Disclaimer: Dick still owns 'em.

No more bronchitis, thankfully. Sorry it's taken me so long to update. Bronchitis is evil.

I apologize for the last chapter…I know it doesn't really go with the story so far since it doesn't have Alex or Olivia, but I wanted to get some other characters in and that's the way my brain worked in getting them out. This chapter has lots of Alex and Olivia, I promise.

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Alex slowly opened her eyes and cursed the sunlight that was shining into the room, invading her sleep. Go away, she thought as she rubbed her eyes and finally forced them to open. She was about to curse the sunlight again when it hit her. She'd slept through the night. She couldn't remember a night when she hadn't woken up screaming or drenched in sweat or something. She rolled over and saw that Olivia was still sleeping. Her head was bent at a terribly awkward angle. "You should have woken me," Alex said softly. She sat up and slowly guided Olivia's head down onto the armrest and pulled her legs up onto the couch so she was lying down. "You're going to be in so much pain when you wake up."

She made her way into the kitchen to make breakfast. She hadn't been to the store since two days before Jess had shown up at her office, so her options were limited. She opened the door to the fridge and pulled out the carton of eggs. The smell alone was enough to convince her not to open it. "Eeeuh," she grimaced "How long have those been sitting there?" She threw them out and searched the fridge for something edible. After turning both the fridge and the pantry inside out, Alex realized there wasn't anything to eat for breakfast. She rolled her eyes and made her way out to the living room to wake Olivia.

"Hey sleepy head, wake up," she said as she gently shook Olivia. The woman didn't even stir. Alex smiled. "Liv, wake up," she said louder. "You're going to be late for work!"

Olivia bolted upright and threw the blanket off her and onto the floor. Then she moaned in pain as she tried to move her head to the side. "Shit that's tight," she said, massaging her sore muscles. She winched as she once again tried to move her head. It didn't budge. She'd really done a number on it sleeping the way she'd slept.

"A little sore this morning, Detective?" Alex asked playfully as she climbed onto the back of the couch behind Olivia. "Let me get that for you."

Olivia felt Alex's hands on her neck and smiled. Is she flirting with me? is she actually flirting with me? She realized Alex was, indeed, flirting. She'd never seen this side of Alex before, but it excited her. Still, she wanted to be careful. Alex had revealed so much the previous night, and she was no doubt in a very vulnerable position. Olivia would kill herself before she took advantage of that. She smiled again and leaned back against Alex's knees. "Why thank you, Councilor. That's the spot."

Alex massaged Olivia's neck and shoulders for several minutes. Then she leaned down so her head was by Olivia's ear. She smiled. "Serves you right for falling asleep like that." She crawled off the back of the couch and took a seat next to Olivia. "You should have woken me. I saw the angle your neck was bent. I'm going to have to give you a hell of a lot of massages to make that go away."

Olivia laughed. "Well then massage away, Ms. Cabot. I quite enjoy your hands on the back of my neck." She smiled and met Alex's eyes. "Besides, you looked so peaceful. I would never want to awaken the love of my life from such a peaceful slumber." She took Alex's hand and her voice changed from playful and flirtatious to loving and concerned. "I will fall asleep like that forever if you need it. I don't care how much pain I wake up in. you're worth it."

Alex smiled and looked down to her lap. "Thanks for last night, Liv. I'm so sorry I fell apart on you like that."

"Hey," Olivia said softly as she squeezed Alex's hand. "I said no apologies. I meant it. It's okay to cry, Alex. It's okay to hurt." She smiled tried to convince Alex she didn't need to apologize. "Alex, you let me cry on your shoulder when my mother died. You promised not to tell anyone that I was upset, and you kept that promise. You told me it was okay to be upset that she died, despite the person she was. You told me it was okay to be upset even though she beat the shit out of me when she was drunk. You accepted me when I told you I almost killed her. You accepted me when I told you where I came from, who my father was. You were there for me. You were strong for me. Now it's my turn. Let me be strong for you."

