Author's Notes: Ever feel like you can't breathe? Yeah, I have. In fact that's how I woke up today. Dog was laying on my chest with her butt in my face. I woke up staring at a hairy ass. Specifically a hairy pomeranian ass. Oh well I still love my puppy she just likes to make sure I know my place apparently. We're currently curled up in our recliner contemplating what we're doing for breakfast. I want bacon, Bella wants eggs AND bacon I'm sure. Meh. Oh well. I'll get food eventually. Anyways, reviews I can haz thems? They make me want to complete this thing. I'm still shocked at how popular it is. I really never though it would be the most popular one out of the three of the fics that have been posted so far. I figured it would be Decadence but it appears that I was incorrect and this one took the cake. Go figure. Still I'm quite happy with the response and I shall continue to try and keep it going. Now I'm off to watch the new season of SVU and either cringe in pain or just ignore everything else and drool over my favorite brunette and her blone counterpart. I still have hope that it will prove to be decent but we'll see. I may just end up watching my boxed sets of the first 12 seasons. *holds them close* They are one my prized posessions. Anyways, like always let me know what you think yeah?

Chapter 7

Alex ran after Livia as soon as she fled the room leaving the two Detectives to deal with Jocelyn on their own. She saw Munch and Fin looking concerned at the way Olivia curled in on herself and tried to avoid their looks. She shook her head and motioned quietly for them to leave so she could try and get Livia talking. When the door shut she walked over to the corner Livia had fled to and knelt down so she could speak to her.

"Livia? Are you all right?" She asked keeping her voice soft and not reaching out for her. Even with these precautions Livia still flinched away from her.

"Go away." She finally said. "You're the reason she doesn't want me anymore."

"What?" Alex asked stunned.

Livia lifted her head and that's when Alex saw it. The ever present leather collar was still there that still hadn't been removed but the little silver tag that hung from it was suddenly missing. She gasped realizing what had happened. In the process of their talk Jocelyn had somehow removed it.

"What does that mean?" She asked motioning towards the collar and it's lack of a tag.

Livia reached up tracing her hand over the leather before shaking her head her brown eyes sad. "It means she gave me to you."

"Livia she can't do that." Alex immediately protested.

Tearful brown eyes stared back at her. "She can and she did."

"Livia only you can make that decision."

Livia shook her head. "No she can and she did. I'm yours now. Not hers and if I hadn't insisted on coming here she wouldn't have been able to give me away."

Alex frowned trying to find a way to comfort the beautiful brunette but in the end making the decision. "How about I take you back to the hospital?"

"I hate that place. Don't send me back there." Livia immediately whimpered. "Can't I go to your home? That's where I'm supposed to go right? Unless you want to give me away as well." The voice she used was so heartbreaking that Alex squeezed her eyes shut trying to keep herself from crying before she opened her eyes.

"Would you want to come home with me?"

"No. I want to go to my home but I can't so I have to make do with what I've got. So I would rather go to your home than to the hospital." Livia shook her head and Alex nodded watching her sadly. "May I ask you something?" She asked not scooting out of her corner for comfort like she would before.

Alex nodded, "Anything."

"May we go to the hospital and get Mitsuru? They're not going to give her back to Jocelyn either and I would feel more comfortable with someone familiar with me. We can both do chores while you're away and make ourselves useful."

"You won't have to do any of that." Alex protested. "But we will go get her. They're planning to release her as well. They just needed to figure out where she was going to go."

Livia nodded, "Is that okay? That she comes to stay?"

"Yes of course." Alex was willing to do anything if it made Livia comfortable.

Livia nodded and slid to her feet she didn't get close to Alex even when both Detectives came towards her after shutting the interview door.

"You okay Olivia?" Elliot asked concerned for his former partner's mentality.

She flinched at his voice but still refused to go near Alex. Ashley frowned noticing the tag was missing immediately and looked at Alex who shook her head quietly.

"I'm going to take her home with me." Alex explained lamely.

Elliot shot her a look and then looked back at Olivia. "Do you want to go home with Alex? You know you're more than welcome to stay with me." He offered immediately.

