Wow... you all just bowled me over with the reviews! Squee I love you guys so much! Sorry I've been on such a hiatus, but I had the holidays and then mid-terms for school. I had to study like mad orrisk failingand having my mom take my computer away.But I got all A's so my computer's safe and sound. :) Like the majority of you guysruled, I'm gonna stick with this and keep it going... well past two chapters, trust me. ;) Now that my coarse load has lessened, I'll probably get chapters up every two weeks or so. Just make sure you guys keep reviewing every now and then! The less reviews I get, the less I'll be convinced to keep the story going. :D Love y'all!
Chapter Note: This isn't much, just sort of ties up some loose ends so I can move on with the story. Hope you guys like it!

Some Hearts Just Get Lucky Sometimes

"I didn't think I had the courage to stand up on this stage. Then you reached into my heart, and you found the melody, and if there ever was somebody who made me believe in me... it was you. - "It's Your Song" by Garth Brooks

"IAB… sucks…" Casey declared, slightly buzzed by the couple of drinks she'd already had.

"Welcome to our world," Olivia smiled amusedly, sitting across the booth from the ADA and sipping her soda. "Maybe taking you to a bar to wind down wasn't such a great idea," she wondered aloud, raising her eyebrow in doubt and concern as she took in Casey's state. Though she'd only had a few beverages, they were hard liquor and she was normally a light drinker. It wouldn't take much to get her wasted and it didn't seem like she planned to stop the rounds anytime soon as she brought the glass to her lips again. "Seriously, Casey, slow down." Olivia wrapped her fingers around the glass and tried to pull it away from her. When Casey saw the anxiety and trepidation in her actions, she immediately released her hold.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, looking down at the table in shame of her behavior. She had a tendency to drink heavily and go overboard with the alcohol when cases really got to her and she knew it. Alcohol had never been something she wanted to turn to when she had a problem and she was glad that lately she had Olivia to keep her strong.

"It's all right," Olivia reassured her with a small smile and a nod. "I just wanna make sure you're okay and don't try to handle this the wrong way."

"Liv, I want to thank you for all that you've done for me. With Myers and IAB, it's meant so much to me that I have you here to help me through it all. I'm just so grateful for everything, especially that 'girl's day in,'" she grinned, recalling the detective's visit to her house yesterday. She arrived with two plastic bags filled with every junk food known to man, a bunch of tear-jerking chick-flicks, about a gallon of various Ben and Jerry's ice cream flavors, and the latest issues of Redbook and Cosmopolitan. They'd spent the entire day just hanging around like best friends, always talking to provide some interaction, but never really saying anything important. As far as they were both concerned, that's all they wanted at the time, somebody that understood their feelings without actually having to voice them.

Olivia chuckled and folded her hands on the table. "So I didn't go too overboard then?"

"No!" She assured her with a big grin. "I haven't just hung out like that since I was in high school. I had fun."

Laughing, Olivia heard a group of footsteps coming towards her. Shooting a glance up, she saw Cragen, John, Fin, and Elliot walking towards their table. Still smiling, she nodded towards them.

"Hey," she sighed, sliding over in the booth to allow room for another person. A grin discreetly flashed across her lips as Elliot almost knocked their colleagues over in order to get to the empty seat first. The other three surrounded the table as well, Cragen sitting next to Casey and John and Fin pulling up chairs to the end of the table.

"You two look like you're having fun," Cragen noted with happy surprise, thinking they'd both be fuming after their encounter with Internal Affairs.

Casey smiled and glanced down as she idly pushed her glass around in a circular motion, twirling around the liquor inside. Gazing up at Olivia, her eyes suddenly twinkled. "Yep," she agreed, "tons of fun. We started a club." Olivia rolled her eyes with a grin at her, slightly embarrassed that she had brought that up.

"What club?" Fin asked curiously, sitting in his chair backwards as he leaned towards the table.

"The She-Women Man Hater's Club," Olivia answered solemnly, evoking grins from all the guys at the table.

