Disclaimer: As always, sadly they aren't mine.

Sighing, the two women made their way through the doors leading to their former squad. Their gazes were instantly drawn left, where Grayleck still stood going off on Olivia and Elliot, with Munch watching and Fin noticeably absent. It was Munch who noticed the pair first, as Olivia had her eyes buried in a case file trying to ignore Kim and Elliot had his back to the door.

"To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit Counselors, does the DA not think Ms. Grayleck is capable of handling our case load?" At Munch's words Olivia looked up, while Elliot turned in his chair and Kim's gaze also turned in their direction.

"Technically, I'm not a prosecutor anymore John; you know that." Casey replied, her tone assured with a touch of light humor attached. John gave a soft smile, catching the humor, as did Olivia, Elliot and Alex. Meanwhile, Kim looked mildly shell shocked at the pair's sudden appearance and the easy banter now flowing around her.

"Casey and I were just headed off to grab a bite, figured we'd stop by and see if you guys could join us." Alex offered up, her ice-blue gaze flicking to Kim, who by that point was coming out of her shock and heading into a territorial rage.

"Well, isn't that kind of you, but like Detective Munch pointed out, we have plenty of open cases that require our attention –Ms. Cabot." Casey hid a small smirk, noticing how Kim practically choked on Alex's name.

"You've already scheduled most of our open cases for arraignment," Olivia stated, with Elliot quickly adding.

"Besides, it's been a slow day –if anything comes up they'll call us." He held up his cell phone in one hand, lightly twisting his wrist back and forth. His gaze then drifted over to Casey and Alex, "The usual diner work for you two?"

The pair nodded, while the detectives slid on their coats and Kim once again went into a shocked fury of silence. She watched as Olivia rounded her desk first, giving both women a warm hug, quickly followed by Elliot who added a 'good to see you' and 'you look great' into the mix. John made his way over last, also hugging the pair before they headed out of the squad room, leaving an angry, confused and stunned Kim in their wake.

Packing up her things in huff, Grayleck hightailed it out of there as fast as she could, her mind going a mile a minute as she tried to process everything. She couldn't understand it, how the squad bent so easily to Cabot and Novak's will, even after everything that had happened and what in her mind; would be grounds to never associate with them again.

She reasoned that while both women were skilled as prosecutors, both were loose cannons. Novak had violated Brady for God sake's and yet the detectives and Cabot still remained close to her.

'Don't they realize how damaging that could look, how it could be reflected back onto them and shoot their credibility straight to hell?'

And then of course there was Cabot. Even while living in DC Kim had heard of her, mainly after her supposed 'death' in 2003; at the hands of a Colombian drug cartel. After hearing about the murder Kim hadn't known what to think, if Cabot was one of the bravest women she'd heard of or the stupidest.

Watching her in the flesh now -she still wasn't sure what to think.

Like Novak, she'd taken risks and had a few fair sized dings in her jacket to show for it. What frustrated Kim the most however, was that like with her predecessor, the squad closed ranks around Cabot and despite her history remained close. While in contrast to Kim herself, the detectives practically ignored her or just berated her authority and efforts.

'What the hell am I missing?' She thought silently to herself, before adding 'I'm going to find out.'

A/N: Well, there's the end of Ch-4 and as you might have noticed it was a little longer (hopefully you ejnoyed the extra bit of length) don't know if that will keep happening. It might be a few days till I get the next chapter up, so in the mean time leave me some thoughts/comments -it helps feed the plot bunnies. ;)

A/N 2: Was it me, or did Grayleck not show up at all in this week's ep? Who knows maybe the writers are taking the hint and trying to make her a bit more friendly.