Disclaimer: this lake exists, but the cabin (and partly the surroundings) are imaginary. So, if anyone has actually been there, I'm sorry. Just... Don't get too caught up in the details, the purpose of describing the environment is more to create the milieu of the story than to tell real facts about the lake's surroundings :)

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Maybe she was getting sick.

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They arrived at the cottage yard just as the clock struck 11:50 am. They would have been there sooner if Elliot's navigator hadn't misdirected them first, lost its mind, directed them to turn right at every little intersection, and he had had to restart it before it had finally started working properly. Olivia couldn't blame it though; Great Sacandaga Lake was something she had never been to before, she had had no idea where in the world it was, and when she had finally found it on a map, she had been just as confused.

"I have no idea what kind of "science magazine" Munch had actually ordered, but I'm slowly beginning to suspect that it contains some conspiracy theories instead of actual science," Elliot had grunted when the car had bounced along the bumpy and muddy road while they had been looking for the right route. The right road to the cottage had been clearly in better condition, but the environment mostly resembled the opposite of the city.

Finally Elliot stopped the car and they got out, stretching their stiff limbs from the long journey. If the air had felt fresh an hour's drive from New York, it had been nothing compared to this, and Olivia took a deep breath before turning to take a closer look at the cabin.

It wasn't brand new or modern, but nevertheless it looked cozy, warm from the outside. A few dozen meters from the cabin, the lake was shimmering bright, inviting, a light breeze was dancing around them, the trees were humming softly, and for a moment they stopped just to listen. To listen to the fact that nothing was heard. Absent were the noisy cars, honking horns, construction sites, people's voices and the subway rumbling underfoot; in their place was only a deep, stagnant silence, broken only by the sounds of nature from time to time.

It was as if Elliot had read her mind.

"Okay, this… This is not bad," he admitted, and Olivia turned to look at him, but then the cabin door opened, and they saw a familiar face.

"Welcome, my friends," Munch announced solemnly before his eyes landed on Elliot's car, and his eyes widened. "Where the hell did you drive?"

Only then did Olivia and Elliot realize to turn to look at the car, and it didn't take long to guess the object of Munch's astonishment. The car was so muddy that in some places you couldn't even tell its true color, dirty water and lumps of mud were running down its surface and fell on the ground around the car, and Elliot grimaced.

"I just washed it!"

"Did you get lost in a field or something?" Munch tried to sound serious, but his voice exposed the amusement, causing Elliot to rub his face in frustration.

"No, but even the navigator couldn't find it here first. Where the hell did the raffle organizers even find this place?"

"This is actually quite a popular outdoor activity destination," Munch pointed out, while Olivia went around the back of the car to dig her suitcase out of the trunk. "Especially favorable for boating and fishing."

"Are there many other cabins nearby?" She asked as she set the bag down. "I tried to look, but I only saw other settlements along the main road."

Munch shook his head. "There are some cabins and settlements around the lake, but for some reason this one has been left to its own devices," he shrugged. "The nearest neighbor is a couple of miles away. But that's fine, my opinion is that we get to see enough people at home as well." Then he nodded towards the car. "Did you bring the food?"

"Yep," Elliot opened the back door and picked up the grocery bags from the back seat. "Some of these need a fridge."

"Follow me."

They started walking after their colleague, climbed a few outside steps to the terrace in front of the front door, and waited for Munch to open the door for them. He grabbed the doorknob, but before he opened the door, he stopped and hesitated for a moment.

"Before we go inside, there is one thing you should know."

"Don't you dare tell me that there is no electricity in the cabin," Elliot groaned, Olivia's eyes widened, but Munch quickly shook his head.

"No, nothing like that. It's just…" He scratched his chin, obviously embarrassed. "The cabin is not quite as big as promised. They said that it can accommodate 10 people, but that is not the whole truth."

Oh no.

When Olivia had heard that the cabin was big, so big that it would fit more people than there were in their group, she had thought that everyone would have their own bed. She was the only woman in the group, and selfishly she had preconceived that if there were several rooms, she could have one for herself.

But now, looking at the uncertain Munch, the dream of her own room vanished before her eyes, carried away by the wind swirling around them.

"There are two bedrooms, each with a double bed. The living room has a pullout sofa, but it is narrower than a normal double bed. The loft is small and there's only one mattress," he grimaced apologetically as he waited for his colleagues to finish their calculations.

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"So, if Cragen arrives in the evening, there will be 6 of us," Olivia started slowly. "It means that one has to sleep in the loft."

"I know."

"Who is the unlucky one?"

"Fin and Brian and I thought that drawing lots is probably fairest," he announced as he opened the door. The delicious smell of food wafted against them, wrapping them in a welcome hug, and despite the changed sleeping arrangements, a warm feeling spread inside Olivia. She put her suitcase on the floor, looked around, and was the first to meet the happy eyes of Cassidy, who was standing by the stove.

