Two nights after Katie agreed to be adopted...

Chapter 1 –

Alex turned over and sighed as she watched the display click round to 3:17am.

"Hey?"

Alex rolled back over, through the darkness she instinctively found the hazelnut orbs that had sleepily opened and were staring at her.

"Sorry I didn't mean to wake you."

Alex's fingertips stroked Olivia's shoulder, circling the tight skin that was slowly repairing the bullet wound. Olivia lay there unmoved, aroused by the soft caress that was gliding across her olive skin.

"I never mind being woken in the middle of the night by you..."

"Mmm...I remember the nights that you'd get called out to go see a victim and then crawl back in at some unseemly hour desiring the need to be held, to be touched...to be loved."

Olivia took a sharp breath as Alex's tender long fingers moved down and slowly started to pinch and play with Olivia's nipple.

"What's on your mind Alex?"

Alex stopped her foreplay, she swung her legs over the top of the older woman, straddling Olivia so that their contrasting eyes were bearing down on one another's.

"Liv, please...I just..."

Olivia's heart almost stopped as she saw the primeval need in Alex's eyes, something that she had only ever seen when she had looked in the mirror.

"...need to be loved?"

Alex didn't reply, she just hungrily brought her lips down on top of Olivia's, he hunger for love and comfort eagerly reciprocated.


Katie sat at the table playing with her bowl of Cheerios, she had been awake since 4am but had laid in her bed reading her History text book for two hours. Deep in thought about the day ahead Katie failed to hear Alex walk up behind her.

"Are you going to chase the cereal round the bowl or eat it?"

Katie looked round and shrugged her shoulders as she went back to pushing the soggy cereal round in a clockwise direction. Alex walked over and poured herself a cup of coffee before joining Katie at the table.

"You know it won't be that bad."

Katie looked up and just raised her eyebrows.

"Mrs Samson will be there if you have any problems and you have mine and Olivia's cell numbers."

"I know. Thanks Alex."

Katie smiled as she brought up the spoon towards her mouth. She knew that she had to go back to school she just wasn't particularly happy about it especially as Alex was going to see McCoy about what length of sentences they were going to ask the members of the Union of Tantalus received.

"We'll get some take out and talk tonight?"

Katie nodded as she placed her spoon back in the bowl and walked back towards her bedroom to get ready for the day.


Alex sat at her desk, unable to concentrate on the file she had opened on her desk, impatiently waiting for the phone to ring, finally she closed the file and walked towards the DA's office.

"Good Morning Alex, I know that officially you can nothing to do with this case but I know that you will want to know what's going on?"

"Of course Jack and don't worry just think of me as a concerned parent."

"So the rumours are true then?"

Alex smiled as she sat down opposite Jack.

"Well I think that's great Alex, I'm sure we can make sure the paperwork go through without a hitch."

"Thanks Jack but..."

"I know Alex back to business. As you know the four members have plead guilty, and at the moment none of them have attempted suicide and are due to be sentenced tomorrow. I spent all of last night reviewing the evidence that we have I'm asking for 10-15 years for each of them."

Jack stopped and examined Alex's reaction, he saw a mixture of the lawyer and guardian in her face as she consumed the information.

"I guess that is sensible, who is the Judge?"

"Judge Cohen."

Alex nodded as she got up but halted as she saw Jack wave her back down.

"We do have another problem."

Alex sighed as she thought about the reason for her recent insomnia.

"Sealey?"

Jack nodded as he walked over to the television in his office and flicked it on.

"This is Sealey meeting with his lawyer yesterday...I know highly unethical but we have no sound and the warden was slightly worried about his behaviour."

Alex pushed her glasses up onto the bridge of her nose and concentrated on the grainy black and white images. Her piercing blue eyes were instantly drawn to Sealey's behaviour and she felt her heart pounding as she pondered what was going on in his mind.

"I'm sending Doctor Huang to meet with Sealey tomorrow, to gauge if he is planning some sort of psychological defence."

