Fic: Different (1b/?)
Act I
1. Holiday Happiness
Detective Olivia Benson felt her back twinge as she sat hunched over the keyboard. The rickety chair was the most comfortable one in the squad room, which just meant it sucked seven on the one-to-ten scale. After the massive amount of crap Munch had received about hemorrhoids she didn’t dare be caught using a cushion. Of course, Elliot and Fin might be nicer to her…
Then again, maybe she’ll just continue using the edge of her desk whenever possible.
She turned to her side and was stretching out the kinks when peripherally she caught sight of a blonde woman entering Cragen's office. Olivia almost laughed. It was Thanksgiving Day and barring a terrorist attack no one who out-ranked her would be around. She resisted the urge to call out to the figure and was typing again when the blonde approached her desk.
"Have you seen Cragen?" Came the demand.
"Happy Thanksgiving, Alex," Olivia replied half amused.
The Special Victims Unit Assistant to the District Attorney of New York County, Alexandra Cabot sighed like a petulant teenager. "Sorry. Happy Thanksgiving, Olivia. I was almost off the island when I received your text."
"Oh, sorry," Olivia said without much sympathy. It wasn’t like Alex had been told she had to come in. Alex could have been half way to her family home instead of standing next to Olivia’s desk upset about having been updated on an important case. As she had demanded the day before. Olivia cringed at her train of thought. It had not been so much a demand as it was a request. So be nice, Olivia, the detective thought to herself. She placed a band-aid over the old scab that she’d forgotten to not pick at today, and turned her full attention the blonde in front of her.
"Gregory's shrink has decided that he's a candidate for Bellevue?" Alex asked. Which was the reason Olivia had sent the ADA a text message in the first place.
"He was re-evaled this morning. God only knows why they picked today. They are claiming…" Olivia searched her desk for the report and handed it to Alex before she continued to speak. "… post traumatic stress syndrome. He molested them because his mother was mean to him."
"Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?" Alex asked flipping open the file.
"With those observation skills you should be a detective, counselor.”
"Thanks, I think. I thought we've established that the squad needs to bring me solid cases that won't unravel the minute defense pulls the mentally unfit for trial card," huffed the prosecutor.
"Is that what we established? The details escape me,” the detective shot back.
"I want Huang to talk to him too. Again. Why didn’t you text him too?" Alex was suddenly irritated again.
"Whoa. No need to take it out on me. It's not my fault you have a life to be interrupted. And I did text him. I sent the message to you, Elliot, Cragen and Huang. You're the only one who came in."
"Don't they think this is worth more than a phone call?" Alex fretted.
"We can't do anything about it today. My text was just an FYI, Alex," Olivia told her with the amusement beginning to show.
"Then why did you say I needed to come in?"
"I didn’t."
"Yes, you did," Alex argued. She retrieved her Blackberry, quickly bringing up the message and read it out loud, "FYI: Gregory's shrink-"
"Found reason to plead mental defect. No need to come in," Olivia recited. This caused the pretty ADA to flush.
"I was in my car…" Alex started but then decided that confessing to the misdemeanor of using her cell phone while driving was a bad idea. Olivia grinned at her having gotten the message loud and clear.
"Go enjoy your holiday, Alex," Olivia told her.
Alex stood there for a few moments longer, making an obvious attempt at having the last word. Olivia continued to grin watching Alex's mouth open and close. Finally, Alex settled for a sheepish smile.
"You on this weekend? How about dinner Saturday night?" Alex asked, trying to salvage the trip to the squad room.
"Not staying with your Mom?"
"She's leaving for Europe Friday night."
"Lucky her. Saturday's good for me. Seven?" Olivia asked and Alex nodded.
"Zocalo?" Alex asked.
"Sounds good. Upper east side?" Olivia confirmed the location and Alex nodded again. Alex picked up her brief case after buttoning up her coat. She suddenly didn’t care how soon she got to her mother's house upstate.
