X:

She hadn't physically been in the same room as her husband in nearly two months. Phone calls had been sporadic, due to their combined caseload and the issues in both their respective departments, so they'd taken to sending texts and flashing one another photos of their lives via email or text just to make sure that they still existed for real.

So when she laid eyes on Rafael across the room at the Police Foundation Gala, a strange feeling overtook Olivia: anxiety. She was usually brazenly confident, assured of herself where he was concerned, but with such a long breadth of space between their meetings, without a single breath of a kiss, a touch, a bit of intimacy to bridge the gap, she was worried that she wouldn't be enough to keep his attention.

He glanced over, met her gaze, eyes flashing in gentle recognition, and a hint of a smile played out in the lines on his face – something only she would know to look for. He didn't move toward her, but he raised his glass slightly in her direction, and she echoed the motion with her champagne.

"Liv," Elliot said, getting her attention, making her turn abruptly, the moment lost. He was there with Kathy, who looked perfect – pretty, blonde, all smiles and motherly and the perfect cop's wife – and just the opposite of Olivia in the same pale pink dress that she wore nearly every year. "There's someone from the 2-4 I wanna introduce you to – I think you guys would get along great."

"El, I'm really not looking for –" Liv began, but cut herself short when she saw the look on Kathy's face. "I mean, you know I'm not really up for seeing anyone right now."

"Yeah, since you broke it off with that douche in Brooklyn you mean."

That was it: one step too far over the line, too many comments she couldn't ignore. "You know what, Elliot, my life isn't an open book," Liv snapped. "And, for your information, I never stopped seeing 'that douche'. I just stopped talking about him because you were rude about him every time I brought him up."

"He stopped sending you flowers," Elliot said defensively.

She smirked a little. "I don't need flowers to know he loves me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need a top up. Kathy," she acknowledged as she walked away with a slight bounce in her step despite her obscenely painful high heels.

After getting a new glass of champagne, she found herself within arm's reach of Rafael, but she had to caution herself from reaching for him or even acknowledging his presence. He was the first to make a move, leaning closer and barely breathing, "You are the most beautiful woman in this room."

"You're biased, Counselor," she murmured.

He smirked and looked over his shoulder, eyes smoldering with lust as he looked her up and down. "Absolutely, Detective," he agreed. "Are you wearing anything beneath that dress?"

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"Olivia…"

"I'm wearing just enough," she breathed, the words leaving her lips like a purring promise. She was careful to keep space between them, to not look like she was in conversation with him, that she didn't want to climb him like a tree and hold on for dear life and never let go –

"How am I supposed to just go home and work?" he groaned.

"Te extraño muchísimo," she confessed, reaching into the void between them. His fingers brushed against hers, then retreated again, ever cautious of appearances' sake. "Rafa… can't you come to my place tonight?"

"I have a deposition first thing tomorrow," he sighed.

She frowned. Liv wasn't sure she could go another few days without seeing him, now that she had been so damnably close. She felt eyes on her and looked up to see Elliot watching her intently from across the room. "Fuck. Elliot is being nosy."

"Your partner can go to hell," Rafael sighed. "Liv… he's –"

"Yes," she agreed, cutting him off, "I know. But you and I –"

He inhaled sharply and said, "Meet me in the corridor in ten minutes."

"Ten?"

"Yeah."

"Okay," she agreed quickly. "Ten minutes. Te amo, Rafa."

"You really are the most beautiful woman here – and you're my wife," he said with the softest awe.

She flashed him a fleeting smile, then retreated from his side, losing herself in the crowd. She said her good-bye to Munch and Fin, and had a longer conversation with Cragen and the Commissioner, before bidding them good night and retreating, only to be stopped by Elliot.

"You were looking pretty cozy with Counselor Barba over there," he accused. "You know he's bad news, Liv –"

"I had no problems working with him," Liv countered. "Elliot… what exactly is your issue with me lately? It's not a new thing: it's been going on a while. Ever since you and Kathy almost split up, in fact. So why don't you enlighten me? Are you jealous that you're stuck? That you can't live vicariously through me anymore? Because I have a life to live outside of work that doesn't include you –"

"What would your Brooklyn boyfriend think of you flirting with El Tiburón?" Elliot countered aggressively.

