A/N: Ha! I finally finished chapter seven so now I can post it! And now you can read it. Bored, I think you and LSM just turned me into a J/O shipper, so this one is for you...
"I'm starting to think something's wrong." Fin leans back in his chair, having decided to abandon what remains of his paperwork and glances at the other set of detectives. "Any of you heard from Munch lately?"
"No," Olivia replies absently. "He hasn't been answering the phone." Elliot pushes at her foot with his own and she looks up at him.
"What?" she asks.
"How do you know he hasn't been answering the phone?" he asks in reply. She rolls her eyes.
"Because I called him," she replies, "You jealous?" Elliot snorts.
"Of him?" he says. "Yeah, right." Olivia casts him an annoyed look, fighting the sudden, mad desire to kick him under the desks.
"There's a fine way to talk about a colleague," she mutters sarcastically. Fin glances at them for a few seconds before deciding to break in.
"You guys got any idea where he might've gone?" He asks.
"Obviously he doesn't want us to know," Olivia replies. "Why do you care all of a sudden?"
"Because he's my partner and he's been gone for almost two weeks," Fin replies. "You think I don't notice he's not here?"
"How could you not?" Elliot asks dryly. "The squad room's been that much quieter without him around."
"What is wrong with you today?" Olivia demands, glaring at him as Fin returns to his paperwork.
"Nothing's wrong with me," Elliot retorts. "What, I'm not allowed to comment on the state of the squad room anymore?"
"Not if you're going to be rude about it. Do you think he'd be sitting here making comments about you if you were the one who was gone?"
"Knowing Munch, that's more than likely."
"I can't believe you."
"Can't believe what, Olivia? That I just might not like the guy?"
"You're only saying that because you think something's going on, and there's not."
A commotion in the captain's office makes them realize that their voices have risen past normal and they fall silent, glaring at each other. When the phone finally rings, neither of them reach for it. Fin eyes them and waits as it rings a second and then a third time before answering it himself. After he hangs up, he moves to leave the squad room and motions for Elliot to come with him.
"Good riddance," Olivia mutters angrily. Elliot casts her an irritated scowl before following Fin out just as the door to the captain's office opens.
"Olivia." She looks up from the photo array on her desk and sighs as she turns. Cragen stands in the doorway of his office, eyeing her concernedly as he continues. "You have a minute?"
"Yeah." She runs a tired hand through her hair and rises to her feet. "What's up?"
"Come into my office," Cragen replies vaguely. She does, and closes the door behind her, leaning against it as she looks at him.
"What's up?" she asks again.
"I want you to find Munch," he replies flatly.
"Wait a minute," she says startled. "Are you saying you don't know where he is?"
"Yes," comes the reply, "That's exactly what I'm saying, and that's why I want you to find him."
Silence falls after this and Olivia closes her eyes. "Why not Fin?" she asks, before she can stop herself. Cragen eyes her suspiciously for a moment, but says nothing…at least not at first.
"Fin just left," he says, "And so did Elliot. That leaves you."
"I noticed," she replies mildly. "And I'm starting to think that this might just be happening on purpose."
"Well, it's not, so don't get your hopes up," Cragen says bluntly. "None of us have heard from him in two weeks and it's high time we did, so I'm asking you to find him."
"And if I say no?"
"Then I'll make it an order." Olivia gives an exasperated sigh and runs her hand through her hair again.
"Fine," she says, pushing herself off of the door and pulling it open. "I probably won't be back for a while."
She closes the door again as she walks out of the office. The squad room is empty save for her, just as it had been when she'd gone in. She looks at her watch and sighs, grabbing her coat and putting it on before she leaves.
Before she knows it, she's standing right outside Casey's office and knocking on the door.
"It's open." Relieved, she walks in and takes her coat off, sitting in front of Casey's desk, leaning back and closing her eyes. Casey eyes her for a moment, and bites her lip to keep from laughing.
"Bad day?" she asks.
"In the way that you nailed our guy and sent him to jail, no," Olivia replies without opening her eyes, "But in every other way, yeah."