"That's a good idea, if that's all I'd better get back."

Jack nodded as he watched Alex rise off the chair, he waited until she was nearly out of the door before he called out to her.

"We'll figure him out Alex."

Alex waved her hand as she shut the door behind her praying that nothing would go wrong at tomorrow's sentencing hearing.


Chapter 2 –

It had just gone 6pm when Alex walked towards the door to their apartment, she paused as she placed the key in the lock, her mind spinning as she thought about the information she was going to withhold from Katie. Seconds later she twisted the metal and pushed the door open, walking through she dropped her bags by the sofa and listened to the music coming from Katie's room. Alex walked quickly to the door and knocked softly on the door frame.

"So how was it then?"

Alex waited until Katie raised her body and sat up on the bed, a shrug of the shoulders was enough for Alex to move into the room and sit next to the teenager.

"Ok I suppose, nobody said anything to me but everyone just kept giving me funny looks."

"I'm sorry."

Alex reached across and put her arm around Katie who brought her head up and looked through her tear stained eyes at Alex.

"It's ok it'll pass in time."

"How did you get so wise at such a young age?"

Katie laughed as she reached up and wiped her eyes.

"How did the meeting with Mr McCoy go?"

Alex kept her arm around Katie and rested her head on top of the younger blonde's.

"Fine we're all ready for tomorrow."

"Are you and Liv both going to be there?"

"Yes sweetie, we want to make sure that this all passes without a hitch and they get the sentences that they deserve."

Alex held Katie tightly as they sat in silence for a couple of minutes, until Alex lifted her head up.

"So what do you want for dinner?"

"Pizza?"

"Good choice, shall we go and order so that it's here for when Liv gets home?"

Katie nodded as she stood up and followed Alex out of the room and towards the kitchen to order the food.


Olivia brought the two mugs of tea over as Alex curled up on the sofa and flicked through the channels on the TV.

"Here you go."

Olivia passed Alex the steaming mug as she sat down next the Alex, examining the blonde closely as she took a sip of her drink.

"Thanks."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"About what?"

"About whatever it is that is causing you the conflict I can see in your eyes."

Alex took her glasses off and put them and her mug on the table in front of the sofa, she glanced over Olivia's shoulder and saw that Katie's door was shut, only then did she bring her gaze down and locked eyes with her lover.

"Alex? Come on baby."

"McCoy thinks Sealey is planning something."

Olivia took another sip of her tea and cradled the cup, nodding her head she wanted to hear the whole story from Alex before she replied.

"He was passed a video of Sealey meeting with his lawyer and the body language was definitely odd, Huang is going to interview him tomorrow to see what we can garner, but with the sentencing tomorrow."

"You're worried something is going to happen tomorrow?"

Alex nodded her head before she looked over at the TV and then back towards Olivia.

"I just think that it is too simple for everything to go without a hitch, all the planning that went into that so-called ritual when we caught them..."

"Well the whole squad is going to be there tomorrow, if anything 'does' happen we'll be there to sort it out, which is the main reason why Katie can't be there tomorrow."

"She doesn't want to be there, we talked earlier."

Olivia reached across and grabbed Alex's hands, she squeezed them tightly in support.

"It will be fine Alex, I'm going to make sure that the Union of Tantalus can longer harm Katie or you."


Katie suddenly sat bolt upright in the bed, her mouth completely dry, she knew that in her dream she had tried to scream but no sound had come out but she had no idea if she had screamed out in her sleep. Katie stayed sitting up trying to slow her breathing down as the bedroom door flung open and Olivia ran in.

"Katie?"

"Sorry I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's ok sweetie, I heard you scream...was it another nightmare?"

Katie nodded as she let Olivia sit down on the bed and watched the older woman take her hands.

"Do you want anything?"

Katie rolled her tongue around her mouth waiting for the moisture to return before she quickly whispered her reply.

"Can you stay here with me?"

"Of course I can."

