(A/n: Surprise! This was going to be a random, pointless one-shot, but since you all asked so nicely, I think I can continue it . . . )

We got our perp. It was a smooth and quick takedown. It went off without a hitch. He didn't even ask for a lawyer when we brought him into the interrogation room. It didn't take long for Elliot to start scaring the hell out of him.

He's been booked and now he's sitting in lockup, waiting for arraignment. Novak's positive she can nail his ass. The woman who came to us is willing to testify. She might not have been ready to be a mom, but she's honest.

Now I'm sipping a cup of coffee and trying to write up the DD-5, at my desk. I see a crumpled-up ball of pink paper land on my desk, inches from my nose. I roll my eyes and ignore it. A blue ballpoint pen lands about half an inch away from my left hand.

My mother was right. Men don't mature. Ever. They still have the minds of twelve-year-olds, when they're grown men. I turn my mind back to the report in front of me. A ball of white paper lands beside the pen.

I know he's just doing it to piss me off. If he wanted my attention, he would have said something to me. So I'm going to ignore it. Another ball of paper hits one of my framed photos. Tempted to look up at him and give him a well-aimed kick, I lock my concentration on the report, filling in the blanks.

A neatly folded paper airplane lands on my desk, under my nose. That's it. I drop my pen and look at my partner. He's got the sleeves of his shirt pushed up and his tie loosened. He's leaning on his elbows, with the biggest shit-eating grin on his face. "What?" He asks, innocently.

I knew he'd do that. I give him my well-aimed kick to the shin and roll my eyes at him. I clean off my desk and turn back to the report. He seems find purposely irritating me funny.

At the end of a boring, slow day, everybody parts ways. Munch leaves first, saying something about the Discovery channel and aliens. Then, Fin leaves the squad, saying he's going home to call his son.

Finally, it's just me and Elliot and Cragen. Our boss finally steps out of his office, with his coat in his hands. "Going home, Cap?" I question. My boss is a legend in the Department, because he hardly ever goes home. The cot in his office proves it. They should give him a medal for dedication.

He nods, then looks at my partner and I, sharply. "Aren't you two?"

"I don't know. It seems kind of pointless. I'm just gonna go home to stare at the wall for a while. I can do that here." I point out, earning a rare smile.

"You can do that at home, too." Cragen argues. "Go. Get outta here."

"Don't have to tell me twice." Elliot gets up and grabs his coat, handing me mine. We leave together, taking the elevator down.

"You wanna go get a drink?" He raises an eyebrow, as we step out of the precinct house.

I stop, in the parking lot and blink at him. Ever since Scarry opened her mouth in Cragen's office, he's been forgoing our usual after-work drinks routine. This is the first time in a couple of months he's asked. "Yeah. You're buying."

"Where do you wanna go? O'Malley's? Mulligan's?" He questions.

"O'Malley's sounds fine." I shrug.

"If you're tired. . . " He begins, always worrying for me.

"No. Let's go."

We wind up sitting in a corner table. He's nursing a Scotch on the rocks. I've got a beer. "You see the kids lately?" I question, as he takes a drink. I know the hardest part for him of this whole thing is being cut off from his kids. They're his world. It's a sore spot, but I have to ask.

"Yeah. The twins were down the weekend before last and Kathleen's been staying with me for a couple of nights. She's been going at it with Kathy ever since the papers were filed. She's angry."

"I know where she gets it." I kid, softly, drawing a grin from him. "Have you talked to them yet? About this whole thing?"

He sighs. "Maureen was the easy one to explain to. She thought it would better if we spilt up and got it over with, instead of trying to hold things together for them. Kathleen kind of had the same idea. She said she wouldn't be the only one of her friends who still had married parents. The twins"- he shakes his head. "It's scaring the hell out of them. We've both talked to them and they're still confused. I think it's because we never fought in front of them. They thought everything was fine."

I nod. "You never told me why this happened. Why she just moved out?"

He props his chin in one hand and sighs. "We got married way too young, Liv. Too young and too fast. We were a couple of kids. But I got her pregnant and our parents made us get married. We didn't know if we even wanted to get married. We didn't have a choice. We made it through a lot of stuff - thirty grand a year doesn't go far, when you've got a two-year-old and a wife with another kid on the way." Elliot shakes his head.

"And then, with this job - the hours, the wake-up calls. She just couldn't put up with it anymore. She wanted me to talk to her about it, Liv, but I couldn't tell her. I didn't want to tell her about what we saw. She didn't need to have the same nightmares." He takes another drink and sighs.

"There's still something you're not telling me." I persist. He's been known to open up when he's drinking. And I do get the feeling that he's holding back something.

He shakes his head. "I don't want you to take this the wrong way."

"I won't."

He finishes off his glass, finally and looks at me. "Before she moved out, she accused me of having an affair with you."

I stare at him, startled. "You're kidding." I demand. "Tell me you're kidding."

Even I know he wouldn't cheat. He still takes wedding vows and family seriously. He wouldn't cheat on his wife. And definitely not with me. Cragen would have both our asses. I wouldn't want to be the other woman in his life, anyway.

"No. It was the overtime, all the hours, the times when she tried to call and couldn't get me. She started to wonder."

I shake my head. "When we worked overtime, we were actually working. Jesus, Elliot. I've met Kathy. I've had dinner with you two and the kids. Didn't she trust you?" I always thought twenty years of marriage would have earned him some kind of trust.

"I don't know, Liv." He sighs. "I don't know where that came from. I really don't. I didn't tell you because"-

"You didn't want to piss me off." I nod. "I get it." I down my beer. "Wanna get outta here?"

He nods and puts a couple of bills on the table to pay for the drinks.

Outside the bar, he hails a cab. Instead of just putting me in it and hailing another one for himself, like some guys will, he joins me in the back. He has the cabbie drop me off first.

"Pick you up in the morning?" Elliot raises an eyebrow, as I step out.

"Yeah." I nod. We've been doing this for years now. In the morning, when he comes down into Manhattan, he picks me up. He usually complains about being my chauffeur, but I know he's joking. "Goodnight."

"Night, Liv."

I close the door and walk into the lobby of my building. I take the elevator up and sigh, as I unlock my apartment door. Tonight would have been perfect. I could have invited him up. He's going home alone, something that nobody likes to do. But we've both been drinking.

And that could have lead to any number of things. I'm not doing that again. If we do start something, we're both going to be sober. I don't want it to be a one-night-stand that we're too drunk to remember. I don't want that from him. I'll go to bed alone tonight and wait for the right time.

I know it would have been easy for me to take advantage of him, especially tonight. He's lonely and he was drinking. But I don't want to take advantage of him. I'll wait. Give him some time to clear his head and figure some stuff out for himself. I'll just have to be patient.

(A/n: I know it's short, but I'm just getting over the flu, so bear with me.)