February 14, 1979

Five-year-old Olivia Benson sat down on the carpet in her preschool classroom, eagerly awaiting lunchtime. Her teacher had used masking tape to create squares on the carpet and each student had a designated square. Even though Alex was seated nowhere near her, Olivia couldn't help stealing glances every now and then when her teacher wasn't looking.

Little Olivia started looking at the clock to try to determine when it would be time for lunch. She wasn't particularly hungry, but she was eager for lunchtime because after they ate, she would get to play on the playground with Alex and playing with Alex was always the highlight of her day. Olivia didn't know how to tell time per se, but she knew when the little hand was on the 11 and the big hand was on the 12, it was time for lunch. The big hand was almost near the 12 so Olivia became fidgety. She uncrossed her legs and started to stretch out. When that didn't keep her busy enough, she started making silly faces to pass the time.

When the clock struck 11, her teacher rang the bell and Olivia ran over to her cubby to get her lunch box and the Valentine her mom had helped her make especially for Alex the night before.

"What do you have today?" Alex asked as they were sitting at the table in the lunchroom.

"Peanut butter and jelly," Olivia said with her mouth full. "What do you got?"

"The same thing you do," Alex responded before delicately nibbling on her sandwich.

Olivia couldn't take her eyes off of Alex the whole time they were eating. Even though Mr. and Mrs. Cabot had nothing planned for Alex that day, Mrs. Cabot had dressed her daughter in a new pink dress with Mary Jane shoes and white tights. Alex's hair was in two perfectly braided pigtails with ribbons on the bottom and Olivia noticed that she was wearing new glasses with pink frames.

"You look pretty," Olivia told her.

"Thank you," Alex said and started blushing. "You look pretty, too."

Olivia looked down at her Wonder Woman t-shirt and grass-stained jeans. Her mom had scrubbed them repeatedly, but Olivia never failed to come home with a new grass stain or mud stain on her jeans. She had always arrived at school with perfectly combed hair, but after spending time on the playground before school one pigtail always ended up slightly lower than the other. She hated to wear dresses or any type of girls clothes, but when Alex told her she was pretty she actually felt pretty.

As soon as they were finished, Olivia held Alex's hand as they walked over to the playground. Olivia felt her little hands become sweaty as she thought about what she had planned. She took Alex to the bench that they had sat five months before when Olivia had beat up the boy who was bullying Alex. They had been inseparable since that moment and Olivia felt as if she was now in love with Alex, as in love as she could be for a five-year-old.

"Is that for me?" Alex asked as she pointed to the red heart made of construction paper and covered with glitter.

"Yeah," Olivia said nervously and handed it over.

"Be my valentine. Love, Olivia," Alex read aloud.

"Will you be my valentine, Alex?" Olivia asked shyly.

"Yes," Alex said and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I love you, Olivia."

"I love you, too," Olivia said and gave Alex a kiss on the cheek in return.

A/N: Happy Valentine's Day. I hope you enjoyed that little snippet. I'm not sure if this should be a little one shot or if I should add other AO Valentine's day experiences. Let me know what you think. :)