The food wasn't great. Olivia immediately regretted her decision the second the slop on the plate was put down in front of her.

Trevor looked at her sympathetically and looked down at the apparent brisket that had been drowned in some type of gravy and looked as tough as nails. They exchanged looks.

"Oh, Liv…" he said quietly, "that looks bad…"

She glanced at him and made a face as the waiter arrived with his food. How could they get one so right and the other so wrong? The smell from Trevor's food was insane. It made his mouth water and he knew he had chosen right when he'd picked the medium rare steak with fries and a salad.

He'd had his doubts after seeing Olivia's food but it was presented beautifully and looked perfect. Olivia tried hard not to stare longingly at the steak, but he could tell she didn't want to bring herself to put a forkful of the mess in to her mouth.

"How the f…" her voice trailed off in disbelief, staring at his food. "I was going to order the steak but ohhh no, I thought a train restaurant would surely mess it up…" she managed a chuckle.

"Send it back," Trevor prompted her.

"I can't send it back," she hissed, "I'm not that person."

"Fine, I'll be that person," he said, swapping their plates. "You can't eat this Olivia,"

She shook her head, "Noooo it's so rude!" he finally smiled, realizing she was actually a little self-conscious and she did care a little about what people had to say or think about her.

Trevor grinned at her, "C'mon, you can't eat that, it looks like it's been in someone elses mouth."

He watched the amusement fall from her face as she considered that thought. "I really can't send it back."

Before she could protest, Trevor got the attention of the waiter. He came over and smiled expectantly. "Hi," he smiled back kindly. He picked up Olivia's plate. "I'm sorry to be a bother, but I've just tried a little bit of my friend's food and it's really inedible. Neither of us can eat it. Would we please be able to order another steak?"

"Uh…" the waiter looked a little taken-aback. "Sure, let me just speak to the chef, I'll be back in just a moment."

"I'm still happy to pay for the brisket," Olivia said, feeling small and embarrassed.

"So a medium rare steak?" the waiter asked, ignoring her. Trevor looked at Olivia for her answer.

"Sure… thanks, sorry for the trouble," she apologized. Trevor gave her a look that told her to stop. She wasn't sure what it was, but she closed her mouth. She wasn't usually one to take orders or take too kindly to a person who pulled rank – especially a man who thought he knew better, but for some reason, she was didn't flinch.

"Don't be sorry," he said in front of the waiter to her, "you couldn't eat it, I wouldn't have eaten it," he added.

"No problem," the waiter said but she they could both see that he was a little irate. Trevor didn't feel bad, the meals were not cheap, he was also going to see to it that she didn't pay for it. "It shouldn't be too long."

"Please don't spit in it…" Olivia whispered looking miserable as the waiter left with the untouched plate.

"He's not going to spit in it," Trevor told her sensibly with a little smile. "Wow, so I thought that Detective Benson would stand up for herself a lot more confidently than that," he teased. He pushed his plate back in front of her, "eat…"

She went to push it back but he blocked her, "please, ladies first, I insist…"

"After I was a complete bitch to you before, you want to give me your food?" she managed a smile, feeling a little bad given that she had been so blunt with him and despite it all, he was still being so kind to her.

He chuckled, "It's nothing I don't deserve, Detective-"

"Olivia," she corrected him, "I'm not working right now, sometimes I want to just be Olivia."

He just smiled.

"And in fairness, you were just doing your job. I don't agree with it, but if it isn't you, it'd be someone else… and he probably still would have got off on the technicality."

He stared at her for a moment, thinking of his next words and how honest he wanted to be. He watched her cut in to the perfectly cooked steak. He knew that she was hungry and he was too, but he was fine with her taking his food.

"If I can be frank with you Olivia, I'm the type of man who tries to take personal feelings out of my job when it comes to being a public defender – I try to just give the defendant the best possible legal counsel, but that last one kind of …" he paused, looking for the right word, peeling his eyes from hers and looking at his own hands on the tabletop, "broke me…"

"Everyone has their tipping point," she told him gently and he knew that she was right about that.

"I don't honestly know how you do it – I admire you very much for the work that you do, I hope you understand that."

She smiled briefly. "Thanks Trevor," she replied. "I think – and I don't want to sound full of ego, but … this was the job that I was born to do. I don't want to do anything else; I'd love for more time with Noah, but, I love my job and I know nothing else."

