"I got coffee!" Elliot announced, walking into the 1-6.

"So do we," Munch mocked, holding the pot up.

"I got good coffee," he held up the tray of espresso's from the nearby Starbucks.

"Did I say we had coffee? I just realized we were out," Munch answered, putting the stale pot down and heading over to Elliot.

"Where's mine?" Olivia asked, looking up from her file. "Ooh, donuts too... Big day there Stabler."

Elliot passed out the treats he'd brought for his buddies and dropped the big box of donuts on his desk. People flocked to him until the box was empty. Olivia reached out and snatched a glazed donut she knew he got for her.

"Here's your jump start," he said, placing a cup in front of her.

"What's the occasion?" Olivia laughed.

"Can't I do something nice for my unit?" He offered, plopping down into his seat, grinning from ear to ear.

"No," she laughed at his goofy face.

"While you were at court yesterday, our verdict came back on the Donahue trial. I'm sure you can guess what he got," he said leaning down to switch on his computer.

"Guilty. Thank God. Life?" She wondered.

"Life."

"Don't celebrate to early kids," the Captain stepped out of his office in uniform.

"Uh oh," Elliot turned to see the special garb.

"I have a meeting with the board this morning and I have a feeling it's going to be ugly," he sighed and shut his office door. "I'll be back in a few hours."

"Good luck," they chimed as he exited.

"So, I'm afraid to ask but," Elliot stopped to take a sip of his drink.

"But?" Olivia gave him the eye.

"How's Charlotte?" Olivia winced. "Not good?"

"We broke it off last week," Olivia looked to her computer screen, averting Elliot's questioning eyes.

"We? Or you?"

"Me. Okay, I broke it off with her," Olivia gave him an annoyed look.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew you'd ask that," she half smiled. Their sibling-like banter always made her love Elliot more but sometimes, she just wished he'd shut up.

"Liv, I know what you're doing," he pointed out, leaning forward.

"Oh please, Elliot. I don't want to talk about this again. Just because Charlotte has blue eyes and blonde hair doesn't mean I think she's Alex," she pretended to search through the database. "No one is Alex," she added. "And that's old news anyways, Jesus. It's been eleven - twelve years since that all went down."

Elliot watched her fume for a minute and looked down at her collar. The silver necklace that never left her neck shone back at him mockingly. Sometimes, eleven or twelve years just wasn't long enough to get over someone. After all, he never got over Kathy. They had broken up for a while because of the trial and the mess it had caused but they came back together. Four years after they had met, Elliot got out of the service and the academy and asked Kathy to marry him. Now they had four growing kids.

The captain returned a few hours later, as promised. His angry mug and fast pace alerted the precinct that the meeting had gone exactly as he had predicted. A few files were tucked under his arm as he headed straight for his top four detectives.

"We need to drop all cases right now and finish this one," he held up the file and just as Munch was about to protest he went on. "We have three days before the statue of limitations runs out. Looks like we're cleaning up someone else's mess. I need all four of you on this one," he announced. "Oh and before I forget," he added angrily. "We've been assigned a new A.D.A. to watch over all our cases from now on."

"What are we five? We don't need a babysitter," Elliot laughed.

"The board seems to think so," Cregan frowned. "She'll be coming in sometime this week. She won't leave me alone."

"Aw, Cap. Be nice to her, she's just doin' her job," Fin added.

"I know, I know. Now let's get on this," he dropped the folder on Fin's desk. "I need to change."

"Oh you guys missed it," Munch announced as Olivia and Elliot strode in from canvassing, two days after the case had been assigned.

"What's he so happy about?" Olivia half smiled at Fin, thoughts from her day clouding her. This case was one of her very first brutal rapes. She hadn't been handling it too well.

"The new A.D.A. stopped in today and Munch is in love," Fin teased.

"I'm not in love," Munch corrected in his philosophical tone. "I happen to appreciate a good looking woman."

"She was fine," Fin grinned at Elliot. Olivia laughed at the men.

"Where's the Captain?" Olivia wondered, holding up evidence from the M.E.

"Lunch date with her," Munch offered. "They'll probably be back in an hour or so."

"Are you for real, man?" Fin looked at him, shaking his head. "Why don't you just hump her leg when she gets back and get it over with?"

"Shut up," Munch scowled at Fin.

"Boys, be nice," Olivia scolded and sat down to start some D.D.5's.

For a while, they made their phone calls and tried to piece their facts together. They worked in a calm silence, swapping information from time to time. Elliot got up and down, looking at the game board and making notes. His desk was a sea of paperwork and his hands were lost somewhere beneath it. Olivia got up to check some past files in the back room.

"Hey Elliot," she called as she walked back into the squad room. She read the sheet intensely, when she heard the Captain's voice coming in from the hall.

She was making her way over to her desk but looked up to see him and... Her. She stopped dead in her tracks and her heart felt like it had frozen in place. A thousand pounds of air crushed her chest and she felt dizzy. It was Alex. It was her Alex. She was talking to the back of Cregan's fleeting body. She turned to glance at the squad and saw Olivia standing in the middle of the room. She stopped talking mid sentence and Cregan turned to see why.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry. These are our other two lead detectives," he began and Elliot looked up from his desk to see a stunned Olivia. He looked behind him and followed her gaze, to Alex. "Olivia and Elliot." Cregan disappeared into his office annoyed with the whole ADA situation.

