Be Careful What You Wish For

(Chapter Two: Modern Day Romeo & Juliet)

Elliot was exhausted the next morning when he woke up in the hotel bed alone. It was near one o'clock in the morning when they had entered the hotel room and well after four by the clock on the night stand after they had finished making love for the fourth time.

Loving her was easy. She was so soft and beautiful. The smell of her perfume drove him wild and she was a very giving lover. And when they had finished she would curl up against him and sleep for a while before she would wake him wanting to make love again. This woman was amazing.

He rolled over in the bed and tried to focus his tired eyes on the clock on the nightstand. He smiled when he remembered the events that had taken place that morning after their wake up call. She opened her eyes to stare at him and smiled her pretty smile. That was it, moments later they were making love again.

Elliot scratched his head as he noticed the light on in the bathroom. He yawned and stretched as he stood up and walked across the room. Elliot leaned against the bathroom door and watched as she got ready for her day.

"Hey," he said brushing her hair back and kissing the side of her neck.

"Hey," she mumbled with a mouthful of tooth paste.

He watched as she rinsed her mouth and turned to face him.

"I called the airport and they have a flight leaving for New York at nine. The woman said if we present our tickets from the canceled flight, they will honor them today."

"So, it looks like us being laid over in Chicago last night wasn't as bad as we thought it would be," he said with a smile. "We made love six times."

"I know," she said with a smile as she leaned forward and kissed him, "I was there."

"Hey, is that my tooth brush?"

She pressed her lips together and looked at the blue tooth brush in her hand.

"All of my stuff had already been checked. I have to start a new job as soon as we get back to New York. You had your tongue in my mouth and," she cleared her throat, "other places all last night. I guess I didn't think it was that big a deal."

"That is my tooth brush," Elliot mumbled a bit in shock.

"Look," she said as she walked over to the mini fridge and pulled out a small bottle of vodka. She walked back into the bathroom as she twisted the cap off the bottle and poured the entire contents over the head of the tooth brush. "There, all better."

Elliot stared at her for a moment as he took it from her hand.

"Yeah," he said, not really sure what had just happened here.

"If we hurry we'll have time for a little breakfast before our flight."

"I'm sure they have coffee and donuts downstairs."

"Sounds great, I'm starving. I guess after all of that sex, I worked up an appetite," she whispered as she brushed past him and out of the bathroom.

After taking a quick shower, Elliot dressed and they headed downstairs for breakfast. Elliot sat down at the table across from her and watched as she picked at half a grapefruit.

"No donuts?" he asked.

"You know, those aren't healthy. I bet there are like five hundred calories in each one of those."

"Oh," Elliot replied looking at the stack of four donuts on his plate. "Maybe I will just have the danish," he said as he sat the other three on a napkin beside the plate.

They talked like old friends over breakfast and sat beside each other on the flight back to New York. At the airport Elliot hailed her a cab and hugged her goodbye. She climbed inside the car and he closed the door and watched the car drive her away and out of his life. He caught the next cab and headed home to his apartment.

Though Cragen had given him the rest of the day off, Elliot wasn't finding himself of much use at home. He straightened up the apartment and unpacked his bags. He ate some lunch and sat down to watch a little television. But he couldn't keep his mind off the beautiful woman he had been with the night before.

All of the sex aside, she seemed to be a pretty remarkable person as well. And now Elliot found himself wishing that he had gotten up the nerve to ask for her name. He scratched his head as he slouched back into the sofa and closed his eyes to remember what she looked like.

Her long legs and tanned skin. Dark hair and chocolate eyes. Her soft full lips and the was the corners of her mouth curled up to create that pretty smile. She was so soft and warm and smelled so good. When he thought about her it brought to mind the kind of comfort one would find from homemade chocolate chip cookies and warm sunshine.

God, the way she laughed and the way she loved she was incredible. Elliot had never met anyone like her in his life and somehow doubted he ever would again. He understood to know that when you have a one night stand with someone you are not supposed to continue to think about them like this. Not the way he was thinking about her.

And as unsure of the rules as he was, he was certain that the animosity of the event was for the best. He was never supposed to know her name. But if her were to find out somehow, he was sure it would be something sweet and soft and fit her well. It would be something like Bridget or Sarah or Melissa. Sarah, he thought. That seemed to fit her.

Elliot smiled as he opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, but the only thing could see were her beautiful brown eyes. They were so dark and mysterious, sexy and exotic. He took a deep breath wishing he could smell her sweet perfume once more, but all that was there was the scent of the ham and pineapple pizza he had ordered for lunch.

He exhaled heavily and stood up. Staying home the rest of the afternoon was going to drive him crazy, so he might as well go into work and do something productive. Elliot carried the half empty pizza box into the kitchen, he grabbed his keys and headed out the door.

"I thought you had the rest of the day off?" Fin asked as Elliot stepped off the elevator and sorted through his messages.

"I did. But I didn't have anything better to do, so I figured I would come in here and get some work done.

"So how was Chicago?"

"Okay."

"How are the kids?"

"Well adjusted," Elliot said sitting down at his desk and turning on his computer.

"That's good."

"Yeah, I know. But I can't seem to convince myself that."

