Maxine and Olivia arrived at the house first, Liz close behind. Giving Olivia her keys, she hugged the young girl, said good bye and got into her own car to make her way to work. She wished she could stay and help her young friend through her difficult time and she would be able to if they lived in a perfect world and the perverts she dealt with everyday turned themselves in, but this was not a perfect world, and she had criminals to prosecute.

Maxine led Olivia inside and up to the guest room instead of allowing her to sleep in Amy’s room like she usually did. It had nothing to do with the information she had just learned, but Amy would be up for school soon. If Amy knew Olivia was there that early, she’d know something was wrong and would argue until she was allowed to stay home. And Olivia needed to rest, another reason Maxine had decided to call the Cabot’s for her, knowing she still wasn’t ready to talk, but not wanting the Cabot’s to worry any more than they already had.

Maxine saw her daughter off to school, checked on her second daughter who was sound asleep. She then went about making a few phone calls.

****

Olivia woke up, rolled over and looked at the clock on the night stand. Seeing it was now about noon, she estimated she’d slept for close to five hours. She sighed. Sleep would be impossible to recapture now. She rolled back to lying on her back, and placed her hands behind her head, losing herself to her thoughts.

She had been so nervous when Sophie asked to talk to her. Part of her was scared that she had learned her secret and she wanted to confront her about it. Olivia couldn’t help but laugh at that. Technically she hadn’t been wrong. She just wished her secret had stayed a secret. She thought she was home free when Nathan started arguing in her defense.

Her rational side truly believed that if Sophie and Nathan hadn’t started to argue, Alex never would have said anything. She could remember the look of shock on the young blondes face, as if she was just as surprised at what happened as everyone else.

Never in her life had Olivia felt time move so slow. The time it took for the adults to look from one teen to the other. When Olivia had locked eyes with them, realization hit her and she bolted, knowing she was not ready for this conversation. The entire drive to the cliffs, Olivia couldn’t stop thinking about what she was going to do if the Cabot’s kicked her out. Not the best of thoughts to have at a time like this, but she needed something to block out how hurt she’d felt and the overwhelming sense of betrayal that coursed through her. It was true that Alex didn’t owe her anything and if was honest, Olivia was surprised she had waited this long, even if she said it without meaning to. She couldn’t hold it against Alex. Olivia had been getting away with a lot without the Cabot’s knowing what was going on, but she wanted to be the one to tell them. With then finding out from someone else, it made it seem as though she was ashamed of herself. She was nervous of their reaction yes, but she was in no way ashamed of who she was.

Olivia sighed and looked at the clock one more time. She groaned. It was time to get up and make a call she should have made when she first arrived at the house that morning. She sat up, swung her legs over the edge of the bed and heard a knock on the door.

“Come in, Max,” Olivia called, knowing the older woman was the only other person in the house at the moment.

The door slowly opened and Maxine poked her head around it, making sure Olivia was in fact awake. After confirming she was, she opened the door wider, revealing a small tray with a plate of sandwiches and a glass of juice. Olivia smiled. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was when she first woke up, but seeing the tray off food, she could feel her stomach growl.

“I thought you might be hungry,” Maxine declared. “Something tells me you haven’t eaten since last night.”

Olivia nodded. The last thing she had to eat was the snacks Sophie sat out for her study group. Thinking of the other woman reminded Olivia that she still had to call her foster mother. “I should probably call Sophie now that I’m awake,” she stated as she took a sandwich.

“I’ve already taken care of that,” Maxine responded. Olivia looked at her in shock. Usually Maxine made her take responsibility for herself. “I decided that sleep was what you needed this morning, and Sophie didn’t need to wait any longer to learn that you were ok. She called your school this morning to let them know you wouldn’t be attending and I asked if it would be ok for you to stay here tonight. She had no problem with that, and asked that I tell you that they aren’t upset with you, but you do need to talk. She also wanted you to know that you aren’t going to have to be moved, that you’ll be staying there if you would still like to.”

Olivia didn’t know what to say. Here she had been so nervous about what to expect when she came out to the adults in her life, she never thought they would all be ok with it. She knew she would probably be grounded for breaking some of the house rules by having Andy up in her room, but if that was the worst she got out of this whole thing, she could definitely handle that.

“Thank you, Max,” Olivia said quietly.

