First Impressions

DISCLAIMER: Law and Order SVU does not belong to me sadly. But Dick Wolf must be making an absolute bundle, so with any luck, he won't feel the need to sue when I borrow his characters for a while.

SETTINGS: Early Season Two (before Liv's mom dies).

SUMMARY: A barbeque at the Stabler's allows Kathy the chance to finally meet the other woman in her husband's life.

ONWARDS:

"Maureen, could you answer the door please?"

Scowling at the slightly burnt edges of the potato bake, Kathy Stabler tried to juggle the pan, oven mitts protecting her hands, whilst resetting the oven to cook the apple pie. She tried valiantly to remember what had possessed her to agree to her husband's suggestion of hosting a barbeque for his co-workers. Obviously that charming grin of his still worked wonders, even if she protested fiercely.

Then again, agreeing to host the barbeque meant that she could finally put some names to faces of the people she'd heard about over the last year. The fact that her husband's 'partner' was a woman hadn't been a detail that Kathy could forget, and the fact that Elliot spoke about Oliva 'Liv' Benson in glowing terms was enough to make a woman green with jealousy.

Just as Kathy was about to lose either the pie or the pan of potato bake, a slim hand popped into view, carefully snagging the pie and depositing it in the oven. Kathy looked up, her eyes widening as she realised just who the pie-saviour had been.

"Kathy, right?" the brunette asked with a beaming smile. "I'm Olivia Benson."

Kathy almost cringed. Why oh why couldn't her husband's partner have been some plain and 'homely' looking woman instead of the bombshell in front of her. The woman had an open an honest face, deep chocolate brown eyes that you could drown in, and a sincere smiling warmth about her. Kathy hated her already.

"Olivia," Kathy replied, forcing a smile onto her face. "Elliot's told me a lot about you."

And wasn't that an understatement? Ever since Olivia Benson had been assigned to the Special Victims Unit, Elliot hadn't had a bad word to say about her. It didn't help that Kathy knew that Elliot spoke to Olivia about things that he wouldn't tell her about, and she was his wife. It just didn't seem at all fair.

"Likewise," Olivia replied with a smile. "It's a miracle if we can get him to shut up about you and the kids. Your photo's don't do you justice."

Kathy smiled politely, grumbling a rude commentary in her mind, cataloguing the fact that the detective sounded so damn sincere. She wanted to hate this woman, but the open and friendly manner of Olivia Benson was throwing her off her game.

"So, can I give you a hand with anything?" Olivia offered.

"No, it's fine, thanks," Kathy replied tightly. "The guys are congregating in the backyard if you want to join them."

"Just the guys?" Olivia asked casually.

Kathy nodded and expertly began cutting into the heated mixture of potato, sour cream and cheese, precisely sectioning it off in equal portions.

"Elliot told me you're the only woman in the unit," Kathy noted. "So, yeah just the guys."

Olivia nodded, and Kathy noticed something that looked like disappointment creep into the woman's expression.

"You were expecting someone?" Kathy asked, curious despite herself. Just because she wanted to hate this woman didn't mean she couldn't be puzzled by her.

"Uh, yeah," Olivia replied, a blush tinging her tanned skin, intriguing Kathy ever so slightly. "Alex said she'd try to drop by."

"Alex…" Kathy repeated, the name not registering with the half dozen names of Elliot's squad members. She was sure she'd remember a name so mundane when put against Munch, Fin, Cragon, and of course the ever-famous 'Liv'.

"Alex Cabot," Olivia explained. "She's our ADA."

Before Kathy could pry anymore information from the woman, the back door slid open, and the sounds of the barbeque filtered into the kitchen, a smiling Elliot stepping inside, two beers in his hands.

"Was wondering if you were gonna play hooky Liv," Elliot teased, handing his partner a beer. "Another ten minutes and I woulda beat twenty bucks outta each of the guys."

Olivia flicked her partner's arm, neither of the usually astute detectives noticing the subtle way Kathy flinched as she watched the casual conversation between them.

"You mean I gotta put up with you complaining about how I lost you money?" Olivia replied, shaking her head before swallowing a mouthful of the cold beer.

"Not just me," Elliot corrected her. "Munch and Cragen too. Fin won."

"Nice to know that Fin's the only one with a little faith in me," Olivia ribbed, the two detectives enjoying the teasing, the relaxed atmosphere almost making it easy to forget that the only reason the squad knew each other was because of the vicious felonies that the investigated.

Kathy watched, her heart sinking with each moment. Just watching the comfort level between her husband and the beautiful woman in her kitchen was making her horribly uncomfortable. This didn't seem fair. It wasn't as though she and her husband fought a lot, but they'd lost the flirty passion that they'd started with, and seeing her husband acting so playfully just hurt.

"So, d'you invite Cabot to this shindig?" Olivia asked.

