Happy Couple
"Hey, what are you staring at?" Asked Munch, as he snuck up behind a very startled Casey Novak.
"Huh-what?! I'm not staring at anyone!" She practically squeaked as she leaped backwards a few inches.
Munch snickered disbelievingly, and surveyed the squad room from behind the precinct door. He squinted his eyes and looked around carefully as he said slyly, "Actually, I asked you what you were staring at, not who. But now that you mention it..." He followed Casey's subtle gaze, and his eyes locked on Elliot Stabler. As this point, he was no longer smirking or snickering, he was outright laughing. He chuckled to himself for quite a while until Casey glared at him angrily.
"What's so funny?" She practically growled.
"You know damn well what's so funny, Novak. You've got it bad for Elliot Stabler!" Instead of denying it or slapping him, like he expected her too, she merely slumped back against the wall and nodded solemnly. Munch's eyebrows went past his hairline.
"Well...Ask him out." He said after a moment. Casey barked out a laugh.
"And get killed by his girlfriend?" She asked in disbelief, surprised Munch would even suggest such a thing.
Munch, though he new full well who she was talking about, played dumb,
"Who's his girlfriend?"
"Olivia! Duh. She's been blowing me off to go on dates for the past three months! Are you that stupid?"
"I actually like to consider myself to be quite intelligent." He stated with mock pride. When Casey glared at him fiercely, he sighed loudly.
"Okay! Sorry!" then he added, "and Olivia's not dating Elliot. Trust me."
"How do you know?"
"I just do." Munch supplied enigmatically.
"Well, prove it!" Casey countered.
Munch faltered, "...I'd rather not."
Casey dropped her "arguing stance" and looked at Munch closely,
"Care to elaborate on that?" She asked, in a slightly slower voice than normal.
"Uh...no." Munch said simply, almost cheerfully.
"Munch!"
"Fine! Fine! I'll show you. Just...you can't tell anyone okay?"
"Okay..." Casey drawled, extremely confused.
"Just...listen." Munch said nervously. He got his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed a very familiar number. Then he pointed into the office, and Casey watched as Olivia searched on her desk for her phone.
"What are you doing? You're not telling her are you?" She hissed.
"No. Now shush." Said Munch, as he put his phone on speaker, "now, no matter what, don't. Say. Anything."
Casey, now even more confused than before, obediently closed her mouth. She watched as Olivia finally found her phone, looked at the caller ID, and smiled broadly before picking it up.
"Hey, where have you been?" Casey heard Olivia's voice filter loud and clear through Munch's phone.
"Oh, well I got into a bit of traffic, and ran into an old friend on the way into the station. I'll be there in a minute." Munch responded, he smiled at Casey, who raised her eyebrows.
They seem pretty comfortable with each other... She thought, interested.
"Well, hurry up slow poke, I've been stuck doing paperwork for the past hour, and Elliot keeps throwing paper-wads at me. It's getting on my nerves."
She watched through the door as Olivia through a playful glare at Elliot's back.
"Aw, poor baby," Munch drawled, "at least you weren't stuck in New York traffic for almost a half hour."
"Well that's your fault!" Olivia exclaimed, Her voice then lowered, and she hunched over her desk so no one could overhear her,
"You should have driven with me, not slept in for an extra ten minutes. You took such a long shower I had to leave you and your lazy butt at my house!"
Casey's jaw dropped, and Munch decided that he should wrap the conversation up, before their lovely ADA had a minor stroke.
"How about you criticize my showering habits later?" He suggested with a smirk, "Dinner at the place across the street as soon as we get off?"
Casey watched, dumbstruck, as Olivia looked around the squad room cautiously before answering, "Sure, hon. See you in a few?"
"Yeah, I just got up the stairs."
"Ok. Bye John. Love you."
Munch shot Casey an apprehensive look, he didn't want to reveal that much to her...oh well, I guess that's what I get for letting her listen in on a personal conversation, He thought.
"Love you too, 'Livia. Bye."
He hung up the phone and cautiously turned to face a seemingly comatose Casey Novak. He sighed.
After alot of hand waving and repeating "Casey!" over and over again, Munch finally got the dumstruck ADA to speak, and when she did, it wasn't pretty...
"MUNCH! What the hell?! How in god's name did you hook up with Liv and-
Suddenly her anger was thrown in an entirely different direction, "Why didn't she TELL me about this?! I'm one of her closest friends, and I still thought she was dating STABLER! UGH!" She stopped whisper yelling (no need to alert Elliot and Olivia to what they were arguing about) and began to pant, trying to catch her breath.
"Uh...Casey," Began Munch hesitantly, "The only reason I did this for you was so that you would know Elliot was currently a free and willing man. He is most certainly NOT dating Olivia."
Casey seemed to come out of some sort of a trance. She shook her head.
"...Right. Thanks!"
Munch smirked,
"Go get your man, counselor."
He watched as Casey entered the squad room, walked confidently to Elliot's desk, and leaned down to whisper something in his ear. Elliot looked a bit shocked at first, but then smiled broadly and nodded.
Munch smiled one of his rare genuine smiles. Olivia, who had left her desk to see who Casey was talking to outside to make her so giddy, saw this. She stood next to Munch and pulled him into the corner so she could wrap her arm around his shoulder without anyone noticing.
She looked up at him and asked curiously, "What was that about?"
"Nothing much," He shrugged and pecked Olivia on the lips, "though I think I just did some match making." He said dryly. She looked at him enquiringly, and he paused for a beat before saying as causally as he could,
"Novak knows about us."
Olivia glared at him, and removed her arm from his shoulder. "What?!" She allowed herself a second to calm down. "I mean, I don't mind that she knows, but why did you tell her without me, and without my permission?!"
Munch chuckled deep in his throat,
"Believe me, it was necessary." He gently grabbed her chin and turned it towards the doors, so they could see into the squad room again.
Inside, Casey and Elliot, most likely thinking they weren't being watched, were kissing passionately.
Olivia looked back towards her boyfriend, shocked.
"When did that happen?"
"Few minutes ago." He stated with a shrug, but by his smug smirk she could tell he was proud of himself. Suddenly all the pieces of what he had just done clicked together in her mind.
She looked into his eyes with a mixture of disbelief and admiration.
"You're just full of surprises, you know that?" She asked, her voice filled with a mixture of awe and amusement at his cleverness.
He nodded, and replied simply.
"That's why you love me." She nodded and pulled him in for a short, romantic kiss.
They continued to stand like that, with their arms around each other. and talked quietly in that little room that separated the staircase and the squad room, not wanting to intrude on the new happy couple.
...Or at least, not yet.
THE END