AN: Right off the bat, I have to say that I'm not a religious person in any way, shape or form, but I do respect a person's belief in a greater and/or higher being, so I mean not to offend any readers with this story :-). Having said that, I do admit that many religious cultures and customs fascinate me... particularly the Amish. I think it stems back to seeing 'Witness' many moons ago... mmm, Kelly McGillis in that. I wanted to be Harrison Ford and kiss her ;-). I got to thinking there's got to be lesbian and gay Amish people and what do they do? How do they cope? Also having recently finally seen 'Plain Truth' with Mariska, this story idea kind of popped in to my head. Also Rafael Barba in the show with his pants braces certainly helped too ;-)

I'm not saying within this particular story there will be any aspects of any religion per se, but there will be easily recognisable 'Amish-like' and 'Amish-type' things happen, but it won't be strictly adhering to all Amish customs. There will be a couple of Pennsylvanian Dutch/German words used by certain characters, but they will be explained along the way. It's AU for sure, so it's set in no particular area of the USA, nor time frame (apart from there's no internet, computers, cell phones etc in the 'outside world'. So good old coin operated phones and typewriters etc). So let's say a modern but simpler time, so maybe early 80's if you want, but it's not necessary. This is the Alex and Olivia story, with a side order of Donnelly and Petrovsky. The only thing you have to know is that Liz and Lena are in their mid to late 30's, and Alex and Olivia are teenagers. Some other L&O characters will be mentioned too. I already have the first 4 chapters written because my muse is being bountiful with this and has only given me 1700 words for the next chapter of 'Negotiating' while I wrote the most recent chapter of ISBY. Yes it's rated M for a reason (oh yeah, lady loving will occur). Let me know what you think :-)

The dark brown eyes of Olivia Benson's darted to the right, straining to take in the profile view of her best friend sitting next to her, Alexandra Cabot. Only one word from Olivia's vocabulary would and could describe the blonde haired, blue eyed teen sitting beside her: beautiful. She could use a vast array of adverbs to precede that one word... breathtakingly, utterly, immensely, truly, gracefully, purely, simply. But no matter how many descriptives she could think of, in Olivia's eyes Alexandra was still just beautiful.

"Olivia Benson! Repeat for the class what I just said!" Miriam Cabot's voice cut through the air like a knife, making the almost 17 year old brunette jump in surprise. She came face to face with the older blonde who had a black bonnet covering her head, indicating she was an Elder within the Village.

Sighing internally, Olivia parroted back the words the woman had spoken holding the same glare she was being given. "Man shall not lay down with man, nor woman with woman, as man should lay with woman, Elder Miriam. It is forbidden..."

Miriam held Olivia's steely gaze before a tiny look of satisfaction settled over her patrician features. Olivia's eyes made brief contact with a reading Elder Lena Petrovsky, then a knitting Elder Elizabeth Donnelly in the corner of the small schooling room before she glared back at blonde woman crouched in front of her shared table.

A small smirk of her own appeared for a moment before Olivia spoke clearly, "... Until Rumspringa."

There was a collective inhaled breath from the small Village Lore schooling class that included Olivia's very close friends Alexandra, Rafael Barba and Trevor Langan. Also in attendance this particular day were Dean Porter, Brian Cassidy, Kenneth Briscoe, Nicholas Amaro, Amanda Rollins, Cassandra Novak, Danielle Beck and Kimberley Greylek. However they were all younger than Olivia and her close friends. Some were just a year younger, some were 2 or more years.

Olivia's oldest friend, Elliott Stabler, had finished schooling the previous year, and just before that particular Rumspringa became tentatively betrothed to his now wife, Katherine. They had been paired by the Elders of the Village not long before Katherine had turned 17, but they could not be wedded until after they had experienced Rumspringa and chose to stay in the Village. Elliott and Katherine stayed in the Rumspringa House on the far outskirts of the Village (around half a day's ride by horse and buggy), being allowed to come and go as they pleased and interact with the English of the nearby Main Town. The English was the term given to any and all outsiders of the Village, any of those previous Villagers that chose to leave, or were shunned to leave the Village. The young Stabler family increased their numbers by one after Katherine gave birth to baby Maureen just weeks ago.

It was basically an open secret that Olivia Benson was of English descent. Her mother, Serena Benson, had returned from her year long Rumspringa, heavily pregnant although not tentatively betrothed to anyone at the time, and the whispers and speculations began from the 'old families' of the Village. Mostly everyone in the Village assumed Serena never spoke to anyone about the conception of her child due to the shame of laying with an English man, but this was not the case. Only 2 other Villagers knew Serena's secret. Then again, only Serena knew their secret and took it to her grave. A few weeks after returning from Rumspringa, a little girl was born and named Olivia by Serena, but sadly Serena died only hours after childbirth. A respected and unofficial leader of the Village, Elder Donald Cragen, adopted Olivia as his own daughter (his own wife, Margory, had passed away when an automobile collided with their horse and buggy some years earlier). Due to Elder Donald informally adopting Olivia, noone dare speak of her English heritage in public, but the murmurs and innuendos never completely ceased.

