Second Chance At Love

Chapter 9: Sharing a Common Interest

Alex Cabot sat in her office going through the files of the four year old case of the Jenna Fox/SVU precienct shooting. 'Why did I agree to this?,' she thought to herself. Honestly, she had been asking herself that question ever since she unthinkably took on the case. Alex had always not been too fond of Elliot Stabler since she had joined in as the head A.D.A. for SVU fifteen years ago. He mainly rubbed her the wrong way throughout the years while he was in the unit, mostly because he worked along side Olivia.

Olivia. In Alex's eyes, the first time they met was love at first sight. She remembered that day like it was yesterday. Walking into the unit and into Captain Cragen's office seemed like a walk in the park until she had brought up her head and locked eyes with the beautiful brunette. The eye contact was only for a few seconds, but those few seconds was one of the most important seconds of her life. And then she saw Elliot. Alex didn't think much of him at first. To her he was just another face. After all, she is a lesbian.

Alex was getting comfortable with her thoughts about Olivia until she was suddenly interrupted by a knock on her office door. She nearly jumped. "Come in," she called out. The door opened and entered Elliot. 'Here we go,' she said to herself as she stared at him blankly. "Morning Alex," Elliot said as he took a seat in front of her desk. "Morning," she responded. Elliot noticed that as she said this, her tone sounded like as if she was bothered. "Seems like I'm not the only one who's not a morning a person," he said jokingly. Alex wasn't amused. "We're not here for jokes Stabler," she said. "I have a serious case on my hands and the last thing I need is to get distracted by a wannabe comedian."

Elliot was taken back. "Uh, Alex, is everything alright? Did I say something wrong?" Alex sighed. "We're here to discuss your case and nothing more. Do I make myself clear?" Elliot adjusted himself in the chair and cleared his throat. "Listen, clearly something's bother you and I feel like I'm the center of it. If it's because my case just so happen to be thrown on your lap, I'm sorry about that. I have no say so as to who handles my case. In my defense, I actually requested Casey for this. I didn't even know you came back to New York, as well as from your civil rights work in Africa, but if you have a problem with this case, don't come at me for it." 

Alex sat quietly as she stared at Elliot. She then looked down at his file. "So, this incident happened a little over five years, is that correct?"

Elliot nodded. "I honestly don't know why this situation is being brought up from under the ground years later. I followed proper police procedure." Elliot watched as Alex scanned through the paperwork. "It says here that you and at the time detective Benson knew the deceased Jenna Fox from an old case that was still open? Can you elaborate on that?"

Elliot sighed. "Look Alex, you have the files right there in front of you. I already gave my statement to the detectives. I don't need  to explain myself again. You know me. You know I wouldn't do this on purpose. People's lives were in danger. Four people died because of Ms. Fox. One of them was Sister Peg. She was a good friend to the squad." Elliot was starting to feel a little angry.

"El, whether or not if I have your statements here in front of me, you have to re-explain yourself every time I ask you about it. Now of anything, I know you hate going to court, but believe me, the prosecution and the jury can and will grill you hard, if not worse. You're lucky you have me as your attorney on this case. Novak, in my opinion, is too harsh and might squash your case and Barba doesn't work well with men, even though he could win you this case real easily. Too bad he's the prosecutor for this case. This is going to be tough. I can help you too, but you have to cooperate with me throughout this entire thing. I have a big load on my hands."

Elliot rolled his eyes. "Alex, you and I both know that this case that IAB have on me is bogus and unnecessary! Ask anyone that was in there. Call Olivia. She would tell you the same exact thing."