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Another tough case, another late night spent on reports. It was four o' clock in the morning. Elliot Stabler sat at his desk, surrounded by stacks of files and empty styrofoam coffee cups. Across from him was his partner and best friend, Olivia Benson. She glanced up from her report and made a face at him. He retaliated by flicking a rubber band into her coffee. As much as they both hated staying late to do their DD5s, they could always find a way to entertain each other and make the chore a little bit more bearable.

The station was null of any other life, save for the late-night janitor who had graced them with the presence of himself and his mop a few minutes earlier. Not anything special under normal circumstance, but since witnesses weren't around she used it as an opportunity to play around.

Olivia picked the rubber band out of her coffee with and flicked it back at Elliot, hitting him right between the eyes.

Elliot looked up at her with narrowed eyes as he wiped droplets of coffee from his brow. "What the hell was that for?" he asked.

Olivia shrugged. "I'm bored," she said. "And you started it anyway."

"I did not."

"Yes you did."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"I did not!"

"You did too!"

The next response from her partner was a paperclip missile that made direct contact with Olivia's nose. Retaliation came in the form of pen lobbed at Elliot's ear. A wadded up Post-It note from Elliot. An empty cup from Olivia. Wads of paper, coffee cups, pencils, and paperclips flew back and forth between the two until there was nothing left to throw except staplers or their weapons. Trash and random office supplies littered the floor and desktops. Olivia looked around at the mess and frowned.

"Maybe we should have done this before Bill came through here to clean," she said, suddenly feeling a bit guilty.

Elliot laughed. "Maybe we shouldn't have done this at all." He looked down at his files and scrunched his nose. "I think I threw part of my report at you."

"Serves you right," Olivia said with a grin.

"This is all your fault, you know."

"It is not."

"It is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"God, you're like a three year old," Olivia sighed.

"I learned from the best," Elliot said with a wink.

Olivia rolled her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something back at him but ended up yawning instead. A quick look at the clock on the wall in front of her made her realize why she was suddenly tired. It was 5:50a. She groaned. "It's almost six o' clock in the morning, El."

He turned around to see for himself, then shook his head and turned back around. "Six o' clock, and I'm not even close to being finished with this damn report. No thanks to you."

"This isn't my fault," Olivia said. "You know, I'm not done with mine, either."

"It is too your fault."

"No, it's /not/."

"Yes, it /is/."

"No, it's--NO. Not this again." Olivia sighed. "I'm too tired for this."

Elliot nodded. "Me, too."

Olivia looked around at the mess, then down to the lack of work that sat in front of her. "Cragen's gonna kill us when he gets here."

"Not if we're not here," Elliot said with a grin.

Olivia cocked her head at her partner. "What...Elliot no, we can't just leave this."

"Sure we can," he said. He gathered the loose pieces of his report and stuffed them in a file folder with some blank sheets of paper. He glanced at Olivia, who was giving him a confused look. "Who knows if he actually reads these, right? As long as they look full, no one will know."

Olivia shook her head at her partner, then followed his example. "You're a terrible influence," she said.

"I know," he said, "but you want to go home and get some sleep, don't you?"

Olivia let out a rather exasperated sigh, but went along with it. "We should do something about this mess, too, don't you think?"

Elliot let out a laugh. "I'm not cleaning this up."

"I'm not saying we clean it up. I'm saying we.../relocate/ it," Olivia said, and motioned her head toward Munch and Fin's desks.

"I really am a terrible influence," Elliot said. He got up from his seat and helped his partner kick a pile of paper and styrofoam cups under their co-worker's desks. When they finished 'relocating' their mess, they grabbed their coats and rushed down the stairs to leave. Cragen would be here in a matter of minutes, and they had to be out before he saw them.

Just as they'd exited the front door and thought they were safe, they saw the captain on the steps. "You're just now leaving?" Cragen asked, checking his watch. "Get a lot of work done?"

Elliot and Olivia looked at each other, then back to their captain. "It was a long night," Elliot said, not wanting to delve into any further details.

Cragen nodded. "Good work, you two." He patted Elliot on the shoulder. "Now go home and get some sleep. We don't need the two of you to be dead on your feet for your shift."

"Of course not, Captain," Olivia said with a smile. "We'll see you later."

Cragen gave another nod, then entered the building. Elliot let out deep breath as he and Olivia walked away. "That was close," he said. He smiled at his partner. "You hungry? Wanna grab a bite to eat at the diner before we head home?"

"And waste precious sleeping time?" Olivia asked. "Of course I would."