"Doubt she'll show, but I asked her," Elliot replied. Their new ADA had only been with the squad for nearly two months, and while professionally she'd made a good impression, personally he found the blonde ADA a little standoffish, and entirely too serious. "Now come on, if you don't make an appearance in the next two minutes, Munch'll claim that you showed up in his nominated time. I'd much rather lose to Fin."

Olivia grinned and nodded, obediently following Elliot out of the kitchen, waving politely to Kathy before the door closed behind them.

Kathy sighed loudly, staring at the closed door, trying to imagine just what went on before, during and after hours between the two detectives when Elliot wasn't with his family. There was no way that a woman that beautiful couldn't have any man wrapped around her little finger. And Kathy Stabler had a bad feeling that she knew exactly which man it was.

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An hour and a half into the barbeque and Kathy wasn't feeling any less suspicious about her husband's partner. She'd seen nothing blatantly obvious to implicate an affair, except for the constant affectionate ribbing. Except, all of the guys were treating Olivia in the same manner, and Olivia hadn't shown any of them any sort of favouritism.

Elliot plopped down into the seat beside his wife, finally noticing the scowl that had become a permanent feature on her face.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Headache," she replied tensely, noting with some amusement that the excuse wasn't entirely false.

Elliot reached up gently, smoothing the worry lines on Kathy's forehead, his touch soft and intimate, and Kathy found herself struggling not to melt beneath the familiar gesture. Of course, wondering whether or not Elliot had ever done this for Liv only made the lines worse.

"I'll tell the guys they should go early," Elliot offered. "We can always reschedule for another day."

"No!" Kathy insisted, definitely not wanting to have to live through another day of watching her husband and his partner sitting opposite each other, flinging their leftovers at one another with playful grins and shrieking laughter piercing the air. "I…I mean, no, it's okay. I'll just take some Tylenol."

Elliot stared at her a moment longer before finally nodding his consent. He didn't want to ask the squad to go home anyway, it was too good to finally have everyone together to unwind and socialise when there wasn't a case to worry about.

Kathy stood, extracting herself from Elliot's gentle hold, and wandering back into the kitchen, scrummaging in the medicine cabinet for the aspirin before pouring herself a glass of water. As she swallowed the two tablets, the doorbell chimed, and Kathy resigned herself to having to entertain another of Elliot's friends.

But as Kathy opened the door, her eyes widened in shock. Instead of the rough-and-ready cop that she'd been expecting, a bespectacled blonde woman, dressed in casual black pants and an expensive looking coat smiled nervously at her.

"Mrs Stabler?" the woman guessed. "I'm Alex Cabot. I work with your husband Elliot."

"Ms Cabot," Kathy replied, her shocked senses finally pulling together to form a reply. Whatever she'd been expecting of Alex Cabot, this hadn't been it. Then again, she'd only heard the name from Olivia, so she hadn't known anything about this woman except her name and the fact that she was a lawyer. "Please come in."

Alex stepped inside, and Kathy noticed the ease with which she carried herself, as though she was completely comfortable with every inch of her skin. This definitely wasn't her day, Kathy decided. Why was it that her husband had to work with two of the most beautiful women Kathy had ever seen. It seemed completely impossible and statistically improbable.

Raucous laughter sounded out, muffled through the glass of the kitchen window, and Alex smiled softly. "I take it that everyone's still here."

Kathy led the blonde ADA through the kitchen and out into the backyard, the group of detectives all greeting Alex loudly and with much gusto. The beers they'd been drinking were kicking in, and Alex was shocked to see just how relaxed the group seemed to be outside their natural habitat of the squad room.

Alex walked over to the table, Olivia shoving Munch to get him to move over, leaving Alex a seat beside her. The two women smiled their greeting, a silent communication passing between them. Kathy reclaimed her seat on the other side of the table, watching her husband for his reaction to the newcomer.

The ADA was quickly filled in on the topic of conversation, and the detectives were somewhat surprised by how knowledgeable their ADA was on the subject of b-grade action films that portrayed cops as being either lazy or corrupt.

It took nearly ten minutes for Kathy to notice that something in Olivia's behaviour had changed slightly. It wasn't tremendously noticeable, she was still contributing to the conversation, and still teasing the other men at the table, but Kathy, who'd been keeping watch of where Olivia's eyes wandered throughout the course of the day, couldn't help but realise that the brunette detective kept glancing at the ADA.

It was subtle, and Kathy had to admit that she thought perhaps she was imagining it, but every so often, especially when Alex spoke, Olivia would stare at the blonde from beneath the thin curtain of her hair. Kathy also quickly noticed the respectful way that Olivia had of speaking to the woman. She didn't tease or taunt her, but still managed to draw the blonde ADA into the circle of conversation easily.

Glancing around at Elliot's other friends, she could tell that the male detectives were completely oblivious. So, either she was reading too much into a blossoming friendship between the two women, or Olivia really was smitten with the blonde woman.

The tight coil of tension that had been resting in her chest began to slowly release, and she stood up, needing to move around now that the nervous energy was about to completely disappear.

