Arraignment Court, and Rafael's other hearings that morning, went well, but his afternoon took an interesting turn.
He'd had a working lunch and a meeting with Rita Calhoun regarding a deal for a misdemeanour case, dealt with some of his ADAs' cases, and then tried to get through some of the reports on his desk.
He did get a text from an old friend, Alistair, that morning who he had just recently gotten back in touch with. Alister had messaged him a couple weeks ago, he'd replied back, and the conversation sort of took off from there, them catching up slightly and making plans to talk in the near future when Rafael's hectic schedule allowed.
They went way back, and although they weren't exceptionally close any longer, both having gone their own ways, they'd remained friends of a sort, keeping in touch off-and-on over the years.
By the afternoon of March 17, however, a father, stepmother, and a pair of step-grandparents were facing attempted murder charges.
The police had been called to an elementary school in Chelsea to investigate possible child abuse. The responding officers, along with the 16th's SVU detectives, began a coordinated investigation in collaboration with ACS and confirmed numerous elements of child abuse and child neglect.
The child was, unfortunately, deemed to have suffered significant physical injuries and health issues as a result of the abuse.
Medical attention was, of course, swiftly provided for the seven-year-old child, but the young boy no doubt had a long road of recovery in front of him.
As a result of their investigation, the parties involved - the child's 31-year-old father, Travis Lynch, 28-year-old stepmother Andrea Marshall, 51-year-old step-grandmother Janie Marshall and 53-year-old step-grandfather Bryce Marshall - were all being charged pending a hearing Rafael had pushed hard to get for the next day.
He intended to charge all four suspects with attempted first-degree murder, felony conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, felony conspiracy to commit felony child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury, and three counts of felony child abuse inflicting serious bodily injuries.
Lynch and Andrea Marshall were arrested within the hour and, as of four o'clock Janie and Bryce Marshall were arrested, all of them being held in The Tombs.
He hated cases with kids, for reasons that were more than obvious in his opinion, but was more than a little glad that someone had found out what the boy was going through before it was too late.
That being said, he couldn't deny how happy he was to finally walk through the front doors of his home shortly after six o'clock that evening.
Especially because he'd had a brief meeting with Mayor de Blasio that afternoon that he was super happy about.
The house smelled amazing, and, taking his shoes off, he was immediately greeted by his seven-year-old throwing his arms around him, chattering happily about something that happened at school that day.
He chuckled the stress from the day washing away as he hugged the boy back. "It's good to see you too, Mijo." He waited a moment before pulling back and giving his wife a quick kiss. "And you as well, gorgeous wife of mine."
She smiled, softly before giving him another quick peck on the lips. "Flattery will get you everywhere, Romeo."
His mother, presumably having now made her way out of the kitchen, walked up to him and give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Hola, Mami. When did you get here?"
"An hour or so ago," his mother said with a smile. She glanced at Noah. "We played some lego and Noah helped with dinner. Isn't that right, nietecito?"
The boy nodded proudly. "Uh-huh."
"Fantástico," he said. "What did you two make?"
"Costillas de puerco con moros y maduros," his mother explained. "Apparently, he's developed a thing for plátanos maduros." She raised an eyebrow. "No muy diferente de su padre." (Not unlike his father.)
He just smirked back at her in not so quiet amusement. "This coming from the woman who once said I had una paleta gringuito."
His mother rolled her eyes affectionately. "I stand by that statement. At the time, hijo mío, you were frankly a bit pretencioso."
He gave a little snort but conceded the point. "Fair enough, Ma."
Noah eyed them both, clearly entertained. "You two are silly."
He ruffled the boy's hair. "Takes one to know one."
Noah gave a little whine. "Paaapi."
Rafael shook his head, amused, and inquired about the rest of his mother's day and taking advantage of her penchant for gossip to find out what was going on with his relatives. He'd talked to several recently, but his mother definitely came in handy with learning some of the crazier antics.
They chatted for a while and then sat down for dinner, which, unsurprisingly, was amazing. He really needed to get a few more family recipes off of his mother, because she and abuelita were phenomenal cooks.
His mother sat down opposite Rafael and Olivia and Noah were seated on either side of him. Sofía was on his knee, but Olivia took her after the baby girl was fed so that Rafael could then eat.
The usual Barba-Benson table conversation began, ranging in diverse topics that always made their dinners fun and interesting. His mother was definitely academically inclined and could and would chat about anything, something Rafael got from her and Olivia had a fair amount of herself. Noah participated whenever he could, asking different questions and adding his own little comments here and there, but was rather busy shovelling his face with food. Not that Rafael could blame him.
He put his cup down and glanced around. "So, I have some news," he said pointedly, a small smile playing on his lips. It was good news, but it would be interesting to see how his mother would take it.
"When I was seven... When I was seven, my mom said, 'stick with Alex. He'll be mayor of New York someday.'"
"Wow."
"She never said that about me."
His mother had come a long way since that conversation, but there had definitely times over the years when he felt like he wasn't good enough.
When she actually told him a while back that she was proud of him, that had been huge for Rafael, who more often than not felt that she wasn't. Unintentionally, he was sure. He knew she loved him dearly, but the little, seemingly innocuous, comments that she made added up... he'd kind of internalized their message. Which given what his father called Rafael left very little of the why to surprise.
Such a stark contrast to his grandmother.
"Ah," his grandmother said, glancing from Rafael to his mother. "I see you brought El Juez."
"Abuelita," he said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, "I'm not a judge."
"You will be," she said, smiling warmly up at him. "To what do I owe the honour?"
She'd provided such unconditional love his entire life. Losing her had been horrible, but even when they were at odds before he passed, he never for one second doubted how she felt about him.
His grandmother was the main reason why he even made it through high school to begin with. Rafael had almost dropped out before senior year to support his mother. He'd needed to, but Abuelita had ripped up the papers and did everything she and his Abuelo could so that Rafael knew his mother was taken care of and could finish school. He remembered what she said that day. "You're brilliant, nietecito. You're smart. You have a year and a half left and if anyone can get a scholarship, it's you. You could be something. Don't throw away that chance, Rafael. Don't. Finish school. Let me and your Abuelo worry about Lucía."
When he'd finally graduated she'd been the proudest one there, and that pride was only to be matched when Rafael showed her his Harvard acceptance letter.
Everyone looked at him and his mother raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Oh?"
"I applied for the Criminal Court position last week," he said softly. "I also talked with De Blasio today. With Judge Milbanks stepping down at the end of this term..." He spoke more firmly now. "I officially leave for Judge School in the first week of January."
A week in White Plains, New York, attending the Legal Bootcamp at New York State Judicial Institute and, if everything went smoothly from now until then, he'd be taking the bench.
His mother shot up from her chair, walking over to him, and his wife looked obscenely proud. Noah was just inquisitive, muttering something in Olivia's ears. Noah then smiled happily, presumably now understanding what Rafael was talking about.
His mother threw her arms around him. "¡Qué maravilloso, Rafi! That's absolutely fantastic." She gave a funny little gesture. "And you'll do just fine at training, I am sure." She pulled him in for another hug and spoke in a low tone meant for her son's ears only. "Felicidades, El Juez."
He smiled and spoke just as softly. "Gracias, Mami."
You will be.