"I don't see that it's any of your business – get out of my face," she snapped. "Take your wife and go home, El." Liv turned on her heel, righteous indignation flowing through her veins as heady as the champagne.

Rafael was loitering near the restroom entrance and he caught her by the hand as she stalked along. "Hey," he whispered, tugging her into the men's room with him.

There were only five stalls, but he yanked her into one of them and slammed and locked the door. She smiled and stepped out of her heels, glad to be on firm ground again for a minute. The first kiss was tentative, hesitant, reacquainting themselves with each other – but Liv squeaked the softest moan and it opened the floodgates. It had been too long: the enforced walls between them had made this encounter an inevitability, and with it, every kiss, every touch, was only stoking the fire hotter and higher out of control.

He broke the kiss and breathed, "Tell me you want this, Liv –"

"I want you, Rafael – I want this," she pleaded, dragging him back into the kisses. Her nails raked down his back through his jacket, making him groan; his hand crept up her thigh under her skirt, finding nothing but skin and her wetness awaiting him.

He hissed and pushed her skirt up till it was bunched around her hips, leaving her exposed to his touch. His fingers stroked her until she bucked against the door and him, captive to the magic of that touch she had missed so fucking much, a low cry leaving her lips. She panted and moaned, and he broke the kisses, murmured, "That's it, mi amor, come for me –" He slipped two fingers inside her, curling them, and she shattered, sobbing with release even as he kissed away her tears.

She came back to herself quickly and kissed him with ferocity, nipping at his lower lip and growling, "Don't tease me." He was momentarily taken aback, but tamped it down, instead unbuttoning his pants and letting them and his boxers fall down around his knees. "Hurry up," Liv insisted.

He muttered something under his breath, then lifted her knee up around his hip and began to press into her, the angle and her arousal making it so it only took two thrusts before he was flush against her pelvis and she was crying out with surprise as her entire body convulsed. He smiled smugly and swatted her bare bottom once, the slap echoing in the restroom.

They fucked in earnest, half the thrill of it in the probability of being caught – and, in fact, Olivia was sure that someone came in when she was in the middle of her third or fourth orgasm – but they were so desperate for any kind of time alone together that they wouldn't have lasted the cab ride to her apartment even.

She was shaking and in tears when both of her feet finally hit the floor again and Rafael carefully helped her pull her dress back down. "Rafa –"

"I'm coming to yours," he said softly, tenderly, his voice low and gruff with emotion. "I'll have to leave early, but –"

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you more," he murmured. "Let's get the hell out of here before someone sees us – we can sneak down the back way and out the back of the lobby."

Her coffee was bigger than usual and Elliot noticed, but didn't comment. He probably assumed it was because of all the champagne she'd drunk the night before – six glasses – but the truth was, she and Rafael had woken up ready and wanting in the middle of the night and had kept each other dancing on the very edge of pleasure until the break of dawn.

And without knowing for certain when they'd be able to break their sexual dry spell again, they had taken full advantage of the time they had together.

She ached in places she hadn't ached in quite some time, and it made her feel giddy with delight.

"I'm sorry." Liv's gaze snapped up at Elliot's face as the words left his mouth. "For being a jerk last night."

She cocked her head and said, "What about all the other times?"

He sighed and muttered, "Look, yeah, I'm… I'm jealous, okay? Are you happy now? I'm jealous of you getting to go off and have a life, Liv. And I'm jealous of the guy who gets to have you in his life – does that make you happy?"

"No," she said, honestly. "No, El, it makes me sad. Because you're my partner and my friend and I want you to be happy – but I'm not for you. Believe me, we are… we are oil and water."

He flinched and tried to laugh it off, but she could tell he was hurt by her rejection. "You're still seeing that guy, though?" Elliot said. "The one you met in Brooklyn?"

She paused, then nodded. "Yeah."

