A/N: Look, I have a problem. I know I have all these WIPS that people are waiting on, but when inspiration hits, it HITS HARD. This is an AU. So, I hope you guys enjoy and don't worry, I'm still working hard on my other ongoing fics right now. They'll be updated soon. I don't own SVU or its characters. ENJOY.

He was really doing this.

After staring miserably at the empty right side of a hotel bed last night, he was really doing this.

He looked down at the boarding pass in his hand and walked slowly behind the line of people entering the plane. His carry-on felt heavy in his hand and he already had the seat number memorized. The one beside it would be completely empty.

Rafael Barba tried in vain not think about that. He tried to think about this twelve-hour long flight and the fact that he was going to be sitting next to a vacant seat where his fiancé, or would be wife, was supposed to be.

Being left at the altar was embarrassing. Spending his entire honeymoon, that he paid for with his lawyer salary alone, was even more so. All those stupid little honeymoon surprises he opted in for were going to go to waste. The bouquets of flowers that were going to be there when he arrived would go in the trash, and he was most definitely going to tear that framed picture of them into tiny little pieces and burn them with one of the candles that would be sitting around the whirlpool tub, waiting to be lit for a romantic, candle lit, couples bath.

What a fucking joke.

He tried not to feel so damn sad and depressed, but it wasn't working. He drank all through the night, ignored all those pleading text messages from his friends and his mother to talk to them, to let them know he was going to be ok, in favor of trying to get rid of the pain in his chest. He woke that morning not feeling much better, but at least the massive hangover he had was causing him to look more angry and bitter, rather than heartbroken.

He felt his phone buzz in his pocket and he pulled it out, immediately greeted with the sight of Yelena lighting up his screen. He read the text message from his mother, whom he finally text back that morning, explaining what he was doing. She didn't like that he was going to go on the trip, but she understood his need to leave the city behind, at least for an entire week. He would take advantage of this trip, since it was already paid for and non-refundable.

Who knew. Maybe he wasn't completely lying to himself by saying this week would be long enough to heal his broken heart and the memory of being left standing at the altar, his best man and his bride-to-be, gone in the limousine they were supposed to take to the reception hall after the ceremony.

No…no, this week wouldn't be enough. It was going to take a long while. But, hell, while he was in Maui, he might as well drink enough to force himself to sleep every night and gain ten pounds right along with it.

Liv did her best not to think too hard about the empty seat beside her.

She was so stupid…

She really thought he was it. She really thought he was the right one for her. After searching high and low for so many years, she finally met and fell in love with Brian Cassidy. He took her by surprise and made her his. Charmed her and showed her just how it felt to be loved by the right man.

Or, she thought.

Olivia Benson wasn't perfect. She had skeletons in her closet. She had done things in her past, in her career, that were morally questionable, but she was a good person. She loved her job, helping victims of sexual assault and abuse. It brought her comfort. It brought her peace, knowing the more scum she scraped off the streets the better the people of Manhattan could rest.

She thought Brian knew this, too. She thought he had accepted that her job was the biggest part of her life. For a while, she thought he did, at least. And she would admit, the last few months had been a little hard on both of them. Between both of their careers and the less time they got to spend together, she could feel them drifting apart. No matter how much she tried to make up for it with homemade dinners and surprise shower sex in the mornings before work, it didn't seem to close the divide that was growing more and more each day between them.

She tried to hold back tears as she stared down at her phone screen. It was a picture of Brian and her, cuddled close together on the couch in their living room. It was taken last year, and it had been on her phone screen ever since. It was a much happier time between the two of them, when they weren't arguing about canceled plans or bringing work home with them. Back when they were together, and not exes.

Liv tried her best to keep the stinging tears at bay, locking her phone again and staring at her reflection in the black screen as people boarded the plane. It was embarrassing, sitting alone with an empty seat beside her, in a row meant for two people. He was supposed to be there with her. It was a trip that was supposed to mend whatever was breaking between the two of them, but it was all for naught.

He would be done moving his things out by the time she got to Maui, where she would hole herself up in her hotel room for the first day and then sit in the bar in the resort all the rest. An entire week away from the city, on a trip meant for two lovers…

Two days ago, when they had that heart wrenching break-up talk, she couldn't dream of rolling out of bed and packing her bags. She was content to let her money go to waste, just like he was, until Nick and Fin and Amanda managed to talk her into going. She had wrinkled her nose at her co-worker's suggestion, but the more she thought about when she got home to an empty apartment that night, the more she agreed.

