A/N: So, it seems the muse is slowly coming out of hibernation. Odd for the end of November but...eh. What are you gonna do? Right. :) I want to thank everyone for the response to my little drabble. It's attention like that, that fuels the fire and feeds the muse. So do reviews...*hint hint*... ;) This should only be a two-parter. Please let me know if I should even bother to submit the second part. Thanks and I hope everyone enjoys part one.
Disclaimer: Don't know why I bother...frickin' legal bs. Dick Wolf owns it all.
Lasting Impression
"That's the third time, I'm tellin' ya," Elliot smirked at his partner.
"And I'm tellin' you, you're full of it El," Olivia retorted as she took another drink of her beer.
"Third time what?" the latest addition to their squad, Fin asked.
Fin had transferred to Manhattan Special Victims from Brooklyn Narcotics about six months ago. It had been a shaky start but after the first few cases, he'd proven himself and been accepted into their tight-knit clique. It seemed to Elliot, Olivia and Munch that Fin was willing to stick with it and appeared to be in with them for the long haul. This came as a relief to both Elliot and Olivia. They were growing tired of having to watch Munch go through partner after partner. Fin clicked with John in a way no one else had. Even though they were like night and day in almost every possible way, much like the duo from the "Odd Couple", they still fit each other almost perfectly. And overall, the four of them had started to gel like a perfect team; as if they'd been together for years not just a mere six months.
"I think I know what Elliot's referring to," Munch offered. "The hot, petite brunette over in the corner has quite possibly undressed, our equally hot yet not as petite brunette, with her eyes at least three times now. All in the last twenty minutes."
"Not as petite? Fuck off, John," Olivia exclaimed as she threw a pretzel stick at the lanky detective sitting across the booth from her.
"Hey, hey, hey. That was meant entirely as a complement, Liv. That girl over there looks like she'd blow over in a stiff breeze. You, on the other hand, are in fine physical shape and could have your choice of anyone in this room," Munch quickly clarified.
"And probably already has," Elliot chuckled quietly into his beer.
"I heard that, El. And for the record, no, I haven't," Olivia defended.
As the banter between his friends continued, Fin took the opportunity to check out the girl in question and mentally agreed with Munch's assessment. Just as he was about to add his two cents on the subject, he caught the girl giving Olivia a long, hard once over, yet again. For the fourth time.
"Uhh… baby girl, I hate to admit it but boney-ass and your partner are right. That little thing is desperately tryin' to eye fuck you from across the room," Fin reluctantly admitted.
Throughout the entire conversation, Olivia had yet to acknowledge the girl, until now. Letting out a deep sigh, she turned her head and quickly glanced at the girl and just as quickly turned her attention back to her friends. She sank down into her seat, leaned her head back into the cushion of the booth and closed her eyes.
The three male detectives exchanged looks and turned their attention to Olivia waiting for her to say something. Anything.
Before Olivia had a chance to speak, the girl rose from her spot and started to make her way through the crowded bar over to the detective's booth.
"Oh boy. I think she's gathered enough liquid courage, Liv. She's headed over," Elliot commented.
With her eyes still closed Olivia spoke, "Take a long look at her, El. Seriously. I know why she's been looking over here. I need your help and fast. I need a name, quickly."
Elliot did as requested. Suddenly a mixed look of shock and horror crossed his features. "Oh… shit. Ummm… uhhh… give me a sec… I'm thinkin'."
"What's the problem?" Munch asked.
"Tell ya in a minute, John. Hurry, El. I need a name… now," Olivia almost squeaked in desperation.
"I know what it is, Munch. Liv's already been there, done that. And guessin' by the lack of recall on Liv's part, it wasn't that memorable," Fin explained.
"Oh, no. Detective Casanova strikes again," Munch shook his head.
"I hate that nickname," Olivia muttered.
"Tanya… I think," Elliot finally conjured the name from the recesses of his brain.
"You think?" Olivia replied. "You'd better be right."
