-1The captain sent them home after they passed the seventy-two hour mark. They'd all balked about leaving the squad room: the case they're working is a high-profile one and the last thing they want is to give IAB something to bother them about.
But the captain had insisted, claiming that they needed sleep, no matter what they thought. So they left. They'd walked through the precinct halls towards the exit, waiting to be called back, but they weren't. Outside, they'd split up, each of them going their separate ways.
That's why he finds himself walking up the stairs of his apartment building, having decided to forgo taking the elevator for once. He feels wide awake, having downed a cup of coffee before being sent home, and he knows that he won't be able to sleep. So he takes the longest route to his apartment, still waiting for a call.
By the time he reaches his apartment door, the call he's waiting for still has not come. So he pulls his keys from his pocket, slides one of them into the lock and pushes the door open, knowing that it will come sooner or later…he just has to keep waiting.
Sure enough, as soon as he steps inside, the cell phone in his other pocket starts to ring. He fishes it out, flips it open and listens as the voice on the other side explains that there's a new lead, and that he needs to come back to the precinct. As soon as the call is finished, he closes the phone, slides it back into his pocket and leaves the apartment, making sure to lock the door behind him.
He takes the elevator down this time, knowing that he needs to be back at the precinct as soon as possible. When the doors slide open on the bottom level, he gets out and walks outside, silently musing that no matter how long it seems from the time they leave to the time they get back, in reality, only seconds have passed.
A/N: Wow. See, this is what happens when I get bored. I get all these random ideas for one-shots and then they get posted. For the record, SVU is not mine, just so you know.