Walking back into the house, everyone was caked in a thin layer of snow. Kate had instructed El to sit on the sofa. They were going to talk this out. There was no way in hell that Kate was going to let this slip. After putting their coats in the cupboard, Ruby sat beside El whilst Olivia and Kate sat on the sofa opposite them. Yes, it was Christmas day, but the matter couldn't wait. A part of Kate wanted to get extremely angry, but she knew that served no purpose. Instead, after she sat down, she leaned forward and took both of El's hands into her own and placed them gently on her lap, whilst choosing to speak to her with an equally soft tone.

'I don't know where to start with any of this, but I think you know how bad this is.' Kate said softly to El, 'I want to know where you got these drugs and who your dealer is. I also want to know, have you taken any drugs since starting your new medication?'

El was terrified to even answer. Hiding things from Kate wasn't an option though. The truth was that she hadn't taken anything, but trying to convince the others of that was going to be difficult. Nervously, she licked her lips and met Kate's gaze, 'Kate, I promise you, I haven't taken the drugs…I…I keep them so that they are there in case I do need them. They're beneath a floorboard so that the kids can't find them. Nancy is making a song and dance about nothing.'

'She's not though, is she?' Kate asked her gently, 'Nancy is well within her rights to be concerned where her children are, isn't she?'

El nodded, but didn't expand.

Olivia considered her next question, 'Where did you get them? This is a lot of drugs. Very illegal drugs, where did you get them?'

Now El couldn't meet anyone's gaze. She looked anywhere other than at anyone in the room. She felt Kate inhaling and her voice trembled when she spoke, 'You…' El looked at Kate, 'Do you remember how Robbie was my supplier?'

Kate nodded, 'I do.' She frowned, 'Is Robbie still supplying you?'

'I…I tried to cut contact with him completely, but he has become my sole dealer. If I need a fix, I call him on the sly or when I'm supposed to go to physio…I go and see him instead.' She was so ashamed of herself, and she felt so humiliated.

Though Kate was devastated by what she was hearing, she wanted to try for the first time in a long time, hearing her out, 'You know what could happen if you mix your medication with these drugs, don't you? You could die El, that's how bad this is sweetheart. You've accidentally overdosed before…You could quite easily do it again.' Gently, Kate squeezed her hands and met her gaze, 'I'll help you get justice in the very legal way. Olivia is right, I should have listened to what you wanted from the start. I never should have taken the law into my own hands, and I promise you, from now on, I will be by your side. I will help you, Olivia and Carmichael get justice even if it means I go to prison for what I did to that bastard.'

'Thank you.' El smiled sadly, 'But what are the terms and conditions?'

'The terms and conditions are, no more drugs, only your medication is allowed in this household, alright? And you have to promise me that if you want drugs, you come and speak to any of us.' Kate gestured around the room between her, Ruby and Olivia, 'Even your mum, and we can go and speak to your counselor if you want.' She met her gaze and squeezed her hands once more, 'We are all here for you. You're not alone and you never will be.'

'With your life span, I know that for certain.' El laughed, 'The "immortal" Kate fleming.' She then got up and gave Kate a hug, 'Thank you.'

Kate rubbed her back gently, 'You're welcome. All of us are always here for you, no matter how much we bitch and bicker, we are here for you and we love you, alright?'

El nodded on Kate's shoulder. She summoned up the courage to tell her where the last of her drug stash was, 'My drugs.. They're under my bed, beneath the floor.&

'Thank you sweetheart.' Kate said quietly to her, 'You stay here with Olivia and your sister, and I'll get rid of them, okay? Thank you for being honest with me.'

Kate got up and went up the stairs to El's room, finding herself wondering why she had never tried this more gentle method of parenting before. It was so much more effective. She supposed that's what Olivia did, she enabled Kate to see sense and above her own nonsense. It didn't hurt any less that El wanted to use drugs as a vice, but at least she genuinely wanted to be free of the grip of drugs.

Kate's other problem was how horrible Jo had become. She shouldn't let it bother her, but it did. She wondered how someone could become so bitter when Kate wasn't the one that ended things between them.

…

6 Months Later, June 2025

In the six months that had passed, Olivia decided to apply for permanent residency in the UK, leaving the door open for her to return to SVU at any point in the future. Instead, she had found a place on Carmichael's force, becoming Carmichael's right hand woman dealing with El's case against Max Tyler. Not much had changed within the case over the last six months and with Tyler going dark, he was difficult to find. This didn't stop the family from living their lives, with El getting therapy for her own mental health. Despite Olivia trying to persuade Kate into getting therapy, she was hard to budge. Since meeting Olivia, Kate had stopped sleepwalking, as did her insomnia. In fact, since meeting Olivia, Kate had slept extremely well and the trauma within the family was healing with time.