The city could do without Olivia Benson for a week. It was going to need her when she came back, but until then, she needed to get away and enjoy the sun and the sand and all that other shit that happened on vacations that she was too sad to even think about right now.

Rafael had just sat down in his seat when someone cleared their throat.

He looked over at the blonde guy, who smiled nervously at him and waved his boarding pass between him and a woman, standing by the seat that was diagonal from him. Rafael bit back an annoyed sigh, already knowing what their predicament was.

"Hi pal," the man started and Rafael inhaled through flared nostrils, "My girlfriend-oh, wait, I mean new wife," he gushed and the woman next to him giggled. Rafael wanted to throw up but he managed to quirk an eyebrow and plaster a forced, fake smile on his face. "We bought our tickets at the last minute and unfortunately, we didn't get seated together. We were wondering, since it looks like neither of you have people with you, if you could possibly trade us a seat so we could sit together? I know it's last minute and you probably don't want to move, but we would really appreciate it if you could."

Rafael licked his lips and stood, waving his hand around instead of confirming that it was ok with him. The couple blinked as he moved past them, shoulder bumping the man without care and waited for them to slip into his now vacant seat.

"Thank you so much," the woman said excitedly, "We really do appreciate it!"

Rafael looked at her for a second before rudely turning away and slipping into the seat next to some woman, who gave him a dirty look through glassy eyes. He shot her a mean look back just as the flight attendant came over the intercom with a painfully cheery voice.

"You're sitting on my magazine," the woman said suddenly, her voice low and eyes narrowed. Rafael sat up and grabbed it, nearly hitting her in the face with it when he swung it in her direction. He felt bad when she flinched and snatched it out of his hand, but that quickly went away when she called him an asshole, rather loudly, capturing the attention of the surrounding passengers who were listening intently to the woman at the front of the plane.

Rafael tuned her out and slipped in some earbuds, attaching them to his phone. He could care less in that moment if the plane plunged into the side of the mountain and they all went up in flames. At least it would stop the absolute sadness he felt when he saw Yelena's face on his phone screen again.

Liv managed to fall asleep only an hour into the flight, the exhaustion she felt from a sleepless night and a marathon crying session allowed her to. Normally, she wasn't one to sleep on planes, but she found the rocking motion of the slight turbulence knocked her out rather quickly, and long enough that when she was forced to open her eyes by a passing flight attendant, they were descending into Maui.

Liv yawned and opened her eyes, realizing she had been resting her head on the man's shoulder who shoved her magazine at her earlier. She lifted herself up and away, locking eyes with his sleepy and disgruntled ones. She crinkled her nose and lifted the blanket away from her body, quickly folding it and setting it down by her feet. She was a little mortified that she had snuggled up next to some random stranger she didn't know, especially one so damn ornery and angry, but then again, he seemed to have fallen asleep on her as well.

Besides, she was too distracted by the dreams she had the entire time she was out. Dreams of Brian. Of good memories shared between them, when they thought they were it for each other. She could feel another wave of tears threatening to spill down her cheeks, but she choked it down and kept a straight face as she buckled her seat belt and the blue ocean that spread for miles and miles and far beyond met her eyes.

She chose to marvel at how small the surrounding islands looked from up above, instead of the impending sense of dread building in her stomach. She was officially there for an entire week, by herself, in a room meant for two. She bit her lip and set back in her seat, bringing her phone up to her face to look at the picture on the screen.

She needed to change it. She knew that. But every time she had tried within the past few days to do it, her fingers didn't seem to want to move. Every time she opened up her pictures and scrolled through the hundreds she had snapped of him and her together, or just him, to find one a stock image with some random color on it, she ended up closing it and leaving it there. It was almost as if her mind wanted her to suffer.

But, she knew that wasn't the case. She was going to have to move-on and get over this and let three years swirl down the tubes where it had inevitably been going for a long time. Knowing this didn't make it any easier.

She glanced over at the man seated next to her and caught sight of his phone screen, seeing a dark-haired woman smiling at the camera. When she looked up at his face and saw the despair there, Olivia knew she wasn't alone in her hurt. She could spot that look anywhere. She had been wearing it for two days herself.

She looked away and back out at the window, seeing the island grow bigger and bigger until they finally touched down.

Rafael immediately hated how it felt to be here.

