Title/Author: "Between the Bars: McCoy" by n.s.

Rating: T (minor language, some suggestive scenes)

Summary: A not-canon-but-not-not-canon take on Jack McCoy and Claire Kincaid's relationship through seasons 5-6; in the same universe as "Between the Bars: Logan," so implied Mike Logan/Claire also.

Disclaimer:I don't own any of these characters. This story is brought to you by 20-year-old repeats of Law & Order that happen to coincide with my daughter's nap time.

XXXXXXX

"I've been there," she said quietly as her car slowed to a stop at a red light.

He'd brought the bike to work, and it had rained, and she told him, You'll pay out of your nose for a cab at this time of night, and he had a strange desire to get into her car and be in a foreign, intimate place with her, so here he was. The smell of her perfume and the Tic Tacs she was always chewing enveloped them, and his hands were tingling from desire to just touch her hand as it rested on the gear shift.

After she spoke, he simply studied her profile in the darkness, not saying a word as the car turned into a mobile confessional.

"After things with Joel ended, and he was…unhappy," she continued a moment later, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel. "Part of me thought, If I just give in…I can understand what she was thinking when she did what she did."

He shook his head dismissively and looked back out the windshield as she shifted into drive and continued on Broadway.

"He's a son of a bitch."

She nodded. "Well, thanks to Sarah Maslin, he'll get to be one in prison."

He turned to face her again. "I didn't mean Talbot."

She flicked her glance to him quickly, then back to the road, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

"I wasn't a victim. It wasn't rape, or even a shade of it."

"No. But you were a kid."

"I was 25."

"25 or not," he shook his head again. "You were green. That, coupled with everything else about you, probably turned him on even mor—,"

"—speaking from personal experience?"

"Ouch."

"I didn't mean—I'm sorry," she backpedaled, her voice serious. "That was a bad joke. You could not be more different."

"Why Miss Kincaid, that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"Don't get used to it." She said with a smirk, giving him a quick side glance. "Even if we do sleep together."