Title: The Facade Shatters
Fandom: SVU
Pairing: Alex/Olivia
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Don't own them.
A/N: This is a Hannah-verse fic set after Alex comes back. Alex discovers Olivia has been keeping something from her.
A/N 2: As always, HUGE thanks to
cherokee62 for her help with this series.
Olivia yawned and stretched, her back to Alex as she rose from the chair.
“Long day?” Alex asked, smile in her voice.
Olivia turned and laughed. “Uneventful.” She made a face. “Though in this line of work, I can’t say that’s a bad thing.” She sighed. “One of the few jobs where an interesting day at work is a really bad day at work.”
Alex nodded sympathetically. “But we just have to remember why we’re here.”
Olivia breathed deeply. “Yeah. I know.” She gazed at the blonde for a moment. “Did you need something?”
Alex shrugged. “Just figured I’d stop by and see if you wanted to grab dinner.”
Olivia smirked slightly. “They did invent this thing called a cell phone. It’s really cool. You can talk to someone without driving out of your way to ask them a question.”
Alex smirked back. “Is that a yes or a no?”
Olivia laughed as she grabbed her jacket from the coat rack and slid it on, getting her things from her locker. “I’m afraid I can’t tonight. Having dinner with my brother and his girlfriend. I’ll take a raincheck though.”
Alex’s brow furrowed. “Did you say… brother?”
Olivia paused and gazed at the blonde before shuffling around with her things again, trying to sound nonchalant. “Yeah… uh… we met a few years ago.”
“How?” Alex pressed.
Olivia sighed. “It’s… kind of a long story.”
“Is he the only sibling you have?” Alex asked.
“As far as I know.” Olivia breathed deeply.
“Do you have both the same parents or is he a half-sibling?”
Olivia finally turned to look at her again. “Half. Look, it’s kind of a long story and I’m already running late.”
Alex nodded a little. “Are you guys close?”
“Getting there. We have a lot of years to catch up on.”
“Older or younger?”
Olivia sighed again. “Younger.” She could see more questions forming in Alex’s eyes. “I really have to go.”
“How come you’ve never told me about him?” Alex asked quietly.
Olivia gazed at her for a moment. “I don’t know.” She looked away. “I guess it just never came up. Who knows?”
“How often do you see him?”
Olivia snapped her gaze back to her. “Often enough.”
Alex’s brow furrowed. “And you’re close.”
“Yes.”
“Does he know about me?”
“I’ve told him some things.”
“But you never told me about him.”
“Damnit, Alex!” Olivia smacked her locker and a couple heads turned their way. She breathed deeply and composed herself, waiting for them to mind their own business before she continued. “It never came up. My mistake. It’s not like you’re an open book yourself.”
Alex frowned. “I’m not but he’s your brother. If he’s important to you then I would have liked to have known about him.”
“So now you suddenly care?” Olivia snapped.
Alex’s frown deepened. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You want to know when I met him, Alex? Hmm? Nearly and a year and a half after you came back. You want to know about me? Well maybe you should have been there to find out.”
Alex’s eyes widened for a moment before she composed herself and shot back. “It’s not like I can take back lost time, Olivia. How hard is it for you to say ‘Oh, hey, by the way, I have a brother?’”
Olivia’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know, Alex, how hard was it for you to say ‘Oh, hey, by the way, I have a daughter?’”
“Excuse me?! First off, that is completely different and you know it and second, I told you very early on, despite how hard it was for me. And you still reacted badly.”
Olivia locked her jaw, breathing deeply. “You really did not just go there.”
“Go where? You pulled the daughter card so don’t turn this around on me.”
“Early on?” Olivia could tell her voice was raising and she tried to keep it down. “Early on would have been when you came back, Alex. I had every right to lash out after you’d kept that from me, after you’d purposefully stayed away from me for three years. You have no right to tell me what I should and should not share with you when you chose not to be there for me through it. You abandoned me, Alex. And I still forgave you for it even though I knew I shouldn’t.”
“Forgave me? Don’t act like you know what my life was like. Forgave? Yes, Olivia, because those three years were all about you and how much I could hurt you.” Her eyes narrowed. “Maybe I should never have come back at all.” With that, she turned on her heel and strode out of the squadroom as quickly as she could, trying to keep her head up even as tears stung her eyes.
Olivia stared open-mouthed at her retreating back, her body shaking with her pent up emotions. She pressed her palm flat against the lockers for support and hung her head, breathing deeply, shutting her eyes and counting to ten. When she opened them, she could feel people staring at her and she lifted her head and glared at them before storming out.