DISCLAIMER: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and its characters are the property of NBC and Dick Wolf.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been trying to find a new holiday to write about, but when I have time, there's no day and when there's been a day, I've had no time. So, I created my own 'holiday'. People seem to like the unexpected days in this series, so I hope this one falls into that category too. As always, I'd love to hear your feedback.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
FEEDBACK: To sunsetwriter[at]mindspring.com
SERIES: Part of the Holiday Shorts series.
Holiday Short – Casual Fridays
By sunsetwriter
'Thank God it's Friday,' Olivia thought to herself as she exited the elevator and made her way toward Alex's office. She was looking forward to a weekend off after what seemed like an especially long week. Eighteen days straight, without a day off, made for a very long week.
The other thing Olivia was looking forward to at this particular moment was seeing Alex. She had practically jumped at the chance to get away from her desk when the ADA had phoned earlier to see if she had some time to go over trial prep for an upcoming case. The longer the detective was out of the precinct, the less likely she would be to get dragged into a new case that would jeopardize her precious time off. And, any extra time she got to spend in the ADA's presence she always considered a bonus.
Olivia had realized some time ago that she seemed to have a minor infatuation with their ADA. The guys all thought Alex had ice water running through her veins, but Olivia thought differently – even though she kept that opinion to herself. In Olivia's eyes, Alex was a strong, dedicated, intelligent, tenacious, attractive woman. Very attractive. The tenacious part got in the way sometimes, but even though they had butted heads on occasion, Olivia couldn't deny that she was attracted to the beautiful attorney. Acting on that attraction was not really something she considered an option, but she found no reason not to enjoy her own personal fantasies as long as she kept them to herself. And, if she were being totally honest, she would have to admit that the infatuation was probably a little more than 'minor'. The mere sight of the ADA, dressed in one of her impeccably tailored suits, could send Olivia's heartbeat, not to mention her libido, into overdrive.
So, today, as she walked down the hall toward Alex's office, she couldn't help but wonder which of her many power suits the ADA would be wearing. Those suits, always perfectly paired with matching heels, gave the attorney an air of sophistication and authority that allowed her to command a courtroom and certainly the attention of the jury. Olivia was always amazed at the way juries (and apparently detectives) gave Alex their rapt attention when she was summarizing her case or questioning a witness. Olivia had even caught several jurors and, even a judge or two, lowering their eyes to examine Alex's shapely legs beneath those tapered skirts. The looks on their faces revealing their obvious wishes that her skirts were just a little bit shorter. Olivia smiled as she wondered if anyone else in the courtroom had ever caught her doing exactly the same thing.
So, she ran through Alex's wardrobe in her mind. Would she be wearing the navy suit with the pale pink blouse? Or would it be the camel with cream colored silk? Or maybe the black, I-really-mean-business-suit, with a stark white shell, but slightly shorter skirt that just drew your eyes down to those legs. And then there was always the dark gray, subdued-but-serious-suit, that she had been known to wear with many different blouses depending on the message she was hoping to convey.
As she reached the open door of the ADA's office, Olivia smiled inwardly as she came to her decision: today would be a gray suit day. When she entered the room, it took a moment for the vision before her to register in her brain. She stopped short and stared. Alex was standing next to her desk, leaning over her printer – which had every possible door and compartment opened. She glanced over her shoulder at Olivia and sighed an exasperated sigh.
"Do you know anything about printers?" she asked as Olivia continued to stand and gape. "This one is telling me it has a paper jam, but I can't find it." She turned back to the printer and continued poking her fingers into all the open compartments.
Olivia remained silent as she appraised the ADA from head to toe. Denim? Instead of her typical power suit, Alex was wearing jeans – very form-fitting jeans – tucked into soft, brown leather boots. The jeans were topped off by a snug, white boat-neck shirt and finished off with a wide leather belt that matched the boots. Olivia's brain seemed to short-circuit.
After a moment, when the stunned detective still hadn't responded, Alex turned to face her and gave her a curious look. "Olivia?"
Hearing her name seemed to jump start her brain again. "Huh?"
"Are you OK?"
"What? Yeah, I'm fine."
