“How was your weekend?” Serena asked as she sat down on the sofa. 

 

“Wonderful!  It was the best weekend of my life,” Alex said, slipping out of her heels and resting her feet on the ottoman.

 

Serena folded her arms and smirked.  “So how many times did you and Liv have sex?”

 

Alex balked.  “Uh, we didn’t…I mean, it’s not like we…”  She saw that Serena wasn’t buying it.  “Ok, so we did.  But how did you know?”

 

“Because you say that every single time you and Liv have sex,” Serena replied with a shit-eating grin. 

 

Alex blushed.  “I can’t help if she’s the best lover on Earth.”

 

Serena cocked her head.  “Hey now, you’re getting a little ahead of yourself.”

 

Alex grinned.  “What can I say?  She’s magnetic.”

 

“Which is why you always keep going back to her,” Serena said.

 

“Speaking of going back…” Alex began.  She folded her hands in her lap.  “Mike’s death just shed light on so many things I’d lost sight of, like cherishing the ones you love instead of running away from them.  I want to be back with Liv.”

 

Serena’s eyes got wide.  “Really?”

 

“Yes,” Alex confirmed.  “I don’t wanna be without her in my life any longer.”

 

“So when are you gonna tell her?” Serena asked, holding out a plate of sweet rolls.

 

Alex shook her head and held up a hand to politely decline.  “Tomorrow night when I see her.”

 

“What about Robert?”

 

“I’m breaking up with him.”

 

Serena’s mouth dropped open.  “Seriously?” 

 

“Yes,” Alex answered again.

 

Serena smiled.  “Well, it’s good to have the old Alex back.  So when did you decide this?”

 

“Last night,” Alex replied.  “I made dinner for her then we cuddled by the fireplace…”

 

“You mean made love by the fireplace.”

 

Alex laughed and rolled her eyes.  “What are you?  A fly on my wall?”

 

“I just know you too well,” Serena replied with a smirk.

 

“I’ll have you know it was both.”

 

“Figures,” she replied, taking a bite of a sweet roll.  “When was the last time you saw Robert?”

 

Alex rolled her eyes again, this time in disgust.  “Yesterday.  He stopped by my place.”

 

Serena’s eyes grew wide again.  “When Liv was there?”

 

Alex shook her head.  “No, thank God.  It was before she came.”

 

“What’d he want?”

 

“To piss me off,” Alex said, frowning at the recollection.  “He basically wanted to know why I hadn’t returned his calls and why I wouldn’t open up to him.  He had the nerve to tell me he had a right to know my intimate thoughts because I’m his girlfriend.”  Bitterness hung on the last word.

 

Her best friend regarded her with concern.  “That sounds a bit controlling, Alex.”

 

“Tell me about it,” she muttered.

 

“Did you tell Olivia he was there?”

 

Alex leaned back in the armchair a bit.  “No.  I didn’t want to ruin the mood.  I also didn’t want her to leave.”

 

“You think she would’ve?”

 

“Maybe.  I wasn’t about to take a chance.  She doesn’t like him.”

 

Serena chuckled.  “Well, that’s to be expected.  Would you like the guy who’s dating the love of your life?”

 

“I know.  It’s been so hard to get her to open up to me again and I’m afraid knowing he was there would’ve made those walls go back up just as quickly as they’d come down.”

 

“Well, as long as he’s not mentioned and you don’t see him, you can kinda pretend he doesn’t exist.”

 

“Sometimes I wish he didn’t,” Alex murmured.  “I think about how different things would be if I’d never met him.”

 

Serena smiled and crossed her legs.  “You can thank your brother for that.”

 

Alex scoffed.  “I’m never letting Victor talk me into dating one of his friends again.”

 

“That would be wise—especially considering how they are all men.”

 

“Victor would die if he knew I was a lesbian.”

 

“It would be nice to live in a world free of homophobia.”

 

“Yep.  I never would’ve slept with a man because I wouldn’t have had a reason to not be true to myself.”

 

“Me either,” Serena agreed. 

 

“It would’ve been so wonderful to just be with women all my life.  I could’ve saved myself a lot of unhappiness.” 

 

Serena shrugged.  “Yeah…but everything happens for a reason, I guess.  If you’d been out when you met Liv, you may have never dated her because you could’ve been in a long-term relationship with another woman.”

