Author's Notes: Awww...jeez. So there I was at the gym being a pretentious asshole playing on my phone while running on the treadmill all the sweet reviews for this thing. So what did I do? As soon as I got back home I started working on the next installment. I'm pretty okay with it. But I'm sure there are some errors here and there. Sorry about that. I was just sort of excited to get this up after all the sweet reviews and favorite story alerts and all that. So here it is as usual I appreciate the reviews. Once this is complete I'm all ready throwing around an idea for a new fanfic and Rae D. Magdon and I are going to start something soon. I'm very humbled by that last one I must say since she's my favorite author and she's become Alex to my Olivia. So anyways enough of my rambling I'm going to go veg out in the recliner and wait till my wife gets home or inspiration strikes again. Who knows you may get three chapters in one day? Won't you guys be lucky if that happens? Well I'd be the lucky one cause I'd get all the sweet words and all but hey. That's okay. Anyways, ONWARD TO THE STORY!

Chapter 8

"Good morning." Mitsuru chirped when Alex walked into the kitchen at 6:15. She'd stayed up most of the night thinking and unfortunately it showed. Her normally beautifully done hair, was slightly more ragged, her shoulders a bit more hunched even her Prada suit didn't hang as perfectly as it should have. She walked over to the coffee pot knowing she'd set the timer like normal to brew when she was showering but instead it was empty. "What the hell?" She turned to Mitsuru who was holding out a cup for her.

"I threw that swill out. I hope you don't mind. I figured since you're allowing me to stay with Livia I'd best put myself to use. If you have time I made breakfast for you."

Alex blinked taking the cup and then gave a small smile. "Thank you but it wasn't necessary."

Mitsuru shrugged. "Take care of Livia and we'll call it even." She turned back to the stove.

Alex glanced at the table noticing she'd already set it and had laid the newspaper she always read in the morning on the table. She smiled and took a sip of the coffee moaning at it's amazing flavor. Of course she never bought cheap coffee, it was one indulgence she allowed herself but it just didn't come out to be as good as she wished it was. "Did I do okay with the coffee? I didn't know if you liked it black or not."

"It doesn't need cream or sugar." Alex agreed smiling at her. "How did you do it?"

Mitsuru laughed, "The same way anyone else does. Ground the beans fresh and make the coffee. Jocelyn used to tell me that it always tasted much better if you ground the beans fresh every morning but most days unless one of us did it she didn't have that luxury so when she took me in I made it a point to do it every morning."

Alex watched as the redhead flipped around noticing the slight crimp in her waist length hair that must've meant she'd slept in a braid. She began to read her paper getting so absorbed that she didn't immediately notice Livia standing in the doorway with her feet turned in and her head down playing with her fingers.

Mitsuru turned plating the last crepe she'd made and turned to set the plate in front of Alex. "Good morning Livia." She greeted which caused Alex to look up.

"Good morning Livia." She greeted softly not surprised when she didn't get a response.

Mitsuru frowned. "Are you hungry? I made enough for all three of us." She offered but Livia didn't say a word merely looked at Alex waiting for permission to enter the room. Mitsuru frowned knowing exactly what was happening and hoping Alex would respond accordingly.

Alex rose to her feet going over to Livia which caused her to flinch down and try to make herself as small as possible. The sight broke Alex's heart. Ever since she'd seen Livia for the first time the woman had been all right in her presence. She'd never reacted like this to her. Then she remembered what Mitsuru had said. "Give her what she needs, if you don't she'll wither and die." Alex also remembered the way Jocelyn had addressed Livia. Though her tone had remained soft and kind there was an edge to it that commanded her to obey. She only hoped she could adopt that tone.

"Livia, sweetheart, you need to sit down and eat. You need to stay strong. Go and sit at the table beside Mitsuru and I expect you to eat all the food on your plate before I leave for work." Alex tried to make her tone as sweet as possible but still kept the edge. When she turned back to the table Mitsuru was standing beside it smiling at her. A moment later she heard the chair scrape on the tile and looked over to see Livia sitting in the chair.

"Do we have her on anything?" Elliot demanded as soon as he entered the ADA's office.

"Good morning to you to Elliot." Alex wasn't in a necessarily bad mood seeing as she'd had a delicious breakfast and amazing coffee to start her day with but that didn't mean she liked the rudeness the Detective was displaying towards her.