"Then why are you looking at me like that?"
"Like what?" Olivia asked, hoping she wasn't blushing as she realized that she was still openly appraising the ADA and her unexpected attire. Apparently it took a moment for her brain to get back on track.
"Like I'm from another planet or something…" Alex replied, still a little confused by Olivia's reaction.
"No, I didn't… I'm sorry. I just wasn't expecting…" She waved her hand up and down as she gestured toward Alex. "This…"
Alex smirked. "A jammed printer?" she asked a little sarcastically.
Olivia rolled her eyes and walked over to the printer. She reached behind it and popped open another compartment. "Have you looked back here?"
Alex leaned over and peered into the newly opened compartment as Olivia plucked a mangled piece of paper from the machine. "Had I known that compartment even existed, I certainly would have," Alex said dryly.
Olivia closed all the printer compartments and the machine whirred back to life and started spitting out printed pages again. "Good as new," she said as she dropped the crumpled paper into the wastebasket.
"Thank you," Alex said with a smile, as she couldn't help but notice that Olivia gave her outfit another quick glance. "You know, if I didn't know better, I would think you've never seen anyone dressed for casual Friday before."
"I haven't," Olivia replied. "At least, not in this office."
"This is the first Friday I can remember in quite a while that I haven't had to make a court appearance. So, I took the opportunity to 'dress down' for a change." She gave Olivia a skeptical look. "Are you trying to tell me it's a good thing I don't do it very often?"
"Oh, no," Olivia quickly responded. "Casual definitely looks good on you."
Alex quirked an eyebrow and Olivia realized how that must have sounded to Alex. It probably sounded exactly the way she meant it, but she didn't mean for Alex to know it. Olivia cleared her throat. "What I meant was, I was expecting to see your gray suit, not jeans and leather boots."
"Oh," Alex said, still looking curiously at Olivia. Then she frowned. "Why my gray suit?"
"Well, because it's…" Olivia's voice trailed off as she realized that she now was going to have to explain to Alex why she was contemplating her choice of clothing in the first place. To be honest, she had never actually verbalized her reason for doing it at all, and she sure as hell didn't want to try to explain it Alex. Olivia looked at the printer and silently prayed for another jam.
The eyebrow quirked again and a smirk began to form as Alex waited for the explanation. When none came, she prodded a little. "It's… what?"
Looking back at Alex, Olivia tried to shrug off her embarrassment, and gave the only answer she could. "It's the one I guessed you would be wearing today."
Alex tilted her head as she studied the detective whose cheeks reddened slightly as she tried her best not to fidget under the ADA's scrutiny. "And, do you always try to guess which suit I might be wearing when you come to my office?"
Olivia noticed that Alex seemed to be trying to suppress a smile, so she raised her head and answered confidently. "No. I also try to guess which one you'll be wearing when I see you in court."
A brief look of surprise crossed Alex's face. "Really? I had no idea you had that much interest in my wardrobe."
Olivia chuckled. "And I had no intention of ever telling you, but you had to go and get all casual on me…" She waved her hand up and down again, gesturing to Alex's clothing. "You just threw me completely off my game."
Alex smiled. "Well, I'm sorry for interfering with your… game."
Olivia shrugged and returned the smile. "You just made it a little more challenging, that's all…"
"Challenging?"
Olivia nodded. "Yeah. Now I have to factor in day of the week, and whether or not you have a court appearance, all while I'm trying to keep you from knowing how great I think you look no matter how you're dressed… so… yeah, challenging."
"Well, I've never known you to back down from a challenge," Alex responded with a bit of a sparkle in her eyes.
Olivia looked at her curiously for a moment. "You sound like you're planning on throwing a few more challenges my way."
Alex grinned. "I'm sure I have a few more outfits that you've never seen before. If this," Alex said as she gestured to her current attire, "rendered you speechless, I would love to see your reaction to one particular outfit I have in mind…"
Olivia's brain immediately began to conjure up new visions of Alex not wearing a suit. The detective felt a surge in her heart rate and she couldn't help grinning in return. "Well, I've always enjoyed a challenge…"
The End