"How'd you get stuck working?"
"I volunteered," Olivia answered with a shrug.
"Ah…" Alex realized she had unintentionally hit one of her friend's sore spots. She nodded a few times and then spoke a quiet, "Happy Thanksgiving, Olivia."
Olivia watched Alex leave through the double doors of the squad room and then turned back the pile of work on her desk. Her focus was shot, however. She sighed and sipped her coffee. She had told herself that she wouldn’t let Alexandra Cabot affect her like this.
Alex was straight and almost taken. It would do no good to wish for fishes.
Olivia got up and started a new pot of coffee. While the coffee was brewing, she sat at her desk and made herself forget the gorgeous blonde. She hadn’t read more than a page when her phone rang. A few minutes later she was waking Fin up so that they could head to Beth Israel Medical Center to sort out another fine family holiday celebration.
* * *
2. Dishing at Dinner
Alex caught herself checking her watch for the third time in five minutes. She frowned inwardly at her anxiousness. It wasn't that Olivia was late, it was actually a good fifteen minutes before their agreed upon time.
You're just afraid she's going to get called into work and have to cancel, Alex told herself. Alex examined her apprehension for a moment, then the odd feeling faded as she saw a tall familiar figure enter the eatery.
She couldn’t see the woman's face but she knew it was Olivia. No one else carried themselves quite the way the SVU detective did. Alex felt herself smirk a little when the woman turned slightly and was revealed to be Olivia.
A few minutes later Olivia was settled at the table and a waiter in a spiffy uniform took their order and left. As always work was a taboo subject so Alex asked, "How's Julia?"
"Past tense," Olivia said with a minimal shrug. Alex's brow furrowed at the indifference but then remembered that it had only been a month since Olivia had begun dating the sexy little stage actress. She dismissed the question of why it seemed so much longer.
"What happened?"
"She couldn’t cope with being second to the badge," Olivia told her.
It wasn’t the first time Alex had heard that song and dance. "That bad?"
"She had a minor issue of not knowing where I was 24/7," Olivia answered as if there was no more to it. There’s no reason to depress Alex with the details - that even the rotation of the Earth moved to Julia's whim.
"Sorry to hear that," Alex said, genuinely concerned for her friend. However, a jolt of something that was a little too close to relief in her heart surprised her. Alex filed that sentiment away to reflect on later.
"Inevitable, but fun while it lasted," Olivia said with a slight smirk.
"Did you…" Alex trailed off.
"Not even close. I think my moral standards scared her," Olivia responded as she stirred her margarita. She sipped it and decided that she approved though tequila was not really her choice of spirit. The trip to Mexico during her college years was easily remembered.
"Morals are scarce these days," Alex commented and not for the first time.
"How's Nathan?" Olivia asked, not really in the mood for a discussion of morality and humanity. Too close to a work topic.
Alex sighed heavily. "Past tense."
"Really? I thought you were starting towards something serious," Olivia said in surprise.
"We were until I decided that I couldn’t compete."
"Compete with what?"
"Who, not what. Mommy," Alex said ruefully.
"Ouch," Olivia sympathized, having once dated a momma’s boy.
"Better to figure that out now than in five years and two kids," Alex said.
Olivia raised her glass to toast. "To past tenses," she said softly. Their glasses met with a soft clink.
Then Alex changed the subject to the movie she was wishing she had the time to go see. Olivia, the closet movie buff, debated the merits of the film for a few minutes then declared the lead actress 'plain'. Alex burst out laughing.
"She's considered one of the sexiest people alive!" Alex argued.
"By whom? She looks like every other young starlet or starless out there," Olivia said with some disdain.
Maybe Julia had turned her off of actresses, Alex mused.
"Besides I saw her on Regis," Olivia went on and pointed at Alex’s plate. "That lobster you're eating had more brains and it was caught."
"Ah, now I see the problem. You're prejudiced against stupid people," Alex teased and Olivia coughed slightly.