“You have no need to thank me, Olivia,” Maxine gently explained. “We all love you, and are here to support you. Maybe next time you won’t be so afraid to share something like this. Although, after this, I can’t imagine what else you would be scared of telling us.” The last statement caused them both to laugh. Olivia figured she’d wait until later to announce she was thinking about the police academy after college.

Maxine set the tray on the night stand and stood to leave. As she reached the door, she turned back to the young brunette. “By the way,” she started, “you might want to think about getting dressed. I’m guessing you’ll be having some company within the hour.”

Olivia watched in confusion as the door closed, but finally just shrugged her shoulders and ate her lunch. After she was done, she got out of bed and went to the dresser to grab some of the spare clothes she left at Amy’s.

After getting dressed, she made her way downstairs, through the kitchen and out into the backyard. One of Olivia’s favorite things to do when she came over was to lay out in the yard, watching the day go by. It sounded boring, but it was nice just to be for a little bit instead of always on the move. After takin her usual position in the grass, lying on her back with her hands behind her head and her eyes closed, she thought back to her conversation with Max. Olivia still wasn’t sure what Maxine had meant about her having company and frankly right now, she didn’t care. She had to think of how she would explain all this to her friends and girlfriend without making Alex look like the bad guy. Really she wasn’t though. There was no malicious intent on Alex’s part. It had been said in the heat of the moment to stop an ensuing argument. That’s what Olivia believed and she had already forgiven her for it, but it wasn’t something she’d be forgetting. She was told though that you never forget how you come out. She was just glad it hadn’t happened while she was in some bar completely drunk.  That is something she would never live down.

Deciding she was done thinking about this for now, Olivia tried to clear her mind and relax as she stretched out in the sun. She had started to doze off and missed the sound of the approaching figure until they called out. “Anyone ever tell you that you look like a cat when you lay in the sun like that?”

Olivia smiled when she heard that voice, finally understanding what Maxine had meant earlier. She turned her head to face the direction it came from. 

“Well, you did call me kitten the first night we met, or were you talking to Amy?”  Olivia smirked.

George laughed quietly. “I don’t think it really matters,” he said as he sat down next to his younger friend. “You’re more of a Tiger now anyway.”

This caused the brunette to laugh. “Tiger?” she raised an eyebrow skeptically. “How do you figure?”

“When you first stepped into that club, you could tell that you were new to the scene because of how nervous you were, but you were still confident. You have this swagger that could be defined as a prowl. You have women, and men, of all ages staring at you with desire every time you go anywhere. You may not notice it, which for the record only makes them want you more, but Andy does. You should see how proud she is when you take her hand and she gives everyone a ‘that’s right, she’s with me’ look. It’s actually quite humorous,” George laughed after his explanation.

Olivia stared at him dumfounded. She’d listened to everything he’d said, but seemed stuck on one thing. “I do not have a swagger,” she protested.

“Oh yes you do,” George laughed. “It’s sexy as hell. And that’s coming from a man who has no sexual interest in the female gender at all.”

“I’m sexy?” Olivia asked. She was taken completely by surprise.

“Uh…yeah,” George replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You drive the baby dykes and cougars wild.”

Olivia laughed at his statement. “Thanks, but I’m happy with Andy.”

Taking another moment to drag on the levity, George knew that Maxine had not called him just to spend the day lazing around with Olivia. She called him for a reason, he just didn’t know what it was. When the laughter calmed, he got around to trying to figure it out.

“So you want to tell me why I was called over here?” he asked his friend quietly.

Olivia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her friends were perceptive. They would know that they weren’t called for any reason, but she wanted to recount the story as little as possible. She’d wait until Amy got home, and Andy showed up, knowing that was probably the only other person Maxine would call in this situation. What happened to Olivia affected her as well, if only a little.

They sat in companionable silence, waiting for their other friends. Olivia tried to think of how to explain what had happened without making everyone hate Alex. She finally decided that she’d just tell them the truth and deal with the reaction.

Andy was next to join the group. She greeted the two already lying in the grass, but said nothing more. She lay down next to Olivia and took her hand, twining they’re fingers together.

****

            Amy walked into her house looking more than a little confused. “Mom?” she called out.

“In here,” Maxine called out from the kitchen.

“Why is Liv’s car here?” she asked, not waiting until she got to the kitchen. Her curiosity interfered with her common sense telling her it that having a conversation with a person on the other side of the house wasn’t a good idea.

Maxine agreed with common sense. She came out of the kitchen wiping her hands on a dish towel. “Amy why on earth are you yelling across the house?” she asked in a disapproving tone.

