Author's Note: This is my first attempt at writing a Law & Order: SVU story. There are appearances by several beloved characters as well as some from the original Law & Order. I thought it'd be fun to try my hand at writing something different, so here goes nothing . . . .

Disclaimer: Not mine, not mine, not mine.

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Chapter One: Same Old Battle

Cragen residence in Queens, New York:

"Girls you're going to be late for school!!!" Donald Cragen shouted from the bottom of the stairs to his two teenage girls in their bedrooms. Every time school came around he struggled trying to get his girls out the door on time.

"That's what I'm counting on!" Olivia shouted from her bedroom before burying her face under her pillows trying to block out all the noise that was interrupting her peaceful slumber.

"The joys of parenthood," he chuckled before heading into the kitchen to finish making breakfast.

Casey's bedroom:

Meanwhile, her sister Casey was busy trying to find the perfect outfit for her first day of high school. 'What should I wear?' she thought.

"How about my cargo pleaded skirt? Or my denim cutoffs with my sparkly pink tank and hot pink platform wedges?" Casey said as she went to stand in front of her full length mirror matching and mismatching her various choices.

"Ugh, this is sooo hard!" she shouted, and tossed the clothes she had in her hands on her bed. She was too busy rummaging through her closet, and muttering about needing new clothes she didn't hear the door to her room open.

Olivia stomped into Casey's room and immediately zeroed in on her stereo. "Hey, princess Grace!" she shouted over the music before turning off the stereo. "How about you let the other people in your kingdom sleep?" she asked as she moved closer to Casey.

Casey turned her head when she heard Olivia talking to her, "Excuse me, but it's already 6:00 am you shouldn't be sleeping, lazy girl."

Olivia rolled her eyes at her sister's cheery voice, "Why are you so chipper this morning?" she asked mocking her sister's cheerful voice. "Did you take a hit off of the helium tank we have in the basement? Oh no, wait that's your "normal" voice," she scoffed with a smile.

Casey looked at her for a moment before answering, "Well, it is the first day of high school. Plus, in case I forgot to mention that I'm now a sophomore at a brand new school. I want to make a good impression on people that way I'll fit in with the popular crowd like I'm used to," she replied completely ignoring the crack Olivia made about her voice.

Olivia moved to sit on Casey's bed kicking piles of clothes out of her way. She took a deep breath before sitting, and asking her sister the same question she always asked with the hope that her answer would've matured, "Case, why is it so important for you to be popular?"

It was now Casey's turn to roll her eyes, "Jeez Livvy, if you're going to get into your "Women are Independent" speech let me at least put on some music so I can drown it out."

Casey then turned back to her closet looking for her sparkly pink top without noticing Olivia's cold stare.

"Casey, you're fifteen years old. It's scary how shallow you could be sometimes," she pointed out.

"So you're seventeen, what's your point? Anyway, you know it wouldn't hurt if you tried to be a little more popular like you used to be," Casey turned and gave Olivia a bright smile which wasn't returned.

"Sure, that'll happen," she scoffed.

"Seriously, think about it," she continued as she went to sit behind Olivia so she could brush her sister's hair.

"Think about what?" Olivia asked annoyed with her sister's oncoming speech that she had memorized by heart.

"Buried under all that hostility and behind your anti-social personality which leaves little to be desired by the way, you have some definite popularity potential. You were way cuter than all of the girls that were popular at our old school, present company excluded of course," Casey chuckled.

"Plus . . ." she continued. "You're probably going to be way cuter, and hotter than the girls at this school. Guys and even some girls at our old school thought you were hot; trust me I heard it through the grapevine."

That caused Olivia to groan in frustration, and slight embarrassment.

"Why don't you try to put in a little effort? All it would take is a little make-up, cuter clothes; you already have great hair, but do try to simile more that will definitely get you in with the popular kids." Unfortunately, Casey didn't notice that Olivia was biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing during her speech.

"Livvy, what happened to you?" Casey asked.

