A/N - Sorry for the delay. A special thanks to Saamiyah, my beta, for all her support.

It was just like old times. Well . . . . almost.

By night, the expansive living area of Elliot's cabin morphed into a turn-of-the-century squad room. Bordered by crime scene photographs, lined chart paper clung crookedly to the wooden wall paneling like a macabre quilt. A veritable slew of paper, stained coffee cups, and food wrappers littered the glass-topped table. The air was heavy with the malignant odours of coffee grinds, permanent marker, and burnt pizza. Although it was well past midnight, the heavy curtains were drawn over the windows to keep late night strollers from spying on the secret rendezvous.

Olivia and Odafin Tutola had commandeered the couch, backs hunched as they passed clear plastic baggies of evidence back and forth. On the parallel loveseat, Elliot scribbled the short list of facts they had been able to amass on the case, squinting at his notepad in the dim light of the vaulted ceiling. It would have been a complete family reunion were it not for the absence of John Munch. The stunning Odessa Ryan, perched on the arm of the loveseat, was his younger and much more attractive replacement.

"I think Murph looks good for it," Odessa remarked, gazing at the suspect list. Her mismatched eyes - one cat green, the other electric blue – were thoughtful. "He's definitely not all there. If he thought Teresa was communicating with "the aliens", who knows what he would have done? A regular fucking Mulder that boy."

"I don't know," Elliot mused with a frown, rubbing a thick hand over his bearded chin. "Yeah, he's kooky, but he also seems harmless. Add to that the fact he's a recluse. I doubt his path would have crossed with Teresa's other than at either end of the telescope."

"He knew about the pattern that we found in the dirt, so he was at the scene." Odessa leaned forward and carefully selected a crime scene photo from the coffee table. Her curtain of black hair brushed against Elliot's shoulder, the movement attracting Olivia's attention. An uncomfortable sensation took root in the heart of her stomach as she watched Elliot's eyes trace Odessa's face. His interest was blatant, his gaze almost primitively dazed. Only when he became aware of his audience did he snap back to attention and blush red to the tips of his ears.

"Possible I guess." Elliot cleared his throat and clumsily flipped through the lined pages of his notebook. "Still, I think he's a long shot. I'm liking Gary for it. He claims he was away on business, but that alibi didn't entirely check out. He could have done his business and still been back to off Teresa. It's pretty obvious he fancies himself a player. I don't think he wouldn't hesitate to hit on Teresa. Maybe they had an affair when he went into the city on business. She sneaks off to be with him. She threatens to tell his wife and it pushes him over the edge."

Leaning back into the plush cushions of the couch, Fin shook his head, his expression stoic. "Maybe, but let's face it. There was no semen or traces of any lubricant. No way a pig like that's gonna off her before he gets laid."

Elliot shrugged, unconvinced. "Maybe she ticked him off right away, and he reacted in anger."

"I'm leanin' toward Rebecca." Fin pointed to the suspect list on the wall with a calloused finger. "Our resident nut job witnessed her interacting with the victim. If there was an affair happening between Teresa and Gary, she's got motive and no alibi."

"I can't imagine it." Olivia shook her head, chewing absently on a ragged fingernail. "She's so naïve. She's a dutiful housewife, puts on blinders. He's perfect in her eyes. I don't think she would have even toyed with the notion that her husband was having an affair. Even if she did, my gut tells me she couldn't harm a fly."

"Finally, using her gut again." Elliot smirked triumphantly as if he himself had brought about the change.

"Shut up El," Olivia retorted calmly. Grabbing a Junior Mint from a speckled glass bowl on the table, she launched it at him. Elliot caught the candy missile with irritating ease and popped it into his mouth, chewing exaggeratedly with an arrogant grin.

"Ah, I've missed working with you two clowns. It's always amusing." Fin grinned at Odessa, his eyes twinkling with mirth. "This is what I had to endure every day I worked with Cheech and Chong."

Odessa's contagious, throaty laugh resonated throughout the cabin. When she looked down at Elliot, her eyes were warm. "Your reputation precedes you, you know?"

Elliot chuckled dryly. "I'll bet it does. Not in a good way either."

