1-2-3 Years...
The Second Year
Chapter One
Jena had kept her words. Once Olivia with the help of Alex had successfully explained or at least tried to make the 8 year old understand that Olivia was actually her mom, she had allowed Olivia and Alex to be actively involved. Even though Eve had taken the news very casually and did her best not to act shocked or even angry, it had been a big deal to her. That fact came through when that news took precedent in her heart and she was able to let go of the hurt she was burying about her dad. Thus she was opened up about Ray and what had happened on that day he was killed. With her back as a credible witness ADA Novak had been quick to call her on the stand. And on that cool day of November, the four women sat side by side to each other watching the little girl they each considered daughter testify against the man who had killed her father.
The testimony went very smoothly even though the defense lawyer did try to discredit Eve but she was very clear about what she saw so it was of no use. When it ended they took Eve to the near by diner for lunch.
"So, you think they'll fry him?" Eve asked before they even ordered. She was still too wound up from her testimony to talk about anything else.
"That is up to the jury honey." Abbie somehow always was the one who was the first to respond to Eve.
"But Olivia said that if I told what happened they would make him pay for what he did." Eve innocently recalled the detective's plea.
"That is right. That is why we caught him and now he is going to pay for what he did. Except it necessarily doesn't mean that he'll be sentenced to death." Olivia corrected her words.
"And considering the fact that the sate of New York hasn't sent anyone for death penalty since 1986." Alex put in her two cent in the discussion. "I truly doubt Davis will be fried for this, but we..."
"We should be able to get man one which carries the maximum sentence for murder." It was Casey Novak who had rudely interrupted Alex�s sentence.
"Casey! It is good to know that someone is optimistic." Alex greeted the woman who held her former beloved position.
"I have good reasons to be." Casey said towering over the women who were seated in pairs on each side of the booth with Eve in the center. "Especially since I was able to throw defense�s cock and bull conspiracy theory out before it even reached the jury and without that and with Eve's eye witness testimony, it should take jury no time to come back with a guilty verdict."
"What kind of a conspiracy theory?" Alex had to ask.
"Oh! Davis believed that since Ray walked in at such a specific moment, that he had to have known that and had actually come there specifically to catch him." Casey recalled. "Or that someone wanted Ray to catch him. They had even managed to get hold of Ray's phone records and there was a call he received only couple of minutes before he walked into the daycare. But the call was international so they couldn't trace it to the specific person. And with Ray dead, they had no way of finding out what the call was about."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Abbie figured. "The call could have been regarding anything. And even if he had walked in with the intent of catching him in the act, that doesn't lessen the burden on the defense. The fact is that Ray was killed with Davis' gun alone makes him guilty."
"Agreed and that is why the judge agreed with me and didn't allow defense to confuse the jury. The whole fact that someone actually planned for Ray to get killed by Davis was too much of an overreach to be even called a theory. Anyway, I just wanted to stop by and say that it was an honor to be watched by two of the most admired former ADAs for SVU. Now that I have said that, I got to go back."
�You were good Novak.� Abbie encouraged before she waved bye and others mirrored her gesture.
�Regardless of what that creep said, Ray being set up is ridiculous.� Jena, who was the only one still thinking about Casey�s words, said couple of minutes after she had left. �I mean who would want to kill Ray anyway.�
�I would. He was always butting in on our lives so much that sometimes I really wish I could kill him.� Olivia replied almost automatically. Then she realized all the pair of eyes gawking at her and then signaling at the youngest lady seated in the center. �I am sorry.� She apologized to Eve immediately.
�That is okay.� Eve accepted. �I know you don�t mean it. Just like the time B said it when Daddy pissed her off too.�
The three pairs of eyes now turned to the dark haired beauty.
�What?� She remarked innocently realizing that her not so innocent comment had just been revealed. �I was angry. I wanted to send Eve to camp for kids of gay parents in Providence, MA and he insisted that he would keep her here. Sometimes he acted as though he came over for the specific purpose of pissing me, so I just lost it one time.�
�You wanted to send her to the camp?� Alex asked catching on to the neutral subject. �Why? Was she having trouble in school?�
�Not really. Nothing other than what any other kids go through.� Jena answered.
