Dinner Theatre

Pairings: Cabenson; slight Elizabeth Donnelly & Lena Petrovsky

Disclaimer: I don't own L&O: SVU or any of its characters. Ownership goes to Dick Wolf, NBC and USA Network...but mostly Dick Wolf. I threw in a couple OCs because I needed to add my own spin. To my knowledge, the name of the restaurant is also made up.

Spoilers: Mentions of Season 5, episode 4 "Loss" with a slight difference, that being Alex never went into WitSec or "died."

A/N: This is rated T due to language and minor violence, as well as femslash. This is my first L&O: SVU fanfic, so please no flames. Constructive criticism is acceptable. I want to thank Cabenson82 for letting me bounce ideas off of them. Thanks, it really helped :) And now without further ado, my story…oh, wait, summary, I knew that!

Summary: Alex is going to her uncle's benefit dinner, but she needs a date. Knowing far too well the power that Judge Bill Harriman has, Casey, Abbie and Serena want to go with her, determined to fight each other. As Judges Donnelly and Petrovsky debate over who is going to accompany the esteemed ADA, the members of the 1-6 know that there's only one person Alex wants to take: Olivia. The only problem is the little fight the two had a week before, leaving each determined not to speak to one another. When a serial pedophile takes Alex hostage, will they ever get the chance?

Chapter 1

"You know what I think, Detective?" Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cabot's heels could be heard clicking against the floor in her office as she paced in front of her desk, her phone pressed up against her ear as she continued to speak to the voicemail, "I think that you're being a pig-headed bitch by not returning my phone calls! If you would just take the time to call me back one of these times maybe we could resolve this," she took a calming breath before speaking again, her voice noticeably less agitated, "Call me when you get this, Liv. Please. It's really important."

With a sigh, she clicked her phone shut. How many times would she have to call this woman to make her understand that she needed to talk to her? In less than four days, she would have to go to her uncle's benefit dinner (the one he hosted EVERY damn year to impress Congressmen and other judges alike) with no date. She had considered asking Olivia a week ago when she first got the invitation, but then they had that huge blow up in the Squad room…

It was late, possibly nearing closer to nine then either of them had realized. The Squad room had been empty, and Alex had been lucky enough to catch the brunette detective before she left for the night. Unfortunately, before she had been able to ask the question, the squad's newest case had come up, which once again led to an argument.

"I don't know why I even bother coming to you for warrants when you turn me down every single damn time, Alex!" Olivia's voice held an edge of malice and contempt, her normal warm brown eyes cold, while she stood with her arms folded across her chest.

Alex matched her stance, silk shirt be damned, "It's not every time, Olivia; it's when you can't get enough evidence for me to go to a judge with."

"Bullshit!" Olivia snapped back.

"No, it's not bullshit!" Alex's eyes flared as her anger got the best of her. "I've told you before: YOU have to bring me evidence that's more than circumstantial!"

"How the hell can we do that when YOU don't give us a warrant when we need one?"

Alex's eyes narrowed momentarily behind her glasses, "I'm done arguing with you, Detective."

"Like hell you are!" Olivia growled out as she latched a hand onto the blonde's briefcase just as Alex went to grab it.

"Give me my briefcase." the blonde said, raising her voice slightly as she tried to pull it out of the brunette's grasp.

"No," Olivia spat as she secured her hold on the item.

"Stop acting like a child, Olivia."

"Stop being so demanding, Alex." The brunette shot back.

"You're such a controlling bitch, Olivia! It's no wonder you can't hold a relationship!" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

She watched as a look of hurt crossed the detective's face before being masked with anger. Before she could apologize, the briefcase was thrust back at her.

"At least I'm not an Ice Queen, Counselor," Olivia spat out as she spun on her heels to grab her leather jacket, "I may be a 'controlling bitch,' but at least I don't scare everyone off with one look!"

Before Alex could reply, Olivia was out the doors of the 16th precinct.

She had royally screwed herself over; now she was going to have to go by herself and get asked once again why she couldn't just get over this phase and find a man. Maybe she should just ask Trevor to accompany her. A shudder ripped through her.

"Oh, God, no!" she nearly shouted. "One night was enough!"

"One night enough for what, Cabot?" a voice came from behind her.

A light blush tinted her cheeks as she turned around and met the stares of both Judge Donnelly and Judge Petrovsky. When she didn't reply, Lena spoke up,

"Obviously, Liz, she's talking about a night with Detective Benson."

Hearing the teasing quality in the shorter judge's tone, Alex frowned, "As if."

Despite the comment, twin smirks sat on the judges' lips as they stepped into the room.