"So, today didn't go too well I take it?" Elliot inferred with a raised eyebrow, glancing back and forth between the two women.

"Understatement of the night," Olivia sighed in exasperation, taking a drink of her soda.

"Yeah," Casey agreed with a nod of her head, starting the recollections of the day's events. "IAB is under the impression that Olivia and I are a modern-day Thelma and Louise, set out to kill any man that's ever done us wrong."

Olivia quickly interjected, helping Casey tell the story. "Their theory is that because Myer's brought up my attack in court and broke up with her a few years back, we decided we should get revenge by killing him. So she led him into her office-"

"Where I used my…" Casey dramatically flipped her hair back for effect and batted her eyelashes, "womanly ways to seduce him-"

"And then I came in," Olivia finished. "Despite Casey's and my collaborating stories and the footage on the security camera in the office, they still managed to interrogate us for a good four hours before they finally gave up."

"You have no idea how hard it was for me to keep my mouth after they finally let us go without so much as an apology," Casey groaned in frustration, clenching her hands into fists.

"Trust me," Cragen assured her with the faintest hint of a smile. "I think we've all been in that situation before."

"More times than I'd care to remember," Munch spoke up, resting one of his elbows against the table. "So how long did they jam you up for anyway?" He asked, that being the closest thing to his condolences that they'd ever get.

"Being the 'victim' and everything," Casey retorted in detestation of IAB's choice of words, "I didn't get anything."

Biting the side of her lip, Olivia stared at the bubbling liquid in the cup in her hands and recalled what she had been informed of as she was being shoved out of the Internal Affairs building. "Two weeks on desk duty, providing they don't find any reason to extend it." She balled her hand in a fist and scratched her forehead with her thumb, feeling completely strained by the day.

"That's not too bad," Elliot reassured her with a shrug. Finding the most platonic gesture possible, he patted her on the back in consolation. "Besides, I'm kinda back-logged on the paperwork for a few of my cases. I could sure use some help…" Being completely unsubtle, he nudged her with his elbow and smiled.

Knowing he was just attempting to take her mind off of her desk duty, Olivia played along and shot him a dubious, not-on-your-life stare.

In the background, a microphone crackled to life and caught the attention of everybody at the table. "Attention folks! May I have your attention, please?" All six pairs of eyes glanced towards the front of the bar to see a pair of curtains pulled back to reveal a small stage. One of the bartenders was standing in front of the stage, speaking into a microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our monthly Karaoke Contest!" While a few people absentmindedly started clapping, the guys incredulously looked at Casey and Olivia.

"You picked a karaoke bar?" Fin raised his eyebrow in disgust. "Man, the last thing I wanna do right now is listen to a bunch of drunks screaming their heads off in some pathetic attempt to sing." Olivia opened her mouth to tell him that it was Casey's idea, but the announcer caught her off in mid-sentence.

"If this is your first time here, the rules are quite simple. Anyone can participate. Just sign up and look through the song list to find what you wanna sing. Then we'll call people up, one by one, and let you do your thing. Then we bring everybody back up and let the audience decide who wins. Be quick folks, because the sign-up time starts now and we'll be closing it in about five minutes. Good luck!" With that, the bartender clicked off the microphone and headed back-stage.

"Olivia, you should sign up!" Casey exclaimed excitedly, the presence of everybody else seeming to lighten up her mood. "You'd do great!"

"Ha, are you kidding me?" Olivia laughed at the very thought. "No, I wouldn't." She shook her head in amusement. "I think you've been drinking a little too much there, Casey."

"Really Liv," she repeated. "I've heard you sing before and you're fantastic. You would be fine up there."

Realizing she was serious, Olivia's eyes widened and she began shaking her head with more force. "Oh no. No way," she held a hand up. "There is no way I'm going up there and making a fool of myself."

