-31-

The next morning, Alex woke up naked and alone, afraid that she'd imagined it all. But she heard footsteps, and Olivia came into the room a moment later, wearing only the rugby shirt Alex had discarded the night before, and carrying two cups of coffee. She sat down on the edge of the bed, nearest Alex, and put one of the mugs into her hands as she sat up, pulling the sheet around her. They stared at one another for what seemed like forever.

"Well..." Alex began.

"Well, indeed," Olivia agreed.

"Good morning, Liv."

"Good morning, Alex." Olivia's shy smile was the sweetest wake-up call the attorney had ever had.

Alex reached out with her left hand to touch the white collar of the shirt, traced the seams before reaching her hand up to the side of Olivia's face, stroking her jawline and fanning through her dark hair. "You look damn good in that shirt."

"You look damn good out of it."

"Thanks," Alex said, a slight blush pinking her fair skin. "How did you know I'd even let you in last night?"

"I wasn't sure. But I knew if the situation had been reversed, I'd have been hard-pressed to turn you away, so I took a chance. Besides," she smiled, "I had food."

"You did. It was that damn crepe. You tricked me, Detective." There it was, the pillow talk.

"Maybe."

"I love you, Olivia Benson."

"What did you call it, a Trojan horse of pasta? Really, who the hell says that?"

"Shut up and kiss me."

So Olivia did, and she wouldn't have thought any kiss could be better than those they'd shared the night before. But this one was. And then, Alex had force herself back to reality.

"What now?"

"Well, now we go to work, unfortunately, but tonight, I'm hoping we can talk this all through again. And again."

Alex laughed a moment, before growing serious. "I meant, what now for us? What about Julie?"

"I broke up with Julie, Tuesday night. I couldn't be dishonest, or hurt her any more than I probably already had."

"What if I hadn't seen the light?" Alex asked.

"You are the light, Alex, and I was determined to make you see that. But, either way, it wasn't fair to her," Olivia reasoned. "I'd have had to go off and lick my wounds, and try to get over you, and I'd have to be alone to do that."

"But you were pretty sure that wouldn't happen, weren't you?"

"Not 100%," Olivia said, "but yeah, I was hopeful. After last week, and what you said to me on Monday night, I knew we felt the same way. I knew we were finally in a good place to try this. I just had to convince you to take a chance on us, to really give this a go."

"I'm glad you did. I want this to work, and I think it can. If it doesn't, it won't be for lack of trying."

"I think you can do anything you put your mind to, Alex."

"Can it be that simple? After all this time?"

"Why not? We've tried to do it the hard way, and that sure as hell didn't work." Olivia's smile was brilliant, lighting up her eyes, and she knew this could happen. Finally.

"Liv?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm all in."

"Me, too."