As they entered March, things were frantic and stressful in more ways than one. Rafael was away at a work conference in Albany and was crazy busy while Olivia was going through a rather rough time back in Manhattan.

Albany wasn't far, but it wasn't remotely practical for him to go home everyday, getting there rather late, just to have to drive all the way back at an insanely early hour the following morning. It made way more sense for him to stay in Albany.

Ed Tucker had official retired and had a goodbye party, with his friends an d cowerkers invited. Olivia, who he had dated at one point, had been invited.

There had been an incident at the party that ended in an ex-cops suicide. SVU investigates the rape of the police officer, Rachel Wilson, by an Internal Affairs officer that Tucker had cleared, the investigation and the coming out leading to another suicide. That of Ralphie Morris.

Wilson had been in vice. She used to work with Morris who Officer Tamin looked up to and so Tamin and Olivia went to go see him. They asked him about Wilson. He told them that she got around a lot and that her word couldn't be trusted. He also asked that they not include his name in their case. Ralphie didn't want it to get around that he was talking to SVU and unfortunately that once conversation must have back some sad reminders because he later killed. Ralphie killed himself, but before he did he pointed them towards Gary Wald, an old friend and partner of Tucker.

Meanwhile, the recently married Tucker revealed some devastating news about himself to Olivia, letting her know he'd had brain cancer for awhile, since before the two had dated. She didn't found out in a particularly good way.

Olivia had confronted him, since he denied remember anything at all about Wilson, and asked him what he was hiding. That was when he told him that he was dying. He'd been hiding it from everyone and that's why he didn't remember Rachel Wilson. He also said that he never covered up anything. He had trusted his former partner. He agreed to wear a wire and he talked to his old buddy, getting the man to confess to everything on tape.

No sooner did Lancaster bring Gary to the court that Ed Tucker killed himself.

The man had left a suicide note, writing in it that Tucksr didn't want his wife wasting good years taking care of him.

Fin had tried to be there for her as Olivia had clearly been struggling, but Olivia had said she'd be fine, that she was good.

Fin had contacted him and given him a run down rather quickly, but Olivia had been asleep when he'd called and then she'd gotten thrown into work. He caught her on video chat for a few minutes during lunch, however.

She gave him a warm smile. "How's the conference going? Following the primaries during your down time?"

"Absolutely riveting, and yes, I am," he quipped, scratching at the thick hairs on his chin. "That's also why one of our speakers had to cancel on us the day of their presentation."

That surprised her. "Oh? How come?"

"Election fraud," he said with a snort. The federal prosecutor was having a very interesting time of things at the moment. "We're living in a dystopian nightmare." He eyed her. "Enough about me," he said, raising his hand and thumping it against the table, "how are you?"

Olivia gave a sad little hum and lightly bit at her knuckle, clearly close to tears.

He gave her a serious look. "I heard about Tucker."

He honestly found it easier than he thought to put his feelings regarding Tucker to the side. He'd never been the man'a biggest fan, and Olivia and him had dated, which Rafael hadn't handled finding out about well.

Still, they'd all moved on. He trusted Olivia and definitely wasn't overly insecure about their relationship. The man had also died and stuck by his morals and convictions to the end, something that Rafael could respect.

It also was clear that Olivia was hurting.

"You know, it's been rough... a lot of loss lately," Olivia replied, a hint of pain playing on her face as she said the words. "Time is just flying by."

He nodded, wracking his brain for something to say. He wanted to help but wasn't really sure how. "Everyday."

Olivia nodded and ran her hands down her face, clearly attempting to regain some of her composure.

He looked at her. "I'll be back soon," he said, putting his hand on his desk as he spoke. "We'll grab dinner, just you and I."

She smiled a little fuller at that. He was relieved to see some of her earlier happiness return. "I'd like that." She was clearly about to end the call as both their lunch breaks were almost over and she had to go back to work. But he didn't want to end the call just yet. He leaned closer to the camera slightly. "Oh, oh oh! Before I go!" A crinkly-nosed smile lit up his his face. "Mayor de Blasio is apparently looking to appoint two new judges to Criminal Court."

"Really now?" she pressed, still smiling. "Is that something you're interested in? I know you were considering it awhile back."

"It actually is," he admitted, still beaming. "Anyway, I told him to give me some time to consider the offer. I wanted to talk to you first. I wouldn't take the bunch immediately anyway, even if I did take the post." He was still torn about leaving SVU, but he'd initially never intended to stay at SVU as long as he had. He'd transferred to Manhattan for political reasons. It has been a stepping stone, the bench always being the end game for him.

He'd stayed with the unit though as he actually enjoyed the work at SVU and found it rather rewarding. Still, the end game hadn't changed.

She nodded. "I'm behind you either way."

"I know," he said. And he did. She'd stuck by him through a lot over the years, including when his suicidal streak got him put on trial for murder. That guilt hadn't entirely gone away, but he'd made his piece with it more or less. He'd moved on. He'd had to.

Olivia smiled and wordlessly put her hand over her heart, in a gesture that spoke more than their words could manage.

He returned the gesture. "Regards to the squad and the little ankle-biters." He gave her a lopsided smile. "Love you, Cariño."

"Love you too, Rafa," she said, her eyes sparkling with emotion. They just smiled at each other for a moment before Olivia closed her laptop, ending the call.

With that, he got ready to go do some more networking and deal with a fair amount of people that frankly had their head up their asses.

He couldn't wait until he was home.