"And if our always is all that we gave and we someday take that away, I'll be alright if it was just 'til St. Patrick's Day."

Ever since they had lost their virginity to each other, Alex and Olivia had been even more inseparable than they were before. They had decided to hold off on having sex again because they didn't want their future relationship to be purely physical. Olivia told Alex that she had planned on being with her forever, which meant they had their entire adult life to have sex. Alex told her mom about the discussion she and Olivia had about holding off on sex and she was thrilled. Alex knew she was in for weeks and maybe months of being sexually frustrated, but she agreed with Olivia's reason for wanting to hold off on having sex again. She loved Olivia and she knew she could only love her more as time went on.

Olivia had told her that she was going to take her out early on her birthday, so Alex decided to go to bed so she could be rested and ready for whatever Olivia had in mind. She was hoping for a romantic day with Olivia, but she knew that wasn't her style. Their day would probably be adventurous as opposed to romantic. Even though she preferred romance, what mattered the most was becoming Olivia's girlfriend. She wanted to officially use a title when she talked about Olivia. She didn't want her to be her "crush" or the girl she was dating. It trivialized their feelings for each other, especially when she spoke to her parents about Olivia.

Ever since she realized she liked girls, Alex had daydreamed about what having a girlfriend would be like. She imagined holding hands and kissing in between classes and that's exactly what she had been doing with Olivia ever since they had lost their virginity to each other. The two of them had tried to hide their sexuality from their classmates until Olivia became fed up with it. Every time they saw a heterosexual couple holding hands at school, Alex would gaze longingly at Olivia and Olivia would just smile at her until one day she worked up the nerve to lace her fingers with Alex's and hold her hand as she walked her to class. They weren't the only lesbian couple at their school, but Alex felt as if holding hands in public was a huge victory for her and Olivia. She tried to be nonchalant so Olivia wouldn't think she was childish, but Sarah and Shawn teased her about how much she was smiling as Olivia walked her to class with her hand in hers. In between classes, Olivia would make time to meet her. Olivia's intentions were to talk to Alex and give her one of their "I'll see you in an hour" hugs, but Alex would always lead her to a secluded place on campus so they could squeeze in at least two or three minutes of make-out time before their next class. Alex felt as if she was in a movie and she wondered if her love life was particularly exciting or if everyone felt the same way when they fell in love for the first time. She told Olivia this and all she did was give her a quick kiss and tell her that she hopes she never changes.

Alex had been asleep for less than two hours when her parents entered her room at midnight carrying a cupcake with a lit candle in it.

"What's going on?" Alex asked, half-asleep. The two of them began singing 'Happy Birthday' to Alex and she tried her hardest not to be embarrassed. She hated when people sang to her on her birthday. She never knew what to do as they were singing. Should she smile? Should she sing along? Instead, she smiled and waited for the song to be over with so she could blow out the candle.

"What did you wish for?" Mr. Cabot asked.

Before she could answer, Mrs. Cabot cut in. "Let me guess, it was something about Olivia."

"How did you know?" Alex asked.

"Because everything you say is about Olivia," Mrs. Cabot teased. "Now, get up and go to the living room. Your gift is waiting."

Alex quickly got up and went over to the living room. She hadn't asked her parents for anything for her birthday, so she was surprised that her parents had actually bought her a gift and were so eager to give it to her.

When she entered the living room, she saw Olivia sitting on the couch, holding a bouquet of roses.

"Liv!" Alex said excitedly.

"Happy birthday," she said shyly.

Alex looked at her parents for approval before going over to Olivia and giving her a hug. "It's okay," Mr. Cabot told her. "You're 17 now and Olivia has been eager to ask you something. She showed up half an hour ago and asked our permission first, like a proper young woman."

The hug from Alex made Olivia completely forget about the flowers she had brought her. She nearly tripped as she went back to the couch to pick them up and give them to Alex.

"These are for you," she said and noticed that Alex was blushing.

"They're beautiful," Alex told her. It was the first time someone other than her parents had ever given her flowers and she was trying to live in the moment as much as she could. She wanted to kiss Olivia, but she knew she couldn't with her parents standing there and watching their every move.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cabot," Olivia said nervously. "Do you mind if I talk to Alex in private? I promise we won't—we won't…"

"We know, Olivia," Mrs. Cabot told her. "We'll give you ten minutes. That's enough time to talk, but not enough time to—well, it is if you're really bad at it."

"Mom!" Alex groaned. "Can we please have some privacy now?"

When her parents left the room, Alex sat on the sofa and motioned for Olivia to sit next to her. She knew exactly what Olivia was going to ask her, but she was curious how she was going to ask her. She knew it wasn't going to be some grandiose gesture, but the fact that Olivia was even asking her to be her girlfriend was enough for Alex. It had been a little over a month since they had first met and Alex realized how they've come such a long way in such a short time. Olivia's mood swings were practically non-existent and she seemed happier. Alex didn't know if it was because of her, but she liked to pretend that it was.

"I had no idea how I was going to ask you," Olivia admitted. "I thought I was going to ask you at school by slipping a note in your locker or taking you to some romantic place, but that's not me. It's not us."

"What are we?" Alex asked. "How would you define us?"

"I don't know," Olivia told her. "I've been brainstorming this for the past two weeks, but nothing seemed good enough for you. Sometimes I don't even know if I'm good enough for you, but I know that I love you and I know that you've changed me."

"It wasn't my intention to change you," Alex said softly, her fingertips now brushing the palm of Olivia's hand.

