A/N: We've reached the final chapter of this little journey that Olivia has been on. Thanks for all of the comments. I enjoyed reading all of them and they really did help. For those of you reading Closer To Fine, I know this chapter is a spoiler, but I think you all knew what was going to happen anyway. Now it's all about getting the Cabenmichael girls to this point.

February 14, 2012

Olivia Benson picked up the photograph that had been sitting on her nightstand, a photograph that had been taken twenty years ago. She began staring at a younger version of herself in a letterman jacket with the number '92' on the sleeve. 1992. It had been twenty years since she had worn that jacket while walking down the halls of North Fallbrook High School, twenty years since her glory days on the softball field and, most importantly, twenty years since she had began dating the girl she was kissing in that picture.

Their lives had changed so much during those twenty years and Olivia was further reminded of that when she heard her fifteen-year-old son calling her from his room.

"Mom, can you help me?" Kurt Benson asked as soon as Olivia walked in his room. He had tried unsuccessfully to tie his tie and he wanted to look perfect when he picked up his girlfriend before their school's Valentine's Day dance. His baby blue oxford shirt was neatly tucked into a new pair of black pants. The only thing preventing him from being ready to leave was that pesky tie.

As Olivia tied his tie, she couldn't believe how fast her cute baby boy had turned into a handsome young man. The high school sophomore was already two inches taller than Olivia and crazy about his girlfriend. Once his tie was tied, Olivia tried fixing his shaggy blonde hair, but he moved her hand away and tousled it until it looked the way he had it before. His blue eyes were exactly like Alex's and Olivia saw more of her in their son with each passing day.

"I think you're ready," Olivia said. She straightened his tie even more to stall for time.

"Do I look okay?" Kurt asked.

"Very handsome," Olivia told him. "Are you nervous?"

"Only a lot," Kurt admitted. "It's my first Valentine's Day with Lily and I think I want to take things to the next level."

His statement made Olivia feel as if she had gotten the wind knocked out of her. She knew her little boy was growing up, but she wasn't ready for him to lose his innocence yet.

"Kurt, we need to have a talk," Olivia said hesitantly.

"About what?" Kurt asked.

"I know you have feelings for Lily and I know you think you're ready to take your relationship to the next level, but sex is—"

"What?" Kurt asked, his eyes widening. "Mom! We already had the sex talk. You know how I feel about Lily and you should know that I respect her and myself too much to rush into anything as serious as having sex. When I'm ready, I want Lily to be my first but I'm definitely not going to be ready tonight. I mean, I'm ready, Mom. Physically, I'm ready every moment of every—"

"Kurt!" Olivia interrupted. "I get it. What's the next level then?"

"I'm going to tell her I love her," Kurt said proudly. "Because I do love her. I hope you don't think that's stupid."

"Why would I think that's stupid?" Olivia asked and gave him a hug. "If you really love her, then tell her. The worst thing you can do is not confess your feelings to the girl you love. I was in love with your mom when I was even younger than you."

"Then why didn't she become your girlfriend until you were eighteen?" he asked.

"Because I didn't tell her how I felt. That's why I tell her every morning and night that I love her and that's why, if you really love Lily, you need to tell her."

"Mom?"

"What's up?"

"As much as I love Lily, you and Mommy are still the two most important women in my life," Kurt said and gave his mom a kiss on the cheek. "I love you, Mom. I promise to be back by eleven."

Olivia grabbed her phone from the back pocket of her jeans and snapped a photo of Kurt to send to Alex along with a message that said, "Our main man."

Two minutes later, she received a reply from Alex, "He looks so handsome. I wish I were there with you. Is he nervous?"

Before she could respond to Alex's message, her son was saying goodbye and her daughter was screaming for her to hurry up because she was having a 'crisis.'

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" Olivia asked.

"I'm having a crisis, Mom," Courtney said frantically. "My shirt has a stain on it."

"Put it in the hamper and wear another shirt," Olivia said to her eighth grade daughter.

"But this shirt is the one that goes with this skirt," Courtney said.

"Then wear another skirt."

"Mom, you don't get it," Courtney said and rolled her eyes. "It's my first date and it's with Jessica. She's a model, Mom! A model! And she's sophisticated and sixteen. I have to look perfect, which means I have to wear something perfect."

"How about this dress?" Olivia asked as she pulled a pink sundress from Courtney's closet.

"Mom, no!" Courtney said and grabbed it from her. "Where's Mommy? I need her. She knows this kind of stuff. She's a girl."

"And I'm not?" Olivia asked as she tried not to laugh.

"You know what I mean," Courtney scoffed. "You don't wear skirts or dresses like Mommy does."

Olivia took a look at her daughter and started to shake her head. Sometimes, she questioned if Courtney had really come from her. The eighth grader was the splitting image of Olivia, but the two of them couldn't have been more different from each other. Courtney was closest to Alex. The two of them went shopping together, got pedicures together, and had little talks in Courtney's room in which Courtney would tell Alex everything that was on her mind. She told her about girls she thought were pretty, hairstyles she liked, and what girls she hated on her cheerleading squad. Olivia was in the dark with Courtney, but she didn't notice too much because most of her time was spent with Kurt. He was her main man and Kurt looked up to his mom. He wanted to follow in her footsteps and become a detective someday. Regardless of what time she came home, Kurt would greet her at the door and ask her about her day. They talked about baseball and music and Olivia had even managed to get him into Nirvana, which was his latest music obsession. Whenever Kurt had a problem or needed advice, he would go to Olivia, just as Courtney would go to Alex.

