Mimosas
Title: Mimosas
Rating: PG
Pairing: Alex/Olivia
Disclaimer: The characters are not mine, but I am using them for entertainment only and not for profit.
Notes: I had to post this to stop myself from tinkering with it. It's another Drink and I hope you like it more than I do right now!
As soon as the waitress walked away from their table, Alex Cabot said, “I just want you to know that it wasn't my fault.”
“This oughta be good,” Her companion muttered, opening her menu and studying the brunch options.
“Abbie, don't be facetious. I'm telling you this because you're my friend and the one person whom I know will understand; but I'd like to preface my admission by positing that there were extenuating circumstances and I should therefore not be held fully responsible for the events of Friday night.”
Abbie Carmichael looked up and raised one eyebrow. “Now I'm intrigued. The last time you started a conversation with me the way you start them with a right-wing judge, it was because you'd gotten drunk at The Chief's retirement party and told Jack that he was the personification of the reason for the existence of the ACLU.”
“I wasn't drunk.”
“Let me guess: you did something that you shouldn't have done, but which you secretly want to congratulate yourself for.”
Alex flushed slightly. “I wouldn't put it that way. Although I'll admit that, like the remark to Jack, Friday night probably wasn't a career-enhancing move.”
“Ladies, may I get you something from the bar while you decide?”
Alex looked up in relief at the waitress, but before she could say anything, Abbie said abruptly, “We'll have a pitcher of mimosas, please.”
“You didn't even ask me...” Alex complained, looking longingly at the back of the departing waitress.
“We always have mimosas and I'm tired of you beating around the bush. Spit it out, Cabot, what happened on Friday night?”
“I slept with Olivia.”
“Olivia?”
“Benson.”
“Detective Olivia Benson?”
“Do you know more than one Olivia Benson?” Alex asked grumpily.
“You sly dog!”
“It wasn't intentional.”
“You sly, lucky dog... And what do you mean 'it wasn't intentional'? You were walking past her bed and you tripped and fell on your back with your...”
“I asked you not to be facetious!”
“So, is she as good as she looks like she would be?” Before Alex could get a word in edgewise, Abbie held up her hand. “Wait! Don't answer that. If the answer is yes, then I'm only going to want details that you're going to be a bitch and withhold and if it's no, that will destroy a major fantasy for me.”
“Abbie...” Alex's voice held a distinct warning tone. She had known that Abbie would tease her, but Abbie also would not judge and she needed to talk to someone who would give her sensible advice as she decided what to do in the aftermath of Friday's events.
“Sorry.” Abbie made an effort to look contrite, but a big grin quickly replaced the sober expression she'd tried to adopt. “So, whose fault was it that you slept with Detective Benson?”
“Her ex, Dr. Rebecca Hendrix. She's a psychologist and she was brought in to consult on the Davis case. When he agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charge - which was all we had the evidence to support anyway - the squad invited her out to celebrate with us.”
Abbie let the “us” go unchallenged. Alex worked with the detectives, rather than being an actual part of their squad. But the ADA was clearly having difficulty talking about the events of Friday evening and might have used the term to provoke just such a distracting challenge, so Abbie ignored it. She decided on a distraction of her own. “What was Olivia wearing?”
“A leather jacket over a tight white t-shirt with cropped sleeves, black pants and boots. She'd just had her hair cut and she looked... gorgeous.” Alex's expression relaxed and a small smile curved her lips. “Strong, unconsciously sexy... And that was even before she took off the jacket.”
Realizing what she had provided a lot more than an objective description, Alex sighed. “I'm not saying that I didn't... don't find her attractive. But I have never done anything about it before and I maintain that I would not have done anything about it on Friday had it not been for... that woman.”
“So you went out drinking with Olivia and her ex and the boys from SVU. And what did the good doctor do that set off the evening's adventures.”
“She kept on touching her. And the more she touched her, the angrier I got.”
“Why?”
“She broke Olivia's heart! They were roommates when they were at the Academy, which is where their relationship began. She decided that being a police officer wasn't enough for her and abandoned Olivia just as she abandoned the vocation. It wasn't easy to get that information out of Olivia and I never did get an explicit admission that the reasons for all her subsequent disastrous relationships were rooted in that one event. Olivia knew that a man could never hurt her that badly, so she chose to have relationships with men.”
