A/N - Hello again! Okay, so this story has been completely from Alex's point of view, but in this chapter, I needed to get it from Olivia's point of view also. And, this chapter is sort of graphic. Sort of. Trigger Warning for rape/talking about rape.
Rating: M
Chapter 3
Friday
Another two days passed before Olivia would finally have a chance to get away from the precinct and take days off. She texted Alex about the upcoming trial, her tone in the text hopeful about its outcome. Alex, however, knew the facts and everything that had developed over the past 48 hours did not bode well for the prosecution. Lucas was deemed competent for trial, that was a plus, but something happened that changed the course of the trial.
When the detectives couldn't get a hold of Alice Parker to have her pick Lucas out of a lineup, her landlady let them in. Olivia was the first to find her, dead on her couch. Dr. Warner's autopsy showed that she had a heart attack. Alex had worried from the time that Olivia told her about the old woman and everything she had been through, that Mrs. Parker might not make it through the harrowing experience of recounting all that had happened to her again and again. She was sure everyone else had worried about the same thing, but Mrs. Parker had seemed so vibrant and sturdy. And now their star witness and only victim was gone, not to mention the fact that Lucas was never officially picked out of a lineup.
The only things the prosecution had going for them were the DNA all over Mrs. Parker's apartment as well as the plethora of information Rolllins had uncovered about Lucas. Apparently he had raped and tortured women all along the eastern seaboard, and the only reason he wasn't behind bars was a long list of technicalities. He slipped through the cracks every time because of one thing or another, slimy as a snake, and he had never been convicted of rape in any of the cases. But there was always hope, Alex knew that. He might slip up at trial, the jury might see right through his façade for the predator he really was.
. . . . . .
Her pile of papers steadily diminished over a period of several hours, Alex had been on a roll since lunch that day and didn't want to stop the productivity. Soon Olivia would text about the trial's outcome and good or bad, they would meet up and maybe grab something to eat.
Everything lately had been bad timing. Karaoke was good timing, but after that night, everything else had gone downhill steadily. Olivia hadn't been home to sleep, either to her apartment or to Alex's, since the previous Saturday night. It was now Friday night and Alex was a little stir crazy, Olivia surely was as well. She wanted desperately to get her paperwork done, prepare as much as she could for upcoming cases so that when SVU's trial was over, she could finally see Olivia and they could pick up where they had left off.
Her phone buzzed vibrantly on the corner of her desk. Olivia Benson.
"Liv," she said brightly, wanting to hear the brunette's voice again after almost an entire day of silence from her end.
"Hey." She sounded crushed. That wasn't good. Alex had figured as much.
"It didn't go well?"
"No, it didn't. It was a big mess. No prior convictions, Barba wasn't on his A-game and to top it off, our lab screwed up and contaminated the DNA evidence, mixed it with the victim's. Judge declared a mistrial."
"That's impossible," Alex said disbelievingly, Melinda Warner ran a tight ship down there, mistakes in the lab rarely happened.
"Apparently not. The rush we put on it must've messed them up somehow. One of the lab techs combined the two DNA samples on the same tray. He walked, Alex."
"God, Liv, I'm sorry. I wish it had gone differently."
"Me too. You want to come to my place? I'm beat. And Cragen ordered me to take two days off."
"Sure, I'll finish up here and see you there in about thirty minutes."
"Okay, bye."
…..
Olivia
Olivia turned the corner to her hallway, head down, deep in thought about everything that had happened over the past week. It had been a whirlwind. First Alex and karaoke and kissing her and then this case and everything had just gone to shit. She just knew they were going to find some way to get him, to put him away for good. How such a horrible person could get away with everything he did was beyond her. Sometimes the justice system didn't quite work in their favor. It was like Alex always used to tell her. Find a way. There's always another way.
Well, he was back out on the streets now and he was sure to find someone else to torture.