"How about your jeggings and that pink sweater you bought yesterday?"

"Oh, my pink sweater!" Courtney said excitedly. "I forgot all about that. Can I wear your pink heels? The ones you wore in junior high?"

"You like those?" Olivia asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, they're vintage. How many girls can say they have real heels from the '80s?"

Olivia smiled at her daughter. "They're in the—"

"I know where they are," Courtney said and took off to get the pink heels.

Just as Olivia thought she was going to get a moment of peace, there was a knock on the door of their apartment.

"Hi, Olivia," Sixteen-year-old Jessica said nervously. "I know I'm here to pick up Courtney, but I was hoping you and I could have a woman-to-woman talk about your daughter."

Olivia tried her hardest not to laugh at the girl's newfound maturity. She had seen Jessica Carmichael grow from a newborn to a teenager who was now interested in her daughter and she would have given anything to go back to the days when Jessica had something on her mind other than rounding the bases with Courtney.

"Come in," Olivia said and motioned for Jessica to sit down on the couch in the living room. Jessica gingerly sat down and tried to work up the nerve to talk to Olivia. Jessica was usually a confident girl, but for some reason she was hesitant to speak. Olivia looked as Jessica crossed, uncrossed, and then crossed her legs again. She couldn't help but think about Abbie as a teenager whenever she looked at Jessica. She looked so much like her mother. She had her height and thin build. She even had her nose and trademark dimples. The only features she didn't have were Abbie's dark eyes and dark hair. Instead, she had Trent's green eyes and light brown hair. The girl was beautiful—she had been told so ever since she was born, so it was almost expected for her to take the modeling route. Jessica being a model was something that unnerved Olivia and enticed Courtney. She saw the effects that the modeling business had on teenage girls and she didn't want Abbie's little girl to grow up so fast and make her little girl grow up fast along with her.

"You wanted to have a talk?" Olivia reminded her.

"Yes…um…I really like Courtney…and…um…I was wondering, can I…may I…will you let me ask Courtney to be my girlfriend?"

"Jessica?"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"You're asking her to be your girlfriend on the first date?" Olivia asked the nervous teenager.

"It's Courtney!" Jessica pointed out. "How could I wait? She gives me butterflies whenever I see her."

Olivia thought about the butterflies that she still gets every time she sees Alex; she still took her breath away even though 33 years had passed since their first Valentine's Day together.

She may not have approved of Jessica's career or the fact that the tenth grader even had a career, but she knew deep down she was still the same Jessica Carmichael with a good heart and a great upbringing. Besides, Olivia didn't want to do what Mrs. Cabot had done for so many years when Alex and Olivia first got together—she didn't want to take her daughter's happiness away.

"Do I have your permission?" Jessica asked, bringing Olivia back to reality.

"Do you promise to respect her?" Olivia asked.

"Yes," Jessica said eagerly.

"Do you promise not to make her do anything physical that she doesn't want to do?"

"I promise," Jessica said.

"Most importantly, do you promise not to break her heart?"

"I'd never break her heart," Jessica said and started smiling. "I care about her way too much to do that."

"Then go get your girl," Olivia told her as Jessica started beaming even more.

Courtney and Jessica said goodbye to Olivia and made their way over to the movie theater. As they were leaving, Courtney turned around and mouthed 'I love you' to Olivia. Her little girl was going to have a girlfriend. No matter how much she thought about it, she still couldn't believe it.

Olivia managed to squeeze in an hour long nap before she heard the sound of keys unlocking her apartment door. It was her day off, but until that nap it had been far from relaxing.

"Babe?" Alex called out.

"I'm in the room," Olivia responded. Alex entered the room carrying a bottle of wine and two glasses. It wasn't the most romantic thing they had done for Valentine's Day, but they were both too exhausted to do anything extravagant.

"Happy Valentine's Day," Alex said and gave Olivia a kiss. "I love you."

"I love you, too. Can you believe we're alone on Valentine's Day? When was the last time this happened?"

"1996," Alex told her as she poured the wine for them.

"1996?"

"And I was pregnant then, so it's not like we had the best Valentine's Day."

"Kurt is telling Lily that he loves her and Jessica is going to ask Courtney to be her girlfriend."

"I think I just aged another five years after hearing that."

"Alex?"

"Yes?"

"When did we turn thirty-eight? It seems like just yesterday we became a couple."

"That was twenty years ago," Alex said and handed her a wine glass. "As hectic as our lives have been, these past twenty years with you have been the best years of my life."

"Here's to the next twenty years being even better," Olivia said and clinked her glass to Alex's.

"Liv, you know what wine does to me," Alex reminded her. "It's Valentine's Day, the kids are gone, and I have you all to myself. I'm thinking a bubble bath sounds perfect right now."

Before Olivia could respond, Alex started removing her clothes and underwear. She grabbed their wine glasses and took them into their bathroom with her. All of those years of seeing Alex's body and she still couldn't get enough of her. She turned her on just as much at thirty-eight as she did at eighteen. Once she heard the water running, Olivia quickly removed her clothes and hurried over to the bathroom. They had already experienced so much together throughout the past thirty-three years that they had known each other, but Olivia knew the best was yet to come.

The End.