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Olivia could feel the sun, hot on her shoulders, even from behind the clouds. She took extra care upon putting sunscreen on Noah; afraid he'd get sunburnt.
Alex watched Olivia from underneath her sunhat. Olivia made contact with bright blue eyes for just a second before they were hidden away behind sunglasses, and Alex leaned back in her chair.
"Are you gonna swim?" Olivia asked, slightly disappointed.
Alex could hear it in Olivia's voice, much as she tried to hide it. "I will, I promise. I just want to lay here for a second."
Olivia chuckled and rolled her eyes a little bit, rising to her feet with a babbling Noah in her arms. "Wanna go swim, honey?" she cooed, opening the gate to the fenced-in baby pool, which really needn't be fenced-in at all because hardly anyone used the pool at Alex's apartments. They were alone except for a woman and a man who were both swimming at the deep end of the adult-sized pool, which was just out of earshot.
Alex watched as Olivia smiled brightly and played with Noah, who splashed eagerly. She knew that Olivia had wanted a child for a while- Alex didn't know why, exactly, but she knew it to be true- and it made her heart swell with happiness seeing how content her best friend was.
Alex sighed as she stood up, taking off her hat and sunglasses and leaving them on the chair with her towel, along with the sundress she'd been wearing over her swimsuit.
Olivia peeled her eyes off Noah for a moment to watch Alex walk over towards her. She suddenly felt self conscious in her plain black one-piece when she saw Alex's bikini. It was a deep red that Olivia didn't know the name of, and it looked wonderful on Alex. Of course; Alex looked great in anything she wore.
She sat down at the edge of the pool and dipped her feet in. "The water is really nice. I bet Noah likes it. Don't you, Noah?"
Noah looked up at her and smiled in response to hearing his name. Olivia practically glowed everytime Noah interacted with Alex- after all, they were her two favorite people in the world.
Olivia's expression turned somber as she studied the prominent scar on Alex's shoulder. "I forgot about that," she said softly.
Alex didn't need to look down to know what Olivia was referencing. "I haven't been able to."
"I didn't mean like that," Olivia said quickly, brushing Noah's hair out of his eyes. "I just meant the scar."
Alex smiled and rested a hand on Olivia's shoulder. "I'm teasing you."
Olivia smiled softly, and then smiled wider when Noah looked up at her. "Do you think of it often?"
"Not terribly so. I'm alright, Liv."
"I know you're alright," Olivia said, slowly, "but as far as I know you never really addressed it after it happened."
"What's there to address?"
Olivia sighed. "I think Noah's tired."
Noah had stopped splashing and crawled into Olivia's lap. She stood up and carried him back to the chair with their things to dry him off.
"You don't have to leave so soon?" Alex called, still sitting beside the pool.
"He can nap in his baby carrier," Olivia said, "if you're alright with me staying."
Alex stood up and walked towards Olivia. "Of course I'm alright with it. I'd love you to stay."
Olivia smiled a bit and picked Noah up. Alex grabbed her things and wrapped a towel around herself and they returned to the apartment.
Olivia grabbed Noah's carrier off of the kitchen counter and placed it on the couch. She changed him into dry clothes and made sure his hair was dry before wrapping him up in a blanket and laying him down to sleep.
"Do you want something to change into instead of your work clothes?" Alex offered, peeking out of her bedroom door, dressed in a t-shirt and sweatpants.
"That would be wonderful." Olivia stepped into Alex's bedroom and opened her pajama drawer, looking for the particular pair of Alex's pants which she knew to be the softest.
"On the bottom," Alex chuckled, knowing exactly what Olivia was looking for. The pants were purple and silk, and had originally come with a matching top which had since been lost.
Olivia smirked and disappeared into the bathroom to change. When she came back into the livingroom, Alex was pouring two glasses of bourbon. "I guess I'm not driving home," Olivia chuckled.
"You can stay over if you really need to," Alex quipped.
Olivia sat on the couch adjacent to the one Noah was napping on, and Alex came around from the kitchen and handed her her drink as she sat beside her.
They both took a few sips of their drinks in silence. "Any particular reason for this?" Olivia asked, raising her eyebrows.
Alex shrugged. "I don't like drinking alone."
Olivia nodded and they returned to silence. Alex might have been afraid of waking Noah, but she didn't need to be, because he was a wonderful sleeper. He could fall asleep anywhere, even with noises in the background, which Olivia was very thankful for.
"Can I see your scar again?" Olivia asked suddenly.
Alex pulled down her shirt to reveal it, a smallish round scar, with several suture scars around it. Olivia remembered being told by the EMT that the bullet had been tricky to remove. She'd wished she was with Alex then, who was completely conscious through the whole thing, although granted she had been in shock.
Olivia ran her thumb over Alex's shoulder, and it could almost cover the scar entirely. Except for the scar, Alex's porcelain skin was completely unmarred, barely touched even by the sun.
"What would have happened if you hadn't been there with me?" Alex asked softly.
Olivia moved her hand from Alex's shoulder to hold her hand. "Don't say that."
"You saved my life."
"It was my fault we were walking down that street. I asked you out for drinks."
"Olivia," Alex said, her voice laden with disbelief. "You can't possibly think any of it was your fault. A drug lord took out a hit on me for fuck's sake, his people would have gotten to me whether it was a drive-by walking home from a bar or whether they broke into my apartment. Frankly, I'm grateful it was the former."
Olivia sighed. "I'm sorry."
"You don't have to be sorry." Alex squeezed Olivia's hand. "I can't imagine what would have happened if I'd gone home alone. I'm sure it would have been worse that what happened on the street."
"You don't have to think about it."
"But I do."
Olivia looked at Alex for a long time. "I'm really glad you're back. I'm glad I don't have to pretend that you're dead anymore. Going to your funeral was.. maybe the hardest thing I've ever had to do."
"It was hard," Alex began, but she didn't finish her sentence.
"It was hard after you left," Olivia confessed.
"I missed you," Alex said. "I thought of you every day. Hell, I even missed Stabler."
Olivia smiled softly. "Without you it was... Nothing was right. I need you in my life."
"I need you too, Benson," Alex smirked, taking a drink from her glass.
Olivia wrapped her arm around Alex. "We didn't really get to swim very much."
"That's okay. We have all the time in the world."