Livia flinched further and twisted away so she was slightly hidden by Alex's taller more willowy frame. "Elliot it would probably be best for her to go home with Alex. Her place will be much quieter than yours with the twins running around." Ashley pointed out softly not wanting to upset the already delicate situation.

Elliot nodded though he stared sadly at Olivia and longed to have his former partner and friend back. It didn't appear to be happening any time soon.

"Livia!" Mitsuru's voice was surprised and happy as soon as she walked through the hospital door followed by Alex. She looked up as her petite friend ran towards her and pulled her into an embrace. She held on as tight as she could the tears flowing unchecked from her eyes. Mitsuru pulled away reaching up to wipe her tears away and gasped. "Oh Livia." She had immediately taken notice of the lack of tag on Livia's collar and knew exactly what it meant.

Livia shook her head not wanting to talk about it in front of Alex and Mitsuru for once agreed that it would be best for them to talk in private. She tucked Livia against her and looked at the blonde wearily before turning her eyes to Livia as she sniffled and pulled away. "We're going to stay with Alex Mitsuru. That is if it's okay with you?" Livia's brown eyes begged her to be okay with it and Mitsuru nodded.

"That's fine Livia. As long as we're together." She immediately agreed seeing that her friend would need her since the woman she truly should've gotten what she needed from had so obviously given her up to the blonde woman.

Not a word was spoken between the three as they took a cab back to Alex' uptown penthouse. She set her keys in the bowl on the table by the door and turned to allow the other two in. Mitsuru was much more subdued than Alex had heard of her being and she wondered if what Elliot had said about her was true but she noticed the way she kept her arms around Livia and led her into the room glaring a bit at her but keeping it to a minimum for Livia's sake she assumed.

"Is she asleep?" Alex asked turning when she heard movement coming from the hallway and then entering her kitchen. Mitsuru stood in front of her dressed in a pair of her yoga pants which had to be rolled up several times and a tank top. She nodded, "Yes finally. She's very upset but it's understandable." She walked into the kitchen and unlike Livia who seemed to timid and tentative with everything immediately pulled herself up on the counter. Alex blinked and watched as Mitsuru folded her arms and looked at her.

"She's yours now. You realize that right?" She asked swinging her legs back and forth slightly. She reached up twisting a lock of bright red hair around on her finger studying Alex in the bright lighting of the cream colored kitchen. Alex looked down at the granite counter top before she spoke.

"Livia belongs to no one but herself. Certainly not me." Alex pointed out as she took a sip from her glass of water.

Mitsuru's legs stopped swinging as she stared at her. "You don't get it do you? She's yours now. She belonged to Jocelyn and now she belongs to you."

"I don't view her the way Jocelyn did." Alex started.

"Then give her to someone who does. Or better yet get Jocelyn out of this mess and get Livia back to her."

"I can't do that." Alex glared at the little redhead who shook her head in disgust.

"Jocelyn and people like her are what Livia needs. They're all she knows so if you are going to jerk her around and not act properly towards her than give her to someone who can."

"Livia needs to learn to be her own person." Alex shook her head setting the glass down on the counter and turned to face Mitsuru.

Mitsuru's eyes flashed angrily before she took a slow breath and released it. "Do you know what it's like to be abused? To be hurt and scared? To know you'd be willing to do anything for anyone to feel safe? That's how Livia felt back then and Jocelyn provided the safety net she needed and still needs. If you can't be her safety net then give her up but don't make the mistake of trying to give her back the freedom she'll thrust away with both hands. It'll break her even worse than what you all thought Jocelyn had done to any of us."

"I don't know what any of that is like. I don't know what it's like to know that you would do anything to feel safe. I do know what it's like to feel isolated and alone and scared. I also know that you have to stand on your own two feet if you have any hopes of getting over that." Alex explained calmly though her eyes clouded over from her own experiences in witness protection.

Mitsuru frowned looking down before taking a breath. "Do you know how I came to belong to Jocelyn?"

Alex looked up and shook her head.