Alex's eyes darted between the both of them. Clearly shocked it was them and probably more shocked that they were still at each other's hip. "Benson and Stabler," she said quietly. An eerie air fell into the room. No one knew what to do. Olivia didn't move but Elliot rose from his seat and came up to Alex and took her hand.

"It's good to see you," he smiled.

"You too," she answered. "...This is surreal."

Olivia finally felt the feeling in her legs return and she moved slowly, dropping the paper on her desk as she passed it. She wasn't sure what to do. When she had tried to find Alex after they had moved it was like they had simply disappeared. She got a call or two from an unknown number and they had both hung up when she answered. She didn't know if Alex tried to forget her or what had happened in that time. Did she even still want to know her?

"Liv," she stated gently. A warm smile danced on her face and Olivia could see a hint of tears. Meanwhile, she could hardly breathe.

"Let's talk upstairs," the brunette managed. She turned her back to the woman and led her to the crib.

Alex stepped in behind her and Olivia reached around her to close the door. A close proximity that affected them equally. The brunette turned and looked at her.

"Am I allowed to hug you?" She laughed, feeling stupid for asking.

"Of course," Alex replied moving forward first and reaching her arms up around Olivia's neck. Olivia breathed in deep, taking in all the new and some of the old, scents of the blonde. She had grown more since they last saw each other. Alex had a little more height and she was a little fuller, but not by much. "It's been so long," she said pulling back reluctantly.

"Yes, it has," Olivia said with a sadder expression. "Let's sit before I just pass out." They moved over to a cot in the middle of the room. "This is so insane," she shook her head.

"Here we all are again. You and I upstairs and Elliot left in the dark downstairs," Alex laughed lightly and playfully, lifting the intense mood.

"Poor Elliot, always in the dark," Olivia said. They sat side by side; Olivia unable to look at the blonde.

"How long has it been?" Alex wondered.

"Twelve years," Olivia answered almost immediately.

"I'm so sorry we lost touch," Alex said softly, noticing the necklace hanging off Olivia's neck as she leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. The necklace swung back and forth like a white flag. Alex had wondered how Olivia still felt and her answer was a silent shimmer. Before she could mention it, Olivia turned her with questioning eyes.

"How did we loose touch?" A question that haunted her regularly was finally in the open. Alex looked away.

"When we moved here, my parents were so paranoid about the whole situation back home that they made us unlisted and you, you were unlisted. They took my phone from me and told me I was to have nothing to do with 'the people who got me into this'. Which I tried to explain wasn't the case. I don't speak to them now anyhow for doing that. I tried to find you but, you left home?"

"Yeah, I had to. Elliot and I both went to the academy to become police officers. Elliot did the service by day and took night classes with me and we lived on campus," Olivia told her and grew quiet. "...I thought you never wanted to see me again," she said after a moment.

"No," Alex turned quickly and touched the brunettes arm. "No, I looked. You have no idea." Olivia looked down at her hand.

"I guess we just got lost in translation," Olivia said sadly.

"Yeah, we did," Alex leaned her shoulder against Olivia's. "I never went to Julliard."

"Ha, I can see that," Olivia smiled. "Let me guess, NYU? Law?"

"What gave me away?"

"Oh the briefcase, defiantly," she teased. They grew silent again.

"I read about the trial in the paper," Alex recalled.

"Well... With Matthew dead and you gone, they had no choice but to drop all charges," Olivia updated her. "I waited for Elliot to turn 18 and we left. We went upstate for a while where he could serve as a soldier and attend the academy with me. We needed somewhere close together."

"You a cop and me a lawyer," Alex laughed sarcastically. "What brought you down here to the city? After all that time upstate?" Alex wondered, turning serious.

"I lost something..." The detective answered carefully. "So I came to find it." Alex smiled, mixed emotions filling her. "...And the justice system sucks. I plan on fixing that."

"Me too," Alex looked down at her hands.

"You were supposed to be a musician," Olivia reminded her quietly.

"I am supposed to be a soldier," Alex looked up into her eyes. "Remember? Wherever I went, that's what I was supposed to be."

"Yeah... I remember now," Olivia recalled it being one of the last things she had said to the blonde.

"And you. You're exactly what you've always been," she smiled looking down at the gun on Olivia's hip. "Only now you're licensed to actually carry that." Olivia blushed, remembering how bold she had been when they were younger.

"You're more beautiful than I remembered," Olivia confessed quietly.

"Thank you. You're pretty stunning yourself," Alex said gently, looking at Olivia sideways. The brunette dropped her head down to look at her feet.

"I missed you so much," Olivia breathed heavy and Alex could see tears brimming on her eyes.

"I missed you too," Alex said, now meeting eyes with the older woman. "It was supposed to be a blink. We agreed."

"It didn't feel like that," Olivia laughed wiping at her mascara.

"It does now," Alex smiled. "So let's take everyday one at a time and make sure they don't turn into blinks and turn them into forevers."

"That sounds like a good idea," Olivia smiled and leaned forward to pull the attorney into a hug. Alex felt like the perfect piece to hold under her chin. She was the only one that ever felt like she belonged in Olivia's arms. It would take them time to get to know each other again but Olivia knew she wouldn't ever loose track of Alex again. She'd never have to worry if she was alright or where she was. Now she would always know and for right now, that would be just fine.