"Liv," a gruff voice pulled her out of her trance-like state and she shook herself mentally, chastising herself for not paying attention to her surroundings like she was trained to do. Looking down the hall, she tensed up, not quite knowing what to expect and then relaxed as she recognized the voice and the face that went with it.
Brian Cassidy was standing outside her door, leaning against the wall, his foot propped up behind him, probably leaving a scuff mark she would have to scrub out later. What the hell is he doing here? she wondered as she approached him.
"Brian, what's going on?" she asked, thinking that if he was here unannounced, something bad must have happened with him. Or to him. He probably needs help.
"I should've texted you first, I know," he started, his eyes bright. "But I just really wanted to see you. I hate the way we left things and I wanted to see if you'd be interested in trying again."
Olivia paused outside her door, standing in front of him and dumbfounded that he had the gall to show up at her doorstep after everything he had said to her. He didn't trust her. He never had faith in her, just expected her to throw him under the bus like everyone else had. Obviously Brian didn't know her very well. She was loyal to the end.
"You left, Brian. You said you didn't think I ever believed you. You never trusted me. How can you want a relationship with me if you don't trust me?"
He looked up and down the hall, an uneasy expression on his face. He knew she was right, he looked guilty of everything she was saying.
"I do trust you, Liv. Look, can we just go inside and talk about this?"
Olivia looked at her watch. Another fifteen minutes and Alex would be there. She rolled her eyes and set her shoulders, taking out her key to unlock her door and deciding to hear him out and then send him on his way. She had moved on, officially, and was happy about it.
She shut the door behind them, leaving it unlocked, knowing that he would be leaving in about five minutes. They stood awkwardly on opposite sides of the kitchen, Olivia set her badge and gun on the counter, pushed them back out of the way. She ran her hands through her hair.
"Brian, I'm sorry, but . . . "
"Wait, Liv," he cut her off. "Before you say anything, just hear me out." She nodded, staring at him, inwardly wondering how long this would take.
"I was an idiot to leave like I did. I really was. I shouldn't have said those things I said, but I was scared. I hate admitting that, you know, but I was. I had this fear that everything I had worked for was going down the toilet, everything was slipping right out of my hands and nothing was going right. So, in my head I thought, there's no way she'll want to be with me when I have all this baggage, when I'm about to get thrown in prison for something I didn't do. I didn't think there was any way you'd ever believe that I was telling the truth, because everything was so stacked against me. I was giving up, basically."
"But I never did give up on you. I was always supportive, and I don't know how you didn't see that."
"I should have seen it. I realize I've made a huge mistake and I want to ask for your forgiveness. I want to start again."
Olivia shook her head. Laughed cynically. She motioned to her watch.
"Too little, too late. It's been what? Two, three weeks since you left? Honestly, Brian, you never did treat me like I deserved to be treated. And I've moved on. I'm dating someone else now."
He looked slightly shocked, as if he expected her to sit around and wait for him to come back. But that wasn't her style. Never had been.
"Who?"
She shook her head, walked the short distance to the door and started to open it, started to open her mouth to tell him who, to see the look on his face when she said it, but something caught her attention. A faint clicking noise around the corner towards her bedroom. It sounded like . . . but no, it couldn't be.
Glancing over in the general direction of the noise, she saw Brian look as well out of her peripheral . He must have heard it too. In slow motion it seemed like, things like that always seemed to happen in slow motion, a figure stepped around the corner and advanced slowly on them, holding a gun out in front with both hands.
It was dark in the hallway and Olivia couldn't make out exactly who it was, but her blood ran cold thinking about who it might be. Who else could it be? Who else would be in her apartment with a gun tonight? She hoped briefly that it might be Elliot, maybe he just happened to be hanging out in her apartment, he had a key after all. Elliot, advancing on Brian Cassidy with a gun, ready to save the day. Wouldn't it be wonderful?
But no. The figure stepped further out of the darkness and into the brightly lit kitchen and there was no mistaking who it was.
William Lucas.
