"Hey, John! Wait up!" She jogged down the hallway, catching up with him at the elevator. "I'm going with you."
"Oh, I thought that perhaps you were calling my name amidst such a crowd to profess your undying love for me. How silly of me."
She couldn't help but smile. "Nah, I need outta here for a while. Get some air."
"Wouldn't that be tempting fate?"
She shrugged as they stepped out of the elevator. "Maybe, but I'll just have to take my chances, won't I?"
"Hey, it's your life."
This time she outright laughed and shook her head. "You're too much."
"Perhaps there's a reason that my name happens to spell 'much' then. It was destiny for me to be too Munch." He started the car and they were silent for a while.
"Do you really believe in destiny and fate?"
"If there's a God, yes," he replied simply and they both lapsed back into silence. Upon reaching their destination, he parked the car and started to get out. When Olivia didn't move, he leaned his head back down and said, "I thought you were coming with me for fresh air."
"When I asked him, he said yes."
"Who?"
"He said he thought that it was fate that we met. It was our destiny to become partners and friends and now..."
"You're kidding me? He actually said that?"
She nodded slowly, staring at the dashboard. "I don't know what's gotten into him. A few months ago, he couldn't deal with Kathy leaving him, and now he thinks it fate. They were meant to get divorced. He was meant to fall in love with me."
This was too much for him to handle. He collapsed back into the driver's seat, pulling the door shut. "He's off his rocker."
"He's scaring me. When I asked... he went on for a good while before finally stopping. I don't know if he's finally cracking, or if he really believes this stuff he's ranting about... I just don't know."
"You know, thinking about it... he has been a little weird lately. And I take it you still haven't told Cragen?"
She shook her head. "He wants to wait until the right time."
"Let me guess, that just happens to be whenever fate dictates him to fall on his sword for you."
"Yeah, basically."
Shaking his head, he laughed a bit to himself. "Destiny," he muttered. "Fate." And started to laugh harder.
Olivia watched as he laughed, wondering when he would stop. After a few minutes, he calmed down and looked at her. "I'm sorry, it's just..."
"Don't worry about it," she said quietly.
Turning serious, he said, "Look, I know it scares you. Scares me, too. And I know he's never going to talk to a shrink, but he should talk to someone. Going from broken hearted to believing it was all his destiny is a little wacked, even for a man who believes in God. Something's going on in his head that isn't normal. I don't want to alarm you or anything, but he should really talk this out with someone, a shrink being his best bet. Talk to him. See if he believes it's his destiny to talk to someone about this, other than you that is. Someone who will question him without getting into a fight." He watched her look at the dashboard. "C'mon, let's get lunch. Otherwise, Stabler might think it's his destiny to skin me alive."