"Aw, come on, Liv." Elliot nudged her elbow with his, grinning from ear to ear. "You'd be singing with a bunch of drunken people, in front of a bunch of drunken people. You won't make a fool of yourself, at least, no more than anybody else. Besides, it'll be fun," he insisted, thinking that this would be the perfect plan to take her mind off of things at work.

"If it's so fun, you do it then!" She retorted, becoming more and more fearful of the idea of going on stage and singing in front of this entire room.

"Benson, you need to loosen up." Casey suddenly rose up from the booth and grabbed Olivia's hand. "You're doing this if I have to drag you up there."

"Casey! What the hell!" Olivia applied resistance to her arm as she tried to pull her from the booth as well. After a minute of Casey working alone in her endeavors, Elliot joined in out of the blue and gave her a gentle shove. The motion was enough to finally knock the detective out of her seat. Standing up to face a proud Casey, Olivia crossed her arms and glared at her. "I told you, there's no way in hell I'm doing that."

--XXX--

I can't believe I'm doing this… Olivia inwardly moaned, nervously picking at her fingernails as she waited off to the side of the stage. She was next to go on and the man singing now had just began crooning an off-key version of Usher's "Confessions, Part II."

"Liv, relax." She felt a hand on her shoulder and saw Casey standing next to her. "Just have fun, you'll be fine."

"Easy for you to say, she grumbled under her breath, surveying the crowd again. Talking in front of a large group of people had been a nightmare for her in high school, to the point that every other day she had skipped public speaking class. Granted, she certainly wasn't shy anymore, but singing? That was completely new to her aside from humming the occasional tune in the shower or singing to her steering wheel.

"Look, just imagine everyone in their underwear," Casey offered her a bit of juvenile advice that had helped her in the past. "Or just focus on one spot in the room, anywhere or anything, and just pretend like you're just singing to that. Better yet," her face suddenly erupted into a huge grin, "combine them. Focus on Elliot and imagine him in his underwear," she winked suggestively at the detective and laughed.

"Shut up, Novak." Olivia desperately tried to stop herself from blushing at Casey's statement. I don't need to imagine, she thought to herself, spreading a grin across her own face as she remembered yesterday.

"All right, that was Corey with Confessions, Part II by Usher." Olivia moaned to herself as the bartender announced the finish of the last person before her. "Now put your hands together for Olivia, a first-timer to our little contest here. She'll be singing Some Hearts by Carrie Underwood." As he walked off of the stage, he handed Olivia the microphone and whispered, "Good luck."

She just nodded and took a deep breath before slowly walking to the center of the stage. As soon as Elliot, John, Fin, and Cragen saw her, they burst into applause and cheers. Feeling overwhelmed, Olivia was just about to run off stage when Elliot suddenly caught her eye. Sitting behind the other three so that they couldn't see him, he silently mouthed the words "Love you," and flashed her a thumbs up signal.

Instantly feeling relaxed, Olivia heard the music start and recalled why she choose the particular song in the first place. Discreetly focusing her attention on Elliot, she blocked out everyone else and pretended that she was performing only for him. She took a deep breath and softly began singing.

"I've never been the kind that you'd call lucky
Always stumblin' around in circles
But I must have stumbled into something
Look at me, am I really alone with you?

"I wake up feeling like my life's worth living
Can't recall when I last felt that way
Guess it must be all this love you're giving
Never knew, never knew, it could be like this"

As Elliot sat back and watched Olivia, his mouth dropped open in awe. He'd heard the song before and she sang it just as good, if not better, than the original recording artist herself. He had no idea that her voice was so beautiful and entrancing.

Though she started off waveringly, Olivia quickly gained confidence with each line as she began belting out the song.

