Trevor slipped switched his phone on silent and sat it face down on the table-top as he spied Olivia coming through the dining room entry. She looked good, he thought. Her shirt hugged her close with a v-neckline that showed just a hint of her ample cleavage.

She was taller than most women he'd dated or been with in the past, it was hard to find any partner who could even come close to matching him in height, not that he would have wanted that, but he also didn't want to end up with someone who could fit in a mushroom house, either.

He liked that she had some height on her side and even more that she had curves on her side.

He liked the gentle ease between – the non-expectancy of being with someone intimately without her begging to know where it was headed. He wasn't sure and he liked that she wasn't sure either. He didn't even know if she would want to see him again after they got to New York. Work flings were hardly unheard of.

She spotted him and smiled and gave him a sweet, shy little wave.

He knew since she had showed him just an air of vulnerability, she was now a little softer around him and he loved that. She was just a little self-conscious and shy and dropped some of her bravado that he knew was just a side-effect of being a woman in power in a male dominated industry.

He stood up, motioning for her to take a seat. She gave him a funny little smile, but he waited til she was seated until he sat again.

"Mr. Langan, I didn't ever think you were the chivalrous type," she teased.

"I'm not a pig," he said half-seriously.

"I was joking, I don't think you're a pig," she replied, turning serious too. He'd noticed that she'd tied her hair back – it wasn't often that he saw her with her hair pulled back. Her bangs fell carelessly around the frame of her face.

He couldn't be mad at her for her little jibes and barbs.

He shrugged, "well… you were pretty mad yesterday when you saw me here… hopefully you won't hate me anymore when this trip is over."

"I'm not the sort of person that hates anyone, except maybe rapists and even more, chomos… there's no part of me that wants to see their side of the story."

"You know," Trevor began, "I didn't ever really set out to defend rapists and paedophiles," he told her honestly, "I believe 98% of the victims, but you can't honestly tell me there hasn't been a time where the DA has tried someone who hasn't been guilty."

"Yes but the instance of that is so insignificant-"

"Perhaps," Trevor shrugged, "but it happens and those people who have been falsely accused have been ruined for life with a target on their back for the most heinous crime that they didn't even commit. That was the person I was fighting for."

Olivia could at least understand a little better.

"There are far better paying roles than a public defender, Olivia," he told her with a smile. "I wouldn't be doing what I do unless I really thought there had been some merit to it."

"Well… it's just that sometimes rapists beat the charges more times than not when they actually are rapists." Olivia replied, crossing her arms. "What made you decide to go for the job with the DA?"

She noticed his eyes lowered to his folded hands; he seemed to shift uncomfortably but she had an idea from his words the night earlier. "The Sanchez case," he said.

"Got to you, didn't it?"

He gave a little tiny scoff; a laugh almost. It was sardonic. "Mmm… yeah, you might say that."

"It happens…. Some cases re-shape you as a person…" she remarked.

"Yeah? You ever been really badly affected by a case?" he wondered, meeting her eyes again.

She laughed to relieve some tension, "are you kidding me?" she asked, "so many but …the first one, I didn't sleep for weeks. It was the murder of a guy who had had a large part in genocide in Serbia and had raped over sixty women… I remember visiting one of his victims as a lead and she was burned so severely and was blinded by the guy… I just walked right back out of there when I realized there was no chance this woman could have done it and I projectile vomited and cried for days…"

"Wow…" Trevor murmured. "Did you ever think, 'shit, this gig isn't for me?'"

"Yes and no," she answered carefully, propping her chin up with her elbow, staring at him, feeling the weight of a morning without coffee. "I knew that I needed to get some balls and that it's so hard for victims to disclose that… when they do, as an SVU detective, I need to be super sensitive and incredibly honored that they can trust me…"

"You do strike me as a particularly trustworthy person, Liv…" his voice trailed off. "You are incredible at what you do and you should feel so proud of how you've helped so many with what you do – you always go above and beyond and I've always known that about you."

She gave him half a smile, bashful; embarrassed. "I don't try to be a hero, I just…wouldn't want anyone to ever feel like they had nobody… they need someone and if I'm it, that's an honor."