"My father was a drunk and my mother was a whore. They sold me when I was five to a man whose wife died in childbirth leaving him with a little infant he had no idea how to raise. She wanted a playmate and my parents wanted to get high. So I became her playmate until she was old enough to not want me anymore and I was sold again; this time to an old family friend of Jocelyn's. He was an older man incapable of doing anything to me other than looking but he was kind and he treated me well. I met Jocelyn a few times while he was still alive and she was always kind to me. He used to call me his little fire and he wanted me to dye my hair this red color. I was happy to do so and I kept up with it even when Jocelyn took me in. She said it suited me.

I was only with him about two years before he got sick. Cancer in the lungs very painful. He was close to dying and he knew it. His son overbearing son of a bitch that he was had his eye on me and my former master knew it. He'd protected me as long as he could and with his death his son was due to inherit everything including me. He told me that I would be nothing but a bed ornament if I stayed within his family but I could choose my freedom which he would give me without question or I could choose to be sold to Jocelyn. I didn't even know where to begin to be free. I couldn't go back to my parents they would beat me to death or worse and I certainly couldn't go out on my own how would I survive? I chose Jocelyn and I never regretted it. She was kind and she took care of me in the way not even my former master had. She made sure I was educated, she made sure I knew how to care for myself, she made sure I knew how to handle money and other things like that. Most of these were so new to me I didn't even know where to begin. She taught me how to be independent which was the greatest gift she could've given me."

"Then why didn't she do that for Livia?"

"Because Livia wouldn't let her. She didn't want to learn any of it. She just wanted to be with Jocelyn. Unlike me Livia was brought to us under atrocious conditions. She had been beaten, tortured and though I never asked most likely she'd been raped. If Jocelyn knew she never said and I never asked Livia for fear of upsetting her and by default upsetting Jocelyn for my troubles. She was scared, hurt and had no idea who she used to be aside from something the little girl in the cell with her who she was told was her little sister that called her Libby. Jocelyn took her to one of her friends he's a very well-known doctor but there was nothing he could do for her. There's a scar on the back of her head. He thought maybe that's where the memory loss came from but there was no way to bring it back and Livia didn't seem to suffer from any other damage other than that so Jocelyn made the decision to bring her back to the manor to live. " Mitsuru paused seeming to think before she began to speak again.

"Jocelyn tried to get Livia to remember anything from her old life but it was no use. Nothing came back. It just seemed to agitate her and she grew fearful that if she couldn't remember Jocelyn would get rid of her and that scared her more than anything. So she stopped pushing and told Livia that what would be would be and they would figure out together. Livia was so happy that day. She'd never had anyone tell her they would figure something out together. She said she could only remember being alone and trying to protect her sister Elaine. I think though the happiest I ever saw her was the day Jocelyn gave her her collar." Mitsuru once again paused biting her lip for a moment before smiling. "She was so proud, she had to show it to all of us. We normally didn't wear our collars unless it was a special occasion. We all had them but we had the choice of wearing them or not but Livia she said she was never taking hers off that it was a mark of how loved she was. When Jocelyn put the tag on her collar a few days later I thought Livia was going to explode she was so happy. She was always touching it you know? Holding it like it would somehow protect her against anything."

"That's why she never let anyone get close enough to look at it."

Mitsuru nodded, "Yeah. It was her protection in some way only known to her. It was what she needed and now you're going to have to provide her with what she needs. It may seem weird and different to you but if you care about her which I think you do, Jocelyn wouldn't have given you to her if she didn't think you honestly didn't care for Livia, you'll give her what she needs to survive. If you don't, you'll have to watch her wither and die and frankly if that happens I won't be the only one you'll have to deal with." With that Mitsuru slid off the counter and left the kitchen going back to the bedroom she was sharing with Livia to lay down with her to try and get some rest leaving Alex to contemplate her words in the silence of the kitchen.

Author's Endings Notes: Mwahahaahahaha! *starts to hack* Argh. Can't do that for long. Anyways, next chapter is here. I wrote it last night but I wanted to edit it when I got up. Going to the gym later so I may not get the next chapter written until tonight we'll see. I'm rather proud of this one honestly. I didn't think I'd get this far on it nor did I think it would get this popular. I appreciate all the nice words and people favoriting this thing and all that. It's quite humbling actually.