A/N: Thanks so much for the fic love. Your comments really cheered me up. Now, on to some more Alex/Olivia time.

"It's not my place to hold her down and it's hard for me to take a stand when I would take her anyway I can."

Alex woke up the next morning with her head still on Olivia's chest. She had planned on going home, getting dressed, and then going over to Sarah's for Olivia's party, but she just couldn't get herself to leave. Instead, she decided to stay on the couch and cuddle until Olivia woke up. As Olivia was sleeping, Alex took it upon herself to slightly lift Olivia's tank top high enough to expose her belly button. She gently ran her fingertips over the exposed skin and started to revel in the intensity of the moment. Last night, she had been so caught up in seeing Olivia that she failed to take in her surroundings. Now that she had nothing but time, she looked around and noticed how un-welcoming the apartment was. There wasn't a single picture of Olivia on the living room walls or any basketball trophies on display. Alex had only known Olivia for a couple of weeks and she was already proud of her accomplishments. Why wasn't her mother?

"What are you doing?" Olivia asked playfully.

"Feeling your skin," Alex told her. "Do you want me to stop?"

"I don't know," Olivia said even though she started to kiss her. Alex had never been kissed that passionately before and she wasn't sure what she should do next. Was there a particular place she was supposed to touch Olivia? Would Olivia be upset if she tried touching her chest?

"Maybe we should stop," Alex suggested. It was the last thing she wanted to do, but she was afraid of how Olivia might react if she touched her in the wrong place.

"Okay," Olivia said. "I'm not ready to..."

"...yeah, me neither," Alex agreed. "We haven't even made out."

"We haven't even made out yet," Olivia stressed. "But we will when we're ready. I want to take my time with you."

"You plan on keeping me around?" Alex asked.

"Just until after we have sex," Olivia said and kissed her one more time. "I'm going to take a shower now."

"Okay," Alex told her. "I'm going home. I'll meet you at Sarah's in a couple of hours."

"No, stay here," Olivia insisted. "We're practically the same size. You can shower here and then wear something of mine."

"Anything for the birthday girl," Alex said. The moment she knew Olivia was in the shower, she started dancing around the room. Olivia didn't want her to leave. She wasn't sure how long Olivia's mood was going to last, but she was going to enjoy it for as long as she could.

After they both had showered, Olivia led Alex to her bedroom so they could both pick out something to wear. As Olivia reached for something in her closet, her shirt went up and Alex saw some bruises on Olivia's side.

"Olivia, what's that?" she asked.

"What's what?"

"Those bruises," she said as she gently ran her fingers over them. "What happened?"

"Skateboarding accident," Olivia said and tried to shrug it off.

"A skateboarding accident?" Alex asked, refusing to believe her story.

"Yes," Olivia insisted. "Shawn and I are always trying to outdo each other, especially when it comes to basketball and skateboarding. I was grinding on a rail a couple of days ago and I fell."

"Wouldn't you have scraped your elbow or something instead?" Alex asked. "You wouldn't have bruises on your side."

"You've obviously never been on a skateboard before," Olivia said defensively.

"I have and that's how I know you would have been scraped instead of bruised," Alex responded. "Olivia, what the hell is going on?"

"Nothing!"

"Bullshit! I know you're lying to me."

"I'm not lying to you," Olivia insisted.

"Is it your mom?" Alex asked.

"No," Olivia said. Even though she was trying to be calm, Alex could tell her eyes were starting to water.

"Olivia," Alex said softly and tried to hold her close. "Is she hurting you?"

"No!" Olivia said and started sobbing.

"Honey, you're my girl," Alex told her. "I wanna be there for you."

"I'm not your girl," Olivia said angrily.

"Olivia, I'm sorry."

"Just leave, okay?"

"But your party is in a couple of hours. Want me to meet you at Sarah's?"

"No," Olivia insisted. "I think it's best if you just go home. I'll see you at school."

"You're uninviting me to your party?"

"You ask too many damn questions, Alex," Olivia said after she had finally freed herself from Alex's arms. "You can't just leave anything alone. We were fine until you started prying into everything. I like you, Alex. I really like you. You make me feel things I've never felt before, but you can't just enjoy what we have. Every time we're together, you turn it into some kind of interrogation. There are just some things you shouldn't know, Alex, and you have to accept that."

