comfortable, and Alex deserved better. She deserved someone who could make a decision without her fears getting in the way and destroying it all. Someone who could stay in a relationship like a grown-up. Someone who wouldn't weigh her down with baggage. Alex had enough stress to deal with at work alone. She couldn't—
'Stop!' Olivia scolded her own mind and took a deep breath. Nerves bunched up inside her and made her mind a chaotic mess, but she shut down the negative thoughts as best as she could and collected herself, like she'd trained herself to do over many years. On the other side of the mental frenzy, she knew what to do. Alex was the one.
The only NYPD officer in the room, she eyed the patriotically decorated stage. Two BPD officers in dress blues stood face to face. In the background their country, state, and department flags. One saluted first, and the other responded.
Just two more months. If Alex still wanted her when she returned, she'd do it then.
The officers put down their salutes and the audience applauded as both turned with smiles to the photographer. The retiring officer's smile big and wide. It must've felt good to be in his place, finished with his twenty years and still relatively young. He made it through his career alive and standing on both feet. So many officers couldn't say the same.
She clapped with the crowd, holding back the emotion burning behind her eyes.
If she waited to tell Alex, she might never get the chance, when life was filled with unknowns. Surviving to see another day was nothing to take for granted, even though humankind did just that.
12:30PM
The ceremony ended and she left the loaner cruiser parked at the BPD precinct, instead rushing into a taxi; a phone at her ear the entire time as she made hurried calls to different airlines, hoping one had availability.
The city passed outside the taxi windows in flashes. She didn't pay attention, having seen enough city to last a lifetime.
"I'm sorry our flight to New York City is full."
Olivia sighed at her fourth dead end call and sank into the back seat. "Okay, thank you—"
"Here you are." The taxi driver said in a soft Bostonian accent as the car slowed. "You know what terminal you need? I can take you there."
She looked out the window surprised by how quickly time had passed. On the driver's side of the car, a constant influx of traffic dropped off departees, and on the passenger side—her side—travelers hustled through the automatic doors leading into the airport.
"No thanks. I got it."
"You New Yorkers, always so independent."
She didn't have time to ask how he figured out she was a New Yorker, maybe the uniform once again gave it away, even though her overcoat hid her patches. "Thanks again." Olivia said and paid the fare with a soft smile.
The driver simply nodded and she got out, hurrying through the doors of Logan International. All the airlines were booked but there was one she hadn't had time to call. She prayed they had something.
She walked through the airport with a brisk stride, ignoring the stares her appearance garnered. At the Delta Airlines ticketing counter she stopped at the back of the line; herself the only person without luggage. Eight people waited in front of her, each one a rival for a seat that may or may not have been available on the flight to NYC. She eyed the counter as each person took their turn, her toes tapping in her boot.
If it didn't work this time, if she couldn't get a seat, it wasn't meant to happen. Not yet. Besides, she always had next week, or the week after to try again.
"What can I do for you officer?"
Her turn.
The attendant sized her pristine uniform and overcoat as she stepped up the counter.
Officer. The title struck her silent for a second. Being recognized by the uniform again felt...different. In Manhattan, working in plain clothes, the conversation didn't normally start with "officer".
"Hi, do you have any seats on the flight to New York City?"
The attendant sized her again with uncertainty drawing into her gaze. "Is something wrong?"
"No. It's personal. I need to get back today."
"Let me see." She clicked away on her computer as Olivia chewed the inside of her lip, inwardly hoping for a yes. Her heart thumped at the prolonged silence, and her eyes watched the attendant's face for the smallest hint of a downtrodden look, anything leading to a no. "I have a few on our three-thirty flight—"
"I'll take it."
"Any seat preference?"
"An aisle seat, if you can.