Repercussions

Olivia had no idea what she'd been dreaming, she only knew that the mood had been frantic, and not altogether pleasant. She stared up at the ceiling, fully awake in the dark room. Alex's head rested on her shoulder, leg thrown over her thigh, and the slender length of her body pressed fully against Olivia's side. Alex sighed softly in her sleep and rolled away, freeing Olivia's tingling arm. She turned her head to look at Alex's sleeping form. Olivia's chest tightened, filled with a roil of emotion. It was an echo of something she was sure she'd calmed without Alex noticing in a brief, terrifying moment just after Alex had slowly withdrawn talented fingers from inside her. Olivia carefully peeled back the covers. She eased her weight off the mattress so as not to wake her guest. She grabbed her robe from the chair in the corner and put it on as she padded into the living room.

The wreckage from dessert could wait until the morning, Olivia decided as she stood by the window sipping a cup of tea, focused more on her mind's eye than the street below. She smiled at the memory of Alex on top of her, legs tangled with hers as they lay on the couch, the CD carousel finally stopping leaving only the soft sounds of their explorations to fill the apartment. A shiver ran through her as the feeling of Alex's hands slipping gently between them and under her sweater bubbled to the surface. She flushed, with power, and embarrassment, at the rush of pleasure she'd gotten from Alex's hoarse whisper of her name as Olivia first tasted her. Olivia tried to push aside the doubt that nibbled around the edges of her consciousness. Get out of your head, Olivia. This is going to be OK. Just relax. She heard soft footsteps behind her as she took another sip of tea. Alex's arms circled her waist, her breath warm on the back of Olivia's neck.

"Can't sleep?"

Olivia shook her head.

"It's the snoring. I should have warned you."

"You don't snore," Olivia said.

Olivia felt Alex's smile in the kiss she left.

"I know several people who would disagree with you."

Alex could feel the thrum of tension in Olivia's posture, in the way she held herself stiff in the circle of Alex's embrace. Alex rested her cheek against Olivia's shoulder.

"I have an embarrassing confession."

"It's probably not as embarrassing as you think."

Alex felt her take another sip from the mug.

"I nearly missed an arraignment Friday morning because I was having a dream about you."

Alex paused and when Olivia didn't respond she continued, her tone light.

"It was a pretty dirty dream too. I was robbed. Damn alarm clock."

Olivia let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding. Alex felt a small bit of tension leave Olivia's body.

"Come back to bed."

Alex took Olivia's hand and turned her around. The sight of herked ked except for her shirt, moonlight limning her hair, mouth curved into a soft grin, was enough to push Olivia's doubts back into the corner from which they'd crawled. Olivia deposited her mug on the coffee table as Alex led her by the hand back to the bedroom.

******

When Alex woke it was to bright sunlight and the smell of freshly brewed coffee. She reached out a hand without looking, knowing already that Olivia was not beside her. She had vague memories of Olivia rolling away from the spooned position they'd assumed after finally settling down for the second time. Alex stretched muscles pleasantly used. She scrubbed her hands over her face, catching the lingering scent of Olivia on her fingers.

Alex got out of bed and was retrieving her shirt from the pile of clothes at the foot of the bed when she noticed Olivia's robe lying across the chair in the corner.

Olivia looked up with a smile from where she sat, dressed in sweat pants and a t-shirt, curled up on the couch with the paper.

"Good morning."

"Morning."

"You look really good in my robe."

"Not as good as you do, but thanks," Alex said, retrieving the satchel bag from the floor near the coat rack.

She sat down on the end of the couch near Olivia's feet, flipped open the bag, and rummaged in it. Olivia's sock clad foot rubbed her thigh through the thin silk of the robe. Alex tried to ignore her body's reaction as she pulled her tooth and hair brushes out of the bag. Alex caught Olivia's smirk out of the corner of her eye.

"Had expectations last night, did we?"

"Not really, but the first thing you learn about litigation is never ask a witness a question without knowing the answer that will be given."

"The legal version of girl scouts, always be prepared?"

"Exactly. I find it helps to approach life the same way."

Olivia put the paper on the coffee table and scooted over next to Alex. She ran her hand up Alex's back, and was rewarded by Alex's shiver of pleasure.

"What else do you have in there?"

Olivia peered into the satchel bag.

"Change of clothes...No expectations indeed, Counselor. What would you have done if I'd served you dinner and sent you home?"

Alex blushed. She closed the satchel and put it on the floor.

"Thanked god you hadn't seen me pack this thing."

