Please review! Slight spoiler alert for the movie The Lovely Bones if you haven't seen it.

"Alright, so it actually isn't as scary as it looks." Carisi stated as he put his ear muffs on to save his eardrums from the gun fire. He turned to Gemma just in time to see her empty the entire magazine into the paper target across the floor. She didn't flinch or even adjust herself between the small jerks of her finger on the trigger. His eyes felt like they might bulge out of his skull when the gun emptied and she dropped the magazine onto the counter like she was a trained sniper. She shoved the next magazine in, clicked the safety on, and placed the heated weapon down. "I think it should scare you a little more than that."

Gemma chuckled as she pulled her own ear muffs off. "It's not my first time."

Carisi looked out at the target. All the bullets had hit the silhouette of a man in the expanse of the chest. A few of them would've been fatal if it were a real person on the other end. "Apparently not. Here I thought I was bringing you here to give you another way to defend yourself."

"Shooting a paper target is a lot different than shooting a man." Gemma sighed. She picked up the gun and handed it back to him, watching as he holstered it back on his belt. "But, thanks. You were trying to help, and that means a lot."

Carisi eyed her carefully. "Why do I have a feeling that didn't happen to you often?"

"Probably because I never wanted help." Gemma admitted with a shrug. "Dave and Mya were awesome parents. They would've done anything for me. Same goes for Danny. But, I wanted to do everything myself even if it cost me. Hate to say it, but I'm still that way. This investigation, having all of you guys working the case for me, I feel useless. I'd be better off as Lovely Bones."

"What does that mean?" Carisi asked with a frown. His arms crossed over his chest, leaning closer to hear her explanation.

Gemma bit her lip. "Have you seen the movie The Lovely Bones? About the fourteen year old girl who was raped and killed when she was fourteen?" The confusion on Carisi's face answered her question. "This girl, Suzie, is murdered by her neighbor after her lures her into this underground shack he builds. Anyway, she gets caught in the 'in between' both Earth and Heaven and has to cope with watching her family suffer her loss and her murderer continue to get away with it. At the end of the movie, her killer gets rid of her body and nobody knows the whole truth of what happened to her." She dug the toe of her shoe into the concrete floor, avoiding Carisi's gaze. "I just think it would've been better if I disappeared. Left my fate up to people's imaginations, because the truth is so much worse."

"You don't honestly believe that, do you?" Carisi took a step closer to her. It was his turn to get an answer from her physical response. "Look at everyone you'd leave behind."

"The same number of people I'm hurting by telling them everything I've allowed myself to go through." Gemma retorted, her eyes filling with tears. "You guys would've only known about the busts and the hospital visits and whatever I told Danny. You never would've found out that I was on my back, high for three days, while strangers poured in an open door to pay for a few minutes of my time before the next one came along in a line of girls on mattresses. You wouldn't have heard Jimmy. . .God, you wouldn't have heard Jimmy on that bug in his velvet room. My very existence has made Elliot's kids despise him. Turned their lives upside-"

She fell silent when Carisi's arms wrapped around her and she was brought against his chest securely. He buried his face in her hair and held her tighter. "Those are only fleeting moments. Information that does not define you. I, for one, hardly know you, but I would miss you."

Gemma scoffed into the blue fabric of his button up. "No, you wouldn't."

"How would you know?" Carisi retorted. "I happen to really like you, and I know that Elliot and Olivia adore you. Just so you know, I was the one who wanted to bring you down here. I wanted to spend some time with you and received a warning from Olivia over it."

Gemma laughed, a true genuine laugh. "A warning, huh? She afraid your moves are going to get the better of me."

Carisi grinned. "No, quite the opposite actually. Apparently, you're pretty slick for an eighteen year old."

"Probably too young for you, huh?" Gemma smirked, pulling back from him and quirking an eyebrow.

"Age is just a number." Carisi shrugged, crossing his arms back over his chest.

Gemma rolled her eyes and shook her head as she removed the goggles and ear muffs. "Doubt you would want to be with a girl like me. I've been passed around more times than the Body of Christ at a Sunday morning mass."

Carisi let a puff of air blow through his lips in a scoff. "I know the truth behind it. I happen to think it makes you stronger, and I do like that about you." He jutted his chin towards her. "I'll even prove it to ya. Once we square this case away, how about I take you out to dinner?"

"I get what you're trying to do, but you don't have to." Gemma smiled gently.

Carisi held out his hand. "Let's shake on it. Look, I really do like you. I'm not just bullshitting you. I honestly would love to take you out to dinner. Give you a date that you are worthy of." He shrugged his shoulders. "But, it's up to you."

Gemma grinned, a slight blush creeping into her cheeks, before glancing down at his hand. "I don't usually seal deals with handshakes."

His hand lowered. "How do you then? Fist bump?"

"No, this way." Gemma stated before tugging on his tie and bringing his lips to hers. She grinned when he reciprocated immediately. Like he would ever peg her as a fist bump closing girl.

Carisi stepped into her space, and she welcomed it. Her hand let go of his tie and both arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer to her. He tugged the ear muffs off his neck and dropped them to the floor before both hands pressed into her back through her sweatshirt. When she opened her mouth, his hands moved to her hips and lifted her up onto the small ledge where his gun sat only a few moments ago.

He didn't know how long they made out like that with his hands exploring her over clothes and hers raking through his hair and slipping beneath the collar of his shirt, but it ended abruptly when the squeal of the overhead speaker sounded. The officer who let them in sounded his voice. "Carisi, I get she's hot, but I ain't cleaning up that mess."

Gemma chuckled into Carisi's neck as the squeal sounded again and the speaker turned off. Carisi laughed himself before lifting her off the counter and setting her back down on her feet. She gazed up at him with a smile, and he leaned down to peck her lips once more. "I look forward to dinner."

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