El had started studying Uniformed Services again, with the ambition of being on the force one day. She had learned to manage her schizophrenia and was enjoying her studies. Ruby spent her days in between Carla, Kate and Jo, seeing Carla when she headed down south. Of course, Kate didn't mind, after all, she couldn't refuse Ruby seeing the woman who had actually raised her for the last twenty years. Still, Kate hadn't met Carla, but she had heard many good things about the woman that had raised her daughter.

Jo was still extremely single. Much of her time outside of work was spent sulking. Any time El and Ruby came to see her, the mention of Olivia merely made her blood boil. Despite Kate refusing her affections, Jo had become hellbent on getting her back. How she would step this up, she had her ideas. Jo didn't realize that what she had become was incredibly toxic, but with the unwitting help of El and Ruby, Jo was able to find out everything that Olivia and Kate had been doing. El complained in a joking manner about the evenings that Olivia and Kate were at it. With every piece of information she found out, Jo was going to find a way to turn it against Kate. As monstrous as it was, Jo knew that she was the only person who could truly ruin Kate if she tried hard enough.

Kate and Olivia loved living in their own world, happily with each other. There was a work/life balance that made them very happy. Kate was still under review regarding her chances of returning to the force after the success on the SVU programme. There were times when Kate worried about the board members frowning upon her and Olivia's intimate relationship, and then viewing it as crossing the line, boarding on interference. Olivia assured her that their relationship had no bearing on the board's final decision about her employment in the force. If there was one thing that was extremely clear, it was that Kate would never be allowed on any cases that involved her own family members or close friends.

For now though, it was a warm June day. It was about 21 degrees celsius, and with it being Saturday, Kate had decided to take her girls out for the day. It seemed a little old fashioned, but here they all now found themselves in a park in the shade under a tree having a nice picnic. Normality was few and far between in the Fleming-Davidson household, but today, like the last few months, it had been peaceful and quiet. The Q-word was never uttered though, Kate wouldn't allow any of them to do so.

Sitting on a picnic blanket, all of the women had snacks and laughed together about various situations. Ruby had so many stories to tell, and Kate was remarkably surprised that Ruby had never seen the Daleks or the planets in the sky back in 2008. The same applied to Olivia. After all, the Daleks and the planets in the sky happened globally. She guessed that her parents had done something to make the rest of humanity forget, but what about when forests covered the Earth and then vanished in 2015? Again, no one remembered that either. When Kate brought it up, she got weird looks from Ruby and Olivia. The only person that did seem to know was El. They had shared looks throughout that conversation, but Ruby was an alien, like them, so why didn't she remember?

That was a mystery, apparently.

Olivia was dipping a crisp into some hummus when she was listening to the conversation and put it in her mouth just as she began to reply, 'The planet covered in forests? I think we'd remember that.'

'But…It did happen.' Kate frowned, 'There were trees all over London, they were everywhere.'

'Maybe in the beginnings of planet Earth but not ten years ago.' Olivia laughed.

'But-' Kate went quiet, 'I guess I must have dreamt it then.' She knew she didn't but that was the only other way to get out of this conversation.

'Anyway, El, how is college?' Olivia asked her, 'You've got a few weeks left now, haven't you?'

El shook her head, 'Because I started the term late, I've got to stay over summer to catch up with what I need to do, and then I get a week off, the week before I start second year. After that, I'm not sure what is going to happen.'

This was where Kate jumped in, 'Well, you have an option, a couple actually. You start as a probation officer or you go to the academy for another two years, and earn your stripes that way.'

El groaned, 'I'll be like 24 when I even get my foot in the door.'

'Hey.' Olivia butted in, 'You're still incredibly young, even at 24. We take life at our own pace, and if you join the force at 24, you have more life experience behind you, which not many can say that.'

Kate nodded in agreement, 'Your mum, not the Doctor, Jo, she joined the force at 20. She didn't have the extra four years of life experience that you'll have. Sometimes, life experience is better when getting into these things, trust me.' She grabbed a sausage roll and looked at Ruby, 'And what are you doing now? Do you have any ideas of what you want to do?'

Ruby shook her head, 'I've got zero idea.' She thought for a moment, 'I'm working between bars and clubs at night, but the long term? I don't know.' She shrugged.

'Girls.' Olivia said softly, 'You've got plenty of time to figure it out. If you get to 24 and you still don't know? That's okay. Life isn't determined by your accomplishments and you don't need to do everything in one go. Life is a sprint, not a marathon.'

When Kate looked back at Olivia, there was only pride and love in her eyes. Kate knew that she had found the one for her, and even though they had been together for 8 months, she could see Olivia becoming her wife one day. In this romantic atmosphere, Kate envisioned herself popping the question in the here and now, but that was absurd and way too soon. She wanted to enjoy the honeymoon period for as long as she could.