She gathered up people's plates, waving off the offers from the others to help. Although when Olivia stood as well and grabbed a pile of plates, Kathy allowed the detective to follow her into the kitchen.

"I wanted to say thank you for putting up with us for the afternoon," Olivia said with a smile as she rinsed one of the plates in the sink.

"It's fine," Kathy replied. "It's been…enlightening actually."

"Well, in any case, I'm really glad I finally met you. I feel like I know so much about you already," Olivia said.

"Likewise," Kathy said, though this time, the sentiment was a little more genuine then their first meeting.

"Listen, I know this is going to sound odd, but…I was wondering if maybe I could take you to dinner sometime. I don't have that many female friends in New York, and I'd really like to get to know you better," Olivia offered.

Kathy couldn't have been more stunned if she'd tried. She could feel herself nodding her agreement, wondering if the detective was just saying it to be polite, or if it was a genuine offer.

"Sure, why not," Kathy replied.

"Great."

"Your friend Alex…" Kathy trailed off, not really knowing how to finish the sentence, but desperately wanting to get some sort of a response from the detective.

Olivia didn't disappoint. The tips of Olivia's ears turned a bright red and a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"She's nice," Kathy finally finished.

"Yeah, she is," Olivia agreed.

"Must be nice to have another woman to work with," Kathy commented. "Save you from all the testosterone of the squad."

Olivia laughed and leaned back against the counter.

"That's an understatement," the detective commented. "She's a great ADA. Doesn't let anyone intimidate her. I like that in a w - …person."

Kathy grinned at the near-slip-up. She definitely hadn't been wrong in her assumptions about Olivia's infatuation with the blonde. She wondered if her husband knew about Olivia's preferences when it came to her sexual partners. She was almost fairly certain that Elliot was clueless.

And as the afternoon wound day, Kathy Stabler managed to relax completely, even going so far as to enjoy the company of the other detectives, including Olivia Benson. And while this woman may have had a hold over her husband, it wasn't the type of hold Kathy was worried about.

Now all Kathy had to do was fix up the brunette detective with a certain blonde ADA and all would be well in the world.

Kathy shrugged mentally and snuggled closer to her husband, relishing the warmth seeping into her body as she was held in strong arms.

"I like you partner," Kathy commented honestly.

"Liv? I told you that you would," Elliot replied.

"She's really nice. Invited me to dinner," she said.

"Really?" Elliot asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yeah. Said she didn't have many female friends."

"Are you gonna go?" Elliot asked. He didn't know if he liked the idea of his wife and his partner getting together for dinner. Who knew what they would talk about for an evening. He had a sneaking suspicion that they would latch onto the only common topic they had, ie. HIM!

"Yeah, I think so," Kathy replied.

Elliot swallowed hard but didn't comment.

Kathy fell silent for a moment, mentally thinking of the best way to broach the topic with her husband. She finally decided on a simple and slightly untrue version of events.

"Liv and Alex make a pretty cute couple, don't you think?" she commented innocently.

Elliot bolted upright, turning to stare at his wife, not even noticing the way that Kathy was trying not to burst out laughing at his expression.

"What! Liv and Alex? You're kidding me right? I mean, that's a joke, isn't it?" he demanded.

Kathy shook her head, trying to look bewildered. "They're not together? Are you sure?"

Elliot narrowed his eyes, his brows furrowing as he thought over every piece of evidence he'd been presented. He'd known that the two women had been establishing a friendship, but he'd seen them go head-to-head in some pretty serious arguments as well. Except…well, they'd both seemed to enjoy the heated discussions.

He also realised that every time that he and Olivia had been called to Alex's office, the ADA had called Liv's cell, not his. Alex always greeted Olivia first, stood closest to Liv in meetings, and argued more frequently with the brunette than with anyone else.

Elliot sputtered in disbelief for a moment before coming to a speechless conclusion.

"You're not going to have a heart attack or anything are you?" Kathy asked in concern.

He shook his head. "How the hell did you pick up on Alex and Liv after three hours, when I didn't even notice anything?" he asked in shock.

Kathy shrugged. She wasn't about to confess that she'd been paying extra attention to the female detective to make sure that she wasn't trying to steal Elliot. It would seem somewhat silly after the afternoon's revelations.

"Women's intuition," she fudged.

"God…this is gonna make great teasing material," Elliot said with a grin. "Olivia head over heels for the Ice Princess of the SVU. I'll give her points in her taste in women."

Kathy hit her husband's arm hard, enjoying his wince of pain and the way he rubbed his arm to try and get his blood circulating properly.

"I'm just saying," Elliot said innocently. "Anyway, good for her. She deserves it."

"Yeah," Kathy replied, a grin on her face. She couldn't believe she'd spent a year worrying and jealous about the woman her husband spent his time with, only to discover that said woman would be more likely to hit on her than on her husband. "She does."

Fate had a funny sense of irony after all.

END.