Chapter Text
A.N. There’s a second part to this and it is double the length of this. I’m excited for that but trying not to rush it. I really want to make it good :) Happy reading :)
P.S. This is all Season 4 Cabenson in my head. I just love the way they both look in that season.
P.S.S. Yes, I am still working on the next part of The Proposal. I don't want it to be lame lol
The First Time
The hum of a thousand cars. That’s what filled the Manhattan night as she waited outside the precinct with Elliot at her side. A dark sky hung over the city, but the city glowed and bustled in every seeable direction. Skyscrapers towered over them, humans so small beneath their looming presence. In their windows, scattered lights on every floor.
Sirens wailed faintly in the distance, and Alex caught herself hoping it wouldn’t turn out to be another case. They were already swamped, their latest case having run into the night.
Her button up choked her, getting stuffy under her suit jacket. She undid a button, but it barely helped.
“If it doesn’t suffocate you, it’s not working.”
Something Donnelly wisely said about court attire, and she wasn’t wrong. The better dressed lawyers were always favored.
"Want me to take you home?" Elliot asked where he stood with a loosened tie and his hands stuffed in his pants pockets. Olivia had the day off for once. Somehow, Cragen managed to convince her to take some personal time.
"No, Olivia said she'd pick me up."
'Thought her car was in the shop.' Elliot quirked a brow at the thought but let it go. “She's in the area?"
“Apparently so."
An engine roared above the rest. A person on a black motorcycle sliced between traffic and pulled up next to the curb.
The motorcyclist stopped in front of them and Alex glanced to the detective beside her, Elliot watching the person with a smile stretching across his face.
"Who's that? You know them?"
"I think that's your ride Cabot."
Alex looked back to the person on the bike. "No it's n—" She choked on her own spit, recognizing the figure as Olivia parked the motorcycle and took off her helmet. "Oh God." Her throat tightened.
Elliot caught the awed expression on Alex's face and started toward Olivia. He grinned as Olivia stepped off the bike. “Your gay-ometer's busting the red." He said just between them.
Olivia rolled her eyes and pressed a fist into his stomach to move him back but he didn’t budge.
"Better get your woman out of here before she passes out." Elliot said and took the open flaps of her leather jacket with a smug smile. "Cabot can't handle all this." He zipped the jacket she purposely left unzipped and dusted off her shoulders, readying her for battle with a final "good luck" wink.
Olivia pushed her fist into his stomach, forced him back a couple steps, and moved past him. "Ready to go?"
Alex stared at the bike then looked to her. "O-On that?"
"Just trust me." Olivia handed her helmet to Alex.
"Just trust me, Alex." Elliot playfully mocked Olivia with a feminine-pitched, sultry voice, and her menacing glance his way was the last thing he saw before he turned his back to them and started in the opposite direction. "Have fun you two." He gave a last wave.
Olivia looked to Alex. "Ready?"
"Where's your helmet?"
"I'll be okay." Olivia walked to the bike and Alex followed, watching Olivia slide over the seat with ease. "Hop on."
Alex eyed the tiny space left between the end of the seat and Olivia's backside. “I guess you’re lucky I’m not bringing any work home with me.” She said and slid over the bike seat, forced to use Olivia's shoulder for leverage; the toes of her heels planted on the foot pegs. She’d sat on a motorcycle once before but it never moved, and it certainly didn’t have Olivia on it.
She settled to the seat and clenched her jaw the moment she felt Olivia between her thighs. A shudder rushed down her back at Olivia’s every shift against her. Her heart pounded against her chest and she hesitated to look down, not wanting to see where the inside of her thighs met Olivia’s hips; herself never more happy for the helmet that concealed her furious blush. "Where do I put my hands?" She knew where but asked just in case.
The bike roared to life and rumbled beneath them in its idle as Olivia smiled. "Around me."
"Dear God." Alex murmured under her breath and reluctantly took the waist of Olivia's jacket into both hands.
"Don't be shy Alex. You don't want to fall off." A few menacing roars ripped from the exhaust as Olivia throttled the gas to get it flowing, and Alex leaned in further, tentatively wrapping her arms around Olivia’s waist. “Don’t let go.”
The bike started forward and at the sudden movement Alex latched on, clutching Olivia tight; Olivia chuckling at Alex's sudden change of heart, ignoring how half the air in her lungs was squeezed out of her in one grasp.
"I'll go slow."
Thirty miles an hour on a bike felt very different from thirty miles an hour in a car. The mundane speed felt suddenly life-threatening, as though they were doing nothing but racing straight towards a wall. How did Olivia keep an eye on everything around them when there was so much happening at the same time? Did she even have time to react if a car pulled out in front of them?
Olivia grunted. “Alex, I need to breathe.”
Alex lessened her constricting hold and felt Olivia’s chest expand deeply in her arms.
“I’m not much good to you if I pass out.”
Right.
Alex took a few breaths to slow her thumping heart; Olivia’s jacket clenched deep in her fists.
The city and its lights drifted by them as Olivia's short hair rustled wildly with the wind.
"What happened to your car?" Alex said over Olivia’s shoulder, almost yelling over the engine and wind noise.
"The cruiser's in the shop. Transmission leak." Olivia responded just as loud.
"I thought you had another car."
"I sold it."
They slowed to a stop under a stoplight, flanked by a row of idling cars on either side. Alex didn’t dare look into any windows, feeling looks turned their way, for an understandable reason. She sat in a suit and full-face helmet, clutching for dear life a woman, who tonight, looked more gangster than cop. They looked like characters out of a Kill Bill movie, not as coworkers just headed home.
Olivia silently watched the barrage of traffic pass in front of them; the seat vibrating between their legs with the engine's continuous hum.
