A/N: Thank you so much for your amazing reviews! I know it's a fairly short chapter, but I'm halfway through chapter 13 already, so don't be mad :)

Chapter 12

Alex awoke with someone pressed against her back. It was still dark outside, and she didn't know where she was. Oh god! Someone's hand was on her hip, and she could feel a pelvis pushed against her behind.

No! No, no, no, no, no!

She couldn't.

Please don't, please don't. I can't!

Memories flooded her mind – memories she wished she didn't have.

Memories of something else pressed against her.

Expectations. Shame. Utter panic.

Alex jerked away violently, and that was when Olivia, too, woke up. In the haze of sleep, she was barely aware of her hand on Alex's hip, the feeling of the blonde's back pressed against her chest, or her hair tingling against her face. What she did notice immediately, though, were the violent sobs cursing through Alex's body.

Oh god! I did this. Olivia thought. I scared her so much she's trembling like a leaf! For how long had Alex been lying there, frozen with fear, terrified by her touch? Olivia hastily withdrew her hand from Alex's hip. I didn't have any right to touch her like this! The mere thought of having violated a woman made Olivia nauseous.

How could this have happened? She had fallen asleep leaned against the backrest of the couch. How could she have ended up spooning Alex from behind? She obviously didn't want this! Hastily, Olivia switched on the lamp on the couch table beside her, illuminating the room in a dim haze. Alex blinked against the unexpected brightness, a flicker of confusion washing over her face when she recognized her surroundings and the woman beside her.

Olivia? Now she remembered. She was at Liv's place where she had showed up crying after the courthouse incident. They had fallen asleep on the couch. She was safe – Olivia would never touch her like that, would never do something Alex didn't want.

"Liv? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle like that. I... I didn't react that way because of you. You know that, right?"

Olivia sighed. Did she? What if some dark and twisted part of her mind had actively taken advantage of Alex's vulnerability? What if she had laid down behind her on purpose? What if that hand on her friend's hip had been placed there semi-consciously? What if her mother's rapist's malicious genes had affected her after all? Olivia bit the inside of her lip, averting her gaze.

She wasn't like her father – would never be like her father.
Right?

"I know you're not him" Alex continued, and Olivia was so lost in her own thoughts and fears that she missed the opportunity to ask who he was, assuming Alex was talking about Olivia's father. When Olivia felt a soft and gentle hand being placed over her own, she looked up. Alex, too, had tears in her eyes, still fighting the flood of memories. Each of them busy fighting their own demons, neither Alex nor Olivia spoke.

"I wasn't expecting being touched like that. From... from behind." Alex explained after a while. "That's why I jerked away. It wasn't your fault."

Olivia tried to suppress her worries and fears. This wasn't about her. It was about Alex. About her pain, her demons. "I'm really sorry! I'd never touch you, Alex! You know that, right?"

Alex gasped, hastily withdrawing the hand she had before placed on Olivia's, desperately trying to rationalize how much her friend's comment had hurt her.

Of course she wouldn't touch me. Why should she? I'm disgusting anyways.

Alex fled the scene with a shaky "I need to use the bathroom", not managing to hide the tears dwelling up in her eyes. When she came back, the living room was empty and the door to Olivia's bedroom closed. Was this her hint to leave? Alex glanced at the clock. 4:38 a.m. on a Saturday morning. She didn't have anywhere to be, and admittedly, she didn't have anywhere to go, either.

So Alex stumbled towards the couch, plopped down, wrapped the blanket around her shaking body and cried herself to sleep.

Oh boy... What the hell just happened, and - more importantly - how can our two girls fix it? R&R to find out!