The next morning, after getting a quick briefing from Cragen, Munch and Olivia put their newly packed bags in the trunk of Olivia's car and began their trip, both of them secretly excited about being by themselves for a few days.

Munch waited until about twenty minutes into the drive, once they reached a small traffic jam, to pull out his cell phone. He searched his contact list for a moment before realizing that the he didn't have the number he was looking for. He did, however, have the Homicide squads number. He pressed a few buttons and waited for the phone to ring. When someone picked up, he was oddly relieved to realize it wasn't anyone he knew.

"Hello, is Sergeant Howard there?"

"Uh, yeah. Hold on a minute." Came the person's slightly curious voice. It was then it occurred to him that it was probably odd to not call her on her office phone. Oh well.

"Howard. Homicide."

He put on an annoying voice and said loudly, "Kay! What's happenin' sister?"

"Who the hell- John?" Kay asked with a tone of confusion and disbelief.

"The one and only." Munch said, smirking at Olivia who was listening to his side of the conversation attentively.

"I don't mean to sound rude, but why are you calling me?"

"My...partner and I are headed up there to take that Riverman freak off your hands. We have him on at least two rapes. The purpose of my call is to ask a favor of you."

"Oh jeez, what Munch?"

"It's not that bad! My god, I just wanted to see if you could manage to find us a place to stay. You know, it being tourist season and all, we won't find even a shed to sleep in by the time we get there."

"I'll try to find a hotel near the squad. Anything else?"

"Nope! Just don't tell Meldrick, Frank or Timmy I called, okay? I'll be seeing you!"

He could practically hear Kay rolling her eyes as she said, "Okay. Bye John."

"Bye."

He hung up the phone and turned to Olivia, making sure to keep an eye on the road,

"She's looking for a place for us to stay. It's crazy down there this time of year."

Olivia nodded.

"So," She began, waving her hand aimlessly, "what's the history between you and her?" The nervous glint in her eye did not go unseen.

"Your jealous." He stated with an amused laugh

"I am not!"

"Yes you are." He asserted with a chuckle.

"Well," she countered, "Is there something I should be jealous of?"

"Well..." He began, taking a deep breath and a dramatic pause before saying simply, "no."

"You're a jerk." She stated, smiling.

"You're paranoid."

"No, you're paranoid." She pointed out, "I'm just a little...cautious."

"Kay's a good friend that I haven't seen in a while, nothing more Liv, okay?" He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Okay, I get it by now, Jeez."

"I was trying to be reassuring, if you could just accept that, we could move on to a more interesting conversation."

"Like what? JFK's assassination?" Olivia joked.

"That's not all I talk about!" Munch exclaimed, exasperated.

"I know." Olivia said with a teasing smile.

After a few moments of comfortable silence, with the only sounds being the rumble of the cars on the busy highway, Munch spoke up, "We fight like five year olds sometimes, you know that?"

Olivia didn't respond. Instead, she sat up straighter in her seat and said, "You missed the turn."

"What?" He asked, thrown off by her sudden topic change.

"You missed the turn," She repeated slowly, then spoke normally again, "That last sign back there had our exit number on it. Turn around!"

"Aw crap, okay. I'm turning around."

As he made a quick U-turn, Olivia flopped back to rest her head on her seat, a mixture of a laugh and a sigh escaping from her lips.

It was going to be a long ride.

TBC