Liz smiled at the ADA, "How about some dinner, Alex? Our treat."

"Uh," Alex blinked once, trying to hide her surprise by the offer, "dinner sounds great."

"Wonderful. Let's go then," the brunette judge said, turning on her heels, "There's this nice Italian restaurant a few blocks from here."

^.^

Detective Olivia Benson let out a sigh as she listened to yet another message from Alex; she debated calling her back, but she was still raw from their encounter last week. Deleting the message from her phone, she turned her attention back to the case file on her desk. This case had been grinding on her since they had closed it a month ago. The perp, a man named James Rosenfield, had kidnapped then viciously raped and murdered four little girls over the span of 2 years and had been in the process of kidnapping a fifth when they had caught him. He was currently serving 25 to life at Rikers Island. The thing that had continued to nag at her had happened after the verdict had been read.

She sat in the chair next to Elliot as the verdict was read and discreetly watched their lovely ADA as she took in a subtle breath in relief, and she found herself breathing one as well; the little girls finally got justice. As Judge Donnelly thanked the jury and dismissed the courtroom, she told the bailiff to take away Rosenfield; the assailant took a step towards Alex before he was led out. Her first instinct was to move to the blonde's side, but the bailiff took ahold of him.

"Watch your back, Counselor," Rosenfield spat.

"Excuse me?" Alex responded tersely.

"I said to watch your back. Look over your shoulder. Don't let your guard down."

Alex didn't even bat an eyelash as she flippantly replied, "You aren't in a position to threaten me, Mr. Rosenfield. And you never will be."

As the bailiff began to lead him away, Rosenfield spoke once again, "That cartel should've shot your pretty little mouth off."

That time she noticed Alex flinch, albeit just barely.

"You ok?" she asked as she took a step towards the blonde.

Alex turned and offered a small smile, "I am," she turned back to the People's table as she finished gathering her notes before turning back to her, "Thanks for asking, Detective."

She merely nodded in reply.

Rosenfield had mentioned the shooting that had nearly claimed Alex's life. It was the way that he had advised her to watch her back that worried her. Two years ago, a Columbian drug cartel had hired a hit man to take out the ADA because she had been prosecuting a known associate. Luckily, the bastard had been a bad shot. Even though the bullet nearly tore through the ADA's shoulder, and she could've bled out in her arms, it could've been a lot worse. It took a least a month for the wound to heal before she had been allowed back in the DA's office. Even after two years, her temporary replacement, ADA Casey Novak, had stayed on to take over the caseload. But Rosenfield had been in Florida at the time of the assassination attempt, so how could he have known about it? It hadn't been that publicized...

"Liv?"

Elliot's voice brought her from her thoughts, "Yeah?"

"Geez Liv, get your head out of the clouds. We're going to head over to McMullen's for a drink. You coming?"

Looking down at the file, she sighed, "Yeah, sure, why not."

Grabbing her leather jacket, she quickly followed Elliot, Munch and Fin out the doors.

^.^

Alex slid into the booth opposite of the two judges, trying to ignore the memories of the last time she'd been at this restaurant with Olivia. It was a working dinner, but it had still been one of the best nights that she'd had in a long time.

After ordering a drink, she leaned back in the booth to survey the menu. Her eyes were drawn to the dish that Olivia had gotten last time, and she immediately settled on that as her meal. Truthfully, she'd wish it was Olivia sitting across from her…

"Are you going to share your thoughts, Alex, or are you going to keep them to yourself?" Liz asked after they had ordered and the waitress had taken their menus.

"What?" the younger blonde blinked, the other blonde's voice snapping her from her thoughts, "Oh, it's nothing."

"Is this about your uncle's benefit dinner, Alexandra?" Petrovsky weighed in.

The brunette gently placed her left hand over top of Liz's right, which rested between them; Alex noticed how instead of moving her hand off, Donnelly took a hold of it, caressing it lightly, and that's when the pieces began to fall into place. Without thinking, she blurted, "You two are a couple?!"

Liz smirked, "No, I do this with all my female co-workers."

"But…but…when…" Alex stumbled over her words, which the two judges found humorous.

"We've made the great Alexandra Cabot speechless," Lena said with a smile. "That's a first."

"We've been together for almost 20 years, give or take a month." Liz responded to her outburst. "Now, I believe Lena asked you a question, Alex."

"My uncle is insisting that I bring a date this year," Alex acquiesced, "I would rather not go."

"Because you want to go with Detective Benson, but you two had a disagreement, and you're both too stubborn to see past it?" Liz questioned.

