Lucia watched her son eat breakfast silently. This was a tradition for them, every Sunday they would have breakfast together in different cafes around the city. Sometimes they would stay in, Lucia would make huevos pericos with homemade arepas, but mostly they would go to one fancy brunch spot after the next. It wasn't so much for the luxury and price tag involved - Rafael just genuinely enjoyed the city. Although, Lucia believed that the main reason Rafael insisted on going out wasn't to flaunt his status around the town but instead to treat his mother to breakfast.
Lucia watched her son, she had never seen him so stressed. He ate quietly, barely making eye contact and every time she would try to ask him what was wrong the muscle in his jaw would tense. He had always carried stress in his jaw when he was a child he would grind down his teeth from the worry.
Lucia leaned over and stilled the fork that Rafael had been twiddling on his plate for the past couple minutes. "Alright mijo, I have watched you play with your food and check your phone every 30 seconds for the entirety of breakfast, its time to tell me whats going on." Rafael scoffed in response but Lucia held firm, she leaned back in her chair, crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at her son. Rafael mirrored his mother's stance for a couple seconds and then waned, starting to fidget under her gaze, bringing up his hands and momentarily rubbing his temples.
"Im just a little overworked right now, that's all," Rafael stated, quickly taking a drink of his coffee to cover up any feeling he didn't want his mother to witness.
"Right," his mother drawled, "and you snapping at the waiter last Sunday was what? A little stress?"
"Mami, I didn't snap at him" Rafael insisting, making proper eye contact with his mother for the first time that morning.
"He cried, Rafael." His eyes lowered at that, once again focusing on pushing his food aimlessly around his plate. He knew that he had been on edge as of late, but work had become so frustrating that he found himself lashing out at anyone that merely aggravated him. Yesterday, he yelled at a young man because he blocked the sun from him while he was trying to read at a local cafe. It was time to admit that it had gone too far.
Luciana reached over and grasped her son's hand, forcing him to look up from his plate. "Come on Rafa, tell me whats wrong."
Rafael kept up his cool exterior for as long as physically possible, staring at his mother with his best lawyer mask firmly set, but Lucia wasn't one to give up so easily. Eventually, Rafael's isolated and unfeeling expression softened to a look of sheer despondence as he dropped his fork ungracefully in his plate and brought his hand up to rub his temples. Lucia's heart broke for her son, "¿Mijo qué está mal?"
"Work is just -" Rafael paused, gritted his teeth, and looked back down at his sparsely touched plate, "Complicated."
"Complicated?"
"Yes - I've lost a couple high profile cases in a row, and I feel like i'm letting liv- um, everyone down."
"Oh, Rafa-"
"This case we're working on now is really important, especially to liv, I can't let her down again." Lucia quirked a knowing smile at her son, "Liv?'
"Yeah Sergeant Benson, you met her in my office the other day."
"And you're concerned about disappointing her?" Lucia was smiling ear to ear by now.
"She works so hard. She so invested in helping victims. I've never met anyone as determined as she is."
"You admire her?"
"yes, I do." Rafael's lips quirked up in a sweet, reminiscent smile, "She's incredible mami." Lucia smiled at her son, continuing to eat her breakfast, silently encouraging her son to continue. She knew that when Rafael started talking about Olivia, it was best to just allow him the space to get it out of his system.
"She just - she makes the job worth it!" Rafael was getting more and more animated with every sentence, waving his arms as he talked."I don't think I could do this job without her."
This isn't the first time Lucia has heard her son talk about this certain Lieutenant, it's also not the first time she caught that smile plastered on his face as he did so. She had known for quite some time that her son had carried a torch for the Lieutenant, they haven't gone a meal in four months without Raf gushing about her. She would pretend to be annoyed but she didn't have it in her, she was overjoyed that her son had grown close to Olivia. And from the limited exposure she had with Olivia when she dropped in on Rafael during court, she could tell she had a soft spot for him too.
"Well mijo, I am glad you have someone in your life," Lucia stated plainly,
Rafael immediately tensed, placing his fork on his plate carefully and facing his mother. "What?"
"I'm glad you have someone in your life. I've been worried that you're lonely, you work so much - now I know why."
Rafael's expression remained stunned, "What are you talking about?"
"I couldn't understand how you would spend so much time working, but now I know."
"Know what?"
"Come on, Rafi, she drives you crazy. You have a - fondness" Lucia stammered, closely watching her sons reaction, "- for Olivia, its wonderful mijo, there's no need to be embarrassed." Lucia reached for her son's hand over their small cafe table. Rafael looked stunned, his face paled, his eyes were wide, and he remained so still Lucia had to check to see if he was breathing. For someone who never stops fidgeting, his stillness worried her.
After some time, Rafael shook himself at of his river and stared pointedly at his mother, "I have a crush" he exclaimed in astonishment, the same stunned expression plastered on his face.
"Yes." Lucia chuckled lightly, more than slightly amused that her son had remained so ignorant of his own feelings.
"On my coworker-"
"Yes, mijo, you do."