"That doesn't sound egotistical," he countered her, "it actually sounds wonderful; to have such a purpose and to know and feel it in your bones that it's your purpose—not many people have that."

She motioned for him to take some fries but he held up his hand with a smile at her; he couldn't seem to stop smiling at her. It surprised him; the ease with which they fell in to comfortable conversation.

"No thanks," he said, "you eat…"

He loved that she was a strong woman who was passionate about the work that she did; he wasn't just blowing smoke, it was admirable. He had always been attracted to strong women, he didn't find it emasculating or intimidating – he supposed that that was separated boys from men.

She seemed to come off a little shy since she had retreated, it wasn't like her, but he said nothing about it and decided not to draw attention to it.

"How's Noah going these days? I've been meaning to ask you for awhile, but it's never been the right conversation to have before a trial."

Olivia shrugged, "you could have called…" she let her voice trail off, a little bashful. Her cheeks brightened, briefly.

"I could have," he nodded, "that's true, but I guess I'm always afraid of the reception I'll get, truthfully."

She chuckled. "Trevor, you fought really hard for Noah and I, and I will always be indebted to you for that. He's my world, I love him so much and I really can't remember life without him…"

She lit up at the mention of her son and he was happy to see her smile brightly and sit up just that little bit straighter.

"Yeah, kids will really do that to you," he nodded in agreement, "I remember when we were going through the adoption process, thinking to myself, 'wow, becoming a parent sounds like the scariest thing in the world… who'd do that to themselves" he laughed.

Olivia laughed too. "How old's your little one now?" she asked him, "did I inspire you and your wife to have a kid?" she joked.

"Eloise was a 'save-the-marriage' baby, I'm sorry to admit," he laughed wryly, "She turned three last month but Helena and I unfortunately didn't get through the first year of having her together."

"Oh," Olivia's smile dissolved, "I'm really sorry to hear that." She glanced down and noticed that his ring was gone. She hated herself for it, but she had a swirl of something inside her at the thought.

"Its okay," he shrugged, "I would never change what happened because having our daughter was probably the best thing that I've ever accomplished, but the circumstances weren't ideal," he explained, regarding her with a little sweep of his gaze.

"Do you have any pictures of her?" Olivia asked curiously.

He laughed, "I'm sure your phone is like mine, Olivia, full of photos of Noah and not much else."

She laughed too for the truth of his remark. He pulled out his phone and opened the camera roll. There was literally no other photos of anything else. "Feel free to scroll through."

"I'm not going to be confronted by any of your tinder dates, am I?"

He scoffed at her and gave her a funny look as she took the phone. "Tinder? You and I both know that I don't have time for dating apps – I wouldn't even know how it works – you seem to know more about it than me," he teased.

Ugh, she thought. She had used Tinder once on a whim and set herself up a date and it had been a disaster from start to finish.

She just chuckled.

"Ahhh," Trevor nodded, "you have used it!" his comments were light and his grin was joyful and she felt comfortable with him; a warmth emanated from him that she'd not really paid attention to before.

He was a very, very tall man – one who commanded attention simply by walking through the wall in his perfect tailored suits, salt-and-peppered hair, intense eyes and chiseled features that angled the plains of his face. At times his structurally perfect jaw was hidden by facial hair, and truthfully Olivia didn't mind that look either.

"Just once…" she giggled, looking down at his little girl.

"I need to hear about it, please, please, let it be a bad story," he mock-prayed, holding his hands together and looking above to the roof of the cart. "For entertainment purposes, of course."

She laughed, "Okay but let me concentrate on your photos," she told him, resigning herself to being entertainment fodder for him, just this once. She hadn't dared to tell anyone else about her Tinder horror story.

His daughter was adorable. Olivia couldn't help but to grin at her little face. She shared her father's intense blue eyes. In the photo she was looking at, Eloise was grinning hard at the camera, her whole face taking up the screen. Her dark hair was tied back in to pig tails. "She's so sweet. So, Eloise huh… is it after the book?"

"No," he shook his head, "there's this old song I used to love when I was young…"

"Ah yeah, I know it," she nodded, "Barry Ryan?"

Trevor grinned; impressed. "It was one of the few arguments I won at home," he admitted.

"Do you and Grace still get along okay?" Olivia asked him curiously as his steak arrived. She was still slowly but surely getting through hers and was so thankful for his chivalry in letting her eat first.