Ever since she'd been back things were still a bit tense with her and Elliot but even he had noticed the change Witness protection had given her. She wasn't the cocky political driver attorney she had been. She had a new perspective having been a victim herself now. And though they still had a few fallouts here and there they were mostly on decent terms with each other.

"I'm doing well this morning how are you?" Elliot responded with an eye roll which got him a slight glare from the sitting ADA.

"We don't have much. Olivia isn't going to say she was raped or held against her will. Neither will the others. At most we've got her on a kidnapping charge but that's it. And even then it's a stretch since she never forced them stay. I'm trying to find something I can use to charge her with but right now there's nothing."

"If we let her go she'll flee the country you know it and I know it." Elliot folded his large arms across his double barrel chest staring at Alex who glared back slightly over the tops of her black framed glasses.

"I'm not stupid Elliot, I know exactly what she'll do." She snapped unnecessarily. "But you're not going to get Olivia or Mitsuru to talk and from what I've gathered from the other statements given at the manor no one else will say anything against her either."

"So what do we do?"

"At the moment we keep trying to dig something up I can use to hold her on otherwise we'll have to release her."

"Are we interrupting?" Alex looked up shocked when she saw Mitsuru who had obviously borrowed a pair of her jeans and a baby doll t-shirt that she hadn't worn in almost two years standing before her along with Livia who stood back a pace or two. She smiled at the time and rose to her feet coming from around her large desk to speak to them.

"What are you two doing here? Not that I'm not pleased to see you but I have to admit it's rather unexpected." Alex smiled as she looked from the redhead to the brunette noticing the shy look Livia gave her.

Mitsuru hesitated looking at Livia and then back at Alex. "Livia wanted to come. She thought we'd bring you some lunch and maybe see if we could be any help to you in any way."

Alex leaned back against her desk unable to keep the thousand watt smile off her face at Mitsuru's words. Livia had wanted to come see her? Maybe their relationship wasn't as broken as she'd thought it was.

"As amazing as I'm sure the lunch you girls made me is why don't I treat you both to lunch out?" Alex offered standing up. "I 'm not due in court until 2. I've got plenty of time."

"We won't be a burden?" Livia asked softly and Alex shook her head.

"Of course not. I love spending time with you." That earned her a small hopeful smile from Livia who though it did appear had been crying was at least trying to get over being given up by her former Mistress. "Let me get my purse and coat and we'll go." She promised.

Alex held open the door for both Mitsuru and Livia and couldn't resist sliding a hand out and gently running it along Livia's spine in a form of comfort. Livia shivered and glanced back over her shoulder at the contact but Alex didn't look back at her though she did smile slightly when she noticed Livia giving her a small shy smile for her thoughtfulness. They were seated quickly and given menus which Alex opened and began to peruse she glanced over the top of her menu to see Mitsuru had opened hers but Livia had left hers untouched. "Livia, do you not want to eat?" She asked.

Livia looked up and shook her head. "No ma'am. I thought you'd order for me."

Alex blinked and set the menu down. She stood up but refused to acknowledge the way Livia curled in on herself. "Come and sit beside me Livia. We'll figure out together what you should eat." She murmured which she noted earned her an approving look from Mitsuru. Maybe she was doing this right after all? Livia stood up and moved to slide into the booth beside her. She sat down right as their waiter came and she ordered drink for herself and Olivia allowing Mitsuru to order for herself since the little redhead seemed fine with it. She ignored the funny look the waiter gave her when she ordered for Livia but she ignored it instead turning her eyes to the menu. She held it out slightly so Livia could see and began to speak to her in low undertones about what she would possibly like to eat. Though she didn't get any real feedback she took careful notice of the items Livia's eyes lingered on a bit longer than others and figured out what to order from there.

Livia smiled happily at her when Alex picked out exactly what she'd wanted and couldn't resist leaning in and laying her head on Alex's shoulder. Mitsuru was grinning happily watching the two closely and was quite pleased to see her talk with Alex had brought to fruition the woman's ability to properly master Livia. It was almost as if they were back in Boston having lunch with their Mistress at a beautiful bistro overlooking the city.

Author's Ending Notes: Man I'm going to hurt tomorrow and I get to meet with my personal trainer too. Oh well. Anyways I want you guys to enjoy this this is for all my reviewers especially you guys that have been with me through Decadence and it's sequel which yes is being worked on. I just want you guys to know how amazing you are and without you I wouldn't have gone on ahead and started work on it today. I'll be back later peeps! You guys rock!