Olivia is sniffling beside her on the plane; Alex absentmindedly hands her a tissue and glances out the window; it seemed like yesterday, but it was nearly eleven years ago that she met Olivia. It had been nearly five of those, however, that she was stashed away in Cow Town, USA for her own safety; the two needed some catching up.

"So are you going to claim allergies or are you going to take some Nyquil like a man and sleep this off?"

"You're funny." Olivia blows her nose and closes her eyes. "No more than 10oz of liquid on a plane. Do not tease me with visions of medication. Good night." With that, Olivia turned away from Alex and pulled her blanket over her head. Alex grinned and rubbed her back.

"For the love of God, Al. I told you that you were going to get sunburned. I'm sorry, but you're pale as a ghost," Olivia smiles and rolls her eyes as she tosses the bottle of sunscreen on Alex's hotel bed. They've been in Hawaii for two days and Olivia is miraculously over her cold and Alex has already gotten herself sunburned.

"Thanks," Alex sits on the edge of the bed and reaches for the bottle. Olivia saunters past her and takes a drink from a bottle of water. They'd been a little shy around each other as of late, due to their close proximity and fragility of their friendship. As Olivia would say, 'the mission of this vacation is to rebuild the connection we had, not to mindlessly fuck around.' Already, Alex is playing Ella Fitzgerald over the stereo, which really isn't helping the friendship motif.

"Hey, Liv, can you grab my phone out of my bag…" as Alex speaks, a bang echoes from the hallway and both women jump. Someone starts shouting; a second later, two bloody gunshots pierce the air. Something hits the door of their room.

Alex wordlessly dives to the floor, panic flitting behind her eyes. Olivia sidles up to the door. Ella and Louis' voices fill the room, and a muffled moaning comes from the other side of the door. Olivia motions to Alex, who quickly grabs Olivia's bag and pulls out her handgun, sliding it across the floor. She remembers badgering Olivia about it at the airport, about how they had to get there so much earlier because of the weapon, and how they weren't going to need a gun a paradise.

For once in her life, Alex Cabot is glad to admit she was wrong.

Olivia cringes as another shot goes off; the aftershock sounds like it's ricocheted off something metallic. Feet run past the door. A woman crying.

Olivia cracks open the hotel room door, gun loaded, all senses on full alert. A limp, but still breathing body slumps through the crack and Alex creeps forward and pulls her into the room, checking the bloodied woman for weapons. The chick is dressed like a hooker, and Alex figures that's what she probably is. From what's visible, it looks like she was shot twice in the leg. Olivia gives Alex a backwards glance as she leaves and slips out of the hotel room.

"Hey!"

"Police—stop resisting!" Olivia catches the alleged shooter near the emergency staircase and knocks the weapon from his hand. He didn't hear her coming around the corner; he was entering something into his phone. She has him on the ground in seconds, his arms twisted behind his back. An ambulance siren sounds in the background.

"What do you think you're doing?" An eerily familiar voice shrieks behind Olivia and she turns her head. She's now aware of the sound of marching footsteps coming up the hotel staircase.

"I'm an off-duty police officer. And you are…?"

"FBI… Detective Benson?"

"Agent Lewis?"

Things just got awkward.

Author's Note: If you got through that, you're amazing. I foolishly started out this story without knowing where I was going, and now I have a horrendous case of Spastic Author Disease. It's bad. I mean really bad; and it doesn't help that this is the first thing I revisit after my long writing-block inspired hiatus, huh?

So I need/beg for your help! Please PM me, or leave a comment, and tell me what you want to see in this fic. (Besides A/O, I have THAT planned.) Give me plot suggestions, chapter suggestions, anything! I will love you forever for it.

Thanks for bearing with me 3

--Wallie