A/N: My first SERIOUSLY AU fic. This is set in high school and there are some VERY SUBTLE references to the '80's when they would have been in high school – hope you like. Tell me if you can pick out the references to the 80's – I know bandbi and bonesdbchippie will be able to – cuz they're 80's girls like me! Let me know if you think I did okay! Except, you know, if you think it sucked. Then shut your mouth. )

Disclaimer: Only my overactive imagination is mine!

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"Fin, I'm not doing your Brit Lit homework!" I laugh at my best friend's boyfriend, slamming my locker shut.

"C'mon, Liv. I told you I'd do your Calc homework."

"Alex, would you remind your boyfriend why I didn't take him up on his offer?" I ask, looping my arm through my best friend's.

"Honey," Alex puts a comforting hand on Fin's arm. "You got a D in Calc."

"Liv got a C minus."

"You really do suck at math, don't you?" I ask, rolling my eyes.

"Yeah yeah. Where the hell's Stabler? I need a life raft in this sea of estrogen."

"Girls ganging up on you again, Fin?" Elliot asks, walking up behind me and sticking his hand in the back pocket of my Guess? jean skirt and dropping a kiss on my lips.

"Nah, man. Your girlfriend won't do my homework."

"Fin!" I hold up a finger to keep Elliot from responding. "I won't do Elliot's homework. I'm sure as hell not doing yours."

"She's got a point man. If she won't even do it for me? After what I did for her last—" I clap my hand over his mouth before he can spill our secrets.

"We have to go now," I growl, pulling Elliot behind me down the hall. "Don't forget! Study group for Calc at my house after Mom goes out! 8 o'clock!"

"Bye, guys," Elliot laughs, waving at our friends over his shoulder. "No track tonight?" he asks nonchalantly.

"I'm not talking to you," I huff playfully.

"Oh, c'mon Liv. I was teasing. Besides, like you and Alex don't talk about it anyway."

"Not in front of you and Fin!" I say indignantly.

"I knew it!" he taunts, walking backward in front of me.

"Shut up!" I laugh as he picks me up and tosses me over his shoulder. "Elliot Stabler, put me down!"

"No way! Not until I get to have my way with you!" he nearly screams as we exit the building to the parking lot and start heading for the '65 Chevy pickup that he and his brother Dan rebuilt.

"Ihateyou Ihateyou Ihateyou Ihateyou Ihateyou Ihateyou!" I'm screaming playfully the whole way.

"No you don't. You love me," he grins as he opens the door and dumps me unceremoniously in the cab of the pickup.

"Yeah. Who knows why, though," I tease.

"Because I'm charming," he smiles. "And sweet. And funny. And tough. And soooooo cute," he teases.

"And sooooo modest," I roll my eyes, but scoot into a sitting position in the center of the bench seat of the pickup.

"Want to come to supper tonight?" he asks with that charming grin.

"Sure. What time?"

"Six – same as always, Liv," he teases. "Not like Mom's going to move it later to tempt Dad into actually coming home."

I smile sadly and cover his hand with mine. "Six sounds great," I pause, thinking of what would make him invite me to dinner with his family. " Oooh. It's Monday. Laura Stabler's meat loaf night!"

"I know you love it," Elliot teases, pulling out of the parking lot. "We have some time to kill…" he wiggles his eyebrows at me suggestively.

"Didn't you just tell Alex and Fin that we did that yesterday, cocky boy?" I ask, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Well, I didn't go into specifics," he grins.

"Let's just go for a drive," I suggest, taking my curly hair out of the ponytail on the side of my head.

"As you wish, my love," Elliot smiles softly at me, turning down a side street. I reach over to the radio and adjust the knob to get it off the crappy heavy metal station he loves to tune it to the top 40 station I like.

"Oh! I love this song!" I cry as Madonna's "Crazy For You" comes on. "Crazy for you, touch me once and you'll know it's true, I've never needed anyone like this, it's all brand new, you'll feel it in my kiss, because I'm crazy for you!" I serenade. Elliot wraps his arm around my shoulders, bringing me closer to him and kissing the top of my head.

"I'm crazy for you too, babe," he grins.

I reach over and turn down the radio as some lame Prince song comes on.

"You okay babe?" Elliot asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking, we don't have a song, El! We've been together since homecoming, and we don't have a song!"

"OH NO!" he teases.

"Shut up! I'm serious!" I pout.

"Okay, okay! I know this stuff is important to you girls," he laughs.

"We need a song," I whine.

"Okay. Well turn the radio back up so we can hear it when it comes along," Elliot smiles, turning the knob to crank the music back up.

i was riding shotgun with my hair undone in the front seat of his car,
he's got a one-hand feel on the steering wheel,
the other on my heart,
i look around, turn the radio down,
he says baby is something wrong?,
i say nothin' i was just thinkin' how we don't have a song,
and he says...

