They decide on a nearby Italian restaurant. Noah can always be satisfied with spaghetti. It's nice but family friendly. They get settled and order a bottle of wine. Olivia lets Barba choose which wine- knowing he'd rather be drinking scotch. Olivia pacifies Noah with cheerios as they wait for the server to return for their orders.
Noah holds out one hand and squeezes it repeatedly into a fist. Barba chuckles, "What the hell is he doing?"
"He's signing" Off Barba's perplexed look, Olivia elaborates, "Kids this age- they can understand most of what you're saying, but they can't form words yet. So you can supplement with sign language. Less frustrating for them. Less frustrating for you."
Barba looks to Noah with surprising appreciation. He's definitely underestimated the under three crowd.
"So what's he saying?"
Olivia pulls out a sippy cup full of milk. Barba eyes it skeptically. "That hand gesture's a little suggestive don't you think."
Olivia manages an amused eyeroll before the waiter comes back to the table with the wine and takes their orders. Barba pours them both a glass and Olivia stands to excuse herself. "Can you watch him just a minute while I run to the bathroom?"
Barba, a bit stunned- looks to Noah, engrossed in his cheerios. Olivia reads the hesitation in his face, "It's OK. I can take him with me."
Barba considers Noah- time to overcome his fears. He did like kids- afterall, he just didn't know anything about them. Five minutes couldn't hurt and Noah seemed rather contained.
"No, I got him." Olivia registers his false confidence but doesn't let on. She turns and makes her way to the back.
The moment she's out of earshot, Noah looks up to realize she's gone. A pout descends over his face. "Mama?"
Barba panics as Noah repeats his plea. He tries unsuccessfully to interest Noah in the cheerios on his plate. "Hey, Amigo. Estas bien. Mira!" Barba looks up. Olivia will be back any second right? But he really shouldn't let on that he can't handle a one and a half year old for even a minute.
He searches the table for a distraction. The wine bottle. He grabs it and pulls it to his lips. Barba blows over the top making a low whistling sound- which instantly gets Noah's attention. With his attention on Noah- Barba doesn't realize that every other adult in the restaurant has turned to look at his obnoxious attempt to turn a wine bottle into an instrument. Noah is transfixed- and that's all Barba cares about.
Noah watches him "play" the bottle for several seconds before reaching for his sippy cup and blowing (as much as his developing fine motor skills will allow) over the top of its opening.
Barba smiles genuinely at Noah- watching him attempt to "play" his sippy cup. "Clever little thing aren't you?"
Olivia emerges from the bathroom and takes her place at the table. She looks at her son- who is still making an ill-fated attempt to play the sippy cup. "What's that about?" Barba simply shrugs. "So court today?"
Barba sighs heavily, leaning forward on the table, "Not much to say. Dropped the charges then hid in my office the rest of the day." Olivia gives him an apologetic look. He looks out at the street, remembering. "That kid though. He looked right at me. I'd have given anything to wipe that smug smile off his face."
Olivia briefly puts her hand on his arm to draw his eyes back to her. "I'm sorry. We should have vetted it better before it spun out of control."
"It's fine. How could you know that idiot was putting ideas in her head?" The question's rhetorical, he doesn't want to talk about it.
Barba looks over at Noah. He steals a couple cheerios from his stash and pops them into his mouth. Noah looks up and holds out another cheerio to him. Barba grins and leans over to eat it from his hand. Noah giggles. "I'm gonna keep you around, you always have snacks."
Olivia watches their interaction, a bit surprised. It seems the boys bonded in her brief trip to the back.
Two weeks later, all hell breaks loose when the measles hits Manhattan. After Noah was quarantined, Barba'd checked in on Liv via text but neither of them had time to talk. When Fin calls him to tell him that Noah'd been rushed to the hospital that afternoon- he wishes he had made the time. He tries calling her cell several times throughout the day. Finally, he tries Amaro's phone.
An exhausted sounding Amaro picks up. "Nick Amaro."
Barba cuts right to the chase, "You with her?"
"Yeah, Barba."
Barba continues to fire off questions as if they're discussing a case. "Can I talk to her? She's not picking up her cell."
"It died. She just stepped into the room with the doctor."
"She OK? How's Noah?"
Barba's onslaught is starting to grate on Nick's weary nerves. "He's stabilized but it's definitely measles. Look, I'll have her call you when she can."
"What about his asthma? How's that going to-"
"Barba, we don't know anything right now. I'll have her call you." When did Barba learn so much about Noah? Amaro knew he and Liv had gotten close but Barba didn't strike him as the type to concern himself with other people's kids. Nick doubted he even knew Gil and Zara's names.
Barba sighs on the other end, exasperated. "Alright, fine. Just keep me in the loop." He hangs up and goes back to the files in front of him.
He hated this. Hated knowing what Olivia was going through and not being able to be there for her. She really had become his best friend, he realized. She was always there for him. He hadn't seen or talked to her in nearly a week while she was going through this- some friend he was.
He hated the idea of Noah suffering in the hospital. Barba wouldn't admit it to anyone but he'd started to become a bit attached to the little guy. He hadn't really realized it until now. Since their impromptu dinner two weeks ago, Barba had shared dinner with Noah and Olivia twice more and was beginning to enjoy his interactions with the boy. Now he was stuck in his office while Noah battled it out in the hospital- not that he could do anything if he was there.
A few days later- Liv calls Barba to go to Trudy Malko's house. Olivia asks him under the guise of showing interest from the DA's office but in all honesty, Barba's the only on she trusts to keep her in check when she gets angry. He always tells her like it is.
