After he motioning for another round of drinks, Jake Cohen listened as his best friend repeated the high points of her conversation with Danielle Melnick from earlier in the week. The pair were riding on a commuter train headed towards Manhattan that Friday evening. Thrilled that her assistant had received a guilty verdict that afternoon,thus freeing him to assist her in the Crawford case that was due to start jury selection that Monday, Malinowski had suggested buying Cohen a working dinner in Manhattan to bring each other up to speed professionally and personally.

"So how did Jack react to all of this," Cohen asked as consumed the last of his martini.

"Given he had already spent the morning describing our sex life to Olivia Benson, from Manhattan SVU? Better than expected. He made some remark about Danielle trying to break my rhythm on the case and blew it off. Said something about how after she inadvertantly passed messages for that Neo-Nazi guy a few years back and got shot for her trouble, nothing Danielle does surprises him anymore."

"You mean the nut case that had that Florida DA shot?"

Malinowski nodded as she absentmindedly twirled the straw in her tequila sunrise.

"That's the one. I swear if I was Sam, I'd think twice about getting serious with a woman that led assassins to DA. I mean, he was a Fed once. Besides, Sam knew Mark Featherstone from the time Sam spent down south, right after law school. If he..."

"Now boss, it's not like Melnick was in on the hit," Cohen said warily. "I doubt she'll make the same mistake twice. Besides, I assume you told her you know all about Jack's childhood."

"The hell I did," she countered firmly. "No way am I discussing Jack's family history with Danielle or anybody else. The only reason you know is because you were staying at the house when I decided to play Nancy Drew and tried to trick him into telling me about it. No, I didn't respond at all to what Danielle said."

"I don't know," he said with shrug of his shoulders, "there could be more you might want to know. If not for your own piece of mind, to help you better understand what he went through."

"What do you mean 'for my own piece of mind'? Do you really think I'd stick around if he hit me? Can you really see that even happening? I mean, if anything, Jack can be almost too passive during a fight," she said thoughtfully. "He either takes a walk or refuses to speak until he has control of himself. I'm the one with the caustic mouth and sarcastic repartee."

"Which I'm sure makes life interesting for both of you," Cohen added with a grin."I'm just saying…well, for example…this case. You said Jack agrees with Michael, that murder one for a battered wife who shot her batterer, makes sense?"

"Yeah, it's like talking to Jackowicz or a wall on that subject. No room for compromise at all."

"Does he ever talk about why he feels so strongly?"

"It's not like he can read the case file," she said impatiently. "Which is why I'm anxious to have you take a closer look and give me some feedback. If Clint, Michael, and Jack see it as a murder one case, maybe there's just something I'm not seeing. I mean, how often to do those three see eye to eye on anything, including the law?"

Cohen gave her a sharp glance, almost immediately shifting his gaze back to his martini glass.

"What," she demanded suspisiously.

"Why are you doubting your gut on this case, "he asked bluntly, as the frown on his face deepened."That's not like you. That's not like you at all."

"Come on Jake, I ask for your opinion on cases all the time," she countered.

"You mean you give me my opinion on cases all the time," he said with a wink.

"Yeah, right. You're a regular 'Stepford Assistant 'aren't you,"she asked, with a sigh. "I don't know…maybe Danielle playing the sisterhood card last week got to me more than it should. Do I want to let this woman off with man one because the crime fits the statue or because, as a woman, I think she deserves an award for blowing away her abuser?"

Cohen nodded in understanding. In his time with the DA's office, he'd seen enough domestic violence cases to know where Malinowski was coming from.

"Remember Brooke, a woman's abuser is also often, her children's father. Jack may think his old man was a real SOB, but image the total mind screw a kid goes through when Mommy kills Daddy. Even if Daddy is a violent alcoholic."

"We were walking about Danny Crawford here, not Officer John McCoy," she retorted as the train began to slow and a series of signs reading: Grand Central came into view.

"We're not. But maybe you and Jack should be."

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The pair had worked through before dinner drinks, an ample appetizer platter, dinner, and were almost through dessert when Cohen glanced at the Omega watch on his wrist and started closing files.

"Hey, what's we're are you going Jake? The deal was, I got dinner so I could get you up to speed before Monday," Malinowski complained as she began reopening the folders.

"Up to speed is one thing boss, by rote memory is quite another," her assistant retorted, while finishing his last bite of cheesecake. "If I don't get on the next train, William's going to think my birthday watch is defective or worse yet that I'm defective,at least in the consideration department. Do you realize it's almost midnight?"

