A/N: Sorry, I took last night off so I could watch the new SVU and Criminal Minds. Hope everyone is still enjoying. Thanks for reading and reviewing!

CHAPTER 21

It was very early in the morning when Olivia and Alex returned home from the precinct. They didn't have much to go on with Katie's murder. She had been shot elsewhere and dumped in an alley, and so far, no DNA or evidence left that they could identify or tie to Robert or anyone else. Olivia had ordered the squad to all go home and get some sleep before returning. She had a few hours still before she needed to pick up Noah, and wanted to try and sleep as much as possible.

Olivia was worried about Alex. She didn't say anything on the ride home from the precinct. Olivia knew Alex was still angry with her and had every right to be angry. However, she was more concerned about Alex's emotional state after not only revealing to her what Robert had done but then having to repeat it to Amanda and be asked questions about Robert from Barba.

When Alex got into bed, she wrapped herself up in the covers and rolled herself to the far side of the bed with her back to Olivia. Olivia was torn. On one hand, she wanted to wrap her girlfriend in her arms and tell her she was there and that it would be okay. On the other hand, having experience dealing with survivors of rape, she knew Alex may not want to be touched right now, having just relived her experience. Of course, there was the possibility that Alex wouldn't want Olivia near her right now anyway since she was angry. Olivia spent the next few hours staring at the ceiling rather than sleeping.

Olivia was right. All Alex wanted to do was curl up in a ball and try to sleep and forget the nightmare of Robert...again. She was grateful for the space Olivia was giving her, but now that her disclosure about Robert was over, she was reminded why she was so angry with Olivia in the first place. She finally drifted to sleep in the early hours of the morning.

#

Alex woke the next morning to an empty and quiet apartment and a note on the nightstand.

Alex -

I asked Lucy to take Noah out all day. She picked him up early. I thought maybe you could use the day to yourself.

I'm at the precinct, and there is coffee in the machine and bagels on the counter. Call me when you wake up.

I love you more than anything, always.

Love, Liv

Alex put the note back down and rolled her eyes. Olivia was doing exactly what she didn't want her to do - treating her differently. It's why she didn't tell Olivia about Robert in the first place. More than anything, Alex Cabot wanted to be treated as a strong person, and not a victim.

#

Back at the precinct, the squad and Barba and gathered around to go over evidence from the prior night and see if there was anyway to connect it to Robert.

"Please tell me we have something to nail this son of a bitch," Olivia pleaded.

"Well, not exactly," Carisi said. "Not yet, anyway, but we do have something."

Carisi moved to the evidence board and began showing bullet fragments on the screen. He continued.

"Okay, so one of the slugs retrieved from Katie, and it's markings, is a match to one from an old unsolved murder. There was a suspect in that case, but no arrest was ever made," Carisi explained.

"Okay, so who was the suspect?" Barba asked.

"That's the thing," Carisi said. "All the names were redacted."

"What? Why?" Olivia said.

"We don't know, but we can tell you this, it happened in the same neighborhood of the Hamptons where Robert grew up, and at the same time as his mystery incident," Carisi finished.

"The one thing that doesn't make sense, though, is that Alex said she never saw Robert with guns, and he never talked about them," Barba said. "Not even shooting for sport."

"Maybe he's not the shooter," Fin said. "Maybe someone else does his bidding for him."

"Look into this friend of his, James Hill," Olivia said. "See if he likes to play with guns, and find someone who can give us more information on this old mystery murder. Someone out there has to be willing to talk. Dodds, take Carisi for a drive out to the Hamptons. Fin and Rollins, do some digging here on Hill."

Everyone left the squad room except for Barba and Olivia.

"How is Alex this morning?" Barba asked sympathetically.

"I don't know," Olivia said. "She hasn't said a word since we left here last night."

"Maybe you want to see if she knows this James Hill guy," Barba suggested. "It may help take her mind off what happened to her, and help her feel herself again."

Olivia nodded with a bit uncertainty.

"Listen, Liv, you obviously know Alex better than I do, but from what I know of Alex, I know that she is going to hate what you're doing right now," Barba said.

"What's that?" Olivia snapped.

"You're treating her like a victim," Barba said. "Don't get me wrong, Liv, you're great at your job, and you're great with our witnesses. They need that. But Alex is your girlfriend, and well, Alex is Alex. Don't treat her like you would any other witness."

Olivia sighed. "Your right. I guess I have been doing that, from the beginning."

"Listen, in the beginning, you had your reasons, and we all agreed to it, right or wrong," Barba told her. "But now, she can help us. And if that helps her, let her."

Olivia nodded. "I'll call her and ask her to come down."

Barba left, and Olivia plopped down in her chair. She hadn't considered that she was treating Alex with kid gloves and like she treated other witnesses; probably even more gentle because she was her girlfriend and she couldn't stand to see her hurting. Of course Alex hated that.

She picked up the phone and called Alex.

"Hey, Alex," Olivia said. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, Olivia," Alex said coldly.

"You're still upset; I get it," Olivia said. Alex didn't reply. She was still upset.

"I just thought if you wanted to come down to the precinct, maybe you could help us out with some background on Robert," Olivia continued. "I mean if you want to."

"Oh," Alex said. This wasn't what she was expecting Olivia to be calling about. "Yeah, sure. I'll be there soon."