He had envisioned this day a lot, back when the wedding planning was still going on. He had always wanted to go to Hawaii. It was the perfect honeymoon destination, and he had insisted on it the moment the topic was brought up. Yelena seemed on board with it, and agreed with how it was the perfect place to go, seeing as how they were both warm-blooded Cubans who thrived in hot weather and lived for the sandy beaches and palm trees.

He scoffed at it now. Fuck the hot weather. He would rather be in his bed, in his apartment, under the covers with a scotch while it was cold and rainy and dreary outside his bedroom window. He didn't want to be in the happy, warm sun, watching all the other newlyweds running around, taking pictures and feeding each other off their plates at restaurants.

He managed to bypass getting one of those god-awful leis as he exited the plan and he walked as fast he could out of the airport and hopped into a waiting cab, lined along the sidewalk in hopes of picking up a passenger and making some money.

"You hear alone?"

Rafael chose to ignore the driver's question and settled down into his seat, rubbing his temples. He could feel a headache beginning to brew under the surface, and it was the type that was going to put him down the rest of the night if he didn't get any sort of medication in him. He was half-tempted to let it.

"No spouse? No children?"

The man was big and burly and had a huge grin on his face, trying to make friendly enough conversation for a bigger tip, he was sure. He didn't take the bait, though. All he wanted to do was get to his hotel room, clean all that lover's shit up and fall into bed. After, of course, he called his mother who demanded to let her know when he made it there safely. He wasn't stupid enough to not call her, either. She would fly down to Maui herself and track him down just to make sure he was safe, especially after that shit show of a wedding.

Really, he owed his mother a lot. After he all but fled the church as soon as he found out Yelena and Alex took off, Lucia Barba took charge and worked everything out for him. She apologized for the inconvenience, fielded all of those apologies from the guests who were there to see a wedding, and called to cancel the caterer, the DJ, and everything else they had ordered for the big day.

God, he didn't even want to think about it. His poor mother had looked at him with such heart ache, hands over her chest and a sad, sad tear slipping down her cheek when she realized what happened. It was a look he never wanted to see from her again, for as long as he lived. He prayed to God he wouldn't.

The driver had given up on small talk and a good tip and as soon as they pulled up to the Four Seasons Maui Resort, Rafael booked it with his luggage to the check-in desk. Thankfully, there wasn't a line and he was up in his hotel room within minutes of arriving.

He cringed at the sight of rose petals trailing from the door to the bed, where they were spread out in the design of a big heart. In the middle sat a framed picture of the two of them, the one they both liked the best and what he chose to be there as a surprise for when they arrived. He reached over and grabbed it, shoving the entire thing into the dark wood nightstand that stood next to the bed, with a few unlit candles on top.

Rafael pushed his bags onto the big sofa in the seat area and flipped on the flat screen, needing some sort of background noise in the room. He had slept for the past four years with Yelena's stupid fucking white noise machine blaring in his ear when he would stay at her place, and it had, in turn, made him need some sort of soft noise at all times when he was at his apartment alone.

He ignored the happy voice of the woman listing all the amenities the hotel had to offer and, instead, kicked off his shoes and headed straight for the mini-bar. He had a feeling he was going to have an outrageously large bill by the time he checked out.

After having filled a tumblr with more scotch than was necessary, he dialed his mother and sat back on the bed, feeling his tense muscles start to relax a little into the soft, fluffy mattress. His nerves were frayed and even though he slept on the plane (cuddled next to that woman for some reason), he could feel his eyes start to droop and sleep pull at the corners of his consciousness. He was going to definitely sleep, but not before he could speak with his mother and try and assure her somewhat.

She picked up on the second ring and her voice was filled with worry.

"Rafi? Did you make it there ok?"

"I'm fine, mamí. I'm here."

"Oh Rafi, I still don't think it was a good idea to go by yourself, sweetheart. After everything…"

He sighed, "Mamí, I just need some time to myself. I'm hurt and embarrassed and I just…want to be alone right now. I know you wanted me to stay with you for a little bit but that's going to do nothing but cause fights between us and that's the last thing I want."

"I know mi hijo. I just want to make sure you're going to be ok. Your heart is broken and it's not easy to fix."

"Thanks for the encouragement."

"That bitch…she better hope she never runs into me again. I'll give her something to run away from!"

"Jesus, mom, calm down. Just…drop it, please. I don't want to talk about it anymore. I just want to go to sleep."