In the flesh, with a very real gun aimed directly at her heart, William Lucas was standing in her kitchen. How he got into her apartment, she had no idea. But now was not the time to worry about that. Now was the time to figure out how to survive. Brian was with her, that was a plus. But they were both at a disadvantage. She was now unarmed, her gun on the opposite side of the kitchen, and Brian, if he was armed, wouldn't have the element of surprise or enough time to pull his weapon and fire.
"Hello, Detective Benson," Lucas said, and her heart started beating again, pounding furiously now against her chest.
"I wasn't expecting you to have company," he paused, glancing over at Brian. "Well, not company of the male variety anyway."
What the hell does he mean by that? Olivia wondered, but said nothing. Her mind was racing to figure out how to stop him, how to disarm him, anything to stay alive.
"But that's okay. I don't mind having another guy around. It will be fun to have somebody watch. Maybe he can even jump in and have some fun with me."
Olivia swallowed hard. This wasn't the first time she had been threatened with rape. She had begun to think that it came with the territory of a woman who is constantly surrounded by rapists. The closest she had ever been was undercover in the women's prison and she came eye to eye with a prison guard's dick. That, in itself, had been traumatizing. She felt helpless, caged, and hopeless. All the fight she could give wasn't enough to stop him, especially after he pulled his gun, and if it weren't for Fin getting there just in time, she might have needed several more years of PTSD therapy.
But here she was again, in the same type of situation. A gun trained on her, a deranged psychopath ready to do as much damage as he could to her body and mind. There had to be a way out. If she could just get him talking, get him to focus on her, maybe Brian could sneak around behind him and take him out.
"Don't even think about trying something, Detective. I can read you like a book. Your mind is working overtime, isn't it? Trying to figure out how you might live through this night. Well, that is doubtful."
His voice was cold, calculating. He had thought about and planned this thoroughly. "I found an extra pair of handcuffs in one of your drawers, Detective Benson. Wonder what you need two pairs of handcuffs for? Hmmm?"
Shit, shit, shit. Thought Olivia. This was not going well. He pulled the cuffs out of his back pocket and tossed them to her. She caught them, however unwillingly.
"Why don't you hold on to those until we get in the bedroom. You have your other cuffs with you, don't you?" She didn't have to answer. He knew she did. He had seen her put down her gun and badge, but the cuffs were still clipped to the back of her belt.
"Good. Well, then, why don't you lead us to your bedroom, and we can start the festivities."
She didn't have a choice. Brian glanced at her, made solid eye contact and Olivia wanted so badly to talk to him, to ask him if he had his gun, to ask him how they were going to get out of this mess. She didn't trust herself to speak, much less trust Lucas not to hurt her if she did. If she was going to make a move to save herself and Brian, it needed to be soon. She couldn't let him get these handcuffs on her. Opening the door to her bedroom, her eyes went wide at what she saw. He really had prepared for this, there were leather cuffs on either side of her bedpost and two for the feet as well. Several feet of nylon rope lay coiled up on the floor near the bed, along with an assortment of other torture devices, a ball gag, several lighters and a pack of cigarettes, her old wooden baseball bat and a variety of her own kitchen knives were all neatly lined up on her dresser.
Shit.
She started to panic. He was going to kill them both before the night was over, but not before thoroughly torturing and humiliating them.
"I know you're thinking about doing something crazy right now, Detective Benson, and I'm sure your friend here is too. But let me assure you, I will not hesitate to shoot you in the back of your heads right now if you make any sudden movements. One of you will die right away, and the other I will simply torture as I had planned."
He was like a mind-reader, able to sense exactly what she was about to do. But regardless, she would be dead either way by tomorrow. She had to do something. Before she could think another thought, a whooshing noise went straight to her ear and made sudden, hard contact with the side of her head. And then there was darkness.