Olivia smiled at the small blonde as she shuffled along the bed to make space for Olivia to lay down beside her.

"Right shall we see if we can get some sleep then?"

Olivia stroked Katie's hair as the teenager rested her head against Olivia's shoulder and shut her eyes hopeful that Olivia's presence would keep the nightmares at bay.


Alex settled on the wooden seat behind McCoy and smiled as Olivia joined her.

"I missed you last night."

"Well there was another younger blonde in the apartment who needed me!"

"We're both lucky to have you."

Olivia smiled as Alex secretly squeezed her hand, although their relationship was not a secret neither wanted to make public signs of affection, especially in a court of law.

"Here we go."

Alex looked up as Judge Cohen took his seat and brought proceedings to order. Olivia sat upright as she watched the four defendants stand up to listen to the Judge, suddenly she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and Elliot, who was sitting beside her, turn to look behind him.

"What's going on?"

Alex leaned over and whispered to Olivia.

"Nothing, don't worry."

Olivia tried to reassure Alex as she turned to look at what had caught Elliot's attention and immediately saw the tall, white thirty-something aged man shift around at the back of the courtroom. Elliot tapped his partner on the arm and signalled that he was going to walk over and check out the new arrival, Olivia nodded as she looked over at the defendants who were staring at the Judge, resigned to their fate.

"The Union will never die, we will not disappear...we will rise once again!"

Olivia reached across and pushed Alex down to the floor as she ran to help Elliot wrestle the man to the ground but she was stopped in her tracks as shots began to ring out in the courtroom.


Chapter 3 -

Sealey sat in his isolated cell, they said they were keeping him out of the general population for his own safety, but he knew that they were trying to stop him from communicating from the other members...if only they knew that he knew that this day had been coming and had already made plans for this eventuality. Breakfast had been delivered some time ago and as he gazed out of the tiny window he had in his cell he tracked the sun's path and roughly gauged the time, smiling to himself as he thought of the chaos that would be unfolding in the Manhattan courtroom.


As the room fell silent Alex anxiously moved her head up to survey what was going on and who had been the target for the bullets. Instantly her bright blue eyes sought out Olivia and Alex breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Olivia and Elliot roughly leading the interloper out of the courtroom. Alex then felt safe enough to bring her long legs up as she rested her arms on the wooden bench as she heaved herself upright still looking around to see if anybody was hurt.

"Are you ok Alex?"

Alex turned and looked at McCoy who had just stood up from underneath his desk.

"Yes, you?"

"Bumped my head rushing to get under the desk but apart from that, nothing. I'm getting too old for this."

"The prisoners?"

"All fine and were quickly lead away by the guards as the shots began to ring out."

"Any idea who fired the shots?"

"I think one of the guards got a bit trigger happy, here come your detectives, I guess we'll find out more now."

Alex turned as Olivia wrapped her arm around Alex's waist before quietly speaking.

"Nobody got hurt, one of the guard's fired high and very wide...the shouting spooked him out a bit. Come on we'll go back to your office.

Olivia pulled her arm even tighter around the small of Alex's back as they left Jack to sort out the mess in the courtroom, Elliot followed them close behind, walking silently and quickly until they were safely enclosed in Alex's office. Alex immediately walked round to her desk and picked up the phone.

"Who are you phoning?"

Olivia looked over and saw the concerned look on Alex's face.

"Jess Samson...I want her to make sure Katie is safe."

Olivia nodded as she turned to Elliot who was his phone, she heard him recounting the events to Cragen and asking him to ensure that George Huang wasn't with Sealey. Feeling slightly like a spare part and still full of nervous energy she started to pace around the room, finally stopping by the coffee machine, seeing it was empty Olivia set herself to work.


Katie stared up at the clock above the whiteboard, pretending to concentrate on the notes her French teacher was writing but instead counting down the hours until she was going to be set free. Taking her pen out of her mouth she puffed out a large breath of air blowing her hair out of her eyes, the French coming out of her teacher's mouth was making no sense at all as a knock on the door finally brought the monotony to an end.