"See," he grinned, "not a lot of people are as innately good as you, Olivia, I know I'm not, however, you make me want to be."

The corners of her mouth tugged upwards in to a slow smile that he roused by his kind words. She didn't normally embarrass easily, but she couldn't help but to feel moved by his sincerity. "Thanks…"

Without skipping a beat, he continued, "now how do you take your coffee?"

"Latte, double shot with 1," she told him, "but… I'll come and grab it."

"No, it's fine, it's my treat," he replied, not letting her say another word. He wasn't going to wait around for table service; it was taking too long.

She could see Trevor standing at the counter waiting for service.

She sent a few text as she waited; asking Lucy how things were going and dropping a message with the kids at the squad room, checking in and making sure they were all going okay with their cases.

Her phone chimed a few moments later and she looked down at it.

It was a photo of Noah. She could see he was dressed in his uniform, ready for school. She replied with a quick selfie, blowing him a kiss.

Trevor saw her as he made his way back to their little booth and started to chuckle. "For your insta?" he joked, he was carefully balancing two coffees on saucers and hoping that the train wouldn't jolt.

"Oh yeah, I'm an influencer," she joked. "Honestly, I don't even know what this instagram thing is? So many cases come through where something has started on instagram – its enough to make me never want to touch social media."

He set the coffees down and looked relieved to have not spilled them. "They didn't put sugar in," he informed her, before he resumed their conversation.

"It's a concern, huh? This whole technology era…" he added thoughtfully, taking a seat again across from her. "Lena always posts stuff on there but I've made it really clear that she is to never post Eloise's face – as far as I'm concerned, my child is too little to consent to matters of privacy…"

"Good call; even when its an innocent Mom posting photos, paedophile's still save them and upload them elsewhere over the internet for their own fodder. Noah isn't even allowed on the Internet unless I'm sitting beside him."

Trevor smiled; she relaxed whenever she spoke about her son – probably in the same way that he did when his daughter was mentioned – they brought out something in them that made it easier to just feel calm.

She grabbed a sugar from the caddy on the table and emptied it in to her coffee and gave it a stir. "Thanks for the coffee… go-go juice," she corrected herself, taking a sip.

The first sip in the morning was always amazing but the second sip… she closed her eyes with delight.

Trevor watched her, relishing her joy in such a small but wonderful pleasure. He took a sip of his own coffee, it was good but maybe he wasn't as elated as she was.

"So…" he began, itching to not awkwardly sweep their night beneath the rug, "last night was fun…" she was looking at him, but he watched her cheeks flush before averting her eyes. He chuckled at her bashfulness. "Captain Benson, never thought you were shy…"

She eyed him a little seriously and shrugged. "I don't know what I am…. But… I dunno, should that have happened?"

He gave her a smile and shrugged too. "It is what it is, as it turns out, I love your company, I hope that you enjoyed mine too…"

She was able to smile and he felt a little relief. The last thing he wanted was a tense conversation. "Your company was satisfactory," she winked at him, making him laugh.

"Well, thanks… I think." He wanted to ask her to dinner but didn't want to push the hard sell approach. "Where are you staying once we get to Chicago?" he wondered.

"I think some shitty Intercontinental… no doubt you'll have the presidential sweet at the Four Seasons or something…" she couldn't help but joke.

Trevor laughed because it was just about true. "Close," he sipped his coffee, "there's nothing I hate more than a shitty hotel. If they chose something shitty, I'd have just paid a hotel myself, but apparently I just book what I want and send an invoice so I booked the JW Marriot," he smirked at her, "and they didn't bat an eyelid."

"I have this idea that you consider yourself a James Bond type…" she told him carefully with a little grin.

He shrugged, "you should see my little townhouse…" his voice trailed off and she wondered whether it was a timid invitation. She wondered how he could even afford it.

"How does a public defender end up with a townhouse?" she asked raising her eyebrow in surprise.

