DISCLAIMER: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and its characters are the property of NBC and Dick Wolf.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: GGF informed me that August 21 was Go Topless Day. She heard about it on the radio and swore to me that it was a real 'holiday'. Of course, I Googled it. Sure enough, it's real: www.gotopless.org. I tried to ignore the fact that the 'leader' of this movement got the message from a UFO encounter (I kid you not!), and tried to focus on the fact that this would simply be a hard-to-ignore holiday to include in my little series of A/O fics. So, in honor of all the bodacious and not-so-bodacious ta-tas out there, I give you Go Topless Day… :-)
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
FEEDBACK: To sunsetwriter[at]mindspring.com
SERIES: Part of the Holiday Shorts series.
Holiday Short – Go Topless Day
By sunsetwriter
"Hey, did you hear what's going on in Central Park today?"
Olivia looked up at her partner from the file she was reading. "You mean besides the usual muggings, purse-snatchings, drug deals, and that sort of thing?"
Elliot gave a mock frown. "Such a cynic these days."
Olivia shrugged. "More like a realist, I'd say."
"Well, then, maybe you should go to this thing. Get a new dose of reality."
"What thing?" Olivia asked, knowing that she was going to be sorry she took the bait, but she knew he wouldn't give up until she did.
"Topless Day," Elliot said with a smirk.
"Topless Day?" Liv gave her partner a blank look. "As in…?"
"As in, topless. Not wearing a top."
"You mean…?"
"I mean letting it all hang out," he said, giving his partner an amused frown. "Boobs on parade. Do I need to draw you a picture?"
Olivia sighed and tried not to roll her eyes. "I get it. What I don't get is why, and why you seem to know so much about it."
Elliot shrugged. "I heard about it on the radio this morning. I guess it's a nationwide event now. Something about equal rights. If men can go bare-chested, then women should too." Elliot seemed to ponder that for a moment. "I can't find a reason to argue with that."
Olivia shook her head and went back to reading her file.
Elliot would not be ignored. "Maybe you should call Alex and see if she wants to go with you." He knew exactly how to push his partner's buttons. If anyone wants Olivia's attention, just mention Alex.
Olivia stopped reading again and slowly raised her head. Elliot was trying his best not to smile at his success. Determined not to let her partner win at this game he seemed determined to play, she said flatly, "Why would I want to do that?"
Elliot shrugged again. "Oh, I don't know. It might be fun to see Alex… cut loose." He was having a hard time not laughing as his partner tried not to reveal her discomfort with this conversation. But he could see her thinking about it now. "Don't you think?" he asked with a smirk.
Olivia tried to block the mental image bombarding her brain. "What I think is that you've lost your mind."
He chuckled at that. "Oh, come on, Liv. It could be a real bonding experience for you two." He was quite certain they had already 'bonded', but he continued to goad Olivia anyway.
"What makes you think we need to 'bond' with each other?"
"Who's bonding with whom?" Munch asked as he and Fin entered the squad room.
"Oh, God," Olivia all but groaned under her breath.
"I'm trying to get Liv to take Alex down to the park to the topless festival this afternoon," Elliot said.
Munch's eyes lit up and Fin stopped in his tracks. "You mean, topless topless?" Fin asked as he held his hands up in front of his chest to mimic breasts. "With Alex?" he added as he looked at Olivia and grinned.
"Do you really think our straight-laced ADA would consider baring her breasts in public?" Munch pondered out loud.
Olivia shot him a look. "Yet you all seem to have no problem thinking I would?" She tried not to wince as her voice seemed to go up an octave all on its own.
Munch smiled sheepishly. "No offense, Liv. You just seem a little more… open-minded, I guess. Do you think Alex would go?" he rephrased his question.
Olivia shook her head. "She's an ADA and I'm a cop. I don't think it's appropriate for either of us to go."
Fin smiled. "I don't think anybody'd be lookin' at your badge or her legal briefs." Olivia glared his way and he smiled a little wider. "Just sayin'," he added with a shrug.
Munch looked toward the door and smiled. "Well, here comes the delightful, and fully clothed, Miss Cabot now. Maybe we should just ask her."
"Oh, God," Olivia muttered again.
As usual, Alex headed straight toward Olivia's desk as she entered the squad room. Arching a graceful eyebrow as she heard the last of Munch's comment, Alex eased her lithe form into the chair beside Olivia's desk and said, "Ask me what?"
Olivia shot daggers at her partner with her eyes, but remained silent. Elliot smirked and then turned his attention to Alex. "We were just suggesting that you and Liv should attend the topless festival going on in Central Park this afternoon. But, Liv seems to think you wouldn't want to go."
Alex's eyes widened slightly and she turned to Olivia, who was turning an interesting shade of red as she tried to cover her face with her hands. Alex suppressed a smile and said, "I don't know… It might be kind of fun." Elliot snorted and Fin and Munch both snickered quietly.
Olivia dropped her hands and stared at Alex. "You're not serious?"
Alex shrugged. "Were you planning to go in an official capacity or… as a participant?" Alex couldn't help but smile when Olivia's red cheeks darkened a shade.
"I wasn't planning on going at all."
Alex looked at Olivia for a moment as she tried to keep her composure. "That's too bad," she finally said. "It's good to stay abreast of events like that."
Munch let out a chortle and Elliot guffawed. Olivia narrowed her eyes slightly. "Did they put you up to this?" She looked at her male colleagues. "Is this payback for something?"
Munch couldn't help himself. "You mean like, tit for tat?"
"Yeah, Liv," Fin chimed in. "Payback for what? Is there somethin' you want to get off your chest?"
Olivia scoffed. "Don't you guys have some DD-5's to work on or something?" Olivia asked, desperate to change the subject.
Elliot snickered. "Not exactly the double D's we were imagining, Liv."
"Everybody's a comedian," Olivia replied sarcastically. She rolled her eyes and turned back to Alex. "See what you started?" Her bravado faltered slightly when she realized that Alex's gaze had drifted down to her breasts.
"Well, I don't think I started it, but…" Alex's voice drifted off as her eyes lingered on Olivia's 'assets'. Realizing she had been caught looking, the ADA snapped her eyes back to Olivia's face and found an expression of surprise mixed with a little bit of amusement.
Olivia arched an eyebrow. "But… what?"
As Olivia's color began to return to normal, Alex shrugged. "You should know by now, that some things are just hard for me to resist," she said with a smile as she watched the color rush back into Olivia's cheeks.
The End