So this is the part where things get all dark and angsty for our lovely duo. That is the extent of my warning lol. Sorry! Thanks for all the reviews guys. Send up a prayer to the internet-provider Gods that my connection stays working from now on!

CHAPTER 4

"So how much have you managed to uncover from this? All guessing, I'm assuming. But knowing you, it's going to be accurate." Olivia wasn't completely unaware of the compliment from the usually stoic woman, but was determined not to let it distract her from the task at hand.

"Well we've got a domestic disturbance call to the residence of your mother. The officer noted that there was some swelling to her cheek but she claimed that she was moving furniture and was making quite a racket, hence the neighbours call to 911. She explained the facial injury as the result of her carelessness when moving a particularly heavy wardrobe and there was no reason to detain the officer any longer. She was alone in the house; your father was still at the office and you were away at college."

"I could have read that in the report Detective. I asked what made you think it was of any importance." Quipped Alex with a disgruntled tone.

"Nothing at first, until I realised that the date of the incident aligned with the time period that Wallace Cabot was living in the house." The lawyer's wince at the mention of her uncle's name did not go unnoticed. "I checked for anything around that date in his file and found a trip to the emergency room the next day. He had a stab wound, which he claimed had occurred during a fishing trip." She pointed to the second document on the desk but Alex didn't even glance at it. Her eyes were fixed on a point behind Olivia, not quite able to meet the Detective's eyes.

"Accident prone family I've got there, wouldn't you say?" Olivia was determined not to let Alex deflect any of this.

"Stop doing that Alex, just stop okay? He moved out of the house the next week, he did something to her didn't he? She must have told you, because I saw the look in your eyes at the station. You were glad he was dead, glad that he had suffered."

No denial was forthcoming. The attorney pushed her glasses on to the top of her head and rubbed at her eyes, the long day obviously starting to catch up with her. Olivia felt the need to reach out to her, like she would with any other family member of a victim. Something was stopping her though.

If I touch her I'm not going to want to stop and I need to get to the bottom of this

Alex kept her hand over her eyes, in silence except for some deep breaths, until the Detective spoke.

"Alex, if something did happen and your mother told you, you're both suspects now." She heard a sharp laugh come from the woman in front of her. "You need to trust me with this or I can't help you. I'll have to tell the squad what I found and the whole department will be in your business."

Alex got up and paced around the desk. Olivia turned in her chair to see the blonde working a rut into the carpet behind her.

"I'd like to see you question my mom." Olivia just gave her a puzzled look at the smile on her face. "She died a few weeks ago. So I guess you're down to one suspect."

It was then that the Detective saw the tears welling in Alex's eyes that she was trying to force away with the smile and before she knew what she was doing she was out of her chair with her arms engulfing the other woman.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Olivia mumbled into blonde hair

"SVU has not exactly been welcoming to me. I know that you all call me the Ice Princess." She said accusingly.

"I think you got upgraded to Queen this morning actually." Olivia interrupted, trying to lift the heaviness of the mood a little. Alex didn't even acknowledge it.

" I work my ass off for the victims, for the cases that you bring me and you all think nothing of inviting the other Detective's out for celebratory drinks. On a case that we've just won together." Alex pulled out of the embrace and Olivia didn't insult the woman by disagreeing with her statement. "You don't even wait until I've left the room to do it, you know? Do you get why I wouldn't tell you anything? Why would I tell anyone that my mother had died when I can't even get an invite for a drink?" The resentment in Alex's tone was noted and Olivia felt the sting of the words.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realise. You should have said some.."

"Cabots do not beg for attention." She cut in with some bite in her words.

"It wouldn't be like that." She stopped and was pulling Alex back into a hug when she realised something. "You haven't even had a day off work have you? For the funeral, I mean. In fact I think you've actually been at work more if that's possible."

The reply that came from her shoulder was muffled and strained from the tears that were now working their way down her face but Olivia heard it nonetheless.

