Olivia took the elevator up to the third floor of Alex's building and took a deep breath as she mentally prepared herself to walk down the hall. She hadn't told Alex she was visiting her, but she had a feeling Alex would enjoy her surprise. She had a bouquet of daisies in her hand and an engagement ring in the other. She was about to make a serious commitment to the girl who had broken her heart, but she knew she was ready. Most importantly, she knew Alex was ready. They had been apart all summer and all she could think about was Alex. She knew she couldn't go on living if Alex wasn't her wife.

"Liv!" Alex said excitedly once she opened the door.

"Lex, I had to see you," Olivia told her and handed her the flowers. "Two months is way too long."

"I love you so much, baby," Alex said as she leaned in to kiss Olivia.

"I'm sorry about what happened with—"

"No, there's no need to be sorry about that," Alex told her. "Olivia Benson, you have apologized enough. I forgive you."

"Does this mean we're back together again?" Olivia asked.

"Yes," Alex told her. "Liv, I don't want to go another second without being your girlfriend."

"I don't want you to be my girlfriend," Olivia said to a now very shocked Alex.

"What?" Alex asked.

Olivia got down on one knee in the doorway of Alex's dorm room and pulled out the engagement ring. "Alexandra Cabot, will you marry me?"

"Yes!" Alex said excitedly. She pulled Olivia in and started to undress her. "I think a little celebration is in order."

"Olivia Lorraine Benson, get your ass out of bed!" Serena told her daughter, waking her up from what she considered to be the greatest dream she ever had. When Olivia wouldn't budge, she pushed her until she fell off the bed.

Olivia woke up to find that she wasn't in Alex's dorm room. Rather, she was in a beach house that she was visiting against her will. When she heard the sound of Pete and his daughters downstairs, she remembered that she was on day two of the Benson/Moretti family vacation. Usually, when they'd go on vacation, it would be with her aunts Olivia and Lorraine and her mom would let her bring Abbie so she'd have somebody to hang out with. This time, her mom suggested renting a beach house and Olivia was excited until she found out instead of her aunts joining them, they would be spending the week with Pete and his daughters Ashley, Brittany, and Tiffany. Olivia wished he would have brought his son Scotty, but Scotty had football practice and college football was so much more demanding than high school football. This meant Olivia and Abbie were left with three young girls who were nothing like they were as children.

"Mom, what the hell?" Olivia asked as she picked herself up. "Why are you waking me up?"

"Because it's 4 in the afternoon, Olivia," Serena said. "All summer long you have spent every day sleeping and every night crying over Alex."

"I was dreaming about her," Olivia told her mom.

"You're always dreaming about her," Serena said, frustrated. "It's been two months, Livvy, and I know you're hurting, but it's time to either do something about it or move on with your life."

"You don't understand, Mom!" Olivia said. "Alex is my life and she's gone. I might as well not even exist anymore."

"This is the exact same thing you said about Jenny last summer," Serena reminded her.

"Don't talk about Jenny!" Olivia said angrily. "I hate Jenny! And I hate being here! I hate all of you! Why did you even make me come here?"

Serena grabbed Olivia by the arm and forced her into the shower. "You can hate me all you want, Olivia, but I'm doing this for your own good."

"I hate you!" Olivia shouted at her mom and then slammed the bathroom door. She quickly showered and threw on a sundress, not because she wanted to but because it was the only thing that fit her. She usually spent an hour on her hair and make-up, but instead she just let her wet hair hang down without so much as running a comb through it.

"Come on," Serena said forcefully as she grabbed Olivia by the arm again and forced her to sit down at the kitchen table. Peter had barbecued hamburgers and placed one on a plate in front of Olivia along with some potato chips.

"I don't want this," Olivia said as she pushed her plate away.

"Olivia, sweetheart, you have to eat something," Peter urged. "You've lost almost ten pounds this summer because you're not eating."

"So? I'll just lose another ten pounds," Olivia said. "I don't want to eat and you can't force me. Just because you're banging my mom doesn't mean you have to try to have a daddy/daughter relationship with me."

