The next couple of days proved interesting, and before Rafael knew it, he was getting an update from Olivia and Novak that he really didn't like.
He'd been coming out of closing arguments for one of his cases when he spotted the pair off to the side, clearly waiting for him.
Brad was behind the filing and another male dancer, Jason, was involved. Sasha, the producer, had given Alistair the videos of the dancers. Alistair than used them to blackmail the ballerinas.
Alistair tried to pin it all on the producer and said that whatever he did, he did it to subsidize art. Olivia and Novak pushed to have the man charged as a sex trafficker.
It didn't take long however before Sasha and Alistair took deals for felonies, agreeing to do prison time. Jason only got a few months, and they were still working to get the videos taken down. Brad and the third male dancer, Edward, were fired.
Dehlia and one of the other ballerinas ended up deciding to sue the National as well and were looking at a very well earned payout.
He shook his head. "I'm glad this mess is over."
Olivia gave him a sad smile. "Justice is sure damn messy sometimes."
He gave her a half-nod. "You can say that again." He eyed Novak. "You've handled this mess rather well, though."
Novak had a self-assured look on her face. "I'm a big girl. I know how to swim." She glanced between Olivia and Rafael. "I've got to run to another meeting, but hopefully this afternoon goes a little smoother."
Olivia gave a little snort. "That'll be the day."
With court largely done for the day, he went back to his office to manage some of his other files and return a few work calls that he'd missed.
He managed to get a fair amount done, thankfully, before he was called back to court three hours later as the jury had reached a verdict. It hadn't been one of his best cases, the key witness being a bit of a hot mess, and, unfortunately, he lost the case by a small margin.
Unfortunately, it was what it was. So, he shrugged it off, finished a couple of things up, and headed home to relieve Lucy for five o'clock while Olivia dealt with a new case that her squad had caught late that afternoon. She'd already texted him to let him know she'd probably be at work quite late.
He was immediately greeted by Lucy and the kids when he walked through the door. He glanced at Lucy for a moment before turning his attention to taking off his dress shoes and his suit vest. "How did your day go?"
"Good," Lucy said with a warm smile. "Noah actually made a new friend today."
He raised an eyebrow, turning his gaze to Noah. "Oh?"
"We went to the park today," his son explained happily. "This kid named Blake was there and we played the entire time."
He smiled, ruffling his son's hair playfully. "I'm glad you had fun. Did you get your schoolwork done?"
Noah nodded exuberantly. "Uh-huh."
"Perfect," he said, turned back to Lucy and hold his arms out to take Sofía. He adjusted his hold on Sofía slightly then spoke. "How's Toni doing?"
"He's doing well," she said, "thanks for asking. He's glad to finally be back to work. His grandparents were starting to drive him crazy as well. Especially his abuelo when they ran out of coffee."
Rafael immediately chuckled. "No coffee... that's basically torture."
"From the sound of things," she quipped, "his abuelo is worse than even you."
Noah chuckled. "You do like your coffee."
He gave a little hum, a pleased look on his face. "You're not wrong."
They talked for a little bit and then Lucy left. Rafael emptied the dishwasher and then took the kids to the grocery store to get some much-needed grocery shopping done, that they hadn't had the chance to do that weekend.
While they were walking back to the car after grocery shopping, Noah asked if they could go to the bookstore to gets some new books. They had time so Rafael took him to Barnes & Noble, but reminded Noah that they did have groceries in the car that needed to go in the fridge so they couldn't stay too long.
After the bookstore, Rafael quickly stopped at a small Latin bodega near their home to get a couple of other odds and ends he had he hadn't been able to get at the Westside Market before they finally went home.
He put Sofía on the ground in the living room with a couple of her toys and had Noah in there with her while he put the groceries away. He was caught off guard however when Noah yelled out for him to come there. Worried that something was wrong, he immediately rushed to the living room.
Once there, though, it was clear everything was fine. His jaw had dropped slightly, however, when Sofía was stumbling away from the coffee table... he blinked. Sofía was actually walking. Not crawling. Walking.
A huge grin on his face, he moved closer to Sofía, kneeling slightly. There was still some distance between them, but the little girl would still have to take a couple of steps to reach him. "Ven acá, Mijita," he said, gesturing as he spoke. He was hoping to coax Sofía into walking over. "Ven a papá." (Come here, baby girl. Come to Dad.)
It took another long moment, but then it happened. He waved one of the blocks she'd been playing with and Sofía had looked at him, babbled something, and with her arms out took a couple of shaky steps towards him. She fell, but pushed herself back up and took another couple of steps before falling again, Rafael catching her as she did so.
Filled with pride, he gently stood her back up and chuckled when she immediately said "Papá" and made a move to grab the toy that he was holding.
He looked at his son, still grinning from ear to ear. "Noah, ¿puedes recoger uno de los juguetes de tu hermanita y llamarla?" (Noah, can you pick up one of your little sister's toys and call her over?)
Rafael pulled out his phone as Noah did so, intending to record it. It didn't take long before the almost-twelve-month-old wobbled her way back over to her big brother, falling unceremoniously into Noah's lap once she'd reached him.
She started squirming a few moments later and swiftly made her way back over to Rafael, only falling once. "Bien hecho, mi princesita," he said as he played with the little girl, causing her to babble happily. (Well done, my little princess.)
He quickly sent the video to Olivia, unable to wipe off the huge grin that was still on his face. Sofía was growing up so fast, and it was honestly incredible to see how much she'd grown and learned in just under a year.
He did feel bad that Olivia had missed one of Sofía's firsts, though, which is why he had filmed it for her. The entire thing made him even more glad that they'd finally gotten a date for their Adoption Finalization hearing with Family Court.
His phone vibrated and he pulled out his phone to see a text from his wife. 'Awe! She walked! Thanks for sending me that. I'm glad you were able to get it.'
He quickly texted her back. 'Of course, mi amor. Although, I may have had some help from Noah on the filming front.'
Another text from her. 'Hey, team work makes the dream work. Just wish I was home to see it. Our baby girl is growing up so fast!'
Wasn't that the truth. 'Yeah. Much too fast.'
