The Common Denominator

Disclaimer: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Belongs to Dick Wolf and his people.

Spoilers: Guilt

Author's Note: This is my first try at actual intimate action (and femslash). Sorry if it's not good.

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Alex Cabot sat in her apartment all alone tonight. Normally she would be either in her office working on the latest case or at home working on the latest case. Her job was her life and as pathetic as that sounded, she loved it that way. But since the Sam Cavanaugh case, she was suspended. 'So now, what am I going to do without work, for a while', she thought to herself. 'There is nothing to do to keep this case from getting into my head, nothing to stop the memories.' She didn't want to think about the case that brought back the pain that she was never able to overcome. Suddenly a knock on the door snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Who is it?"

"Alex, it's Olivia."

Collecting herself, Alex got up off the couch and answered the door.

"How did you get past the doorman, Michael won't normally let anyone in unless he knows them. My Mother actually had to call me to get past him on a few occasions."

Olivia shrugged, "I guess maybe he thought that he ought to stand down. It might have been the badge."

"Olivia, don't take this the wrong way, but why are you here, actually?"

"I just came to see if you are alright," she sighed. "You took a pretty heavy beating from Petrovsky and Donnelly, and I just wanted to see how you were holding up."

"Oh."

"So how are you holding up?"

"Honestly?"

"Yea."

"Not well, the Cavanaugh case hit me pretty hard," Alex answered.

"They are all hard in their own way aren't they," Olivia questioned. She knew that there was something deeper than just a tough case. Alex was more emotional about this, she was definitely hiding something. "What's really bothering you about this case?"

"Olivia, it's nothing. Just drop it okay?"

"Look Alex," Olivia pushed, "I act the same way when a case gets too personal too. I get too involved and in the end I always end up talking to Elliot about it, and it makes me feel better. Talk to me."

Alex gave in. "Okay. When I was younger, one of my uncle's friends would watch me if my family was out. We would play board games and watch TV in the early part of the night, but as it got later." Fighting back tears, Alex choked on her words. The memories stung. She didn't want to admit what happened out load.

"It got sexual didn't it?" Alex nodded.

"At first, he would just masturbate in front of me, but as I got older it got worse. He would start to touch me, and he made me touch him." Tears welled in her eyes, the pain was too much. But Alex knew that she had to continue, she had to let it all out. "Then, one day, he started to molest me. He stopped watching me after that." She couldn't say anymore. She just sat there and cried.

Watching her hurt friend, Olivia pulled Alex into a comforting embrace. If anyone understood the horrors of what they faced everyday, Olivia did. "Alex, it's okay."

Alex pulled back. "How can you say its okay? I was molested Olivia. I trusted him and he molested me. Just like Roy molested Sam and I just let it happen. Roy almost away with what he did to Sam, just like Justin did with me."

"Alex, Roy didn't get away with it. You made sure of that. I know what it was like for a case to get too personal." She sat up, ready to admit to Alex what few people knew. "My mother was raped.

Alex looked up at her and with asked with a questioning look, "What?"

Olivia took a breath and began to explain. "When my mother was in grad school, she came back from a party and was pulled into an alley and raped. They never found the guy who did it. That's why I joined SVU originally, to find the man who raped my mother. To find my father."

"Your father?"

Olivia nodded with tears in her eyes. "Yea, my mother got pregnant as a result of her rape. Then nine months later, came me."

Stunned, Alex looked up at Olivia. This was the first time that she had seen the detective so affected by anything. So Alex did the first thing that she could think of the soothe her. She kissed her.

Olivia looked up at Alex, clearly surprised. After a moment, she kissed her back, this time more fiercely and with more passion. Leaning into Alex, Olivia pushed her back against the couch. Alex deepened the kiss then moaned, "Bedroom?"

"I thought you'd never ask."