Title: Let the Games Begin
Author: vegawriters
Fandom: Law and Order: SVU
Pairing: Alex/Olivia
Rating: Cheesy … er … PG
Timeframe: 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremonies/Valentine’s Day
A/N: I need a sugar and cheese break. This worked.
Disclaimer: If Law and Order:SVU belonged to me, very few changes would be made overall. Except that Olivia would finally get a steady girlfriend and I’d be making money off the fic I’m writing. So, until Dick Wolf and Co. GIVE me a paying gig, these characters belong to them and I’m just procrastinating on my other writing with them.

Summary: “You want to explain to me how it is that I’ve known you ten years now and shared my bed with you for a good chunk of those years and you never told me you were at Lake Placid?”



Still humming the final strains from KD Lang’s haunting version of Hallelujah under her breath, Alex Cabot moved slowly around her bedroom, turning down the bed, lighting the candles on her dresser, and double checking the batteries in the vibrator in her bedside table. She could hear Olivia in the bathroom, brushing her teeth and wiping the last of the makeup from her eyes. Alex was in no way tired, but she wanted to get Olivia into bed before her pager went off and what little sleep they’d be able to get this weekend was stolen by the cruelty of a perpetrator.

She hated the weekends Olivia was slated for catching and to be on-call. Sleepless weekends always turned into sleepless weeks. And weekends around holidays that were supposed to be about love and togetherness were always so much more violent than any other weekend. Without a doubt, Olivia would have at least three rapes to investigate on Valentine’s Day.

After slipping into her favorite blue satin pj’s, Alex made one last adjustment to the bed before sliding between the covers. At least tonight, for a little while, she could make the evening good for her girlfriend.

She had to admit that even with Bob Costas’ never ending droning on with useless facts that not even he cared about, and the annoying ad breaks in the middle of the opening ceremonies, the event had been fun to watch this year. KD Lang’s rendition of the classic Cohen song had moved her and Olivia to tears. Four years ago she’d been too wrapped up in her own bullshit to really care about the happenings in Torino. The Salt Lake games had been so much fun to watch with Olivia and she’d almost revealed her secret then, but their relationship had been so new, Alex hadn’t wanted to make things weird. But, whenever she and Ali had driven up to Utah, they’d made a point to go over to the small museum at the top of the Salt Lake Valley and Alex hadn’t bothered to hide her sentimental tears as she looked at the pictures of the skiers racing down the mountain. Part of her felt guilty that Ali had learned the truth so long before Olivia, but tonight she would be absolved of her sin of omission.

When Olivia emerged from the bathroom, they shared a smile and Alex sat up as Olivia sauntered over to the bed and leaned over to kiss her.

“Hmmmm.” Kisses like that made Alex still kick herself for not contacting Olivia as soon as she got out of protection. But with this Valentine’s Day, they’d promised themselves that any discussion of the past would only be on a positive note. They’d spent enough time dancing through tears and lately, tears weren’t getting them anywhere. If they were to actually commit to each other again, they had to let themselves actually believe in the future and not be frightened of past events that had ripped them apart.

Easier said than done. But they were committed to trying.

“Yeah?” Olivia chuckled and traced her fingers through her hair.

“Yeah.”

“Yeah what?”

“I love you.” Alex sighed softly. “I’ve never stopped.”

“I know.” Olivia linked their fingers. “It’s funny because I feel the same way.”

“What’s funny about that?” Alex teased.

“Stop being such a lawyer.” Olivia smirked and walked over to her side of the bed, her hips swaying temptingly under her comfortable gray pants. The gray tank top clung to every curve and Alex’s mouth actually watered. “What’s this?” Olivia picked up the picture Alex had laid on her pillow. “This … looks like you.”

“It is.” Alex smiled.

“Holy crap. This is … you.” Olivia repeated.

“It is.” Alex repeated. “The 1992 Olympic Ski Team.”

“Holy shit.” Keeping the photo in her hand, Olivia shifted herself on the bed and look at Alex directly. “You want to explain to me how it is that I’ve known you ten years now and shared my bed with you for a good chunk of those years and you never told me you were at went to the Olympics?”

“I told you I went to the Olympics. I told you I watched the US Men’s Hockey Team beat Russia.”

“That’s not what I mean and you know it. You were five at Lake Placid. So what the hell are you doing in this picture, with the US Ski Team in France?!”

Alex laughed and took the picture. “I was seventeen and it was a dream I didn’t think could come true.”

“So what happened?” Olivia tucked her feet under her and leaned forward, eager to hear the story. Alex was more than happy to oblige.