Olivia laughed.

"So, take a shower and let me buy you breakfast," Olivia said, kissing Alex on the cheek.

******

Breakfast at a restaurant near Olivia's apartment had been relaxed, the previous night's discussion of music picking up and leading back to movies and books. The two women had gone their separate ways after the meal. Previous plans for the weekend being the stated reason, the unspoken desire not overload and spoil everything being the real motivator. Alex was pleasantly surprised on Saturday evening when a dozen roses arrived accompanied by a card in Olivia's handwriting. She could almost still smell them as she ped ped to the podium for Roger Markum's arraignment on Monday morning.

"Let's talk about bail, Counselors," Judge Petrovsky said, looking up from the file in front of her.

"Your Honor, the people request remand. We believe the defendant to be a flight risk."

"My client is an established member of the community, your Honor," Greg Forrester said, glancing at Alex. "He's gainfully employed, he's a homeowner, and it's his first offense."

"This is a capital case, your Honor, and we suspect him of at least 6 other rapes."

"What the people suspect is irrelevant, your Honor," Forrester said, glancing at Alex. "Why hasn't he been charged with these other crimes?"

Petrovsky glanced over the papers in front of her.

"I'm inclined to agree with Mr. Forrester. However, as this is a capital case, bail is set at $1 million."

Petrovsky banged the gavel. The bailiff collected Markum and walked him out of the courtroom. Forrester approached Alex as she packed her briefcase to make way for the next arraignment.

"You've got nothing on those other six cases, Alex. How about Man 2, 2-5. He'll be out in 6 months."

Alex shot him a look of disbelief.

"I have to give you points for trying, Greg."

"Trying never did get me anywhere with you, did it, Alex?"

Alex waited a beat to let Forrester's remark slide past.

"Alright, 6-10. Is that more palatable?"

"We've gim aim as the last person who saw her alive, Greg. We've got his DNA, we've got motive, and we've got opportunity. No dice. We make him for the other six and your client is looking at life in prison."

Forrester swapped his briefcase from one hand to the other.

"We'll admit he left the DNA but we'll argue that the last person who saw her alive is the person who really killed her."

"I'll see you in court, Greg."

******

"I've got good news and I've got bad news. Which do you want first," Evidence Technician Jorge Lopez asked.

"We'll take the bad news," Olivia said, sticking her hands in her pants pockets.

"The cap had nylon fibers consistent with the type used in commercially available wigs. They were a match for ones we found at four of your other crime scenes."

"I thought you said bad news," Elliot said.

"They're about a dozen places within a five block radius of this lab you could get a wig with similar fibers."

"Anyone who had access to the room could have left those fibers."

"Exactly."

"So what's the good news," Olivia asked.

Lopez gestured to two metal trays, each holding a neat layout of hobby knives and hand-held sculpting tools.

"The set on the left, from your suspect's house. Nothing. Not even a finger print. It's like they're right out of the package."

"What about the ones from the office," Olivia asked.

Stabler's cell phone rang. He answered it, walking away from where Lopez and Olivia stood.

"The set on the right, one of the knives had minute traces of blood embedded in the waffle pattern on the handle. Too small for the naked eye but chemicals go everywhere."

"Please tell me you got a match."

Lopez smiled.

"I got two, actually, victims 3 and 4, plus, a nice set of finger prints which match your suspect. I'm still working the other items."

"OK, just let us know as soon as you can."

Elliot closed his phone, dropped it in his coat pocket, and crossed the lab.

"Markum made bail."

******

"What'd he use to make bail with? I thought everything was in her name," Cragen said, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Everything except the house."

Alex set her briefcase down near Olivia's desk. Olivia noted that she'd picked a color other than blue when getting dressed for the day.

"What did the office search turn up?"

"We bagged about a dozen cutting blades from his work space. The lab confirmed a DNA match to blood from victims number three and number four and a match to Markum's prints," Elliot said, taking a sip from his coffee mug. "We also found a baseball cap matching what was on the video tapes from the other scenes."

"What about the video tape from Janet's hotel?"

Elliot shook his head. Olivia's phone rang.

"Benson," she said into the receiver.

"Nothing yet. They're backed up."

"The DNA match alone should be enough to convict him. What about the other four?"

Elliot shook his head.

"Nothing so far."

"I'll see if I can put some pressure on them from my end."

Olivia held up her hand for attention as she listened to the caller. She hung up the phone.

"We've got another victim. Hotel at 49th and Broadway."

******