10

Alex carefully stood from the wheelchair, forearms shaking, as she pushed herself up, Olivia's hand guiding her on her lower back. Although most of her strength had come back through rehydration and rest, she still felt unsteady and the dull ache along her spine and shoulder blades and just below her ribcage was still present due to additional time being flat on her back and not moving much.

The hospital staff and her wife had gotten her up several times in the short duration she was in the hospital under their care and had advised her to take it easy, yet be as active as possible and would need to make it a point to regain her mobility once more.

Although twenty-six hours, plus the time in the hospital, adding another eighteen hours to it, was not a significant slice in the pie of life, it was a period that would need to be made up for, nurtured, and nursed back to everyday, normal health.

Olivia pulled on the handle of the Range Rover, Jonathan having brought it to the hospital to pick his sister and sister-in-law up, and carefully pulled the door open.

Alex looked at her wife then, looked at those strong, dark, feminine features, those almond-shaped eyes, the sleeplessness beneath them, that mouth that was pursed in an empathetic smile, that lumpy ponytail that told of an unrestful night's sleep, and she felt her emotions come on quickly.

"Alex?" Olivia's cocoa expression was concerned.

Alex shook her head. "I'm OK, Liv…just…thank you…"

Olivia smiled and laughed lightly through her nose and then her expression became serious. "I will always be here with you, for you, Al. However you need me, Babe." Olivia swallowed and nodded slowly, her eyes dipping to the blonde's mouth before moving back up and into her eyes. "You know that, right?"

Alex nodded. "I do…" she said softly.

"Are you ready to go home, my love?" Olivia cupped Alex's cheek with her left hand.

"Please…take me there," Alex smiled.

"Your chariot awaits, Babe…"

Olivia helped Alex into the front passenger seat and then closed the door gently before moving into the back seat directly behind her.

Alex turned and looked at her brother in the driver's seat who was uncharacteristically quiet, the dirty blonde curls on top of his head were damp and he had his mirrored aviators on.

"Hey, Allie," he offered, smiling. "How are you feeling today?"

Alex nodded quickly, realizing that the day before she hadn't had actual physical contact with her brother, hadn't really spoken to him, only wanted reassurance from the children and from her wife. She leaned over to him and the two hugged tightly.

"You're gonna be OK, Allie Al. I know you will." He rubbed her back. "With Olivia and the kids and our family…" he pulled away, "…you're gonna heal even faster." A tear rolled down his cheek then—his accessorial cover being blown—and he smiled. "Right?"

"Yeah," Alex whispered. "That's all I need."

Alex felt a hand on her left shoulder then and she turned to look at her wife in the back. The brunette detective looked so exhausted, yet so incredibly beautiful, and she knew that all either of them wanted to do was take a long shower and relax for the rest of the day and be together once again.

"Home?" Jonathan questioned.

Alex swallowed and nodded. "Home."

Alex watched their house come into view on the right, noting the beautiful pinkish-brown brick, the high windows on all three floors, the rain-beaded wrought-iron table and chairs on the patio, the water-slicked pavement and cobblestone.

She furrowed her brow as they stopped in front of the gate and she watched her brother put the car in park. "Why aren't we going around the back?" She looked at her brother. "Jonathan? Go around back to the garage door."

Jonathan looked into the back seat then, his expression hesitant.

"We can go in through the back, Babe," Olivia offered. "We just thought—"

"Please go around back, John-John…" Alex felt the lump in her throat, her eyes tearing, her lips trembling now, not knowing exactly where this prickly sensation that was running along her shoulders and neck was coming from, this tightness in her chest.

Jonathan glanced at Olivia again and then back through the windshield, shifted into drive, and then pulled up to the stop sign and put his right signal on.

Alex couldn't explain why she felt the strong desire for it to happen like this, but she wanted to enter through the door that she always entered. She didn't want to come in through the front door because this was her house, this was where she lived, and she didn't want to approach as someone who hadn't lived there for eight years—a guest in her own home.

The Rover rounded the last corner and then pulled into the driveway and Alex watched as the large, heavy door began to lift slowly and she felt the giddiness rise inside of her. She was so glad to be home. So happy to be somewhere familiar, somewhere filled with love, somewhere safe.

Olivia's Datsun on the left, the shelving unit just ahead holding various holiday boxes and paint cans and a red toolbox, the door leading to the kitchen slightly to the right but still in the middle.

They eased into the space and then the car was turned off.