A few minutes later, he laughs suddenly.

"What?" I ask, taking my attention away from gawking out the window.

He shakes his head and smiles. "I was just thinking about our first date."

"You're never going to let me forget that, are you?" I ask dryly.

"It was cute, Liv! It's part of what made me fall in love with you!" he grins. I shake my head and bury my face in my hands. I'd been in love with Elliot Stabler since the seventh grade. Problem was, so had Kathy O'Connor. And since they lived just down the block from each other, of course, she caught his eye first. But we had a few classes together and were always friends. Then, this year, we got partnered up in Chemistry, and discovered we had it as more than a class. Things had started to go downhill with him and Kathy over the summer, and when school had started, I'd been the buddy, the shoulder to cry on – just like always. Finally, the Monday of homecoming week, when Alex and I came in dressed like Cagney and Lacey on "Superhero Day" (never mind that we were dressed like Cagney and Lacey dressed like hookers), he asked me to go to the dance with him on Saturday night. Until my dying day, I will maintain that it was the fact that I was dressed like a cop dressed like a hooker that made him ask me out. He says it's because I'm smart, beautiful, and funny. Sure. Anyway, when he came to pick me up for the dance, I was a little excited to go out on a date with him, and I sort of raced excitedly down the sidewalk, the screen door banging shut behind me.

"I was a little over exuberant, okay?"

"Hey, Kathy and I were together from seventh grade on. She was never that excited to see me."

I smile happily and look at him out of the corner of my eye. "Remember the time you under estimated your pitching arm?" I ask slyly.

"Oh, man. Speaking of things we're never going to live down!" he cries with a wide grin. "I was just trying to get you to come to the window! Throwing rocks always works in the movies!"

"PEBBLES, El. Not rocks."

"Eh, same diff."

I laugh enthusiastically. "You're still so lucky you and Mike and Fin got that window replaced before my mom saw it. She'd have killed us both!" Elliot squeezed my hand comfortingly, knowing that statement was far too close to the truth.

"I still owe Sandoval ten bucks from that," Elliot reminisces with a grin.

We ride in silence for a few minutes before Elliot starts laughing again.

"What?" I ask.

"You. The other night when we were on the phone. I thought I was going to die of blue balls," he teases.

"Hey, can I help it if I have to talk quiet so my mom doesn't hear us?"

"Yeah but when you talk quiet, your voice gets all seductive-y."

"Seductive-y, huh? Like this?" I ask, dropping my voice to a purr right next to his ear.

"Yep. That's it right there," he says, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

I laugh, caressing his package. "You are such a guy."

"I thought that's what you loved about me," he says indignantly.

"One of the many, many things," I agree, kissing his cheek softly.

"You know, I kick myself every day for not kissing you homecoming night," he says softly.

"I wish I could have kicked you for it at the time," I tease.

"Funny," he says, turning his head and kissing me on the lips. "Good thing we have lots of time to make up for it."

"Good thing," I agree again, wiping my watermelon lip smackers off his lip with my thumb.

I glance back out the windshield as we drive the few miles back to his mom and dad's house. When we get there, he glances over at me and gives me a cocky grin. "Want to go hang out in the tree house?"

I throw my head back and laugh heartily. "I would LOVE to," I grin, kissing him soundly on the lips.

We bail out of the pickup and race to the backyard, clambering quickly up the ladder to the tree house Mike Stabler built for his boys when they were little… and he was around more. By the time we get up there, I'm laughing so hard I can barely see straight. Elliot pulls me into the vee of his legs and tilts my head back for a kiss.

"I love your laugh," he smiles. "It makes me feel like whenever I'm with you, nothing can touch me. I'm invincible as long as you're by my side," he pauses and brushes my bangs back from my face reverently. "I thank God for you every day," he says, kissing me softly.

"Elliot," I breathe. "I love you."

"I love you too."

We'd been making out for probably an hour and a half when I hear his mom holler from the kitchen window. "El! Liv, honey! You guys out there?"

"Yeah, Ma!" Elliot hollers back.

"Would you two come set the table?" she hollers back.

"Be right down, Ma!"

I smile and kiss him again.

"Don't start anything you can't finish, Miss Olivia," he warns teasingly.

"And who's sitting in a tree house in her bra and panties?" I ask with a grin. "Geesh. Talk about starting something you can't finish."

"After supper," he whispers in my ear. "We'll tell them study group is at seven. Head over to your house early. How's that sound?" he whispers huskily.

