DISCLAIMER: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and all characters are
property of NBC and Dick Wolf. I own NOTHING! I just mess around with characters for a while.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay kiddies this a Olivia/Alex. I have watched L&O SVU but I haven't seen all of them. This is from my mind and I realize that some of the events are weird but I have made few adjustments to my liking. I saw in one episode that Olivia's mother died. I'm keeping her alive, she does drink but she doesn't drink to a drunken state everyday. Also in my story, Olivia is 33, Alex is 31, Elliot, and the rest of the guys' ages I'll make up as I go along. I guess you can say everything is A/U. And this is my first ever fanfic so if you could give me some feed back that would be great. It can be good or bad I don't care, this idea just kept popping in my head. Oh yeah, this may get to be a NC-17, but for now it is more of a PG-13 to R.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Music of a Relationship
By Teresa R.
Chapter VII
Olivia entered the bathroom and paced the length of the room. She was so angry she couldn't contain herself. She needed to hit something, anything to get her anger out. Usually she would go for a run, but she was still on the clock. When she finally looked up from the floor, she saw the wall. Its tile seemingly laughed at her, and it needed to shut up. Olivia walked up to the tile clenching her fists. Bringing it up for the wind up Olivia didn't hear the door open up. It didn't matter, all she had now was a bunch of paper work waiting for her. With her right hand in the air she took one more step forward and launched her fist into the wall. SMACK!! She kept her fist against the wall where she had punched it. Breathing heavily a small voice caused her to abruptly turn around.
"Well I guess I picked a bad time to grab some toilet paper to blow my nose."
"Alex…" Olivia found nothing more to say.
"Hey…are you okay, I would ask the wall but I think I already know the answer." she smiled.
Olivia let out a chuckle and looked back at the wall that took the brut of her anger that had now subsided.
"Yeah, I think I'm okay." Olivia said as she picked up her right hand only to find her knuckles busted open and blood oozing out. By that time, the adrenaline had worn off and the pain began to set in. "Ouch." she said as she gently waved her hand in the air trying to shake the pain out.
Alex jumped into action. She went to the paper towel dispenser and withdrew a sheet. Then she went to the faucet and let the water dampen it. She then went to Olivia, drew her hand with her left toward her a ways and then pressed the towel to it. Olivia winced at the contact but it was a welcomed pain. The coolness of the towel felt good against her heated with rage skin.
"I think you should get this looked at." Alex said as she motioned to Olivia's hand.
"Yeah…" Olivia answered and looked up at Alex who stared right back. "I should shouldn't I?"
~Okay Olivia, don't panic, she is just helping you out. Chill out.~
*Don't hyperventilate Alex, you're just helping her. That and so you could be close to her.*
"Well um…I should go and get this um…taken care of."
"Right."
Olivia brought her left hand to take over where Alex's hand held the towel. The contact was electrifying, neither Olivia or Alex wanted to break it, but Olivia did. She knew that she had to, or else she would pass out from the contact.
"I'll see you around Liv."
"Yeah, and thanks." she said as she picked up her hands to clarify.
Olivia's POV from her desk:
"What the hell is going on in my fucking life? Okay let's go through this one by one. One: I'm going to be stuck at my desk for a very long time. Two: I punched a wall in the women's bathroom. Three: Alex walked in and helped me. Four: Ouch! Son of a bitch! Damn disinfectant piece of shit! Where was I? Oh yeah, four: She said 'Liv'. I like the way she said that, sounds good coming from her. Hmm…I wonder if dinner would be a too over the top 'thank you for helping me put a damp paper towel over my knuckles'?"
Further debate on the matter halted as the phone rang on her desk. She quickly finished wrapping her knuckles and used her left hand to pick up the phone since she found fully extending her fingers or closing her fist caused extreme pain.
"Benson."
"Do you always have to answer your phone like that?"
"Hey mom."
"Sounds like you're having a hard day, am I right?"
"Yeah, but I'll be okay, nothing I can't handle."
"Well since you can handle anything, you think you can handle me if I come over and you can cook for me?"
Olivia smiled into the receiver.
"Yeah, like I said, I can handle anything, and that means you too."
"Great, I'll be over around 7:30-ish okay?"
"That'll be great mom, I'll see you then."
She hung up the phone and relaxed back into her chair. The first aid kit lay on her desk, laid out like carnage on a battlefield.
"I see you patched yourself up."
Alex was in front of her desk looking at the mess on her desk she created with the first aid kit.
Olivia immediately sat up and gave Alex her full attention.
"Uh yeah, I saw a couple of cracks on my desk and I figured they needed to be patched up as well."