"I was afraid I wouldn't recognize you anymore," he grinned, and caused a smile to spread on Olivia's face as well. Elliot behind her chuckled, and despite their previous conversation, his voice was genuinely pleased as he replied:

"Good to see you too, kid."

"How long has it been? When was the last time the whole team was under the same roof?"

"Almost 12 years," Olivia huffed. "Sometimes I feel that the older I get, the faster the years go by."

Brian shook his head in disbelief. "Wow. And you're still partners?" He looked at her and Elliot in turn. "That's a long time to be with Stabler," he glanced at Olivia with a mischievous grin.

"Believe me, I've thought the same thing at times," she replied, guilt stabbing her chest as she heard her words, and the flight to Oregon flashed through her mind. Even though she couldn't see her partner, she could almost feel his body tense up, and to soften the situation she let out a light sigh and glanced at Elliot. "But he's my partner. Who else would I be with?"

Brian looked at them, some kind of appreciation flashing in his eyes before he nodded.

"13 years is really something. I wonder if I could even work with someone else anymore if I was you."

Neither of them answered. What would they even have answered when they hadn't even talked about it properly with each other? Olivia knew without words that her leaving had hurt her partner, she knew it because it would have hurt her too if the roles had been reversed. And even though she had been the one to leave, it had hurt her too, just in a different way; she had missed her partner like hell and had never felt so alone as she had during those months. She'd had Dean Porter, yes, but he hadn't been Elliot, her partner, her best friend.

Cassidy was neither blind nor stupid, he detected the discomfort in their being and frowned slightly. However, Fin saved them from the situation.

"That's why they are lucky to have us as their colleagues," Fin intervened from the other side of the kitchen, where he was sitting at the table chopping tomatoes. Odafin Tutuola cooking was such a strange sight that for a couple of seconds Olivia wished she had had a camera. "They don't need each other to spend quality time."

Brian chuckled and turned back to the frying pan, but his body language didn't convince Olivia that he was ready to drop the subject. She grimaced internally and then turned her gaze to Munch.

"So, where do we drop our stuff?

Her question made Munch turn, and as he picked up the bowl from the table and held it out in front of her, his expression didn't change a bit. There were folded pieces of paper in the bowl, and Olivia raised one eyebrow in amusement.

"Really?"

"I don't trust the randomness of the draws made by computers," he announced and pushed the bowl closer. "So, choose your partner. In the name of fairness, we will draw new pairs and new sleeping arrangements again tomorrow."

Olivia dropped her gaze back to the bowl and a sudden excitement pinched her stomach. They had been told that there were two double beds in the cabin, there was a chance that she would pick up her partner's name from the yellow, flower-patterned bowl, and that would mean that they would sleep together, in the same bed…

To quell her thoughts before they had a change to start flying even further, she dipped her fingers into the slips of paper, took one and opened it. An instant, unexpectedly strong disappointment flared up inside her, but she forced herself to hide it as she looked up at Cassidy.

"Hopefully you don't snore."

"Shouldn't you know that," she could heard Elliot's voice, this time thankfully only inside her head, and Brian's face turned into a wide, pleased smile. She didn't even dare to glance at her partner.

"Cragen," Elliot's voice came from beside her as he looked at his own slip of paper. Munch nodded, took the papers from their hands and folded them back into the bowl.

"So, it's me and Fin then," he stated, put the bowl on the table and then took three matches in his hand. "Pick one," he raised the sticks in front of Olivia. "The pair with the shortest stick chooses which one sleeps on the sofa and which one sleeps in the loft."

Elliot got the short end of the stick, and without further ado, he dropped his bag next to the couch, sat down and announced that Cragen, who would arrive late, could sleep in the loft. Olivia, for her part, dragged her suitcase into the first bedroom, dropped it on the floor, looked appraisingly at the bed and sighed. It was a double bed, yes, but a relatively modest size, and Cassidy's wide smile returning to her mind made a flicker of discomfort ignite inside her.

She had slept in the same bed with Brian before, but it had been years ago, and it hadn't been anything else than a drunk, spur-of-the-moment choice on her part the first time, when the darkness of the world had weighed on her shoulders and the loneliness hadn't felt comfortable. After the first time, she had returned to him a few times because she liked Brian, and the first time had proved that sex with him wasn't so bad.

But even though she hadn't managed to form real feelings, it had become clear to her that Cassidy had been involved more than she had, and now, looking at their bed, it seemed far too small and far too easy for his arm to slip to her side, for his sleepy, unconscious body to spin and press against her. And the thought didn't exactly please her.

Especially when a hidden, relentless and annoying voice in the back of her head and deep in her heart reminded her that there had been another option, but he would be sleeping on the couch in the next room.