Originally posted on my mailing list, svu_ladies .

Olivia pulled up in front of the house that she used to share with Alex. Before getting out of the car she took a good long look and noticed that the front door needed painting and the grass was a little higher than she would have ever allowed it to get.

She thought back to the day they'd moved in, how happy and optimistic they'd been. She remembered helping Alex to the car as they left for the hospital to deliver their daughter Teegan. How she'd proudly placed a pink banner across the front door before returning to that same hospital and bringing her partner and their child home.

Her mind did a quick slideshow of all the birthday's and anniversaries that had followed. And then her mind turned to the time when it all seemed to fall apart. She realized, not for the first time, that their parting had not occurred because of one event or even a series of small events, but just a fading over time.

She remembered the morning when she woke up and the reality that she had fallen out of love with Alex hit her square in the head. How when she looked over, Alex's face had mirrored her own. How they'd made love that morning in a desperate attempt to ward off the inevitable. And how they'd clung to each other and cried afterwards.

Olivia had moved out a month later, into a place two streets over. They shared custody of Teegan and even had dinner together as a 'family' from time to time, and always holidays. And once or twice they'd even ended up back in bed again, but never talked about it.

They had both recently started dating other people and Olivia didn't want to ponder how either of them finding someone new might affect the status quo. And she tried not to think about Alex sleeping with someone else.

Taking a deep breath to clear her thoughts she opened the car door, pasted on a smile and walked up the walkway to ring the doorbell.

Teegan opened the door and as only an 12 year old could, she yelled, "Mom, Momz is here!"

She hurried off to get her overnight bag giving her mother's a moment alone. She hoped they would one day get a clue, but she seriously doubted that would ever happen.

"Hey Liv."

"Alex."

"Thanks for taking her tonight. I, uh, I have…."

"A date?" Olivia watched Alex's face and nodded as the blonde nodded.

"She told you."

"Yeah. It's ok Alex. I, uh…."

"Have been seeing a certain blonde school counselor for the last three weeks?"

Olivia ducked her head. "Yeah. Her name is Penny."

Alex stepped up to her former partner and tilted her head up. "It's ok for us to m…see other people Olivia." She'd started to say 'move' on, but that didn't seem right either. "We're ok."

Olivia nodded and then looked down at the door. "The door needs painting. I could stop by and paint it one day if you want?"

Alex smiled. "Actually, Janice is going to paint it. It's on our list of things to do this weekend."

The admission hurt Olivia more than she thought it would and she could only manage a nod. Before they could say anything else, Teegan came running through the hallway and right through the door. She brushed a kiss across Alex's cheek and took on off toward the car.

Alex and Olivia said good-bye and parted. Alex watched through the peephole as her former partner and their daughter pulled away from the house and disappeared down the street.

She suddenly felt very lonely and hurt and reached for the phone to call and cancel her dinner with Janice. She still wanted to spend the next day with the woman, but she no longer wanted to have dinner and possibly more that night.

In fact, for the first time since they'd parted almost a year ago, she found herself wanting to be with Olivia. And that startled her.

XXXXXXXXXX

Olivia kept glancing at the rearview mirror as they pulled away until finally Teegan said, "She watches from the peephole."

"What?"

"Mom, she watches us from the peephole until we are out of sight."

"How do you know that?"

Teegan shrugged. "I heard Serena giving her a hard time about breaking her eyelashes on the door. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out."

Olivia was genuinely interested and couldn't help herself so she blurted out, "Did you over hear anything else?"

Teegan knew she had her mother's attention and decided to play it up for all it was worth. She was tired of their being apart, tired of shuffling from one house to the next, tired of hearing her mom cry at night when she thought Teegan was asleep, tired of hearing her other mother on the phone with that nut job John Munch talking about the philosophical significance of falling out of love on a post modern society, whatever that was.

And she did not like Janice who tried to butt in and tell her how to hit a softball and who had offered to take her to the batting cage when Olivia got called in last Saturday. She didn't like the way Penny had tried to 'help' her fix her hair a few days ago either. She wanted her parents back together ASAP.

"I heard Mom crying the night I told her you'd started dating wheat Penny."

"Teegan! Stop calling her that!" Olivia felt compelled to correct her daughter even though once she thought about it, the girl was right; Penny's hair was the color of wheat, not spun gold like Alex's.

"Ok, Penny. But did you just hear what I said? You made mom cry by dating…her!"

Olivia pulled the car into her driveway and shut the engine off. She looked over at her daughter and saw hurt in her eyes.

"I'm…I'm sorry your mom cried Teegan. But we both decided to move on, ok?"

Teegan decided to play hardball so she smiled and added, "Ok. Besides, I'm pretty sure her and ol' Janice are going to do the deed tonight."

"What? Why do you say that?"

Teegan got out of the car, shrugged and threw over her shoulder, "I saw a Victoria 's Secret bag in her closet with some new undies in it."

Olivia watched her go and felt her heart sink at the thought of some other woman making love to her woman. Her eyes went wide as she realized what she'd just said to herself. She stomped up the steps to her house and shoved all thoughts of Alex and 'Janice' out of her mind.