Hi I'm a long time lurker but wanted to write something since they are saying that Law & Order is coming back.
11 years and she was as beautiful as ever. He knew she was married, that she belonged to someone else. She had a family, three kids from what he had heard. Two divorces and a 30 year old son for him. But all this time had passed, and she was still the only woman that could quicken his pulse and leave him speechless. She was the one that had always been just out of reach.
He had kissed her, but just once. They were both on the edge of intoxication and inhibition was an afterthought. A rough case led to a bar and blurred lines. It was an itch he had needed to scratch. She had just looked at him with remorse afterward. He knew they weren't meant to be. He knew that his feelings were not her feelings. But she never made him feel badly for what he felt, and they never spoke of it again.
But it didn't change the fact that after all this time, he could still feel the stamp of her lips on his.
So here they were again face to face, dressed to the nines. He held her waist with his aging hands as they swayed to the music. Jack McCoy was writing his swan song and so many old friends had come to celebrate. A lot had changed yet everything felt familiar.
Her hips were wider from motherhood and a few wrinkles decorated her doe-like brown eyes. Thick bands of white and gray ran parallel to the sandy blonde in his hair. They were both older, wiser, and much less concerned with following unspoken rules. They were lost in one another's gaze and nothing else mattered. The courage of a few cocktails inspired her to confess her truth. She whispered that she had never stopped thinking about him. He gave her a small smile and told her that he felt the same. She wondered what they should do and he could offer her no answer.
The evening came to an end and the time for another goodbye.
It was her turn to initiate a kiss. Her soft lips were just as he remembered. In that moment he felt absolved of his actions from so many years before and she felt the release of a decade of secrets. He hailed her a cab and set his wool scarf around her neck. One final kiss and he mused aloud that maybe in another life, another time, they would be together.
She wouldn't leave her husband and he wouldn't ask her to, but they both knew they were meant for each other.