alphagirl007 (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} alphagirl007) wrote in ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} alex_liv_lovers,@ 2008-07-24 20:26:00 |
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| Current mood: | creative |
| Entry tags: | author: alphagirl007, length: ep!fic, rating: r, title: more than friends |
More Than Friends
Pairing: A/O, A/S
Disclaimer: I own nothing. These characters belong to Dick Wolf.
Spoilers: None
Summary: What if one dinner could change everything?
*Note: Thank you ladies for all of your feedback. You guys gave me the confidence to continue this story. Here are the next two chapters. I hope you like. Let me know what you think as always. Thanks!
Chapter 2
Abbie was sure that several minutes had passed and still her friend stood by the table with a look of complete shock on her face. She was actually beginning to worry. She gingerly reached out and touched Olivia’s arm.
“Liv? Liv, you okay?”
She gently guided Olivia back to her seat. They sat in the small booth in silence for a few moments. Finally Olivia spoke.
“Did you just say Alex… Alex Cabot?”
Abbie slowly nodded. “Uh… yeah.”
“The same Alex Cabot who used to be our ADA?”
Another nod.
“The Alex Cabot who was shot and went into Witness Protection?”
“Liv, listen….”
“The same Alex Cabot that came home and simply moved on with her life without even giving me or any of us, for that matter, the courtesy of a simple phone call…. Bureau Chief Alex Cabot?”
Olivia’s was almost yelling. A few of the other patrons glanced around in their direction. Olivia took a deep breath and lowered her voice to an angry whisper. “THAT Alex Cabot?”
Olivia’s was almost yelling. A few of the other patrons glanced around in their direction. Olivia took a deep breath and lowered her voice to an angry whisper. “THAT Alex Cabot?”
Abbie avoided her friend’s eyes. “I think that would be the one.”
“What in hell would make you think that I would ever agree to have dinner with her… EVER!”
“Liv, it wasn’t like that. I had completely forgotten about them being close friends. I had no idea that Serena would suggest Alex.”
“When she did, you should have called it off then!” Olivia said through clenched teeth.
“It was too late! I couldn’t very well say… Oh, sorry that won’t work, Serena. My best friend hates your best friend.” Abbie shot back.
“Why the hell not? It’s the truth!”
“You do not hate Alex.”
“Oh, yes I do!”
“I know you, remember? I’ve known you a long time and I know for a fact that you do not hate Alex Cabot.” Abbie gave her a knowing look. “If anything, you were in lo…”
“Don’t! Do not go there.” Olivia’s glare sent a shiver up Abbie’s back.
The two brunettes stared each other down. Olivia finally took a deep breath. “Look, you know I’m not the right person for this, Abbie.”
Abbie’s eyes softened. “I know how you used to feel about her back then, Liv but… that was a long time ago, right? A lot has changed.”
Olivia pressed on refusing to fall into that old conversation. “Can’t you just get someone else to go? I’m sure that Alex would rather her blind date be someone that she’d actually be interested in. Wait…isn’t she married? She was engaged to some rich hotshot a while back, right?” Olivia was hoping something could get her out of this.
“Yeah, but she called the whole thing off for some reason or another. She’s single. Come on, what’s the big deal, Liv. It’s just dinner.”
“What’s the big... It’s Alex, Abbie!” Olivia said in exasperation.
“So?”
“So, don’t you think she’d be expecting someone a little more… I don’t know… Male as her date?!”
“Look, I told Serena that you were coming along with me before she suggested Alex come. She suggested Alex because she thought it would be good for you two to catch up. So, it wouldn’t be anything romantic. It’s just a friendly dinner.”
Friendly my ass. “I don’t know, Abbie. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Alex and a lot has happened.” Olivia said uneasily.
“Do you still have feelings for her? Because if you do…”
“No, of course I don’t!” Olivia interrupted. She didn’t know who she was trying to convince; Abbie or herself.
“Because I remember there was a time that you thought that there was something between you two.”
“Well, I was wrong, Abbie.”
“See! There’s no problem then.”
“That doesn’t mean that I want to spend an evening with her.”
“It wouldn’t even be the entire evening. It’s just dinner.”
“Abbie…”
“Please Liv! Just grin and bear it for me just this once and I promise that I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you. Please!” Abbie pleaded with full puppy dog eyes.
Olivia ground her teeth and groaned. “You know I could wring your neck right now, right?”
Abbie started to smile. She could feel a victory coming on. “Does that mean that you’ll go?”
“Just answer one question for me?”
“Anything.”
“Why are you doing this… truthfully?”