Trevor ignored her question for the moment and thanked the waiter; it was a woman this time, she was a lot warmer and friendlier than the last had been. "Just to let you know," she told them, "your feedback reached the chef and we want to apologize and let you know that your dinner is on the house –"

Olivia went to protest but Trevor cut her off. "Thank you so much, that is so generous of you," he smiled. "I'd just like to order drinks – but we'll be paying for them," he added.

"Of course," the girl smiled, "What will you have?"

Trevor nodded at Olivia, "ladies first…"

She smiled, really enjoying his charm, liking that he wasn't afraid to take-charge, something the opposite sex struggled with when in her company.

"I'll have a whisky on the rocks, thanks," she told the waitress.

Trevor smiled at her, letting his eyes linger just that little bit longer than usual, Olivia picked up on it too, but didn't say anything. He peeled his eyes away and turned back to the waitress, "I'll have the same, but no ice, just neat, thank you so much."

The waitress left them to it and Trevor picked up his knife and fork and cut in to the steak. He was pleased with how it was cooked and turned back to Olivia. "To answer your question, Grace and I get along better now than we did when we were married and we've really done our best to always be on the same page for Grace's benefit."

"That's great," Olivia smiled, sliding his phone back to him. "I always wonder how hard that might be…"

"I mean, once we got the legal part of things out of the way, we found each other again in a platonic way. I still love her, but it's a nice relief to not have to always feel like I'm never enough… this way she's happy with her new man and Eloise is happy and well-adjusted and it's important to me that she likes her Mom's partner too, everyone is happier."

"Very mature of you," Olivia nodded.

"You don't get off that easy," he said, taking a bite of his steak. He paused to chew and swallow before he opened his mouth again, "I want to know about this Tinder date."

She laughed. "Okay, okay… I had a moment of weakness after Cassidy and I broke up and thought it might be nice to go out and enjoy someone's company after work, you know, wearing nice clothes and not having a kid spill something on me…"

Trevor smiled broadly at her, imaging her in a flattering black dress, her done in a special way and make up that was just a little more extra than usual. In fact, before him she was looking way more casual than he was used to her looking, and it wasn't bad, he had to admit. Her white t-shirt was form fitting and she wasn't wearing one of her usual blazers. "You don't have to defend your reasons for wanting to meet someone, Olivia."

Her cheeks reddened, "I know, but it just feels lame in hindsight, soulless even."

"Trust, when you work the hours that you and I do, it's hard to meet anyone that isn't a bar rat."

She chuckled. "Anyway, I got talking to a guy who seemed nice, could spell, claimed to live in the Lower East Side, had all of his teeth and seemed less likely to be a serial killer than the rest of the guys who'd messaged me."

"Oh, Olivia," Trevor started to laugh and covered his face, shaking his head. "I love that your standard is that the guy must have teeth – surely you can do better than that!"

"I wanted him to be able to spell too, don't forget," she joked.

"Continue," he motioned with his hand, finishing off the drink that before him and setting it aside for the waitress to take when she returned with fresh ones.

"He turned up, his photo was about 15 years old. He had boasted about buying me a drink but winced when I ordered a pinot gris that wasn't top shelf, but wasn't bottom shelf either…" she explained, "and he wasn't missing any teeth per-se, but he was smacking his mouth the whole time and I realized it was because he was adjusting his bottom palette like my grandfather did when I was a child!"

Trevor laughed freely, not even caring about her misfortune. "Oh shit… the guy had dentures? How old was he!?" he asked, still laughing.

"I don't know, but his slightly grey hair from the picture was lily-white and he took what I was almost certain was a Viagra pill before we were about to leave and seemed utterly surprised when I called it a night." Olivia laughed too, she didn't mind that he seemed more than just a little amused by her encounter.

"Oh no…" he murmured, culling his laughter as the waitress arrived back with their drinks. She set them down and both Olivia and Trevor thanked her.

Olivia sipped her whisky slowly, having finished with her dinner. She felt warm from her first drink; her inhibitions slowly but surely falling away.

"Yeah, I got home and deleted the app and didn't tell a soul, I was so embarrassed," she told him with a sigh.

"Well, your secret is safe with me, Olivia Benson. Grace tells me every day to 'get back out there', but I think it's just out of guilt for leaving me," he chuckled.

