Olivia ran her fingers through her hair one more time and double-checked the bouquet of flowers in her hand at precisely 6:00. She'd decided to bring her clothes and get ready at the precinct, buying the flowers on her way out and then circling back to take a shower and get ready in the crib after Elliot had left.

She took a deep breath and then rolled her eyes at how nervous she felt, walking up to knock on her own apartment door. Get it together, Benson. It's just Alex, she thought, but she could still feel her heart pounding. Despite the fact that Alex had been living there for more than two months, that they had shared a bed, that they had kissed and touched and talked about doing more, this was no ordinary first date. This was Alex.

She raised her hand and knocked on the door, and waited anxiously for a few minutes until Alex opened the door, putting the chain on.

"Oh, it's you," Alex said, laughing and shaking her head. She closed the door and took the chain off to let Olivia in. "I was wondering who would be knocking."

Olivia grinned. "I told you I'd pick you up," she said, holding out the flowers. "I don't know, I wanted it to feel like a real date."

"Thank you," Alex said, blushing as she took the flowers and set them on the coffee table. Since Olivia had told her there would be walking involved, she was wearing flat sandals with her blue sundress, and she'd curled some waves into her hair.

Olivia leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. "You look beautiful. Are you ready?"

Alex smiled and grabbed her purse. "I'm ready. Where to?" she asked, taking Olivia's hand and following her out the door.

"Uh-uh," Olivia admonished. "You're not getting it out of me that easily."

Olivia gave an address Alex didn't recognize to the cab driver, and looked confused as it pulled up in front of a building on Wall Street. Since the stock market wasn't open and the financial crisis had gutted lots of businesses, the area looked half abandoned, and there was a large empty lot with a construction barrier around it.

"Uh, Liv? Are we in the right place?" Alex asked, looking around for a restaurant, a bar, something that resembled a date-like destination.

Olivia smiled. "Yup. Come on," she said, crossing the street and turning a corner. "Do you know where we are?"

"Uh, where George Washington was inaugurated?"

Olivia laughed. "Well, yeah, but that's not why we're here." She pushed a revolving door into a smaller office building and flashed her badge to the security guard, then pressed the button for the elevator. When they arrived on the eleventh floor, they stopped.

The floor was dark, but the Radial Velocity logo was still engraved on the frosted window.

"My first SVU case," Alex said, remembering.

"The company doesn't exist anymore. Apparently investors don't like pedophile CEOs who use national security as a smokescreen for child rape. They went out of business right before 9/11, oddly enough. They might have survived if they'd held on a bit… But I digress. Do you remember that case?"

"Of course," Alex murmured. "The kid wouldn't admit he'd been molested until the Grand Jury because he was afraid of Prince. And it was the first of many ridiculous favors I called in to get my detectives out of trouble."

Olivia smiled. "I remember being in your office and Elliot and I were trying to convince you not to charge him. And sometime during that case, you realized the SVU was going to be different. Harder than you thought. But I think you also realized how much potential there was for you to do good. Real good, and help real people."

She took Alex's hand and pressed the elevator button again to go down, and a cab brought them up to midtown and let them off at a park entrance.

Olivia led them to the Central Park Zoo, which was closing for the evening, and walked around the perimeter.

"Katie Tolliver," Alex said, and Olivia nodded.

"We got a Christmas card from them last year. Her little girl started first grade and is doing great," Olivia said. She stopped Alex along the path and took both of her hands. "This was the first time you put helping the victim before pursuing the case. You jeopardized the rape case to stand up for Katie's rights."

"Is this the tour of How Alex Cabot Became A Good Person?" Alex asked, swinging their arms as Olivia turned down a path heading slightly uptown. "Or How Alex Cabot Became Worthy of SVU?"

Olivia stopped and turned to face her. "No," she said, smiling. "You already were a good person, and you didn't need your delinquent SVU detectives to know that. This is a tour of the times I saw your heart. Really, truly saw how beautiful you are. Here." She tapped above Alex's heart to make her point, and Alex's lip quivered. "I could have brought you to a million places and dragged you all over Manhattan to show you those times when the mask slipped and I saw what was underneath it. We could talk about the time you got the Romanian diplomat's immunity revoked based on his orchid plants, or the time you turned 'getting thrown under the bus by your boss' into a call for tolerance and forgiveness when the boy shot that little girl in Harlem. All of these places are where I fell in love with you."

They exited the park at 63rd street and walked over to Madison Avenue. This time, Alex knew where they were.

"Sam Cavanaugh's building," she said quietly as they stopped.

"They don't live here anymore," Olivia said. "Sam's doing well. He's living in a group home and has a job in a grocery store. Last I heard he even had a girlfriend."

Alex shook her head and looked away. "I was so awful on that case," she lamented.

