"Morning." Elliot said, happily as Olivia approached their car.

"Shut up." she said, hurling her suitcases into the trunk. Elliot laughed as he handed her a cup of coffee. "Thanks." she said, smiling at him. "Sorry, I'm not a morning person."

"I know. Hence, the coffee." he said as he pulled into traffic. "So you have the tickets, what airline?"

"Southwest. Real classy, I'm glad that they could splurge on us." she said as Elliot laughed.

"You know tight budget, at least they haven't cut our department."

"Yea, I don't know what I would do if tomorrow they decided to cut SVU." she sipped her coffee. At around five they pulled up to the Southwest gate. They grabbed their luggage out of the back and had their car valet parked. "Quiet day at LaGuardia." she said, toting her suitcase and two duffel bags. They walked up to the baggage check.

"Morning." said the lady behind the desk merrily. Olivia simply muttered angrily at her happiness. Elliot held back his laughter. "Okay, so we're checking four bags?" Elliot counted in his head.

"Yup, sounds good."

"Where are we off to?"

"Seattle." Elliot said, looking at Olivia sulking off to the side.

"You guys will have fun." she said, setting the bags behind the desk. "Seattle is extremely romantic." Now it was Olivia's turn to laugh.

"We're not together." Elliot explained amused by Olivia's laughing.

"Oh I'm sorry, you just look. Nevermind." Now Olivia was dying laughing, the lady was turning red. "I'm sorry."

"No problem; you're not the first, and it got her laughing. I should be thanking you."

"You're all set. Have a good day."

"Yea, you too." he said as he picked up their carry-on bags and pulled Olivia behind him. "I'm glad it is so amusing that people think you could be involved with me."

"Oh come on Elliot, you of all people are getting defensive about this?" she said, still trying not to laugh. Elliot smirked at her, but she didn't realize that he was only half-joking.

"So why were you so against going to Seattle?"

"I had a date this weekend." she said, laughing inaudibly. "I've cancelled on this guy only about a million times this year, always because of the job; I thought that this weekend would be different."

"You've been seeing him for a year?" Elliot asked. He had no idea she had been involved with anyone lately.

"Trying to see him for a year. We chat on the phone, we've been on maybe two or three dates, the rest have been cancelled, but I like him a lot so I convince him every time to see me again. A few more times, and I may not be so lucky." she said, sadly. Elliot had no idea that she was this happy. They walked through the metal detectors and headed towards the check-in. The lady took their tickets and handed them numbers.

"What in the hell is this?" Elliot said, looking at the plastic number five in his hand.

"This is how Southwest does things." Olivia said, smiling. "This is why I said they were cheap. They give you a number and then that is the order you get to choose your seat."

"Interesting." Elliot said, sitting down. "Not very many people here at," he looked at his watch. "five thirty."

"It's a six AM flight to Seattle, El. What do you expect?"

"Good point." A few minutes later they began boarding for the flight. Elliot and Olivia chose a seat at the front of the plane. They stowed their carry-on luggage, and a few minutes later they were listening to the flight attendant tell them about the emergency exits and other information about the flight.

"We'll be around in a few minutes to get drink orders. Thank you for choosing Southwest Airlines."

"I could never be a stewardess."

"Flight attendant." Elliot corrected. Olivia rolled her eyes.

"Anyways, they just have to put up with too much crap, I couldn't stand waiting on people all day and being nice."

"I'm sure you'd rather be the pilot so you can be in charge."

"Damn straight."

"Miss what can I get for you?"

"Uhh… could I just have a sprite please?"

"And you sir?"

"Orange juice and rum please." Olivia looked at Elliot out of the corner of her eye.

"What?" he said, although he knew perfectly well why she was looking at him.

"It's six in the morning, El."

"I got orange juice." he said, leaning his head back against the chair and closing his eyes. "For the next eight hours I am on a mini-vacation, and vacation me likes to drink liquor in the morning, is that alright?" Olivia just shook her head with a huge smile on her face.

"Whatever El." The flight attendant returned shortly with their drinks.

"Enjoy your flight." she said before scurrying off.

"Would you like a sip?" Elliot said, sliding the drink her direction.

"No." she said, curtly.

"You okay? What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry. It's just that people drinking in the morning reminds me my mother."

"That's a trait of an alcoholic." he said, the smile leaving his face. "I can get something else if you'd like."

"No you enjoy yourself, it's just that if I do it, I'll wonder if I'm becoming an alcoholic, and if anyone I don't know does it, I assume that they're an alcoholic. I know you're not, El. It's fine." she said as he started to apologize again. "Just drop it. Enjoy your drink and let's not let this little "vacation" get off to a bad start." Elliot just nodded and sipped his orange juice. They both sat in silence until the captain came over the intercom saying that they were going to land in almost an hour. "Hey, you wanna play some cards?" Olivia said as Elliot opened his eyes from his nap.

"You brought cards?"

"Never travel without them."

"Why do women bring everything with them on trips?"

"Because we're women and if we didn't no one would." she said, throwing the cards on the table.

"True." he said, pulling the cards out and beginning to shuffle them. "What we playing?" Olivia shrugged.

"Speed?" she suggested.

"Why the hell not?" he replied dealing the cards. They played Speed for the next hour until it was time for the descent. They quietly gathered their luggage and followed the other passengers out of the plane.

"So what happens now?" Olivia asked as they walked up the ramp.

"Well, supposedly there is going to be someone here to pick us up." Elliot said as they approached the entrance to the airport. He scanned the airport and smiled as his eyes fell upon a familiar face. He motioned to Olivia to follow as he took off towards the man holding the sign that read "Stabler and Benson".

"What's a big time surgeon like yourself doing picking people up from the airport?"

"Well, I figured since I got you into this mess, the least I could do is pick you up from the airport." Derek Shepherd said, shaking Elliot's hand. "And this, I assume is Benson?"

"Hi," she said, holding out her hand. "It's Olivia, you must be the infamous Derek Shepherd."

"Nice to meet you." he said, turning and beginning to walk as they followed. "Let's get your stuff from the baggage claim and then we'll go from there."

"So, are you taking us to the police department?" Elliot asked, catching up to Derek's long strides.

"Yup." he said, taking a sharp left. "They will brief you first and then I'll take you to the hospital from there; you'll meet my interns, the ones dealing up close and personal with the victims, and hopefully we'll get you home in no time. Apparently, since it will be at least two weeks that you will be here, they have set you up with a two bedroom apartment with one months paid rent." he said, looking at the confused detectives. "I know, they can splurge to pay your housing for the month but they can't pay their own detectives. I guess a thousand for one month of rent is better than having to pay two or more detectives to take care of a case like this." Elliot and Olivia laughed while Derek found the belt that their baggage was on. They quickly found their baggage and Derek led them to his car.

"So how far is the police station?" Elliot asked as Derek popped the trunk to the car.

"A couple miles." Derek said with a tone that said there was more. "However, this time of day Seattle traffic is much worse than New York City. It could be an hour drive, or more. So fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the radio because we have a journey ahead of us."

"More so than even he thinks." Olivia muttered to Elliot.