“Well, I’ve been skiing since I was a kid. My Uncle Bill has a house in Saranac Lake and we spent a lot of time there as a family. When I was about eight, I snuck up to one of the more difficult adult runs, completely disobeying my parents. God, I caught hell for it when I came down, but I also caught the eye of the head coach of the US Junior team. He talked to my parents and convinced them that instead of grounding me, the best punishment would be to put me on the junior team. One of the best coaches in the world was already living in New York so Mom took me upstate to Lake Placid and I trained there and went to school until high school and then I'd be in school during the week and spent weekends up at Lake Placid but my nights in the gym with my coach. There were a couple of us hopefuls up there.”

“It’s why you were so close to your mom …”

“Yeah,” Alex blinked away sudden tears. “Mom did everything. She was at every practice. Every run. Always cheering, even when I fell flat on my ass. It was so much fun. We’d study all night and spend all day on the slopes. Whenever I go skiing, I still wear the scarf she bought for me for the games. I miss her so much, Olivia.”

“I know.” Olivia linked their fingers for a minute and Alex could feel her thinking of a way to keep the subject light. “I can see you as a little kid - breaking all the rules and sneaking up the lift to ski down the mountain.”

Olivia’s attempt to lighten the mood worked and Alex actually laughed. “I actually had an entire argument planned for my parents when I came down that day.”

“I’ll bet you did. Eight years old and already a lawyer.” Olivia shifted, stretching out on the bed, and Alex moved to rest her head in the curve of Olivia’s hip. “So from the junior team to the Olympic team?”

“I was seventeen. Just old enough to really start competing at a national level. I went to a couple of events the year before and placed respectably. I was fifth at World’s, fourth at Nationals. Honestly, if I’d medaled at the Olympics, I’d have probably stayed with it longer, even though it would have interfered with my eventual goals.”

“Law school.” Olivia was stroking her fingers through Alex’s hair.

“Yeah.”

“I want to see pictures. I thought I’d seen every picture of you but I want to see pictures. But first I want you to tell me how you landed a spot on the Olympic team.”

“I’ll get the photo albums out tomorrow. A couple might still be at my grandmother’s, but I have at least one here.” She sighed comfortably, “I had the chance to try out for the team and I gave it a shot. And somehow, I qualified. I don’t know how, honestly. But I qualified. Liv, racing down the mountain like that, just feeling your skis and the snow … I spend my days writing arguments to defend positions and I still can’t put into words how it feels to be one with the snow like that.”

“How’d you do?”

“I had two runs. Placed fourth in both. No one, not even my coach, expected me to place higher than eighth and I was expecting a Bronze on my second run honestly but I skidded out a bit and so I lost time.”

“I’ll bet you remember every single moment.”

“I do.”

“God, Alex. So close and not a medal? You could taste it. Why didn’t you go back for more?”

“I almost did.” Alex shrugged. “I kept training after the Olympics were over and I competed for a couple more years - medaled in Worlds and Nationals during that time. But one week, I went to see my Uncle Bill and I went to the courtroom with him and … I can’t … sitting there in that room was even a bigger rush than skiing down a mountain at eighty miles an hour. So I kept skiing, but I gave up the dream of bringing home an Olympic medal. I had my National and World’s medals, but I left the Olympics to the people for whom it was the primary dream. I knew I was good enough to do it, but it felt wrong taking that dream away from someone else.”

“You amaze me.”

Alex chuckled. “Why?”

“Because every day I learn something new about you. Tonight, it’s that you were part of a dream that millions of kids have but so few ever get to experience –and you could have gone for it twice but you passed it up because some other kid might have wanted it more. You got to ski down a mountain and participate in the opening ceremonies." She grinned, “Do you still have the tape?”

“Maybe.”

“And what do I have to do to get access to the tape?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Rolling to her back, Alex pulled Olivia on top of her. “What does it feel like to go to bed with an Olympian?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’d feel different if she’d medaled.”

“Ha!”

“You still have your gear?”

“I do.”

“You know what I think?”

“What?”

“I think we need to take advantage of the two days I actually have off next weekend and drive up to Lake Placid.”

“I like the way you think.” Alex grinned and tugged Olivia’s tank top from her body. “When was the last time you went skiing?”

“Oh, I think I’ll hang out in the lodge and hit on all the other blonde ski bunnies.”

“Oh, I don’t think so.” Alex kissed her. “I’ll drag you down that mountain with me. I know you can ski.”

“Well now I know why you always beat me down the mountain.” Olivia kissed her back, “First though, you’ll have to get up the mountain.”

~fin~