Olivia was looking at her newspaper, reading intently. On this particular Tuesday morning they'd woken up a bit early and, as such, had been able to ease into their morning.

"What's so interesting?"

She pushed the newspaper over to him. "Well, it's something."

Statement by Manhattan D.A. Jack McCoy: Urging Passage of "Greenlight NY" Legislation

"Our streets are safer when all drivers – regardless of their federal immigration status – can lawfully take driver's education courses, pass driving tests, obtain proper licensing, and operate registered, inspected, and insured vehicles."

"Riveting." He pushed it back to her. "Anything else interesting?"

He was fully behind Jack with this one but had already known about the planned press release and the D.A's views on the matter, so it didn't come as much of a surprise.

She snorted. "Not unless you care about how safe Sunscreen is."

He looked at her. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Alas, I'm not," she said. "It's right here." She flipped the paper around to show him the article.

"And this is why I'm glad to be Cuban."

"Yeah, yeah," she said. "Brag about your tanning abilities this summer when I'm nothing but a red lobster."

"Apt description." It really was. She burned really easy. Her and Noah both.

"Unfortunately," she said. "That also means that I don't care what that article says. I'll give up sunscreen when you give up coffee."

"You'll be waiting a long time then, Mama," Noah said pointedly, gesturing toward Rafael. "He's already on his second cup."

"The kid's right," he said. He pretended to look pensive. "You could buy a hat."

"Yes, because that will help the arms."

He rolled his eyes, and Noah laughed. "You're silly, Mama. That won't help."

He had to stifle a laugh. Poor Noah had clearly missed the sarcasm. "He's got you there, Cariño."

She rolled her eyes at him. "You're right, Sweet Boy. I have no idea what I was thinking."

"That's okay," he said. "Can I have more toast, please?"

"Sure, Mijo," he said. "Peanut butter again?"

Noah nodded eagerly. "Sí, por favor."

He poured himself another cup of Bustelo, put some peanut butter on Noah's toast, and made his way back to the kitchen table.

"Gracias."

"De nada."

They chatted amicably while Noah finished his breakfast, and once he was washed up, they both walked him to school. Liv then dropped him off at his office quickly before running down to the precinct for work.

"Remember, we have that meeting with Judge Linden this afternoon."

He kissed her on the forehead. "I know. I'll be there."

They'd now had two home visits and one meeting with both the caseworker and Judge Linden. The judge seemed to have little issue with him, but Mrs. Jackson, the caseworker, was a tough nut to crack. Drew Householder had come up and he'd been very blunt and honest, deciding it was best to not try and evade anything.

Liv had also warned him that the caseworker had been difficult with her as well, especially due to her work hours, so to make a point of being available whenever the woman was within smelling distance.

By the end of the conversation with Mrs. Jackson however, the caseworker admitted that he'd assuaged some of her more pressing concerns. She'd also talked to Noah, which had gone relatively well.

He's also had to spend almost the entirety of the last two weekends in parenting classes he was required to take and dealing with work.

He'd had to run into work on Sunday to fix up a newer ADA's mess because apparently, he'd screwed up on paperwork. Badly enough that the opposing counsel would have gotten an appeal in a heartbeat. Thankfully, the young ADA had the common sense to call and confirm what was needed before submitting the documents, which is when Rafael had basically told him to burn the damn thing and he'd see him soon.

They had wanted him to take the classes over a month, but he didn't trust his schedule and wanted it over and done with.

The hours spent in class has been worth it, though, because, satisfied, and having talked to Noah once more, the caseworker announced she was recommending Rafael be approved as an adoptive parent.

They'd, of course, quickly called Judge Linden to set up an appointment to finalize the adoption.

She kissed him goodbye and he made his way up to his office.