Olivia was surprised to hear his admission. "Have you dated since your divorce?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I wouldn't know where to start, Liv," he said honestly. "Grace and I were together since I was about 24, dating isn't the same anymore – nobody meets organically, it's all- as you put it – soulless apps where people are looking around for the next best thing."

She nodded in commiseration. "I don't want that for Eloise, I want her to know that her Dad doesn't have women around like they're dispensible objects and that's not me, anyway. I like my alone time too much and I don't think women generally want someone like that."

Olivia shrugged thoughtfully. "Each woman is different. Some women want all the attention, every waking hour, but a lot of women want their space to be respected too. I have too much to do and I don't want a relationship with a man who will be cool with having a strong woman around until the novelty wears off. I have work and a kid and I need someone understanding of that – that's important."

He nodded with understanding. "I hear you…" he replied and couldn't help thinking that he would be an ideal candidate for someone like Olivia.

The second whisky was starting to blur his feelings. He stared in to the glass for a moment and went back to his steak which he'd just about finished.

"And Noah's doing okay?" he asked, changing the subject.

She nodded. "Yeah, he's so good, he's so sweet. We had some behavioral issues for awhile, he caught a bit of attitude but things are straightened out. He loves art, he's just been picked to showcase his art at a fair in the middle school, so I'm a pretty proud mamabear."

Trevor smiled. "Motherhood suits you, Liv…" he complimented her, "I knew you were perfect for Noah the second that I saw him with you. You are both a perfect fit."

"He really does feel like the most wonderful thing in my life," she admitted. "I just thought I knew how to love someone before him, but having a child just … increases your capacity to love someone in a way that you could never ever imagine."

"I hear that," he replied. "It's unconditional, right? Like, I used to hear people tell me they'd lay down their life for their child and I was just like, oh okay, tough guy… but it really is like that. I would take a bullet for her. She has me wrapped around her little finger."

Olivia laughed and nodded in agreement. "Yeah and I think it makes us better people, our capacity for compassion, empathy, human understanding – all of that, it just increases."

"See?" he threw up his hands, "what's wrong with us? We're at the prime of our lives, the most successful we'll ever be and we're stuck meeting toothless terrors on dating apps."

Trevor made her laugh and she was glad for it. She felt light and happy, if nothing a little embarrassed for how savagely she acted toward him when he'd arrived.

"Stuck on a fucking train to Chicago instead of on a plane."

"I mean," he smiled at her, his drink perched before his lips, his eyes twinkling, "it's not so bad though, right? Good company and decent liquor that I plan to be billing to the DA's office…"

She chuckled.

What was happening, she thought. His smile was starting to do things to her insides and Elliot Stabler was long forgotten and she was thankful for that.

In fact, she was proud of herself, since she had gotten on the train, she'd barely spared her ex partner a second thought. He didn't know her anymore, she thought. How was it that Trevor Langan, knew her better than Elliot Stabler could have.

She felt buzzed, full and warm from the conversation with another adult that didn't revolve entirely around work.

"I will admit, I'm surprised we haven't done this sooner," she boldly told him. He looked surprised, but she clarified what she meant, "you know, seen each other about in the traps and had a drink…"

He nodded thoughtfully, "I guess I don't really hang out at bars or even colleagues," he told her, "I don't really want to talk about work after the day is done, I like to wind down."

"Oh yeah?" she rose an eyebrow, "what do you do outside of work?"

"I'm a reader…" he said with a laugh, "it's lame, I know. I just like to get home from work, get through paperwork and court prep and then I like to read with a big glass of top shelf whisky."

She laughed, "that's not that lame, Trevor, I like to read too. Unfortunately work has been bleeding in to life lately and my novels have turned in to children's books."

He smiled. "There is something else that I do, but I don't like to tell too many people cos, I guess it gives people the wrong idea about me."

"You dress up as an animal and go to human animal orgies at Gracie Mansion?" she pre-empted as a joke.

He looked shocked, "For goodness sakes, Olivia," he laughed, "you really do spend too much time at work. No, I do not turn up to masquerade orgies…I have a pilot's licence and I like to fly."

The idea of him flying a plane immediately piqued her interest. She forgot her joke and his jarring statement about her work.

"Seriously?" she asked though she knew he wasn't joking. He seemed almost bashful about the admission. "How does one even get it in to their head, 'oh, I think I'll get my pilot's licence.'" She wondered.

