Note1: This story follows DANCING and GAME FACE. If you haven't read them already (and why the hell haven't you?), go read 'em before you start this one because otherwise you're gonna miss stuff and it's not my fault.

Note2: The title and summary for this fic are shamelessly 'borrowed' from the 10,000 Maniacs song of the same title.

Disclaimer: Anybody who seems even vaguely familiar from television is not mine (a full 'Don't sue me I'm not making any money from this' disclaimer can be found on my profile page). However!, Maggie, Matt, Carolyn, Adam, Andy, Bryan, Bryn, Jake, John and their respective better halves are mine. Yup, you read that right – the Cousins are back!

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THESE ARE DAYS

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::CHAPTER 1::

Alexandra Cabot paced nervously back and forth across the dirty checkerboard linoleum in the Homicide division's briefing room as she waited for the all-clear text message to tell her that Olivia had been successfully whisked away from SVU's bullpen and off to lunch with Abigail Carmichael. The normally composed and self-assured ADA was uncharacteristically nervous because this was the day she'd been planning meticulously for for the last month, and she wanted everything to go perfectly.

She needed it to go perfectly. More than any other day in her life, she wanted this one to end perfectly.

Life, she decided as she stalked back and forth across the small, grungy room, was made up of days like this – days that you will remember, for good or bad, for the rest of your life. Like the day she'd passed the bar, the day her father died, the day she'd first met Olivia, the night she and the handsome detective had their first knock-down-drag-out screaming match over a warrant, or the afternoon Olivia had asked her to join her on the stakeout in the Village. And then there was the morning after they'd both been assaulted outside that club when they'd finally admitted their feelings for the other. That was, perhaps, the happiest day of her life. The day she and Olivia took their first step toward becoming a couple.

Life, she mused as she paced, was the culmination of both small, seemingly inconsequential events and decisions, and immense, immeasurable events that altered who you were forever.

She was confidently hoping that today would be yet another momentous day. Today was the day she was going to really set her plan into motion, but before she could do anything she needed to talk with her 'boys', the men who were Olivia's brothers, and Captain Cragen, the man who was the closest thing to a father figure her girlfriend had ever had. She didn't need their approval, but she wanted it – so she'd enlisted Abbie to take Olivia out and away from the precinct so she could have some time with them alone. She was so frazzled from just the knowledge of what she was going to do in a few moments time, from the understanding of the weight and magnitude of the moment, that she literally jumped when the phone she was holding started to vibrate in her hand.

On our way out the door now. -A

"Alright Alex," she muttered as she smoothed her hands over her favorite charcoal gray pinstripe suit that she'd worn for good juju. "You can do this."

She counted to twenty to calm her nerves (ten just wasn't doing it today) before stepping out into the hall and heading for the stairs at the end. She hated taking the stairs in heels, but Olivia thought she was in a meeting in Petrovsky's chambers at the moment and, on the off chance that Abbie and Olivia's elevator stopped on this floor, she didn't want to be caught standing out in the hall. She tightened her grip on her satchel as she climbed and paused one last time before she threw open the door and strode down the corridor to 'her' bullpen, her heels clicking loudly in her usual confident staccato to announce her presence. She squared her shoulders as she rounded the corner and immediately caught Elliot's eye. He smiled reassuringly at her as she entered – he had already done his part to help her and so was already informed as to what she was planning – and she smiled a small, shy smile in return, pleased to notice that her racing heart had noticeably slowed at the detective's greeting.

"Stabler," she greeted the detective in her typical, clipped manner.

"Counselor," Elliot grinned. "You ready?"

Alex shook her head and adjusted her glasses. "Hell no," she answered as she reached up to tuck her hair back behind her ear.

Elliot laughed at the ADA's honesty. "It's going to be fine, Alex. I actually think it's pretty cool that you're doing this."

Alex nodded slowly as a faint blush crept up her cheeks. Never in a million years had she ever considered the possibility that she'd be in this position, but it was certainly reassuring to hear from somebody who'd been through it himself that she was going about things the right way. "Thank you, Elliot. That means a lot to me."

"Hey, hey! Charlie's here!" Fin called out as he and Munch strolled into the squad room. "What's the occasion? Taking Liv out to lunch?" he asked as he looked around the room. "Where is Liv?"

"Out to lunch with Abbie," Alex answered, smiling in spite of herself at the detective's continued use of the nickname. "I needed to talk to you guys without her around. Is Don in his office?" she asked, turning to Elliot for clarification since he'd been the only one in the room when she'd entered.

"Yup," Elliot grinned. "C'mon boys," he waved his fellow detectives toward their boss' office. "You don't want to miss this one, trust me."

"What's going on?" Munch frowned, looking over his shoulder at Alex as he was ushered into Cragen's office. "Are pod-people taking over the DA's office?"

"You mean Arthur isn't a pod person?" Alex quipped dryly, thankful for the older man's joke to help settle her nerves.

Munch nodded thoughtfully. "Good point Counselor," he drawled as he walked into the small office and moved toward his usual position by the side wall.

"What's going on?" Donald Cragen asked as he stood up behind his desk to face the trio of detectives that had just entered his office.

"Dunno Cap," Fin answered with a small shrug. "Cabot said she wanted to talk to all of us."

Don looked away from his detective and smiled a warm, fatherly smile at the woman who was hiding behind his detectives. He could tell from her expression that something heavy was weighing on her mind, and as Olivia wasn't with the group he grew immediately concerned for both his detective, and his ADA. "Alex, I didn't see you back there. Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine, Don," Alex replied as she closed the door after herself. She took a moment to gather her thoughts as she set her satchel down on the floor by her feet before she looked up to address the men who were all looking at her expectantly. "This is… more of a personal visit," she explained.