"I'm sorry, honey. Alright, I'll let you get some rest, ok baby? I love you. Call me later on tonight."

"I will. I promise. I love you, mom. Thanks for everything."

"I love you, too, honey."

He hung up and dropped his phone down on the other side of the bed, settling into the pillows and falling asleep almost immediately.

Liv tried and failed to find the beautiful architecture of the hotel interesting as she traveled through it and towards the front desk.

It took a while the get out of the airport, having trouble finding her luggage and then, getting caught in a line of people waiting for taxi's and shuttle buses to take them to their destinations. It did nothing to improve her mood, but, it did change her sadness into full blown anger at the situation. She was somewhat grateful for that.

Anything to not feel so incredibly sad anymore, she would take.

"Checking-in. Benson."

The young woman behind the desk cheerily tapped away and for a second, she wondered if everyone around her seemed so cheery just because she was so sad. It seemed highly unlikely that everyone was this happy all the time down here, but then again, she lived in Manhattan, where some of the rudest people lived and breathed, so that could be it. Or, she was just that sad. It was hard to tell.

"You have the suite?"

Liv nodded, memories flooding back of the excitement she had when she had booked that suite. It was the last one left and she snagged it up, thinking about how nice it was going to be to have such a big, luxurious space to themselves. Now, it was just going to be her.

Fuck, this was getting harder instead of easier.

"Enjoy your stay!"

"Thanks," she replied sullenly and walked through the hotel until she reached the bank of elevators. Her mood only worsened when she ended up loading the elevator with two couples, all four-people talking excitedly about their weddings and how in love they were and blah, blah, blah, bullshit. She nearly ran out of the elevator as soon as the door opened and she found her room quickly, not far from the ice machine.

When she entered, she didn't bother to look around. She just dropped her luggage on the couch and sifted through it to find fresh underwear and her sleep shirt. She studiously ignored the lingerie set she had stashed away in there just weeks before they left. She wanted to surprise Brian with it, but that wouldn't be happening. It wouldn't be happening for anyone in a very long time, because she was done with relationships now.

Officially done. No more. She promised herself, as she stepped under the hot spray of water in the large shower of the bathroom. She was done with men and their bullshit and all the heartache her relationships always ended in. She wanted no part of it anymore.

From this moment forward, she was content to be single for the rest of her life.

And that was a lie, she knew it. Deep in the back of her mind, she was still hopeful that Brian would see the error of his ways and beg for her back and she would go to him, because she still loved him with her everything. It was a little pathetic and she hated that, but it was how she felt. It was how she probably would always feel. In love with a man who didn't love her back.

Story of her fucking life.

She spent more time than actually necessary under the hot water before she stepped out and changed into sleep clothes. It was nearing dinner time in Maui, but she didn't have the energy to go down to the hotel restaurant and sit alone at a table and eat food made for one. She had a mini bar which she planned to break into for a nice glass of wine, and it more than likely had some bagged peanuts or chocolate she could munch on before she passed out again.

But first, she needed to call Fin. He had been worried about her the most, knowing her the longest and he made her promise to call him when she landed. She waited until she was under the covers in her big, nice bed with her wine and a bag of dried fruit, the television playing softly in the background, to call him.

"Please tell me the city is still standing."

"Believe it or not, it is. How's Maui? As beautiful as it is in the brochure?"

"From what I've seen of it so far, yeah. Doubt I'll see that much more of it from my hotel room."

"Ah, don't be like that Liv. Go out and sight see. Enjoy yourself. Forget about that asshole and live a little."

"Easier said than done…"

"Yeah. I know."

"Have you heard from him at all?"

"No and I don't want to. Dumb ass made the biggest mistake of his life."

Liv cracked a smile hearing that. Fin always had her back. "I was certainly no help when it came down to it, you know."

"I don't believe it. Cassidy's an idiot. We all know it. Amaro's glad you two broke up but he promised me not to tell you that."

She laughed now, "I'm not surprised."

"It's good to hear you laugh. It's been a while."

The smile fell from her face. She agreed. "Yeah. It has been. But, I'm going to let you go. I have a date with a glass of wine and the local news."

"Seriously, Liv. Get out and have fun. We want to see you tan and happy when you come home."

"I'll try. I'll talk to you later."

Liv set her phone on the nightstand and burrowed back into the pillows, finishing off her glass of wine in record time and didn't even bother to open the packet of dried fruit. Instead, she turned off the lights in the room and fell asleep to the sound of the television.