"Yes," she agreed.
"And just what are your minimum requirements?"
"The ability to speak in full sentences is a good start. I don’t even care what language it is as long as the sentences are complete," Olivia replied with a half smile.
"Brains…,” said the blonde nodding. "And what else are you demanding?"
"Demand is such a strong word. Brains, a healthy appetite, no drugs, no fetishes-- What?" Olivia asked as Alex began to chuckle softly.
"Fetishes?" Alex asked, knowing that there must be a really good story behind the remark.
"You wouldn’t believe the number of people who love my handcuffs," Olivia deadpanned.
"I'm the SVU’s ADA. I'd believe almost anything," came the dry reply.
Olivia raised her glass again. "Here's to anything."
Alex drank up and then ordered a second. Olivia passed on the drink and set about attacking her Pollo al Ajillo. The garlic flavor was perfect as it had been the other three times they had come here. Olivia looked over to see Alex picking at her paella dish heartily. While Olivia had found a perfect dish and was content to not deviate Alex seemed determined to try every seafood dish on the menu. Then again, the way she was working over her meal maybe she had found a keeper too.
Olivia then turned the subject of their conversation around on the ADA. Alex's fork stabbed a bite and then she stopped to ponder Olivia's question.
"Well, like you, I admire intelligence. Unfortunately it seems to be in short supply most of the time. I'm also not fond of ex-convicts but that seems to be mutual," Alex said, causing Olivia to laugh.
"I'm afraid I have that problem too," Olivia told her.
"I thought that the problem was your handcuffs," Alex smirked.
"So, who was that very handsome man I saw you with last week?" Olivia asked as if the thought just occurred to her.
"When?" Alex asked, not remembering a handsome man let alone a very handsome one.
"At the courthouse. Dark hair, impeccable suit, a bit on the short side but not bad looking at all," Olivia said.
"Oh, you mean Harvester. He's a new fish in the office. Liz expects huge things from him.”
"Harvester?" Olivia searched her memory for the name that she knew she’d heard recently.
"He was on track to become a big wig international contract lawyer with an OWMF when he suddenly gave it up and signed on at the prosecutors office," Alex elaborated.
Olivia suppressed her grin at the reference to the old white men firms and asked, "Does he know anything about criminal law?"
"He's quick."
"He's cute. Too bad about the no coworker rule," Olivia told her.
"Too bad he's the gayest man in Manhattan," Alex responded.
"Can't be. Raymond..."
"Harvester makes Ray look like Fin," Alex told her and Olivia laughed at the thought of their shared hairdresser in comparison to Fin Tutuola.
Alex flagged down the waiter again, this time to order coffee and some fried ice cream. Olivia passed on the dessert but echoed the coffee request. The ice cream was a temptation that they both usually gave into and Alex almost felt guilty about caving in the face of Olivia's strength. But she took a bite and almost vocally reacted. She then noticed that when Olivia asked her about Thanksgiving with the Cabot clan her eyes wandered to the plate of ice cream.
It was a habit of her of her career that caused Alex to speak with her hands and after a while she found it impossible to tell the story properly while holding the spoon. She was motioning in an imitation of her teenaged cousin, Corin, when she caught Olivia looking at the half finished dessert again.
"Then Corin starts this long tirade about eating meat. Her feelings for the bird apparently ran deeper than what I thought I felt for Nathan. She had just finished her summation when Uncle Jim tells her that he would toss her argument based on the fact that she repeatedly used the words 'like', 'um' and 'soooooo'," Alex recounted the incident at the Cabot dining table as she pushed the ice cream across to her dinner companion. Olivia picked up the spoon; with a smile Alex continued, "Corin burst into tears and started sobbing hysterically when Uncle Jim picked up the carving knife."
Olivia tasted the ice cream, pleased that Alex knew her so well. She didn’t have much sympathy for the turkey or the cousin who had been harassed but the ice cream was perfect.
* * *