80's hair bands are kind of my weakness and this is my favorite song from that particular genre.

Contact is all it takes
To change your life to lose your place in time
Contact, asleep or awake
Coming around you may wake up to find
Questions deep within your eyes
Now more than ever you realize

-Van Halen (Love Walks In)

She hated these things. With a passion. She understood that the police needed to fundraise and to keep those in the city with the money to help on their good side. Why that had to include her, she would never understand, no matter how many time Dodds explained it to her.

She smoothed her skirt down, drinking her wine and looked around. The other problem is, in these situations, she was very much alone. Sure, there were people to make small talk with. But after that was over they would move on to significant others, or groups of friends. Adding Ed Tucker to the mix didn't help things either. The man still had friends within the department and who enjoyed coming to these things. So, there he stood, across the room, barely acknowledging her existence. She had tried to say hi and he basically looked through her and walked away.

She went to the bathroom to just escape for a few minutes, but that didn't help either when she overheard two women talking about her.

"I can't believe she left Ed. That man is a catch. Who would do that?"

"I hear she's a workaholic bitch and I think he's better off."

They were laughing as they rounded the corner, running right into her. They blew past her, quiet but laughter in their eyes. She looked at herself in the mirror and decided she was done. These things were a waste of her time and she would quit before Dodds would drag her to another one of these god-awful functions.

She couldn't shake their words as she tried to make her escape. But they were getting to her. Creeping in to her head, following her around. She could feel the emotion and tears start to burn at her eyes and she knew she needed to get out of here, get home to her comfy clothes and safe apartment.

But a hand stopped her, grabbing her arm lightly.

"Liv?" Barba asked. "You ok? I wondered where you had gone. You leaving?"

But she couldn't say anything. Those women were back with their group, looking over their shoulders at her. All of them were. Including the man himself. He smirked at her and seemed to agree with whatever the group was saying. About her. She just knew it. She had to get out of here.

Barba looked at her and then turned slightly to see the group she was staring at. Something had happened.

"Liv" he whispered.

She looked at him, tears in her eyes. She couldn't respond or she would lose it. He nodded slightly and slid his hand down her arm, lightly grasping her hand in his. He pulled gently and lead her out to the floor. She couldn't resist. He pulled her flush against him, one hand resting on her hip, the other bringing her hand wrapped in his to rest on his chest. And then he started to slowly move them around. She rested her cheek against his, letting the contact with him bring her back from the edge.

"I hate people like that. People who think they own whatever place they are because they happen to have some money. Those people were the bane of my existence in law school." Just his voice was calming her some. She felt like the rest of the world was melting away as he spoke to her quietly, swaying her back and forth to the music. She squeezed his shoulder where her hand rested, letting him know that he was helping. So, he just kept talking. It was nothing of importance but it was exactly what she needed to center herself.

"You are a very good dancer" she finally whispered. She felt him smile against her cheek. "Mom will be glad to know those dance lessons weren't a waste of money then. Plus, it has the added bonus of pissing Tucker off." With that he spun them around so she could see the group and there he stood, glaring at the two of them. She gave a small laugh and he spun them back to their original position.

She finally pulled back so she could look at him. And she let herself really look at him. Those powerful green eyes and laugh lines around his eyes. The short brown hair with just a smattering of gray to make him look distinguished and crazy handsome. But it was the look in those green eyes that made her forget the rest of the world. There was emotion there. And it was being directed at her. Yeah, sure. She had seen it before but not this open and brazen, here, surrounded by hundreds of people. Not that she even noticed them anymore. To her, the world was this tiny part of the floor that contained him and her.

"I didn't know you were going to be here tonight" she said quietly. She bit her lip as he tightened his arm around her waist.

She felt him shrug. "I wasn't going to. The invite had been sitting on my desk for a couple of weeks, but I don't know… I picked it up this afternoon and told Carmen to call and RSVP for me."

She moved her fingers, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck scratching on of her nails right above the collar of his shirt. She watched his eyes darken.

"I'm thinking about something" she said, staring into his eyes.

"What's that?"

"Kissing you." His eyes widened and she smiled, giving him a slight wink.

"While I would never tell a lady such as yourself to ever go against her instincts, this current position may not be the most ideal place for that. Want to get out of here?"

"So very much" she said. He let go of her, but immediately offered her his arm. They walked right past Ed Tucker and the rest of the group. She didn't even see him watch her walk away.

They hit the street and she looked around, pulling him away from the door and out of the light. And there, she let her fear and anxiety go as she grabbed his tie and pulled him in, her lips pressing against his, as she realized that what he thought was really the only opinioned that mattered to her on this night.