Alex smiled sadly and tried to fight the tears. "Liv, you know me. I hate crying. I hate being weak. I can't let people see me like this. My whole life I've always had to be happy for my parents. They –"

"They only have power over you if you let them," Olivia interrupted. "Alex I know that they're your family and they will always be important to you, even if you don't want to admit that. My mother was the same way. I get it. I just want you to know that they're not your only family. You have me. You have Casey. Hell, you've got the whole damn squad. And now…you've got Jess, too. Crying doesn't make you weak. It helps you deal, which makes you stronger. You're a strong and beautiful woman, Alex. Anyone who thinks otherwise is an idiot."

Alex closed her eyes and let a few tears fall. "God I love you," she said as she opened her eyes and smiled. "I love you. Thank you. Thank you for…for everything, for loving me despite everything."

"Alex, I fell in love with you the second I first saw you. I just wish I could have been here sooner. I hate that you were alone with this for so long. I hope now I can help you get through this. I just wish there was more I could do."

She sighed. "Believe me, you're helping more than you could possibly understand. I just hate feeling so needy."

"It's okay. I'm glad you felt you could trust me with this. I know it wasn't easy, and I am so proud of you. You're strong Alex, but you can't do this alone. Nobody could. That doesn't make you weak. It makes you human."

Alex rested her head on Olivia's shoulder. She couldn't believe she had actually found someone who loved her for her – someone who loved her despite everything she'd been through. She knew Olivia was the one for her. The One. Was it too soon to ask her to move in? She turned to face her. She hesitated, then popped the question, praying she wasn't making the biggest mistake of her life. "Liv, I was just wondering…you know, my bedroom's pretty big, and the bed is pretty lonely at night. If you wanted, I mean, there's room here…if you wanted to…"

Olivia raised her eyebrows. She didn't want to take advantage of this situation. At the same time, she was pretty sure Alex was thinking clearly when she'd asked the question. "You want me to move in with you?"

"Only if you want to," Alex said nervously. "I mean, I want you to, but if you don't want to –"

"Alex," Olivia said sternly. "I want to. Believe me I want to move in, but is that what you really want? This is really sudden and I just want to make sure it's what you want."

"Liv, last night was the first night since I was raped that I actually slept through the night. I've always woken up from nightmares, then had to cry myself back to sleep. Last night that didn't happen. Last night I fell asleep in the arms of the person I love most in this world. I want that again…so, that being said, my answer is yes. I really want you to move in."

Olivia smiled. "Okay. Let's do this." She brushed Alex's hair out of her face and lightly kissed her forehead. She moved her head down so their foreheads were touching. "I love you. You're going to beat this. We're going to beat this."

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Casey didn't have any problem getting a search warrant for Robert Jennings house. Julia's id was enough for the judge to sign. Two days after Julia was brought into the hospital, Elliot, Munch, and Fin all went to the house while several other officers searched Julia's bedroom, though they were pretty sure they wouldn't find anything. All of the previous crimes had taken place in the victims' bedrooms, and not a shred of evidence had ever been found. Still, it was worth a shot.

Elliot tore through Jennings' bedroom while Munch and Fin checked out the rest of the house. Casey had told them to go nuts with the search. There were no limitations on the warrant. Everyone searching the house took no care in trying to keep it tidy. They threw pillows around and pulled books off shelves. They simply didn't care. They just wanted to find some kind of physical evidence to tie him to Julia's assault. Her word alone probably wouldn't be enough to get a conviction.

Just as they were ready to give up all hope of finding anything, Fin shouted from the den. Everyone rushed in to find him struggling to move a heavy chest across the floor. Elliot pushed with them and they found a loose floorboard. Elliot pried it up and smirked. They'd found their physical evidence.

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Casey was sitting in her office, waiting for Elliot to call her with information from the search, when there was a knock at her door. "Come in!" She shouted, and saw one of the new file clerks struggling with a large box.

"Sorry to bother you, but this just came for you, Mrs. Novak," the girl told her as she sat the box of files on Casey's desk. "They're all related to your Julia Winters case. This guy's one sick freak." She smiled sadly and left.