Alex smiled at the joke and set down her briefcase beside Olivia's desk. She pulled up a chair and set it in front of the desk, sat down and said, "I hear you and Elliot get to have fun at your desks for a while."
Olivia looked down at the mention of 'desk'. She looked back up at Alex and wondered how she knew.
"How did you know?"
"Donnelly told me about the situation with the Peters' family. Seems that Michael Peters is really pissed off and went after everyone involved trying to put him into prison...even me."
"But all you did was get us an arrest warrant to bring him in…oh, I get it, it was 'your fault' we arrested him."
"Yep…so I'm given a little vacation of the sorts."
"How little?"
"Oh…about three weeks."
"Lucky you."
"Oh please, I'm going to go crazy doing nothing, while my assistant is going to find every excuse possible to come into my office just to see me."
Olivia laughed, as did Alex, but she wished she could have thought before she spoke what she said next.
"Yeah, I'd find every excuse possible too."
But she knew she meant it, but she still wasn't sure about Alex. Even though her suspicions about her were right so far, it could have been all fun and games.
That comment threw a bucket of ice water on the moment. Alex stared at Olivia shifting uncomfortably in her chair trying desperately not to make eye contact with Alex. But instead of dropping it like she knew would have been better, Alex shifted forward and placed both of her elbows on Olivia's desk, and placed her chin in the palms of both of her hands staring at her intently.
"Oh really?" she asked with an insightful voice.
Olivia still remained in her chair, squirming about to find a comfortable position in her chair. She couldn't look up, not even for a second at Alex. She could feel the blush rising up in her cheeks as Alex continued to stare.
"If it would make you feel any better, if our positions were switched and I just said what you said, I would be doing the same thing too."
Olivia looked up at this statement, she saw Alex raised her right eyebrow at her before she got up from her chair, picked up her briefcase and said, "I'll see you around Liv."
Olivia took a moment to stare as Alex walked out the doors, and many could take one guess as to where she was staring at that moment.
~My God, what the fuck just happened?~
Not a second after she thought what in the hell she just experienced Elliot grabbed her attention asking if she wanted anything to drink while he was up. She told him a bottle of water would be okay. As he left she heard him say quite sarcastically, "God I love this part of my job." She smiled and silently agreed with him.
Olivia's apartment:
Later after work, Olivia went to her apartment and proceeded to make dinner for her and her mom. She liked having her mom around; she was literally her best friend. When Olivia told her mom about her first girlfriend in college, her mother's response was, "It's about time you got with her!" Olivia's first girlfriend was really her best friend in college. Her mother used to tease her every time they talked on the phone and always asked if she had grown another "6 ½" inches of courage to just ask her out. But of course it didn't last, Amy was just a little too paranoid to see Olivia with anyone else, male or female for that matter. They remained friends but lost much touch as Amy went on to be a journalist for the New York Times, they talk to each other every now and then to catch up.
Her mother always loved the way Olivia prepared her spaghetti and meatball dish, so she figured it would be a safe bet to cook. She was draining the noodles when a knock at her door boomed through the apartment.
"It's open, come on in!" she yelled from the sink.
The door opened but the voice that called out wasn't her mom's like she thought it would have.
Chapter VIII
"Liv, I figured it out!"
Taken aback by hearing Elliot's voice instead of her mom's, she finished draining and set the noodles on the counter. She headed into the living room where Elliot stood anxious and bug-eyed like a crack addict going through withdrawal.
"Elliot, what in hell are you doing here, and what in the hell did you figure out?"
"I figured who A. A. is." he said in his best sing-song voice.
"Don't you mean Kathy did?"
"Okay, she figured out one and I did too, but I think mine is totally right and she's wrong for once."
"Totally? Elliot come on."
"What? Isn't that what people say now a days?
"Well if you are a teenaged girl."
"There is nothing but women at home Liv. Dickie and I are outnumbered, and it's not my fault that when I decide to listen to my daughters conversation that they say 'totally' every other word."
Olivia smiled and thought back to Christmas. She had been invited over to Christmas dinner not too long ago and when Maureen and Kathleen agreed with anything 'totally' would be the first word out of their mouths.
Olivia shook her head and smiled at the memory, she crossed over into a chair next to her sofa.
"Okay Elliot who do you think it is?"
Elliot smiled mischievously and sat down on the couch looking at Olivia.
"I thought, and thought about it and I figured it to be someone we know."
He looked at Olivia to see if he was on the right track so far. She nodded and motioned for him to go on. With a smile of triumph he continued.