Just as those words left Olivia's lips, the girl arrived at their booth, "Olivia. Long time, no see."
Olivia finally opened her eyes and glanced up at the girl possibly named Tanya. She wasn't 100% sure Elliot was correct but it was too late to turn back now.
The men sat back, suddenly as quiet as church mice, enjoying their front row seats and watched the infamous Benson charm in action.
With her trade-mark lopsided grin firmly in place, Olivia slowly sat back up straight in the booth, picked up her beer and took a long drink as her eyes slowly and seductively crawled up and down the, as Munch so aptly put it, 'hot, petite brunette' that stood before her. What she was really doing was buying time; trying desperately to remember her and her name. Olivia still wasn't sure Elliot was correct. She looked very familiar but Olivia still couldn't quite place her. Or more appropriately, when she'd had her.
"It's been a long time, indeed. How have you been?" Olivia asked casually as she placed her mug down upon the table.
"Fine. You said you would call but you never did. What the fuck?" The girl was clearly unhappy with being forgotten so easily.
"I'm really sorry. Honestly, I am. I work all sorts of crazy hours. Look, let me try to make amends. Let me buy you a drink, Tanya," Olivia offered smoothly.
The girl's eyes went huge with indignation, "Tanya? Tanya? My name is Tara! Tanya is my twin sister, you bitch!"
Before anyone at the booth had a chance to react, Tara picked up the pitcher of beer sitting in the middle of the table and unceremoniously dumped it upon Olivia's head. She then slapped the now beer soaked detective, hard and bolted for the exit.
Munch quickly jumped up from the booth and high tailed it to the bar, quickly requesting and receiving multiple bar towels. When he returned, he handed a few of them to Olivia and passed the rest of them out to the others to help clean up the mess.
No one dared to say a word as they cleaned up the spilled beer.
As they were finishing up, the three men paused as they heard Olivia start to chuckle then flat out laugh as she towel dried her beer soaked head. She pulled the towel from her face, her lopsided grin back in place.
Elliot looked at his partner and grinned, "Sorry 'bout that Liv. Guess her name wasn't Tanya after all."
Olivia continued to chuckle as she motioned for the group's waitress, "Gee, ya think, El? I was thinkin' you might have been wrong but I knew, for some reason, you were close."
The waitress arrived a few moments later, "Are you guys alright? I saw what happened. You ok, Olivia?"
"Yeah, Nance, I'm fine sweetie but I think we need a new pitcher," Olivia grinned.
As Nancy departed, Fin couldn't take it any longer, "Twins, Liv? Damn! You know I'm jealous, right?"
Olivia just shrugged as a Cheshire cat grin spread across her face.
Three Months Later
"And I've told you, I don't know how many times, I can't get a judge to sign off on a warrant based on your gut, Olivia. I need more," Alex practically scolded the detective as she rose from her perch on the left corner of Olivia's desk and exited the squadroom.
Olivia couldn't help but stare after Alex. The sway of that woman's hips, especially when she was pissed off, was truly hypnotic.
Elliot shook his head and grinned as he watched his partner watch their ADA's exit. When Olivia still hadn't returned to reality after a couple of minutes, Elliot took this as his cue to have some fun at his best friend's expense, "So, I told Kathy a threesome was just fine with me, as long as I got to choose the third… any suggestions… Liv?"
"Huh… what? What the hell did you say, El? I know I did not just hear you say the words 'Kathy' and 'threesome' in the same sentence," Olivia whipped her attention back to her partner.
"Gottcha," Elliot grinned smugly.
"You're an ass," Olivia replied, rolling her eyes.
"You seem to be more irritable than usual lately. Something wrong? Not gettin' any or what?" Elliot casually asked.
Olivia just glared at him then glanced around the room to make sure they were predominately alone.
"Not that it's really any of your business… but no, nothing lately. Well, not for quite awhile, actually," she confessed, almost muttering the last part.