“Is Olivia still angry with Dr....”
“Hendrix. Rebecca Hendrix. No, she isn't. But Olivia is emotionally generous.”
“Unlike you.”
Alex's blue eyes turned icy as she directed a look at Abbie that would have shriveled a lesser woman. Abbie just grinned.
Realizing that Abbie was not going to be intimidated, Alex purse her lips and bought time by placing her napkin carefully on her lap before taking a sip of water. “Olivia is always going out of her way to protect others, but she doesn't necessarily do enough to protect herself.”
“So what was Dr. Rebecca doing that Olivia needed to be protected from?”
“That's not what... It wasn't that Olivia needed to be protected, so much as... Let's just say that she had no right to act...” Frustrated with her inability to precisely describe what had irked her, Alex stopped talking and pursed her lips.
Abbie raised one eyebrow and said softly, “Alexandra Cabot at a loss for words...” When Alex didn't respond she prodded. “So? How was she acting?”
“Proprietary.” Bright blue eyes seemed to cloud over as Alex remembered seeing Rebecca's face close to Olivia's when they laughed at John Munch's jokes and watching the psychologist's hand stroking Olivia's bare arm as they spoke. “She was never more than six inches away from Olivia the entire time we were in the bar.”
“So what did you do?”
“I walked out. I said I had an early appointment and I just picked up my things and left.”
“That's your idea of protecting the good detective?”
“It was upsetting me and it clearly wasn't upsetting her, so I did what I felt I had to do.”
“Are you ready to order?” the waitress asked as she put a frosty pitcher and two champagne glasses on the table.
Abbie didn't think her timing could have been any worse. “Just give us a few more minutes, please.”
“Sure, no problem.”
“I'm surprised you didn't order my brunch, as well,” Alex said sarcastically, but with a twinkle in her eye.
Abbie ignored her attempt to change the subject and asked pointedly, “What happened after you walked out?”
Alex sighed. “Olivia followed me out. She wanted to know what was wrong.” She looked away from Abbie and shook her head. “I was mortified. She knew I was lying about the early appointment, but I couldn't explain... I'm not used to feeling...”
“Jealous?”
Alex shrugged. “She asked why I was upset and stepped close enough to brush back my hair so that she could see my face... She was so close, so concerned... I could feel the warmth of her, smell her skin... I honestly don't know what came over me. I kissed her.”
Abbie's hand covered Alex's where it lay on the table. “Honey, even I know what came over you. And it would have come over any red-blooded lesbian and at least a third of the straight women I know. It's called lust and Olivia Benson inspires it in a lot of people. And we haven't spent the better part of three years fighting our feelings for her.”
Alex closed her eyes. “I can't remember ever feeling anything that intense. Abbie, we were on 40th Street on a Friday night and it didn't matter. I didn't care!”
“All that emotion had to go somewhere, Cabot. You and Benson have been fighting it from the first time I saw you together six months after you started in SVU.” She checked off the evidence on her fingers as she spoke. “You sit on her desk when you visit the squad. You two walk so close to each other that if your hands don't touch, your sleeves do, And you only ever go out after work if Olivia is going to be there. The funny thing is, she checks your availability before accepting invitations as well. Now I know that you think what happened between you was unprofessional, but most of us have been taking bets on it being inevitable.”
Alex's head snapped up and her eyes narrowed. “Who's 'us'?”
“Mainly me, Elliot, John and Fin. At first Don told us we needed to stop, but he caved and said that if there was going to be a pool, he had the month of December - Christmas sentimentality. I wanted June - it's when Benson starts showing serious skin.”
“Tell me you're joking.”
Abbie waved away Alex's indignation. “So you were saying... you took her home to your place.”
“Her place was closer.” Alex blushed at the admission, once again finding it difficult to maintain eye contact with her companion.
“And this sleeping thing that you did with Detective Benson, was it a do-the-deed-and-leave sleep or a spend-the-night sleep?
The flush deepened. “I went home this morning.”
“You know today is Sunday, right?”
“It wasn't my fault.”