After a long shower, Olivia found Barba sprawled on the large, L-shaped couch in the living room and focused on the television.

"Is this American Ninja Warrior? Doesn't seem like your usual fare."

"Keeps me humble," he told her dryly. "Plus, as you know I'm already caught up on Downton Abbey." He patted the space beside him. "Want to join me? I thought maybe we could watch a movie and veg."

"That's okay. It's really late. I should go to sleep."

"Olivia, you slept forever in the car. You can't possibly be tired."

He was right, of course. She was wide awake.

Their intention had been to leave Saturday morning, but as Barba had watched her mood and her energy deteriorate as the week progressed, he'd made a last minute executive decision and picked her up from work on Friday night, bags packed and in the trunk of the rental car, ready to go.

Olivia had protested of course, but following an afternoon of intense preparation Barba had come armed with answers and solutions to every excuse for delay.

Olivia's luggage had been mostly packed the night before, so that hadn't been an issue. He'd simply grabbed the makeup bag and the toiletries that had looked most important out of her bathroom and tossed them in. Anything he'd forgotten she could replace on the road.

Relieving Lucy, he'd delivered Noah and the boy's overnight belongings to Lucia's himself, and he'd offered to stay and help him get settled, even put him to bed. It had been Noah who had made it abundantly clear that his hovering wasn't necessary, hopping into Lucia's outstretched arms with a big grin and echoing in his own childlike way her assurance that they had everything under control.

Yet although all bases had been effectively covered, Olivia had been positively beastly when he'd arrived at the precinct and told her about the change of plan. Even after her concerns had been addressed, she'd lashed out that he was interrupting her, making plans without consulting her, daring to assume that he knew what was best for her.

But despite how riled up she was, despite her assertion that she had several good hours left in her and he was pulling her away from work that needed to be done, she was asleep within 15 minutes of them getting on the road and he'd had to wake her when they'd arrived.

While the over 3 hour drive was a bit lonely, he was pleased. His primary reason for leaving early was that he wanted her to have more time to rest and relax, so obviously he'd succeeded. Also that fact that she seemed to have slept away her crankiness didn't hurt.

"This place is really nice," she'd commented as he'd led her to her room. "Is this an Air BnB or something?"

"Timeshare. Not mine - a friend's." It was the same place he'd gone to escape after his suspension. "Don't poke around too much just yet. Wait until you get a proper tour in the daylight. You're going to love it." The real appeal was what surrounded them, but he didn't want to spoil the surprise. It had been dark, overcast and windy when they'd pulled up, and as she'd slept through the approach she had no context whatsoever to where they might be.

He scolded her now as she tried to peek out a window. "Really, wait 'til morning. You won't be disappointed." She obeyed and joined him on the couch, immediately tucking herself into his side.

Barba grinned and was enjoying the smell of her strawberry conditioner and was about to ask her what she wanted to watch when he was mugged, her hand slipping inside the front pocket of his hooded sweater to remove his phone. She then retreated out of his reach and tapped in his code from memory to unlock the screen.

He didn't scold this time, didn't even mention it. He let her do what she needed to do.

It had been her decision to leave her own phone at the office, locked in a desk drawer. She knew that she would never been able to get even CLOSE to disconnecting if her texts and emails were calling to her from her purse or pocket. So her autoresponders had all been set, and Lucy, Lucia and Fin all knew that she could be reached on Barba's phone. Knowing she could be reached in an emergency was the only way she could start to relax.

Not that she'd told Fin it was Barba's number. She'd simply texted him the digits and made him promise up and down that he wouldn't hesitate to use them if it was truly warranted. Little did she know that he'd decided to enter it into his cell's contacts, only to find out there was already an entry for that number. His feeling on the matter? Good for her. Good for them both.

The decision had been made on Wednesday, and she'd been resolute about it, telling Barba that when the time arrived he had to hold her to it. Of course, with her mood being what it was when he'd picked her up, he'd had to all but wrestle it from her, and there had been a bit of a shouting match involved. In the end, Barba hadn't really won - it was Wednesday-Olivia that had won, as Barba had parroted back all of the things she'd said that day.

Barba wished he could lock his own phone in a drawer, honestly. He hated that he often felt the need to have it in his hands, and a little detox would probably do him good. But having it in earshot now that he was officially her emergency contact was okay with him. Anything to help her get what she needed from this time away.

And apparently what she needed right now was to check on her son.

Not that she was going to contact Lucia this late at night. But she scrolled through the texts from that evening to see selfies of the woman and Noah seemingly having a splendid time, and then one of Noah sound asleep.

"You and your mom text in Spanish?"

"Mmhm," Barba hummed, his attention on the tv screen. "That surprise you?"

"Not 'surprise', I guess. I just so rarely hear you speak Spanish." She was quiet for awhile. Then, "I think it's cute that Carmen keeps checking in with you."

"As soon as I land somewhere I'm going to do my damndest to poach her and take her with me."

"Even if you end up flipping burgers?"

"Especially then."

Quiet again, for about a minute. "Who is 'Kellar'?" she asked.

"You know him. One of the research assistants at the DA's office."

"Oh, with the red hair?"

"That's the one."

"He texts you a lot."

"He likes to keep me updated on the cases I was involved in but had to hand off."

"Oh." Silence again. "I didn't realize people still played 'Candy Crush'."

"I have it on there for your son, actually."

"Sure you do. And I'm sure this ridiculous high score is his. " An even longer pause. "Why is your email password protected on your own phone?"

"So snoops like you don't discover my secret girlfriend," he deadpanned without missing a beat.

"I thought *I* was your secret girlfriend," she teased. But then, as if in a show of disagreement, a push notification came through for Barba's email. While she obviously couldn't open the message she saw the first few words: "Hey, Barba. Can you tell Liv that..."

She crawled back to him and put his phone in his hand. "Strike that. Apparently not so secret."

He tapped in his password and pointed the screen in her direction so she could read Fin's report.

"Hey, Barba. Can you tell Liv that we just brought in the guy that Carisi and Rollins had been tracking? Looks pretty open and shut - all under control. Just thought she might enjoy your vacation a little more knowing that was taken care of. Have fun, counselor."

Olivia responded with a quick note of acknowledgement and thanks, and then intended to take advantage of the access to snoop some more when Barba took the phone back from her and logged out again.

"You don't actually have a secret girlfriend, do you?" she accused lightly.

"You caught me. Her name is Myrtle. And she wants to know if you're into threesomes."

Olivia laughed and the matter was dropped as they decided against a movie and their attention settled on the next episode of American Ninja Warrior instead, using commercials to speculate on how on earth Fin had known they were together.

And Barba's secret, hidden in his inbox, would be safe for a few more days until he was ready to reveal it.