"What? That can't be. Jack was going to join us when he finished his speech at the Bar Association," she said as she glanced at her own timepiece.

"Listen, I really need to move if I want to catch the 11:47," he said leaning over to get her a quick hug as he latched the leather case. "Do you want to share a cab?"

Malinowski shook her head as she signaled to the waitress.

"Get out of here, Jake. I'm fine. I'll close out and give Jack a call. Sorry about the time, I had no idea it was so late."

"No worries."

Malinowski reached into her purse as she watched Cohen vanish outside the double doors of the Westside Steakhouse. The restaurant had two features that had made it the logical choice for her working dinner with Cohen. It was had the best food of any restaurant either of them had tried, within a four block radius of Grand Central station. It also had tables large enough to accommodate the avalanche of documents the pair had to review for the Crawford case before starting trial in Manhattan the following Monday.

After unsuccessfully trying both McCoy's office and cell phone numbers, Malinowski finished gathering the remainder of documents as the waitress approached with her, check in hand.

"Anything else?"

Malinowski hesitated. Although her body was begging for the relief of a hot bath and a pain pill, her knowledge of Bar association functions told her McCoy was running late and was more than likely on his way.

"How about adding one more drink to the tab and closing me out?'

"Sure, honey. Another sunrise?"

"Let's make the last one a double," she said with self medication on her mind.

"A double? That sounds pretty strong for a light weight country shyster, Malinowski," Mike Logan commented, as he came up from behind the waitress.

"Logan? Since when did you leave Major Cases, SVU, or where ever it is they have yo uassigned now, to join the Manhattan Temperance League," the ADA asked with a surprised laugh as the waitress left to fill her order."Or do you make it a habit to cruise the bars every Friday night to make sure the streets are safe from inebriated members of the bar?'

"Actually, I wasn't cruising," Logan said smugly. "I was on a date."

"Really," she asked looking passed him towards the door to the bar.

"What do you mean 'really'? Believe it or not Malinowski, they're are women in this city that enjoy my company."

"No, no , no. I just didn't see anyone...",she began.

"She's with the 1 6," he explained. "Trouble with dating another cop is we never make it through a whole meal.One of our beepers always goes off. This time it was hers. I just put her in a cab and came back to clear the tab."

"Mike you want another," the waitress asked as she set Malinowski's drink down.

The detective looked inquiringly at the ADA, who nodded as she waved a hand at the empty seat across from her.

"What about you counselor," Logan remarked after ordering another scotch and soda. "Friday night and it's just you and your briefs?"

Logan had wanted to ask that question since he noticed Malinowski and Cohen a little more than an hour before, when he had been on his way back to the bar from the men's room. He had turned when he heard a strangely familiar laugh, surprised to see the Suffolk County ADA dining with someone other than her fiancée.

"Cute, Logan," she began. "I suppose you're also the dining police, as well?"

He nodded and she explained the reason for Cohen joining her and the fact her fiancée was missing in action. While he knew his own 'date' with Olivia Benson was really more of a working dinner as well, he knew Brooke Malinowski was off the market and he saw no reason to let his own availability be known.

As he listened his mind went back to where it had been on and off since he had interviewed her a few days before.

"I had this stupid idea that we should make love under a waterfall…"

While he and Benson worked a stake out earlier that day, Logan passed the time remembering his vacation a few years before in Hawaii. He and his girlfriend at the time had the same idea. He recalled the total sense of abandonment that he had felt making love under a secluded waterfall in the lush island paradise. The image of his girlfriend faded and his mind imaged that scene with the spirited auburn haired lawyer from Suffolk county.

The hospital report had made Logan aware of how close in age the two were, the counselor a mere four years his junior. The photographs that were included to document the injuries to her torso and rib cage – while not Penthouse material – gave Logan's imagination more to work with, given some of the angles used.

"Hey, Logan? Do I need to get a medic over here," Malinowski said as she tapped his forearm. "Did I lose you? Maybe a little CPR 's in order?"

"Sorry counselor. I just came off a twelve hour stake out," Logan said as he focused his attention on his drink, not trusting himself to meet the inquisitive blue eyes.

"Too bad," she said.

Logan's eyes shot up and Malinowski flushed.

"I meant, because you had that date that got away," she said quickly explaining.

"Got it. So, how are you feeling these days? Last time I saw you, you were all about aches and pains."

Malinowski nodded as she sipped at her drink.

"Never better Logan, never better. Haven't had time for the pain in my ribs, with that pain in my ass getting worse every day, thanks to Danielle Melnick."