"But I guess…
Some hearts, they just get all the right breaks
Some hearts have the stars on their side
Some hearts, they just have it so easy
Some hearts just get lucky sometimes
Some hearts just get lucky, lucky sometimes

"Now who'd have thought someone like you could love me?
You're the last thing my heart expected
Who'd have thought I'd ever find somebody?
Someone who, someone who, makes me feel like this

"Well I guess…
Some hearts, they just get all the right breaks
Some hearts have the stars on their side
Some hearts, they just have it so easy
Some hearts just get lucky sometimes
Some hearts just get lucky… sometimes

"Ooo… even hearts like mine
Get lucky, lucky sometimes
Even hearts like mine, oh

"Some hearts, they just get all the right breaks
Some hearts have the stars on their side
Yeah, some hearts, they just have it so easy
Some hearts just get lucky… sometimes

Some hearts, they just have it so easy
Some just get lucky some times
Some hearts just get lucky… sometimes"

As Olivia's voice rang out the last note, the entire room burst into wild applause and hoots. A huge grin spreading on her face, she saw all the guys, including Elliot, were on their feet cheering. Following suit, a few other tables even stood as well. The minute Olivia stepped down from the stage, she stepped in front of Casey, who also had a grin plastered on her face.

"See?" She boasted, playfully shoving Olivia's shoulder. "Didn't I tell you you'd do great?"

Olivia's grin just widened as she floated on the natural high of the moment. "Okay, you were right, that was fun. But I swear…" Her expression suddenly hardened and she narrowed her eyes at the ADA. "If you ever pull something like this again I won't be so forgiving."

Smiling, Casey held her hands up in surrender. "Okay, never again."

--XXX--

"Who knew we had the next American Idol contender right under our noses?" Munch remarked, smacking Olivia on the back in congratulations as the group walked out the front doors of the building. They all decided to call it a night an hour or so after the karaoke contest.

"John, I won a contest at a karaoke bar," Olivia informed him irritably, rolling her eyes. "Not American Idol." Though she had to admit, juvenile and stupid as the whole thing was, it did feel pretty good all the same as she glanced down at the tiny trophy in her hands she'd been awarded. It consisted of a block of gold colored plastic with a small microphone shaped object on top.

"Still," Fin remarked with a slight smirk, "who knew you had a set of pipes on ya like that?"

"Star struck much?" Olivia rolled her eyes, only managing to keep a serious expression momentarily before erupting into a grin again. She wrapped her coat tighter against the cold air and noticed everyone else appeared to be doing the same.

"Well, you bask in your new stardom," Cragen mused, watching the detectives interact. "I'm heading home." Glancing over, he saw Casey was a little tipsy, occasionally wavering on her feet. "Need a ride, Novak?" He asked in concern, shooting a cautionary hand out as she tipped forward.

Squinting her eyes due to the pain of her newly formed headache, she nodded and mumbled an incoherent "Yeah."

"You two be careful," Olivia warningly called after them as Don helped Casey over to his car, holding out his arms in case she fell. Once the car finally pulled out of the parking lot, the detective turned back to the group of people still in front of her.

"Well, I guess we should be heading out too," shrugged John as he began walking towards Fin's car. "C'mon partner, you're my ride." He smacked Fin's shoulder and gently pulled him backwards.

"I swear, man," Fin groaned, playfully rolling his eyes at John. "You're gonna have to hire your own chauffeur one of these days."

"Why do that when I have you?" They both chuckled and headed to the car. "See you guys tomorrow," he called over his shoulder.

"See ya," Elliot and Olivia said in unison, watching them get into Fin's car.

"So," he started, turning back to Olivia with a grin on his face. "You think they're gone?"

Frowning at him in slight confusion, she nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, why?"

Still flashing his boyish and, in Olivia's opinion, incredibly cute grin, Elliot didn't say anything. Instead, he slipped his hands into hers and gently tugged her forward until their lips finally met.

Though surprised at first, the corners of Olivia's mouth curled up as she melted into the kiss. As Elliot finally pulled away, she quickly stifled the disappointed sigh the tried to escape her.

"What was that for?" She inquired almost breathlessly, glancing up at him with a glowing smile.