"Mmm, great," I groan, sliding my hands up his bare chest and around his neck. He smiles against my lips that have somehow pressed themselves to his.

"Better put some clothes on. Don't want to give Ma a shock she isn't ready for."

"Elliot Christopher! Don't make me come out there!" Laura warns from the kitchen.

"Comin' Ma! Hold your horses!"

"Elliot," she hollers again.

"Sorry!"

I smile at the two of them and their banter, pulling my kelly green polo shirt back on over my head and shimmying into my skirt. I wait to go down the ladder until Elliot has re-tucked his navy blue tee shirt and re-zipped his sexy acid-wash jeans. God I wish he would wear that pair every day.

"Ready?" I ask, moving toward the ladder. He nods, but pulls me back to him. He kisses me deeply, sliding his tongue into my mouth softly. "Mmm," I groan again.

"Eat fast," he grins.

our song is a slamming screen door,
sneakin' out late, tapping on your window,
when we're on the phone and you talk real slow,
cause it's late and your mama don't know,
our song is the way you laugh,
the first date, "man, i didn't kiss her, and i should have",
and when i got home...before i said amen,
asking god if he could play it again.

I suck in a breath and try to calm my racing heart, praying it won't beat right out of my chest. I pick up my hot pink water bottle and drink, desperately trying to replenish the hydration I sweated off during track practice. "Nice work, Benson! 5:20! Shave ten seconds off your time and that state title might be yours!"

"Thanks… Coach…" I pant and heave, slugging back another drink of water, wandering around the track, trying to cool down. How this woman expects me to shave ten seconds in two weeks is beyond me. But that's okay – it just adds to my craptastic day. I whip my tee shirt over my head and start walking to the parking lot in my blue sports bra and white shorts, wiping sweat from my face the whole way.

Alex falls in step with me, fresh from tennis practice.

"Gah. Why do I look like a drowned rat and you look like you just stepped out of a Ralph Lauren ad?" I grouse.

She elbows me in the ribs. "Light practice today," she grins.

"Must be nice."

"What's wrong?" she asks.

"I have had the worst day," I whine as my best friend wraps her arm around my shoulders.

"What happened?"

"It's okay, Alex. I already bitched to Elliot before track. I don't want both my best friends to have to listen to me complain."

"Liv, I hate to break it to you, but that's why El and I are your best friends! We're here to listen. Besides – I always bitch to you and Fin both!" Alex teases.

"Valid point," I grin. "Well, you want to come over and do homework?" I ask.

"Sure," Alex agrees, sliding into the passenger seat of my 1984 Dodge 600. "So c'mon, tell me," she begs.

"Okay," I sigh, tossing my book bag and gym bag into the back seat. "It all started this morning – Mom was yelling, as usual. Don't worry, by the way, she left for a conference for the weekend." Alex visibly sighed in relief, and I felt bad for the fact that my drunken mother made my friends so uncomfortable. "Anyway, you know I can usually tune her out, but today… I was stressed about the calc test… I dunno. She just got to me," I shrug, flipping the latch to let the top down on my little convertible. Alex nods sympathetically.

"And then," I sigh. "I get to school, and we get our Brit Lit tests back. Well, I thought I had that in the bag, so I spent all my time studying for Calc."

"Oh no," Alex breathes, knowing what's coming next.

"Yeah. Not a huge deal. I got a B. But you know – Mom the English professor. And you know who's in my Brit Lit class," I say with an eye roll.

"Miss Perfect Cheerleader of the World Kathy Kaye O'Connor!" Alex says, batting her eyelashes in an exaggerated manner, her voice raising an octave.

"Yup," I grin, laughing at how Alex mocks Elliot's ex-girlfriend. "And of course she aced the damn thing."

"Of COURSE," Alex agrees.

"And of course she was all, 'Olivia! What'd you get?!'"

"Oh gag me with a spoon," Alex rolls her eyes again.

"Yeah. So," I take a breath. "Elliot's friend – that Mike Sandoval kid?" Alex nods recognition of the name of the hottest guy in our school – next to my boyfriend of course! "Mike kept me from beating the living shit out of her. And getting detention. Again."

"Well, that's something, I guess," Alex breathes.

"Yeah. And then," I pause again. "Coach told me tonight to shave ten seconds off my time," I sigh.

"Oh, honey! Crap, that does suck!"

"Oh. And I couldn't find the shoes I wanted to wear today!" I whine.

"Well, Jeez, Liv. If it wasn't horrible enough! Not shoe drama!" Alex teases me.

"I know!" I laugh, pulling into the driveway of the ranch-style house my mom and I share. "Shit!" I stomp my foot.

"What now?" Alex asks.

