Disclaimer: These characters are not mine. They belong to Dick Wolf.

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Seeing Alex kept Olivia going for a few more days. She was so relieved at visiting her friend that she could take whatever her foster parents dished out. Even when they found out that Olivia had skipped school and they made her kneel on raw rice in the corner for two hours, she survived, because she spent those two hours thinking about Alex. She remembered her friend's smile and it made her feel immediately better. Even as her knees started to bleed, she just imagined Alex, and the pain went away.

Finally, her foster mother allowed her to get up. "Where did you go today?" she snarled.

Olivia rubbed her knees, trying to get rid of the pain, but to no avail. "Nowhere."

"Liar," she snapped, smacking Olivia across the face.

Olivia was suddenly on her guard. She was used to her foster parents ignoring her, but she hadn't thought they would ever hurt her. But she had to be prepared; when they were angry, they could and would do whatever they wanted to her, including hitting her.

"I hung out at the park," lied Olivia. "I just didn't feel like going to school."

Her foster mother leaned close to Olivia. "So you didn't go see your friend, what's her name – Alex?"

Olivia's heart began to pound in her chest, so loudly that she was sure her foster mother could hear it. The look on Olivia's face must have been a giveaway though, because the woman gave her a malicious smile that Olivia recognized so well. She'd seen it all the time on her own mother.

"Jennifer told me," she explained. "So how did you end up friends with a rich girl?"

Olivia didn't say anything. She didn't want to admit to seeing her friend. She didn't want herself or Jennifer to get into any more trouble. So she stayed silent, anticipating further punishment. Her knees were bloody and burning, but it was nothing compared to what she'd been through before. She stared her foster mother defiantly in the eye, waiting.

Finally the woman looked away. "Go to your room," she spat, and Olivia was glad to oblige.

She slammed the door before collapsing on the bed and closing her eyes. Jennifer, newly sporting a handprint on her left cheek, crawled up next to her. "I'm sorry, Livvy," she whispered. "I didn't want you to get hurt."

Olivia sighed and put her arms around the girl. "I didn't want you to get hurt. It's okay."

Julia entered the room, holding the five-year-old boy's hand. His name was Benjamin and he was Julia's little brother. "Oh, she punished you?" she asked Olivia, noticing her bruised knees.

Olivia nodded. "Don't lecture, Julia. I don't want to hear about how I should stop antagonizing them and then they wouldn't hurt me."

Julia shrugged. "I wasn't going to say that." She sat down on her bed and pulled Benjamin into her lap.

"Then what were you going to say?" she snapped.

"I was going to offer to bandage up your knees for you, but if you don't want me to . . ."

Olivia looked at the ceiling. She was too proud to admit that she needed it, but she nodded slightly; a compromise. Julia got her the first aid kit and helped her fix up her knees. Olivia winced at the sting, but after a few minutes her knees started to feel better.

"'Livia," lisped Bailey, toddling over to Olivia's bed and snuggling up against her. "Tell us a story."

Jennifer cuddled up on her other side. "Tell us another story about Alex."

It made Olivia want to cry. She thought for a moment, then began to weave a web with her words, of Alex the superhero who came and rescued three little girls from an evil witch who wanted to hurt them.

She wished the real Alex could do the same.

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