Wanted 5/?
Chapter Five
Olivia covered up her choking fit with a nervous laugh that was supposed to sound casual. What could she say to that without making an ass of herself? Ooh, she had it. She went for a confident smirk, hoping she pulled it off, and then shook her head. "Come on, Cabot, do you really think he was my type?"
Alex leaned in closer, giving Olivia that intense courtroom look. "Well I was hoping you prefer blondes," she said in a low voice.
Saved by the bell, because the clerk called Alex's name and the ADA turned to go get their drinks. Lucky for Olivia, because her jaw was trying to drop through the floor and she knew she would have fumbled around for a response that would have eventually come out sounding ridiculous. She would have to leave a huge tip on the way out, despite the fact that the clerk had not intentionally saved her from doom and was in fact only doing his job, and-- dear God, she was even rambling inside her own head. Where was Huang when you needed him?!
When Alex returned with the hot chocolates and held one out to Olivia, the detective jumped in surprise. The blonde smirked as Olivia took her drink, and sat down beside her. "Where'd you go? Am I boring you, Detective? Because--"
"Oh please Alex, please don't make me relive my idiocy," Olivia begged, not letting Alex finish her sentence.
Alex laughed and sipped her cocoa, staring at Olivia over the rim of her mug while she did so. God... Olivia's beauty defied rationality. It seemed impossible that someone could be so flawlessly beautiful, both inside and out. And the way Olivia was staring back at her with a curiously innocent expression made her want to kiss the detective more than she ever had. Well, the urge was always there, always strong, but at that moment Alex's hands trembled in an effort to keep hold of her mug and avoid ravishing her date without remorse.
"What?" Olivia finally asked quietly, setting her mug down on the table in front of them and tilting her head to the side, regarding Alex intently.
Alex grinned and mimicked the action, setting her mug down as well. "I'd get slapped if I told you what I was thinking."
"I doubt that, unless you're thinking of selling me to that jackass for drug money," Olivia quipped with a smirk, meaning the guy that had tried to sit with her.
"I'd need your birth certificate for that," Alex shot back as if she had been considering it. "Which I left at the office. And besides, I have plenty of drugs to last the evening."
Olivia laughed easily, smacking Alex on the arm with the back of her hand. She sat back against the armrest and shook her head. "Really, what were you thinking?"
"Oh no," Alex said, shaking her head as well. "My thoughts are my own private hell, Detective. I don't want you going down in flames."
"I wouldn't have pegged you for having dirty thoughts, Counselor," Olivia teased, raising an eyebrow.
"Only about certain people," Alex confessed, her eyes full of mystery and intrigue. "And who said they were dirty?"
"Touché," Liv granted, turning away to hide her blush. What the hell was Alex trying to do to her?
The only thing Alex was trying to do was to *not* do anything. Anything and everything, right there in the snack shop in front of a hundred people. She reached for her hot chocolate and took a big sip to keep herself from speaking, then spluttered when she burned her tongue. Not badly, but enough to sting like hell for a good ten minutes or so, she could tell. "Ow, Goddamnit," she whispered, returning her mug to the table and hissing in as much cold air as she could through clenched teeth. Smoooooooth, Alex.
Olivia grinned and folded her arms over her chest. "I thought you were tough."
Alex snapped her face around, amused indignation written all over her. "Don't go there. We both know I have the heavier bat if you want to play that game."
"Withdrawn," Olivia decided quickly, holding up her hands in surrender. She did not want Alex to bring up the waitress incident again. Ever.
Alex chuckled, standing and holding out a hand to Olivia. "You ready to go?"
"Yep," Olivia said, though there was nothing she'd rather do than stay this close to Alex for the rest of her life. She accepted the ADA's hand and got to her feet, smiling sweetly, both of their cheeks rosy from the warmth of the fire.