Unfortunately, he'd had to turn down Noah's request for him to accompany the boy on one of his classes outings, however. Noah's class was going to Pip's Island. Rafael would have loved to chaperon, but it just wasn't feasible on the specific date. He had court that day. There was nothing he could do. He'd promised Noah they'd go do something just the two of them that following weekend, though, which seemed to cheer the boy up some. Rafael had managed to get off early enough to surprise the kid after school, picking him up and taking Noah out for ice cream. Noah had been more than a little enthusiastic, recounting the entire thing. His son was certain it had been the best field trip ever, and Rafael was just glad Noah had enjoyed himself despite the earlier disappointment.

He'd been the Executive ADA for little over three weeks and to say it was an adjustment would be an understatement.

He was constantly fielding calls from his ADAs and hearing from the D.A a lot more. And when that wasn't happening he spent a large amount of time in touch with the Sex Offenders Monitoring Unit and DNA Tracking Unit. He hadn't met with the SVLU yet but figured he would in due time.

He wanted to hire some new people as quickly as possible. He'd already hired one new ADA hopeful that, as it turned out, was a classmate of Carisi's at Fordham who came with a good recommendation.

He was in search of two others as well and had already set up an Executive Panel Interview for five candidates. It would make it that much easier for him to take on a slightly smaller caseload if he had a couple more hands on deck. He'd still have a decent caseload, but still.

While all this was going on he'd taken two cases to court and managed to plead out two others. He'd also managed to get a conviction for Hughes v. Powell, the case he'd taken over, which he was rather pleased with. Thankfully, Liv understood that there was going to be a hectic adjustment period and it hadn't caused a fight again.

He spoke with Carmen some, getting his updated schedule, and set to work answering emails and returning several calls.

That had taken up about an hour and then he got to work getting ready to file a motion to compel as one of his cases had a difficult witness.

He then informed opposing counsel, Rita, of his motion and was given time for a motion hearing later that day. He'd be glad when that case was done. He'd already had to do a motion in limine for it.

Eventually, he fell so far down the rabbit hole of police reports that Carmen popped in, telling him it was lunchtime.

He ended up eating at Forlini's with Liv who had just finished testifying in a lawsuit case.

"So, what happened exactly?" he inquired in between bites of food.

"As I said," she explained, "the charges were dropped. Staines then stopped me on my way here to chat. She wanted to let me know that there were no hard feelings and offered me one of her tickets to the police philanthropy event tomorrow."

He raised an eyebrow. "She thought that was appropriate?"

She gave a little snort. "I asked the same thing. Apparently, it has nothing to do with my unit, so shouldn't pose a problem."

He hummed. "What did you say?"

"I told her I'd see her there as I already have a ticket and walked away," his wife explained. She shook her head. "Honestly, Rafa."

"Do you still want to go?"

"Dodds'll throw a fit if I don't make an appearance."

"Oh, the joys of politics."

"That's one way to put it," she said. "So, how do you feel about having everyone over tonight?"

He gave her a soft smile. "It sounds nice. I can let Fin yell at the dumbass who calls me and pretend I'm not there."

She laughed. "You would."

"Who the hell can't fill out a basic paper form?"

She rolled her eyes. "Don't be too hard on Collins."

"I can't," he deadpanned. "It would be more of a punishment for me than him." He looked at her. "In all seriousness, a small party would be nice."

"Then I'll let your mom know to come by," she said with a grin.

They finished their food and talked some more before they were interrupted by work - Collins again - and had to go their separate ways.

Back in his office, he went through a few more police reports before an ADA called him to give him an update, explaining that a plea deal had been reached on one of the ADA's cases involving a sex worker who'd been beaten and raped.

Small mercies.

He'd then replied to another email and gotten through part of another police report when it was time to go to the motion hearing.

This time, he won. He'd lost the previous hearing when Rita had moved to get a rather damaging article admitted. He'd then been forced to make a game plan to counteract the damage and his witness had been, frankly, up there with some of the worst he'd ever had. Hence, the motion hearing.

Once court was finished, he grabbed a stack of files, dropped them off at home, locked his study, and ran to the school to get Noah, while trying to talk to one of his senior ADAs, who bless him, actually knew how to do his damn job and had managed two get a conviction in court only ten minutes previous and was on his way to a meeting to finalize a plea deal on another one.