"Oh," Cragen replied as he sat back down in his chair. "So, then what can we do for you Counselor?"

Alex shuffled her feet and took a deep, calming breath before she answered. "Well, as you all know Olivia and I have been together for nearly six months now," she stated somewhat haltingly, catching Elliot's eye as the burly ex-marine smiled encouragingly and mimicked taking a big breath. 'Breathe' he mouthed. If only it were that easy, I feel like there is a hoard of butterflies in my stomach trying to get out, she thought as she offered him a blank stare before turning her attention back to the group at large."And, I understand that while six months is not an especially long time to be together as a couple, we've know each other for a lot longer than that," she rushed, her nerves getting the better of her and causing her normally flawless speech pattern to become anything but.

Elliot laughed softly to himself as he moved in behind Alex and placed a reassuring hand on the small of her back. "Breathe, Alex," he murmured in her ear, another small chuckle escaping as he felt the normally cool and collected attorney trembling with nerves under his hand. "It's fine. You're doing good. Just breathe."

She turned to Olivia's partner and smiled wryly as she finally did as he suggested and actually took a deep breath to settle herself. "Thank you," she whispered to Elliot before she took one last big breath and continued on with her prepared speech. "I know that Olivia thinks of you guys as her brothers," she looked from Elliot, to Fin, and then to Munch, "and that she considers you to be the father she never had," she smiled nervously at Don who was now reclined back in his chair wearing a goofy grin and looking like he knew exactly where this was going, "so I felt it was only proper to… ask for all of your blessings. I want to ask Olivia to marry me."

Don laughed loudly as he pushed himself back up to his feet. "Of course, Alex!" he crowed as he clapped excitedly, feeling every bit like a proud papa whose little girl had finally met her perfect match.

"Wow, Cabot," Fin grinned as he crossed the office to shake Alex's hand in congratulations. "Takes some balls to come into a small room with four armed men and ask something like that."

Alex blushed and looked down at her feet as she tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear. "Thank you, I think."

John was wearing a an ear-to-ear grin as he pushed past his partner to envelope Alex in a warm embrace. "Mazel tov," he whispered in her ear before he brushed a quick kiss to her cheek. "I'm happy for you."

"So, did you pick the ring up yet?" Elliot asked, drawing everyone's attention to him and the fact that he knew that this would be happening. "What?"

"You knew about this?" Cragen asked the question the rest of the men were all thinking.

Alex watched as Elliot just nodded and grinned like a fool, so she decided that it'd be best if she offered up the real reason why he'd known when nobody else in the squad had. "Well, you see, I needed help getting Liv's ring size," Alex explained. "So I enlisted Elliot to help me out. He took her to a jewelry store as backup for a gift he was supposedly looking at for Kathy, and managed to get her to try a ring on for size so I knew what to order for her."

"Awww," the guys all gushed causing Alex to blush even harder.

"You've been scheming!" Fin laughed as he pointed an accusing finger at her.

"Maybe just a little," she agreed demurely before turning her eyes to Elliot who was still looking at her expectantly. "And yes, I just picked it up this morning. Would you like to see it?"

"YES!" the four grown men squealed like little girls.

"Okay, okay," Alex laughed, finally relaxing and taking a second to enjoy the moment as she reached down into her bag to pull out the small, blue box that she'd just picked up from the jewelers.

"Oooh," Munch cooed as he spotted the signature blue box. "Tiffany's. Very nice, Cabot."

"Well," Alex smiled as she opened the box and ran her finger over the ring inside. "It's a little more Rose than Tiffany," she explained as she handed the box off to Elliot. "When we were at my family's for Thanksgiving last year my mother gave me my grandmother's ring to propose to Olivia with," she shared. "But, my grandmother was maybe five feet tall with heels on and she had the tiniest little hands, and I knew that there was no way her ring would have ever fit Liv – so I took it to Henri at Tiffany's and had him work my grandmother's ring into something new especially for Olivia."

"It's gorgeous," Cragen murmured as he took the box from Elliot to have a look. "Absolutely gorgeous and absolutely perfect for Olivia. You did good, kid," he smiled at Alex as he passed the box to Fin who whistled appreciatively before handing it over to Munch.

"Wow, very nice," Munch observed as he lifted the ring out to look at it better. It was a simple ring, nothing flashy, but she just couldn't see Olivia wearing a typical solitaire engagement ring. Because of that, she'd had the jeweler take the diamonds from her grandmother's ring and set them into a simple platinum band and then, because she was having a bigger ring made, she had him fill in the difference with diamonds to match those harvested from the heirloom.

"Do you think she'll like it?" she asked hesitantly as she took the ring and its case back from John and slid it back into the protective confines of her briefcase. She'd thought it was something that Liv would like, but now that she was standing on the precipice of actually proposing, she found she needed that confirmation that she was doing the right thing.

"She's going to love it," Don assured her with a smile. He actually thought it was rather endearing to see the normally unflappable ADA so nervous about something that they all knew was a sure thing. "Do you have a plan?"

Alex nodded. "I do."

"Well," Fin squeaked. "Don't leave us hangin' – what is it? Details woman, details!"

Alex laughed and smiled as she leaned back against the door. She crossed her arms over her chest as she studied the grown men before her who all looked absolutely giddy with anticipation. "Okay, fine. But you can't tell Liv." She looked at each of them in turn and waited until they'd all nodded in agreement before she continued. "Well, what I was thinking was…"