Elliot's smug grin returned as he leaned back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head, "Hmmm… 'quite awhile', huh? Let me think about that for a sec… I'm gonna venture a guess and say it's been at least nine months worth of awhile? Which just happens to coincide with the arrival of a certain tall, blue-eyed, blonde ADA, nine months ago?"
"Shut up, Elliot," Olivia fumed.
"Oh for fucks sake, Liv, ask her out. What's the worst that could happen?" Elliot offered.
"That's a rhetorical question, right?" Olivia countered.
Elliot, knowing when to back off, just shrugged and sat back up to resume his paperwork, "Fine, fine. Whatever, Liv."
After work, Olivia hopped into the first available cab and for a moment had trouble deciding if she should just call it a day and go home or go grab a drink at one of her favorite clubs.
"Where to, lady?" the cabbie barked impatiently.
Since it was only a little after 5 o'clock, on a Friday no less, the detective decided to take advantage of being out of the office on time for the first time in longer than she could remember.
"Fuck it," she muttered then rattled off the address of the club she'd been contemplating. Thirty minutes of gridlock traffic later, Olivia arrived at her destination. "I could've walked here faster," she grumbled as she paid the cabbie and exited.
Once inside, the detective made her way through the throng of patrons and commandeered the last empty table in the back of the place. With her back to the wall and facing the door, Olivia made herself comfortable to watch the activity around her.
"Well, well, well. Olivia, welcome back. We haven't seen you here in awhile. I was starting to wonder if you'd been taken off the market," the waitress grinned as she placed a beer down in front of the detective.
The brunette let out a low chuckle, "No, not even close, Whitney. Just been busy with work."
"That's too bad. Gorgeous woman like you deserves to be pampered and taken care of, not out fighting slime balls all day and night," Whitney shamelessly flirted.
"Now Whit, you know better," Olivia grinned.
"Well, you know that my offer is always there, Detective," Whitney winked and made her way back up to the bar to retrieve more drinks for her other customers.
Olivia smiled and shook her head as she took a drink of her beer and settled back to observe her choices for the evening. Unconsciously, slipping into 'Detective Casanova' mode for the night that lie ahead.
-
Alex was putting the finishing touches on her closing argument for Monday's trial when she heard a soft knock on her office door. "Come in," she responded automatically without looking up from her paperwork.
"So, has workin' sex crimes killed your love life yet?" a familiar, smokey voice inquired as it entered Alex's professional domain.
Glancing up, Alex shook her head, "And good evening to you to Abbie. To what do I owe your visit?"
"Ahh… avoiding the question completely, I see," the raven haired Texan chuckled as she took a seat in one of the visitors chairs. "I came by to get you outta this godforsaken place. It's Friday night. We're goin' out."
"Oh, really? Funny, I wasn't aware we'd made plans for tonight," the blonde attorney replied as she began to tidy up her desk.
"That's because we didn't, officially. But since I'm leaving this place for good in less than a week, I thought we'd go out and have a good time, one last time. You up for it, Lex?" Abbie challenged.
Alex's eyes widen in surprise, "What do you mean, 'leaving this place for good'?"
Abbie shrugged, "I'm takin' a job with the U.S. Attorney's office. Movin' up and out from under McCoy and Lewin's thumb. Headin' up to the big leagues, darlin'."
Alex was stunned into silence for a few moments. Finally, she rose from her chair, made her way around the desk and over to Abbie, who'd risen from her chair. "Congratulations," Alex proudly declared as she warmly hugged her friend.
"Thanks. I was afraid you'd be pissed off, for some reason," Abbie admitted as the two released from the hug.
"Hell no, I'm happy for you and proud of you. I know D.C. has always been one of your goals and I know you've worked hard to get to this point. You absolutely deserve it, Abbie."
Blushing slightly, the tall, lanky attorney glanced down at the carpet and smiled a rare, shy grin. "So, does this mean we're gonna go out and celebrate?"
Alex glanced at the clock on her wall. It was almost 6 o'clock. She made her way back around her desk and tossed the items she needed into her briefcase.
