"What did you do, fire up the bat signal?" Rafael asked her as they got out of the car in front of his mother's house.

Olivia smiled. "Me? Please. Your mother is a professional." He groaned, rolling his head back and forth.

"How much notice could she have had? We only called her 45 minutes ago!"

"I guess she was optimistic that when I came back you would be with me." He nodded at her and they started to walk up the walkway to the front door, when it was thrown open. Noah came barreling toward them. He launched himself at Rafael, the man barely having time to prep to catch the little boy and brace himself.

Noah buried his head in Rafael's stomach, hugging him as tightly as he could. A lump formed in his throat. Noah looked up at him.

"You owe me robot building time!" Rafael couldn't do anything but laugh and nod. Noah returned the nod. "Let's go. I keep a bunch of stuff here to play with." And with that, Noah was gone just as quickly as he had run out the front door.

Rafael turned to Olivia. "How big has he gotten since I've been gone?"

"About 3 inches and 10 pounds. He had a big year." The impact of those words hit him hard in the heart. He wasn't a fool. He knew life would go on while he was gone. But seeing this little boy, who didn't seem to be so little anymore, made him realize just how much he had missed. He promised himself not to miss anymore.

He looked up to see his mother standing in the doorway. Olivia walked past her, but not before Lucia grabbed her, whispering something in her ear. Olivia glanced back at him, smiled and nodded at his mother. She walked into the house and Rafael paused in front of his mom at the bottom of the steps. She crossed her arms and stared at him. He cleared his throat, running his hand through his hair.

"Thanks for not waiting two days, mom."

"There is no way you thought I actually would, right?" He shrugged. "Maybe a small part of me wanted my mommy to handle this problem for me, ok?" She laughed, opening her arms to her son as he climbed the steps. Lucia wrapped her arms around her son, holding him tightly as he did the same.

"So, you are back now, right?"

"Probably" he replied. Lucia pulled back, framing his face with her hands. "I love you, my son, but you have been an ass the last year or so."

"I know."

"Disappearing again would be a bad idea."

"I won't, mom. If I have to leave again, it will only be for a short time and you will know where I'm going and I will answer the phone."

"You better. I don't know if you have noticed or not, but I have the NYPD on my side."

"I have noticed."

"And Noah."

"I noticed that too." Lucia nodded, releasing her son and walking through the door. He followed behind and closed the door, turning toward the living room. He noticed an object flying through the air at a great rate of speed and only had a second to duck before the pillow hit the wall above his head instead of his face. He looked across the room and found Rita glaring at him, arms crossed, foot tapping on the floor. He picked up the pillow and walked across the room toward her, placing the pillow back on the couch.

"You are an asshole." He nodded. "Yes."

She shook her head. "I mean a grade A, gigantic, world class asshole." He nodded in agreement. He stepped in front of his oldest friend in the world, trying to look as apologetic as possible while trying not to smile at her. He had missed her face and her sass and her outlook on life.

"I mean, who in the hell do you think you are, Rafael Barba? You just, what… disappear and lose your ability to respond to a text message and we are all just supposed to sit around and wait for your pity party to end and celebrate your return?"

"I didn't expect any of that, Rita my dear."

"Well, its bullshit that you made us feel like that."

"I know."

"And Olivia… what she's been…"

He glanced over his shoulder to her across the room before looking back at Rita. "I know, Rita. We've done some talking."

"She's been gone all day!"

"Well, we didn't JUST talk." He laughed as Rita made a gagging face, pretending to throw up on his shoes.

"I missed you, Rita."

"I missed you too, you giant jackass."

"Can I have a hug?"

Rita threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. "You better be back for good, dick."

"I think I might be, especially since you keep throwing around all the pleasantries and compliments." She laughed. "I hate you."

"I hate you too, Rita. Can we go get drunk one night next week?"

"Absolutely. I want to hear about all those places you have been that must not have Wi-Fi and cell towers."

He stepped back from her, smiling. "Ok. By the way, Miguel says hi."

She froze, narrowing her eyes at him. "You were at my boat and he didn't call me? I'm firing him tomorrow."

"No, you aren't. You don't trust anyone else to watch that thing and you know it."

Lucia popped her head out of the kitchen. "Let's go, people. This food isn't going to eat itself."

He leaned against the wall of the hallway, watching Olivia move around his former bedroom. The night was starting to come to an end. Everyone had eaten and now they were all sitting in the living room, talking and drinking coffee. He had noticed Olivia had disappeared upstairs so after she didn't return, he followed.