"I haven't always been a public defender Liv, I used to work in L.A on a ridiculous retainer, for high profiled people…"

"I hate you," Olivia said with a laugh, "you defended the bad guys and you made more money than I did."

He shrugged, "But you said it yourself, I'm soulless…"

She rolled her eyes. "You're not soulless, but I am glad you've had a change of heart, maybe in my earlier years I acted in ways that I shouldn't be proud of right now…" she shrugged too, "no judgment, Trevor, I promise."

"Thanks," he replied.

"Oh well since you're staying in such a fancy pants hotel suite, you probably won't want to visit me over at the flea-bag Inn."

His heart leapt and a smile grew on his face. "You could visit me… come have an early dinner and maybe we could watch a movie or just sit on the balcony with a bottle of red."

Liv grinned at him as she finished her coffee. "Sounds nice…" she pushed her cup away. "Okay I know I said I'd eat but coffee is food and now I really have to go and work on my presentation…"

"Okay," he replied with reluctance. "I should go practice winning people over…" he joked.

Olivia laughed as she got up, "stand in the mirror and practice charming everyone."

He stood up too, "Okay thanks for having coffee with me," he said a little awkwardly.

Olivia smiled and gave him a little wave, trying to calm the beating of her heart.

He was just so fucking charming and sexy, she thought. Did she really just commit to another night of making out and possibly more? She buried her face in her hands in embarrassment.

"Fuck!" she cursed under her breath. It'd been over a year since she'd had sex. She wasn't sure what she was doing but it had the potential to blow up in her face; sleeping with a colleague wasn't exactly what the department would want to hear. She tried not to shit where she slept, especially not since Elliot—

Fuck, Elliot.

She replayed her conversation with Melinda around in her head a few times and tried not to over-think it all.

She didn't have time to get too wound up, she had to prepare for her presentation on rape kit backlogs. She had to familiarize herself with more studies and statistics. It was her biggest fear to turn up half-cocked without understanding what she was talking about herself.

She knew after her presentation she would be asked questions and would have to know all the information answer them all.

Also, she had been up really late and she wasn't sure that one single coffee was going to be enough.

Olivia was so happy to get herself off of the train. She wanted to check in and call the squad to make sure that everything was going okay with the cases she had left Fin in charge of.

She wheeled bag behind her on the platform, pulling her gym bag over her shoulder. It was a little heavy.

"Hey!" she looked around, familiar already with the source of the sound. Trevor was a little further down the other end of the platform. He still looked handsome in his jeans and t-shirt. She smiled as he made his way over to her, catching up to her. She waited patiently for him, hating to fight crowds to get to the exit anyway.

"How'd you go with your prep work?" he asked curiously as they walked slowly to the flight of stairs that would have led them upstairs and out on to the street.

"Yeah, I am probably over-prepared but that's better than not knowing my stuff, right?" she asked him rhetorically. They shared a smile as she shifted her heavy bag.

"You right with that bag?" he asked kindly.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine…" she flashed him a smile.

"C'mon, lemme grab it for you," he went to motion to take it but Olivia, embarrassed, tried to protest again.

"Can you just let me be a gentleman?" he asked with a laugh, a little exasperated.

Olivia let it drop from her shoulder and in to his hand. She hated to admit it but she felt relief. It was starting to hurt. "It's heavy," she warned him.

He took the two bag straps and lifted it, "Wow…. What do you have in here? A collection of coins from NYPD's swear jar to help cover your meals?" he joked, using the larger strap to sling her bag over his shoulder with ease. He was only teasing, it wasn't that heavy.

She slapped his arm playfully and laughed. It felt good to be smiling and it felt nicer to have a handsome man taking care of her with such a good and joyous nature about him.

"So… want to split a cab to the hotels?" he asked her casually as they made their way up the escalator. He stood a step behind her and even still, he was taller than her. She turned to him, grinning.

"Sure… did anyone ever tell you that you incredibly tall…"

Trevor stared at her, closer to eye level than they'd ever been. He gazed in to her brown eyes for a moment. He was so taken with her – the fact that he'd seen her laugh and smile without that serious intensity that he was used to was further proof that there was more beneath the strong, stone exterior.