"That's been a long time, hasn't it, Liv?"

"Yeah, I think it might be serious," she said lightly. "He's a good guy, El, I promise."

Elliot swallowed hard and muttered, "Yeah, well… I want an invite to the wedding, if it gets that serious. Mostly because I want to look the guy in the eyes and make sure he isn't going to hurt you."

"El, he knows I can shoot him – he's not going to hurt me," Liv promised. She smiled. "Did you and Kathy have a good time after I left last night?"

"Eh, we didn't stay too long," he said. "Oh, wanna hear something rich? I was gonna use the mens' before I left and walked in on a couple really going at it in the bathroom. I mean… damn. They were fucking like their lives depended on it. I was almost embarrassed."

She tried not to react, but inwardly, she was screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Did they at least sound like they were enjoying themselves?" she asked.

He tapped his pen on the desk. "Liv, the noises that woman made will live rent-free in my brain for the rest of my life: yeah, they were pretty damn happy to be there."

"Then maybe it's just a case of a couple people having too much to drink and a little fun."

He looked right at her. "Yeah, I'm sure that's it – you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said quickly. "Just a lot of paperwork to get through and –" She paused when her phone buzzed. "Hey," she greeted.

"Hey, just a quick call to say I love you," Rafael said hurriedly. "I'm sorry I left in such a rush this morning –"

"Don't worry about it. I love you, too. We'll talk later." She hung up and looked back at Elliot. "That was my boyfriend," she said.

"Does he have a name?" he asked.

"Yeah, but since you've been a jerk for so long, you're going to have to earn it now," she said firmly.

"I guess that's fair."

They finally – finally – got two whole days off together, and spent the first one sleeping. Not having sex, just sleeping in Rafael's bed, wrapped up together in the warmth and comfort of each other's embrace. It was simple comfort and love that they sought, and it meant so much just to be there together.

The second day… the second day, they made love and talked and caught up on everything that had happened when they were apart. The wild rawness of their sadness was tempered by the sweetness of being reunited and so close again, but knowing that it was about to be torn asunder again was hard to take.

"I think I want to transfer," Olivia said.

"You don't," Rafael replied gently. "You'll be overworked and underpaid. Stay where you are, keep your head down. This isn't forever, Liv. I'm going for DA in a couple of election cycles, once I've packed away a few more good cases. After that, I'm hoping for Judge – it's my goal, mi amor."

"Remember the Gala?" she asked. It had only been a couple weeks before, but it felt like an eternity.

"Yeah…"

"Elliot heard us in the restroom."

Rafael bit back a smirk, held back a laugh. "I'm surprised half the NYPD didn't hear us," he admitted.

She swatted at his stomach. "Rafa, I'm being serious –"

"So am I. I'm not ashamed that I fucked my gorgeous wife in public because I couldn't wait to get her home," he said softly. "Even if she is a cop and could arrest me for public lewdness and whatever else."

"It was fully consensual," she pointed out, digging her chin into his ribcage and drumming her fingers on his belly. She sighed. "I don't want to go back to work tomorrow. I want to stay here with you."

"Maybe… maybe we can plan a weekend away?" he suggested gently. "I think we need one."

"It would be nice, but it's never going to happen," she sighed. "Too many people, too many nosy people…"

"Mi amor, we need time away together," he murmured. "Even if it's just a couple of days."

"What did you have in mind?" she asked.

"You, me, Rita's yacht in Miami."

"Rita Calhoun has a yacht in Miami?"

"What do you say, Mrs. Barba? Skimpy bikini and drinks on deck?"

"Rafa… honestly, I'd be happy to just be here with you without my phone on for two days," she admitted.

He smiled and ran his fingers through her hair. "I feel the same, Liv, but I also need to impress my wife once in a while –"

She chuckled. "You impress me every day you stay married to me, Rafael," Liv quipped on a whisper.

"Old and grey, Benson," he reminded her. "Old and grey and senile so I don't remember why you hate yourself so much, mmmkay?"

"Mmmkay," she murmured.

TBC...