Lili Marlene is a song I did not write and do not own. Olivia Benson and Alex Cabot are the creation of Dick Wolf, and I'm guessing he owns them too. I borrowed the song and the characters.

In a small hotel room, somewhere in the Bronx, the television flickered mutely and a CD played softly on repeat track. Two women lay, tangled in each others' arms. On a desk across the room there was a triple-a map with a route clearly marked in red.

9 south
7 west
280
20
280
81
11
A small town in the Finger Lakes region was circled.
20 west 290
190
Niagara falls
The line faltered from the roads, into a squiggling, curling, spiraling design, they'd play it by ear once they crossed the border, until they found a nice little church, somewhere in Canada. Or maybe just a justice of the peace. It didn't really matter which. Maybe in a small town, or maybe in a big city, Toronto or Ottawa, someplace vaguely reminiscent of a less graffiti-ed New York City. They'd be using their real names, despite the risks. Alex Cabot and Olivia Benson. Alex was tired of being someone else, and Olivia never wanted to experience the strangeness that assuming an identity entailed, it was better this way.

"Outside the barracks, by the corner light,
I'll always stand and wait for you at night
We will create a world for two.
I'll wait for you the whole night through,
For you Lili Marlene, for you Lili Marlene.

Bugler tonight, don't play the call to arms,
I want another evening with her charms,
Then we will say goodbye and part,
I'll always keep you in my heart,
With me Lili Marlene, with me Lili Marlene.

Give me a rose to show how much you care,
Tie to the stem a lock of golden hair.
Surely tomorrow, you'll feel blue,
But then will come a love that's true
For you Lili Marlene, for you Lili Marlene.

When we are marching in the mud and cold,
And when my pack seems more than I can hold,
My love for you renews my might.
I'm warm again, my pack is light.
It's you Lili Marlene, it's you Lili Marlene."

It was the first time in two years, for either of them, that they got a good night's sleep. No nightmares or tossing and turning, no insomnia, just peace.