"I forgot I gave Elliot my house key. He forgot his Calc book here last night when we were studying, so he came to get it while I was at practice."

"Really?" Alex grins like she knows something.

"What?" I ask suspiciously.

"Nothing," she shrugs.

"Now what do we do?" I wonder aloud.

Alex reached out and tries the door, and it swung open easily. "Open," she grins.

"Jesus Christ, Elliot," I mutter. "Who leaves doors unlocked in New York City for Christ's sake?"

Alex puts a hand on my arm to keep me from trudging down the hall to my room. "The most thoughtful guy on Earth," she smiles, pointing at the huge vase of red and white roses on the hall table. "Next to Fin, of course," we both deadpan at the same time, bursting into giggles at our synchronized speaking.

"You knew," I say, raising an eyebrow at her. She nods and slings an arm around my shoulders.

"What good are best friends if we can't help your boyfriend plot against you?" she grins at me, but her words don't even register as I'm near tears from reading Elliot's card.

Livvy,

Our song is the back screen door slamming when I pick you up for a date. Our song is sneaking out late, making out under the bleachers (I still haven't told Mikey and Fin, just like I promised), going for ice cream (real ice cream AND "Dairy Queen"), studying for tests… just spending time together. Our song is the sound of rocks hitting your bedroom window when I'm trying to con you into sneaking out with me. Our song is your voice, all sexy-like when we're on the phone and you talk real slow – cuz it's late and your Mom doesn't know. ) Our song is the way you laugh. Remember our first date? Man, I wish every day I'd kissed you that night. When I got home that night… I prayed to God to let me keep you, and let me have a million more nights like that one.

I love you.

El

i was walking up the front porch steps after everything that day,
had gone all wrong and been trampled on,
and lost and thrown away,
got to the hallway, well on my way to my lovin' bed,
i almost didn't notice all the roses,
and the note that said...

Later that night, after Alex leaves, I pick up the phone in the kitchen and dial the Stablers' number.

"Hello?" Laura asks.

"Hi, Laura. It's Liv. That son of yours around?" I ask.

"Uh-oh, what'd he do?" she asked with a smile.

I laugh. "Nothing bad. Actually, you raised one heck of a nice kid," I smile.

"Do tell. I mean, I know he's a good kid, but I always like to have something to add to my brag list," Laura says, and I can hear her ever-present smile still in place.

"I had a terrible day today, and I called him before track practice and complained. When I got home, there were two dozen roses waiting for me, with the sweetest note," I explain.

"Well, isn't that sweet. Hold on, Liv, your boyfriend just walked in the door. I am so proud of you," I hear her tell him as she hands over the phone.

"You got my flowers," he says.

"I did. They're beautiful. The note was amazing. You made me cry, you big jerk," I tease.

"I do have a way with words, don't I?" he asks.

"Shut up and come get me," I say.

"Dairy Queen?" he asks, referring to the code we use for sex when the parents are around.

"Definitely worth a trip to the DQ," I agree with a smile.

"See you in a little bit. I love you," he says.

"Love you," I reply.

A few minutes later, I see Elliot's headlights pull into the driveway, and I run out front, letting the screen door slam shut behind me.

"I thought we were doing Dairy Queen?" he asks with a teasing grin.

"I do want actual Dairy Queen. And I was thinking we could go for a drive. Maybe… go down to Willow Lake?" I ask suggestively.

"Sounds good to me," Elliot agrees easily. Elliot agrees easily to anything that's going to get him laid. Which I love about him. I slide into the pickup and he gets in next to me, automatically switching the radio to my station.

Twenty minutes later, after he's placated me with ice cream, we're back in the pickup, driving toward the lake and I'm tapping my spoon against his leg in time to Starship's "We Built This City."

"Think of a song yet?" he asks.

"No," I sigh sadly. "None of them are perfect enough for us. And trust me. I've listened to a lot of songs."

i've heard every album, listened to the radio,
waited for something to come along,
that was as good as our song...

All of a sudden, an idea occurs to me. "Do you still have your napkin?" I ask. He hands it to me and looks at me quizzically. "Can you turn on the dome light?" He flips the light on and smiles.

"What's going on behind those pretty brown eyes?" he asks.

"You'll see. Have a pen?" he reaches across me to the glove box and pops it open, pulling a pen out and handing it to me. "Thanks." I tap the pen against my teeth and think for a minute, running my hand through my tangled hair, having already abandoned my half-eaten sundae.

"What are you doing?" Elliot asks again.

I look at him and grin. "Writing down our song."

i was riding shotgun with my hair undone,
in the front seat of his car,
i grabbed a pen and an old napkin,
and i...wrote down our song.

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A/N: What's the verdict, ladies? XO, Kinsey