"We have to stop off at my place first. I'm not going out dressed like this," she explained as she finished gathering her stuff and shut off her desk lamp. "And before you say it, yes, you can borrow something."
Abbie laughed as the duo left Alex's office, "You know me all too well, Lex."
Forty five minutes later, the ladies were at Alex's penthouse on the upper Westside. Abbie had already rummaged through Alex's clothes and picked and changed into her chosen outfit. Black skinny jeans, a form fitting, blood red tank and black, snakeskin cowboy boots. The boots were actually hers, a pair she'd thought she'd long since lost and was thrilled when she found them in the back of Alex's walk-in closet. Now, she was lounging around waiting for Alex to finish getting ready.
"Please, tell me you have an actual destination in mind for this evening," Alex probed as she rifled through her wardrobe. "You know how much I detest just 'going out'. That type of laissez-faire attitude only leads to trouble."
Abbie rolled her eyes as she stretched her lithe frame out across the blonde attorney's king size bed, extending her arms above her head while she listened to her friend rant and ramble.
"You make trouble sound like a bad thing. And, of course, I have a destination in mind," she sighed. "Now, just hurry your scrawny butt up, so we can get this show on the road."
Having finally found the dark blue, skinny jeans she'd been searching for, Alex randomly grabbed a long sleeved, grey t-shirt and exited the walk-in closet. She tossed the clothes on the bed next to Abbie and started shucking out of her suit.
"I seem to remember a time when you were quite fond of my scrawny butt, as you so lovingly put it," the ADA smirked as she shimmied out of her skirt.
With a naughty grin, the soon to be ex-ADA, leaned up on her elbows and waggled her eyebrows, "Lex, you know damn well, I'm still fond of you. And always will be darlin'. I also know that your heart belongs to someone else."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Abbie," Alex blushed as she pulled on her jeans and walked over to her dressing table to check her hair and makeup.
Abbie scoffed as she rose from the bed, "Bullshit. Do I really have to…," she paused mid-sentence as she noticed the plain t-shirt Alex had picked out to wear. "Oh, hell no. This just won't do." She grabbed the shirt and headed into Alex's closet.
"What do you think you're doing?" Alex demanded when she noticed Abbie in the reflection of her mirror.
"You'll see," Abbie replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Just finish gussying up and I'll be right out." The lanky Texan flipped through the blonde's clothes till she came across what she was looking for then bent down and picked out a pair of black, knee high boots. Satisfied with her choices, she exited the closet.
Alex crossed back over to the bed and examined Abbie's choices. "So, trouble is on your agenda tonight. Isn't it?" she arched an eyebrow in question as she went ahead and finished changing.
"Who me?" Abbie chuckled as she feigned innocence. "Come on, Lex, let's go have fun."
Minutes later, they were outside hailing a cab. One quickly pulled to the curb and the ladies hopped inside.
"Where to, ladies?" the cabbie inquired.
"Club 212," Abbie replied.
-
Olivia glanced at her watch as Whitney swapped out the detective's empty bottle with a fresh one. It was quarter past 7 o' clock.
"You've been sitting here for almost an hour and a half, Olivia. You've had half a dozen offers and turned down every one of them. That's not like you. Who are you waitin' for?" the waitress inquired.
"I'm not waitin' for anyone, Whit. But you sure are very observant. I think you missed your calling, you shoulda been a detective," Olivia smirked.
"Oh no, I'll leave all that protecting and serving to you, honey. I just serve. Here comes offer number seven. Maybe this will be a lucky one," Whitney chuckled as she turned and headed back through the crowded club.
The brunette looked past her waitress and smiled. She spotted the woman Whitney had referred to approach her table. The blonde noticed Olivia spotting her and smiled in return.
"Hey, stranger," Olivia greeted the blonde with a seductive grin. "Have a seat."
"Thanks," the blonde almost purred in response and sat down across from the brunette, her back to the door.
TBC...?