While it seemed like it would have been a natural progression for the characters, one of the many things that kept me watching weekly was the sincere hope that they wouldn’t cross that line.
As we know (I’m looking at you, Moonlighting), sometimes fulfilling the sexual tension between two characters just doesn’t work at all.
Honestly, as a fan of SVU in those early days, I can confirm that Meloni is on the money about that.
It was wonderful to see how close and supportive of each other Benson and Stabler were, without it ever crossing into let-me-touch-your-naughty-bits territory.