Thank you so much to everyone who has read and reviewed this story so far! Here's Chapter 2, I hope y'all like it!

A week had passed since Olivia took Julie's statement in the hospital and the case was finally closed. The case had gone to court and after a lengthy trial, all four men had been convicted and sentenced to Rikers. It was always a plus to see a perp get sentenced, especially in such a tough case. Every case was tough, some more than others and this one had been beating Olivia down lately. She had barely been home since the first night she called Kat, it was never easy leaving her to fend for herself but it was something that had to be done, a necessary evil.

Kat understood why Olivia didn't come home most nights of the week and she was grateful to have someone as dedicated as her mother who deeply cared about victims and bringing them justice. When Olivia was home, Kat cherished those moments spent with her even if Olivia was on her back about the smallest things. She loved Olivia and was terrified whenever she came home bruised or the time her mother was shot – God that scared her, it still does.

Olivia and Kat were one and the same, they depended on each other and when things got hard, they never let themselves fall apart – they were Benson's, always strong and never fell apart. Kat never voiced her concerns over her mother's line of work, she knew that the squad would lay their lives on the line to save each other and that was enough for her to make sense of everything. Of course Olivia knew that Kat worried about her safety, a mother always knows. Each of them accepted the dangers that Special Victims faced each day and that life goes on, it was inevitable.

Kat had woken up late that morning, it was a Saturday – a day in which she always looked forward to because her mother almost always had the day off. She had pulled herself out of bed, not caring if she was still in her pajamas and meandered her way down the hall to find Olivia. She wasn't surprised to see that there was a half-eaten breakfast sandwich on the kitchen table and that the newspaper was already half read – it was a routine with Olivia. She had gotten home in the wee hours of the morning, scrambled something together to eat and then once she was exhausted, made her way to bed to catch up on the sleep she was desperately craving.

Kat smiled as she began to clean up the table, all while taking a bite of the sandwich her mother had left. "God, she always knows how to make a mean sandwich" She laughed under her breath as she finished the last few bites. Kat knew Olivia was still asleep, she always felt bad that some cases took so much out of her, Olivia always told her it was just part of the job but Kat knew it was so much more than that.

After a half hour of watching TV, she decided it was time to check on Olivia and to maybe start their day – not that they had anything planned but it was always nice just to lay in bed and talk, Kat relished in those moments they shared. She slowly and quietly made her way to her mother's room, opening the door and seeing that Olivia was fast asleep under the mess of covers on the bed. Even though Kat was seventeen, she still loved to lay in bed with the person she loved most. As soon as she got comfy under the covers, Olivia began to stir mumbling while still half asleep, "Kat?"

"Yeah Mom, I'm right here." Kat whispered as her mother turned to face her.

Olivia brushed her hair out of her face, squinting her eyes at the light that was shining through the window in the corner of the room, "What time is it?"

Kat had to laugh at how delirious her mother was after waking up, "It's 10am, Mom. It's not like we have anywhere to be." She looked over at Olivia, sighed as she asked, "What time did you get home this morning? I didn't hear you come in."

"4am, I tried to be quiet. I know how you like your beauty rest, Princess Kat." She laughed as her daughter threw one of the smaller pillows at Olivia.

Kat rolled her eyes in a typical teenager fashion, which made Olivia laugh even harder. "You know it's true, sweetheart. You're a bear when you're tired."


Olivia and Kat had stayed in that day, Olivia being too tired to do much and Kat had a few school projects she had to work on that were due the following week. Both Benson's had spent much of the day in quiet, letting each other lounge around the apartment. Kat knew that something was bothering her mother but she knew if she asked, Olivia would more often than not, shut her down and say she was fine – the typical Benson go-to phrase.

At around dinner time, both women decided that they were against cooking something and opted to order Chinese. The people at the restaurant knew them both by name considering the amount of times they ordered, they were regular customers. Being a frequent flyer had its benefits though, their food was always delivered astronomically fast which was a huge help in almost every situation. Once both Olivia and Kat were settled on the couch watching a mindless TV show, Kat decided to rip the band-aid off as to what was bothering her mother.

"I know you're working this case and you haven't been home a lot this week, but are you okay? I mean you seem off and just not like my mom. Did something happen? Is it something I did?" Kat began to ramble, not really knowing where she was going with the question. "If it's me, you know that you can tell me or even if it's the case, you can talk to me about it. I love you and I don't want you to hurt more than you have to, Mom."

Kat was staring straight at her mother, waiting for a response with a breath she didn't even realize she was holding. She hated seeing her mother so upset about something she refused to talk about.

Olivia paused to digest the questions her daughter had just asked, wondering if she really wanted to confide in her seventeen year old daughter. She realized that it wasn't always fair to Kat to have to watch her mother suffer, especially after Olivia spent all those years watching her mother do the same to her. Just thinking about her mother was enough to bring tears to Olivia's eyes.

Kat saw her mother trying to hold herself together and she pressed again, "Mom, please. Don't make this harder for yourself, please don't shut me out."

She took a deep breath before she spoke, trying to compose herself as she saw her daughter trying to piece together in her mind what was happening before her. "It's not you sweetheart, it will never be you. I hope you know that." She genuinely smiled at Kat and continued, "This case just got to me, I shouldn't have let it but it did."

"Mom, it's not like you did anything wrong. You did all you could for the victim, I'm sure she's grateful that you were there for her throughout the process." Kat spoke, secretly relieved that her mother's guilt and worry had nothing to do with something she did.

Olivia nodded, "You should have seen her sitting in that hospital bed, all alone and absolutely terrified about what was coming next for her." She took a long pause as tears threatened to spill over, "She looked just like you and every time I looked at her, I saw your face."

Her daughter saw how upset her mother was over the latest victim she came into contact with and she tried to interject, "But Mom,"

By now, the tears had started and Olivia was furiously trying to wipe them away. "She endured the worst experience of her life at nineteen and all I could think about was you and how it would kill me if something ever happened to you."

Kat could count the number of times she had seen her mother cry on one hand and this was time number two. The last time Olivia cried in front of her daughter was when Elliot left the squad with no explanation and that was so hard for Kat, seeing her mom so heartbroken like that. She knew her mother and Elliot had a close relationship but she never really realized how much they depended on each other day in and day out.

Her daughter knew that the last thing Olivia wanted to do was talk, she knew that Olivia was embarrassed about crying in front of other people, let alone her daughter so Kat decided on the next best thing which was to throw herself gently into her mother's arms instead.

Olivia resisted at first but the need for the comfort of her daughter won and she held on to Kat as the tears just kept coming. After a while, Kat let go of the embrace, reaching up to wipe the tears from her mother's eyes.

"Mom, I need you to look at me." Kat explained as she waited what seemed like forever until eye contact was made. "I am not going anywhere, I promise. I need you to understand that, I will be here no matter what. If you have a crappy day and you need to yell, go ahead and yell at me. If you need to cry, please just cry instead of pretending that everything is peachy. I know that SVU isn't always easy and some cases are hard but I need you to know that I'm here, I love you too much to let you suffer like this."

Olivia pulled her daughter back in to her embrace, wiping the last of her tears away. "Are you sure you're my daughter?" She managed to laugh as Kat squeezed her tighter, "Of course I'm your daughter, I learned from the best, you know."

Lewis will hopefully be introduced within the next 2 chapters, I'll try not to drag things out. I'll try to post Chapter 3 within the next day or so. Any ideas are welcome! Please please please please review! :)