"No," Olivia said, turning her chin. "You didn't give him the pills, Lex. You weren't the reason he needed antidepressants in the first place. You stuck up for him. You put everything on the line and got yourself suspended so he could see his abuser go to jail."

"You know why that case got to me, Liv. It wasn't about Sam. It was selfish."

"We all react strongly to certain cases for personal reasons, Lex. This was the case that showed me - showed all of us - that you put your heart and soul into SVU. That it wasn't about politics anymore, not even remotely. I think this case was when you figured out why you became a prosecutor."

"And why is that, oh wise detective?" Alex asked, pushing against Olivia.

"Why did you become a prosecutor, or why did it take you until Sam's case to figure it out?"

"Well, I think it took you until Sam's case to finally admit to yourself that you couldn't not be affected by SVU cases. You were affected before. I know you were. But you played it close to the vest and didn't let it show until this case. And you became a prosecutor not just because *you* always want to be right, but because you always want everything to be right."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, Lex, that you have a beautiful soul. You feel everything. Other people's pain hurts you. And that's why you want to fix things. To even the score. To help other people heal. You can't stand the thought of someone getting away with hurting another person. It's why you fought for Sam Cavanaugh and Livia Sandoval and it's why not going back to help Sarah was never an option for you."

Olivia wrapped her arms around Alex as she started to cry, and kissed the top of her head. "And it's why you had to come back to New York to be a prosecutor again," she whispered in Alex's ear. "Because these are the places where Alex Cabot lives."

After a moment, Olivia guided Alex over to the sidewalk and hailed a cab, holding her hand as they went back downtown to Max Brenner for dinner.

Alex's eyes were still glistening as she sat down across from Olivia.

"Save room for dessert," Olivia said, smiling. She reached out her hand and put it on top of Alex's. "Are you okay? Was that too much?"

Alex dabbed a tear away from her eye and smiled. "This sure beats every other date I've had," she joked, the pulled her hand away to place her napkin on her lap.

"Just wait 'til the chocolate crêpes," Olivia retorted, grinning as their eyes met. "Did you doubt me?"

"Not for a second," Alex replied, before becoming serious again. "Thank you, Liv. For… remembering for me."

"How could I forget?"

They walked part of the way home and held hands, Olivia slipping her leather jacket over Alex's shoulders since it got a bit cool after dinner.

"I'll walk you up," Olivia said playfully as they reached her building. She held open the door for Alex, and took the elevator up to her floor.

Olivia stopped Alex in front of the door to her apartment, and pulled her in close, looking deep into her eyes. "I had a great time," she said softly. "Would you go out with me again sometime?"

Alex smiled shyly and nodded. "I'd love to. I had a great time, too."

Olivia hesitated for a second, still smiling at Alex, then cupped her cheek and slowly leaned in to kiss her gently on the lips. It was soft, and sweet, and Alex closed her eyes and leaned in, tingling as Olivia wrapped her arms around her and then pulled away, smiling as Alex frowned at the loss of contact and opened her eyes a second later.

"Good night," Olivia whispered, brushing her thumb against Alex's cheek.

Alex smiled coyly. "Would you like to come in for coffee? Or tea?"

Olivia chuckled and pulled out her keys to let them back into the apartment. "I'd love to, but you should know that I don't put out on the first date."

Alex turned around and arched an eyebrow, then pointed her finger accusingly. "That, I believe, is a lie."

"Not really," Olivia blushed. "I can only think of a couple of times that I slept with someone after a date when I had the intention of having a second date. And I couldn't do that with you. I'm too serious about this. About us."

"I don't even know when I'll be ready anyway, so…" Alex looked away and bit her lip.

"Hey," Olivia said, interrupting her. "I thought we said we weren't going to talk about that tonight."

Alex smiled and went to the kitchen to boil water for tea. "Well then let me tell you about this really hot date I had tonight…"

"Oh?" Olivia asked, smiling.

They curled up on the couch to drink their tea, and Olivia asked Alex about the conversation with her dad, and told her about her discussion with Elliot. Olivia watched Alex out of the corner of her eye, amazed that after so many hours of walking through New York and eating dinner together, they still had so much to say, and that she was still fascinated by everything Alex said.

When Alex's eyes started to droop under the influence of the wine from dinner and the sleepytime tea, Olivia helped her up out of the couch and led her to the bedroom, where they both changed into their pyjamas and cuddled into bed.

As Alex drifted off to sleep, cuddled into Olivia's arms, Olivia pressed gentle kisses to her face and ran her fingers gently through her hair.

"Thank you again for tonight, Liv," Alex murmured, her eyes closed. "I love you."

"I love you too, sweetie," she whispered back, just before falling asleep herself.

Please review! And Happy Holidays!