Olivia's more than a little surprised when Barba's the one nearly growling through his teeth at Malko when she admits to knowingly deceiving the school. His insistence that this has "nothing to do with Sgt. Benson's son"- is half-hearted at best. Though Liv expects she only sees this because she knows him. He's been weirdly protective of her ever since Lewis and she is surprised to see that his defensiveness now applies to Noah.
She'd have to admit though- She's come to rely on him when things get hard. He grounded her through the Lewis trail. He stuck by her through the rocky transition to head up SVU. He'd become the person she relied on when she didn't want to face something alone. Olivia found comfort in the fact that this was no different.
His simmering anger makes it clear- she doesn't have to fight this battle- Barba will fight it for her, in court.
Barba worries his bottom lip as they exit Malko's home.
"She just admitted everything straight to our faces! Typhoid Trudy in there has zero concept that she's not only broken the law, she's endangered the lives of other people's children!" He looks to Olivia walking beside him and reminds himself that Noah is one of those children. Barba reigns in his anger for her sake. "You OK?"
Olivia lets out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, I just- I can't believe this is happening. I've spent all this time with the doctors working out his meds and doing everything to make sure we don't end up back in the hospital and then these idiots decide not to vaccinate and I just-" She looks down at her hands doing her best not to get upset. "I mean, measles kills kids like him, Barba." She casts a brief glance at him but when she sees the sadness in his eyes, immediately looks away.
As they step onto the elevator, he grabs her elbow to get her attention. "I'll get her, Liv."
Olivia gives him a small nod. His reassurance does nothing to change the fact that her son is in the hospital but it is strangely comforting. She can always count on him to do whatever it takes.
"Want me to drop you by the hospital?"
"It's OK, the cab ride wasn't that bad, I know you need to get back."
Barba gives her an almost offended look. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm not asking if you need a ride- I'm asking where you want to go."
She quirks an eyebrow at him. It's amazing how Barba can make a nice gesture seem like an assault. "Hospital's fine. Thanks."
The next time Barba sees her isn't until she testifies. When he steps out of the courtroom to check on her and sees her racing towards the elevators- his heart drops into his stomach, something's wrong.
As he approaches, he realizes she's being aggressively pursued by Malko- he's got to keep his emotions in check- concentrate on Liv- a yelling match with the defendant won't help anything.
When the words spinal tap come out of Olivia's mouth- all Barba can do is drop his head and brace himself against the door frame of the elevator. He'd been calling Olivia every night to check in on her. He'd sit doing paperwork in his empty office after every one had gone home and get the update on how Noah was doing. Late night phone calls about cases had become pretty standard between the two of them even before Noah got sick.
In this case, he did it because he wanted to know Noah's condition but also because he knew she'd simply want someone to talk things through with. He mostly just listened- rare for him. They'd discussed all the possible outcomes. He searches his brain for everything she'd listed off. Spinal tap meant they thought Noah had encephalitis- his brain was swelling. It could very well cause irreversible damage.
He wants to race after her- go with her to the hospital but he knows he has to stay here and finish this.
He's broken out of his musings by Trudy Malko's voice directed at him. "You know- you and your girlfriend can't just use the courts to take it out on people every time her kid gets sick."
Barba stays turned away from her- doing his best to keep his anger in check. He knows the best course of action is to say nothing but he's never been great at holding his tongue.
When he rounds on her- he fixes her with the coldest stare he can muster as he slowly slides his hands into his pockets. He forces his mouth into a tight smile- the one he uses when he knows he's about to get the best of an opponent that he finds especially repulsive. His words are deliberate. "If anything happens to 'that kid', I'll pile on so many charges, you'll never dig your way out."
Barba brushes past her and back into the courtroom before she can respond.
After the trial concludes, Barba does everything in his power to get out of the office early. His first stop is the hospital. When he arrives, a few hours after Nick and Fin have left- the nurses inform him that Olivia is in the quarantine area with Noah. He looks in to see her sleeping in a chair beside Noah's bed.
At his request, the nurses provide him with a gown so that he can enter the area. He walks in and takes in the sight of the tiny toddler with oxygen tubes running into his nose and an IV into his arm. It's heartbreaking. He briefly places a hand on the boy's head before turning to his mother.
Her eyes flutter open, adjusting to the light. She's surprised to see him there, "Barba?"
"Hey, sorry. Just came by to see if you needed anything."
Olivia rubs her face and readjusts in her chair. She gives him a warm but tired smile, "Think we're good."
He looks back to Noah. "I'm sorry, I couldn't get her on the 1st degree charge."
She hates that he does that. Apologizes to her when he doesn't get a slam dunk. Another hold over from his guilt about Lewis. He doesn't do it every time but he does it enough to be annoying.
"You stopped her, Barba. That's all that counts."
He turns back to her. He's hesitant about what he says next, "I could sit with him if you want to run home. Take a shower? Get some sleep that's not in a chair?"
"You saying I stink, Barba?" Olivia smiles sleepily.
He chuckles. "Maybe." He considers her a moment. "Seriously, he's sedated. It's prime time for me to babysit." He smiles at her.
She looks at him skeptically. Is he really offering this? She starts to rise from her chair. "OK, if you're sure- I might take you up on that shower."
He nods gently. As she leaves- he takes his place in the chair beside Noah's bed. Outside the quarantine area, Olivia looks back in to see Barba scoot closer to the bedside and lay a hand on Noah's.
She felt like she could read him better than anyone. And he could certainly read her better than anyone. It's why they work so well together. Half the time they don't even have to talk to be on the same page- or to argue even.
And yet here he was- still full of surprises. El Tiburón sitting beside her sick son's bedside for her.