"Excuse me Mr Pettit can I borrow Miss Robins please?"

Katie's head suddenly shot up and towards the door, instant panic on her face.

"Of course Mrs Samson, you may be excused Miss Robins."

Katie started stuffing her books into her bag as she quickly walked over to Alex's friend, waiting until they were alone in the hall before she started with her frantic questioning.

"What's wrong? Are Alex and Olivia ok? What's happening?"

"Shh a minute Katie, everyone is fine, come to my office and I'll phone Alex."

"But...?"

"All I know is that something happened at the courtroom this morning but that everyone is ok, Alex phoned me and asked me to make sure that you were safe."

"It's never going to stop is it?"

Jess Samson didn't know what to say, she had no idea of the full extent of Katie's troubles, only that Alex had taken her under her wing and would do anything to protect her. She put a comforting arm around Katie's shoulder as she led the girl down the hall towards her office.


"Doctor Huang."

"George it's Elliot, have you met with Sealey yet?"

"No just about to go in, why?"

"Seems like one of his followers caused a bit of a scene in court today, sentencing has been postponed. This was probably all orchestrated by Sealey, just wanted to give you a heads up."

"Ok thanks for the information Elliot, I'll talk to you all later."

Elliot put his phone back in his suit jacket pocket and turned to grab a cup of coffee from the pot Olivia had just made, he looked over at the anxious look on the women's faces.

"Look I'm going to go and find out who that guy was, tell Linda on the way out not to let anyone in ok?"

"Thanks El I'll catch up with you later."

Elliot nodded at his partner as he watched her walk around Alex's desk and passed her a strong cup of coffee. Olivia waited until the door was safely closed once again as she put her hand on top of Alex's and felt the tender fingers trembling underneath.

"It'll be ok Alex."

"I feel better when..."

Alex was interrupted by the shrill ring of her desk phone as she immediately tore her hand away from Olivia's and grabbed a hold of the receiver.

"ADA Cabot."

"Alex?"

"Katie, are you ok?"

"I'm fine Alex Mrs Samson said that something happened at court today. Are you and Liv?"

"We're fine Katie we just wanted to ensure your safety, we don't want to leave anything to chance."

"Is it ever going to stop?"

Katie's voice trembled as she asked Alex the question, unable to see the tears start to trickle down Alex's cheeks and Olivia bending down to softly wipe them away with her thumbs before taking the receiver from Alex.

"Hey Katie, it's Liv."

"Liv?"

"It's ok sweetie will be over in a bit to pick you up ok?"

Katie gulped the tears back down as she looked down at the floor.

"Tell Alex I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset her."

"No need Katie, we know. Take care and we'll see you soon."

Olivia put the phone back down and looked down at Alex who had put her head in her hands, Olivia crouched down as she out her arm around Alex's shoulders.

"She's right you know."

Alex lifted her head up slightly and turned around so that Olivia could see her tear-stained face.

"No she's not Alex. Don't give up now, we're not going to let him win!"

Alex nodded her head as Olivia bent in closer, resting Alex's head on her shoulder letting her tears flow freely until she felt composed enough to leave the office and pick Katie up.


Chapter 4 –

Katie sat silent in Jess Samson's office, staring out the door for what seemed to be an age until finally there was an impatient knock at the door.

"Stay there Katie."

Katie nodded as Mrs Samson went to check and quickly let Alex and Olivia into the room, Olivia went straight over to reassure Katie as Jess quickly put her hand on her friend's arm.

"Are you sure you're ok Alex? I haven't seen you look this exhausted since cramming for finals."

Alex managed a faint smile as she saw the concern in her friend's eyes.

"Better now that we're here, how's she been Jess?"

Alex knew that her old friend would give her an honest appraisal of Katie's emotional state.

"Scared. Look Alex I don't pretend to knew exactly what is going on and frankly I don't want to. But the Katie I knew when I first phoned you about my concerns...Alex I haven't seen her look this vulnerable, she looks so frail and gaunt."

