A New Life

by Shamesis

Both Alex and Olivia are shot, declared dead, and put into Witness Protection. Although they were only friends at the time, Hammond assumed they were romantically involved, and set them up in protection as a Same-Sex married couple.

1. The New Beginning

Title: A New Life (1/9)
Author: ShameSis
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Alex/Olivia
Disclaimer: I don't own any SVU characters
Spoilers: Up till Alex was shot, then becomes A/U
POV: Alex
A/N #1: This is based on the challenge I presented in Livejournal, and I decided to try it myself. Was initially posted in LiveJournal June 2010 (so you may have read it back then).

Summary: Both Alex and Olivia are shot, declared dead, and put into Witness Protection. Although they were only friends at the time, Hammond assumed they were romantically involved, and set them up in protection as a Same-Sex married couple.
A/N #2: This is my first attempt at writing anything other than a university essay (years ago). Please be gentle.

Chapter 1 – The New Beginning

I'm not even sure where to begin to describe how much my life has changed in the last 3 weeks. My name is Emily Winters. I have to keep reminding myself of that fact because it wasn't like that 3 weeks ago. 3 weeks ago my name was Alexandra Cabot. I was a Prosecuting Attorney for the Special Victims Unit in New York. Now, I'm living in a safe house healing from gun shot wounds preparing to start my new life as Emily Winters (nee Kelly). I spend most of my time reading and memorizing a 2-inch binder full of fabricated information about my new identity. When I'm not learning about my new 'self' I'm learning about my new 'wife'. Yes, I said wife, because when I leave this safe house, I'll be moving into a small house in Iowa with my wife of 1 year, Shelly. I don't know Shelly Winters very well yet, but I did know her very well as my co-worker, and friend, Detective Olivia Benson in New York.

It's too complicated to fully explain how exactly I've ended up in this situation. Apparently Olivia and I pushed too hard against a drug lord in New York, and he decided to push back, hard. He put hits out on our lives, and after the recent almost successful murder attempt that left both of us severely injured, the FBI decided to officially declare us dead in order to keep both of us alive, and to protect our families and friends. So now Olivia and I have been murdered and buried, and the married couple of Emily and Shelly Winters have been born.

It's funny how we ended up being married in this new life. Apparently Agent Hammond investigated both Liv and I when we first started 'interfering' (his words) in his drug lord investigation. His agents witnessed Liv and I go out for drinks after work and spend the odd evening watching movies at each other's apartments to unwind (which occasionally resulted in sleepovers on each others couch), and incorrectly assumed we were in a romantic relationship. Thus, when he was setting up our new identities he 'did us a favor' (his words) and kept us together. When we told him we weren't actually a couple, he practically whined about how hard he had to convince his superiors to set up the unorthodox identities as a Same-Sex Married couple. It was complicated by the fact that only 5 US states grant Same-Sex marriages, so our backgrounds had to have us get married in one of the 5 states, and then relocate to another of those 5 states (none of which are far enough away from New York for their comfort). In the end, Liv and I decided that although it will be difficult, to say the least, to pretend to be a married lesbian couple, we would rather go into Witness Protection together so we'd have each other's friendship as a support.

Although Liv and I have been co-workers for many years, and friends for almost as long, I've begun to realize just how much our friendship was mostly based on our common careers. We've never spoken in depth about things that were intimately personal. I know about her rapist father, and her alcoholic mother, but we've never really talked about it. She knows that I come from a wealthy but emotionally detached family, and that I have, had, high career and political aspirations, but we've never really talked about my history either. We did talk a lot, and shared a lot, but it was rarely on a truly emotionally intimate level. There were a few exceptions of course, after some of our particularly difficult cases such as Chery Avery and Sam Cavanaugh; we both shared some deep frustrations and guilt and sobbing tears. But most of our time spent together revolved around rehashing work, or simply being quiet enjoying the company while sharing a few drinks or watching a few movies. I know she's had a few relationships with men (a fellow cop, and a newspaper reporter, etc.), and to my knowledge she's never been with a woman, but we never talked in depth about our relationships with those outside of the precinct or courthouse. Personally, I've had the occasional dates over the years, all with men, but my focus has been strictly on growing my career to reach those lofty career goals. I've never entertained the thought of having a relationship with any female, although I must confess to having a few female crushes in my youth, but I suspect most of us do.

So that's how I've arrived at where I'm at now. I'm Emily Winters (nee Kelly), married to Shelly Winters. Apparently Shelly didn't want to be named Shelly Kelly, so I took her last name. We both met through mutual friends while living and working in Vermont. After meeting, and dating, and living together, after 2 years together she proposed and we legally wed a year ago in Vermont. 3 months ago a drunk driver killed Shelly's parents, who she was very close to. The loss of her parents made living in Vermont, surrounded by memories of her loss, too difficult. So we decided to leave Vermont and go as far away from there as the same-sex marriage law would allow.

And thus begins our new life, together, in Iowa.