Setting: Takes place immediately after 19x13 ("The Undiscovered Country"). Part two of this chapter will follow when I find the time, but I didn't want to wait any longer to post this. I hope it brings someone happiness today!
Lucy's hug was warm and welcome as she greeted him at the door.
"I guess Liv told you the news?"
"Google alert," she admitted sheepishly as she moved aside to let Barba enter Olivia's apartment. "Are you okay?"
"Well, I'm not going to prison. So I feel like I shouldn't complain."
"But...?" Lucy prompted as she led him to the kitchen.
"But I resigned from my job today."
"Oh." A pause. "I wondered if you might have to."
"It was my decision," he clarified as he washed his hands, planning to take over dinner preparations. "My boss wanted me to stay. But I felt like it was the right time for a change." An oversimplification, sure, but he knew she wasn't looking for the details.
"And how does LIV feel about that?"
"Well, she knows, but we haven't had a chance yet to actually talk about it."
"Ah. Okay. Well..." Lucy glanced at her watch. "She's gonna be home in, like, 10 minutes. So if you're good to watch Noah and monitor dinner, I think I'll head out."
He couldn't help but grin at her obvious desire to get the hell out of Dodge. "Where is Noah?"
"Cleaning his room, theoretically. I told him not to come out until he was done." She started to gather up her things.
"You should stay and eat with us," he offered, teasing.
"Not a chance."
"Chicken."
"Hey, I'm not the one that needs to be afraid." She gave him another tight embrace. "For what it's worth, I'm really glad you're not going to prison."
"Thanks."
"I just hope Liv can keep her cool with you so SHE doesn't end up in prison," she said wryly as she pulled away. "Good luck!"
After a quick hello to Noah and encouragement to continue his cleaning efforts, Barba returned to the kitchen. Salad completed, he'd just added some extra garlic to the sauce and turned it on low to simmer when he heard the door. He closed his eyes for a moment, took a steadying breath, then went to face the music.
Her first words came out as an accusation. "I wasn't expecting to see you."
"It's spaghetti night," he reminded her evenly. "Where else would I be?"
"Oh, I don't know. Somewhere moving on?"
He knew he probably deserved that cutting sass, but he couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Well, I'm not planning to move on from YOU, dummy. I thought that went without saying."
"Oh, you mean that was supposed to be implicit in your little drama queen walk-away?"
"Pardon me for needing to escape before having a complete emotional meltdown in the middle of the street."
"Are you fighting?" Noah had ventured out of his room and was listening intently. He seemed curious but not particularly concerned.
"Yes," Olivia said, not quite kidding.
"No," Barba corrected. Then he wrapped Olivia in his arms and addressed the boy from over her shoulder. "Hey kid, why don't you go make a new mess in that room you just cleaned while your mother and I DON'T fight. You can pick out a movie for after dinner if you do."
"Deal!" And off he went, apparently confident that whatever was going on with the grownups they'd manage to work out for themselves, and already trying to decide between 'Rookie of the Year' and 'Everyone's Hero'.
Olivia was tense but didn't move away, her hands coming to rest lightly on Barba's hips.
"Hey," he said quietly, nudging near her ear with his nose. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have ambushed you like that this afternoon."
"No, you shouldn't have," she agreed rather bitterly even as she surrendered to his embrace for a long moment. "But we'll talk about that later, after Noah's in bed."
"Of course." He released her, gave her a half smile. "We'll talk about all of it."
Forcing herself to switch gears for Noah's sake, Liv insisted that she finish up dinner and sent him to Noah's room.
He found the boy hitting imaginary baseballs with his plastic bat. "Looking good, slugger. If the weather's reasonable this weekend maybe we can hit the park and do some batting practice for real. Sound good?" He took Noah's high pitched squeal as a "yes". "Almost time to eat. Shall we go wash our hands?"
In the bathroom, side by side in front of the sink with Noah on a step stool, their eyes locked in the mirror and Noah asked, "Why were you fighting?"
He gave the boy a reassuring smile. "We really weren't, I promise. Your mom is just upset because she and I won't be working together anymore."
"Aren't you upset?"
"Well...". He took a few moments to really take stock, pumping more soap onto both of their hands. "I'm going to miss working with your mom, for sure. But...other than that, I don't think I'm upset, no."
In fact, he felt light, free, for the first time in a long time. And now that he realized it, he could barely believe it.
"That's good." Noah affirmed, unaware of the epiphany taking place next to him. "So does that mean you and my mom are getting married?"
Barba couldn't help but cough out a laugh. "I beg your pardon?"
"My mom said you couldn't get married because you work together. So if you're not working together anymore, you can get married now. Right?"
He was speechless, and that didn't happen very often. He turned off the water and handed Noah a towel, noticing how happy the boy seemed by the prospect. "Well..."
"Dinner's ready!" Olivia called from the kitchen. "Come set the table, please!"
"Saved by the bell, kid. We can talk about this later."
Noah forgot, but Barba didn't, and brought it up to Olivia as soon as they had a minute alone.
"Oh, dear Lord," she chuckled, seemingly unfazed. "It's beyond me how he can remember a conversation from months ago but never where he puts his shoes!"
"And what conversation was that, exactly?"
"The mother of a little boy in his playgroup was getting remarried, so Noah had a lot of questions about marriage and weddings and stepdads. And since you're the only man he ever sees me with, he made a bit of a leap." She closed the dishwasher and watched him as he finished wiping the counter.
"And you used us working together as the reason we couldn't get married?"
"Well, hasn't that always been our convenient excuse?" she teased.
"You're right." Barba was just glad the the dark cloud that had been hovering over the dinner table seemed to finally be lifting. "We'll have to think of a different one now, I guess."
Liv just shrugged. "Or not."
The surprised look on Barba's face before he could catch himself was priceless.
"Relax, Rafa," she said with a laugh, gesturing for him to follow her to the living room where Noah was waiting. "For the record, I don't date coworkers OR unemployed people."
"A guy just can't win with you, can he?"
Though to be honest, as he pulled Noah onto his lap when the promised movie began and Olivia's feet - in his colourful socks - settled against his where they were propped up on the coffee table, he felt like he'd already won.