"You have got to be kidding me Ed. Seriously, again? No, no I'm still en route…." she lied, with what should have been a troubling cool, reaching for the glass in front of her and taking an inaudible sip. "Of course, yeah, no problem."

Inhaling slowly, deliberately, closing her eyes and holding her breath Olivia lowered the phone from her ear and touched her finger lightly over the button that would put an end to the call and to their date night. When she peeled her eyes open again the bar was still there, and she was still sitting alone at a table in the corner of it. She liked this bar, it felt familiar. Some of those closest to her would probably have argued that it was a little too familiar to her, but she disagreed. Noah was with a sitter, it was the only night she hadn't spent with him that week. She had struck a perfectly commendable balance between her work and her personal life and she was a good mother.

"Another of the same, please."

"You still waiting on your date?" asked the amiable bar tender, and she trusted it was light chat rather than unwanted prying or pity.

"Ah, I….." softening her instinctive, automatic defensive stance Olivia smiled and relaxed her shoulders, "… he's working late. I'll catch him at home later. I'm calling this a nightcap now."

A while later Olivia stepped out into the night chill, reaching into her purse for her hat and gloves. It was getting colder; she wasn't looking forward to the following morning's early start. With Rollins and Carisi both on leave she was taking a more hands on approach than her usual running of the squad, and would be out working the case on the ground with Finn just like old times.

Just like old times.

"My God….." came a voice out of nowhere, and then two eyes that could cut glass were staring at her through the dusk "… you don't ever change."

Neither did he, she realised, standing mute and immobile on the sidewalk. Her hands at her side, palms wide in a sort of dropping motion, a release, a panicked need to abandon and bail out. Then slowly she clenched them, clenched her jaw, and clenched her heart.

"Why are you here?"

"Oh, well, I was hoping…." and then he realised he had no right to hope, to expect, to even really be there at all. "Should I just…."

"Go?" she asked, swallowing hard. She was no more sure of whether it was a question, a request, or an order than he was.

His eyes were still so painfully blue, but his face had softened. Those chiselled lines and cast iron jaw had tempered and he'd lost that intensity, that wanton fury that he tried so hard to bury in his intrinsic kindness. The yin and yang of him flooded back to her with the same intensity, the same wants, needs, desires. If she had been the same person she was the last time she had seen him then, four glasses of wine later, she wouldn't have been sure she could've helped herself.

She was not the same person.

"Liv…."

"Elliot I don't even know what to say to you right now." Rolling her shoulders she let them drop, chewing on her cheek before laughing bitterly, "Hell I don't know what to say to you at all."

"It's been a long time."

"Too long."

"I know, it really has, and it's crazy how…"

"No, no I'm sorry you misunderstand me…." clearing her throat and finding her voice Olivia stood tall, narrowing her gaze and flashing him that smile she usually reserved for patronising judges or hopeless attorneys, "… it has been too long Elliot. We are not doing this, not now, not ever."

"I…."

"You had a window, a grace period….." she continued pointedly, "…. but the window has closed and the grace is gone."

It took his breath away to realise he didn't know her anymore. She was every bit as beautiful, every inch as exquisite as the day he'd left but it was like she'd iced over. What once was fluid, bending, gentle, and soft had become solid and unflinching. There was a time where he'd fallen headlong and helpless into those warm brown eyes every time they'd looked his way. Now it was like there was nothing behind them but weariness, sadness, detached indifference and withholding.

"But I need to talk to you…."

"My God…" her voice cracked slightly, she cursed herself for giving him even that much, and then and she shook her head and laughed bitterly, "… you don't ever change."