-Cabot Estate, 3 weeks later-

Sophia Cabot, Olivia Benson, Serena Southerlyn, Casey Novak and Mackenzie Johnson (Soon to be Cabot) were all sitting around a fairly large table in the back of the study discussing Mackenzie's guardianship.

A lot had happened in the past few weeks. The most important being Mackenzie's release from the hospital. A few days after her third surgery, her doctor could no longer find a reason to keep her, so she was released into the custody of her guardian, who at the time was Serena. And Serena, being a close friend of Olivia's, brought Mackenzie to Olivia's apartment. But after living together in Olivia's small, one-bedroom apartment, the two realized that other arrangements were necessary.

It's not that the two couldn't live together-they actually got along quite well-but with everything Mackenzie went through, and was still going through, she needed more space than Olivia's apartment allowed.

Since Serena was technically Mackenzie's guardian and her apartment was substantially larger than Olivia's, they went to her first. But as it turned out, the former ADA was just beginning a relationship with a certain SVU ADA.

She certainly hadn't expected this. "But I thought you were straight?"

"Yeah." Casey laughed. "So did I."

"All this time…and you never said anything."

Serena cut in. "She was just waiting for the right girl to come along."

Serena had explained that since Alex was 'dead' and no adoption had taken place since Mackenzie was kidnapped over fourteen years ago, that custody would go to Mackenzie's grandmother.

This is where the matriarch of the Cabot family found a problem. She had no problem with Mackenzie living with her, God knows that she has enough space, it was just that she didn't believe that Alex would have wanted her to be Mackenzie's legal guardian.

During their weekly visits, Alex often told her mother how good Olivia was with children. And as any mother would, Alex dreamed about being re-united with her daughter. She once told her mother about a dream she had in which the three of them were at a carnival together. It was nothing fancy, but they were having fun just being together as a family.

That made Mrs. Cabot believe that her daughter would have wanted Olivia to have custody of her one and only child.

Olivia put her glass down. "Excuses me?"

"Don't excuse me Olivia, you heard exactly what I said."

Olivia didn't know what to say. "W-Why?"

"Because Olivia it's what Alex would have wanted. If it had been legal, I believe that you two would have gotten married a long time ago and that would have made you Mackenzie's mother as well. Now, in the eyes of this family you were married, so I want you to have custody."

It took a minute to digest what was just said. "But, that's the reason I'm here. It's not that I don't want to adopt her, because believe me I do, it's just that…I don't have enough time or space for a child."

"Olivia I have no problem with Mackenzie living here with me. God knows that there's enough room for both Mackenzie and I to have all the space we need and she really loves being down at the stables, and with her horse being shipped down here anyway…I would have no problem with her living with me. But Alexandra would have wanted you to be Mackenzie's mother. I can't very well be a mother to my own granddaughter now can I?"

Olivia laughed. "No, I...uh...I guess you couldn't."

"Now, about the whole time deal. As long as you start cutting down on over time and working your normal work hours I suspect that you will have a lot more time on your hands."

And that is how they all came to be sitting here. During law school and for a time after, Casey had worked with a custodial lawyer, so she knew a thing or two about adoption proceedings.

"Okay, here is how this is going to go." Casey began. In front of her were a bunch of papers. "First Serena has to sign these." She handed Serena a packet and got her started with signing the papers. "Because a judge gave her temporary custody, she will have to give up that custody before we can move on."

As soon as Serena was finished, Casey took the papers and then gave another packet to Mrs. Cabot. "Now Mrs. Cabot, these are for you to sign. After Alex's death, custody immediately went to you. And since you want Olivia to have custody, you'll have to relinquish your custodial rights." After a few swipes of her pen, she was done and Casey once again took the papers and got another packet. "Alright Olivia, these are for you." She handed Olivia the packet. "These are the adoption papers. Once you sign them, you will be Mackenzie's legal guardian."

Olivia took a minute before signing the papers. After these papers were signed, she would be Mackenzie's legal guardian now and for forever. 'What the hell am I doing?' She thought to herself. 'I have no clue how to raise a child…What have I gotten myself into?' She looked around the room, only to find that she had the support of everyone in the room, except herself. She turned to Casey. "Casey can I talk to you for a second?"

