When It's Over:

A/N: For anyone who has ever read my work you know where my allegiance lies in the world of ships.

If you are a Tuckson fan, don't read and then review complaining because you have been warned this has no happy ending for that ship.

Very very short one shot. Have not written any SVU fic in a very long time so I am extremely rusty. Be gentle.

Dedicated to all the fans of the show who think Ed Tucker is the most ridiculous love interest Olivia Benson ever had.

Enjoy….

"Bye Tucker"

Those words resonated in Ed Tuckers ears as he closed Olivia Benson's apartment door. A place he had felt at home in for the past year or so.

He turned his back to the door, he could faintly hear Olivia talking to her son Noah. He stood and listened, the words were muffled but you could hear the love she has for him from just the tone of her voice.

He sighs as she lets out a loud laugh. He figures that is his cue to move on. He slowly walks down the corridor leading to the lift.

Tucker ponders on what went wrong. He had felt Olivia's reluctance to have the relationship out in the open with their work colleagues but he had put that down to him being in IAB.

Ed pushed the button on the lift and waited. Sure he and Olivia had a lot of history, not all good. In fact he felt a lot of their history was murky. He had done a lot of things in the past to hurt her, even to the point of wanting her fired. He still isn't sure what changed.

She had forgiven him for everything. Under the same circumstances he wonders if he could have been as forgiving. Could he have put everything in the past? Probably not, he was known to hold a grudge for a long time.

He can hear the lift rattling it's way up to her floor. It was HER floor, not theirs. No matter how often he had stayed over, how often he had cooked meals for them, how often he had been there to put Noah to bed he had always known it was hers.

He waits for the lift, it is notoriously slow. Paris went well, he thinks to himself. They had a good time. Noah was fairly indifferent. The kid hadn't enjoyed the flight both there and back. He had cried quite a bit but once they arrived in Paris Tucker thought he would pick up a bit.

Tucker knew she had always wanted to go to Paris. At first he hadn't anticipated taking Noah with them. The more Olivia had talked about it the more she kept referring to the three of them.

It dawned on Tucker that Benson didn't have family to take care of the child. It was something he hadn't even thought about. He knew her family history but it hadn't actually occurred to him that she had nobody else for Noah. Obviously they couldn't expect the babysitter to stay for a week while they went on holiday.

The lift dinged and the doors opened. Tucker entered the car for what was probably the last time. The doors closed and the lift spluttered into life.

They had done the typical tourist things, The Louvre, Eiffel Tower even a tour on the River Seine. It was probably a bit much for such a young child but Tucker is adamant Olivia enjoyed herself even if Noah didn't.

Tucker felt their relationship had shifted after they returned from Paris. Olivia seemed to dive back into work. Her promotion was supposed to cut down the hours she worked. That's why he had pushed her to take the Lieutenant's exam so quickly after the Sergeant's exam.

He Isn't sure if it is the after effects of what happened to Dodds? Maybe it had brought a lot of bad memories for her, who knows?

She just seemed to be constantly working. He had also found himself playing babysitter to Noah more often than not because Olivia's regular help was usually unavailable.

Tucker had asked her if she was alright but true to form Olivia had retreated back into herself and given her standard reply "I'm fine".

The lift juddered to a stop. Tucker goes to step forward but he realises it has stopped at one of the lower floors to let people on. A loved up couple, just what he needed right now. He tried to hide the grimace as they entered and gave them a slight nod as they entered. He then put his head down.

It wasn't how he envisioned his life as he got older. He had thought he was done with kids but he had pursued Benson knowing full well she intended to legally become Noah's mother.

Tucker had warmed to the idea, even if Noah hadn't fully taken to him yet. He had put it down to Noah being so used to having Olivia or Lucy around that it was a big change to his routine to have Tucker spending more time with them.

Tucker had thought that his transfer to the CIU would convince Olivia to slow down, smell the roses. He didn't want to be the one sitting and watching the clock waiting for his partner to return home. In the end it had made no difference.

The lift halted once more and the loved up couple exited first. Tucker steps out into the foyer of the building. As he walks towards the large glass doors that would take him outside all he could think was that even though he was willing to give her everything it wasn't enough.

The loved up couple are long gone now. He pushes the door open and walks out. Tucker heads towards the steps, he hears the door close and lock behind him. She had never given him a key to her apartment, the door code had changed last week and she hadn't given him the new one yet. Maybe that should have been a sign he thinks.

The air is chilly. He pulls the collar of his coat up and around his neck and heads down the stone steps.

"Ed"

Tuckers eyes snap up and they lock with the deep blue eyes of another man. The other man turns away and continues to walk up the steps to the building doors.

Tucker continues down the steps to the pavement. He can't help but think the voice and eyes are very familiar.

He looks back up towards Olivia Benson's building and at the man who is now standing at the top entering the door code to unlock the large glass doors.

The man grabs the door and is about to step inside. Just before he does he turns around and once again locks eyes with Ed Tucker.

Tucker watches intently as the man turns around. The man is wearing a beanie but there is no mistaking who he is. The eyes, the voice and now that smirk. He had seen that smirk many times over the years.

Tucker turns away. He did, for half a second, consider going back up there and confronting the man but he knew it was a lost cause.

Tucker had to be foolish to think that they had completely stopped any contact.

They had worked together for 12 years. He had to have known that Olivia Benson would never just let go of Elliot Stabler.