Title: Drive
Summary: Olivia takes a late-night drive to meet Casey in Cape Cod.
Pairing: Casey/Olivia
Spoilers: None.
Disclaimer: Casey and Olivia belong to Dick Wolf and company. I’ll put them back when I’m done, I promise!
Author's Note: This is what I get for listening to Celine Dion’s “I Drove All Night” on repeat. Written in about an hour and a half so the plotbunny would dislodge itself from my head.

Sandwich, Massachusetts. I can’t believe I’m driving all the way to freaking Sandwich, Massachusetts, Olivia Benson thought as she reached down to turn up the volume of her car radio.

Actually, what she couldn’t believe was that she was driving to Sandwich, Massachusetts in the middle of the night. The original plan had been for her to leave in the late morning on Friday and get up there in time to meet Casey Novak for an early dinner. The next forty-eight hours were to be spent in each other’s company and, if Casey could talk her into it, doing some typical Cape Cod tourist things: antiquing, eating clam chowder, and the like.

But they had devised this plan before the air conditioning in Olivia’s apartment went out on what the meteorologists were predicting as the hottest night of the summer. She had tried to ignore the increasing humidity in her apartment and just go to sleep, but sleep had evaded her, partly because she was hot and partly because she just wanted to see Casey. Despite the fact that it was one-thirty in the morning, she had grabbed her duffel bag, tossed it in her trunk, and started heading up to Cape Cod, a good nine hours ahead of schedule.

One of the good things about driving the highways so late at night was that virtually no one was on them. One of the bad things was that there wasn’t much to keep Olivia’s mind occupied. She had music blaring and her air conditioning on almost full blast, but her mind still kept wandering.

She thought back to the conversation she had had with Casey regarding the weekend. “I didn’t have you pegged as the summering-on-Cape-Cod type,” the detective had said, giving the ADA a coy smirk.

“I’m not,” Casey had replied, chuckling lightly. “But my grandparents are; they have a cottage up at Pine Grove. They’re going to Florida the week that I have my vacation, so they told me that I could use the place if I wanted to. I know you’re not on vacation that week, but you could take that Friday off and come up for the weekend.”

“Well, that’s a lot better than not seeing you for a week. We have to plan our vacations better next time.”

“Yes. Yes, we do.”

Somehow, Olivia and Casey had made it through the week on long phone calls and the anticipation of spending an entire weekend alone. And now Olivia was on her way to see her. She hadn’t called Casey to tell her; she had thought about it, especially early on as the miles and miles of black highway stretched out in front of her, but she decided it would be fun to surprise her.

Olivia had been on the road for a little under four hours and she was starting to feel the effects of driving a long distance on no sleep. Reaching down, she turned the radio up a little more and started singing along in an effort to keep herself alert.

Finally, Olivia thought as the signs for Massachusetts Route 6a came into view. That meant she was almost there. Eight more miles to Route 6a, then a couple of miles further down that street. The Pine Grove cottages were on the main route, Casey had said, so she should be able to find them easily. She pressed her foot down on the gas pedal, speeding up a little bit. The knowledge that she was almost there was making her anticipation rise exponentially.

As she pulled onto Route 6a, she was surprised to see cottages along both sides of the street. She kept her eyes on the lines of cottages for the sign that said “Pine Grove”. She could have told me that there were multiple cottage complexes, Olivia thought crankily.

Olivia had gone about two miles when a white sign with dark lettering caught her eye: Pine Grove Cottages. Grinning, Olivia pulled into the entryway and meandered the car slowly through the small streets, trying to find cottage twelve.

It only took her three minutes; she found Casey’s car parked in front of a small blue cottage. Olivia parked behind the ADA’s car and quietly got out of her own vehicle, taking care not to slam the door shut. The stillness of the early morning on Cape Cod was a little disturbing to her after the constant noise of New York City, but any uneasy feelings disappeared when she studied the outside of the cottage. It definitely looked as if it had been decorated by older Cape Cod summerers, but she found it overwhelmingly charming. Grandma and Grandpa Novak certainly had cutesy, country taste.

She rounded the cottage and stepped up to the front door, then knocked softly. She frowned when she didn’t receive an answer, then remembered that it was barely past dawn. Cursing herself for not thinking of how she was going to get in if Casey was still sleeping, she rounded the cottage and tried to find the bedroom window. A knock on the window would more than likely startle poor Casey, but Olivia had a funny feeling she’d be forgiven.

That plan also proved not to be well thought-out, as all the window blinds had been drawn. Frowning again, she headed back to the front door. She was just about to knock again when she decided, on a hunch, to check under the welcome mat. Sure enough, a small gold key was lying on the cement under the mat. “Really smart, Casey,” she muttered sarcastically.

She let herself in with the key and then dropped it back under the welcome mat. The cottage was even more cutesy and country from the inside; a small kitchen was to her left and a living area with a television and jigsaw puzzles was in front of her. A ladder led to a little loft where board games and linens were stored. Behind the ladder, there was a closed door that Olivia could only assume led to the bedroom.

Slowly, she opened the door and found Casey sprawled out in the middle of the queen bed. “Casey,” she whispered somewhat loudly. Casey didn’t move.

Olivia smiled, sat down on the edge of the bed, and ran her hand down Casey’s cheek. The ADA wrinkled her brow at the contact but didn’t awaken. Olivia bent down and gently met Casey’s lips with hers.

Casey groggily returned the kiss and slowly opened her eyes. “Olivia?”

Olivia loved the way Casey’s voice sounded when she was half-asleep. “Hey, sweetie. I decided to come up here early.”

“Mmm, I’m so glad.” Casey’s eyelids fluttered closed as she turned onto her side and tucked her hands under the pillows. “What time is it?”

“Almost six in the morning. I couldn’t sleep.”

“You just drove all the way out here in the middle of the night?”

“I couldn’t wait to see you. And my air conditioning crapped out.”

Casey smiled and forced her eyes open. “Remind me to thank your air conditioning unit the next time I’m in your apartment.”

Olivia snickered. “You’re going to talk to my air conditioning unit? I hope you don’t expect a response.”

“Hey, give me a break. It’s six a.m. and you just woke me up. I’m only coherent after eight.”

“Do you want me to let you go back to sleep?”

“No.” Casey sat up and gave the detective a coy grin. “I want you to get in here with me. We have some lost time to make up for.”