Olivia was puzzled by her sister's question, "What do you mean?"

Casey continued brushing Olivia's hair, "You used to be one of the most popular girls at our old school, if not the most popular, and then all of a sudden you stopped hanging out with your friends, like you got sick of it or something," she waited for her to say something.

"Hmm," Olivia grumbled because she didn't have anything else to say.

Casey decided to continue, "Then you started acting different, dressing different. You quit the cheerleading squad, and you even had daddy change your red convertible for t-t-that thing you drive now. Next thing you know, I hear that you're beating the crap out of your ex-best friend, and you punch out your ex-boyfriend. Oh and let's not forget how you keyed his car which ruined the paintjob on his new Porsche."

Olivia smiled in satisfaction remembering her ex-boyfriend's face when he saw his precious car ruined that was the first time anyone saw the captain of the football team balling like a baby.

"It doesn't take a genius to figure out something big must've happened," Casey again tried to make her sister open up.

Outside in the hallway:

Don Cragen was making his way up to his daughters' rooms when he heard voices coming from Casey's room. He was about to knock when he heard the tail end of Casey's speech so he decided to wait a few moments before making his presence known. Even though, he knew that he shouldn't be eavesdropping on a private conversation between his girls, but he too was curious as to what had triggered Olivia's big change.

Back in Casey's room:

Olivia had heard more than enough from Casey so she decided to stop her sister's "How to be Popular" propaganda, and she didn't want to relive the incidents with her two timing ex-boyfriend, and her skanky ex-best friend.

"Okay sis, let me stop you right there," she said as she got up from the bed to face Casey, and put her hands on her hips. "One: I don't care about my looks. Two: I don't care about my wardrobe as long as I'm comfortable wearing it."

That comment caused Casey to snort and say, "Of course you don't just look at what you wear," which was quickly dismissed with a sarcastic laugh from Olivia.

Olivia was pacing the room when she turned to glare at Casey, "Where was I?" she asked aloud. Casey replied with an amused look, "Um, I think you were at three, wait," she looked down at her hands and started counting using her fingers, "Yup, three," Casey smiled which caused Olivia to grimace.

Trying to clear her head Olivia took a deep cleansing breath before she continued, "Three: I could care less if some hormonally charged teens think I'm cute." Satisfied that she was getting her point across Olivia decided to shorten her list, "Lastly, now pay close attention Casey because this is really important, and read my lips very carefully so I'll know you're paying attention, and not thinking about nail polish or lip gloss."

She paused to give Casey a chance to stop fussing over her own hair in order to finish talking; just as Casey looked up she was surprised to see how red Olivia's face had gotten, and then she heard her shout, "I don't care about being popular!"

Casey got up from the bed, and shrugged, "Fine whatever, act that way. You don't have to tell me what happened. Just don't say I didn't try to help you. Now on to more important matters, which shoes should I wear? I have carefully chosen for this particular outfit two choices keeping in mind textures, patterns, and color coordination. I can either wear my Marc Jacobs or my Charles David platform sandals," she said holding up the shoes for Olivia to make a decision.

Olivia was staring at Casey like she had grown two heads. Was she actually expecting an answer to such a ridiculous question? Just as she was about to give her sister a piece of her mind there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," Casey said before deciding on her pink Marc Jacob wedges that tied around the ankles.

Don walked into the room and immediately noticed how tense Olivia's shoulders were. He walked up to her and put his hand on her shoulder which visibly made her relax. He then turned to smile at Casey, "Girls I made breakfast for us. How about you come downstairs, and join your old man?"

The girls turned to greet their father. Olivia took Don's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze; she also gave him a soft smile before walking out of Casey's room muttering about having a blinding migraine.

On the other hand, Casey bounced up to her father to give him a kiss on the cheek, a hug as well as a "Good morning daddy. I'd love to have breakfast with you. Let me just change and I'll be there," she then made her way to her bathroom before going downstairs to join her father and sister for breakfast.