Walking into their brownstone, Rafael pushed his frustration with Olivia's lapse of judgement aside and fed the kids. Thankfully, his mother hadn't minded spelling out Lucy so that she could go home a couple of hours earlier and his mother had made sure the kids were bathed and had eaten. If his mother had noticed the tension, she didn't say anything. Sofía, as expected, was already asleep given the slightly later hour. He played a card game with Noah, and chatted with the boy some about his day, before reading a story with Noah before bed.

Things were more than a little tense once Olivia actually got home. He tried to bite his tongue as he wanted to be civil and knew no harm was actually intended, but she was stressed out and his tongue ended up getting the better of him.

He gave her a pointed look. "Yeah, well, as I am often reminded... Tom Wolfe was right. Sooner or later, all cops become Irish."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" his wife scoffed, eyes narrowing. "And what was with shoving the whole Terrance Reynolds incident in my face earlier?"

Now it was Rafael's turn to scoff. "I have no idea, Olivia!" he said, voice dripping with sarcasm. He was trying to keep his voice down, however, for the kids' sake. "What in the world could I possibly mean by that?" He shook his head. "This isn't the first time you've done this and I'm baffled you don't seem to have learned a damn thing."

Olivia crossed her arms. "Not you too. I already got the third degree from Dodds. We were by the book, Rafael. We didn't do anything wrong. He had outstanding warrants, wouldn't answer questions..."

"You can't tell me things wouldn't have played out differently if Jayvon was white," Rafael stated, pointing directly at her. "And you can't tell me that there weren't better ways to handle it and correct the situation once you were on the scene."

She pressed her lips together. "Are you seriously... Brown was already under arrest for outstanding warrants when we got there."

He gave her a pointed look. "So you're saying you had no choice?"

"A crowd was gathering," she argued. "He wasn't cooperating. I didn't wanna release him before ruling him out as a suspect."

"Okay," he said. "Well, answer this, Olivia. Did you ask the officers to run Colleen Reynolds' name as well?"

"No, I did not," she admitted.

"She has a history of false accusations," he pointed out. He'd looked into the situation some on his own. "And her ex has a restraining order against her."

Her shoulders slumped slightly as his words registered. "I should have run her name too. That... that was my mistake."

Rafael nodded, grabbed his phone off the counter, and looked at his wife. "Yes, it was. Let me know when you've thought about why you made that mistake." And with that, he stormed out, heading up the stairs and to bed, leaving Olivia to grab a blanket and pillow out of the hallway closet for all he cared.

The stunned look on her face as he walked out was a good thing in Rafael's opinion. Hopefully, she'd actually consider the situation. And if she didn't, well, that was a bridge Rafael didn't want to cross just yet.

The next morning, Rafael woke up, feeling a bit uneasy about what had happened the night before but he shoved that thought down and went about the usual morning routine, focusing on the kids.

Olivia was dropping Noah off at school that morning, so Rafael was able to just head to work, go to both his hearings, and start on some paperwork.

Thankfully, he didn't have all that long to wait, however, before he was contacted about the man from the video, Joe Murphy.

The ex-girlfriend hadn't hesitated at ID-ing the man and informed them that the twenty-five-year-old still lived with his mother and "was a different person when he hits the tequila turnpike." He'd go off on her and come back the next day with flowers, which got old fast.

Rollins and Tamin had then gone to the apartment of Bernadette Murphy and managed to get the man to willingly come to the station. Rafael was more surprised though when Rollins was able to actually trick the guy into giving his DNA by offering the guy a water-bottle. The lab had found DNA on Aquino's underwear, and now they had something to compare it to. That was a huge relief in many ways. The sooner this entire mess was dealt with, the better.

He eyed Tamin who just shrugged. "He made a big show about wanting to help. For what it's worth, Eric Aquino's brother did say he's Eric's type."

Olivia bit her lip slightly before walking across the room over two where her black jacket was hanging up. Swinging it over her shoulder, she turned towards Fin. "Keep me posted. I gotta head to IAB."

He watched as his wife walked away and turned his focus momentarily to Carisi who was now entering the interview room where Rollins was waiting with Joe.