“You did,” Amy countered.

“Yes, but you asked where I was. I was busy in the kitchen and I saw no point in stopping what I was doing to come out here and tell you where I was just to go back and start it again,” Maxine explained.

“Yeah, but you ended up having to do that anyway. Wouldn’t it have been easier just to do that in the first place?”Amy replied, almost succeeding in hiding her smirk.

“You’re going to law school,” Maxine replied, making no room for argument. She turned and walked back into the kitchen to continue making up the tray of sandwiches she’d been working on before her daughter came home.

Amy shrugged and followed her mom. She wanted to go into law anyway, so her mom telling her she was made it easier then telling her. “Now that that’s out of the way, why is Olivia’s car here? She doesn’t usually come over until closer to dinner when she comes over on Friday nights. For that matter, when did Andy and George get here?”

Maxine paused for a moment. She tried to think of the best way to tell Amy what had happened last night without telling her everything. That was a story for Olivia to tell.  “Olivia came over early this morning, you were still asleep. Something happened at home last night and she’s been gone ever since. George and Andy are here because I thought she could use some friends right now. I’m telling you anymore. Take this tray of sandwiches out to your friends, and Olivia will tell you the rest,” Maxine explained. She then turned and walked out of the room, giving Amy no chance to question her.

Amy stood in the kitchen for a few moments to think about what could have possibly happened to send Olivia out of the house. By the time she finally picked up the tray of sandwiches and walked outside with it her mind had come up with everything from the unthinkable, Nathan had tried something on Liv; to the unimaginable, Olivia had tried something on Alex; to the nearly impossible, Alex had tried something on Liv. Amy had her mind so worked up, she almost ran to where her friends were.

Olivia, Andy, and George had moved to the patio furniture in the shade, having had enough of the sun for now, when Amy came walking, almost running, up to them. Olivia and Andy were sitting together on the love seat, while George was occupying one of the chairs with his feet propped up on one of the tables. Amy set the tray down next to his feet and sat in the other unoccupied chair and just looked at everyone, patiently waiting for someone to tell her what was going on.

George and Andy, while also curious about why they were called, had been sitting with Olivia long enough to know that this was not something they could force out of her. But they weren’t given any information from Maxine to fuel they’re imaginations. And they didn’t have an overactive imagination like Amy.

Looking around at her collective group of friends, Amy wondered how long it was going to take for someone to fill her in. When it didn’t look like any one was going to volunteer any information, Amy looked annoyed. “Well?” she asked, her impatient annoyance showing in her voice.

Olivia smirked. She knew it wouldn’t take long for Amy to try and get the story out of her. Right now she was very thankful Maxine had called her friends to come over that afternoon. The time spent with them, and not consciously thinking about what happened the night before had given her a chance to prepare for what she was going to tell her friends.

“The Cabots know,” she stated without preamble. Thankfully, no one needed it to be explained to them what she was talking about. She noticed the shocked looks on their faces and knew what question was coming next.

“What happened?” Amy asked quietly. So Olivia told them, everything from Sophie questioning her about her interest in boys, right to Alex letting the proverbial cat out of the bag. When she finished, she looked around to see their shocked expressions.

“I’ll kill her,” Amy said, in true best friend fashion. “I knew you guys didn’t like each other, Liv, but I never thought she’d stoop to this level to hurt you.”

“It’s not her fault, Amy,” Olivia explained. “I don’t think she did it with the intention of getting me into trouble or hurting me. Her parents were fighting, and she wanted it to stop. She said the first thing that came to mind that would end the discussion. I didn’t stick around for the new one that outburst would have brought up.” Olivia said.

Amy gave her an incredulous look. She knew why Olivia was defending the young blonde, and to some extent so did George. Andy however, just believed she was being the bigger person and putting it behind her, it made her fall just a little bit more for the brooding brunette.

“What are you going to do?” George asked, trying to ease the tension between the fiery red head and her best friend.

In response, Olivia shrugged her shoulders. “I’m going back to the Cabots’ for dinner and we’ll talk then. I’m guessing there’s going to be some kind of punishment, but I don’t know how bad it will be. Sophie did say that I’m still welcome to stay if I want to, but we’ll wait and see how tonight goes.”

They all nodded, knowing there was nothing more they could do now but wait. They’d find out how the talk went soon enough.