Abbie sighed and looked Olivia squarely in the eyes. “Because I think Serena is the one and this might be my only shot at getting her back.”
Olivia studied her for a moment. Okay, so this isn’t about me…good. “You’re really serious about her aren’t you?”
“I told you… I was listening.” Abbie said honestly.
Olivia finally smiled and shook her head. “The things I do for you…”
Abbie grinned like a fool and raised her arms in victory. “Yes!”
Before Olivia knew what hit her, Abbie had crossed to her side and was hugging her. She couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright! Alright! Get off me. You are sooo going to owe me for this Carmichael.”
“I know and I will pay up, I swear. You have my word of honor.” Abbie said holding up her right hand as she went back to her seat. “Just promise me one thing, Liv.”
“What now?!”
“Promise me that you’ll at least try to be nice to Alex long enough for me to get back into Serena’s good graces.”
Olivia finished off her beer in one pull then stood up. “I won’t draw my weapon on her and I might not handcuff her to the chair. That’s all I can promise.”
Before Abbie could respond, the detective waved a hand behind her as she swaggered off. Abbie shook her head and laughed as she watched her friend disappear out the door.
Chapter 3
The next Monday: Office of Bureau Chief Alexandra Cabot
“You did what?! Are you out of your mind!!”
Every pair of ears in the outer office could hear the not so muffled voices coming out of the office of their Bureau Chief.
“What’s going on in there? Who pissed in her coffee this morning?” Nick asked.
Christina rubbed her forehead. “I don’t know. I just hope it has nothing to do with me. Cabot scares the hell out of me.”
“Don’t spread this around, but…” Nick glanced around suspiciously. “I think Cabot scares the hell out of everyone around here.”
Inside the office, Serena was eloquently leaning back against the door while her friend paced back and forth behind her desk throwing out all the reasons why the proposed dinner was a mistake. She glanced down at her nails and picked at them carefully. “I have to remember to schedule a manicure before Saturday. I should probably get a pedicure too.”
“Excuse me! Are you even listening to me?” Angry blue eyes bore into the calm blue eyes across the room.
“Of course, I am. I heard everything you said. You were going on and on about why we shouldn’t have dinner with them on Saturday.”
Alex glared at her nonchalance. “I don’t understand why you’d even consider going to dinner with that woman again after how she treated you.”
“First of all, that woman’s name is Abbie as you remember. Secondly, you weren’t even here when Abbie and I dated; and just so we are clear, she didn’t really do anything to me. She just stopped calling me. It wasn’t like we were in a serious relationship back then. We were simply dating.”
Alex tilted her head giving Serena a challenging look. “And I could have sworn that you told me you were heartbroken when she just up and cut things off between you two because you had fallen for her.”
Serena sighed and pushed herself off the door silently cursing her friend’s impeccable memory. “Why did I tell her that?” She made her way over to one of the chairs in front of the large desk. “Maybe heartbroken was a bit melodramatic. A little bruised, yes, but definitely not heartbroken.”
Alex smirked and came around to lean against the desk in front of her friend. “Yeah right. Keep telling yourself that.” She folded her arms across her chest. “If I had been here, I would have kicked her ass.”
Serena had to laugh at the thought of her prim and proper friend in an ass kicking contest with one tall, brooding Texan. “Really now?”
“You said you were heartbroken. That’s what best friends do for one another.” Alex uncharacteristically shrugged her shoulders.
“That’s very sweet of you, Alex, but stop trying to make this about your doubts about Abbie. That isn’t the reason you don’t want to come and you know it. It’s because Olivia Benson will be there, isn’t it?”
Alex paused and became very still. “That’s… That’s simply absurd. Why would it bother me one way or another if Detective Benson was there?”
Oh, so it’s Detective Benson now and not Olivia? “Hmm…I don’t know…” Serena smirked. “…you tell me?”
Blue eyes rolled in exasperation. “Serena, please to play coy with me.”
“Fine.” Serena decided to stop beating around the bush and get straight to the point. “Does she even know that you were pining away for her all those years ago?”
The question hit Alex like a shot to the heart. Without a word, Alex turned and went over to the large window. She stared out over the bustling city below hoping that she could lose herself. Over the three years that she had been away, she had gotten very good at disappearing into her surroundings. A part of her wished she could do that now. The topic of Olivia Benson was something she tried keep in a box hidden away. She wanted to forget it. She wanted to be free of it. She actually thought she was; but like always all of those old feelings just kept coming back.
Serena stared at her back for a moment. “Just tell me one thing, Alex. Why didn’t you call her?”
