AN: Hope y'all are enjoying the story so far. Please continue to leave me your comments/suggestions. They are always appreciated. As I said before I'm gonna try to post as many chapters as I can before the holiday. Is anyone else ready for Thanksgiving? I know I am!

Chapter 17: Whatever Happens Happens

Rae stood there with her mouth open like an idiot. "Am I imagining things?" she thought to herself. "This can't be happening." She was expecting someone to pinch her and bring her back to reality. Olivia Benson couldn't possibly be standing at her door. After a couple of moments of silence Olivia decided to speak.

"Hi. I got this for you." she said handing Rae her take out.

"Hi. Thanks." Rae said. She was still a little confused about what was happening. "What are you doing here?" she asked a bit harsher than she intended.

"I just...ummm...I just wrapped up a case and I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh. Did you lose my number?" Rae asked. Olivia was confused by the question. "You said you wanted to talk to me. You have my number. You could've just called. Why are you here?" Araeyah wanted Olivia to be more specific about why she came to her apartment at nine o'clock at night. "I...I..." Olivia stumbled her words before looking up at Rae. She raised her eyebrows as if to tell Olivia to go on. "I wanted to see you." Olivia finally admitted. Satisfied with that answer Araeyah turned and walked into her apartment. Olivia took her gesture of leaving the door open as an invitation for her to enter. She closed and locked the door behind her before walking further into the loft.

Olivia looked around taking in the set up of the place. It was nice and simple. The kitchen had all the things you'd expect: refrigerator, dishwasher, sink, stove...the usual. There was breakfast bar separating the kitchen from the living and dining room area. In her living room, a mirrored coffee table sat on a large multicolored rug with a zig zag pattern. There was a charcoal sunflower patterned loveseat facing the window and a blue couch facing the plasma tv mounted on the wall. Along the back wall was a set of shelves full of books. Between the book shelves and the couch was a dinner table set for six. The window was adorned with curtains that matched the rug on the floor. Art and posters were sporadically placed around the room.

"Do you like it? I decorated myself." Rae said from the kitchen. She'd been watching as Olivia looked around her loft. "I do. It looks great. Very you" Olivia said before taking a seat on the couch. Rae walked over with two plates a bottle of water and a beer. She handed one of the plates and the beer to Olivia before sitting down on the couch with her own plate and placing her bottle of water on the table. "What?" Rae said noticing the look on Olivia's face. "You think I can't get beer?"

"Uh...obviously you can." Olivia said sitting the beer on the table and focusing on her food. "It's the house tofu dinner. I don't eat meat so...sorry" Rae said. Olivia let out a small chuckle. "It's fine." They ate in silence for a few minutes before Rae spoke again. "So what was the case you were working on?" she asked. Olivia got a deer in the headlights look on her face. She wasn't sure if she wanted to talk shop with Araeyah. She didn't want to put all that filth in her head. "It's ok." Rae said interrupting her thoughts. "I wanna know."

"Uh, ok. It was at Hudson University. A freshman girl was drugged and raped at a party." Rae had regretted she'd asked for a moment but she liked the idea of Olivia being to talk to her about her work. She wanted to be able to be there for her if she needed to vent. "So you found the guy that hurt her? The case is over?" Olivia looked at Rae and could see that she genuinely wanted to know about Liv's work. "Yeah, we found him and arrested him. He confessed which is always a good thing. It saves the victim from going through a trial."

"So what is it, then? What's bugging you?" Rae asked as she continued to work on her dinner. Something in Olivia's voice said there was more going on. "I just...I don't know. I just couldn't stop thinking about you and..."

"And how not long from now that girl could be me." Rae said finishing her sentence. "Yeah." Olivia said sadly. "I'm ok. I'm gonna be ok. Anyways I'm not even going to Hudson so you don't have to about it." Rae quipped. Olivia looked like she was about to go on a tangent. "I'm kidding. I'm kidding." Rae said holding her hands up. "I'm sorry. I guess I shouldn't joke about it. You shouldn't worry about things that might not happen." Rae said simply.

Olivia picked up her beer and took a drink. "How did you get this?" she asked changing the subject. Rae laughed debating whether she should tell her. "I have my ways." she said with a smile. "If I tell you then you'd have to be a cop and I don't want you to be a cop with me." Rae had an intense look in her eyes. All of a sudden Olivia felt hot. She shifted in her seat and took another drink from her beer. "I have a fake id." Rae admitted. "Are you gonna confiscate it?" Rae had a fake nervous look on her face. Olivia shook her head no before sitting her beer back on the table. "Good because I'd just get another anyway." she said getting a laugh from Olivia. Rae waited for a few minutes as she finished her food and beer. When she was done she took their plates and Olivia's empty beer bottle to the kitchen. She offered her another beer but she declined so she went back to the couch and sat down indian style. She leaned forward putting her elbows on her knees. "Why'd you come here, Olivia. I know you said you wanted to see me and your case made you think of me all but...just last night you said you couldn't talk to me anymore. Don't get me wrong I'm trilled that you're here I just..." Rae paused causing Olivia to look her in the eyes. "I need to know what this is. What are we doing?"