"Okay," Alex said hesitantly. She untied her robe in front of Olivia, but Olivia wasn't even paying attention to what she was doing, which hurt Alex even more.

"I want to look," Olivia told her. "Don't think I don't want to."

"Then look," Alex insisted, but Olivia didn't look. Instead, she sat on her bed and tried hiding her face between her knees. That's when the insults began again. Alex heard everything from "I hate you, Olivia" to "I knew I should have had an abortion."

"Olivia, honey, what are you saying?" Alex asked. She knew she shouldn't have asked another question, but Olivia didn't seem to mind. Instead, she motioned for Alex to sit next to her.

"Does your mom love you?" Olivia asked through her sobs.

"Yes," Alex said hesitantly. "Why?"

"Mine doesn't," Olivia admitted. "And I have no idea why."

"I'm sure she does," Alex said even though she wasn't sure exactly why she had said that. She knew nothing of Olivia's relationship with her mother.

"No, she doesn't," Olivia insisted. "She tells me everyday. I just want to know why she doesn't love me. I'm a good daughter. I do everything I'm supposed to. I've never gotten in trouble at school. I work my ass off around here. On top of that, I'm in the top 15 of our class and I've lettered in basketball three years in a row."

Alex had no idea what to say at that moment. Olivia had opened up to her. She had actually opened up to her. Now, she had to think of something to tell her. Should she tell her that she cared about her? Should she try to kiss her? Should she say something comforting? There were so many things Alex could have said at that moment, but without thinking she asked Olivia yet another question.

"Just tell me, Olivia. Is your mom the one who gave you those bruises?"

"Get out of here, Alex," Olivia said angrily.

"Olivia–"

"Get out!" she insisted. "I don't want to see you anymore!"

Alex put her sweats on and left as quickly as she could. She wanted to cry, but she held back her tears until she reached her apartment.

"Sweetheart, are you okay?" her dad asked.

"I'm fine, Daddy," Alex said and hurried to her room. She made sure to lock the door so nobody would disturb her.

When she knew she had privacy, Alex finally let herself cry. She had no idea what she should be feeling at that moment. Even though they were strict, Alex was suddenly grateful for her parents, but being grateful for her parents made her feel guilty. She realized that some people weren't as fortunate as she was, Olivia in particular. She wanted to believe Olivia's bruises were from falling off of her skateboard, but she knew it wasn't true. She wanted to do something–anything–for Olivia, but she knew there was nothing she could do. She knew she could care about Olivia and be her girl, but that wasn't enough. Alex just couldn't imagine someone not loving Olivia. When Alex looked at Olivia, she saw a beautiful and talented young woman. She wanted to know what Olivia's mother saw when she looked at Olivia and why she saw her that way. Alex wondered why she just couldn't love Olivia. Even though she had only known her for a short time, Alex was finding it hard not to love Olivia.

She wondered what Olivia was doing at that moment. She hoped she had stopped crying and that she was getting ready to go to Sarah's place. She wanted to call Sarah and ask if she had heard from Olivia, but she knew if she were to call it would only worry Sarah and cause more grief for Olivia.

As she was debating what she should do, her phone started to ring.

"Hello?"

"It's Olivia. Do you want to go to Sarah's?"

Alex wanted to tell her there was no doubt about wanting to go to Sarah's. She imagined Olivia blowing out 17 candles on her birthday cake and having a frosting fight with Shawn. She imagined her laughing and smiling and leading Alex to a secluded place so they could kiss. Then, she imagined what was most likely to happen. Olivia would probably kiss her once and spend the rest of the night either ignoring her to be with Shawn or becoming upset with her over one thing or another. As much as she wanted to be with Olivia, she wasn't ready for a repeat of this morning.

"I'm going to stay in tonight," Alex said and hoped it wouldn't break Olivia's heart.

"Oh," Olivia said sadly and then hung up.

Instead of crying, Alex turned on her computer and went online hoping that her friends from Framingham were available for one of their chat room sessions. She knew the conversation would be superficial, but she felt like that was exactly what she needed.