Alex nodded her head, swallowing hard as she tried to rid the lump that had formed in her throat, hearing her friend's perspective on Katie was hard to take...even if she knew that it was true. Alex blinked the tears that were clouding her eyes, moving her gaze over she watched Olivia pick up Katie's bag as they walked over to her.

"Hi Alex."

Katie's quiet voice broke the silence in the room as Alex's blue eyes met Katie's and Alex instantly saw the fear and confusion in the girl's dull blue eyes.

"Hey Katie, sorry about all of this."

Katie shrugged her shoulders as Olivia kept a hand on Katie's shoulder as Alex reached across and gently moved Katie's hair away from her eyes, Katie managed a small smile as she looked up at the older blonde woman.

"Come on then let's get going, thanks once again Jess."

"It's no problem Alex, take care Katie."

"Thanks Mrs Samson."

Alex led the way out of the office and back out to Olivia's car, Katie shuffled into the back sitting quietly as she watched Olivia stretch her injured shoulder before turning the engine on.


Sealey kept his expression neutral as the three guards shepherded him into the interview room, they kept his ankles shackled together and kept the handcuffs tight on his wrists as they sat him that chair that had been bolted to the concrete floor. Leaning his head to one side slightly Sealey's eyes looked the stranger up and down before stopping to focus on the man's fingers spread out on the table when the silence was finally broken.

"Good afternoon Mr Sealey, I'm Doctor George Huang, a forensic psychiatrist with the NYPD I was wondering if I could ask you some questions?"

Sealey straightened his neck and leaned forward to get a closer look at the curious man sitting opposite him. He took a minute to think things through as he had not anticipated this visit from the authorities but in the end Sealey's self-belief won through.

"Of course Doctor Huang, ask away."


Olivia looked across at Alex but she didn't even acknowledge the gaze, Olivia saw how deep in thought her lover was so she instead glanced in the mirror but saw that Katie too was staring out of the window. Olivia didn't bother to say anything she just drove, heading towards a place that she hoped would lighten all their moods up.

Olivia stopped the car and turned off the engine, turning around she smiled at Katie as she spoke.

"Hungry?"

Katie nodded enthusiastically as she saw the kitsch 1950s style diner Olivia had driven to.

"Come on then, you too Alex...you know that this is your favourite place in the whole wide world!"

Alex smiled as she leant over and kissed Olivia softly on the lips before whispering into her ear.

"Thanks Liv, we need this."

Olivia winked at Katie as the three of them walked into the diner and quickly found an empty booth to settle into.


Doctor George Huang hadn't made any notes during his fifty three minutes with Sealey, instead he had recorded it knowing from the minute that he had read the case file that this person was going to take a great deal of analysing in order to find out what his true plan was. He sat for a minute after Sealey had been escorted back to his isolated cell before he got he got his cell phone out.

"Cragen."

"Captain it's George Huang. I've just spoken to Sealey, I'll be back in an hour if you want to get everyone ready."

"Of course George, was it useful?"

"Incredible Captain. Would it be possible to have Olivia present?"

"I'll phone her."

"Thanks Captain I'll be with you all shortly."

George Huang put the phone down and scribbled a few sentences on his yellow legal pad before he packed his belongings away and walked out of the cold concrete building.


Alex sat next to the window, opposite Katie, although her eyes and mind were elsewhere as she took a long sip of her strawberry milkshake. Alex closed her eyes as she allowed the cool sweet liquid to rest for a minute in her mouth, gently swirling it around with her tongue as the flavours worked their magic.

"Is it that good?"

Katie giggled as she watched Alex, Olivia put her burger down and looked seriously at the younger blonde.

"Oh yes Katie, this is Alex's favourite place in the world, if you ever want anything then just bring her here buy her a milkshake and then ask away!"

"Excuse me!"

Alex opened her eyes and playfully shoved Olivia on the arm.