She regained consciousness soon afterwards with a pounding and roaring sensation in her ears. Finally, like coming up from deep, murky water, she was able to hear and see again. The first thing she heard was a low moaning to her left. Eyes opening slowly, the soft light of her bedroom looked familiar and frightening at the same time as she remembered what had happened. Looking to her left, she saw Brian sitting up in the chair that was normally across the room. His hands were cuffed together underneath the seat, preventing him from sliding his arms over the back of the chair. The ball gag kept him from speaking, his legs were tied with the nylon rope to each leg of the chair, and he was bleeding.
That was where the moaning was coming from. He had two, long identical cuts on each arm from the top of the deltoid to his elbow. They didn't look terribly deep, but blood was oozing steadily out of them. His lip was pretty bloodied up as well.
"Brian? You okay?" she managed to get out before a hand flew from nowhere, slapping her hard across the face. Her head whipped to the side and for the first time she realized that she was tied to the bed, both hands and feet were restrained. But she was still fully clothed, thank god. Warm liquid ran down the side of her face. Must have cut her head when he hit her across the head with his gun. Her head pounded and her ears hurt.
"You shut your mouth, you little bitch," Lucas growled, close to her ear. She couldn't move, only buck her hips and turn her head side to side. Both of these, she did, until . . . she felt the cool metal of his gun press against her temple. Her body stilled.
"I know what you are, Detective Benson . . ." he said, glancing over at Brian. "Does he?"
Olivia stared at him, still confused as to what he meant. Is he talking about the femalecompany he mentioned earlier?
"Oh," Lucas started, running his hand lightly along her arm, down to her torso. She resisted the urge to shy away from him, knowing he would use it to his advantage. "He doesn't. You haven't told him."
Brian's eyes traveled over to the two of them, making momentary eye contact with Olivia, questioning. What is he talking about?
"Yes. Detective Benson here has traded you in for a woman. A lovely woman, don't get me wrong," Lucas snarled, his eyes gleaming at Brian. "But a woman just the same."
Olivia could see Brian's expression. Besides the fear and dread of knowing you're about to die, he was puzzled.
"Yeah, she's a dyke. My lawyer saw the two of them outside the precinct the other day kissing in front of God and everybody. I mean, shit, if they're gonna do that kind of thing, at least keep it behind closed doors, right?"
He leaned down close to her, his hand sliding up to her throat, closing around it in a vice-like grip. He squeezed, hard. Air. She needed air, and his hand was preventing her from breathing, from getting the air she needed.
"But don't worry, Detective Benson. Your man and I are going to make sure you know what it's like to be with a real man. You're going to beg for mercy, Detective. But we're not going to give it to you, are we? You're going to do things you never thought possible."
This time Olivia couldn't help herself, she shivered visibly. Her terror and dread of what was to come was now palpable. She couldn't resist it any longer, and tears started falling down her cheeks, knowing full well what was about to happen to her.
…..
Alex
Alex crouched down in the hallway, Olivia's gun clutched with both hands. It felt foreign and heavy, and she had no idea how to use it. It couldn't be that hard, right? Was there a safety? She felt around for one, found a little lever and flipped it down, hoping that was right. Was it loaded? Surely it was. Olivia always needed to be ready to fire if she had to. She'd seen this on TV. Pulling back on the top of the gun, it was more difficult than she expected, but she saw a bullet in there. That was good. Her hands trembled. That was not good.
She had already called Fin and he told her to stay calm, not to do anything stupid, that help was on the way. But it wasn't that simple. Every word that monster had said, she heard from the hallway. He was minutes, maybe seconds away from raping Olivia, maybe even killing her. She had to do something. She couldn't just sit out here in the hall and do nothing.
Thinking back to the past five minutes, Alex couldn't believe everything that was happening. It was like a dream. Or more like a nightmare.
Making her way out of the elevator and down Olivia's hallway, she carried two bags of takeout, excited to finally see her detective again. She knew Olivia would be downtrodden and sad about the trial not going well, but she did have two days off thanks to Cragen. So Alex had been coming up with all sorts of ways to cheer up the brunette in her mind for the past thirty minutes.
