"I'm not going back." Alex's first statement, once they were all standing in Cragen's office, hung in the air. The others looked at her with a variety of expressions; worry, sympathy, love, Munch, and confusion.

"What do you mean?" Elliot asked.

"I mean, I'm not going back into WitSec. I know one of you is about to suggest it, so I'm going to head you off. No. I won't."

Underneath the table, Olivia reached for Alex's hand, to find it already halfway to hers. She laced their fingers.

"Protective detail?" Cragen did not sound hopeful. Alex and Olivia exchanged a glance, and Olivia nodded; although she would not take security for herself, she would take it for Alex.

Alex turned back to Cragen. "Fine."

"Good. I'll set that up. Meanwhile, can you think of anything we ought to know?"

"Lea," Olivia said, and Alex nodded. They explained what had happened, and Cragen looked even grimmer.

"Munch, go talk to Interpol," Cragen said. "See what the Kenyans came up with. Fin, Elliot, work the homicides. Get Huang in here. Liv, Alex - a word?"

The others nodded to Cragen and left. Cragen shut the door behind them.

"Olivia, go home."

"Captain, I only just got - "

"No arguments, detective. I can't have you working this one. Go home. Alex, where am I sending the detail?"

Alex reeled off their new address. She was only halfway through before Cragen had stopped writing and looked up at them in surprise. Olivia had recently changed her home address on her file, to much teasing from the others; it was in a far more expensive neighbourhood than her previous apartment. It was the same one Alex was listing.

There was a deafening silence for a moment. Then everyone tried to talk at once.

"Captain-"

"Sir-"

Cragen won.

"Olivia, I really, really, don't want to know. It is absolutely none of my business. All I'm going to say is, if you happened to be in the vicinity of Alex's apartment, you perhaps might consider helping the uniforms protect her. Maybe. We clear?"

Despite everything that was happening, Olivia gave him a small smile. "Perfectly."

"Alright. We'll phone if anything happens."

Both women nodded, and Olivia drove them home. Alex was making a terse phone call.

"Caro. Yes, it's me. No, I haven't. No. No. Listen to me, Caro, go home. Get out of the city. I'm serious. No, it isn't, Caro, you need to trust me. Two women are already dead, I can't - thank you. Call me when you get home."

She hung up. Olivia sent her a questioning look.

"I don't know if you noticed, but Caro and I look very similar. I don't want her dead on my account."

They drove the rest of the way home in silence, and were comforted to see that a patrol car was already stationed outside their building. Olivia flashed her badge at the uniforms on the door, and they headed upstairs.

They could not think of what to say, either of them. So they lay down on the couch, Alex's back against Olivia's front, and clung together in silence for a while. Alex felt surprisingly safe.

"This reminds me of the Connors trial," she said, quietly. "I know I ought to be terrified, but I'm actually alright."

"That makes one of us," Olivia said, and tightened her arm around Alex's waist.

"We're surrounded by cops, Liv. No-one get anywhere near us unless we know who they are. And you have a gun."

"I know."

"You're scared anyway?"

"I am."

"Do you want me to distract you?"

"I would."

But not too much, Alex reminded herself, as her brain's first suggestion sifted to the forefront.

"Jack McCoy is about to call and offer me a job," she said, turning in Olivia's arms so that they were face-to-face. "It will probably be some horrible backwater division nobody wants. Tell me, detective - what's the worst I could get?"

Olivia allowed herself to play along. "Anti-Crime Taxi Squad."

"Anti-Crime Taxi Squad?"

"I pretty much dreaded getting that one - maybe the DA's office doesn't have a specific ADA for the taxis. What else? Harbour Unit's pretty dull. And - hey - you might get Housing Bureau."

Alex smiled. "Well, that all sounds pretty bad."

"It is. But McCoy likes you, I think. Maybe he has something interesting and novel for you to do."

"I'm not sure I entirely want McCoy liking me," Alex said, deadpan, and Olivia smiled for the first time since they'd gotten home. She leaned forwards and kissed Alex.

"How could he not?" she said, lightly. "On a more serious note, how do you know he's going to offer you a job?"

"Abbie."

"Ah. And how is she?"

"Loquacious as ever, so I have no idea. But she sounds happy enough."

"Good to know."

Olivia pulled Alex closer to her, so that they were pressed together in a warm, comforting way. Alex is not going anywhere, Olivia reminded herself. Please, God, don't make me go through that again. And although she could not be sure of the future, she could make the best of her here and now, and so she kissed Alex with all she had and hoped against hope that everything would, somehow, be alright.