At that moment, the waitress brought out their food, which let Alex try to wrap her mind around the fact that Liz seemed to know exactly what was on her mind. After the waitress left, Alex sighed and took a sip of her wine.

"They didn't have enough evidence for a search warrant. I told her so, and she got pissed."

"She eventually got the evidence, correct?" Alex regarded Liz with a small nod, so the judge continued, "Now you two have to make up and go to the dinner together."

"Casey, Abbie and Serena are fighting over which of them I'll choose."

Lena scoffed, "They're just trying to rattle your cage. I doubt any of them want to get in Detective Benson's way."

"Way of what? Yelling me to death?"

Liz smiled, "Her overprotectiveness, Alex. Lord knows Detective Benson is as vicious as a rattlesnake when it comes to you."

"She's vicious all right," the ADA muttered before turning her attention to Petrovsky, "If you two have been together for that long, how was it that you were allowed to be the judge of the SVU cases?"

"Our personal relationship never interfered with our professional one," Lena supplemented with a rare smile, "We have a strict, no-talking-about-work-at-home policy."

"Now if only you and Benson could work that out," Liz said after taking a sip of her wine, "There would be far less tension in your office and the squad room."

"And the courtroom," Petrovsky added.

"As if she'd ever want to talk about anything but work," Alex responded with a sigh.

"Sounds like you two need a week away from work shacked up in bed."

Petrovsky's comment sent her into a near coughing fit, as she had been in the process of swallowing a fork-full of food, "Excuse me?"

"She's right, you know. It worked wonders for us," Alex bit back a groan of embarrassment and went to reply when her cell vibrated in her pocket.

"If you'll excuse me for a moment, I'm expecting this call." She said before gracefully standing and heading off to the restroom; in her mind, she knew that it wouldn't be Olivia calling but her heart hoped it would be the beautiful brunette.

"'It worked wonders for us?"' Lena questioned with a small chuckle, watching the younger blonde's retreating form.

Liz pressed a kiss to the back of the woman's hand, "Oh hush. Just because we were never shacked up for an entire week doesn't mean the sex didn't work."

Lena went to respond, when Liz's demeanor changed and she pulled out her cell, unlocking it. She typed in her voicemail number and listened for a few moments before hanging up.

Lena took her hand, "What's wrong?"

"Trouble." Liz replied, stroking her hand in a calming and loving gesture.

^.^

Safely inside the restroom, Alex unlocked her phone and listened to her voicemail.

Miss Cabot, this is Judge Donnelly's secretary, Allison. We've just been informed that James Rosenfield has escaped from Riker's Island. Judge Donnelly has already been informed.

Great. Just great. Just what she needed.

^.^

Olivia had just sat the drinks down at the table when her cellphone chirped. Unclipping it and seeing the number for one of her favorite judges, she accepted the call, "Benson."

"Detective Benson, Judge Donnelly. We have a situation."

She stood next to the table, her demeanor changing, "What seems to be the problem, Judge Donnelly?"

She had added the Judge's name to alleviate her team's fears, but it did nothing to alleviate her own.

"That case from a month ago. Rosenfield."

"I remember," And she didn't like where this conversation was going.

"He's escaped from Rikers. I don't know how, I just know that he did."

"Alex?" she asked, more out of her concern for the prosecutor, forgetting that she was still mad at the blonde.

"Arrangements can be made as soon as possible. Would you like to meet Lena and I at Italy's Best?"

"Near the DA's office? I'm on my way. Give me five minutes, and I'll be there."

"See you soon, Detective."

"Right," She disconnected the call and stood, "Gotta go, guys."

"What's goin' on, Liv?" Fin asked.

"Rosenfield escaped from Rikers. Donnelly thinks he'll come after Cabot." She explained before she turned on her heel, "Cell's on if you need anything."

As they watched her walk away, Munch frowned, "How come no one calls one of us when Cabot's in trouble?"

"Because Liv's too damn protective," Elliot answered with a wiry smirk.

^.^

Alex took a breath and glanced at her reflection in the mirror. As much as she loved – no, scratch that – enjoyed Olivia's protective side, she had no patience for it, not today. That she was nervous about the prospect of seeing the brunette detective worried her. There was no guarantee, she reminded herself, that Liz would actually call her.

"Of course she'll call her," she mused aloud, "Who wouldn't?"

The motive for the call was there. Olivia Benson was the lead detective. With a low sigh, she took one last look in the mirror and then headed out the door.

A/N: R & R if you would. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Chapter 2 will be up as soon as it's completed.

Hime no Kowai Shumi