The burn in Olivia’s calves began mid-way through her third
loop around the Central Park Reservoir. Nearly five miles and she
hadn’t managed to shake the thought that had been with her for the
past three weeks: when would she get time alone with Alex?
Munch and Fin had managed to catch all the cases that had any
hope of going to trial while a series of unlinked stranger-rapes in
the East Village had kept Olivia and Elliot running at all hours of
the day and night. Though she and Alex had managed to squeeze in
half a dinner before Olivia had been called away, their interaction
had largely consisted of a few late night phone calls, including
one memorable conversation during which Alex admitted she’d never
actually seen Casablanca. The phone calls, while pleasant, weren’t
enough for Olivia.
Alex’s polite decline of her dinner invitation the night
before had puzzled Olivia. Fridays were usually an early-out day
on the court schedule. Olivia’s mind drifted back to their
conversation as she jogged.
“I have a previous engagement,” Alex said.
“I understand,” Olivia replied, keeping her voice neutral
for all the listening ears in the squadroom.
“If I could get out of it…”
“But you can’t. Look, we’ll talk about it some other
time, OK?” Olivia mouthed a thank you at the file clerk dropping
off some files in her inbox.
“Olivia…” Alex’s tone had been soft, almost placating.
“I’ve got to go.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow.”
The spaces in between their calls had given Olivia too much
time to think about why it wasn’t enough; about why she couldn’t be
as calm and collected as Alex appeared to be. She wasn’t sure she
was comfortable with the answer, and she had no intention of
sharing her feelings anytime soon, but part of her insisted that
she just enjoy the discovery, enjoy the fall, and not worry about
the inevitable landing.