They hadn't been at the bar long. She surprised him when she accepted his invite. A couple of their colleagues lingered near, but they were busy boisterously one upping each other with some stupid drinking game.
They smiled and shook their heads at the group. Remembering when that was them. They eventually turned away and focused on the quiet comfort of each other.
She leaned into him slightly, bumping shoulders. He grinned at her wildly in that small gesture of camaraderie. He missed this. He missed being them, Benson and Stabler without the crazy dichotomy of rank. Right now, they were just them.
She gave him that smile. The one from before. The one she willingly gave away before he walked away. All he can think is how much he loves her. How perfect she is.
And then she's leaning into him again, and he wonders how many drinks she had, but he realizes she had maybe one. There is something about the lighting of the bar, her perfume, that smile that makes him feel like he's falling. Falling hard.
He knew this might not last much longer. Her guard would inevitably return, but he hoped it wouldn't because for the moment they were happy.
Her arm brushed his again sending his heart racing and he wanted to touch her, really touch her, hold her. He wanted her to know how much she was everything and how she had always been everything to him.
Then she looked up at him, and he wanted to say something, but the words caught in his throat. He worried that whatever he was going to say was going to be along the lines of I love you, and God knows she wasn't ready to hear that from him. He kept his eyes on hers because she was so damn mesmerizing, and he wondered how they ever got any work done because right now those brown eyes were all he could see and all he could think about.
His breath caught when her hand reached for his cheek, and he was fairly certain his heart stopped and he was going to die right here. His eyes frantically jumped to where all their younger coworkers were still knocking back shots. He felt relieved because they were obviously not interested in what was going on right here. He tried to breathe but it sounded shaky and God, she was looking at him like she was going to kiss him, but there was no way that was going to happen because they were them, and they were in a bar in public with their coworkers a stone's throw away.
But that look in her eyes, and the way she brushed her thumb against his lips made him hope that she might throw caution to the wind and let them do this.
His heart pounded and he couldn't keep his eyes off of her beautiful lips, and an electric shock ran through his body when her lips brushed timidly against his. He closed his eyes, and tried to remember how to breathe because Olivia Benson just kissed him, and he was sure this was a dream. But then, her lips came down on his, harder this time, with more intention, and he responded by pouring every emotion, every I love you that had been left unsaid throughout the years. When they finally parted he felt completely breathless and he was floating. Then her next words completely dropped him over the edge. "Let's get outta here."