A/N I wasn't sure what this story was going to be, a one-shot, two-shot, something more..., but now here we are at chapter 3 with more to come. Hope you like the ride!

When we last left our fearless duo, they'd made up and were making Sunday night ba-sketti for Noah. Let's fast-forward to Monday morning...

"Morning, Lieu," Carisi called as Olivia breezed through the squad room coffee in hand.

"Hey, Carisi," she answered as she looked around. "Where is everybody?"

"Fin and Dodds had to testify in that DV case," he reminder her. Then he looked at Rollin's empty desk. "Amanda's here, somewhere."

"Anything else going on?" She said.

"Not yet," he answered.

She nodded and continued to her office. To her chagrin, he followed.

"Lieutenant," he began. "We were talking this morning, and we still want to take you out for a drink to celebrate you being reinstated."

She didn't need a celebratory night out, but it would be nice to have her squad together outside the precinct. They needed a chance to recoup, together. She nodded.

"Does this Friday work for you? Maybe Captain Tucker can join us, since he has something to celebrate, too."

She smiled at his inclusion of Ed. She could see through him, though. She knew certain members of her crew were dying to ask about her and Tucker. Carisi, especially.

They'd planned a happy hour for Liv a couple weeks ago, her first week back, but a serial rapist had kept them all too busy. In a way this was even better, it would give her team the chance to see her and Tucker together in a more casual setting. To get used to them.

"I think Friday works for me," Olivia said. "But let me double check with Lucy, and I'll ask Tucker."

"Great!" Carisi said and lingered a minute before leaving her alone to get situated.

Olivia settled into her morning and sent a quick text to Ed about Friday. He replied almost immediately in the affirmative. She shook her head a little, this would be an interesting outing for all of them.

The peace of the morning didn't last long. Before Fin and Dodds got out of court, SVU caught a case. Carisi and Rollins headed to the scene, and Olivia headed to the hospital to meet their 14-year old victim and her parents.

It was after 1:00pm when Olivia finally got back to the office. Carisi and Rollins were trying to track down kids who attended the party where the girl had been assaulted. Dodds and Fin finished up at the courthouse and came back to interrogate the suspect, who'd been arrested an hour earlier.

After getting a quick update from Rollins, Olivia headed to her office and pushed the door almost closed. She took a few minutes to try and shake the victim's words from her mind. It had broken her heart to take the girl's statement. She was just a kid.

Olivia hung her head and sighed. She wanted to call Ed, but she knew she wouldn't. She was a little unsettled by her need to hear his voice. She knew it would soothe her, and that was still a new idea. She didn't know how to let herself need someone like this.

Not yet. That thought surprised her, so she just put it out of her mind and tried to focus on the case at hand. She wasn't quite ready to admit she needed another person.

Ed sat at his desk and thought about the weekend. He was still frustrated with himself for overreacting about Olivia wanting to patch things up with Barba and the whole Sunday Brunch thing. In all honesty, he was embarrassed. He was Ed Tucker, unflappable, hard as nails, Captain Ed Tucker.

He hadn't felt this way about anyone, ever. He didn't know how to navigate it. All he knew was that he didn't want to screw it up. Olivia was his everything.

Things had been normal when they left her apartment this morning, but he still wanted to do something to show her how much she meant to him. He thought about sending flowers to her office, but that seemed over the top and definitely not them. He thought about just calling her to check in, but that didn't seem like enough.

Ed laughed at himself as he tried to figure out how to do something that would show Olivia how much he cared without being too over the top. He felt like a teenager again, trying to impress the head cheerleader. But he smiled to himself when he realized what to do. Keep it simple, stupid.

He picked up the phone to call his lunch appointment and move the location. He needed to get a little closer to the 16th to carry out his plan.

Across town, Barba sat in his office and also pondered his weekend. He was relieved that he and Olivia had gotten to some sort of peace. He knew it would still take some time before they fell back into their comfortable pattern, but for the first time in weeks he felt like they were on the right path.

Still he wanted to see her, just to touch base. He had a strange need to put their personal reconnection to the test in their professional environment. He needed to see it work. He really had no excuse to go to SVU today, but he would find one.

Barba was startled from his thoughts by a knock at his door. "Come in," he called.

Dodds appeared. "Your assistant said it was okay to just knock."

"Of course," Barba answered and looked up to find Fin trailing Dodds. "You both testified in the Walker case this morning?" He wasn't assigned to that case because he'd been on vacation when they caught it, but he was well aware of the details.

It quickly became clear that this was just a courtesy call. Dodds and Barba made small talk while Fin waited impatiently. Fin knew that the other two men were into the political game, but he just wanted to do his damn job. If it weren't for the fact that he and Dodds rode together, he'd have ditched this little pow wow already.

Barba accurately sensed that Dodds was feeling him out since the whole Olivia transfer debacle. Mike Dodds wasn't his father, but he still had ambition, and Barba wasn't quite sure he trusted him.

"When I met with her yesterday, she said everything was going smoothly," Barba informed, intentionally letting it slip that he'd met with Olivia off the clock.