Odessa raised her manicured eyebrows, her mouth falling into a crooked half grin. "You'd be surprised. You do have fans back in the department. In fact, you're a little bit of a legend."

"Can we focus please?" Olivia snapped brusquely, folding her arms across her chest. The conversation died instantly and Odessa shifted her weight uncomfortably, returning her attention to the gruesome crime scene spread across the coffee table.

Fin, on the other hand, found the outburst amusing. "Whoa! Remind you of someone else we knew Stabler? I think Captain Benson is channeling Captain Cragen today!"

Olivia ignored him with a roll of her eyes. "I'm leaning toward David Chartwell. Recently divorced, he's got priors for assault. The only resident with a criminal record, he's also the president of the neighbourhood association. Maybe Teresa was a rebound after his wife left him. He wanted to get more serious, she balked. He's the only resident El and I have not been able to get in contact with yet".

"So four of us, four main suspects." Standing and snagging a red Sharpie from beneath a chocolate bar wrapper, Odessa strode over to the list of suspects and put a big red star beside each of the four names. Capping the marker, she stood back and admired her handiwork while the rest of the room internally lamented the lack of progress.

So close, and yet so far.

It was so different there, on the precipice of the forest. Nothing at all like Manhattan.

In the wee hours of the morning, the woodland surrounding Elliot's cabin was a fortress of impenetrable darkness. No blinking neon. No rotating spotlights advertising nightlife. Not even streetlights to break up the suffocating canopies of the slumbering trees. The only illumination came from the moon, high above the water, its likeness mutated by the soft ripples of the waves.

After Fin and Odessa left, it was quiet too. No wailing sirens. No frightened screams. No snippets of conversation. No honk of car horns. It was almost eerily silent, the only audible sound that of a loon calling to its mate out on the water. In comparison, the whoosh of the sliding patio door and the creak of wood under heavy footsteps seemed deafeningly loud to Olivia as Elliot sidled up beside her on the deck. Resting his forearms on the wooden railing, he gazed blindly out into the darkness.

"It was good to see Fin again." Elliot made the comment without looking at her.

"Yeah."

"You okay?"

"I'm good. Just tired." A truer truth was never spoken. Stunted sentences were all Olivia could manage as she mentally waded through the web of clues in an attempt to make sense of savagery. "We ever going to catch this guy El?"

Elliot was quiet for a moment, contemplating the value of a comforting statement they both knew was not true. Justice did not always prevail. The good guy did not always win. "It's going to come together, Liv. You're doing your thing here, and Fin and Odessa are working theirs back at the house."

"What did you think of Detective Ryan?" The question vaulted from Olivia's lips before she could consider the potential consequences. If any processing had taken place at all, she would have kept her mouth shut.

Elliot cocked his head to the side, eyes shining curiously in the moonlight. When he spoke, his words were carefully measured. "She seems like a good detective."

"Come on El," Olivia chided half-playfully. "You just thought she was hot."

Elliot chuckled lightly. "I'm not going to deny that she's gorgeous. You see the way Fin looks at her though? The man's smitten. He'd probably chop off my balls if I tried anything."

Olivia laughed. "It's unfortunate for him that he got partnered up with her then. It's never going to work."

Elliot turned so his back was to the forest and his elbows rested against the uneven railing. His face was calm as he looked at her, but his ice blue eyes were penetrating. "Wow, when did you become such a cynic?"

Olivia struggled to keep her voice light and carefree. "I learned that from you. Don't you remember sitting in a hospital waiting room after we caught Gitano? You said we could never choose each other over the job again or we couldn't be partners. We made potentially dangerous choices and we weren't even in a romantic relationship. Romantic relationships between partners are so dangerous El. We both know that."

Unbidden, memories hijacked Elliot and rendered him breathless. Chasing Gitano through waves of commuters who dragged him down like quicksand. The sickening helplessness and horror he had felt when that blade flicked out and a slash of blood appeared suddenly on Olivia's throat . . .

The body of that little boy . . . .

Eager for a change in subject, Elliot cleared his suddenly tight throat. "We busted a lot of really nasty bad guys together, didn't we Liv?"

"We sure did."