They walked slowly out to the street and hailed a cab, sitting in comfortable silence during the ride to Olivia's apartment. As they got closer and closer, Liv's stomach started twisting tighter and tighter. She didn't want the night to end, but how the hell could she prevent that without inviting Alex up to her place? Which would be awkward and weird, since you didn't normally invite your friends up to your place after a nice romantic ice-skating trip unless you wanted to get them in bed. Which she did want, but that was beside the point. She didn't want to scare Alex off.
Liv's internal dilemma shut off abruptly as the cabbie pulled up in front of her building. She turned to Alex with a grateful smile. "Thank you for inviting me tonight, I had a really great time. Even though it hurts to walk."
Alex laughed. "You didn't think I was going to drop you off at the curb, did you? I'll walk you up."
Olivia couldn't help letting the surprise show on her face as she climbed out of the cab. She didn't respond, because she didn't know what to say. Of course she thought Alex was going to drop her off at the curb. Why wouldn't she?
Alex noted the surprised expression and filed it away, paying the cab driver and following Olivia out. Her gut was clawing at her from the inside out, but you'd never know it to look at her. She was all composure, all the time, and now was no different. Despite the fact that her nerves threatened to knock her to her knees, she somehow managed to get into the elevator behind Olivia without incident. How in the hell was it legal for someone to be so fucking captivatingly gorgeous? It really should be prohibited, at least in New York City, so that Alexandra Cabot didn't have to endure the torture of feeling like a high school cheerleader about to ask the cheer captain to the senior prom.
"Thanks for walking me up, you didn't have to," Olivia said, fighting her blush as she fumbled in her pockets for her house key.
Alex laid her hand gently over Olivia's to stop her jittery movements, and took a step closer to the detective. "I wasn't going to kiss you goodnight in the cab," she whispered, using every ounce of self-control she possessed to make her voice sound normal.
Olivia, who had located the key and removed it from her pocket, now let it drop from her hand, clinking quietly on the floor at her feet. She suddenly found it hard to breathe, and her entire perspective on Alex's romantic behavior changed in that instant. It had been a date. Alex had taken her on a date. A wonderful, perfect date. And now Alex was going to kiss her goodnight. She prayed that she wouldn't choke, or something equally as embarrassing, like pass straight out as soon as Alex's lips touched hers, which seemed like it was about to happen any second now since the ADA was moving slowly closer... only a few inches apart now, and Olivia let her eyelids flutter closed when she felt lips as soft as satin press lightly against hers.
Alex was trembling, her knees threatening to fail her, hands and arms shaking all the way up to her shoulders. She had never initiated a first kiss before, and she now felt extremely empathetic to the men and women she'd dated who must have felt like this when they made the first move on her. What if Olivia changed her mind and pulled away? What if she was too inexperienced to please the detective, what if she gave too much or not enough, or... a million things could go wrong, but as she touched her lips to Olivia's, she shut her eyes and all thought faded away into swirling colors of light and sound and feeling. It was exquisite. Olivia tasted sweeter than sugar, and the softness was almost more than she could bear. She'd kissed plenty of women before, but nothing, no one, could ever hope to compare to Olivia Benson. She didn't want to pull away, but she wasn't brave enough to try to deepen the kiss. Slowly, regretfully, she allowed their lips to separate, still unable to open her eyes.
Olivia was having the same problems, and she fought back a whimper when Alex pulled away. She wanted more, wanted to stand in the hallway kissing until the end of time, but the reality was that neither she nor Alex had enough nerve to risk the rejection of asking for more right then. So with a dreamy smile, she whispered good night to her date, whose expression mirrored her own, and watched Alex walk away until the elevator doors closed behind her. Once the blonde was out of sight, Liv let out a shaky sigh and ran her fingers through her hair, bending down to pick up her key and let herself into her apartment. She was not going to sleep at all tonight, it didn't take a genius to predict that one. Even a cold shower wasn't going to calm her racing heart.
--
Alex couldn't sleep either, and as she glanced at the blaring red numbers of her alarm clock and saw that they read two-thirty am, she groaned and finally gave in to the temptation, sliding her hand inside her pajama pants to take care of an aching need.