Releasing his grip on Olivia's hands, he slid his arms down around her waist until their bodies were pressed together. "'Cause I've wanted to do that all night," he explained in a whisper. "That was an excellent song by the way," he noted, nodding towards the trophy she still had.

"Oh, really?" She wondered, trying to suppress a smile while she innocently flirted with him, brushing her hand down his chest.

To Elliot's amazement, he somehow managed to keep a serious expression as he spoke. "Yeah, I think Munch was really flattered to find out that you felt that way about him."

Olivia's jaw immediately dropped, first in shock, then in horror at the thought. She was about to make it clear just how wrong Elliot was when she abruptly noticed the grinning expression that had appeared on his face. "You're kidding?" Still dazed by the sudden shock, it took her a few more seconds until she realized he was. "You have got to have the most twisted sense of humor I've ever seen! I cannot believe you!" Raising a fist, she punched Elliot with enough force to lightly push his shoulder back.

"Oh, come on," he reasoned with a chuckle, wrapping his fingers around her fist and lowering it to her side. "You know you love me." Gazing down into her eyes, his mouth curled up into a smile.

"Only because you're cute," she informed him with a smirk, like that was obvious. "Otherwise, you would be history, my friend."

"Oh, yeah?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, crossing his arms.

"Yeah," she nodded, crossing her arms as well to mock Elliot.

"Well, you think you could let your cute friend give you a ride home?"

"Thought you'd never ask," she replied with a grin.

--XXX--

"Since when is rush hour at…" Olivia sluggishly glanced down towards her wristwatch and stared at the dial. "Twelve-thirty in the morning?" Rolling her head back up, her eyes squinted against the numerous shining tail lights in front of them.

"Welcome to New York," Elliot mused with a grin, propping his chin up on his fist and watched her from the corner of his eye. "Can't tell which is worse, the traffic or crime." His sedan remained unmoving, as it had been for the past fifteen minutes, give or take a few feet every now and then.

Knowing how true that was, Olivia just sighed. "So," she motioned up the street with a wave of her head, "traffic jam or accident?"

"Accident," he replied resolutely, gazing ahead as well. "This late, probably a drunk driver or something." Doing a mental double take, Elliot bit the inside of his cheek. He discreetly glanced over at his partner to see if his words had hit a sore spot concerning her mother. Normally, he was able to watch himself and keep from saying anything that might open old wounds for her, and he always kicked himself when he slipped up.

"Mmm," she absent-mindedly nodded and mumbled in agreement, unfazed by his comment. "Isn't it just mind-boggling, the number of people that go out and drink every night?" Olivia inquired, staring at the bar next to them on the side of the street and watching a group of people pile out of a car and head inside.

"Like us?" Elliot replied with levity, referring to the entire squad.

"No…" She shook her head, seeming to be deeply lost in thoughts. "I just… I…" Her mouth just hung open as she shrugged, trying to find the right words to explain herself. After racking her brain for another minute or so, Olivia gave up and remained still. A blanket of comfortable quietness settled in the car.

Just as the traffic began to move and Elliot was finally able to go, he broke the silence. "Speaking of drinking," he tried to innocently work his question into the conversation, "I noticed you didn't tonight." Keeping his tone friendly, he hoped that Olivia's answer would be able to soothe his worries.

"So?" She shrugged, indifferently raising an eyebrow at him. "What's the big deal?"

"No deal," he assured her, deciding to back off the topic. "I'm just curious, that's all."

A smirk suddenly grew on Olivia's face. "Have you learned nothing from the well-documented perils of out feline friend?" Choking back a laugh at Elliot's bewildered expression, she continued. "Curiosity did kill the cat, after all."

Elliot rolled his eyes at Olivia's comment, even though he was laughing. "I think you're hanging around Munch too much. You seem to be picking up his inane sense of humor."

"Right," Olivia said sarcastically with a chuckle. "The day I start conspiring against the government is the day you should start worrying."