�You could say that, but it wouldn�t hurt her to be able to relate to other kids. And in that camp, she would meet dozen�s of kids who have two dads or moms and they share their experiences good or bad.� Abbie once again pitched in for the camp.
�Well, like Ray said, there is always next year. And we can send her there next year.� Jena did not want to make a big deal out of it once again.
"I don't want to go to the camp. I want friends here." Eve insisted to her mothers.
"I thought you had friends here." Olivia asked a little surprised.
"Only in school. I don't know anyone outside school."
"We could change that." Alex had a solution. "Isn't Elliot's twins her age? We could get them together for play date."
"Elliot who? Her balding partner? He has kids?" Jena asked.
"Yes, four in fact." Abbie informed.
"Four kids for a detective. That is impressive. And don't tell me he is still married?" Jena took the news with a look of shock.
"He has a very understanding and loving wife." Olivia offered as an explanation.
"How lucky?" Jena flashed an artificial smile still a little uncomfortable sitting in the same table with her ex.
"Anyway, I think it is a good idea." Abbie interjected. "Instead of play date, how about inviting him and his family for Thanksgiving. Jena cooks really good, and that way she can meet Kathryn, his wife and the twins can meet Eve. How about it hun...wanna make a little crowded Thanksgiving this year?"
"What are my options?" Jena wasn't really jumping at the idea.
"We could go to my parents like last year."
"No..."
"No..."
It was a unified reaction from both the Rollins at the same time.
"No offense babe, your parents are great. Except I hate your whole extended family who actually spent half an hour staring at me like I was on a display."
"Believe me when I say this. They would have done it to my boyfriend too. You have this whole "Conservative" south embedded in your head so much so that you were the one who was paranoid."
"Regardless...even Eve doesn't want to go back. At least not this year."
"Yes Abbie. And at least this year I thought we all would have the Thanksgiving together." Olivia said. "Right?" She turned to her girlfriend with whom she hadn't really discussed their Thanksgiving plans yet.
"Well my parents had insisted that I come home for it since last year...." Alex started but one quick look at Eve made her change her sentence in mid year. "Ahhh what the heck, it would be great to have Thanksgiving with our new family."
"Yesssssssssss." It was Eve's cheering that sealed the deal for the two couples as they went on to discuss more finer details regarding their first holiday together.
Life at her home might have been peaceful for almost a month, but her work had taken a complete opposite stand for Alex. Ever since Gina went to MA, she seemed to be getting more closer to the case than ever. She was always calling in Alex to get warrants on one search or the other. Sometimes it was the easy ones, but most of the time Alex would have to fight for a warrant that she herself didn't have any idea what it was for. But she trusted her friend and she came through for her every time. Almost like the times when she worked in SVU and every time Olivia came knocking on her door she always found some or the other way to give Olivia what she wanted. Even when she had to step down and go to family court and use extreme measures to extract a girl from the home of a famous singer, just because Olivia believed that she was neglected. Yes, at those times it was Olivia but now it was Gina. Whatever Gina needed to go forward with the case, Alex was paving the legal avenues for her so that she faced no obstruction. And that was why she didn't mind taking Gina's call even in the middle of the night waking up her sleeping girlfriend.
"No, you are not disturbing." She had said when she answered the phone even though her lover was between her legs.
Olivia got up disappointed and a little frustrated and walked to the bathroom. This had happened couple of times already so, she wasn't about to complain. She knew that she would have taken her call no matter what time it would ring. So the same rule applied to Alex even though her call would have been much more important but she sure couldn't say that.
Couple of minutes later she came out of the bathroom and Alex was still on the phone. She slipped back inside the covers on her side without disturbing the blonde who was taking notes as she listened.
"G! Listen to me....I can't prevent a local authority to continue with their investigation."
"I know...but only a Federal Judge can grant that and I can't go to federal court. If you want I can talk to Abbie..."
