I think any relationship between Stone and Benson is less to do with her and more to do with propping up him. Benson is the character the audience is supposed to identify with, she's a working mom with problems just like you, target demographic! So when she tells us Stone is great, that we should give Stone a chance, when she eyeballs him with his shirt off, we're supposed to think that he's a great guy with a good heart and a fine set of pecs. I can almost guarantee this episode will end with Stone and Benson sharing a drink in a bar while she tells him, and by extension the audience, that he's a good man who did the right thing, as the camera slowly pushes in on his watery eyes because he doesn't truly believe it. It's all about him and trying to create a connection with him.
They've been trying to set Stone up as the male lead of the show since he joined but the problem is it's incredibly difficult to introduce a new lead 19 years in to a show. They don't really have time to do it organically. Instead we get the other characters telling us what a wonderful guy he is, and an unearned and overwhelming focus on his personal life to match the equally overwhelming but 20 years more earned focus on Olivia's personal life. I like Stone. On paper he's a good character and he's played by a capable actor. But in trying to set him up as the lead character they are inflicting all the mistakes they've made with Olivia's character on him but over a shorter period of time. Olivia's kidnappings and Noah and hostage situations happened across seven years. Stone's barely been here one and he's a one man series of unfortunate events. It's suffocating.
