It wasn't exactly the most romantic of beginnings that they'd met at the courthouse. They had both ended up testifying in a particularly nasty SVU case where a serial rapist had beaten his own daemon to lure unsuspecting victims. George, his daemon Adilya in his arms to avoid being stomped on in the hustle of the courthouse noticed Ryan sitting on a bench collecting himself. His clown fish daemon in one of the clear plastic belt pouches used to transport fish daemons.

"Are you alright?" George had asked, Ryan looked up at him and nodded. His expression clearly saying 'no'. "Do you need to talk about it?"

"Sure, but can we do it over drinks? I could use one."

George smiled, "Sure."

They had drinks and talked and it stretched into dinner. Ryan had asked for his number and George hadn't thought anything of giving it to him. Ryan had called him the following weekend and asked if he was up for drinks again. George started to feel guilty during their time together for catching himself admiring Ryan's face, the taller man had the traditional gentle "pretty" features of a male omega. He found himself fantasizing at home about sharp cheekbones, sparkling green eyes and mixed heat sex. Alphas always claimed that being brought into rut by an omega in heat gave them the best sex ever, they had no idea what it was like when both partners were in the throes of heat. George generally found himself in relationships with beta males, the feminine form and the alpha knot offering no interest or desire for him. Finding omega partners when you were an omega yourself was difficult. So many people viewed omegas in relationships as 'wasteful'. An omega was built to take a knot.

But then they started to allow alphas and omegas to date betas.

Ryan was brilliant as well, keeping himself always on top on the latest information for his field. Once they'd closed out the bar discussing a case where beta male had been caught cutting out alpha's knots and trying to surgically attach them to himself.

Getting together had become a regular occurrence for them until one night, after grabbing a bite, Ryan asked if he wanted to have a drink back at his place. Adilya had eagerly wagged his fluffy striped tail and made it very clear he wanted to follow Ryan and Manny (short for "Mentathiel" Ryan had admitted with some embarrassment) home. They were in the apartment, Adilya curled around Manny's bowl, and two glasses of wine in when George's brain finally caught up.

If his suspicion was correct, or even if it wasn't, he was about to be very embarrassed.

"Ryan…" he asked gently.

"What is it?"

"Is this a date?"

Ryan gave him a shy smile.

"Do you want it to be?" he set aside his wine glass and gave George a look which made him shift uncomfortably from foot to foot. The man's warm green eyes was making this very uncomfortable.

"It's a little unusual, two omegas dating," George pointed out, "Something that's still frowned on by society despite everything we've gained with pills, suppressants and washes."

"Okay," Ryan chuckled, "I knew all this."

"Yet here we are. You're a forensic technician, that's a field mostly filled with betas. That must have been challenging."

"And you're an omega with the F.B.I." Ryan shrugged, "I wouldn't want to deal with your problems."

"I guess what I'm getting at is we're both omegas who've had to dealt with a little adversity in our lives," George took a step closer to Ryan. Close enough for his nostrils to flare with his light, sweet scent of an omega feeling a heatless arousal. Ryan took a slow measured breath as if he was trying to steady his nerves. George felt his pulse start to speed up and pulse along his skin.

"Are you asking me if I'm okay with inviting a little more adversity?" Ryan's voice dropped to a whisper.

"Yeah, I think so," George started to worry about his hands, they felt so useless just hanging at his side.

"How about I kiss you and we see how that makes us feel? Would that be alright?" Ryan bent down until his lips were scarcely an inch from George's.

"Yes."

They kissed and Adilya yipped happily as Manny swam in tight, quick circles. Ryan's arms pulled George gently against him, letting the smaller man lean into him. They parted and spent what felt like the longest moment of George's life staring into each other's eyes, letting their scents mingle between them. Could two omegas bond? Imprint their scents on each other?

He wanted to find out.

"Worth it?" Ryan asked, breaking the spell. George smiled and took his hands in his.

"Yes."