He had to drag her away from work. Everything was fine, the squad can handle it, she wasn't really needed anymore. On the other hand she needed a shower. Somehow she ended up chasing a perpetrator through Grand Central Terminal, bumped into a guy who poured all his pumpkin spice latte on her, she slid on the dirty platform floor to catch the guy and ruined her grey jacket in the process. She said she was fine, but he saw that she was touching her shoulder multiple times since her stint.
As they got in the apartment, they were greeted by a full of energy five year old and a nanny who was more than ready to leave. They quickly discussed the next day's schedule, she paid her for the extra hours.
In the meantime he put in an order for dinner, knowing that after today the last thing she wanted to do was cooking.
"Can I leave you boys for a while? I desperately need a shower." She said, sounding more exhausted than she looked. She was already halfway through to the bathroom when he heard him answer with a laugh.
"Yes, please, that pumpkin spice latte stinks"
The only reaction was a glare and then a smile before she disappeared.
"Ok, Noah, how do you like pasta?" He asked the boy, trying to break the ice.
"I like it" he said quickly, and changed the subject immediately "Do you want to play Jedi?" Well the ice was broken, he thought with a relief. "I am Luke Skywalker, you can be Han Solo if you want."
"Sure" he said, trying to sound as cool as possible "can you teach me some moves with the lightsaber?"
"Yes, but I have only one" the boy answered with a little disappointment. Obviously he wanted to play but didn't want to give up his favourite toy. Just as he did in the office when there was hard work ahead, he removed his jacket, rolled over up his sleeves. He had to come up with something. He quickly looked around. Mop, broom, swiffer, umbrella, something, come on Olivia Benson, where do you keep the potential lightsabers? Oh and Han Solo never buttoned up his vest. So he started to unbutton while he was in quest to get a lightsaber.
She rather enjoyed the shower but she was keen to get out and spend the time with Rafael and Noah. She was really glad that Rafael drove her home, and came up. She was glad he didn't need much convincing. She quickly towel dried her hair and put a pair of yoga pants and a sweater on. Just as she walked out of her bedroom, she heard a funny noise ad her son giggling.
"Zrrr, zrrrr" Barba was imitating a lightsaber with a mop, twirling it around intensely. She almost laughed out loud. She stopped in her tracks, leaning to the doorframe, pulling out her phone from her pocket. She snapped a few pics of them, she even had time to make a boomerang video. Oh, these millennials are rubbing off on me, she thought, feeling accomplished.
"Zrrr, zrrr" he continued and he hit the lampshade pretty hard. "Shoot, Leia is gonna be pissed" he said and quickly dropped the mop to adjust the lampshade back in the original position. "As good as new, nobody needs to know"
Noah giggled louder as Barba picked up the mop again.
"You need more practice, young padavan" Noah said matter of factly, and that was it for Olivia. She laughed like she never laughed before and went over to hug her son. She kissed him on the top of the head, and looked at the ADA.
"Not your day Barba, you've been just lectured and I've got proper blackmail material"
"Damn, what have I got myself into?" He said, as he dropped the mop and walked over to them to ruffle Noah's hair and caress Liv's shoulder. He desperately wanted to kiss her but this was not the time yet.
"I ordered Italian. Should be here soon. Go dry your hair, we set the table" he plopped down on the couch, leaving Olivia totally speechless with only one option, do as she was told. While she was drying her hair she was musing on how Rafael got so comfortable with them and how much she wanted to kiss him when he touched her shoulder just a moment ago. And as she was thinking about it, - that if he was Han Solo, and he referred to her as Leia - the butterflies in her stomach flapped their wings quicker and quicker