"But you did," Olivia admitted. "And I'm glad you did. I've told you this before, but you're the one person who has never given up on me. I pushed you away so many times; I push everyone away, not just you. I wanted you to know that so you wouldn't take it personal, but I couldn't tell you without telling you everything happening in my life and I wasn't ready for that. I'm still not ready to tell you everything, but I've told you more than I've told anyone, even Shawn. I promise I'll tell you more about myself as time goes on, but some things you aren't ready to know. This might be the wrong thing to say, but I want to protect you from everything because you're the first person I've ever depended on for anything. We've had our ups and downs, but these past weeks with you have been the happiest of my life. I actually didn't know it was possible for me to be happy until the moment you kissed me. I love you so much and I know I'm going to love you even more as time goes on. I can already imagine our future together, but I think we should take the next step."

"Which is…?" Alex asked, well aware of what the next step was.

"Will you be my girlfriend?" Olivia asked nervously.

"Yes!" Alex said excitedly. She had already started crying when Olivia was talking, but hearing that question come from Olivia made her cry even more.

"Yes?" Olivia asked to make sure she had heard her correctly.

"Yes!" Alex repeated. "Olivia, I love you, and you know I want to be your girlfriend and so much more than your girlfriend, eventually."

"I'll keep that in mind," Olivia said before she started to kiss Alex. It was their first kiss as girlfriend and girlfriend and both girls wanted it to be special. Their kiss was delicate at first and then Alex parted her lips just enough for Olivia to slowly stick her tongue inside.

"Babe," Alex said shyly, her arms now wrapped around Olivia. "My parents."

"I know," Olivia told her. "That was just…"

"…us getting carried away?" Alex teased. "That's probably going to happen a lot."

"It will," Olivia agreed. "And we're going to make love again when the time is right."

"I think the time is always going to be right," Alex responded, stealing another kiss from Olivia. "I'll never get tired of kissing you."

"You're really going to want to kiss me after I give you your gift," Olivia teased.

"I thought the flowers were my gift?" Alex asked.

"No," Olivia insisted. "That's not good enough for my girl."

Olivia pulled out a gold necklace from the pocket of her jeans and fastened it around Alex's neck. Most girls would have given their girlfriend the necklace inside of a gift box, but Olivia wasn't like most girls. When Olivia was finished fastening the necklace, Alex felt the golden heart pendant against her chest.

"It's beautiful," Alex told her, gently running her fingers across the gold heart.

"Open it," Olivia insisted. "It's a locket."

Alex opened the gold heart to find her favorite picture of Olivia inside. "This is the greatest gift anyone has ever given me," Alex said, trying to hold back the tears that were once again starting to form.

"I have one just like it," Olivia told Alex as she held her close. "Except mine has a picture of you in it. I got these so you can always have me close to your heart and I can have you close to mine."

"And I can have you in my heart, literally," Alex pointed out as she showed Olivia the heart-shaped locket.

"It's been ten minutes," Olivia said sadly. "Your parents will be back any second now."

"Like right now?" Mrs. Cabot asked as she walked in the room with Alex's dad.

"We heard everything," Mr. Cabot informed them.

"Even the part about making love?" Alex asked nervously.

"Even that," Mr. Cabot told her. "And your chastity belt goes on tonight."

"Dad," Alex groaned.

"It'll go on tomorrow then," he teased. "I know Olivia respects you and I heard how much she loves you, so I'll only make you wear it until you're 18 instead of 40."

"Frank!" Mrs. Cabot said and started shaking her head. "Stop giving her a hard time in front of her girlfriend. I can't believe I just said that. My baby has a girlfriend, one I'd consider leaving my own husband for if she was 18."

"Mom!"

"Jolene!"

"Look at her. She's gorgeous," Mrs. Cabot insisted. "You two are such a beautiful young couple and I've never seen my little Alexandra smile the way she does when she's with you."

"This is so embarrassing," Alex muttered when her dad came back with his camera.

Mr. and Mrs. Cabot began snapping pictures of the two of them regardless of how much Alex protested. She tried to smile a fake smile to upset her parents, but being next to Olivia made her smile genuine. They decided to go along with it and smile for as many pictures as her parents wanted to take. Alex knew these pictures were for the 'Alexandra Throughout the Years' scrapbook and she started to imagine the cheesy comments her mom would write on the sides about how her baby now had her first girlfriend.

When Alex's parents put the cameras down, Olivia suggested it was time for her to leave, but Mr. and Mrs. Cabot weren't about to let her roam the streets of New York in the middle of the night. They insisted that she stay there and it didn't take long for Alex to convince her. She had wanted Olivia to sleep next to her in her bed, but Mr. Cabot nearly had a heart attack when Alex suggested that they sleep in the same bed. Instead, the girls pulled out two sleeping bags from the closet and slept next to each other in the living room. They stayed up talking until they knew Alex's parents were asleep. The moment they heard silence coming from the bedroom, Alex pulled Olivia close to her and started to kiss her. They didn't stop kissing until Olivia pointed out that it was now morning, but it didn't matter to Alex what time it was. She pulled her lips away from Olivia's for a few seconds before kissing her again.

It was after 7 in the morning when Alex and Olivia finally fell asleep. They had a long day ahead of them filled with birthday surprises from family and friends, but Alex didn't care. She had already received the gift she had been waiting her whole life for.

The End

A/N: Thanks so much for the fic love, everyone. It has really meant a lot to me. I'm glad you've enjoyed this little story. Have a happy new year!