Disclaimer: I own nothing. All characters and stories belong to NBC and Dick Wolf.

A/N: Post Lead. A/O one-shot. Please review. Thanks. Love, Lawabidingchild.

Reasons

Alex stood outside an apartment door that night. She couldn't remember being this shy. She was confident the first time she met Olivia. But maybe she was mad at her. After all, she was probably mad at her. As she should be, thought Alex bitterly as she stood there waiting for the courage to knock.

She sighed. It's been three long years since she returned from the Witness Protection Program. After all that, she was forced to work with them again. She didn't want to do it. She was pissed considering she didn't, nor couldn't, return the fifty messages they left on her machine. Over half of those were from Olivia alone.

She stood there wondering. Does Olivia have the same feelings she does? Has Olivia truly forgotten about her? Was she upset watching Alex go through the case like everything's okay?

There was no honest answer to anything that she could ask. She still stood there, shaking with nerves and butterflies. She never told Olivia how much she meant to her. She never said anything to Olivia. I'm sorry, Liv, she apologized in her head, but I just missed you so much and I have to see you. I'm sorry for everything.

She bucked it up and knocked three times. When Olivia answered the door, she looked down at her shoes. "I'm sorry I didn't come by three years ago, when I got out of Witness Protection," she apologized quietly.

Olivia wasn't mad at all. In fact, she surprised Alex with a smile and a tight hug. "I missed you," she whispered as Alex returned her hug. They stood like that for awhile before Olivia pulled back. "Come in. It's been too long since we-."

"Talked like human beings," offered Alex as an end to her sentence. She was off. When they hung out together after work, Alex and Olivia were so close to the point of finishing each others sentences.

"I was going to say 'like friends', but that works, too," said Olivia before stepping back to show her in. Alex took the invitation gratefully.

"I'm sorry," apologized Alex before Olivia could say anything else.

"I'm not mad, Alex," confirmed Olivia, "I'm just so happy to see you, Alex."

"I have reasons for not contacting you," she said.

"I'm sure you did, Alex," said Olivia.

"When I came back from Witness Protection, I was going to return to SVU, but when I saw that you guys had a new ADA, then Branch offered me the position of Bureau Chief, I couldn't say no, I took it, then I got engaged but I broke it off when I couldn't take it anymore, because I couldn't...I couldn't..." began Alex in one breath, but Olivia held her hand up and pressed Alex to her in a one-armed hug with the other.

"You'll make yourself sick if you keep talking like that," said Olivia.

Tears spilled over onto Alex's cheeks. A few slipped out of Olivia's eyes as she enclosed the other arm around Alex.

"I broke it off with him because I couldn't stop thinking about you," confessed Alex. "You're the only one I've ever loved. I was just afraid to say something before I left. I love you, Olivia. Only you."

Shocked and relieved, Olivia pulled back slightly. She wanted to tell Alex the same thing. "I love you, too," she whispered, crashing her lips against Alex's. "I missed you."

Alex resumed kissing Olivia. This wasn't what she expected to happen. It was better. Olivia loves her, and that's all that mattered to Alex.