Casey looked at the box, afraid to open it. Who the hell was this Robert Jennings? Was she dealing with a serial rapist? "Great," she muttered as she reluctantly pulled the top off the box and saw at least twenty reports inside. "This is just what my marriage needs." She immediately regretted saying it. She closed her eyes and sighed. She'd made a promise to Julia that she was going to get this guy. She couldn't walk away now. Steve wasn't going to be happy, especially since she'd promised him she would spend more time away from the office. There was nothing she could do about that now. She had to pursue this case. If this guy had raped all these girls, there was no doubt in her mind that he would do it again. She grabbed the first file and flipped through it.

It was sick. After looking through seven files, Casey wanted to throw up. All the girls were between the ages of nine and fifteen. They were all raped and stabbed, and several had been burned with cigarettes. It took everything she had not to break down and cry. She grabbed her phone to call Elliot. She didn't care if he was in the middle of a search. She had to talk to him. He answered on the second ring.

"Stabler."

"Elliot, it's Casey. I think –"

"We've found our physical evidence. Casey, we've got a serial rapist on our hands."

She almost breathed a sigh of relief, but stopped herself. She didn't want to get too excited yet. "What? How do you know?"

He took a deep breath. "We found twenty-three pairs of underwear under one of the floorboards of his den. CSU ran a test and they're all positive for blood. The bastard wrote their names and the dates of their rapes in blood on their underwear. It's headed to the lab for DNA testing, but I'm pretty sure we just solved twenty-three cold rape cases."

She let herself have that sigh of relief. "El, I was just about to tell you Julia wasn't his first. A file clerk dropped off a box of cases a while ago. It's the same guy, El. All the pictures of the victims, the descriptions of what happened, it's him." She shook her head sadly, trying to absorb everything. "Get everything documented. Put a rush on that DNA testing. I have Jennings' arraignment in an hour. Even if we don't get the DNA in, the bloody underwear and Julia's id will be enough. He's not going anywhere until trial."

"Good work, Case."

"You're the ones that found the evidence. Just don't mess this up. We can't let him get off on a technicality."

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Elliot pulled out his phone and called Olivia. Even though she hadn't been present for anything related to this case, she was still his partner in the investigation and he had to fill her in on all the details. He hated to call her, especially since he knew something was going on with Alex, but he had to. She had to know what was happening.

"Benson," Olivia answered after three rings. She hated having to let go of Alex, especially after just agreeing to move in with her and promising her she would never leave her.

"Liv, it's Elliot. Do you have a minute?"

She looked at Alex, who in turn pushed her off the couch and motioned with her hands for Olivia to take the call. She smiled reluctantly and headed to Alex's bedroom so she could talk in private. "El, this better be important."

"Julia wasn't his first victim."

"What?"

"Jennings. He's had other victims, Liv, and a lot of them. We found twenty-three pairs of bloody underwear at his house. Each pair had a name and date written in blood. This guy's sick, Liv. Casey has a bunch of files she's sifting through, apparently all related to this one. She said they're all the same. All the girls were between nine and fifteen. All were stabbed and raped, and most were burned. All were told that he was going to make them ugly. Casey has his arraignment hearing in an hour. She's going to request remand without bail, and with the evidence we've just uncovered, there's no way she's not going to get that."

Olivia couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was Elliot serious? Stabbed. Burned. Raped. Told he was going to make them ugly. No. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be. She struggled to speak, and realized she couldn't. How could this happen? Didn't Alex already have enough to deal with? This was just going to make it even worse.

Elliot didn't like the silence coming from Olivia's end. As sick and twisted as this case had just become, they finally found evidence. They finally found a lot of evidence. Olivia should have said something. "Liv, you okay?"

"I'll be right over," she said.

"Liv, you don't have to –"

"Elliot, I'll be there in a few minutes. This case just became top priority, I'm sure. Given all the victims and the amount of evidence, there's going to be a hell of a lot of paperwork and questioning and going over old evidence and…well you know the drill." She was suddenly filled with an anger she'd never felt before. She had to go to the station and personally work on this case. I swear I'll kill the man if I see him. She said to herself. She had to take part in this investigation. She wasn't about to sit on the sidelines and watch. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

They hung up and Olivia sighed as she went back out to the living room and joined Alex on the couch. "Hey, sweetie," she said softly as she took Alex's hand. "I'm so sorry to do this but they need me at the station. They just found a bunch of evidence and Casey's got several files we need to sift through and –"

"It's okay, Liv. This is your job. Go. You don't have to stay here and babysit me all day. Go put the bad guys away."