But when she got to Olivia's door, she tried the knob just because, knowing that it would be locked. It always was, because the detective was adamant about her safety. But this time it was not locked. That was strange. She opened the door quietly, looking around the kitchen and saw Olivia's gun and badge over on the counter. So she was here. Opening her mouth to call out to the brunette, her voice caught in her throat at a noise from the bedroom.
"Brian? Are you okay?" It was Olivia's voice.
Olivia's voice, asking about Brian. She sounded frightened. But why would she be asking about Brian? Was he here? Why? Alex felt a pang of jealousy, the same she felt when she first heard about the two of them together at the water cooler. But something was off. She and Brian were in the bedroom and Olivia was asking if everything was okay.
And then she heard another voice. A voice that was definitely not Olivia and definitely not Brian's. Her feet carried her closer to the hallway, closer to Olivia's bedroom.
"You shut your mouth you little bitch"
Her eyes went wide. What the hell? And then it dawned on her.
The guy from the case. What was his name? Lucas or something. She crept back from where she came, back into the kitchen. Pulling her phone out, her mind went temporarily blank. Who would she call? Elliot? 911?
Stepping out into the hall, she selected Fin's name in her contacts and prayed he would answer right away. He did.
"Alex, what's up?"
"Fin, thank god. Listen. I need help." She was quiet. Almost whispering in the hallway.
"What do you need?" His voice immediately changed from friendly to business.
"I'm at Liv's apartment and something's wrong. I think Lucas is here and he's got Liv and Brian Cassidy in her bedroom."
"Lucas?" Fin asked. "You mean William Lucas, from our case? He's there?"
"Yes, I need you to get here, fast." She was panicking. Something bad was about to happen to Olivia and she wasn't doing enough to stop it.
"Okay, I'm on my way with help. Does he know you're there?"
"No, of course not. What should I do?" She listened intently by the door for any sounds from inside. There was no way to know what was happening in the bedroom, it was too far away to hear.
"Just stay there. Don't let him know you're there. We'll be there soon." He hung up and Alex had never felt so terrified. And helpless.
She crept back into the kitchen and looked for a long moment at Olivia's gun. The decision was easy. If things got too bad in there, she would have to do something about it. There was no way of knowing when Fin would show up and Olivia could die at any time. Moving quietly into the kitchen, she grasped the gun, feeling its heft and trying not to think about what it was capable, and tiptoed to the hallway.
And now Alex was listening to Lucas sneer and rant about Olivia being a 'dyke' and all about how she needed to keep that sort of thing behind closed doors. Her heart dropped in her chest. Maybe if she hadn't started all of this with Olivia, she wouldn't be in this situation.
She heard his voice again.
"But don't worry, Detective Benson. Your man and I are going to make sure you know what it's like to be with a real man. You're going to beg for mercy, Detective. But we're not going to give it to you, are we? You're going to do things you never thought possible."
And softly, almost imperceptibly through the slightly open door, she heard a quiet sob. Oh shit. Olivia. Chancing a glance in the room, she could see Lucas' back and at that moment, he threw his shirt on the floor, whipped off his belt and started to take his pants off.
A fiery fury surged through her veins, coupled with an almost crippling fear, and her body took over. Shouldering her way through the door, it slammed open and three pairs of surprised eyes were now on her. She raised the gun to shoulder level, holding it with both hands, slightly trembling hands, and pointed it at Lucas.
"What the . . . ?" he said as he turned around and frantically looked for his gun. He had set it down on the bedside table, now six or seven feet away from him.
"Don't move," Alex said, her voice stronger than she expected. She glanced at Olivia, then quickly at Brian who was slightly bewildered still, and back to Olivia. Her brown eyes were filled with emotion. Still watery from a moment before and now terrified that Alex was in the same room as this monster.
"Pull your pants up, you sick bastard," she said coldly.
He complied, keeping his beady eyes on her, pulling up his pants slowly and buttoning them at the top. "Ah . . ." he said at last. "I know who you are. You're Detective Benson's dyke girlfriend aren't you?"
