Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay spiked the pulse rates of "Law & Order" fans last month with a steamy-looking rehearsal shot of them looking like they were about to kiss.
They shared the story behind that racy photo and even did an impromptu re-creation on TODAY ahead of Thursday's season premieres of "Law & Order: SVU" and "Law & Order: Organized Crime."
"Our eyesight just got so bad that it's the old, 'Is that you? Is that you?'" Meloni joked about the intimate scene.
The answer everyone wants to know is whether it's a hint that Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson are finally going to be romantically involved this season after 20-plus years as partners and friends.
"It's all underneath percolating," Hargitay said. "Right now after Stabler being gone for 10 years and the way that he left and the complexity of what's happened and how he came back surprising me, we're still finding our way.
"But it's complex and real, and I think what I love about it most is that it's earned. This relationship is truly earned. Not a lot of people have a 23-year relationship."
Stabler was seen uttering the words "I love you" to Benson during an episode of "Organized Crime" in April during the show's first season.
"I was under emotional duress," Meloni said about his character. "I was saying it because I was in the midst of an intervention. My family was coming together with the help of Olivia Benson for an intervention.
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