"Okay okay....I won't talk to Abbie. I'll talk to the DA there and see if I can convince her. Give me her name. I am not promising you, but I'll do my best." Alex said before she hung up.
"Isn't Abbie heading your entire investigation?" Olivia asked curious as to what her girlfriend was up to at work.
"The Federal part yes. But basically it is G's case and she likes to keep it to herself. Even I don't know what she is up to."
"Except she wants to piss of the local guys."
"Well, the guy that she is keeping an eye on seems to have come on the radar of the narcotics there. She just wants them to lay low till she gets what she needs from him." Alex explained.
"That should be no problem. For a federal case I am sure the local PD will co-operate."
"That is what I am hoping they would say when I talk to them."
"You can't talk to them. You are not a Federal Prosecutor. It has to be Abbie." Olivia clarified even though she knew that her girlfriend didn't need a reminder.
"I know that, but G doesn't want Abbie to know and it should be no big deal. I am not going to say that I am the Federal Prosecutor, I'll just word it so that they understand that it is imperial to to our Federal Case that they don't move in on our guy at this moment." Alex outlined her plan.
Olivia nodded her head in disappointment for the second time, unable to understand Alex willingly being a puppet in Gina's hands.
"What?" Alex asked before she tried to clarify. "Look, I have always cut corners when the case required me to. You know that. I did that so much while working with the SVU that I had developed a reputation for it. This is no different now."
"That was different then. You were not going behind your boss, or going blindfolded. You said it yourself you don't even know what G is up to. How can you trust her so blindly?"
"Because if I am here today, it is because of her." Alex answered. "This time last year, lets see what I was doing. Oh! Yes. I was sitting at Chris' home scared when we would be attacked or when I would die. And every time, the fear got the better of me, G was right there promising me that I would be with you this year. And I am today. So, yes I trust her blindly. It is not like she is a criminal. Abbie and she don't agree on how to go about for this case, so she just don't want to deal with her right now. We are not doing anything wrong."
"I am sorry." Olivia apologized for her insensitivity. "I always seem to forget that G means much more to you than she ever meant for me. You must really hate it that I put her down."
"Yeah that still bothers me." Alex admitted truthfully. "It is just that when I was the loneliest I could ever be, G and Chris were there for me. They opened their doors and their hearts for me. Last year we even whipped up Thanksgiving dinner even though we were all scared shitless that they would attack right when the bird would be placed on the table. And now, we are planning this lavish affair for the same occasion and I can't even have them join me in my moment of joy."
"God Alex." Olivia sunk her head guiltily for the first time. "It doesn't have to be that way, you can invite them if you want."
"Are you sure? I mean don't you think you....we should talk to Abbie and Jena before we start inviting people on our own."
"No....we decided to have it here in our home and so it is all up to you who you want." Olivia stated the obvious.
"Thanks sweetheart." Alex leaned to give Olivia a quick kiss but the detective trapped her with her arms for more deeper gratitude.
"Ummm...." Alex sighed breaking Olivia's hungry lips from hers. "Later detective let me just call Chris and G and invite them first."
"Now...?" Olivia was getting a little impatient.
"Yes now." But Alex's mind wasn't where Olivia's hand was heading so she pulled up the detective's hand from between her legs and put it right between their sight. "Just give me two minutes." She rolled over and grabbed the phone once again.
"Listen Adam you know what kind of shit that you are putting on me right now. And if I didn't care about Chris as much as I did, I sure wouldn't give a damn about you and right now I would personally ......"
Gina's words were interrupted by a beep indicating another incoming call on her phone.
"I am getting another call. If you know what is good for you, don't you dare hang up." She warned before she pressed flash to take the next call. "Alex!" She was surprised to get a call back from her friend.
"Oh really....are you sure?" She asked surprised that Alex was inviting her and Chris for Thanksgiving. She listened for a little bit before she agreed. When she hung up with Alex, there was a new smile of on her face. A smile that said that once again a plan had fallen in her lap. "Adam I'll save your ass. But remember you owe me big time for this." She said before she hung up the second line.