"What happened this time?" Casey asks, dropping the pen that she's holding. It clatters onto the desk as she leans forward on her elbows to listen, successfully shuffling some of her paperwork.
"We started talking about why Munch decided to disappear on us," says Olivia. "Well, Fin did, anyway. He asked if Elliot or I had heard from him lately, and I said no, because he hasn't been answering the phone."
"Don't tell me Elliot took that the wrong way," says Casey. Olivia opens her eyes this time and leans forward in the chair.
"Well, he did ask how I knew Munch wasn't answering," she admits. "And then I asked if he was jealous and he said no, and..." She sighs before going on. "If the phone hadn't rung, he and I probably would've gotten into another fight."
"How many times does that make this month?" Casey asks. Olivia snorts.
"I don't know, and I don't want to know," she says. "I've lost count and I'd like it to stay that way."
"Where is he now? Back at the squad room?" says Casey. Olivia shakes her head.
"No." she replies. "He left with Fin."
"So, what brought you here?" Casey asks, pushing a stack of files aside. "Something else happen?"
"The captain told me to find Munch," Olivia replies, looking away. "You know, if even he doesn't know where Munch is…"
"Scares you, doesn't it?" Casey asks. "Not hearing anything from a colleague for two weeks and then finding out even the captain doesn't know where he is?" Olivia nods.
"That's not even what bothers me, really," she says. "It's the fact that usually Munch would've said he was leaving, but this time he didn't…he was just gone."
"Well, you're not going to find him here, that's for sure," Casey tells her. "I haven't seen him any more than you have, and I haven't heard from him, either."
Olivia sighs. "I think it was me," she says finally, quietly enough that Casey has to lean farther forward to hear her.
"What?" she asks.
"I think it was me," Olivia says again. "I think I'm the reason Munch took off."
"Why would you think that?" Casey asks, startled. "You two probably get along better than anyone else I know."
"I know, Casey," says Olivia, "I know, but…I think I might've managed to screw it all up."
"What happened?" Casey asks, glancing towards her office door to make sure that it's closed.
"It happened two weeks ago," Olivia tells her. "The day before he left…Elliot and I had just gotten into another fight and I'd gone up to the roof to get away from him."
"I think all of us need a break from Elliot at one point or another; I can hardly blame you," Casey says dryly. Olivia glances at her for a few seconds, offering up a half-hearted smile before going on.
"Munch came up after me," she says. "We…ah….we talked for a while. It was raining…and then it started getting worse, so we went to go inside, and…" She trails off again, and this time, doesn't continue. Casey waits for a few seconds before deciding to prompt her again.
"And what?" she asks. Olivia looks down towards her lap, where her hands are, her fingers idly fiddling with the buttons on her coat.
"And I kissed him," she replies finally. Casey stares at her in disbelief, shaking her head.
"Didn't you just tell Elliot the other day that there's nothing going on between you two?" she asks.
"There wasn't," Olivia tells her, looking up. "There was never anything until then, and now…now I don't know what to do."
"Well, you might as well go find him and make him talk to you," says Casey. "It's not going to do you any good if you're just sitting here thinking about it."
"Yeah…" Olivia rises to her feet and puts her coat back on. "I'll see you tomorrow, then?"
"Hopefully," Casey replies, "If I can ever get this darn paperwork done." She motions to the files on her desk and Olivia laughs as she opens the office door to leave.
"Good luck," she says. She pulls the office door closed behind her and remains there in the slightly darkened hallway, debating on whether or not she should just go back to the precinct and forget about all of this. She figures after a few minutes that Casey's right, and with this in mind, she leaves the District's Attorney's Office.
She's standing outside a familiar apartment building before she knows it. Cars go speeding by on the road behind her; she's thankful that for once, it isn't raining because the last thing she'd want is to have water all over her. Her eyes scan the names on the intercom system in front of her until she finds the name that she's looking for, and then, she presses the button. No answer comes at first. But when it does, she blurts the only thing she can think of.
"What's your favorite season?"