"Jonathan…why don't you go ahead inside," Olivia suggested. "Get the kids ready and let them know we're here."

Jonathan looked into the rearview and smiled. "You got it, Olivia."

And within seconds, he was out of the car and had disappeared inside the house, closing the door behind him.

Alex felt her wife then, immediately to her left, hand on her left shoulder.

"Hey…" Olivia's voice was low, gentle.

Alex closed her eyes, feeling the tears form, feeling extreme emotion coming on, feeling her heart begin to race slightly. She pursed her lips, attempting not to cry, but it was useless.

"Alex? Talk to me, Babe. What's going on? Tell me, Al."

She felt Olivia's hand move upward and to the back of her neck, beginning to stroke the skin just below her hairline with her thumb, her pad gently gliding along the skin there as she looked at her empathetically.

And Alex closed her eyes and just took it in—the love, the tender touch, the comfort.

"I wish…I wish I could just lie down with you…anywhere…and just have you do that to me all day, Liv. I just…I feel so safe when you're with me, when you do that, when you talk to me, just being with you…"

Shifting then—jeans low-moaning on leather, her wife's weight on the edge of the back seat—and Alex opened her eyes, looking at the brunette directly to her left.

"I want you to be able to talk to me like this…tell me exactly what you're feeling, what you need. If you need space. If you need love. If you need me to make a decision that you're not up to or ready for. Anything you're feeling, Babe, I want to know."

And, at that moment, a certain peace swept throughout her, Olivia having the innate ability to calm her once again and she smiled.

"I will need you, Liv. I'm not going to pretend I'm too strong to need anything or anyone. I will use you as a support, my love. And I will come to you, Babe."

Olivia smiled and nodded. "And you don't know how happy that makes me, Al." Olivia leaned in closer and kissed her wife's forehead.

Alex closed her eyes at the delicateness, the tenderness in that one action, and she smiled.

The garage door leading to the kitchen opened and the ladies looked in that direction.

Olivia looked back at her, raising her eyebrows. "Ready?"

Alex nodded.

They exited the car and Olivia came up behind her and guided her towards the light.

The silhouette of Jonathan was standing there, all three kids in front of him.

And Alex took a small breath as her wife guided her inside, the kids greeted her without restraint, and she felt the love of her family all over again.

Olivia watched the kids on the sofa—all subdued and waiting for pizza and snuggle time—and then eyed the fifty-inch TV from the kitchen, a cooking show on with the main ingredient being chicken thighs on, the chef brushing them with some sort of apricot glaze. She continued dunking a tea bag into two steaming hot mugs with each of her hands.

They had come in the door, had been greeted by the kids—Casey having quietly slipped out and taken Kimberly and Katie through the front door—as Jonathan entered from the garage. Alex had immediately gone upstairs to take a shower, the brunette offering to help, to be of support, and her wife declining.

And as she continued to steep the tea, she thought about this entire situation and the snail-like pace it was taking. Normally, they were waist-deep into a case at this point. But with the victim being a family member, her wife, it always seemed that those circumstances yielded a different process than her usual solving of a case.

But Olivia had her doubts about their degree of sensitivity on the entire matter.

She narrowed her eyes as she brought the cups to the counter next to the sink and then removed the bags and set them in the basin before returning the mugs to the island.

She folded her arms and pressed the front of her hips to the wooden surface, eyes glazing over at the screen in the living room, and continued to mull her wife's experiences over in her mind.

Their precautions at not upsetting the blonde were helpful and admirable, but Olivia couldn't help but to feel they were being overly meticulous and, in the long run, it might prove to be a stagnation in the process of the case.

Alex had to talk about what happened to her sooner or later, and the fact that Olivia wanted to go into work later that evening and help her squad in any way that she could, caused the pressure inside the brunette to press her wife for answers even more of a challenge. At the rate Alex was going as far as divulging information went, Olivia knew the process would be set back further if her wife didn't begin to open up.

But, as Olivia had told her, she wanted to be there to listen, to comfort, and when Alex was ready, she would be there all the way.

Alex entered from the hallway now, hair damp and down, parted in the middle, one of the numerous pairs of back-up glasses that she kept in various locations in the house on, while the others were still in evidence and would continue to be. Her tall leggy wife looked comfortable in a pair of black sweat pants and a dark gray T-shirt, her feet bare.

And God did she look simplistically beautiful.

Olivia smiled then and unfolded her arms, moving to slide her wife's mug toward her.

"Earl Grey?" Alex questioned.