****

The quartet stayed on the patio for a few more hours. It wasn’t until Maxine informed Amy she was starting dinner that Olivia knew she could no longer delay going home. Amy walked with her friends out to their cars. She gave all of them a hug, and told Olivia to call her as soon as she knew what was going on. Olivia promised, kissed Andy good-bye, and got into her car, making the trip home lost in her own thoughts.

The normally short trip seemed to take even less time. All too soon Olivia was parking her car in the Cabot driveway. She sat behind the wheel for a moment collecting her thoughts and courage before she took a deep breath, exited her car, and made her way to the front door. A small part of her was tempted to knock. She didn’t however as this was still technically her home. She figured an action like that could make whatever punishment she received worse.

When she opened the door, Olivia expected to see the three Cabots waiting for her in the front room, almost like an ambush. She was surprised to see empty couches and chairs. She heard noise coming from the kitchen and could smell dinner cooking. Nervously she made her way in that direction. Upon entering the kitchen, everything seemed normal with the exception of the underlying tension in the room. To anyone else, Nathan, Sophie and Alex would have looked like any other family getting ready for dinner, but Olivia could see the tension in their bodies. She cleared her throat to let them know she was there.

Sophie looked up from the plate she was preparing to meet the eyes of the latest arrival. She gave a nervous, but relieve smile. “Olivia,” she said happily. “You’re just in time. Have a seat.” She knew she was only putting of the inevitable discussion, but the brunette had just gotten home, she didn’t want to do anything that would make her run off again. The night before had been hard enough when they didn’t know where she was.

Seeing that the discussion was being set aside for the moment, Olivia was more than happy to go along with it. She sat down at the table and accepted the plate Sophie handed to her. All throughout dinner, both adults behaved as if nothing was different. In a way, Olivia was grateful. Maybe things really would be ok. Alex, however, was unusually quiet and she refused to make eye contact with the brunette. Olivia tried not to hope, but part of her started to feel like maybe Alex did care and she felt bad for what had happened last night. She wouldn’t address it at the table, but if Alex seemed approachable, she’d let her off the hook about it later.

Even with the ease that Nathan and Sophie were trying to create, Olivia still felt too nervous to eat much. She took three or four bites and spent the rest of the meal pushing the food around her plate. When she felt as though she’d put in a significant amount of time at the table she decided she couldn’t take the temporary avoidance anymore. “May I be excused?” she asked. She was surprised that she was able to keep the plea from her voice.

“Of course dear,” Sophie said. “Why don’t you wait for us in the living room?” She worded it as a suggestion, but Olivia knew that it was a suggestion that would be in her best interest to follow.

Nodding, she gave her silent consent. She stood up from the table, cleared her place, and placed them next to the sink. She quickly exited the kitchen and made her way to the living room. At first she sat in the arm chair across from the couch, but then stood up as it would have made the whole thing feel like an interrogation. There was no need to make it feel more uncomfortable than it was already going to be. Next she thought of sitting on the couch, but that could make her look too relaxed, like she didn’t care how this all turned out. Instead, she took to looking around the living room, taking it in as if she’d never seen it before.

 A couch and two arm chairs positioned around a small coffee table made up the center of the room. There were to end tables on either side of the couch and both had small lamps on them. Pictures covered the walls and the mantle. Most of them were of Alex with either of her parents or all three of them. Several of them contained Olivia as well. She walked over to the mantle and picked up her favorite picture, not so much the picture itself, but the memory it brought up.

Every year before the beginning of school, Nathan and Sophie let the girls have a party as a way to celebrate the summer. Somehow, Alex’s ex-boyfriend had managed to crash. He had tried to confront Alex to find out why they had broken up. That was probably the biggest mistake of his high school career. Alex had not only told him why, but also announced it to the whole of the party. Apparently he had cheated on her, or at least had planned on it. She’d heard what he had in mind, but broke up with him before he had the chance. She later found out that the girl he wanted was actually in college and had laughed in his face at his adolescent attempts to seduce her, another fact she didn’t keep from the party. He left the house with his head bowed in embarrassment. On a whim, Olivia had decided to take a picture of her. As she was about to snap the picture, Alex had turned to face her, and the look of passion in the intense blue eyes brought on from the fight with her ex had nearly taken Olivia’s breath away. 

“That’s my favorite picture out here,” Alex said from behind Olivia. She smirked when she saw she had startled the usually alert girl out of her thoughts. It was rare that she could sneak up on the young brunette. She walked up next to the girl and took the picture from her hands. She looked at it for a moment, and then set it back in its place on the mantle. “I don’t even know why they want to show it off though.”

