DISCLAIMER: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and its characters are the property of NBC and Dick Wolf.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
FEEDBACK: To sunsetwriter[at]mindspring.com
SERIES: Part of the Holiday Shorts series.
Holiday Short – Friday the 13th
By sunsetwriter
Olivia groaned when she noted the date on the calendar as she sat down at her desk. "Great. Friday the thirteenth," she said to no one in particular.
"Superstitious, Olivia?" Munch asked with a smirk. "It's just another day."
She turned to look across the room at her fellow detective. "Don't tell me, John, that you – king of conspiracies and all things out-to-get-you – really think Friday the thirteenth is 'just another day'."
John's smirk turned slowly into a smile. "I knew I could lure you to the dark side eventually."
Olivia rolled her eyes and smiled as she picked up her coffee. As she tilted the paper cup to take a sip, she realized a second too late that the plastic lid had become dislodged. She watched, in what seemed like slow motion, as the hot liquid began to pour out. She quickly righted the cup, but not before she had basically poured coffee down the front of her shirt.
She yelped as the coffee hit her and glared at Munch as if this was some how his fault. "See? Friday the thirteenth!"
Munch's smirk returned. "Just another day," he replied drolly.
Olivia excused herself to the ladies room and exchanged her coffee-stained button-down for the spare shirt she kept in her locker. Thankfully, the outer shirt she had been wearing absorbed most of the spilled liquid. She buttoned the clean shirt over the white t-shirt she wore layered beneath, hiding the small coffee stains that had soaked through the outer material. Looking in the mirror, she was thankful to see that all stains were hidden beneath the pale lavender outer shirt she now wore.
She tucked in the shirt and re-buckled her belt. Then she walked to the sink to wash her hands. She turned the cold water faucet. Nothing. She then turned the faucet on the hot water side. Still nothing. She sighed and tried the cold again, this time turning it a little more than before. Suddenly, the water burst from the faucet with a sputtering sound and splashed forcefully into the sink – and all over Olivia and her clean shirt.
"You have got to be kidding me," she said aloud with an exasperated tone as she looked in the mirror to see her face and shirt covered in water droplets. She grabbed a paper towel, blotted the water, and forcefully chunked the wet towel into the trashcan. It was then that she noticed the hand-written sign, once taped to the wall, now lying on the floor. Water line maintenance in progress – irregular water pressure – use caution when turning on water.
She picked up the sign and slapped it back on the wall as she sighed heavily and said, "At least it's only water this time."
When she returned to the squad room, Munch looked up as she stomped past his desk. She shot him a look when he stifled a laugh. He opened his mouth to speak and she held up her hand.
"Don't ask."
He smirked. "Just another-"
"And don't say that either," she interrupted before he could finish.
Olivia and Elliot spent the morning interviewing potential witnesses in the apartment building where their latest rape victim had lived. They spent three hours going door to door, asking any residents who were home if they had seen or heard anything suspicious on the night of the crime.
They returned to the stationhouse with not much more information than they had when they left. They were planning to interview the victim's fiancé at one o'clock that afternoon, which left them about fifteen minutes to grab lunch. They decided to stop by the hot dog cart just down the block from the precinct.
Olivia took the last bite of her hot dog as Elliot looked over to her with an amused look. "Uh, Liv?"
"Hmm?" she answered while chewing and wiping the mustard from her hands.
Her partner pointed toward her chest. She looked down to see a large splotch of mustard dripping down the front of her shirt.
She sighed. "Dammit," she muttered as she dabbed at the mustard with her napkin. A large, brownish stain was left where the bright yellow mustard had been. "I hope I have another shirt in my locker."
Just about that time, a taxi sped by, hugging the curb and hit a puddle of water that had collected there. A large plume of water cascaded over Olivia as they both watched the car speed away.
Olivia sputtered, unable to move for a moment, and Stabler tried his best not to laugh. When he was finally able to speak, he said, "I hope you have another pair of pants in there too."
Dripping wet from head to toe, Olivia fumed as she stomped off toward the precinct.
Elliot had recruited Fin to go with him to interview the fiancé, leaving Olivia to shower and change. She had just finished getting dressed for the third time that day when she heard heels clicking on the locker room floor. Great. The guys probably told Alex what kind of day Olivia had been having and the ADA was coming in to tease her some more.
Olivia quickly ran her hands through her short hair, still wet from her shower, to try and at least look somewhat presentable. The only thing she had in her locker was a tight, sleeveless shirt that she usually wore under a sweater and a pair of tight, black jeans. She heard a slight hesitation in Alex's step as she rounded the corner. Olivia took a deep breath and said, "Hey."
Alex smiled and just stared at Olivia for a moment. The detective braced herself for more teasing. "The guys told me you were in here."
A little surprised at Alex's slightly off-kilter manner, Olivia replied, "Yeah. What a day."
Alex nodded in agreement as she continued to stare at Olivia. "I just- I came in to- Would you like to go get a drink?"
Shocked, Olivia looked down at her attire. "Alex, I'm hardly dressed to go out anywhere."
Alex leaned down and picked up Olivia's leather jacket that was lying on the bench. Handing it to the detective, she said, "Put this on."
Olivia took the jacket and put it on. She looked back at Alex.
The ADA nodded. "Perfect."
Olivia's eyebrows shot skyward. "Perfect for what?"
"To go get a drink with me. Let's go." She motioned toward the door with her head.
Olivia still hesitated. "Alex…"
Alex sighed. "It really is Friday the thirteenth," she said somewhat dejectedly.
Olivia nodded. "That's what I've been saying all day."
Alex seemed to ignore Olivia's comment. "I finally find the nerve to ask you out, just the two of us, and you turn me down."
Shocked even more, Olivia found herself speechless again. She stood gaping at Alex as she realized that the ADA was turning to leave. "Wait! What? You're asking me out?"
Alex turned back to Olivia and shrugged. "The guys told me about your day and I thought you might could use a drink…" Olivia felt slightly deflated as she realized she must have misunderstood the ADA's intentions – this was a sympathy drink, not a date. Then Alex continued. "…but then I came in here and saw you looking like- Well, you may think it's not 'going out' attire, but I happen to think it's incredibly hot. Anyway, it was a probably bad idea."
Suddenly Olivia realized that she didn't misunderstand at all. She began to smile. "It's Friday the thirteenth."
Looking a little puzzled, Alex said, "I know…"
Breaking into a full grin, Olivia responded, "It must be my lucky day."
The End