"Well it worked when I asked you to move in with me!"

Olivia laughed as she looked over at Katie, pleased to see the teenager smiling and relaxing slightly although she still hadn't touched much of her food. Olivia was about to question Katie about her lack of appetite but the buzzing of her cell phone stopped her in her tracks.

"Detective Benson."

"Olivia sorry but I need you back here."

"That's ok Captain I'll be there soon."

"Thanks Olivia."

Olivia sighed as she rested the cell phone on the table, her hazelnut brown eyes told enough of the conversation without her having to say anything to Alex or Katie.

"Well I wasn't that hungry anyway."

Katie pushed her plate away as she stood up. Alex looked over at the young girl, feeling her frustration but knew that it wasn't Olivia's fault.

"How about we go with you Liv? I've got some paperwork to do and I'm sure that Mrs Samson has given you some work to catch up with Katie?"

Katie nodded her head as she slung her bag over her shoulder and looked at Olivia awaiting her reply.

"That sounds like a good idea, you two can work upstairs and then when I've finished we can go home together."

Olivia turned and gave Alex a half smile before raising one of her eyebrows, they both knew that Huang had gone to meet with Sealey and were anxious to know what his opinions were of Sealey and his motives.


Chapter 5 –

Olivia stopped by her desk, staring up at the notes Huang had scribbled on the board, she had stopped so abruptly that Alex had bumped into her as they both looked towards the rest of the squad that were assembled.

"Thanks for getting here so quickly Olivia. Alex, Katie it's good to see you too."

Alex nodded at Cragen as she then put her arm around Katie.

"Come on then Katie we've got our own work to do. We'll be upstairs if you need us."

The room was eerily silent as Alex and Katie made their way across the room and up the stairs with Alex trying not to focus on the board with its pictures of Sealey and the other written references to the union of tantalus. Olivia stayed firmly rooted by her desk as she watched Alex and Katie walk away, she waited until they safely out of earshot before she walked closer to the board.

"So did you enjoy your meeting with Benjamin Sealey?"

Huang immediately recognised the sarcastic tone as he unfolded his arms and stood up.

"It was shall we say...insightful. He is extremely egotistical, intelligent and charming."

Olivia sighed as she listened to Huang's assessment, she looked up and was relieved to see Alex and Katie both engrossed in their own work.

"He truly believes that he has planned all of this out...the meeting in the warehouse, your surveillance and his ultimate arrest were all mapped out. He has a bigger plan, though what this is I'm unsure of, but it is the reason why he 'allowed' himself to be arrested and why he refuses to plead guilty no matter how irrefutable the evidence is."

"He really thinks he is that good?"

"He believes that is almost god-like Olivia, hence the Greek mythical name for the group. But what really concerns me is what he may have planned for you."

Olivia immediately frowned and looked hard at Huang.

"During the interview he mentioned you, Alex and Katie several times but it was the tone of his voice and the look in his eyes when he spoke...you three are the thorns in his side and he will do anything to stop you from ruining his plans."

Olivia puffed her cheeks out and folded her arms defiantly in front of her.

"We're not going to hide away."

Cragen perched on the end of Munch's desk, looking around at his detectives he knew exactly how Olivia felt.

"I'm not asking you to do that Olivia but you need to consider Alex and Katie too."

"Captain you know after what Alex when through in Witness Protection she'd never go back and we can keep Katie safe, we're the only ones she trusts."

"Ok Olivia but we'll step up security outside your apartment and make Katie's school aware of the threat."

"Thanks Captain."

"Ok Olivia you go up to speak to Alex, Elliot and Fin you interview the man that caused the disruption in the courtroom this morning and John I need you to work on that list of Tantalus members."


Alex was leaning forward on the couch she had put her files on the small coffee table and was flicking through them. She had managed to resist looking or listening to what was happening below her instead she looked across at Katie who had just dropped her text book onto the floor.

"Finished?"

"Well Chemistry at least. What are you working on?"

