Disclaimer: Dick owns 'em

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"So?" Olivia asked Alex as they sat down at the table to eat breakfast.

Alex smiled. "I can't believe she's still here, and that she cleaned my apartment! Who does that?"

Olivia couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Alex so happy. She was willing to do whatever it took to keep her that way. "Sounds like she's a keeper," she said, then hesitated. "At least, I hope she is."

Alex narrowed her eyebrows. "Olivia, what did you do?"

Olivia nervously in her chair and pushed her scrambled eggs around with her fork. "You're probably going to hate me for this, but I had to do it."

"Do what?" Alex asked worriedly. "Olivia, what did you do?"

"I…I thought it was a little weird that Jess was as worried and willing to help as she was. I mean, she's so young and she'd never met you before and…something just didn't feel right. I've never seen anybody so eager to help someone they didn't know, so I pulled a few strings last night after you both fell asleep."

"You ran a background check on her?" Alex asked, now scared that Olivia had found something she wasn't going to like.

Olivia nodded. "Yea, I did."

"And?"

"Alex-"

"What did you find, Olivia?"

Olivia sighed. "Absolutely nothing on her. She doesn't even have a parking ticket, and I did a nationwide search. Her record's squeaky clean."

Alex furrowed her eyebrows. "Then why do I get the feeling you're not telling me everything? What else did you find?"

"I found something about her parents, the ones who adopted her."

"What?" Alex asked, feeling her heart sink as she worried about what they may have done to their daughter.

"They, um, they were really active in a huge anti-gay movement. They've been arrested several times for petty crimes. They spray painted some houses and cars, broke some windows, and set a few cars on fire." Olivia reached out and grabbed Alex's hand. "Alex, all their victims were gay."

"Oh, God," Alex thought defeatedly. If Jess was raised by people like this, it was reasonable to think she felt the same way. "Did her name come up in any of the police reports?"

Olivia shook her head. "Her name was never mentioned, she was never even alluded to, and she wasn't in any of the pictures."

Alex's eyes lit up. "So she might not feel the same way."

"Be careful, Alex. We don't want to jump to any conclusions." Olivia sighed. "I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"Olivia, look at what she's done for me. The least I can do is give her the benefit of the doubt. I owe her that much. Besides, if she wasn't in any of the police reports or anything, odds are she wasn't anywhere near those events, which means she might not hate us."

"Us?" Olivia asked gently, not wanting to take advantage of Alex's vulnerability at the moment. "Is there still an us?"

"I want there to be," Alex said as she closed her eyes and tried not to cry. "I'm just scared. I need time."

"Take all the time you need. I'm not going anywhere, Alex. I promise."

Alex smiled gratefully. "Thank you. You have no idea how happy you made me by coming over last night. When Jess told me you were coming over, I knew you still cared about me. I was so worried you weren't going to come."

Olivia looked away guiltily. "I never stopped loving you, Alex. I know I said and did some things in the past that hurt you. I wasn't there for you when you needed me. I promise you Alex, if I could change the past I would. I'm so sorry I wasn't there-"

Alex put her finger to Olivia's lips to silence her and smiled. "You're here now, Olivia. That's all that matters." She took a deep breath, trying to gather her strength, and kissed her.

The kiss took Olivia by surprise. She felt butterflies in her stomach and her heart race as she kissed Alex back. She knew Alex needed to take things slowly, so she let her lead, but that was fine with her. She was willing to wait forever for Alex to feel comfortable with her. When Alex pulled away, Olivia saw that she was smiling.

"You're a great kisser, Cabot," Olivia said, taking Alex's hand.

Alex smiled and squeezed her hand back. "You're not so bad yourself, Benson."

"God, you're beautiful. I don't know what possessed me to ever leave you, but I sure as hell would kick my own ass if I could reach it."

Alex laughed and tried to fight the tears that were forming in her eyes. "I know why you left, and you had every reason to do so. I just wasn't ready for you to see me, the real me. Liv, I loved you so much, and at that point I was convinced that if you saw the real me, what I was hiding, you'd leave, and I couldn't handle that. I'm sorry."

"Hey," Olivia said, shaking her head, "You don't have anything to apologize for. You didn't do anything wrong, Alex. I need you to know something though."

"What?" Alex asked, sniffling as she wiped away a few tears.

"I need you to know that I am completely, head over heels in love with you and there is absolutely nothing in this world that could change that. I am not going to leave you. Not now, not tomorrow, not ever. I love you Alex. I love you more than I could ever express in words."

Alex desperately wanted to believe everything Olivia was saying, and a part of her did. At the same time, she was still terrified. Nobody in her life had ever been so supportive, so why should Olivia be any different. At the same time, she knew Olivia was different. Olivia was one of the most amazing people she knew, and she knew if you were on Olivia's good side, there was usually no getting off it. She smiled and looked at her watch, seeing that it was almost nine. "That kid's been in the shower for twenty minutes."

"What?" Olivia asked, completely unaware of how much time had passed. "What time is it?"

"Almost nine."

"Shit!" Olivia quickly shoved a few pieces of bacon into her mouth as she gathered her things. "I'm going to be late for work! I was hoping to see Jess before I left for work but I've got to get going. Tell her I'll see her later?"

"Yep," Alex said, then stopped. "What about us? Do you think I should tell her?"

"Olivia smiled slightly. "I think that's your call."

Alex nodded. "Well, I guess you'd better get going. I'd hate to make you even later than you already are." She gave Olivia a slight kiss on the lips. "I'll see you later."

"Bye Al," Olivia said smiling, "I love you."

Alex looked away. She couldn't bring herself to say those words back, even though she knew that was exactly how she felt. "I'm sorry, Liv…I, I just…"

"It's okay," Olivia said, putting her hand on Alex's shoulder. "I meant it when I said you could take all the time you need," and without another word, she walked out and closed the door gently behind her.

"I love you, too," Alex said as she touched the door. She wiped away a tear and went to clean up everything from breakfast.