Olivia wondered what he was doing; was he taking a chance? She saw his lips draw close to her. Involuntarily, her eyes closed and she threw caution to the wind. She let him kiss her – his soft lips against hers felt so right.

He pulled away and it ended the spell as quickly as it began. She pressed both of her lips together, stifling a smile. Trevor grinned broadly at her. "Yes, I've been told a time or two that I'm very tall."

As they got to the landing, she felt Trevor's hand on her shoulder gently guiding her to the exit. "So… do you have the address of the crack den you're staying in…or do we just have to look for a specific number on a dumpster?"

She started to laugh at him. "You're a jerk…" she shoved him away from her. "Yes I have the reservations, its on my phone. I'm staying at the Intercontinental…"

"Okay…" he nodded toward a cab rank once they were outside of the station. "Look at this, I love how in Chicago we don't have to wave our arms frantically to hail a cab, there's actually a rank with plenty in waiting…"

"I hate cabs, I'm a subway kinda gal. We can't all be fat cats like you, Trevor…" she nudged him in the ribs as a cab driver got out opened his trunk for them to put their luggage in. She went to pick up her small suitcase but Trevor did it for her and for whatever reason, it felt incredibly sexy to her.

He opened the car door for her and waited for her to slide in.

Yep, he thought with certainty, he definitely liked her. He got in the backseat beside her and smiled, having to duck his head so he didn't hit it getting in.

"So… I'll drop you off first and then I'll go settle in to my room and if you still would like to come and see how the other half live, you could shoot me a text…"

Olivia smiled, "you are such a smug bastard," she teased, "my dumpster is probably going to be very comfortable…"

"I'll bet it will be, plenty of food scraps…" he nudged her, "you might be able to bring dinner."

"Oh shut up," she shook her head.

"I'm only kidding, I am sure that your hotel room will be adequate, comfortable even. Perhaps if you're lucky… nice." Trevor smiled, knowing he needed to stop with his jokes but Liv didn't seem to mind, she certainly wasn't precious or uptight and for that he was grateful.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. If it has a comfortable bed and a power output for my iPad and I'm set, hon," she said a little patronizingly.

"Well then, you'll be fine I'm sure. Hon."

They shared a smile as the driver took them to their destination. "Have you been to Chicago many times?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Just a few times for work stuff."

"Well… I have a crazy suggestion," he started, "since I grew up in Chicago, I like to go back to the old haunts. So, I'm going to do that, would you like to join me?"

She stared at him for a moment and he couldn't help but to stare back at her striking features. "Is it like… a date?" she asked. He expected a smile from her to show that she was joking, but she seemed serious.

"Mmmm I suppose we could classify it as a date if pressed, is that okay?" he asked, feeling suddenly very self conscious.

"Ummm…" she began, almost as if she was unsure.

"You don't have to-" he stammered awkwardly, "it was just an idea, you are probably busy with work stuff- sorry, I shouldn't-"

"Trevor shut up," she told him bluntly. A smile formed upon her lips, "I was just thinking… you could come with me to check out my dump and then we could go and check out yours and … you can give me the old Chi-town tour…"

She watched all of the concern and tension fall out of his face. His shoulders relaxed. She almost laughed at how sweet it was, realizing he actually liked her. It made it easier for her to relax and not overthink things.

"Okay," he agreed. "That sounds good, I thought you wanted to nap?"

Olivia shrugged, "I'll just make sure I get an early night," she replied, "but I do need to check in with the squad and with my nanny to see if Noah's been behaving."

"Well, maybe you can do that when we get back to my hotel, I'm sure the phone service will be satisfactory."

They chuckled.

Suddenly there was some nervous energy between them and Olivia was totally fine with it; Trevor felt anxious. It had been a very long time since he'd been involved with a woman that he almost forgot how to conduct himself once he realized she was actually interested.

He sat back and looked ahead as they neared Olivia's hotel. He smiled when he felt her hand find his between them both, interlacing her fingers with his. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze of acknowledgement of something blooming even if there wasn't a name for it yet.