Mark completely ignores Derek's statement, "Maybe she was just tired, you know? She did say she had to transfer flights." He scurries down the stairs of his hotel and onto the busy New York sidewalk.

"Maybe, but I don't think it's a good idea to pull your usual tricks with her. She's a cop, Mark. A sex cop. She's not going to be easy," Derek tells Mark from the other end of the phone.

"What usual tricks? I have no usual tricks."

Derek scoffs and then there's a silence. It's obvious Mark is thinking about what he could do different.

"Other than this Olivia you met, did you get settled in okay?"

"Yeah, I unpacked a little. Olivia gave me her number." Derek rolls his eyes from the other end of the phone while Mark continues, "I'm going to take her out tonight."

Derek pinches the bridge of his nose, "Does Olivia know this?"

"Not yet," Mark says confidently.

"Hey, how was your trip? Anything interesting happen?" Elliot asks when he walks in and sets down a cup of coffee in front of Olivia.

"It wasn't exactly Palm Springs and no, nothing interesting," Olivia replies without looking up, "I was only gone for a few days and 1PP is throwing all this shit at me. I feel like I'm filling out the same things over and over again." She glances over at the coffee, "Thanks," she mumbles.

"Yeah, well, they like getting off on overworking returnees." Elliot says.

Olivia chuckles and then exhales deeply, "I hope they're enjoying themselves because before they know it I'll be back in the field and they will be finding someone else to-" She slows down as she looks up. A tall, handsome, brown haired acquaintance stands in the middle of the precinct.

"What?" Elliot turns around to try and see what Olivia is seeing but he doesn't get the problem. He notices Mark in the middle of the room but only sees him as a man who might need help surrounded by a rapidly growing crowd of civilians.

"Can I help you with something, sir?" He asks.

Mark turns to him, "Yeah, I'm looking for-" He sees Olivia and smiles, "Never mind, I found her."

Elliot turns back to Olivia and raises his eyebrow, "Really? Nothing interesting?" He smirks.

Olivia exhales, stands, and walks over to Mark, "You could've called. Actually, you should've called." She motions for him to follow her somewhere less crowded.

The precinct was becoming extra busy today. They just had a press conference on a missing girl that is now hospitalized and people are rushing in and out trying to claim her. The reward to find her is eight and a half million dollars. People push past one another in a frenzy to claim they saw the girl and hope they get lucky to become a multi-millionaire.

"I was in the neighborhood and I saw the station and then I remembered you and then I decided that I want to take you out tonight. What time are you free?" He smiles a crooked smile. It vanishes when someone pushes past him and bumps his shoulder. Mark scowls and prepares to shout something at the man but stops when Olivia speaks.

"I'm a little busy, Mark. I can't really-." She looks back at the chaos.

"Come on, we'll have so much fun together," he states. His voice is low and seductive. He leaves out the part about him losing sleep because he was too busy thinking about her. Or the fact that he wasn't turned on by any woman that wasn't her and how this isn't normal for him at all.

Mark Sloan does not admit those kinds of things.

He tries to keep eye contact with her. She's too busy looking at the scene behind her to notice the lusty look in his eyes.

"I don't know. I really wish that you called first. I'm not-"

"Liv, we really need you in here," Elliot says from the doorway. His voice sounds rushed.

"Okay, I'll be right there," she replies and turns back to Mark, "I really have to go." She begins to run back to the station when he gently grasps her hand. She turns back to him.

"Olivia," he says softly.

"Olivia!" Elliot calls from the doorway.

"They need me in there. I'm sorry." She pulls her hand away and emerges into the rush of money hungry people.

Mark crosses his arms across his chest and sighs. Another person bumps his shoulder, which is his cue to leave. Mark walks onto the next available elevator and returns to the even busier sidewalk.

"I met him at the airport and we were on the plane together," Olivia tells Elliot after she throws out the last paper cup from the interrogation room.

It took hours to find the missing girl and even longer to rush the crowd back to their daily lives and an extra hour to clean up.

Elliot picks up the fallen papers off the floor, he turns his head slightly toward her direction and looks out of the corner of his eye, "You must've left quite an impression on him." He straightens and leans against the wall, arms crossed.

She shrugs, and avoids his gaze. She doesn't know what happened at the airport. She knows that she was too tired to even process the simplest of thoughts. She knows she gave him her phone number that he failed to use and showed up at the worst time possible. She knows that maybe, just maybe, he might've made a small impression on her as well.

When she looks back at Elliot, he's still looking at her. There's something in the depth of his eyes that's difficult to read. It's not dark but it doesn't look very positive either. It's thoughtful.

"What?" She asks.

"Nothin'," Elliot replies after a few seconds of silence.

She looks at him with a bit of uncertainty but she nods and says nothing more. The sky continues to darken and most of the people have left. Remaining desk lights and the streetlights from outside illuminate a small portion of the precinct. Elliot collects the things he needs to take home and carefully puts what he doesn't need away in a desk drawer. Olivia turns off her computer and desk lamp. Together, they walk towards the elevator.

He sits against the windowsill, his head against the wall and his eyes forward at the opposing wall. He turns when he hears the faint chatter from the detectives and straightens his posture when Olivia and Elliot get closer.

Olivia looks ahead and her eyes land on Mark. In a quick instant, her expression turns into one of regret, sorrow, and a little bit of surprise.

"You waited," she says in a deep exhale.

"No, I didn't wait." Mark stands, "I left for a few hours and came back." His attention briefly turns to Elliot, "This your boyfriend?"

He only asks to make conversation. Mark doesn't give a damn if Elliot is still Olivia's boyfriend – he'd still screw her if given the chance.

"No," Olivia says quickly.

"I'm married," Elliot chimes in with a sour smile.

"Never stopped me," Mark utters.

Elliot's smile disappears and turns into a small frown.

"This is my partner, Elliot Stabler. Elliot this is my friend, Mark Sloan."

"And if you let me take you out for a drink, we can change the 'friend' part," Mark tells Olivia with a wink.

With full knowledge that Mark directed the suggestion to Olivia, Elliot says, "It's been a very long day and I'm a little busy tonight. Sorry."

Mark's flirty demeanor fades when only his eyes move to Elliot, "Shame," he says without concern. His eyes move back to Olivia, "That just leaves you."

"Like I said, it's been a very long day. Everybody's probably tired. You should respect that," Elliot says tensely.

"El," Olivia says calmly. She turns to Mark and sighs, "It has been a long day. I'm sorry but not tonight."

Mark looks from Olivia to Elliot and then back to Olivia, "Okay," he says with indifference in his voice, "Night." He turns on his heel and takes the first available elevator.

He watches as the numbers on the elevator decrease and his lips pull into a large smile.

I have a thing for her, he mentally tells himself and he chuckles to himself the rest of the way down.