"So did you see Jayvon Brown do anything suspicious?" Carisi questioned, not missing a beat as he started the interrogation.

"No," Murphy said, "when I got there, he was cuffed."

"Hmm, okay, and the vic?" Rollins asked. "You ever seen him before?"

The man was quick to respond. A little too quick. "No, sorry."

Rollins showed a photo on the IPad. "Really? So this isn't you?"

"Oh, wait." The man managed to keep his voice nice and level. "That's the guy? Wow, I didn't put two and two together."

"So you don't remember having drinks with him at Owney Madden's?" Carisi inquired. "You guys left after last call."

"Whoa, whoa! No. It's not like that," the man stated. "He followed me out of the bar. He was kinda hitting on me. I didn't want to be rude, so I let him walk with me."

"All the way to the park?" Rollins said with disbelief.

"Dude, do I look gay?" Murphy chuckled a touch nervously. "I'm engaged. I went right to my fiancée's place."

"This was when?" Carisi inquired.

"4:30? 5:00?" Murphy stated.

"So how did you end up back in the park?" Rollins inquired.

"Well, Ashley lives by the park," Murphy replied.

"Oh," Rollins said.

"I heard all the sirens outside and went down to check it out," Murphy continued.

"So," Carisi chimed in, "we'll need to talk to Ashley."

"Sure," Murphy agreed, reaching for the phone in front of him. "I'll call her."

Carisi stopped Murphy. "Actually, we'll do that."

Rafael had to go back to the D.A's Office for a meeting, so he didn't stick around much longer before making the short trip back to his office.

The meeting was short and not sweet, and Rafael soon found himself once again down at the precinct dealing with interviews.

Fin, Rollins, Carisi, and Tamin were all in the squad room while Rafael looked in on Joe who to all appearances was sleeping in the interview room. That just solidified the fact that he was guilty in Rafael's mind.

"How's his alibi?" he inquired.

Rollins gave him a pointed look. "Bogus."

He nodded. "What about the DNA?"

"Not back yet," Tamin informed him.

"He doesn't need to know that," Fin deadpanned.

Rafael sighed. They were definitely in for a long day.

Moments later Rollins and Carisi were waking the suspect up so they could continue with and hopefully finish their interrogation.

"Joe." Rollins tried calling out again. "Joe!"

That evidently got the man's attention as he was now moving to sit up straight in his chair. "Ashley back me up?"

Rollins gave a small nod at that. "And then some." Rollins took a seat on the edge of the table. "She told us that you go to her place around 10:00 P.M."

"What can I say?" the man smugly replied. "She's loyal."

"And she's a liar," Rollins retorted. "How 'bout you?"

Murphy's expression didn't waver. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh," Carisi explained, "we're taking your DNA from your water-bottle."

"Now," Rollins chimed in, "is there any reason it might be a match to the DNA that we found on Aquino?"

"Uh..." the man said, finally knocked off guard somewhat. "Okay, I might've left this out." Murphy paced slightly around the section of the room he was in as he talked before taking a seat once more. "The guy asked me to come into the park, smoke a joint. I'm drunk, I say yes, then he gets persuasive."

"Meaning?" Carisi questioned.

To his credit, Murphy didn't hesitate. "He says, 'Close your eyes. Pretend I'm a girl. I'm gonna give you the greatest blow...' Forgive me. He offers to service me."

Rollins stood up. "And then what happened?"

"He starts to unzip me," Murphy explained. "Like I say, I'm not gay, so I freak out. I push him off of me and run."

"How hard you push him?" Carisi asked.

"Not hard," the man replied. "I look back, he's running after me. He was a lot more drunk than I was. He must've taken a fall."

"Did you see him fall?" Carisi prodded.

Rafael's attention was pulled away from the on-going interview when Tamin walked up with a defence attorney. Not bothering to make much small talk, Rafael wasted little time at escorting the defence attorney into the interview room.

"Mr. Murphy's attorney's here," Rafael said with some irritation in his voice once he'd opened the door and let the other man in. Their job had just gotten that much harder. "He'll need the room."

"Wait," Murphy said, standing up, "I didn't ask for a lawyer."