"I don't know" Olivia said softly looking down at her hands. "This is really hard for me. I can't deny how you make me feel but...I'm a cop. I say that things like this are wrong all the time and I'm contemplating doing it myself."

"I don't understand. What do you mean things like this?" Rae wasn't sure what Olivia was getting at. They were two people who liked each other and wanted to try at a relationship. "I mean someone my age being with someone your age. I've always looked down on things like this." Rae could tell the Olivia was really struggling with her feelings. She wasn't sure what to say to get rid of her hesitations. "I'm eighteen. We wouldn't be doing anything wrong." That didn't seem to be enough for her. "I know what I'm doing. I know what I want. I'm not some naïve kid. I grew up a while ago." Olivia wasn't sure if she wanted to ask what had happened to make Rae grow up so fast. She decided that whatever her answer was, she wanted to know. "What do you mean?"

"I was eight when my dad parents were really in love. He was it for her. You know, that once in a lifetime soul mate. So when he died, she had a really tough time. She threw herself into work; started drinking. She kinda fell apart. I had to take care of her...and me. She decided to start seeing a therapist after she almost lost her job for the second time. She stopped drinking but she started working even more. It was hard for her to be around me. I think I reminded her too much of him." Rae got up from the couch and went over to her book shelves. She pulled a box down and started looking through it as she walked back over to the couch. She sat back down, this time sitting closer to Olivia, and pulled a picture from the box. "That's him. That's my dad", she said handing the picture to Olivia. "Oh wow. You are definitely his daughter." Olivia said looking at the picture. Rae laughed, "Yeah. We were twins." Rae handed the box to Olivia so she could look through it. "Anyway, I had to do for myself for a while. When I was ten we moved to Texas for my mom's job. She's a psychiatrist and they hired a team to conduct some sort of study. She was one of the doctors they chose. That's where she met Charles and they got married when I was twelve. He had lost his wife a couple of years earlier...cancer. I think they bonded over that."

Araeyah watched as Olivia looked through her pictures. She pulled out one that was more recent. "That's my mom there and that's Charles and of course that's me." she said pointing everyone out. "Who's this?" Olivia asked pointing to the blonde haired boy in the photo. "That's Jimmy, Charles' son. He's two years younger than me. When Charles and my mom got together they both worked all the time; even after the study ended; so we had to take care of ourselves. Of course, Jimmy was only eight and couldn't do much for himself, so really it was me that had to take care of both of us. Things kind of settled down though after they got married. They were home more; trying to do the whole family thing...you know being all cute and perfect. Family dinners and family game nights and family...whatevers." Rae let out a small laugh. "My mom got better with being around me and talking to me. We started spending a lot of time together. It was nice. Then when I was fifteen we moved here. Charles started working for this pharmaceutical company and my mom opened her own practice so I had to step up again...take care of things at home. I was like Charles' stand in wife, you know, entertaining people for dinners, going to talks and benefits. Then Jimmy started hanging out with...a tough crowd. I had to bail him out a few times. I had to be the grown up. I did it so well that I had no problems moving out as soon as I turned eighteen. My parents weren't worried at all. I'm not a kid. You're not taking advantage of me." Rae said looking Olivia in the eyes. Olivia held her gaze for a moment before looking away. Rae wanted to know what she was thinking. This state of uncertainty was killing her. "Say something." she said.

"I...I just.." Olivia didn't know what to say. "I don't know, Rae."

"Ok. How about we make a deal? I don't have to be your girlfriend. We don't have to say we're dating..." Olivia opened her mouth to say something. "Just hear me out." Rae said cutting her off before she could speak. "Let's just agree to talk and get to know each other and see where it goes. We don't have to have any labels. There's no pressure, no expectations. We're just two people...getting to know each other. Whatever happens...happens." Rae looked at Olivia with hopeful eyes. "Ok." Olivia agreed. Rae let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "Ok." she said with a smile.

They sat and talked for another hour and a half before Olivia decided that she should head home. Rae finished her homework and went to bed feeling like she was on cloud nine. "Finally" she thought to herself. Her relationship with Olivia had finally begun. Maybe Olivia didn't know that but Rae certainly did. She knew Olivia wanted to be with her but she also knew that it wouldn't be easy for them. Now it was up to Rae to convince her that she'd be worth the trouble. Olivia had agreed to get to know her. That was all Rae needed.