Disclaimer: Dick Wolf and NBC own "Law and Order". I don't.

A/N: Here's another one-shot I came up with that isn't an "official" installment in my M/C series, but it takes place within the same "universe". I absolutely LOVE the episode "Zero". How did Connie keep Carly away from Judge Reynolds at Odeon so that Mike could talk to him? What did they say to each other? I've always wondered that! This just popped into my head not too long ago, so I thought, "Why not?" C-:

For Linus and Alana and Cutterosa shippers everywhere.

No Espionage

Setting: The present

Mike and Connie, like they'd done so many times before, had arranged to take their lunch breaks at the same time, so they could eat together. Like they were used to doing, because Mike worked in Queens and Connie worked in Manhattan, they met up at their restaurant of choice, which, that day, happened to be Odeon.

After about a ten-minute wait, the two of them were finally seated.

At the current moment, they were sipping their drinks while they waited on their lunch.

"So," Connie said, swallowing a sip of her raspberry iced tea, "it's nice to be here on an innocent date, instead of for judicial espionage," she bantered warmly with a smile and a wink.

Mike smiled, knowing exactly what she was referring to.

"'Judicial espionage'—I like it," he bantered back.

"Just another bit of witty repartee from the mind of your wife," Connie joked warmly with another smile.

"I love it," Mike said, smiling.

Connie's smile broadened in response to that and to him gently taking her hand and kissing it.

"But is this really an innocent date—or is there someone here you want to spy on and someone you want me to lock in a bathroom stall, and you just haven't told me yet?" she affectionately teased him.

"Uh, let me get back to you on that," Mike joked.

He then pretended to look around the restaurant.

"Nah, we're good," he then said with an impish, adorable smile. "But hey, I've got no right to tell you what to do. You want to lock somebody in a stall, go for it," he added.

Connie laughed.

"So," Mike then asked her, "how exactly did you distract Carly? I don't think I ever asked you that."

"I mostly just made awkward small talk," Connie replied. "Where'd she go to law school, how'd she like being a law clerk, the weather…"

Mike swallowed a sip of his beer.

"Did she ask you anything?" he asked.

"No. She answered me, though," Connie replied. "And she talked about you."

"What'd she say? What'd you say?" Mike asked, a little taken aback.

"She asked me how long I'd been working with you, and I told her. She said she knew you from your last Narcotics case—before she was Judge Reynolds' clerk, apparently she clerked for a judge who presided over a lot of drug cases."

"Yeah, that's where I knew her from," said Mike. "I swear she'd seek me out just to try to flirt with me. I always remained professional around her, though, hoping she'd take the hint, but, as you saw, she didn't."

"She definitely didn't," Connie agreed.

"What else did you say to each other?"

"She said, 'God, Mike's attractive—don't you think?' Well, you know me and my poker face. I pretended her saying that didn't annoy me. Then she said, 'I just think he's so attractive. You're lucky you get to see him all the time. Is he seeing anybody, do you know?"

At that, Connie snorted and shook her head.

"She said that?" Mike asked, obviously surprised.

"Oh yeah," Connie replied flatly.

"What did you say to that?" Mike asked.

At that question, Connie looked down, feeling a blush rising to her cheeks.

"I…I lied and said that you were," she admitted. "I said I didn't know much at all about your girlfriend, though, because you'd only mentioned her in passing—also that you and I didn't discuss our personal lives at work because we thought it was unprofessional to do so…"

She finally looked up at Mike, still blushing.

"I was hoping it would make her back off…Petty and stupid, I know—but is jealousy ever rational?" she said.

Mike's expression was soft.

"I actually think yours is pretty flattering," he said.

Connie gave a small, wry smile.

"You're sweet, but that really was a petty thing to do," she said. "I wasn't thinking clearly."

Then—

"God, I couldn't stand her," she said. "You were right," she went on, looking down and stirring her tea with her straw as she spoke. "I did have a jealousy problem…You saw right through me." She then looked up, allowing their eyes to meet. "I kept telling myself that I'm not in love with you—kept denying it. But again—you saw right through me…I really did wonder if there was anything between the two of you—and tried to convince myself that even if there was, I didn't care."

"There never was," Mike said truthfully, looking her right in the eyes. "She started out as a friend and then ended up a nuisance…I thought you already knew," he added tenderly, referring, of course, to him being in love with her.

Connie found those words moving.

"I did, honey. I did. I just wasn't ready to face it until the firefighter case," she said warmly.

She reached across the table and gently took hold of his hand. He tenderly held her hand.

"Thank you for not giving up on me, Mike," Connie said softly. "I don't think I've ever said that to you—but now that we're married, it does seem like the perfect time to say it. No matter how much I denied how I feel about you, no matter how often I pretended not to love you every bit as much as you love me, no matter how much I pushed you away and put my guard up—mainly during the Woll case—you never gave up on me. Instead, you stood by me. You stood by me, and you were so patient and understanding and loving. Not once did you push or pressure me. I can't tell you how much that means to me."

"You were more than worth it," Mike said, looking her directly in the eyes.

"Mike…" Connie softly spoke his name, deeply moved.

"It's true," Mike said.

Connie kissed his hand she'd been holding.

"You are precisely what I want in a husband—precisely," she said.

"Well I am so blessed to get to spend the rest of my life with you," Mike said.

"I feel the same," said Connie. "I love you."

Mike smiled sweetly.

"Even though I've been known to go to restaurants and spy on judges?" he bantered.

Connie couldn't help but grin.

"Even though you've been known to go to restaurants and spy on judges," she said.

"Okay," Mike bantered affectionately. "Glad we cleared that up. By the way," he added warmly, "I love you, too."