"He was at the funeral. I couldn't stand to look at him after what he had done."

It was the first form of confirmation that something had happened and Olivia released a breath that she didn't know she had been holding. Olivia untangled herself from Alex and led her back to the chair that Olivia had previously sat in. She knelt down in front of the blonde and took her hands, giving her a squeeze that she hoped would reassure her to continue. There was a shark intake of breath followed by a slow exhale before Alex continued.

"My mother and I promised that what happened was between us. My father doesn't know. We couldn't break his heart by telling him what his own brother had done to his family. So Wallace still got the invite to the house on holidays, tugging the clueless wife and kid along. We still had to smile and ask how the company was doing, call him Uncle Wallie. We still had to look at him and pretend to be one happy family. We still had to…" Alex began to sob, tears streaking down her face. She turned her head away, resolute to not let Olivia see her cry, trying to pull her hands out of the grasp of the Detective at her feet.

"Why?" was all Olivia could get out, refusing to let Alex's hands leave her own.

"Because that is what a Cabot does. They put on the façade of a perfect life until they start to believe it themselves."

"That doesn't work Alex, people see through it. The truth outs in the end."

"Yeah because all you guys in the squadroom saw through it and knew my mom had died." The sarcasm in her voice did not detract from the blow Olivia felt.

I should have seen something. Even I go home every now and then, she just sleeps on that old couch. Nobody works that much unless they are trying to avoid something.

"He can't hurt your family anymore Alex and he can't hurt your mom. I'm sorry that she didn't get justice for what happened to her and I'm sorry that you've had to sit back knowing what he did to her." She trailed off when she heard the defeated sigh escape Alex's mouth.

"He never lay a hand on my mother, except for the fractured cheek bone."

"I don't understand. You just said…" Alex's finally looked into her eyes, the contact making her words stop in their tracks.

"It was a Friday. I came home to surprise my parents for the weekend. My dad would be at the office but I thought my mom would be home at least." Her eyes went to the ceiling, forcing the words out that she had never been able to say. " She had gone out for coffee with an old family friend. Cabots must keep their societal connections" she said in a mocking tone. "Only Uncle Wallie was home. He told me how I had grown into this beautiful woman that he didn't even recognise anymore. She should have been there but… My mom came home an hour later and found him on top of me on the couch."

Olivia pressed forward into the woman, cradling her gently but it didn't help. She couldn't seem to get enough to hold on to in their current position. Olivia pulled Alex up and guided her to the sofa that had so often acted as a bed to the ADA. As soon as they sat down Olivia pulled her back in. Alex resisted for a second before crumbling into the embrace.

"You're not the only one who has a reason to work in SVU, you know." she tried the joke but the tense laugh died in her throat. "She grabbed him and was screaming but I couldn't really make out the words. Everything was blurry and dark. I couldn't think until I saw him hit her. I grabbed something off the table and stabbed him and everything was black." The look in her eyes said she would do again in a heartbeat.

All the Detective could down was stroke Alex's hair and whisper that is was going to be alright. For the first time with a victim, she was at a loss as to what she should say. Because this wasn't a victim, this was her colleague, her friend, the person she loved and nothing she could think of to say would make it right.

"I begged him, you know? I begged and it just made him smile. " She managed to say through the strangled tears before she stopped trying.

She cried for what felt like hours before Olivia heard steadier breathes coming from her shoulder. She looked down at the puffy eyes and red nose, the cheeks stained from more tears than anyone should have to endure and wished Wallace Cabot was still alive so she could deal with him herself.

How could anyone hurt her like this?

She pulled a blanket from the back on the couch, spreading it over both of them as gently as possible. Alex frowned for a moment before burrowing herself into Olivia's shoulder and tightening the grip around her waist. It took Olivia another thirty minutes to drift off with only one line of thought running through her mind and she stroked her blonde hair under her hand.

Fuck. This makes her the prime suspect and I can't honestly say that I'm sure she's innocent.