She nodded sadly. She gathered her things and stood to leave when she felt Alex's hand on her shoulder. She turned and felt Alex's lips on hers. That wasn't exactly the good-bye she expected, but the kiss was more than welcome. She frowned as Alex pulled away. "I'm sorry Al. I really am."

Alex shook her head and ushered Olivia out of the apartment. "Liv, it's your job. Don't put your entire life on hold just for me. Please, go do your job. I'll be fine." She pushed Olivia out and shut the door, then frowned. It was so stupid, but she didn't want to be alone. Olivia needed to get to the precinct. The case was obviously important, judging by Olivia's reaction to the phone call. Still, she didn't feel comfortable being alone at the moment. She grabbed her cell phone and began scrolling through the numbers. Casey was due in court soon. Olivia was on her way to help with the case. The only person she felt comfortable with that was left was Jess. She sighed again as she dialed the number, hating that she was so needy, hating that she had just recently told Jess to go home and now suddenly needed her again.

"Hello?"

"Jess, it's Alex."

Jess smiled, glad Alex had called her. It had been two days and she was getting a little worried. "Hey, how are you?"

"Really good actually."

"You sound good."

"I am." She paused. She hated this. "Hey, I uh, I have a favor to ask. You can say no if you need to, I won't be mad or anything. It's just…God I feel like an idiot for asking this but…well, Liv had to go to work because they just caught a huge case and now the apartment feels so empty and I know it's last minute but I was just wondering if you could possibly –"

"I'm on my way." Jess interrupted.

Alex swallowed and smiled gratefully. "Thank you."

"I told you to call me if you needed me. I meant it. I'll be there as soon as I can."

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"The people request remand your honor," Casey told the judge as she stared angrily at Jennings. "No bail. Mr. Jennings has unlimited financial assets and we believe he is a flight risk. Given the severity of the crimes, and the amount of evidence our detectives recently found, we believe that he is a danger to the community."

Judge Petrovsky frowned at Jennings. "Granted. Mr. Jennings will stay at Rikers until his trial. Case closed."

Casey returned to her office and decided to go through the rest of the files on her desk. If she was going to win this case, she had to know all the victims, know all the details of each attack. She opened the last file, which was labeled Jane Doe. The description of the injuries told her this case was much more severe than the others. The parents had refused to press charges and had insisted that the girl remain Jane Doe. The thirteen-year-old girl had been cut and burned dozens of times, yet she hadn't been stabbed. She flipped through all the pages of descriptions of the injuries and realized that the rape kit had been done secretly, without anyone's knowledge because the parents were trying to keep the information from getting out. This enraged her. What kind of parents wanted to just shove something like this under the carpet? What kind of parents wouldn't want to find who did this to their daughter? She flipped to one of the pictures of the girl's torso, and grimaced. The cuts were deep, and the burns were bad. She shoved the picture aside and picked up the next one. She almost threw up as she turned it over and saw the girl's face.

"Son of a bitch," she said as she put her hand over her face and stared at the picture. It was Alex. This was what was bothering Alex lately? She couldn't possibly know this guy was raping other girls. Nobody knew that until now. Casey closed her eyes and fought the tears. Alex had told Olivia. That had to be it. She shook her head as she gathered her things. She grabbed Alex's file. She was going to be the one to tell her. She wanted to let Alex know before the shit hit the fan. Once the media got wind of this case, it would be all over the news. Alex deserved to hear about it from a friend, not from a news program she accidentally turned to. She just prayed she was doing the right thing by bringing the file with her and telling Alex point blank that she knew. She didn't know any other way around it.

"I'm sorry, Alex," she said as she made her way to the apartment. "I'm so sorry for what I'm about to do. The media is going to have a field day with this, and I want you to find out from someone who loves you." She cursed herself for what she was about to do, but knew it was the only way. As she drove to Alex's, she let a few tears fall.