"Okay, duly noted." He grinned as he finally pulled the car up to the curb in front of Olivia's apartment building. "Here we are," he announced, turning off the ignition. Both detectives simultaneously opened their respective car doors and got to their feet. When Olivia heard the sound of a second door slamming shut aside from her own, she turned around and realized Elliot had gotten out of the car as well.

"What are you doing?" She watched in curiosity as he circled around the hood and made his way towards her. A vexed look glared in her eyes. "Are you walking me inside?"

Knowing she was seconds away from going off on one of her 'equality' rants about how she should be treated no different than any other cop, Elliot quickly slipped his arm over her shoulders with a grin. "Why not?"

"Because I'm not a civilian," she informed him, stubbornly fighting against the smile that was trying to appear on her lips.

"Ah…" Elliot nodded his head in understanding. "But you are unarmed."

"So that means I need a body guard?" Olivia focused her vision forward as they began walking towards the front of her building, Elliot's arm still around her.

"Damn, Liv. Can't a guy just walk his incredibly gorgeous partner up to her apartment without being bombarded by accusations and questions?" He couldn't help but grin as Olivia's face turned a deep red color and she averted her glance to the ground, hiding her face. Contented that he'd finally stopped her complaints, he gently massaged her shoulder with his fingertips in a comforting motion as they walked inside.

Once they arrived outside her front door, Elliot lingered hesitantly, unsure what he should do. When Olivia walked inside her apartment, leaving the door wide open, he took that as his cue. Walking inside, he grabbed the handle and pulled it shut behind him.

"Want something… to drink?" Olivia asked him, yawning in the middle of her sentence.

He stifled a smile and noticed the drowsy state she was in. "Nah, I'm good. And I should probably be going anyway, let you get to sleep."

"Or you could stay," she suggested with a flirtatious grin, sauntering closer towards him.

"As in stay the night?" Elliot clarified, both of them knowing that the suggestion had nothing to do with sex, just the other's company. "I don't think so, Liv." A mixture of hurt and confusion sprang up in Olivia's eyes, causing his stomach to knot up in guilt. "It's not that," he quickly added, stepping forward so that he could clasp her hand in his. "It's just that I don't think we've spent even one night apart this week, because either I'm sleeping over here or you're sleeping over at my house. I'd think that we'd be tired of each other by now."

"So…" Olivia took his words into consideration as she lifted her arms up and rested her elbows on his shoulder blades. Stretching her arms out flat, she glanced at Elliot, whose face was now only mere inches from her. "And who said I was tired of you?" He watched on in mere silence as her lips curved up, turning into one of those rare, utterly stunning smiles of hers. It was the kind that Elliot had only seen from her the first time he had kissed her outside the stationhouse and when she had finally admitted that she loved him; the kind that literally knocked the breath out of him.

Swallowing the nervous lump that was slowly gathering in his throat, he gave her his own flustered smile. He waited a minute to catch his breath before he spoke. "I… I wasn't saying that. I just meant that we're spending so much time together, we might get sick of each other."

"So you don't want to stay?" She gazed into his eyes, as if searching for some sign on whether or not he was being truthful. "Even if I said please?" Olivia's poked her bottom lip out and pouted at him, using everything in her power to get him to spend the night. Lately, she couldn't stand the thought of being alone, especially at night, and what better person to spend the nights with than the man she was head-over-heels for?

Elliot's vision traveled back and forth over her face, trying to find some way to contradict her pouting face and big eyes. After a minute, he caved with a small sigh. "What about the guys at the squad?" He raised an eyebrow and repeated the worry she'd had earlier in the week. "Won't they start talking if we keep coming in together?"

Realizing that she'd just talked him into staying, a delighted expression appeared on Olivia's features as she leaned forward and gently kissed Elliot. He happily returned it, slightly deepening it until they broke apart. Placing her chin just above one of his shoulders, she whispered in his ear. "As an incredibly charming man once said… 'So let 'em talk.'" A wide smile spread on Elliot's lips as she quoted his previous reply to her when she'd asked the same thing.