Logan's eyes shot up and he fought to swallow the liquor he had just drunk. Danielle Melnick was a name most career detectives knew well, Logan being no exception.

"Don't tell me you're gonna let some Park Avenue defense attorney get the best of you, counselor?"

"Logan, give me a break. First of all, I said she's a pain in my ass, I didn't say I hadn't been returning the favor. Second of all, if you 'counselor me' one more time, I'm gonna think you have me confused with your shrink," she retorted with a chuckle.

"You know 'Malinowski' after four glasses of whiskey is a sobriety test, right," Logan said with equal humor as he glanced at her bare ring finger. "Still too soon to call you McCoy…"

"I do have a first name Logan. After all the times you've had my back... with that whole mess with John Prescott, as well as that idiotic report from the hospital...Not to mention the fact if I hadn't ran you the night Jack proposed... I probably wouldn't even be marrying Jack if you hadn't talked some sense into me that night. Anyway, you're a friend Logan and my friend's usually call me Brooke."

The detective laughed. His hearty laugh came partly to cover his immediate shame given the nature of his of his thoughts…thoughts a friend of any future bride had no business having. The laugh also came from the surprise he felt at the unexpected compliment of being thought of in such a trusted light.

"Hey Brooke, don't put that decision on me,especially when things get rocky with tall, grey, and arrogant. Oh wait,they already have, that's how you two got into trouble with that hospital report," Logan said before seeing the dagger look on his new friends face.

"We got into trouble because I have a nosy ex husband and his girlfriend wants to play Betty Friedan with my murder case," she grumbled into her drink.

"Hey counsel- Brooke, I didn't mean to hit a nerve," Logan said with genuine concern. "You know it's a dead issue. Benson talked to McCoy and when we compared notes your stories were close enough for us to know they were the real deal. Enough of your stories matched... although there were enough inconsistencies to know it wasn't rehearsed. When we filed our report, Cragen agreed. It's a dead issue. We just assumed some overzealous orderly was involved and ..."

"I wish it were that simple," Malinowski replied, as she checked her watch."The case I'm prosecuting against Melnick's client involves battered wife syndrome as a defense for murder. I can't prove it yet, but I have no doubt when Danielle heard about those stupid bruises, she thought she'd not only try to generate some publicity to draw attention to how anyone ...including the ADA prosecuting the case... could be 'victimized' by a powerful man; but that she'd use the incident to send a subtle reminder to Jack that given his experience with domestic violence,he could show a little more sympathy..."

"Whoa, whoa, slow down a minute," a puzzled Logan interjected, his eyes narrowing. "Given what? What do you mean McCoy's 'experience with domestic violence'? I know he's been married a couple of times…are you saying..?"

Malinowski was beat red with embarrassment, as well as annoyance, at her slip of the tongue. She had meant what she said to Cohen hours earlier, when she stated she didn't intend to discuss McCoy's personal business with anyone, friend or foe. She had learned a valuable lesson about honesty and trust when she had tried to manipulate details of his violent childhood out for him almost a year before. She knew how much McCoy valued his privacy. Malinowski had no intention of crossing that invisable line twice.

As much as she liked and respected the attractive detective, she knew how her fiancée would view a discussion. of his own childhood.

"Geez, Mike get a grip. You sound as crazy as that Melnick woman. Jack never abused anybody, except defendants in a courtroom! He certainly never abused either of his wives."

"What experience with domestic violence were you talking about then," he pressed.

Although he'd only spoken with the ADA a handful of times, those times had been lengthy and full of personal detail. He knew Malinowski's evasive response was out of character. In spite of the fact he found the idea of Jack McCoy being violent with any woman difficult to accept, her elusive reply made him edgy and eager to persist in getting a real answer.

"Look, Mike. You know how many cases Jack has handled...thousands... probably tens of thousands. In major felonies he's seen it all. Domestic violence,spouses killing spouses, hiring a hit man to do the job for them..."

Logan shook his head, knowing a con job when he heard one. He reached across the table and squeezed her hand and waited for her to meet his unwavering stare.

"Brooke, we're friends, right? Friends are there for each other. What one friend tells another friend stays between them, right? "

"Mike I swear, Jack has never laid a hand on me in anger-," she began, alarmed by the look of outrage in the dark eyes that compelled her to hold his gaze.

Logan nodded, unexpectedly thinking of his own 'domestic violence' experiences.

"Then this experience happened before you came along? How bad was it Brooke? How bad and was McCoy the attacker, the victim, a witness, or any combination of the above?"