Disclaimer: Dick Wolf and whoever else owns the characters and whatnot. Not mine!

A/N: New fandom for me... I think I should go back to CATS and cartoons where I belong. ;) I've got a Coricopat and Tantomile ficlet started, um, sort of, but decided "why not?" and wrote this.

The "romance" is only implied. Sort of.

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Forty Winks & a Scarf to Prove It

Story by: Scrawler

Beta read by: Latvian Ice

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Dr. George Huang was, despite contrary belief, not perfectly professional while sleeping. There goes the SVU squad pool. His firm cheekbones were warm with the glow of the sun shining down on them. Peculiarly, he wasn't outside. The sun wasn't even in the sky which, oddly enough for New York City, was pitch black. ADA Alex Cabot was the magnificent liquid heat against his face, in the dimly lit area outside the ME ward.

Alex's head was tilted into Huang's, her temple rested on his cheek, and her breath spread gently over his neck. The doctor's dark hair ran together with the ADA's own blonde hair, one contracting the other. Alex's soft but firm features rested on Huang's own, peaceful and subtle in his slumber.

Huang had one arm, that closest to Alex, raised and supported on the back of the bench. His hand draped down and was folded into Alex's glossy hair.

Elliot Stabler walked past, taking large strides. Mister rough and tumble detective man was stopped in his tracks by the effects of long hours. He took a step back and looked for a moment at what he was almost sure he was seeing. He smirked.

"Found her- uh, them."

Munch, intrigued, walked up to Elliot to see what had made his fellow detective double take on. Usually it was only eight-year-old rapists and, like the case that only moments ago had been closed, eighty-one-year-old men guilty of rape-homicide. Four counts.

Munch raised his eyebrows at the sight. "Cute."

"Cute?" Elliot repeated.

"In an unprofessional, kinky way, yes, very cute."

"Mmm hnnn..." Alex muttered quietly in her sleep.

In turn, Huang said something incoherent to the two detectives watching, and his foot twitched.

"George..." Alex raised two fingers in her sleep and then dropped them limply. "Guilty..."

Munch snorted, amused.

"May I?" he asked, peering at Elliot from over his dark glasses. Elliot held up his hands, gesturing to the two snoozing professionals.

"I insist."

Munch grinned. "Alright..." He cleared his throat for show. "Alex..." He started off in a whisper. "Doc..."

Munch paused. "PSST!" he said, loudly. "Alex!"

Immediately, Alex jarred awake. Her sudden jolt of movement left Huang to slide down toward Alex a few inches before awaking with a start. His arm that had been at an angle immediately shot in front of him so to keep his balance since his previous support, Alex, had risen.

Alex tried to stand up, but her hair was caught in the cuff button of Huang's shirt. He immediately started to untangle it as Alex tried to beat a wince of pain that would not smooth away. The two were a tangle of bodies, suits, hair and flailing limbs as Munch and Elliot watched, suppressing loud laughs.

As soon and Huang gave the, "Sorry, sorry!" signal to Alex's freed hair, Alex stood up strict as a board and straightened out her suit which had, due to her napping position, wrinkled. She subconsciously checked for any drool that might have escaped her serious all-work-and-no-play persona. There was none on her face but, to her immense embarrassment, there was a dark spot on Dr. Huang's suit just above where her mouth had been.

Huang was yet to notice the spot as he, as professional as he could be in the situation, straightened his tie and rubbed his eyes awake.

"So.... What was George here guilty of, huh?" The moment Munch's words left his lips, Alex froze. Only for a second did she lose her practiced side glare at Munch as her eyes darted to Huang. He was sporting a tiny smile, curious and intrigued. The most discreet of rosy pink blushes crossed Alex's bright face, but fled as quickly as it came.

"I..." Alex, her mind still where it had just been, resting on Huang's shoulders, lost any possible comeback of words and set herself up to Munch. "...don't know."

"I've got a few guesses," Munch said with a jeer. "Wanna hear 'em?"

"No," Alex replied flatly.

"Did waiting for Warner and the DNA really take that long?" Elliot asked cockily, raising his eyebrows explicitly.

"Depends," Alex said, her voice a little more flustered than she'd hoped it had sounded. "Is the DNA back yet?"

Elliot smiled and started to unroll his sleeves. This act became a ritual for him. He'd roll up his sleeves for work, every day before sitting down at his desk, and then pull them down, crinkled, before he went home. "Perfect match," Elliot said. "Kingley's brother confessed and is in booking right now. I guess Warner didn't want to wake you two with something Olivia and I just as easily took care of, huh?"