A confused, but muffled "Huh?" came from Brian across the room. But Alex didn't have time for him. Apparently, neither did Lucas.
"Shut up," they both said at the same time.
He grinned maliciously at her, holding out his hands. "You know . . ." he started. "I'm going to enjoy torturing the three of you. I've never had this many at once. So many possibilities." He trailed off, still smiling at her.
"Don't do anything stupid," for the first time, Olivia spoke. Alex wasn't sure if she was talking to her or to Lucas. Probably both. She wanted desperately to tell Olivia that help was on the way, that all she had to do was fend Lucas off for a few more minutes and it would all be over. But she didn't want to give him any information.
"I would never . . ." Lucas trailed off mid-sentence, surprising Alex as he lunged towards her. Apparently he didn't think she had it in her to shoot him. But everything happened so quickly and in a flash it was all over. She saw his eyes grow wide and his body grew bigger and bigger as he flew closer to her, ready to tackle her to the ground. Alex squeezed the trigger once and sound exploded around her. She wasn't prepared for the kick.
He was close, maybe three feet away, and she hadn't missed. He stopped abruptly, his body jerking back with the force of the shot.
Blood slowly seeped from a gaping wound in his chest and he stood and stared down at it with wide, disbelieving eyes.
Alex couldn't believe it either. She didn't need to fire any more shots, however, as he sank to his knees and raised a hand to his bare chest, trying half-heartedly to stop the blood. And, as it turned out, her timing was impeccable.
"Alex!" It was Fin from the kitchen, but she couldn't speak. There were sirens outside, she could hear them now but she was frozen, with the gun still pointed at him. Several uniformed police officers burst in the bedroom behind her, weapons drawn and pointed at Lucas. He collapsed on the floor and the officers took over handling him.
Fin was behind her, radioing for an ambulance. He gently took hold of her arms, taking the gun out of her still shaking hands. Her eyes went to Olivia, still tied up but fully clothed on the bed. Olivia's mouth was open, eyes as wide as everyone else's, unable to believe what just happened.
Fin pulled her slowly towards the bed, away from Lucas and the blood, and left her standing next to Olivia while he untied Brian from the chair. They made eye contact, Alex's blue eyes quickly filled up with tears at how close she had come to witnessing something horrible happen to this woman.
"Alex," Olivia said quietly. "You saved me."
But the blonde could only shake her head. She had only acted out of fear, and she didn't see any heroism at all in shooting someone in the chest, probably killing him. She was only trying to stop him. Tears continued falling down her cheeks.
Olivia cleared her throat. Alex looked at her. "Can you . . . um . . ."
"Oh god. Yes, of course. I'm sorry," Alex stammered, quickly making use of her shaky hands to free Olivia from the leather straps binding her hands and feet.
Pulling Olivia up by the arms, Alex wrapped her own arms around the brunette's body, holding her close in a tight hug. "Are you okay?" she asked, pulling back and looking into brown eyes. "Did he hurt you?" She turned Olivia's head in her hands and looked at the rapidly drying blood there. "He hit you?"
Nodding her head, Olivia hugged her again. "Yeah, he knocked me out. Bastard hit my from behind. But it would have been a lot worse. If it wasn't for you." She pulled back, glancing over at Brian. "How are those cuts? You gonna live?"
He nodded, unable to look at Olivia, and Fin squeezed his shoulder. "They're not very deep. I'll be okay."
"We'll get him cleaned up outside and get out of here. Whenever you're ready Liv, if you can give a statement to one of these guys."
"Sure, Fin. Thanks." Olivia's eyes finally met Brian's as he turned to leave the room and he gave her a small smile, one that said he hoped she would be happy. Her gaze then traveled down to where Lucas lay in a pool of his own blood, his eyes were still open. He was still alive. The EMTs had arrived and were loading him onto a stretcher, administering oxygen and trying to stop the blood. She turned to Alex.