The silence that fell in that moment was rife with memories of the many horrific cases that had shaped too many years of their lives. A soft, cool breeze blew off the water and goose flesh prickled Olivia's skin, except where Elliot's close proximity warmed it.

"You ever see Calvin again?"

The innocent question filled Olivia's stomach with mute sadness. "I did. A year ago. He's doing well. He moved to L.A. with Viv. He's volunteering with a Youth Justice program, wants to be a cop."

Elliot smiled warmly at his former partner. "You changed his life Liv."

The corner of Olivia's mouth crooked into a half smile. "Not really, but thanks."

Pushing off the railing, Elliot took a half step closer to her. "I'm not sensing a lot of job satisfaction here. What's going on Liv?"

"It was never the same after you left."

That inadvertent admission of weakness angered her and Olivia immediately averted her eyes, but Elliot refused to back down.

"Why not?" When she didn't answer, he moved another half step closer. "Liv. Why not?"

Olivia hesitated for a moment longer, basking in the blast furnace heat of his body. Or maybe that was emanating from inside her . . . .

She knew she had to choose her words very carefully. Of the million possible reasons growing in her mind, she had to be careful to pluck just the right one.

Because you were my partner.

Because I knew everything about you.

Because you knew everything about me.

Because I love you.

"Because we were a team," Olivia finished lamely, carefully removing a strand of hair that had caught on her dry bottom lip. "Because you were a huge part of my life for twelve years. I saw you almost every day. Then you retire without telling me. No call, no email, nothing. For those first two months after, you couldn't even be bothered to answer my calls. Suddenly my entire world was turned upside down."

Snapping her mouth closed, Olivia swallowed hard, aware that she was on the precipice of disclosing too much. Averting her eyes, she stared hard into the dark forest, eager for a distraction, eager for something to deflate the growing tension.

"It wasn't entirely my choice you know."

Straightening, Olivia turned to lean her back against the wooden railing. Her elbow brushed his abdomen in the process, and they both studiously ignored the ensuing sparks. "What do you mean? You're the one who put in your papers."

"There was a lot of pressure to quit Liv. If I had come back, IAB would have made my life miserable." Elliot craned his neck to gaze at the moon, his hands slipping into his pockets. "They had considered me a loose cannon for years. It was either stay until they drove me out, or retire with my head held high. I'd been with the department way too long to be treated like a dog until retirement. I didn't want my family to be dragged through the mud, and that includes you. Believe me, it wasn't an easy choice to leave."

Olivia eyes returned from the depths of the forest and settled on Elliot's face. Lines drew his brows together and creased the corners of his cheeks. His eyes were distant and reflected the orb of the moon above. His mouth was a thin line and the sudden urge to cup his face, to make physical contact, to wipe the tension from his features overwhelmed her.

Olivia had raised a hand to reach out, to touch the prickly coat of his beard in comfort, when all hell suddenly broke loose.

An abrupt volley of frenzied barking startled them and they jumped apart as if someone had fired a cannon between them. Elliot's sharp calls for silence were ignored, the two dogs inside a whirling dervish of snapping teeth and bloodshot eyes. The sliding door screen protested weakly under the pressure of scrabbling claws and eventually submitted.

Bandit was the first to bust through, his ears pinned back and the hair along his spine spiked. Elliot made a move to grab him, but the agile canine avoided his questing hand and lunged at Olivia, teeth bared. Heart leaping into her throat, Olivia froze on the spot, her instincts screaming at her to flee but her feet stubbornly disobeying. Bracing herself for the impact, she closed her eyes and held her ground.

The impact never came.

Bandit raced past her, his claws leaving gouges in the wood. He bolted to the very edge of the deck before skidding to a stop and barking fiercely at the darkness. Elliot was on him quickly, grabbing his collar and hauling him back as Olivia's eyes flew open in relief. The desperate dog fought the entire way, barking and whining as he struggled against the restraint. In the forest, just beyond the lights of the cabin, a fortunate creature crackled in the underbrush. Alive to see another day.

Elliot's scolding voice had faded to a near whisper by the time Olivia managed to unglue her feet. With a final look over her shoulder at the sentinel forest, Olivia hurried back into the cabin, unable to shake the blood chilling sensation that the forest stared back.