Olivia was about to tell her why it should be displayed, but then thought better of it when the first comment that came to mind would probably be a very bad idea. Instead she just waited for Alex to let her know what was going on. Why was she out here now when her parents were still in the kitchen?

“Olivia I wanted to apologize for this mess I’ve gotten you into,” she started. “I didn’t intend for it to come out, it just…did.”

Olivia was about to tell her that she had nothing to worry about, that she wasn’t upset with her, but the door to the living room opened again, allowing the two adults to enter the rom. She’d just have to tell her later.

They moved to sit in the two arm chairs, leaving the couch open to the teenagers. They each took up residence on either side, sitting as far away from each other as possible. Olivia nervously looked back and forth between Nathan and Sophie, wondering who was going to go first. She could tell that they were still trying to work out exactly what they wanted to say, so she decided to start for them.

“Before you guys say anything,” she said, “I just want you to know that I never meant any disrespect by keeping this from you. I wanted to tell you, but I was scared of how you’d react.”

Sophie gave her a soft smile knowing how hard it was for Olivia to admit to being afraid. “We know that dear. In today’s society, while its more acceptable now than it was when I was a girl, it is still not accept by all, but you never have to be afraid of that here Olivia. Love comes in rare forms, who are we to dismiss it based on gender?”

Olivia almost wanted to cry at how accepting the Cabots were about this. She had been worried over nothing.

“But that isn’t why we said we needed to talk tonight, Olivia,” Nathan stated.

“It’s not?” Olivia asked, confusion showing clearly on her face. She looked to Alex, who just shrugged her shoulders, not knowing what her parents had wanted to talk about. Part of her couldn’t help but think how adorable the brunette was when she was confused. However, now it was her turn to be confused as she tried to work out where that thought had come from.

“No, it’s not,” Nathan repeated.

“Ok, then what do we need to talk about?” she asked.

“Your punishment,” Sophie said.

“Punishment?!” came the shocked replies from both girls sitting on the couch.

“What for?”  Alex demanded.

“While we have nothing against you being gay, Olivia, you did break three house rules,” Sophie said. “Last night, for example, you left the house, without telling us where you were going and you didn’t meet your curfew.”

Olivia nodded her head, knowing that she couldn’t argue her way out of that one. 

“We’re going to ground you for a week for each of those,” Sophie said.

“Ok, what’s the third one?” she asked tentatively.

“You had Andy up in your room,” Nathan said, “you know that isn’t allowed.”

“Olivia didn’t break any rules, Dad,” Alex said. When both her parents looked at her with expressions asking her to explain, she continued. “That rule clearly states ‘No Boys allowed in the rooms.”

Nathan and Sophie looked at each other, knowing they’re daughter was technically right. Nathan raised his eyebrow at his wife, silently asking what she wanted to do. Sophie thought for a moment. She smirked when the idea came to her.

“You’re right Alex that is what the rule says.” She waited until her daughter’s smug smile appeared on her face before continuing. “But as of now that rule is rewritten to include girlfriends as well.” She looked to Olivia who nodded her head in understanding, then turned back to her daughter. “And you, dear, will be taking the two weeks we were going to add on to Olivia’s sentence.”

“What for?” Alex asked, shocked that this had backfired on her.

“For being a smart ass,” Sophie smirked. She then stood up and walked back into the kitchen, soon followed by Nathan, leaving the teenagers alone.

“Well this is just great,” Alex huffed, crossing her arms in front of her.

“I’m sorry Alex,” Olivia said. “You didn’t have to try and defend me, thank you though.”

“It’s whatever, Olivia,” Alex responded. She stood up and turned to face the brunette. “I’d say we’re even now though.” With that, she left the living room, heading in the direction of her bedroom.

All Olivia could do was laugh quietly to herself. She had already forgiven Alex for outing her, but if Alex needed to feel like she’d done Olivia a favor to make her feel better, then so be it. She wasn’t going to complain about not being grounded for another two weeks. She decided to head for her own bedroom, thinking it was going to be an interesting two weeks.

Title: Stranger Things Have Happened
Pairing(s): A/O
Rating: PG-13
Summary: AU-ish.  Alex and Olivia meet while on vacation in Aruba.
Disclaimer: I don't own them.

Second update this week, that's got to be some kind of record.  On with part 4