Dodds didn't give an outward reaction, but he got the message. "Good to know."

"We should get back," Fin interrupted the awkward conversation. "Liv texted while we were in court, we caught a new case. She needs us to interrogate the suspect."

Dodds and Barba shook hands. Fin just gave Barba a nod. He was still a little annoyed at the way the ADA had handled things for Liv.

All in all, Fin was probably more shocked than anyone when it came out about Liv and Tucker, but he was never one to judge or pry. He knew her. He trusted her. He might not understand, but he didn't' have to.

Fin had sensed the tension between her and Barba immediately. He sided with his boss, his friend, without question. So until he knew that Liv was okay with Barba, he wouldn't be.

Barba sighed as the two men left his office. He wasn't fooled. He knew that Dodds understood the politics of the situation, and would let it go. He also knew that Fin was fiercely protective of Olivia and would take some time to forgive. He hoped that Olivia accepting him back into the fold would ease the rest of her squad into forgiving him.

It was with that thought in mind that he devised a plan.

Ed walked into the 16th precinct with a casual gait. He decided to stop by after his late lunch with his one of his old partners.

"Captain?" Rollins asked when she saw him. She'd just walked in a few minutes earlier and was still standing at her desk putting things away.

"Hey, Rollins," he said. "Is the Lieutenant in her office?"

Amanda nodded and smiled at his formality, but she also noticed the iced coffee in his hand. They'd all been a bit taken aback to learn that their commander was dating IAB Tucker, but no one pressed her on it. Amanda had made a special effort to tell Carisi to leave it alone.

Ed knocked on the barely open door to get Olivia's attention. He stood at the doorway keeping the coffee out of her line of sight.

"Ed," she said with bit of question and a bit of relief. She;d so desperately wanted to talk to him, seeing him was She checked her watch and was even more confused, it was 1:45. "What are you doing here?"

"Thought you could use this," he answered as he stepped fully into her office and revealed the caffeinated treat.

She gave him a look as he pushed the door almost closed again and crossed the room to hand her the drink. When she took a sip and realized it was her favorite, iced hazelnut, light and sweet, she gave him another look.

How'd he know that? Iced coffee wasn't her norm, and she couldn't remember if she'd ever ordered it when he was around. Obviously she must have, but it couldn't have been more than once or twice, ever.

"I pay attention," was his only answer.

"Thank you," she said before taking another sip. "This is exactly what I needed."

He gave her a shy smile. "My pleasure."

"Really, Ed," she said. "What's this about?" Since their earlier texts about weekend plans, they hadn't talked. He couldn't have known about her morning or how desperately she needed a pick-me-up this afternoon.

"I was thinking about you, and I wanted you to know." He answered simply.

She gave him a broad smile and stepped closer to him. "Thank you," she whispered as she placed her free hand on his cheek and gave him a quick kiss.

Her office door was still slightly ajar, so Olivia took a step back before Ed could respond. She was not comfortable with the idea of one of her detectives walking in on a make out session.

He studied her for a minute. All morning, he'd thought about their weekend. He thought about how he'd almost let his own insecurities come between them. He thought about how much he wanted this relationship to work, and not just work, but last. He decided he was going to make sure she knew that he was committed to her and Noah 110%.

"Hey," she said as she nudged his shoulder slightly with her own. "What are you thinking about?"

"How much you mean to me," he said.

Olivia was floored by his openness. Not that he hadn't been open with her, but he usually required a little more coaxing or foreplay to be this open with his feelings.

"What is all this about?" She asked without accusation, just curiosity.

"Like I said, I was thinking about you, and I wanted you to know." He didn't know how else to explain it to her. That was it. "And I wanted to see you."

She sat the coffee on her desk and moved back toward him. Again, she glanced at her almost closed office door before deciding it was safe.

Ed was surprised when Olivia reached for him and once again kissed him full on the mouth. She'd been very clear that she didn't want to cross that line in front of her squad, but he wasn't about to complain. He pressed his lips a little more firmly to hers and let his hands rest on her hips.

Little did they know that on the other side of the door, Carisi was chatting with the ADA. Barba stopped by to say hi to Olivia under the pretense of dropping off some files. He knew it would take him a while to get used to her being with Tucker and to get over the way he'd found out about it. But she was one of his closest friends and seemed to want to stay that way, so he was determined to work through it.

"So, Friday night?" Carisi asked again.

"Yeah, sure," Barba answered. Sometimes the detective's enthusiasm was a bit excessive, but Barba knew Carisi meant well.

He wasn't sure exactly what he was agreeing to because he'd only be half paying attention. Something about drinks to celebrate Olivia's reinstatement. Seemed like a good opportunity to continue the mending.

"Great," Carisi said. "That's great."

"Liv's in her office?" Barba asked, getting back to his original intent. He held the coffee in his hand, knowing from his earlier conversation with Dodds and Fin that she'd need the caffeine boost.

"Yeah," Carisi answered. "But…" Before he could warn Barba that she was with someone, Barba had lightly knocked on the door and started pushing it open.

"Hey, Liv, I just stopped by to…" Barba froze in his tracks at the sight before him.