Olivia shook her head. "Rooibos."

Alex nodded and smiled and took her mug, holding it up. "To you being my hero and rescuing me, Babe."

Olivia mirrored the action. "To you being home safe." Olivia's voice caught. "I love you, Alex."

Alex took a small sip and the brunette did, as well. The blonde set her mug down and moved closer to her wife, slithering her hands around her waist. Olivia set her mug down and then allowed her wife to wrap her arms around her as she did the same. The embrace was slow, both holding on tightly, chins on shoulders, the blonde trembling in her arms.

Olivia closed her eyes and turned her face and let her wife's freshly-washed locks brush against her nose, inhaling her shampoo, her soap. She took a deep breath and then let it out slowly, just relishing in their hold, her hands gently moving along her wife's back, feeling her, touching her, receiving the satisfaction of having her in her presence, in her arms.

"When is the pizza getting here?" Theo questioned from the sofa.

Olivia smiled and clutched her wife tighter. "Any minute now, my boy." Olivia looked her wife's face over, the smooth creaminess, those full lips, her skin flawless. She cocked her head to the side. "Looks like our little natives are hungry."

"Can you blame them?" Alex pulled away, holding her wife's hips. "With cooking shows on all the time?" Alex raised her eyebrows, smirking. "Gotta get off Food Network, Babe."

Olivia fluttered her eyelashes facetiously. "I have no idea what you mean."

Alex pulled her body close once again and held her. "I know you need to know soon, Liv. That I need to make a statement."

Olivia felt her expression even out then and she nodded against her wife. "Yeah, Al. You know the process."

"And…" Alex pulled away and looked at her, those blue eyes so clear, so bright now that she was back at home, "…I know it won't be easy to say, much less hear, but I know we do need to talk so Fin and the others can get started on this."

Olivia nodded again and then reached out and moved a long lock from the front of her wife's shoulder to the back.

"So…around four? We can have the kids go up to their rooms and have their resting time…"

Olivia smiled. "Heaven forbid you should call it nap time, right?"

Alex smiled. "Our grown up babies are not fond of that word, are they?"

Olivia shook her head, feeling her eyes begin to water.

Alex offered, "Maybe we can think of something fun for them to do."

"Maybe," Olivia said softly.

And Olivia couldn't help but feel emotion overwhelm her at that moment. Her wife standing in front of her, in her arms, the two of them talking as they always have—as mothers, as best friends, as confidants—seemed to overcome the brunette at that very moment. And even though her wife was not gone long, she had missed her, had miss this interaction, terribly.

"Don't, Liv," Alex said softly. "Please, Babe…" Alex's voice was shaky. "I'm here. I'm home. I'm so happy it's over."

"But it's not, Alex."

"I know…" Alex nodded, her own eyes filling with tears, "…but I'm out of there. The kids are safe…I'm safe…" Alex's eyes glazed over then.

And Olivia could tell that the images, the scenes her wife had gone through, were playing out inside of her head. From experience, the brunette knew that would continue to happen, well beyond any therapy or prosecution or imprisonment.

Olivia took her wife's face gently into her hands and smiled meekly. "Four o'clock?"

Alex swallowed and nodded. "Four o'clock."

Then, Olivia not able to help herself, needing the closeness, the touch, the feel of her wife even closer, pressed her mouth gently to Alex's, feeling the softness, the plushness, the blonde's warm breath on her face, the scent that was Alex invading her senses.

Olivia let out a small whimper, a tiny moan, at the sensation, just luxuriating in the contentment of the moment.

She was ready to listen to Alex tell her the details of what happened to her. And whatever the blonde needed from her, as far as support or space went, she was ready to give it to her.

The look on Olivia's face was unbearable. They had eaten lunch, spent some time cuddling with the kids on the sofa and then had sent them upstairs with a list of various chores and things to do, the three happily going up to compete for a small prize the ladies had planned.

And now, at five-thirty, Alex and Olivia were at the kitchen table, and had been for over an hour, the blonde spilling every detail of what had happened to her in that time.

Now, the brunette's elbow was resting on the kitchen table, her fingers over her mouth, brown knitted, eyes filled with tears—both shed and unshed—and her brunette wife was without words.

Alex continued, "And…he was about to…uh…he had gotten my ankles separated…and…um…" Alex sniffed then, watching her wife struggle. "Liv…?"

"Keep going, Baby." Olivia's voice was soft, hoarse.

