Disclaimer: Characters aren't mine…

A/N: So I haven't posted in forever, tons of RL things have happened, but I finally had the chance to sit down and go through some stories I had been working on once upon a time, and found this. I'm not exactly sure where I was wanting to go with this other than being in the TAHL universe, but it seems complete enough, so I hope you enjoy!

They sat together on opposite ends of the couch, idly playing footsies, drinking tea and sharing random, unimportant details from their childhood. The conversation was quiet, easy, flowing without either actually thinking about what they were going to say before they said it. Alex reveled in it. It was very rare to catch her lover in such a laid-back, open manner, but when she did, no matter what she was doing or needed to do, she would set aside to enjoy the emotional closeness.

"I stole Silly Putty when I was five."

Olivia laughed. "I can't see you ever having the need to steal anything."

"Of course I didn't need to," Alex said with a blush and mumbled, "Serena dared me," which only caused her lover to laugh harder. Alex huffed, hiding a grin. "When Mother found out, she made me return it and apologize to the store manager." Olivia continued laughing. "It isn't funny!" Alex insisted. "I was completely embarrassed. I didn't speak to Serena the rest of the afternoon." Alex sighed as Olivia kept laughing. "You can't tell me you didn't steal anything as a child."

Olivia's laughs quieted as she answered. "I stole an apple when I was seven."

Alex stared at her a moment blinking. "You're telling me as a child, you never stole a toy? Only an apple?"

Olivia took the last sip from her tea cup before placing it on the table and began messaging Alex's foot. "Yeah. We didn't frequent stores with toys. More like liquor."

Alex held back a sigh. It had been nice while it lasted, she thought. But now that something hinting towards the ugliness of Olivia's childhood had been mentioned, Alex knew their easy conversation would come to an end. She wondered if Olivia would ever become comfortable talking to her about her past. Alex simply learned to take comfort in the fact that Olivia had started to bring things up on her own now without having to be question or prodded, even if afterwards she became silent.

"So, you stole an apple…?" Alex questioned hoping Olivia would elaborate.

"Yeah," Olivia said almost absently before shaking her head and turning to face Alex. "Yeah. There was a bodega that kept their fresh fruit set up outside. Mr. Martinez would sit with it while a boy would run the inside. I hadn't seen my mom in a couple of days, at least that's what my seven year old mind thought, and I was hungry." She shrugged before smiling slightly. "The boy started chasing me, and at first I thought it was a game. But when he started yelling at me to stop, I looked back and saw he wasn't smiling and got scared. I made a wrong turn into a dead-end alley.

"I just sat down in the corner and started going to town on that apple. It felt like I hadn't eaten in forever. And I just knew that as soon as he caught me he was going to take it away. He was bent over, huffing and puffing. I'd ran about three blocks, crawling under fences and behind dumpsters," Olivia gave what Alex thought of as a somewhat smug smile.

"When he looked up at me, he just froze," she continued, her eyes taking on a distant look. "I can only imagine what I looked like: a little girl all but curled up in herself, eating that apple as if I didn't know when I'd ever get to eat again. He just sat down and watched me; we didn't take our eyes off of each other. When I was finished we just stayed there, sitting and staring. He reached into his pocket and I started crying. I had no idea what he was going to do to me. I knew I had stolen and that stealing was bad. But he pulled out a Milky Way and held it out in front of him."

They were both silent for a while, Olivia still absently messaging Alex's feet. "His name was Phil," Olivia said, her voice almost surprising Alex in the silence. "He sat with me until I finished eating and then walked me home. Every day after that when I walked by the bodega, he gave me an apple and a Milky Way and winked at me."

"That's sweet," Alex nearly whispered.

"Hmm," Olivia said distractedly. She stared down at Alex's foot she was still massaging for a while before switching and saying, "Phil owns the bodega now. I go in sometimes to see him. He still gives me an apple and a Milky Way," she smiled up at Alex who laughed, pleased that the story hadn't seemed to dampen Olivia's mood.