A/N: I do not own Law and Order: SVU!

This chapter doesn't have Olivia in it, just mention of her. This is me setting up the world they live in. I hope you enjoy!

The only problem with the whole soulmate concept – besides the fact that it irked those who were not romantically driven – was that just because someone was your soulmate doesn't necessarily mean that you are their soulmate. Most of the time that is the case luckily. However, there are the unlucky folks who don't have that luxury. Barba was well aware of this fact. Which of course made him curious about Olivia's countdown. Was her countdown at zero now too? Was he her soulmate as well or was he "unlucky "? A sharp exhale passed his lips.

"Dammit. I don't have time for this." Pushing all thoughts of Olivia away, he attempted to focus on the case ahead of him.

This case dealing with the BDSM author was going to be a tough but definitely interesting. This soulmate business was not going to get in the way of his great record of getting convictions. After all he was a man married to his work. Soulmate or not, no man or woman was going to get in the way of the love of his job.

After a few hours of evening work in his office, he decided it was time to head home. Today had been a headache and a half, he needed to get to bed.

Barba had made it to his bed safely and was dozing off to sleep. In the odd in-between state of being awake and asleep he had dreams about Olivia. Nothing substantial, just small conversation and closeness. His brow furrowed. With great effort, he pulled himself out of the episodic mini dreams he was having.

"Dios mio! I don't know anything about this woman. How can I be dreaming about her?!"

Exasperated, he sat up and grabbed his laptop off the night stand. He promptly opened up his browser and typed in "soulmate" into the search bar. Millions of hits came up. Articles about celebrities who countdowns have stopped, dating websites – , quotes, etc. He clicked on the Wikipedia page. Not that it's the most credible source but it's good for some light, general reading.

First sentence of the article:

A soulmate is a person with whom one has a feeling of deep or natural affinity. This may involve similarity, love, romance, friendship, intimacy, sexuality, sexual activity, spirituality, or compatibility and trust.

The article continued on with theories about the soulmate counter, philosophical ideas, history, literature, etc. No one knew when or where the countdowns came from. They've just always been there. At least since people started recording their history. Even Neanderthals depicted them having these countdowns on their wrists. However, they seemed to believe it counted down to their death instead of their love. Mankind wasn't always so romantic.

The first ones to grasp onto the idea were the Egyptians. Many tales were centered around this notion of soulmates and the countdown to meeting them. Despite the Egyptians noticing it first, it was the Europeans who claimed they had done so. They almost destroyed all the records of the Egyptian discovery but thankfully, archaeologists are crafty and creative people. They were able to save some of the hieroglyphs depicting their early discoveries. "Take that white man." Raf mumbled as he scrolled down the article.

He skimmed through some theories from the minds of Aristotle and Plato. Followed by the biological versus spiritual debate. There were theories and moral arguments as to why even serial killers have the soulmate countdown. He wasn't really interested in the theories. There's nothing to theorize: It's here, it's happening, it's what it is.

The section of the article that he truly interested in was the "Unrequited Soulmate".

Most of the time, 90.34% to be exact, find their soulmate at the same time. They become a SoulMatch. [34] However, the other 9.66% are not as fortunate. While they do find a soulmate, it doesn't necessarily mean that they are that person's soulmate. Experts are not quite sure as to why soulmates do not match up all the time. They speculate that perhaps the timing is not right or that someone else is going to have a bigger impact that that certain person's life.

The article continued on about how this often causes psychological and depression issues. Barba wasn't in the mood to read through people blubbering about their unfair love life.

He scrolled down towards the end of the article where he noticed a small section titled "Those Without Countdowns". Odd. He had never once met nor heard of anyone without a countdown. Curiosity piqued, he read on.

Very rarely there are those born without countdowns. In the history of the modern world, 1900 onward, there have only been 500 documented cases of those without the countdown. [75] The doctors noticed those individuals immediately. There was nothing ever wrong with them. They were all perfectly functioning, they simply just did not have a countdown. In a few of the cases, people were driven to suicide due to extreme bullying. They often felt ostracized, so with no end in sight they took their own life. [76]

Doctors calculate that there are approximately two or three individuals per continent without a countdown currently living today. [77] They are attempting to find if the cause of them not having a countdown is biological. However, since they aren't sure why the countdown even exists they may never know the real reason.

At the end of the page before the citations he noticed another section titled "New Findings".

While the concept of soulmates has been with our species for thousands of years, we still do not know much about it. The lead researcher on these mysterious countdowns is Dr. Lexa Grayson. [78] She currently wrote an article for a medical journal about this phenomenon. "In my survey of 10, 000 individuals who have the countdown I have found that in 1 in 40 soulmate matches, those matches are not necessarily romantic. People are reporting that their soulmate is platonic in one way or other. Either that soulmate is their child, friend, or parent. Our ideas that this countdown is merely the means to the ultimate romantic relationship is outdated. Most of us have been in love more than once. We don't just love our romantic partners. We also love our kids, pets, moms, dads, etc. I believe that this countdown is merely telling us 'Hey! This person that you're going to meet or have already met is going to change your life in one way or another. Prepare for the ride!' I also believe that love cannot be measured by one countdown to one person. This person that you meet or are going to meet is important, don't get me wrong. But we don't ostracize ourselves to only one person. Remember that before you get too hyped up about this soulmate business." [79]

After reading through the Wiki article he felt more at ease. While before he wasn't trying to worry about it, he definitely was worrying. After reading this, especially the final section he was relieved. "A friend, eh? Now that I can definitely live with." Barba closed the laptop and set is back down on his nightstand. Friendship he was by no means afraid of. He was likeable enough to have a good array of friends. He didn't mind the thought of adding another detective to the mix. "Just friends." Was his last thought before slipping into foggy dreams about Olivia. While he could fool himself all he wanted, his subconscious however had other plans.

Hmmm. What kind of soulmate will Olivia be? :-)

Please leave some feedback. I take whatever I can get, good and bad!