A/N: Bored, LSM...this is for you.


"My favorite season?" For some reason, Munch's voice is distorted by the intercom, but Olivia hears it nonetheless and she closes her eyes as a wave of relief washes over her.

"Yeah," she replies, "Your favorite season. What is it?" There is silence for what seems like an eternity before an answer finally comes.

"Spring," he says, almost inaudibly. "My favorite season is spring." There's a noise and the door leading into the building opens. She eyes it for a moment, walking inside split seconds before it closes.

By the time she makes it to the floor that his apartment is on, she's already rethinking her decision to leave Casey's office to come. Then again, it wasn't as if she'd had a choice; she'd practically been ordered to come. Staring down towards the other end of the hallway, Olivia closes her eyes again, sucking in a breath as she stands there.

"Liv?" Her eyes fly open and when she's adjusted to the sudden light, she can see Munch standing a few feet away from her. "What are you doing here?"

"I…ah…Cragen sent me to look for you," she replies.

"Oh." He motions for her to follow him into the apartment and closes the door behind them when she does. "Why?"

"Because he's worried about you," says Olivia. "All of us are. You've been gone for two weeks and none of us have heard from you until now." Munch eyes her intently for a moment before walking into the kitchen; she follows, giving an exasperated sigh.

"So, what?" she asks. "You just gonna blow me off now?"

"No," he replies, "I'm not. I just…I needed a break."

"A break." Olivia sits in the chair nearest to her and runs a hand through her hair. "You couldn't have said anything?"

"Why?" Munch asks in reply. "So you could all keep asking me what's wrong?"

"No," Olivia counters, "So we wouldn't have to sit in the squad room wondering whether you're dead or alive."

"I have the feeling that neither Elliot nor Fin really cared," says Munch, and Olivia rolls her eyes.

"That's not the point," she tells him bluntly. "The point is that I cared."

And there it is: the real reason why she hadn't fought Cragen any further when he'd told her in no uncertain terms that she was to find her "missing" comrade.

"You what?" Munch asks, finally looking her in the eyes as if he can't believe what she's just told him.

"You heard me," she says, "I cared about it."

Decidedly uncomfortable with the situation, Munch looks away again, at a loss for words. Minutes tick by on the clock in front of them; he eyes it and sighs.

"So…you know my favorite season," he says finally. "What's yours?"

"Summer," Olivia replies. "My favorite season is summer." He eyes her for a few seconds before looking away yet again. She sighs.

"You weren't thinking of leaving, were you?" she asks quietly. "The unit, I mean."

"I was thinking about it," he admits. "Figured it wasn't worth it yet."

Startled by the answer, Olivia leans back, closing her eyes. "Was it because of me?" she asks, almost uncertainly, but he shakes his head.

"No," he says, "No. It wasn't you." He's lying and he knows it. It was because of her; he just doesn't want to tell her that because he knows it'll only make things worse than they already are.

"So what was it?" Olivia asks, deciding to press the issue, even though she knows he probably doesn't want to talk about it. "What made you take off?"

"I don't know," he tells her. "It's a lot of things…do we really have to talk about this?" He sounds almost upset as he says this, and she decides not to press any further. Instead, she leans back in her chair, running a hand through her hair.

"No," she says, "We don't." She pauses for a moment before going on. "I just don't get why you'd want to leave."

"It's nothing important," he says, relieved now that he knows she won't press him any more. "Really, it isn't. In fact, I was planning on coming back tomorrow?"

She gives him a skeptical look at this, as if she doesn't believe him, but doesn't say anything…at least, not at first. "Were you really?" she asks finally.

"Liv," he says, glancing at her momentarily before looking at the clock again. "Do you really think I'd lie to you?"

It's a good question, and she knows it. He's never lied to her before, and she doesn't see why he should start now…or even why he would start now.

"No," she replies. "I don't. She reaches behind her to flip on a light, and both of them blink to adjust to the brightness.

"What'd you do that for?" Munch asks. Olivia gives him a puzzled look, motioning around the apartment with her arms.

"Don't tell me you've been sitting around here with the lights off for the past two weeks," she says. "That'd be enough to make me want to shoot myself."

"Well, I guess it's a good thing you don't sit around in the dark," says Munch, "And no, I've had the lights on. How else am I supposed to read?"

"Point taken," Olivia says, laughing softly. "Guess you can't do that without any lights." She leans back and looks out the window. It's raining again.

"I wish it'd stop raining so much," she remarks. "How many days has it been now?"

"It's been at least four," Munch tells her, "I lost count a while back." Olivia shakes her head, making a face.
"It feels like I'm going to drown one of these days," she says, "You know, with all the water that's coming down on us." He laughs.

"And yet it rains in spring more than it does in the summer," he says. "I can see now why that's your favorite season."

"Yeah, but it's cooler in spring than it is in summer," says Olivia. "And summer's when all the tourists come to the city and crowd everything…"

"Every time of year has its flaws," Munch replies, "Even if one might think that it doesn't."

"Why do you think like that?" she asks him suddenly. "Have you ever looked at something without trying to see what's wrong with it?"

"Yes," he replies, feigning hurt. "I have." She raises an eyebrow, trying not to laugh.

"Ok," she says, and rises to her feet, pulling him up with her. "I want to test that theory."

"What do you mean, 'test'?" Munch demands as she pulls him into the living area and towards one of the windows. "I don't want to be a test subject." She makes a face at him.

"Deal with it," she tells him. "Look down there and tell me what you see." He looks and shakes his head.

"I see rain," he says. She swats at him, pretending to scowl.

"I'm serious," she tells him. "What do you see?"

This time when he looks, he notices a couple walking, neither of them holding an umbrella, but both of them holding hands. When he looks at her, he can see that she sees them too: a faint smile has crossed her face, and she's watching them as they run, trying to avoid getting wet.

"I want to be like that someday," she remarks. "Doesn't matter with who…I just want to be like that."

"Like what?" he asks, looking at her. "Happy?" She looks at him and nods.

"You don't see anything wrong with them, do you?" she asks. He shakes his head no, even though he really does, but he doesn't want to tell her that.

"No," he says, "I don't see anything wrong. In fact, those two will probably be together for quite a while." He motions back down towards them. "See? They're both smiling."

Olivia laughs and looks at her watch, sighing. "I should probably go," she says. "It's getting late." He nods, and together they walk towards the front door. Before she walks out, she turns to face him. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

He nods again. "Yeah," he replies, "You'll see me tomorrow."