"Well," he began, taking a small sip of his drink, "I used to be super scared of flying, like, curl-in-to-a-ball type fear – so someone suggested that I go up with a licenced pilot who would let me sit in the cockpit and learn about how everything works and I'm the type of man who likes to turn fear in to strength and use it to my advantage. So I did it… and the pilot let me steer and I guess it was pretty thrilling."

She was hanging on to his every word, impressed by his willingness not to be guided by fear, but rather to harness it and to own it and turn it in to an accomplishment. She loved that.

He was an impressive man and she was regretful that she never realized it earlier.

"That's incredible…" she remarked and meant it.

"Thanks," he replied, not playing off her compliment, but accepting it and being gracious about it. She hated it when men deflected compliments; she didn't hand them out unless she meant them.

"Let me guess, you don't go down to the DMV for a pilot's licence?"

He chuckled, "Nah, they don't hand em out down there. The guy that took me on the joy flight was actually an instructor, so I took lessons with him for awhile and I go flying when I have the chance."

"That's probably the coolest hobby that I know anyone to have. I am incredibly boring by comparison."

He smiled at her lingeringly as he went to take the last of the liquid in his glass, "you are anything but boring to me, Olivia Benson," he remarked.

She wasn't sure if it was meant to be him flirting, but she couldn't help letting her insides go to mush.

She was the better side of drunk after her whisky and new if she had another it would send her just over the edge. She watched him set down his empty glass and look at her expectantly. "Would you like another drink, or?"

"Better not," she replied, "but thank you."

He held up his hand to the waitress. She immediately came to the table. "Could you bill the dinner and drinks to my cabin please."

"Trevor," Olivia warned him.

The waitress nodded. "C'mon…" he told her, ignoring her protests for his payment. He motioned to the hallway, "Let's go…"

She didn't want to go back to her cabin, but she figured that that was what was about to happen. "Where's your cabin?" he asked.

She pointed down the hall, "that way, what about you?"

He smiled and pointed to the other way. She couldn't help but to notice the sign that read; 'first class'.

"Oh shit, you're a high roller with your fancy DA's office dime room."

"Yeah, you got stiched up," he joked.

"You wanna see how small my room is?" she asked, she was pleased with herself. She sounded casual, without intent; not that there was any, but she just knew she wasn't ready to go back to her room alone just yet.

"Sure…" he chuckled, "I'll try my best not to laugh."

She led the way and he couldn't help but to notice her thick thighs and round behind filling out her black jeans in a way that did things to him. He had to look away. It was almost 9; he was a little drunk and the woman before him was getting harder to resist.

Finally she stopped before a door. She used a little old-fashioned key and opened it. She stuck her head in first, trying to be inconspicuous, he was sure she was checking that everything was neat and in order.

She stepped inside and motioned for him to come in.

He looked around and stifled his laughter. Olivia stood close to him – there was no choice, the room was tiny, they were both crammed in. She made it up to his shoulder and she was by no means a short woman. She even wore a heeled boot. Trevor was a tall man, only matched by his well-shaped body. He wore his dark gray suit very, very well, she thought, not being able to help letting her eyes linger from head to toe.

Trevor watched her gaze sweeping over his frame with a little smile on his face. "And to think NYPD wouldn't even pay for this," he remarked, pretending he hadn't noticed her brazen staring; pretending that he couldn't feel the chemistry in the air.

"Yeah," she replied with a laugh, "I mean, I'd ask you to stay for a drink but there's nowhere to sit…"

"It's okay," he said. He noticed she slowly looked up, standing before him, their eyes meeting. There was definitely something there, he wasn't even bothering to try to play it down or pretend that it wasn't now. "Want to come and see what the DA's office has paid for? There's room for a sit-down drink too, if you want."

"Sounds good…" she replied. He opened the door and took a step in to the corridor and waited patiently for her to lock the door. Without a word, his hand found hers and neither of them acted surprised or uncomfortable with it.

Olivia's heart started to pound in her chest and she wasn't entirely sure that she wanted to be alone with him in a big room with a bed, but she wasn't entirely she that she didn't want to be, either.

She said nothing, but he gave her hand a little squeeze and she knew it was his unspoken way of trying to put her at ease. It strangely worked.

Hand-in-hand, they made their way to his first class cabin.