"Yeah," Alex and Huang both said at the same time. Their tones mirrored each other with a quick pike of awkwardness.

"Well it has been a late night," Munch insisted. Huang and Alex, especially, were still wary of his comments. The two chose to answer shortly.

"Yep."

"Uh-huh."

Munch strolled around the two. "I mean, it's nothing a little one on one nap couldn't solve. So, tell me, what was the play by play?"

Alex straightened her glasses. "If you need it that bad, Munch, I can sell you a transcript. Otherwise, I suggest you keep your wild suspicions and allegations to your 'detective work.'" She brought her chin up to Munch and gave him a look that asked, "any MORE stupid questions?"

"Good work with the case, Elliot." Alex said, having chosen to ignore Munch. "Bye," she said shortly to Huang as she saw herself out. The click of her heels faded away as she headed for her office.

If falling asleep by Dr. Huang hadn't been a big thing to her, Alex would have easily maneuvered her way out of any of Munch's old comments. The fact that he had startled her in the first place set the entire ordeal off on a bad foot, anyway. But waking up to see Dr. Huang beside her, much less falling asleep by him in the first place, was something she felt... uncertain about. How had they fallen asleep like that anyway? Waiting for the ME's DNA results, she remembered that. Huang had sat down and the two talked about the case for... Alex wasn't sure how long.

She knew she wouldn't have been so embarrassed if the situation didn't mean anything to her... Alex shook the thoughts away. She had a trial to prepare; if the Kingers brother was foolish enough to find a lawyer, and could just as easily think about George Huang another day. That, too, rooted a little bit of worry on her professional side.

Something about late nights like these, Huang had said he liked. And after that, Alex only remembered his breathing body beside hers, hushed and in merger.

Huang, in addition, couldn't remember exactly what brought the two to fall asleep. Maybe he started on some theory about the everyday murderer and put her to sleep with fairy tales of serial killers and nursery rhymes about cannibals? He thought about it and almost instantly had an answer. He didn't know what caused Alex to fall asleep (she had looked pretty fierce and awake while watching the interrogation of the perp), but he knew how he did.

He hadn't wanted to wake her, first of all. And secondly.... Secondly, he was tired. Yeah, Huang thought to himself, let's go with that. Tired.

"So," Munch said, ganging up on Huang beside Elliot. "Who fell asleep first?"

Huang opened his mouth and then closed it. He smiled, though still ultimately embarrassed by the ordeal.

"You're the detectives," he said, and shrugged. It was then that he noticed the spot of drool on his shoulder. "But," he started, quietly, nodding with a click of his tongue. "Taking the evidence into consideration..."

Letting the detectives, more so Munch, wait and pray on what he was supposedly going to say next, Huang looked at his watch instead. "It's late." He smiled up at the two detectives. "Bye."

He turned to find his jacket. Upon picking it up off the bench reveled Alex's scarf to be under it in a small wad.

Munch leaned over and picked up the scarf. "You should really get this back to her," he said to Huang, wriggling his eyebrows suggestively. "And don't just keep it to look pretty."

Huang agreed that, yes, Alex would be missing her scarf.

"Bring it to her post haste." Elliot grinned as Huang, with a friendly nod passed through Elliot and Munch, set on his own get away.

Elliot shrugged and patted Munch's arm, leading him a ways back to his desk.

Munch stopped at his home away from home and started tidying up his things before he was to leave. "I'm buying that transcript," he said.

-X-

"Hey... Alex?" George Huang tapped lightly on her office door. The ADA looked up from stuffing her briefcase full of reports and documents. She pulled the hair in front of her face back and behind her right ear.

"Doctor Huang, hi, come in," Alex said in a rush. She paused and looked down at her desk, not sure what was her signature on a legal document from what was a doodle on napkin anymore.

"Anything particular you need?" Alex asked after George hadn't said anything in response.

"Oh, um, no. I think you forgot this, though." He handed Alex her lavender scarf. She remembered just then why it wasn't with her in the first place. She'd been heading home before she decided to stop and wait for the DNA instead. She realized she must have left it in a hurry from the bench. An awkward moment all due to me, Alex thought coolly. Goody.

The ADA smiled and she took the scarf from George. "And here I thought you had it to just look pretty."

"Funny thing," George said, nodding. "That's what Munch said, too."

Alex chuckled.

"I also wanted to apologize," the doctor started, "for embarrassing you back there."

Alex smiled briefly, her azure eyes lit up the room. "Don't apologize, Doctor." She stood up and rounded on him, her briefcase under her arm and scarf draped loosely around her neck. "I did, after all, fall asleep first."

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Yes I KNOW it's corny! Comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.