 

“Well, there were many women I found beautiful and would’ve been interested in dating had I not been closeted.  I used to get crushes on chicks and I even had feelings for a couple I slept with in undergrad and law school.  But I’ve only ever felt this way about her.  From the moment I saw her I knew something was different.”

 

Serena grinned.  “I know something changed about you after you started SVU.  You seemed happier and more relaxed.  There was a glow about you.  Not to mention that you really started going that extra mile for the victims instead of just blazing a political warpath.”

 

Alex sighed.  “Yeah…even before Liv and I started dating, just seeing her would brighten my day.  She has this charisma about her that just captures you and never lets go.”

 

“You’ve got it bad, woman.”

 

A goofy smile danced at Alex’s lips.  “Yep.”

 

**************

 

“Evan is willing to plead guilty to manslaughter right now if you’ll move this to juvenile court,” his lawyer argued the next morning.

 

“We can’t do that,” Alex insisted.

 

“He’s 14 for God’s sake,” he replied.

 

“We’ve been through this,” Jim said.

 

“He’ll do five years in a juvenile facility where he can continue his education and seek counseling,” the defense attorney responded.

 

Jim put his documents back in their manila folder.  “Anything else?” he asked, standing up.

 

“Yeah, why the hell are we even trying this case in the first place?” Evan’s father demanded.

 

“Excuse me?” Jim asked.

 

“What happened to my son, it’s my problem, my loss,” his father replied.  “Not yours.  Not your boss’s.  Mine.  So why not just leave it alone?”

 

“That’s not how it works, Mr. Foye.  I’m sorry,” Jim explained.

 

“I’m the father,” Mr. Foye said through gritted teeth.  “I’ve already lost one son.  I’m not about to lose another,” he continued, getting up.  He patted Evan on the shoulder.  “Come on, son.  Let’s go.”

 

“Adult crime, adult time,” Alex said to Jim as soon as Evan Foye, his father, and his attorney left her office.  She looked up over her shoulder at him.  “Office policy.”

 

“You mean office politics,” Jim said pointedly, gathering his files under his arm so he could leave, too.

 

“What’s the difference?” Alex muttered disenchantingly, shaking her head.  She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead.  It was certainly easier to employ the policy in theory than in practice.  After he closed the door to her office, she stood up from the table and went over to her desk.  Pulling her phone out of her purse, she called Olivia.

 

“Benson” came the smooth, familiar voice.

 

“Hey, you busy right now?”

 

Olivia held the phone between her ear and shoulder and scribbled some notes on a pad.  “Not too much.  What’s up?”

 

“I was just wondering what time you think you’ll be home tonight.”

 

“Oh…probably around 9,” Olivia replied, taking a sip of coffee.  “I have a couple errands to run after I get off.  Why?  You wanna come over?”

 

Alex smiled.  “That I do.”

 

“Ok.  How ’bout I give you a call a bit later?”

 

“That’ll be fine.  Talk to you soon,” Alex said softly.

 

“Bye,” Olivia replied.  A smile slowly spread across her lips.  She hadn’t wanted to admit it, but she was getting used to Alex’s company again and looking forward to each time she saw her.  Can it be that we really are starting over again? she hoped.

 

Elliot slapped her on the back on the way to his desk.  “What’s got you so excited, partner?”

 

Olivia shook her head and immersed herself in a case file.  “Oh um…it’s nothing.”

 

“The combination of that smile and that bullshit answer means it’s none other than Alex Cabot.”

 

Olivia sighed and looked up.  “Do we have to do this again?”

 

“Yep,” Elliot replied, grinning at her over his cup of coffee.  “So I take it you went over to Alex’s last week after all?”

 

“You could say that.”

 

“How is she?”

 

Olivia flashed a smile.  “She’s good.  We saw each other the past few days.”

 

“You spent the night together every night, didn’t you?”

 

“What’s it to you?” Olivia asked.

 

“Hey, it was just a question…”

 

“Elliot, I’m not giving you details of my sex life,” Olivia whispered harshly.

 

“Aha!” Elliot exclaimed, pointing a finger at her.  “Thanks for proving my point.”

 

Olivia rolled her eyes.  “You just don’t let up, do you?”

 

“I just like to see my partner happy.  That’s all,” he said with a smile.  “Whatever went on between you two, I can tell it was good.”

 

Let’s just hope it stays that way, Olivia thought.