Serena Benson's best friend, Lena Petrovsky, helped Donald raise Olivia to be the young woman she was becoming. Lena's own husband-to-be was killed when a barn collapsed during a barn raising only weeks after being tentatively betrothed, as was the tentatively betrothed husband of Elizabeth Donnelly. This terrible accident which also claimed 4 other lives from the Village, occurred almost 20 years ago, and whilst sad, it helped finally bring 2 people together during their own Rumspringa. Serena's other best friend, Elizabeth Donnelly, was Alexandra Cabot's aunt and the older sister of Miriam Cabot (née Donnelly). Even though it was Elizabeth that basically raised Alexandra from birth, to this very day Miriam Cabot swung from not caring at all about her only daughter to being overly protective of her, especially after her own husband left the Village one night over 10 years ago. Miriam always told Alexandra her father left because 'he was disappointed with his family' which made Alexandra Cabot strive harder in every aspect of her life and not want to disappoint her family, nor her mother any further... and never the actual truth, which was he left 'to live the life he needed to'. Having her husband choose to leave the Village brought much shame to Miriam and therefore the Cabot family name. The one thing Miriam did care about for Alexandra was who she could be betrothed to.

Her ideal match for Alexandra was Trevor Langan.

The Cabots, Langans and Donnellys were deemed 'old families' of the Village, much respected but were staunchly set in their ways (except for Elizabeth, who was more... progressive, shall we say. Much like Alexandra... and also Trevor for that matter). So the match in Miriam's eyes was perfect to repair the shame she felt had been bestowed upon the Cabot family name (even though she was only a Cabot by marriage). On Miriam's insistence along with Trevor Langan's parents, Mara (Miriam's best friend, of course) and Mirit too, the Elders approved this tentatively arranged marriage. They also approved of the Cabot's and Langan's off handed suggestion for Olivia to be betrothed to Rafael after Rumspringa... 'a good match for a newer family to the Village, with the approval of Elder Donald, of course' was said.

However, only Lena and Elizabeth knew both these pairings were terrible for all four young adults involved. Just like when they themselves had been paired with their respective husbands-to-be all those years ago.

"What. Did. You. Say?" Miriam's voice was low and threatening.

"Rumspringa," Olivia reiterated with a hint of smugness.

"NO! Not even during Rumspringa!"

Olivia stated matter-of-factly, "During Rumspringa, a blind eye is turned to most things... forbidden. Only activities of a truly heinous nature will not be overlooked, nor tolerated by the Village."

"Never! Do you hear me?" Miriam growled with authority as she slapped the palm of her hand on the table to drive her point across, "NEVER!"

While the younger members of the class almost cowered to the verbal onslaught, Alexandra, Rafael and Trevor tried to remain empassive, while Olivia jutted out her chin slightly in defianace.

Lena cleared her throat before she spoke up, though her focus quite intent on her book. "Olivia is right, Miriam."

Miriam rounded on her older sister's friend, "I beg your pardon?!"

Elizabeth looked pointedly at her younger sister as she continued to knit, "Miriam, we as Elders know that what Olivia just said is quite true. Or perhaps you've forgotten and need to resit this young adult and children's Lore class yourself, instead of teaching it? Our Village Lores now state that during a young adult's Rumspringa, a blind eye is turned-"

"Yes Elizabeth, I know. Thankyou for refreshing my memory!" Miriam tried not to sound too bitter or resentful for being chastised in front of the class by her sister, especially in front of her own daughter. She stood back up, not before muttering under her breath, "Doesn't mean I have to agree with it."

"No, you don't." Lena looked up as she placed a floral cross-stitched bookmark between the pages she had been reading, "But you must respect it. The Village Lores were amended some years ago, therefore we're required to teach the revised lores of the Village... not the old lores."

Miriam struggled not to raise her voice, "The very thought of laying with someone of your own gender disgusts me! Some lores should never change!"

Elizabeth placed the knitting in her lap, "And some Villagers never will. Now you might understand why Lena and myself have to watch over your class, dear sister. Keep teaching the way you want to teach this class and you may find yourself removed from being an Elder... and we both know how much status means to you within the Village, Miriam. The lore is not just about man laying with man, nor woman laying with woman, it also stipulates that man and woman shall not lay together before Rumspringa. Do not pick and choose parts of the Village Lores you prefer to teach."

Before Miriam could say another word, Lena rang a small bell to indicate that it was time for the class to end. Miriam Cabot gathered her few teaching possessions and left the class without a backwards glance. Elizabeth knew for certain that her sister would be going off to bitterly complain to Mara and Mirit Langan. It seemed appropriate that all 3 of their names meant just that: bitter.

Lena spoke up, "Before you all leave to have lunch with your families, remember class: Everything you have been taught regarding what is forbidden of our Village Lores thus far is correct and must be respected. Most of you have still a year or more before this may or may not apply to yourself, but for those who are old enough for it this year: Forbidden... until Rumspringa."

Olivia tried not to grin as Lena gave her a minute nod in acknowledgement. She didn't bother to hide her surprise when Alexandra interlocked her pinkie finger with the brunette's under the table for a moment before the blonde stood up and untied the chin ribbons of her bonnet, allowing them to finally hang freely. Olivia copied Alexandra's lead, and as she untied her own thin, short bonnet ribbons, she exchanged a look with smirking Rafael, who in turn exchanged a knowing glance with Trevor as they placed their straw hats atop their heads.

With Olivia's own birthday next week, then Alexandra's birthday the week after, this year's Rumspringa would then only be 2 weeks away. Olivia Benson couldn't wait for Rumspringa this year. None of the 4 young adults that were all friends could wait for thier Rumspringa this year.