"You hungry?" Alex asked and Olivia looked in the direction of her voice.
"Why?"
"Let's get something to eat."
Olivia smiled but Alex couldn't see it. "Where?"
"Anywhere. I trust your judgment."
"I hope so." Olivia grinned as the light turned green and the bike took off.
They stopped at Cappella’s, a cozy Italian restaurant in the Bowery neighborhood, and a frequented date night spot for the locals. Soft jazz played as a whisper in the air. Just enough to set the mood and not overbear it.
“Olivia!” The owner greeted her with a hug and gave her her favorite table in the back corner of the restaurant. She’d been ordering take-out more often than dining in and he mentioned it. It’d been a while since she had the time to sit and enjoy a meal. SVU cases always increased in the spring. The warmer weather and multitudes of attractions drew people out of their homes and enticed gathering crowds. But late night on a weekday, her and Alex’s meal came at the perfect moment. Only their table and four others were occupied in the whole restaurant.
She tried not to think too much about Alex's arms around her waist, but she couldn’t shake the feeling, especially of how Alex squeezed into her every time the bike started to move.
And now this, dinner? She was just supposed to take Alex home and pick up something to eat on the way back to her apartment. Now, they sat in an Italian restaurant, sharing a moment in ambiance that seemed too romantic for a meal between friends; a small candle flickering between them, warming the air and enticing a tingling blush beneath her skin.
The soft amber glow mixed with a subtle sheen of sweat on Alex's brow, almost making her glisten. Motorcycle helmets were hot, and Alex put her hair up in a quick, messy bun when they entered the restaurant. Relaxed in the seat, the prosecutor looked like she’d already had a couple post-work drinks at the bar. Alex pushed back the short strands of hair that framed her face, as she gazed about the place with an easy smile, having shed her stiff suit jacket and rolled her shirt sleeves.
“Liv…”
“What?”
“You’re staring at me.”
Olivia looked down, and Alex softly smiled.
“Nice Jacket.” Alex said, pointing to the jacket hooked onto the back of Olivia’s chair.
“You think?” Olivia downplayed the compliment with a smirk. “Keeps me from looking like Freddy Krueger after a slide on the asphalt.”
“It looks good on you.”
Their gazes met; a dangerous curiosity simmering in Alex's eyes. Olivia looked away.
Alex was gorgeous, undoubtedly so. Her beauty made those around her stop and stare. But Olivia knew how this went.
Alex was the kind of girl who’d bend the rules for a night, but by morning only one person would be left in shambles. Olivia knew the sting of that burn all too well; the awkwardness of a jilted workplace relationship, and the avoidance that followed in its wake. Better to not try anything with Alex. Not when everything between them was so good.
Olivia looked down, eyeing the glass of water in her hand. If she beat people to the punch, it hurt less. If she left first and expected nothing in return she stayed in control. But Alex…
She wouldn’t be able to walk out on Alex.
“Any bad accidents?”
Alex’s voice eased her mind, and Olivia smiled. “Any accident on a bike is bad.”
“You know what I mean.”
Olivia thought for a moment. She didn’t want to get too graphic at the table, but some of the motorcycle accidents she reported to as a traffic cop made her think twice about riding. Some almost made her quit. “I’ve laid the bike down a couple times but I’ve been fortunate. Seen worse things happen to friends." She took a sip of water. “If I tell you too much, you won’t get back on the bike.”
Alex nodded. “You’re right. Don’t tell me.”
“How’s our case?”
Alex hesitated and her brow furrowed slightly. The case was headed down a rocky road. That much was written on Alex’s face. “Enjoy your time off. Monday will be a long day.”
“...can’t wait.”
Dinner was dinner. They made comfortable conversation, the kind friends made, but nothing to drink for them this time. Motorcycles and alcohol didn’t mix.
Under the table, Alex’s foot brushed her leg a couple times, by accident, of course. Alex was a tall woman with legs for days, and Olivia shifted away each time it happened, stuffing any thoughts of ‘what if’ far into the recesses of her mind, even as that soft candlelight melted the ice in those stern blue eyes and captivated her gaze.
The ride to Alex’s apartment was mostly silent. In the twilight hours they cruised liberally through the city; Olivia keeping a watchful eye on the streets, scanning for any threat. Drivers never paid attention to motorcycles on the road. They were trained to watch out for cars and trucks, not the person crazy enough to speed around on two wheels. That demise was a given. But it was hard not to get lost in admiring the plethora of city lights that streaked by and showered them in a myriad of colors.
Alex rested her head on Olivia’s shoulder but caught herself a second later and sat up.
Olivia smiled. She wouldn’t have minded, or mentioned it. In fact, she might’ve welcomed it.
At the curb, in front of a high-rise, Olivia slowed and parked the bike, but Alex didn’t immediately let her go, lingering like she dreaded to leave. She wouldn’t say anything if Alex didn’t.
A second moment slowly passed—
Alex cleared her throat and carefully got off the bike, Olivia following. Alex pulled the helmet off and took a breath, relishing the cool air on her face.
"That was fun." Alex said with a soft smile, handing the helmet back. "You're lucky I decided to wear pants and not a skirt today."
With a tight smile Olivia looked down. "Guess so."
A beat of silence passed.
Two hands grabbed her jacket and Alex closed the gap between them, kissing Olivia on the cheek. "Goodnight, detective."
The sultry edge to Alex’s voice didn’t go unnoticed, but in her daze, Olivia missed the hand that touched her cheek just before Alex turned and walked into the complex; Olivia staring through the glass door with a wide gaze long after it closed and Alex disappeared from sight.
*clunk*
The sound snapped Olivia out of her trance, and she picked up her helmet off the ground. “I guess I’ll ride the bike more often.”