"I know it has got to be hard being this far away from your kids for so long. But you want them to be happy and doing well in school, right?"

"Of course. I guess I just kind of hoped maybe if they didn't adjust well to the new life in a new city, Kathy would have just given up and brought them back home."

"It's tough, man."

"But I stayed a little longer and got to go watch Elizabeth's ballet recital. She was super excited that daddy was there."

"I bet. How did she do?"

"Fin, she is ten. They don't do Swan Lake or anything. It is just some twirling around and little pirouettes, kind of general dance moves. But her teacher said they will be using the girls with some of the older dancers in the dance academy's Christmas production of The Nutcracker. Elizabeth is really excited about that. She made me promise I would come and watch."

"That sounds like fun," Fin said with a sarcastic grin. "Ballet slippers and pink tutus just aren't my thing."

"Well, they're not my thing either. But my little girl loves them. And it means the world to her when daddy comes all the way from New York to see her dance."

"I bet. You're a good dad, Elliot."

"I try to be. But this long distance stuff makes it kind of hard."

"Did you do anything else of interest during your wild weekend in Chicago?" Fin laughed.

"Actually," Elliot began and then paused for a moment.

"Yeah?"

"I met someone."

"Met someone? Like a potential girlfriend?"

"Not exactly."

"Ahh, you met someone."

"Yeah, that is more accurate."

"Was she hot?"

"Beautiful. Great body, pretty face and she was genuinely sweet."

"Did you take her back to your hotel?"

"Yes, I did."

"And?"

"And it was magnificent. She was amazing and the sex was incredible. I had never really done anything like that before."

"You never had a one night stand?"

"Fin, I was married for seventeen years."

"So she is from Chicago?"

"No, Manhattan. She was waiting for the same flight back to New York. After all flights were grounded because of the storm we struck up conversation in the airport lounge. We ended up sharing a hotel room and a night of the best sex I have ever had in my life. This morning we boarded a plane and headed back here. I put her in a cab at the airport and she waved as it drove away."

"Modern day Romeo and Juliet."

"Something like that."

"Did you get her number?"

"No."

"Why not? If she lives in Manhattan you guys could have hooked up for a little consensual sex from time to time."

"I didn't even get her name. It was a one night stand, I figured that was against the rules."

"Elliot, there really are no rules. All that means is that you are not obligated to be there in the morning. Sex with no responsibilities, no relationship, no pressure. But I have known a few people who started out with a one night stand and ended up dating the woman. A buddy of mine just married his girlfriend of two years and they are about to have a baby together. They started out a one night stand. But he got her number and after they talked for a while, they decided to try dating."

"I wanted to ask her name. But I didn't want to make it anymore personal than she wanted it to be. She was great. And now I wish I could just call her up and take her out for coffee or something. We talked for hours. It felt like we had known each other for years. And she is so much more than a pretty face, I can tell from talking to her, she is smart. And single."

"You met a hot woman, from New York who was nice and smart and good in bed and single? An you let her get away?"

"I know. I have been kicking myself all day about it."

"So did you talk to Cragen?"

"Not since last night when I told him I probably wasn't going to make it in because I was stranded in Chicago. Why?"

"Word is they go you a new partner."

"Great. I wonder what's wrong with this guy?"

"There wasn't nothing wrong with the last guy until you knocked his front tooth out."

"He was an ass."

"He was an ass."

"And he cost us the case. There is a rapist out there who will never be charged because of him."

"I didn't say I thought it was wrong for you to hit him. I don't know how you went that long before slugging him. The man was a cocky son of a bitch."

"At least we agree on something," Elliot laughed as he wheeled his chair across the room to four himself a cup of coffee.

Twenty minutes later as he sat at his desk, Fin came to him with a question about something in his report. As the two men discussed the document, Elliot heard a familiar voice. He raised his eyes to see the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

"Fin," he whispered and nodding in her direction as she walked into the room.

"Wow," Fin said as his mouth fell open. "Nice."

"No Fin, that's her."

"Her, her. The girl from last night? That her?"

"Yes, that her. That is her."

"You're right, she is very attractive."

"She's amazing."

"Go talk to her," Fin said elbowing Elliot.

"I don't even know what to say."

"You're beautiful. I'm in love with you. I want to marry you and make a dozen little Stabler babies."

"Shut up," Elliot laughed.

"Seriously, go talk to her. At least ask her name. How did she find you anyway?"

"I don't know."

Fin stood up and straightened Elliot's tie.

"Go get her, tiger."

Elliot laughed and stood up from his chair. He stood there for a moment watching as she spoke to someone across the room. The man pointed and she thanked him. But Elliot couldn't move. He watched as she walked across the room and entered Cragen's office.

"What was that?" Fin asked.

"I don't know. She didn't even notice me. Before I could say anything she walked into Cragen's office."

As they stood there talking the door to Cragen's office opened once more. Fin and Elliot stood quietly as Cragen walked out with the dark haired beauty.

"Elliot, I'd like you to meet Olivia Benson," he said looking in Elliot's direction. "Detective Benson is going to be your new partner."

"Enter Juliet," Fin said as he crossed his arms in front of him and sat on the edge of Elliot's desk.