Every night, Alex turns on her computer. The icon for Skype is on the left-hand side. Kinshasa is 5 hours ahead, so all she can do is hope that Olivia is home and online. She loves the work she does there and in The Hague. She loves how grateful her boss seems to be – a sharp difference between Kinshasa and Manhattan. She loves the people she works with and the people she helps. Still, she misses everything about Manhattan – the cold weather, the slosh of dirty rain water under her shoes, the streets littered with garbage and taxi cabs, Olivia.

She misses Olivia like she has never missed anything before. She misses her more than Mr. Softie. That's for sure.

She loves her. That one person could mean so much has never occurred to Alex until Olivia happened.

Tonight, as she sat cross-legged on her couch, Olivia's face popped on her screen – with that smirk and the hair that has grown long and thick and those eyes that even through a computer screen looked like they practically shimmered.

Hi gorgeous. Alex thought. A smile plastered across her face, she was tempted to touch her screen – to pretend to touch her face.

"What time is it there?" Olivia smiled. God, her smile was so welcomed in Alex's apartment.

"11:00 PM. Why are you home so early?" Alex kept a clock set to EST – she knew it was only 6:00 PM in Manhattan.

"Day off."

"Olivia Benson took a day off? Am I in the Twilight Zone?"

"You're so funny. I'll have you know the Olivia Benson you knew, who never took a break, has changed."

"I hope she hasn't changed too much."

"Don't worry. The fridge is still empty, the bed is still unmade, and there's a mountain of laundry still sitting in the middle of the bedroom floor." Alex laughed, remembering that Olivia Benson very fondly, "Why are you up so late?" Olivia smirked.

"11 PM is late?"

"For the chronically sleepy woman on my computer screen, yes. Yes, it is late."

The silence between them was pronounced, though not uncomfortable. It had been days since they'd been able to do this. Sure, there were emails in between and Olivia had even taken a few pictures of the guys at the precinct for her. These pictures weren't meant to make Alex see what she was missing, but to see how much she was missed. But seeing her reminded Alex just what home felt like and, for once, she didn't feel so alone.

"It's good to see you, Alex." Olivia said so softly that the computers microphone barely picked it up.

But Alex heard it. She heard it loud and clear.

"It's good to see you too, Liv." She was blushing, but she couldn't look away, "Have the last few days been crazy or…?"

"That's part of the reason I'm home now. Cap ordered a break."

"Now that's the Olivia Benson I know."

"Yeah, yeah. How are you? Kinshasa treating you well?"

She nodded, "I really love the work I do here, Liv."

"Does this mean you're—"

"I'll be back to New York. I love the work I do here, but it isn't home."

"I'm proud of you. You know that right? So, so very proud."

Alex swallowed thickly, her heart constricting tightly in her chest.

"I know. I know."

They stayed online for a few hours, before Alex yawned and Olivia forced her to get off the computer.

"Goodnight, Olivia. Stay safe tomorrow."

"You too."

Olivia kissed the tips of her index and middle fingers and placed them against the screen. With a grin Alex did the same and waited until Olivia took her fingers away to remove her own. She waited a while longer until Olivia logged off.

Alex loves her.

She wishes with everything that she could just say so.

She closed her laptop softly, padded slowly to her bedroom, and changed into pajamas. Her last thoughts, as they have always seemed to be, were the moments when Alex could have told her – the first night she spent with Olivia, inadvertently spent in the crib talking about everything under the sun, or the first time they'd gone out without the guys – just the two of them and Alex had Olivia's full attention.

And she, somehow, missed her even more.

XX

Every morning after Olivia talks to Alex, she feels rejuvenated. Alex does that for her. When she's honest, she knows that Alex has always had that effect on her.

They share the same passions – for justice, for doing what is right, and for protecting survivors. Those passions always seemed to bounce between them like an electric current that kept them linked, even when things were acrimonious. The fact that they shared those passions made Olivia wonder: did they share the same desires as well?

And what Olivia seemed to desire most, these days as much as she did years ago, was Alex.

The following morning, Olivia walked into a crime scene with a renewed confidence. If Alex could be in a foreign country, changing lives as she had in New York, then Olivia could certainly do the same in the city where she grew up. And maybe, just maybe, she could make Alex just as proud of her as she was of Alex.

Elliot smiled in the direction of his partner with a cup of coffee in hand. Like anyone who knows someone as long as Elliot and Olivia have, he knew just how she took her coffee – one cream, two sugars. For the same reason, he could tell there was something different about her. An extra bounce in her step.

"Talk to Cabot recently?" He asked.

"Yeah, actually. Why?" She took the offered coffee and sipped. Yep, perfect.

"You're just different when you've spoken with her."

"Huh? I – I have no idea what you're talking about."

"No? Alright." He laughed, "I'm just saying. When you speak to her, you just seem different. It's okay to admit that she might mean something to you."

"Of course she does. She's – she's my best friend."

"You're sure that's all she is?"

"Would you cut it out? We've got a job to do."

Melinda Warner stepped aside so the detectives she'd grown to love could view the victim – a young girl; she couldn't be more than thirteen.

"What do we have?" Elliot asked, while Olivia knelt to get a closer look.

"So far, all I've been able to discern is that she was certainly strangled. You see these ligature marks here and here?" Melinda pointed out, "I'm not seeing anything that indicates a rape, but I'll know more once I have her on my table."

Olivia nodded.

There was always something about the cases with kids – kids of any age – that took a little piece of her soul. After so many cases, she wasn't sure how she still had soul left to give. Alex would understand that and, if she were here, she'd hold her and tell her it would be okay – that she could keep fighting tomorrow.

"Thanks Melinda."

"I'll be in touch."

And somehow, all of this made her miss Alex just that much more.