"So I thought and thought some more and it just hit me on the head." with a smile that said 'I have 'totally' got this right', he kept going.
"It's Amber Austin from booking!" he said as he threw up his hands, shaking them trying to make them into a spectacle.
Olivia stared at him for a while…then she broke into a fit of laughter gripping her stomach as she bent over her knees laughing still.
"That…has to be…the worst…answer from…you…yet." Olivia managed to laugh out.
"What's so wrong with her?"
Olivia allowed herself to calm down before citing why Elliot was so wrong.
"She is engaged to get married in about six months. And it isn't to me."
Elliot looked down and back up at her, he had a pained expression on his face they both knew it wasn't one of hard feelings.
"Well who did Kathy say?" she asked trying to give him a chance at redemption.
Knowing why she asked, he spoke, "She said Alex Cabot."
Olivia physically ailed at the mention of Alex's name. But she didn't try to make it obvious to Elliot.
"I told her you said A. A. not A. C. but she said you were trying to throw us off because she is an ADA and those are initials."
Olivia didn't know what to do. Either she could lie and have to face the fact that she lied to Elliot, or come clean and face the laughter of Elliot. Both ways she would have endless torment.
"But I know for a fact that Kathy is right because you aren't even saying anything to disagree."
"What?" she said when she realized that Elliot moved in front of her.
"It is Alex isn't it?"
Reluctantly she decided to tell Elliot the truth. "Yeah. You can laugh at me now."
"Why would I want to laugh?"
She looked at him quizzically.
"I figured you liked Alex long before I asked you that question. You guys just get together for lunch and whatnot a little too often. And you always seem happier when you come back from them."
"You figured all that out just by observing me?"
"No, Kathy just told me what to look out for."
They both smiled and Elliot stood up. He motioned with his eyes to the door. She looked over to the door and caught his meaning that he was going to leave. As he was walking toward the door, they both heard a knock. Olivia immediately got up from her chair and went to the door. She opened it revealing the guest she originally intended on seeing the first time.
"Hey Nic, sorry I'm late, I got hung up on…hey Elliot."
"Hey Ms. Benson."
"How many times do I have to tell you…don't call me 'Ms. Benson', makes me feel old and I am certainly not old. Serena will do just fine."
Elliot nodded with confirmation.
"Sorry mom, he was just leaving…right Elliot?" she said as she forcefully pushed him out of the door.
"Yeah, I was just leaving wasn't I 'Nic'?" he said.
"Good-bye Elliot." she said forcefully.
She closed the door, resting her back against it once it was fully shut. Her mom looked at her inquisitively with her head tilted a little to the left.
"Hi mom."
"I always knew you had issues."
Olivia shook her head and went back into the kitchen, the spaghetti was a little cold now, but nothing a little reheating couldn't fix.
Over the meal her mother decided to bring up the subject of why she was so anxious to get Elliot out.
"So…Nic, what was that whole ordeal about?"
She knew this topic would have come up sooner or later, so she placed her fork on her plate and set her hands next to it.
"Elliot just guessed who it is I like, that's all." it was the truth after all.
"And shoving him out the door hand nothing to do with it?"
"I was afraid he would tell you."
Serena Benson looked at her daughter, she gave birth to her and yet she still thinks she has all the answers to steer away from a conversation she doesn't want to talk about.
"Just ask Alex out and when he tells me I can deliver a blow to his ego."
Olivia's jaw dropped into her lap; her mother, knows about Alex and she hasn't even told her about her.
~How could she know that? I haven't told her anything. And I don't keep a journal anymore, not that she could read it anyway.~
"How did you know about Alex?"
Her mother laughed and sighed before she spoke.
"I saw Elliot come here before I did. He looked all giddy like a kid so I decided to wait outside until he came up here. I stood outside your door and heard the entire conversation."
"You're horrible you know that right?"
"Yeah, but hey you love me for it."
Olivia smiled. "Yeah, I guess I do."
"You guess?" This made Olivia smile even wider. "Ask her out, you'll feel better."
Olivia nodded her head as her mother stood up from the table.
"I've got to get going. I'll see you around, hopefully with someone next to you." she smiled knowingly and headed to the door.
Olivia walked with her to the door, opening it as her mother got her coat. It was still winter, even if it was February.
"Good night Nic." her mom said as she gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek.
Olivia willingly accepted it and bid her mother good night as well. She locked all the doors and went to her bedroom. She put a cd in her stereo and pressed play, the sounds of Enya's 'Watermark' filled her room. She crossed over to her bed, laid down and smiled; she was going to ask Alex out tomorrow.