"I don't think I can stay here anymore, Alex."
"Let's go to my apartment for the night then."
"No, I mean. . . I can't stay here at all anymore. Too much has happened in here. Too many guys have broken in and tried to hurt me. I think I need a new apartment."
"You want to talk about it more tomorrow?" Now wasn't the time to be making brash decisions, with emotions still running high and adrenaline still flowing. Olivia nodded.
"Let's go sit in the living room then and wait for an officer. Maybe somebody can look at your head, too." They walked out, stepping around the pool of blood on the wood floor and into the hallway where Alex had crouched, waiting, wondering if she should act or not. In the living room, they sat down together on the couch. Olivia turned to her, taking both of Alex's hands in her own, her eyes earnest and still carrying worry.
"When he showed up around that corner, I completely forgot that you were coming, all I could think about was how to get out of this alive. And when you showed up in there with a gun. . . God, Alex. I didn't know what to think."
She smiled, squeezing Olivia's hands. "Me neither. I didn't think. I just, I don't know. The minute I saw him taking his clothes off, ready to hurt you, I just couldn't wait for Fin any longer." More tears flowed down her face.
"I can't believe I shot a man. He might die, Olivia. I might be a murderer."
Olivia didn't hesitate. Reaching up to grasp Alex's face in her hands, she stared intently in the blonde's eyes.
"If he does die, Alex, you are not a murderer. You acted in self-defense and in mine and Brian's defense. Well, hopefully more for me than for Brian." At this, Alex let out a tearful laugh.
"You saved my life, Alex. He was going to kill me. If you hadn't called Fin, he would have. If you hadn't come in and stopped him, he would have raped me. And god, if Cassidy hadn't shown up, you would've walked in next and he would have gotten you too."
Alex nodded. She knew this, but she had never hurt anyone so seriously before and it was a little traumatizing. Gulping back her tears, she wiped at her eyes.
"So what was Brian Cassidy doing here in the first place?" she asked, trying to keep the contempt in her voice to a minimum.
Olivia smiled, glancing at her front door where Brian had recently exited. "Actually, he was trying to ask for my forgiveness, to get me to take him back."
"Oh, really?" Alex said, the jealous little monster in her heart returning to taunt her.
"Yes, really. But do you know what I told him?"
"What?" Alex's eyes were hopeful as Olivia gazed into them.
"I told him that he was wrong for what he did to me and that I was over him. So over him in fact that I was dating someone new, someone who I know will love me how I deserved to be loved."
Love. Olivia had said it. Alex had been feeling it for the past ten years or so, but had never put a word to it. Olivia's hands covering up her bleeding shoulder wound outside of that bar so many years ago, begging her not to die. Olivia's expression when she showed up again, alive, but ready to be whisked away into witness expression. Her face had 'how could you do this? How could you do this when we were just getting to be close?' written all over it. Olivia's expression again when she returned from witness protection. She could see all those times how much the detective missed her and wanted her, she just never had the guts to do anything about it. How long had they loved each other? How long had they been denying it to themselves?
Alex took a deep breath. Too long. "You're right, Liv. I am going to love you like you deserve. I'm going to love you to make up for all the years that I didn't have the courage to. I'm going to love you for as long as you'll let me."
Olivia smiled and leaned in, kissing the blonde attorney softly on the lips, pulling her as close as their seated positions on the couch would allow. Alex's heart fluttered furiously against her chest, giddy with delight at the simple fact that this incredible woman could possibly love her in return.
"I love you, Alex."
Through soft, intermittent kisses, Alex grinned. "I love you too, Liv."
Above them, a uniformed police officer cleared his throat. They broke apart, Alex's cheeks burning red.
"Sorry to interrupt, Detective. But Detective Tutuola over there told me I've got to take your statement." Olivia glanced over at the doorway at Fin, who stood facing them with his arms crossed, grinning like a fool at the two women. She rolled her eyes and stood up.
A/N – Hope you enjoyed. One more chapter and this story is done!