Olivia glanced over her shoulder at him and he pushed himself off the wall, walking the few steps into the room.

"Noah likes to throw things everywhere when we stay here, so I needed to come up and get his stuff out of all corners of the room before we left, even though I inevitably miss something. Your mom has started a collection of Noah's stuff."

He leaned into the doorframe, watching her move around the room like it was second nature. "So, how often have you and Noah stayed here?"

Olivia shrugged, not really meeting his gaze. "Some."

"Liv?"

"Maybe like once a week. Noah probably more. He likes it here. Your mom likes having him. And I know…" Olivia trailed off, her eyes growing wet. Rafael shut the door, walking over to her.

"The Sheila thing." Olivia nodded. "Have you…" Olivia nodded.

"Just once. Stone isn't handling it. One of the junior ADA's are. She refused to talk any kind of plea till I agreed to come see her. She was bawling, saying she loved Noah. She loved Ellie. She wanted her family back and everyone was gone and she just… the prison therapist says she's really struggling with that reality. Of being all alone. She asked me if I would bring Noah so she could explain and when I said no, she started screaming some really awful and nasty things at me."

Rafael swallowed the lump in his throat. "I should have been here" he whispered. Olivia shook her head, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Stop it. Yeah. It would have been nice if you had been here for that. And for the million other things that have happened over the last year. But we have to agree right here, right now. We aren't going to dwell on what we missed. We can play that game forever and it won't change anything. The past is just that. I would rather look forward."

He pulled her in for a fierce hug, dropping his face to her shoulder, inhaling her in. He knew she was right and the guilt of not being here would eat at him for a while. It was something they were both going to have to work through. It wasn't going to be easy. But it would be worth it. He lifted his head, kissing her lightly.

He smiled. "You know, you are the first girl I've ever had in this room." Olivia laughed. He shrugged. "I'm serious."

"I don't believe you."

"No, I swear. It's true. I didn't like being here as a teenager, so I always went other places or snuck out. I didn't want to bring anyone here. Even Alex and Eddie were only here a few times. I always went to their places or we just roamed around."

Olivia ran her hand through his hair. "I'm sorry."

He pressed his lips roughly to hers. "Make it up to me" he said, spinning around and dropping on the bed, pulling her into his lap. Her eyes went wide. "You can't be serious! There is a house full of people downstairs.

"Then we will just be quick and quiet" he replied, pulling her shirt over her head.

Rita narrowed her eyes at them when they finally came downstairs 15 minutes later. She watched as he pressed a kiss to her cheek before she called Noah's name. Rita grabbed her purse and coat, walking over to him. She looked him up and down before crossing her arms.

"You two couldn't wait till we left!"

He thought about denying it but Rita always seemed to know. "Making up for lost time" he said, watching Olivia and Noah trying to extract themselves from Lucia.

"Shouldn't have disappeared for year."

"I'm not just talking about the last year, Rita." He looked at her and she nodded. "I know, Rafa. I know. But still…" He laughed and pulled her in for a hug. "I'll call you tomorrow. I owe you several drinks."

"Like a year's worth, Barba."

"I wouldn't expect anything less, Calhoun."

"You need a job? Cause I know a great firm…"

He smiled but shook his head. "Thanks but no thanks. I'm not sure me and a courtroom are meant to be for the foreseeable future. But thank you for thinking of me." She nodded. Olivia and Noah walked over to them.

"I think we are finally ready to go." Rafael looked at the bags in her hands. "Does my mom think you don't eat?"

Olivia shrugged. "She may have been in the apartment one day when the only thing in the frig were takeout containers and she may have gotten… concerned…" Rafael and Rita started to laugh. "Been there" they both said at the same time.

Olivia nodded. "Yeah. I just need to go up and get Noah's bag." Rita grabbed him. "How about Olivia goes alone there buddy." His eyes got wide and she looked back and forth between Rafael and Rita. "What the…" He just shrugged. "So, Liv… Rita's got this weird sixth sense when it comes to me and…"

Liv held up her hand. "Nope. Just stop. We're going to just stop right there and pretend this isn't happening. I will go up alone to get the bag and then we are getting out of here. OK?" Olivia walked away from the two of them and he couldn't help but stare.

"For what it's worth, Barba, it's about damn time."

He nodded. "Yes it is."