Olivia caught the way that Kate was looking at her. Her own heart fluttered every time Kate looked at her with such love. Of course, Olivia had loved people before in her life, Elliot Stabler being up there as the love of her life, but now Kate was changing everything for her. Never did Olivia consider herself to be bisexual, until she met Kate and over the months, their love merely flourished, and she wanted so much more. There was an age difference between them. Olivia thought the age difference was about 15 years, that she didn't mind. Little did she know that the woman she was dating, was a few hundred years older.

At that moment, both women gave each other a quick kiss. Both younger girls grimaced and laughed. It was so lighthearted and wonderful, until a voice out of nowhere turned Kate and El's blood to ice.

'Wow. Such a warm day, a picnic in the park under a tree in the shade. How romantic.' The tone was flat, with an underlying tone of disgust and anger, 'Oh, I really do hope I'm not interrupting anything.'

There he was, the man who had avoided them for so many months. Dressed in a gray suit and trousers. He had stubble on his face now, but the hatred was evident in his eyes as he leaned against a tree trunk, looking down at all four women. Max locked his gaze on El then, 'A police officer? You? How could a wimp like you be an officer of the law?'

Kate climbed to her feet now, walking over to him, getting into his face, sneering quietly, 'Do yourself a favour and walk away.'

Max laughed at her, 'You want me to walk away? No, no, no, no. That's not how this works.' He glared at her, 'You owe me.'

'I don't owe you anything.' Kate hissed.

Max looked back at Olivia, 'This your new bit on the side? How does Jo feel about her? I bet her blood boils at the thought of you both shagging.'

'I couldn't give a toss what Jo thinks, the same way that I don't give a fuck what you think.' Kate hissed. Behind her, Olivia had gotten to her feet and walked over to them.

Olivia, like Kate, was extremely protective, 'You have a nerve. Showing your face around here.'

Max looked at Olivia, 'You must be the officer working on the joke of a case. I didn't touch her.' He glared at El, 'Tell them the truth. I didn't touch you, you wanted it.'

Olivia shoved him against the tree trunk and put her arm across his throat, 'You want to get to her, you will have to go through me. We don't have anything on you yet, but believe me, we will. A man like you makes mistakes. You're all high and mighty now, but one slip up and you're behind bars for the rest of your miserable existence.'

Max laughed at her, 'El does nothing but lie! I hate to break it to you both.' He looked between Kate and Olivia now. He knew exactly what he was doing because he knew he could get away with it. He was manipulating the situation so that he could make El feel imprisoned, like she would never get away from him. He took joy in doing this, 'She is mine, her body, everything about her is mine. If I have to pry her from you, I will. No one gets away with accusing me of something I didn't do. She will get what's coming.'

Kate was so angry, 'What does that mean?'

Max looked back at Kate, and laughed, 'And how the Timelord's blood boils.' His brows raised, 'Olivia doesn't know, does she? She doesn't know that you're not human.'

'And she knows that you're an absolute nutter!' Kate sneered, getting into his face now, 'You won't ever get anywhere near my sister again, because if you do, I will end you.'

Olivia remembered something then and it made her laugh, 'Kate cut off your pride, didn't she? How are you getting it up these days? Does it operate the same?'

'El will find that out, trust me.' He sneered.

Olivia then hit him in the gut, the face and then kneed him in his jewels. She then grabbed a hold of his face and forced him to look her in the eyes, 'Like I said, we haven't got you yet, but we will. You are on a clock now, and once you're behind bars, El will be free of you.'

'If only mummy didn't take matters into her own hands, maybe I would already be behind bars already.' Max laughed. Behind them, he watched El get up and walk away.

El couldn't bear to be in his presence. Everything she had eaten, she could feel wanting to come back up again. Ruby followed her. After all the progress El had made, he wasn't going to knock her back. There was no way Olivia and Kate wouldn't allow that to happen.

Olivia hit him again and pushed him away, 'Get lost before Kate and I do something that we can't come back from!'

Max stumbled off, leaving Kate and Olivia to pick up the pieces. After he had vanished, both women looked between each other. Olivia said what Kate didn't dare, 'Where does this end? If you didn't-' She didn't want to start an argument so she held her tongue.

'I know.' Kate said quietly, 'But like you said, you'll get him because men like him trip up eventually.'

'Until then, he won't stop until El ends up dead!' Olivia snapped, 'I've seen this time and time again! He is obsessed with her. In his mind, no one else can have her. If he ever gets his hands on her again, it's only a matter of time until El ends up dead! Those are the facts!'

Kate felt her blood run cold. She couldn't think of anything else to say. Her day, like everyone else's, had been ruined.

Max Tyler, on the other hand, had ideas of his own. Now he knew who Olivia was, he was going to get to Kate now. He only ever wanted to wind El up and remind her that she will always be under his control, but Kate took something from him, and now he wanted to take something from her. The plans he had were nothing but short of sinister, and he would carry them out the way that he couldn't with El.

What they didn't know was that they were about to have much more to worry about.