Alex smiled as she picked up the file and passed it to Katie, watching carefully as a smile crept across the girl's face.

"Thank you Alex!"

Katie dropped the file onto the table and quickly wrapped her arms around the older woman.

"It's ok sweetie, now that you've agreed I thought I might as well start working on the adoption papers."

Alex held Katie tightly and immediately noticed how frail the young girl had gotten but her thoughts were broken as she Olivia walking up the stairs to join them. Alex let her grip loosed as Olivia sat on the table in front of them and reached across to gently rub Katie's back.

"Everything ok?"

"It is up here, what about down there?"

Alex let Katie move slightly away from her as she spoke, her eyes now firmly focused on Olivia and the worry she saw in the dark eyes.

"Not here, not now Alex. We've got to tighten our security measures at home, work and at Katie's school but it's just a precaution. To be honest I'm more worried about something else at the moment."

Olivia blinked her eyes slowly and moved her head in Katie's direction she looked back at Alex who nodded that she knew that they had to talk to Katie.

"I know Liv but not here ok? Well Katie seeing as you've done all your work and Liv has finished how about we go home?"

Katie nodded slowly, feeling the tension between the two women and sensing that she was the cause of it Katie quickly packed her bags away and followed Olivia down the stairs to the now empty squad room.


Huang followed Cragen into the Captain's office as the detectives had quickly dispersed to carry out their tasks.

"Sit down George."

Huang gratefully accepted the coffee Cragen poured and then passed over to him. Cragen waited until he had sat down before he rested his elbows on the table and looked over at the younger man.

"How worried should I be?"

"It all depends, I need to listen and analyse the interview further. Benjamin Sealey is either incredibly intelligent and has had foresight to plan something or he is completely delusional but he still has the contacts and resources to plan something."

"So either way Olivia is in danger."

Huang took a sip of his tasteless coffee and thought for a moment.

"Not necessarily we could play him at his own game."

"Now that's what I wanted to hear."


Katie noticed how observant Olivia was as they drove home, taking a different route than what she had become accustomed to in her short time with the two women. The silence and tension in the vehicle was palpable as Katie sat uncomfortably in the back, as they walked up the stairs to the apartment Katie was praying that the door would open so she could go off to the privacy of her own room. Katie shuffled uncomfortably was she waited for Alex to unlock the door, when the door was finally open Katie quickly went through but then a hand on her shoulder stopped her in her tracks.

"Not so quickly Katie, we want to talk to you."

Katie dropped her head as Olivia's hand gently guided her towards the couch where Alex was already sitting waiting. Olivia sat Katie down and then sat so that Katie was in the middle and had no escape route. Alex stretched out her arm and wrapped it around the girl's waist pulling her slightly towards her as she spoke.

"It's ok Katie, we're just a bit worried about you."

Alex looked over Katie's head towards Olivia who had started to rub Katie's back softly.

"That's right Katie we just want you to know that you can talk to us, about whatever is bothering you no matter how busy we may seem we will always make time for you ok?"

"Yes."

Alex and Olivia both struggled to hear Katie's soft voice as Alex leant her head against Katie's.

"So are you going to promise me that you'll start eating properly and that if you wake up with a nightmare or can't sleep you'll come and get one of us?"

Alex held Katie's head as she felt the girl begin to sob, her own eyes had welled up and she knew that Olivia was struggling with her emotions.

"Come on Katie, come with me and help me cook a late lunch, I'm sure we can rustle up some pasta with a fairly passable sauce!"

Olivia winked over at Alex as she took the girl's arm and led her into the kitchen with Alex following behind.

"You do know that if you are going to survive in this family you have to learn to cook as Alex can even burn cereal!"

"Excuse me that was just once and I wanted warm milk...I just forgot that I'd already put the cereal in the bowl too!"

Katie felt the knots in her stomach loosen slightly with the light-hearted banter between the two women, Olivia's mention of family had banished her thoughts and fears for a while at least.