"Text me as soon as it's finalized," he said.

"Will do," ADA Clark said. "Hang in there. I know it's been a rough month."

"Sentiment appreciated," he said. "You're currently my favourite ADA. Collins is five seconds from a smack upside the head."

Clark laughed. "I'll smack him for you the next time I see him."

He snorted, smiling slightly as Noah approached him. "Please don't. You might damage his remaining brain cells. In any case, I have to go. Godspeed."

He hung up and immediately got pulled into a hug. "Hola, Mijo. Tuviste un buen día?" (Hi, Son. Did you have a good day?)

"Sí," the young boy said, smiling. "Vamos a la reunión ahora?" (Yes. Are we going to the meeting now?)

He was obviously asking about the meeting with Family Court. "Sí. Mamá ya nos está esperando en casa. Estas bien con eso?" (Yes. Mom's already waiting for us at home. Are you ok with that?)

"Sí, Papi," Noah assured him. "I'm excited."

Rafael's heart fluttered again. Noah went back and forth between calling him Rafa and Papi but had started doing it more and more lately.

He smiled down at Noah, ruffling the six-year-old's hair. He then decided to take his schoolbag as Noah would walk faster that way. "Yo también, Mijo. Me too."

When they arrived back at the house, Liv was already there, as expected. He ran inside with Noah, let him into the house, and dropped off his schoolbag. They then quickly got into the car and made the drive down to Family Court.

"How was school?" Liv asked.

"It was good," Noah replied. "Art was really fun."

"Oh, what are you making?"

"A paper hat," Noah said, "like Cat in the Hat. I'm having a hard time getting the bottom to stick, though. It fell apart."

"You'll figure it out," Liv said. "Ask your teacher for help if you need to."

He looked at Noah in the back seat. "See, it's not just me."

Noah chuckled. "Ok. You win."

"I don't even want to know," Liv said, amused. "What did you do at recess?"

And, just like that, Noah was off on a tangent, and they spent the rest of the car ride in happy chatter. It had taken some time, but they'd finally managed to find a parking spot, which wasn't always an easy thing in Downtown New York. At long last, they got out of the car and walked into the courthouse, being quickly steered by their attorney to Judge Linden's chambers.

They stood up in front of the judge, and she swore them in.

After quick introductions, the judge elicited brief testimony as to why he wanted to adopt Noah and several questions were asked. The questions were all easy, frankly, and were just designed to demonstrate an understanding that adoption is a permanent, lifelong commitment, and that both he and Liv would be equally responsible for the child if their marriage should end.

"Noah, do you approve?"

"Uh-huh," the young boy said with an enthusiastic nod. "I love him."

"I love you too, Noah," he said, giving the boy a small smile.

"That's really good to hear." The judge, smiling softly, glanced at her documents, and then Rafael. "Councilor Barba, are you willing to raise this child as your lawful child?"

"Yes."

"This child will inherit from you," the judge said, "he will be treated no differently from a biological child. Do you agree?"

"Yes, Your Honour."

Smiling, the judge put one last signature on the documents before her. Facing them again, she pushed the adoption papers to Noah along with the gavel. "Noah, I'm going to ask you if you would officially approve the adoption." When the young boy nodded, the judge handed him the gavel.

Noah picked it up, grinning. "I officially say, 'yes!'" With no hesitation, the young boy hit the adoption papers with the gavel.

The judge then invited them to take a picture together which they did with no hesitation.

"I know for some of us here it's been a very trying year," Judge Linden said. "But, in saying that, congratulations." She looked at all three of them, her eyes finally settling on Rafael. "All the best to you and your family."

Rafael and Noah were both grinning stupidly. "Thank you," he said, shaking the judge's hand.

Noah pulled him into a hug, grinning. "Now you're stuck with me."

He laughed, ruffling Noah's hair. "And I wouldn't have it any other way, Mijo."