Reunion

I am so excited for tomorrow's episode with Anthony Edwards, it got me thinking about how Barba might feel if someone from Olivia's past showed up suddenly.

For such an intelligent man Rafael Barba could be really slow to pick up on things at times. For such a seemingly confident (some might say arrogant) man he could also be very insecure at times. It was the combination of these two factors that had him sitting at home alone on Saturday night instead of attending Olivia's Police Academy reunion with her. Not only was he not attending it with her she was attending with someone else, her first partner Patrick Griffin. He took a sip of his scotch as thought back to the events that had gotten him in this situation.

They were in what he would call an awkward phase of their relationship. They had moved passed everything that had happened between them last spring and professionally they had been fine for months, personally though thigs were different since she had started seeing Tucker. Barba had found himself withdrawing a little personally from her. He tried not to but he couldn't help himself, he didn't like to think about her being with Tucker. Yet, he knew as her friend he had to start accepting the idea of it.

"So do you and Tucker have big plans for the weekend?" He asked her as they were walking out of his office Friday evening.

Oliva paused for a minute, looked at the ground and back up at him, "Actually Tucker and I aren't seeing each other anymore."

Barba felt guilty for the relief that washed over him when she said that somehow he managed to say, "I am sorry to hear that Liv" with some amount of sincerity.

"It's all right, it's just awkward telling people now. Anyway what about you any big plans?" She asked him.

"No, just watching the Mets and Giants play in the Wild Card game tonight." He told her.

"Hey do you want to come over and watch it? It comes on after Noah goes to bed." She offered.

Barba could feel the ridiculous smile on his face, "Sure, but why don't I come before Noah goes to bed and bring pizza. I haven't seen him in a while. "

It was Olivia's turn to smile, "That would be nice."

They ate pizza and Barba played Legos with Noah for a while before bed. Oliva smiled when she came back from putting him to bed and found Barba cleaning up Noah's toys.

"You know they are just going to be scattered everywhere again in the morning right?" She asked him with a laugh.

"Yeah, but I figured I could help." He said with a shrug.

The game ended with a Mets loss but Oliva and Barba had a good time talking and catching up during it. It was the most time they had spent together outside of work in a long time. It was well past midnight when Olivia yawned.

"I should go and let you get some sleep." Barba told her standing up and heading for her door, "I'm sure that Noah will be up early."

"Always" Olivia said with a groan as she stood up to walk him to the door, "This was really nice, I had missed this."

Barba turned back and looked at her trying to read the expression on her face, "Me too." He said before quickly kissing her cheek. "Let's not wait so long next time."

"OK" Oliva said obviously a little thrown by his gesture. The look on her face was now mixed with surprise and what at least to Barba appeared to be happiness.

An envelope on the table caught Barba's eye, it was obviously a formal invitation of some sort and it had the NYPD academy logo on it.

"My twenty fifth reunion." Oliva explained.

"That's great Liv, are you going?" He asked her.

"I haven't decided yet." She told him.

"You should go." He said before kissing her cheek one more time. "Have a good weekend Liv." He said before walking out of her apartment leaving her wondering exactly what was going on.

That had been two weeks ago and whatever awkwardness had been between them before was gone now, it had been replaced by a different kind of awkwardness. The new awkwardness was that kind that you feel at the start of a relationship which they both kept telling themselves was ridiculous since they had known each other for years and since they were just friends.

Olivia had replayed those two kisses on her cheek over and over again. At first she told herself that they meant nothing, but then she found herself thinking about them while they were discussing a case one day. Then she realized she was staring at his lips while he was talking, trying desperately to forget what they felt like against her cheek. Then she wondered what they would feel like against her lips. She quickly jumped out of her chair and began pacing his office.

"You all right Liv?" He asked her.

"Yeah, it's just kind of warm in here." She said taking off her jacket.

"You want some water?" He asked already pouring some into a glass.

Their fingers joined briefly when she took the glass from him and it was like a bolt of lightning shot through her. "You are being ridiculous Olivia." She told herself.

"Why don't we call it a night Liv. It's getting late." He suggested.

Oliva was suddenly grateful for the opportunity to leave. "Yes, I should get home." She told him almost throwing her glass of water at him.

As she was getting in bed that night Oliva heard the familiar gavel sound on her phone that went off when Barba texted her.

Just checking on you

Thanks, I'm fine, going to bed early

Good, do you and Noah want to go to do something this weekend?

Sure, maybe Sunday? I have my reunion on Saturday.

I'm glad you are going.

He was glad that she was going, maybe he should offer to watch Noah for her. "Or maybe you should ask her if she would like company for the evening." He thought to himself. No, if she wanted him to go she would have asked him, after all it was her reunion. Barba tossed and turned all night thinking about Liv and that reunion. When he got up the next morning he decided to go for it. He would ask if he could take her to her reunion.

He thought about calling her but decided he would do it the right way, in person. He stopped at the coffee shop around the corner and picked up her favorite pastry and a large cup of coffee with her favorite hazelnut cream. He took a deep breath before walking into the squad room. He walked through the doors and stopped in his tracks when he saw Olivia talking closely to a man through the open blinds of her office. He watched her touch his arm and laugh. It almost looked like she was flirting with him.

"Finn, who's that?" Barba asked Olivia's new number two.

"Oh, that's her old partner." Finn said nonchalantly.

Barba shook his head, "That's not Elliot." He said almost to himself, he had never met Elliot but he had seen pictures of him. This man was taller and thinner, honestly he looked more like a doctor than a cop.

"No that's her very first partner, Patrick Griffin." Finn explained.

"I've never heard her mention him." Barba said.

"Yeah, I think they had some kind of issue…you know what they say about the first one." Finn joked.

Barba gave him a sharp look which Finn did not miss, just then Olivia's door opened and she and Patrick walked out. Barba felt his entire body cringe when he Patrick hugged her. Then he felt his heart fall when he heard him say, "Great, I'll see you on Saturday, pick you up at seven?"

TBC