"Zito, Joe." Counsellor Freddo said, making a gesture to cut the man off. "Mr. Donovan hired me. He's looking out for you and your mother."

Murphey smirked, the smug look instantly reappearing.

"The owner of the bar and your mom," Rollins said, the situation evidently clicking for her. "That's why he covered for you."

"He did?" Murphy drawled. "He's loyal too. Good people." Feeling rather smug, Murphy sat back down and leaned back, grinning from ear to ear. "I drink for free every night."

Rafael and the detectives immediately left the room to allow Murphy and Counsellor Freddo to talk privately.

More than a little stressed out, Rafael didn't speak. He just went to the coffee machine in the break room and poured himself a cup. He then joined everyone back in the Squad Room but still didn't chat, choosing to drink his coffee in silence.

Eventually, he had to take a work call, but he didn't leave, knowing he'd probably be needed at the precinct in short order anyway.

He wasn't wrong. Eventually, Rollins and Rafael were in the interrogation room with Murphy, the man no doubt intended to try and cut a deal.

"Ah," The defence attorney said, "after speaking to Joe, I found a way out of this unfortunate situation."

Rafael shot the man a look. "Is that so?"

"Yeah," Counsellor Freddo said, "as my client stated, he was lured to the park by Mr. Aquino, who gave him drugs and became sexually aggressive."

"Really," Rollins immediately retorted, "so why is Mr. Aquino in the ICU, unconscious, a victim of rape?"

"That's how things sometimes go wrong," the defence attorney said, "when drugs, alcohol, and misplaced passion are involved."

"Okay," Rafael said. "You wanna sell that to a jury? Go ahead." He turned to face Rollins. "Book him for attempted murder, assault one, and criminal sexual act."

The defence attorney seemed stunned. "Hold up, Counsellor. Given the unfortunate
turn of events, Joe would be willing to consider mis-d assault."

"Don't offend me," Rafael said. "Mr. Aquino has bruising, trauma, and your client's DNA in his underwear."

"Which can happen with consensual sex," the defence attorney shot back.

"Consensual?" Murphy exclaimed. "He tried to force himself on me."

"All right, Joe," the defence attorney said, "if I may..."

"Okay then," Rafael said. "Rollins get him out of here." He really wasn't in the mood to play any stupid games.

"Stand up, Joe!" Rollins said. "You're under arrest."

"All right," the defence attorney said, "good luck getting an indictment. Aside from that viral video of cops arresting an innocent black man, you don't even have a 'he said, he said' here, Counsellor. Your vic's in a coma."

"The injuries speak for themselves," Rafael retorted without preamble, following Rollins and Murphy out of the room.

Rafael wasn't surprised in the slightest when he got home well after the kids' bedtime with a raging migraine because of the entire mess.

He was pouring himself a glass of water when Olivia finally walked in.

"Long day?" Olivia asked, clearly noticing him taking his migraine medication.

He put his glass down on the counter and turned to face his wife. "Yeah."

She nodded. "We arrested Joe Murphy. He admitted to sex with Aquino but denies having assaulted him."

"And Aquino's still unconscious?"

"Yes."

He nodded. "How'd it go at IAB?"

"Haven't heard a word." Olivia played with her face slightly. "Rafa, I didn't sleep last night. Been going over and over and over in my head about what happened in that park, and trying to figure out what I could've done differently, and... And what I missed."

He dipped his head slightly in acknowledgment. "And what do you think?"

"I think that I have been so focused on the victims," she said, licking her lips nervously, "that my own bias didn't even occur to me."

Well, that was something. "And now?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "How much did that bias affect my choices, affect my decisions as a cop? I'm reeling."

He gave a half-nod. "We all are." He walked towards her and pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry about last night."

She gave him a sad smile. "No, your anger was justified. I messed up and that's on me. I didn't even consider the possibility of the girl lying. Fin pointed out that we were profiling the guy and I didn't listen."

"It'll be okay, Liv." He gave her a reassuring look. "We'll get through this. No matter how everything plays out."

"Together?"

He squeezed her hand and gave her a small smile. "Together."