Casey looked to Serena. "Umm…yeah, sure." They excused themselves from the room and stepped out into the hall. "What's wrong?"

Olivia shut the door and sat down on the bench. "I don't think I can do this."

Casey looked around the hall. "Do what?"

"This!"

"What's this Olivia?"

"This." Olivia waved her arms around. "The whole mother thing."

Casey joined Olivia on the bench. "You're kidding right?"

Olivia looked up at her with tears in her eyes.

"Okay, apparently not."

"I just…I don't know how to be a mother. I mean my own mother didn't even act like a mother."

"You're worried that you'll make the same mistakes your mother did."

Olivia nodded.

"But Olivia look at you. You may not have had the easiest time growing up, but you turned out fine."

"But what if I really screw up. What if I end up really screwing her up?"

"Olivia are you hearing yourself? Look around you. There are plenty of people in your life who will help you. Mrs. Cabot raised two daughters and Elliot is still in the process of raising his. I'm sure that they would love to help you. And I know Serena and I don't have any kids, but we will be too….Look Olivia, no one knows how good a parent they will be until it's too late for them to back out. But you have a chance here."

Olivia looked up at her.

"If you're really that worried about your parenting skills, you can back out of this before you have a chance to 'screw her up.' But just think for a minute… what will happen to Mackenzie if you walk away? She's lost her real mother, the woman who raised her, her sisters, her friends, her home, her life. And then with everything else she's been through…When do you think she'll reach her breaking point? And when she does, do you want to be the one who helps her through it?" Casey went back into the study and left Olivia to think things through.

…

….

-10 Minutes Later-

After much thinking and running different scenarios and situations through her head, Olivia had made her decision. But she felt that she should talk to Mackenzie before she finalized that decision. She walked back into the study and immediately noticed the empty seat. "Where's Mackenzie?"

Serena and Casey looked over at Mackenzie's vacant chair. Truth be told, they hadn't even noticed that she left. Mrs. Cabot, however, knew exactly where her granddaughter was. "I told her to go check on Cassie and the puppies. She was getting a little anxious sitting in here waiting." She was not so happy with Olivia right now and had no problem with letting her know.

Olivia left the room. Serena turned to Casey. "She wouldn't do that…Would she?"

Casey shook her head. "I hope not."

Olivia went into the den and then into the small room off of it that was known as "The Puppy Room." Sure enough, Mackenzie was sitting right next to Callie holding one of her puppies. The blue merle mother got up to greet Olivia as she opened the gate and let herself into the room. "It's all right girl, stay with your puppies." The dog did as she was told. And for that, Olivia walked over to her and gave her a little pat on the head.

She didn't want to force Mackenzie to talk, she knew she had to be made at her as well, so she sat on the couch and waited for Mackenzie to initiate their conversation.

But she didn't, so Olivia did. "When did she have the puppies?"

Mackenzie put the puppy down and picked up another. "Four days ago."

Olivia was a little surprised that Mackenzie hadn't told her before now, but in Mackenzie's defense, she hadn't been around much in the past week. "How many?"

"Twelve. Eight females and four males."

"Wow, that's a lot of puppies." She went over to the box and picked up a puppy. "They're really cute."

Mackenzie looked at the ten puppies remaining in the box. "Yeah. Grandma said this is the most colorful litter she's had in a long time. She had four white, three blue merle, two tri, two sable merle and one sable."

Olivia petted the puppy in Mackenzie's arms. "I like this one."

Mackenzie nodded. "Yeah, he's cute. But this little girl is my favorite." She put that puppy down and picked up the sable one. She was a cute little puppy with a full white collar, white muzzle and blaze, diamond on her head and white tip on her tail "I think I might keep her."

Olivia noticed Casey outside of the room and put the puppy down. Mackenzie saw the look on Olivia's room and turned around. "Oh hey Casey."

Casey came into the room. "Hey sweetie." She walked over to Olivia and held out the adoption papers and a pen. "It's now or never." Mackenzie put the puppy down and looked at Olivia. "I know you're scared Olivia. I just don't want you to feel that you have to do this."

Olivia took the papers. "I'm not doing this because I have to. I'm doing this because I want to."