Alex sighed. “Who says that I didn’t?”
Serena sat up straight. This was new. “You called her?”
Alex nodded slowly, never turning around. “She was the first person I called.”
Serena was confused. Alex had never told her anything about contacting Olivia or anyone from the squad after she returned home. Whenever she mentioned it, Alex would brush her off saying that she’d lost too much time already and there was no reason trying to live in the past. She had to move on.
“And what did she say?”
A long moment passed before Alex answered. “She didn’t say anything. The woman who answered her phone said that she was in the shower...” She turned around and smiled sadly. “…and that I’d be better off leaving a message.”
Serena sighed and closed her eyes. “Oh my God, Alex. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Alex shrugged her shoulders. “It didn’t matter. Obviously I had been wrong about there being something between us. And even if I had been right, I knew when I came back that there was a good chance that everyone else had moved on; that she had moved on. The marshals gave me the drill. That’s one of the reasons why many people decide to stay in the program. You realize that you’ve been stuck in this limbo while everyone else kept right on living… and you don’t fit into that anymore. I didn’t fit anymore.”
Serena stood and went over to her friend. They rarely talked about the time that Alex spent away anymore. It was a topic that Alex rarely discussed. She reached out and took Alex’s hands in her own.
“I know that was a tough time for you, Alex, but you have to know that we never forgot about you; none of us did. When I found out that you were alive and somewhere out there, I prayed that you’d come home someday.”
“I know that was a tough time for you, Alex, but you have to know that we never forgot about you; none of us did. When I found out that you were alive and somewhere out there, I prayed that you’d come home someday.”
Alex smiled sadly. “I know and for that I’m very thankful.”
“Have you ever considered that you might have been wrong about her?”
“I’ve been home for nearly a year. She could have called or visited had she wanted to.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I guess she didn’t. End of story.”
Serena thought for a moment then smiled. “Look, I have an idea.”
“What?”
“Come to dinner with me.”
“Serena, didn’t you hear anything that I just said?” Alex said moving back to her desk.
Serena followed. “Yes, I did but I still think you should come, now more than ever.”
“Why on earth would I want to do that?”
“Because I happen to know that you and Olivia used to be friends. I also know that above everything else, you miss that friendship. You miss Olivia and I’m betting that she misses you too.”
Alex chuckled bitterly. “Yeah, my answering service if full of messages from her.”
“Probably as full as hers is with messages from you.” Serena countered. “You only called her once, remember. You could have tried harder.”
Alex rolled her eyes. “Serena….”
“She probably thought that you didn’t want to hear from her. Hell, who knows what she thought.” Serena threw up her hands. “Come to dinner and find out once and for all.”
Alex flopped down in her chair and stared at her friend. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
“No, I’m not.”
Alex tilted her head and watched Serena closely. “You already told them that I was coming, didn’t you.”
Serena bit her lip. “Yes.”
Alex shook her head. “All of this for some Texan.”
Serena finally smiled. “What can I say? I’m a sucker for her southern charm.”
“Right… and the fact that she’s gorgeous has nothing to do with it.”
They both laughed. “That she is.”
“Are you sure she’s not going to hurt you again?”
Serena thought for a moment. “No, but… it’s been over a year and I haven’t felt anything close to what I felt for her with anybody else… and I don’t think I ever will. It’s a scary thought and probably hard for anyone to understand, but it’s the truth.”
Oh, I understand more than you know. “Alright, I’ll go.” She said then quickly held up a slender finger. “But not one word to Olivia about what we talked about today.”
“But what if….” Serena started.
“I mean it, Serena. Obviously Olivia has found someone and she’s happy now. I refuse to interfere with that. I never had any claim to her to in the first place.”
Serena shook her head as she gathered her purse to leave. “Okay. If you say so.”
“I do. You just worry about your date.” Alex said in a dangerously low voice.
“Alex…” Serena said in a warning tone. “I want to give this thing with Abbie a chance so you have to promise to be nice.”
“I don’t make promises that I can’t keep, Counselor.”
“Well at least promise not to insult her with your big city words.” Serena said using a faux southern accent.
Alex frowned. “God, you are crazy about her. You’re even sounding like her now.”
“I’ll call you with the details tomorrow. Have a good day, Alex.” She heard Serena’s laughter as the door closed.
“Yeah, right. Good day my ass.” She picked up her phone and pressed the extension to her secretary.
“Charlotte, get Jim Steele in my office now!” I need someone to yell at.
“Yes, Ms. Cabot.”
TBC
TBC