"What's banging mean?" Twelve-year-old Tiffany asked. "Is that like having sex?"

"What's sex?" Five-year-old Ashley asked.

"It's what mommies and daddies do when they want to make a baby," Seven-year-old Brittany told her little sister.

"Not only married people have babies," Olivia informed them. "My daddy was a rapist and my mom kept me when she should have had an abortion. If she had an abortion, I wouldn't be going through any of this right now."

Peter wanted to tell her something, but he felt as if it wasn't his place to lecture Serena's daughter.

"Drink this," Serena said as she put a strawberry smoothie in front of Olivia. "If you're not going to eat solid foods, I want you to at least have something in your system."

"No," Olivia said. She tried to knock the glass over, but Serena stopped her.

"Open up," Serena said. When Olivia refused, she forced open her daughter's mouth and started pouring the smoothie. So Olivia couldn't spit it out, she covered her mouth with her hand and didn't remove it until she swallowed.

"You're such a bitch," Olivia told her.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Serena told her as she forced Olivia to take another drink. "And I'm going to pour the rest of this down your throat if you don't start eating. You look like shit, too. No wonder Alex doesn't want you back. You look emaciated and you haven't touched kk in weeks. Oh and it's called make-up, Olivia. Use it."

Olivia gave her mom a dirty look before gulping down the smoothie and leaving the table.

"That was a little harsh, Serena," Peter told her.

"Yeah, that was so mean," Tiffany added. "Poor Olivia."

"Poor Olivia, my ass," Abbie told them. "That wasn't mean at all."

"Thank you, Eddie," Serena told her. "I'm glad one person is on my side. Peter, you know nothing about teenage girls and you need to learn because Tiffany is headed there. Olivia is my baby and I love her, but she's also arrogant, spoiled, and obsessed with looking good for Alex. I have to speak to her vanity. If I don't, I won't get anywhere with her."

"She's been moping around the house for two months now, doing nothing but crying and listening to depressing love songs," Abbie told Peter. "This has to stop."

Abbie knew Olivia had been depressed since graduation, but she didn't want to point out to Peter or Serena that these two days were the first time Olivia had actually been disrespectful or hostile. She knew Olivia hated a 'family' vacation with anyone other than the women she felt were truly her family.

"Where are you going?" Serena asked when she saw Olivia approach the front door. Her bangs were teased, her hair was in a French braid, and she was wearing make-up for the first time in weeks.

"Out," Olivia said curtly and then slammed the door behind her.

"I'll keep an eye on her," Abbie told them and then went chasing after Olivia.

"Abbie, thank goodness you're here," Olivia said as she started walking with one arm around Abbie's waist. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too," Abbie told her.

"Out of everyone here, I think you're the only person I love," Olivia admitted. "I want to be with my family. That's what family vacations are all about. Remember last year at Disney World? That was so much fun! You, me, and my mom rode Star Tours over and over again and then she bought us light sabers and the two of us talked like Yoda for the rest of the day. And then when she left us alone to join Olivia and Lorraine for dinner, you and I pigged out on pizza, popcorn, and ice cream and then rode It's A Small World and I dared you to drink the water, but you wouldn't unless I drank it with you."

"So, we both drank the water and threw up for like ten straight minutes when we got to the bathroom," Abbie added. "That was hilarious!"

"Life was so easy back then," Olivia said sadly. "I miss those days."

"It'll be easy again someday, Liv," Abbie insisted. "Everyone gets their heart broken, but broken hearts can be mended."

"It's not just Alex," Olivia admitted. "It's this bullshit family vacation. Peter is cool and you know I love Scotty even though I can't understand what he's saying. I just can't handle Tiffany, Ashley, and Brittany. I know they're girls but they're nothing like me and my mom. Tiffany is like a 12-year-old straight version of Becky Albers. She's a ditz and all she talks about is boys. Brittany and Ashley want to be princesses. Princesses, Abbie! When I was their age, I wanted to be Wonder Woman. I wanted to be strong and brave."

