While Rafael had gone to sleep with pleasant thoughts of Olivia dominating his mind, his body felt differently. The pain of his wound interrupted his sleep, and he woke up multiple times, propping his shoulder on a pillow, turning to his other side and back to his back, unable to get comfortable. His persistent attempts to go back to sleep while in pain only led to him having a replay of his getting shot. When he awoke again, he finally decided that he would not try to go to sleep again. He didn't want to live through getting shot once again, as he had a few moments ago. Perspiration matted little strands of his hair to his forehead and he felt a dizzying heat flush through him as he stood up from bed, feeling like total shit. He stumbled into the kitchen, looking around for his pain medicine. The medicine hardly would do anything, he knew, as he'd tried it multiple times to ease the pain and it did little to dull it. But it was better than nothing.

Unfortunately, he couldn't find his pills, unsure of where Olivia or he had put them. Despite his attempts to be quiet, Olivia was suddenly in his view, placing her hands gently on his own trembling ones and attempting to calm him down a bit.

"Hey, what's going on? Are you hurting? Let me find your medicine," she said, releasing him and digging through her cabinets. She pulled them out finally and took out a pill so he wouldn't have to fidget with the bottle, handing him the pill and a ginger ale from the fridge. He hesitated before taking it.

"These don't even work," he said roughly, a little more frustratedly than he intended to.

Olivia watched him with concern etched across her features, giving him a small nod. "Okay, well, do you want something stronger? I have some old pain meds, they might affect you in a different way, I don't want you to be alarmed if you feel weird," she said.

Rafael simply nodded, setting his medicine back down and taking the pill she handed him instead.

"Don't tell anyone that the lieutenant of SVU gave you old prescription medication," she said, attempting to lighten the mood a bit.

They were both quiet for a long moment as Olivia watched him, realization suddenly flashing through her eyes. "You had a nightmare," she commented.

He made eye contact with her for a brief moment as he propped himself up on the counter, leaning in and putting his weight on it. "I wouldn't call it that," he refuted.

Olivia's eyebrows furrowed and one corner of her mouth came up a bit in a sympathetic smile. "Maybe the medicine will ease your mind too," she said, putting a hand on his upper back for a moment as she led him out of the kitchen, walking with him back to the couch.

"I need to get out, leave the apartment tomorrow," he said, indicating that he was going a little stir crazy.

Olivia nodded, taking a seat next to him on the couch. "You don't need my permission," she reminded him. She was not actually his babysitter, as much as he'd joked about it. This whole setup, him being at her apartment everyday when she returned home, having him there to check on constantly as she knew that getting shot was traumatic—it was all becoming too comfortable. She was enjoying it far too much, and she knew that it would be over soon, and she had to be okay with that. She couldn't let herself fall into this life as if it were the new normal. She had to remember that the only person she really had when she returned home every day was Noah. She was okay with that, although she did find herself beginning to think more and more of Rafael lately and wonder if perhaps she would be happier if she had him to see every evening at home. But the thought was more than an overreach—it was ridiculous. She forced those thoughts out of her mind, reminding herself that she was content with Noah and only him.

"How are the overturned Rudnick cases coming along?" Olivia asked, glancing over at the files he'd left sitting on her side table.

"They're…coming. Slowly. You know, it's just a shit storm to meddle through, I'll be dealing with it for at least the next year," he said. "Longer than that if you don't let me go back to work soon."

"So stubborn," she commented, chuckling slightly.

"You know you don't actually control when I go back to work, right?" he asked, a tinge of humor in his tone.

"Well…I have a gun and you're drugged and injured in my apartment," she joked back.

He shook his head. "Thanks for that new perspective," he started, about to make another witty remark, when suddenly things were spinning. "Woah, what the hell was in that…medication…" he slurred.

A small grin spread across Olivia's face as she watched him. "Are you having hallucinations? Your dosage was low, you shouldn't be seeing anything too crazy," she said.

He shook his head subtly. "No, not hallucinations, I'm just…" his voice trailed off as suddenly he laughed, greatly humored. He looked at her as though she were intentionally making him laugh. "Just, god, my head feels so heavy," he said, his head rolling over his shoulder and collapsing into the couch.

Olivia knew she should be getting back to bed soon, but watching him was way too fun. "Hey Barba," she said, about to take advantage of his impaired state. "Who's your favorite detective?" she posed.

He grinned at her knowingly. "Obviously it's Carisi."

She laughed, turning away from him. "Me too," she replied.