"He was going to…" Alex's lower lip trembled, "…he had himself close to my face and was about to unzip and I was going to…but I wasn't…I just had the plan to knee him in the balls. I prayed someone would come in and stop it…rescue me…"

"And they did…" Olivia whispered.

Alex nodded. "It was almost perfect timing, Liv…thank God…or else…Raul told me outright…he only wanted me to suffer like he did." Alex felt her own tears begin to fall in torrents now, her whole body shaking with emotion, with experiencing what happened to her through the detailed storytelling, now feeling relief that it was over and she was back home and was safe.

Olivia stood then and moved up to her, kneeling in front of her and taking her hands and resting both pairs on Alex's knees. Olivia shook her head, her mouth opening and closing with what to say.

Alex reached down for her wife's elbows and cupped them and then stood, guiding Olivia to do the same.

And they held each other again and, this time, Alex felt her wife vibrating under her hold. Whether it was from sadness, anger, relief or all of the above, the brunette was trembling in her arms now.

"I just wanna move on, Liv. I just want to be grateful in the fact that I'm OK, the kids are safe, I'm safe, and that it's over."

Olivia slid her hand upward then and placed her palm in between her wife's shoulder blades. "I know, Al. but you can't just push it aside and pretend it didn't happen. In all of our years of experience doing what we do…we both know that doesn't help anything. It just makes it worse."

Alex nodded against her shoulder. "I know…" she admitted softly.

Olivia continued to hold her wife, swaying gently, wishing to say something to her about her lack of appetite.

She knew that when Alex was stressed or going through something difficult in her life, her desire for food just wasn't there. It had always been that way with the blonde, ever since they met and had become friends so long ago. But the brunette had noticed that she hadn't eaten but maybe a tiny bite of pizza at lunch and this worried her. Add the fact that she had only eaten a few calories in the past forty-eight hours, and Olivia was more than concerned.

"Babe…aren't you hungry?"

Alex shook her head against her. "No, Liv. My stomach is still kinda…"

"Are you nauseated?"

"A little."

"You need to eat something, Al." Olivia pulled away now and placed her hands on her wife's hips, "Take some Tums or Pepto and then try to eat something. Even if it's just some soup." She smiled and cupped her cheek. "OK?"

Alex nodded quickly. "I'll try."

Just then, Olivia's cell phone vibrated on the kitchen island and both looked at it, watching as it skittered closer to the edge of the surface.

Olivia quickly moved to grab it and turned it over, seeing that it was Fin. She smiled at Alex and then answered. "Hey, Fin. What's up?"

"Alex talk yet?"

"Yeah, Fin. We just talked. She told me everything."

"That's good because, if we lucky, these three got arraignment tomorrow. But none of them has spilled. None've asked for a lawyer yet…I don't take them as the brightest bulbs on the tree…but maybe—"

"I want to talk to them," Olivia interrupted.

"O-OK. But it's gotta be soon, Liv."

"Now." Olivia looked at Alex then, feeling her own determination take over her being. "I'll come now."

"OK, Liv. We got 'em in separate rooms. They all backing up each other."

"I'll make 'em talk." Olivia's eyes glazed over as she looked at her wife. "I have to at least try."

Olivia watched as Alex nodded slowly in agreement.

"All right, Liv. See you soon?"

"Give me thirty." Olivia ended the call and placed it back on the island.

"You gonna go in?" Alex folded her arms and took in a deep breath and let it out, those cerulean eyes focused on her intently.

"Yeah, Babe. I have to…I want to get to these bastards."

Alex swallowed then. "I know you do, Babe."

Olivia nodded. "Your parents should be here in less than an hour. You gonna be OK?"

Alex smiled. "I'll be fine, Liv." She stepped closer and placed her hands on the brunette's jaw. "Go do this, Liv. Go do what you need to do to make these scumbags pay, my love."

Olivia smiled back and nodded, watching as her wife's face came in closer. And she closed her eyes and relished the softness of the blonde's lips on hers—delicately, lovingly, thoughtfully.

She pulled away and Olivia opened her eyes. "I will, Alex. Mess with my wife…I'll mess with you."

"Go get 'em, Liv."

Olivia winked and then headed down the hallway and upstairs to shower and change, ready to interrogate the sons of bitches who had caused this deep chasm in their lives.

And there was nothing that could, or would, stop her.

A/N: I apologize that this one took so long to update. I hope you enjoyed it and will try and update more often. Please let me hear from you. It always means so much.

Do we really think Alex is OK? Little hints should tell you that she's not...stay tuned...