"And you also wanted to wear your mom's clothes and make-up and go to Studio 54 with her," Abbie pointed out. "Brittany and Ashley don't just want to be princesses. They also pretend they're Power Rangers. As for Tiffany, she's 12; it's normal for her to be ditzy and talk about boys. When you were 12, you were so obsessed with teasing your hair and you went through so many cans of Aqua Net. Instead of being boy crazy like Tiffany, you were girl crazy. Don't think I forgot about your bedroom walls being covered in pictures of Debbie Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Demi Moore. Face it, Olivia, it doesn't matter if they're the opposite of you or exactly like you, you just want to be the only girl and you feel as if Peter and your mom get married, his daughters are going to replace you because they'll be living with them and you'll be on your own."

"That's what this trip is about, isn't it?" Olivia asked. "Peter probably wants to ask my mom to marry him and he wants to see how well we get along. What he doesn't know is that my mommy won't marry him. Just a few months ago, she was freaked out about living with him. She's so headstrong and it would kill me if she became June Cleaver or Carol Brady."

"That'll never be her," Abbie insisted. "And you'll always be her Livvy."

"Just like you'll always be my Abbie," Olivia said and gave her a kiss in front of everyone on the boardwalk. "I think you're the only person who keeps me sane."

"Same here," Abbie said.

"Hey, a pay phone," Olivia said excitedly. "I'm going to try calling Alex."

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Abbie said, but it was too late to stop her.

Olivia deposited some change into the slot and dialed Alex's phone number at her dorm. It rang four times before someone finally answered.

"Hello?" a girl responded.

"Hi, can I talk to Alex?" Olivia asked.

"She's not here, but I'm Bree, her roommate. Do you want me to take a message?"

"Can you tell her that Olivia misses her?"

"Olivia!" Bree said excitedly. "You're Alex's high school friend. Okay, I'll give her your message."

Bree's words hit Olivia hard. She was now nothing more than a high school friend to the love of her life.

"Thanks, do you know where she is?" Olivia asked.

"She's out with some girl named Dana," Bree informed her. "The two of them have been spending a lot of time together."

"Is she a classmate or something?" Olivia asked.

"I'm not sure," Bree responded. "But Alex is always so giddy when she's around her. Dana is a senior, so I'm trying to warn Alex. I don't want her getting her heart broken, you know?"

"Totally," Olivia said and then Abbie smirked. How the word 'totally' escaped Olivia Benson's lips was beyond either of them.

As soon as their conversation ended, Olivia slammed the phone down and started crying again.

"Livya, what's wrong?" Abbie asked.

"She's seeing someone," Olivia told her. "My Alex found another girl. I've lost her forever."

Abbie had no idea if Olivia really had lost Alex forever, but regardless she knew it was her duty as Olivia's best friend to be there for her. At that moment, she held Olivia close as she cried into her shoulder.

Alex walked into her dorm room with a huge smile on her face.

"Dana is the greatest girl I have ever met," she told Bree.

"You say that every time you see her," Bree pointed out. "Oh, Olivia called for you."

"Olivia called?" Alex asked, surprised. "I haven't talked to her in months. Did she say why she called?"

Bree shrugged. "She just said she misses you."

"Good for her," Alex said and started laughing.

"Hey, I'm going out with some of the girls. Do you want to come with?" Bree asked.

"Thanks, but I'm going to stay in," Alex told her. "I have a lot of reading to do."

"Suit yourself," Bree teased. "But I know Dana is going to come in for a study break on your bed."

"You know it," Alex bragged. It was a lie, but there was no way Alex was going to admit her real plans for the evening. As soon as Bree left, Alex put on a mix tape she and Olivia would listen to when they made love. Then she went into her closet and pulled out a box of mementos from when they were a couple. There were pictures, letters, and a bottle of Olivia's perfume. She grabbed the perfume and sprayed it all over her bed so she could feel like Olivia was there with her. Then she grabbed a roll of Scotch tape from her desk drawer and taped a picture of Olivia to her wall. She fell asleep that night listening to Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares To You" and thinking of every reason why she was still in love with Olivia.