"Can I help you?" the woman behind the desk asked.
"I'm looking for my husband, Tyler Barba, he's a social worker."
"And the 4 year old abused foster child?" the woman asked.
"Yes, where can I find him?"
"He was walking up and down by her door, waiting on an update. Room 214."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Noah went down the hall, turning the corner he saw Tyler sitting in a chair, head in his hands. Noah walked up, and crouched in front of him.
"Tyler, mi amor."
Tyler looked up, his eyes were bloodshot.
"Noah." Tyler hugged him.
"How is she?"
"As good as she can be, she doesn't like it when I leave the room."
"What's going to happen to her?" Noah asked.
"She's staying here at least for tonight, then I don't know, she gets out of hospital tomorrow."
"What time?"
"3, why?"
"Papi said he could get us temporary custody and we can foster her, and then adopt her, that is what mami did with me."
"You're sure you want to? And can he do that, this is Florida, not New York?" Tyler asked.
"With you, I'll do anything. He knows some people, kids of abuela's friends."
Tyler nodded.
"Let's go back to my parents, they know what you're going through, they want to talk to you." Noah said.
Tyler nodded, and got up.
"I'm going to say bye, you want to meet her?"
"If I can, yeah."
Tyler opened the door, Noah saw a little girl, wires hooked up to her.
"Ella." Tyler whispered.
Ella looked over and smiled at Tyler when she saw Noah she frowned and curled into a ball.
"Hey it's okay. This is my husband, Noah." Tyler whispered, walking over to her bedside.
"Your husband?" She asked.
"Yeah." Tyler held out his hand.
Noah took his hand.
"Hey Ella." Noah whispered.
Ella looked at their hands, seeing their wedding bands.
"Pretty rings." She whispered.
"Thank you." Noah whispered.
"What's going to happen now? I don't want you to go." Ella looked at Tyler.
"Well, because you can't go back to your parents, the government will try and find someone to look after you. It's called fostering. So you will have to stay here overnight until they sort things out and do the paperwork." He could see that she was getting upset so quickly said, "If you want us to, we can try to be the people to look after you."
Ella looked nervous.
"Ella, if you don't want us to, just say so and the people at Social Services will find someone else."
She quickly shook her head,
"You." She quietly said.
"Okay then. We'll start the paperwork as soon as we can. My parents fostered a child so don't worry. If we can't figure something out between the three of us, my parents will know what to do."
Ella looked down, Noah noticed her tan skin had white marks. A nurse came in,
"Visiting hours are over."
Both Tyler and Noah nodded.
"I'll be back tomorrow, I left your things on the tray." Tyler pointed at her bag beside her bed.
"Where's Freddy?"
Tyler walked over, opening her bag.
"I think he's…." Tyler said.
He pulled out a black and white penguin, Noah smiled because it reminded him of the penguin Raf gave him when they moved to their old house.
"Thanks Tyler, Noah." Ella whispered.
"You're welcome, I promise I'll be back first thing."
Ella smiled.
"Bye Tyler, Noah."
Back in the car Tyler looked out the window, tears streaming down his face.
"How did your parents do it for so long?" Tyler asked.
"SVU?"
"Yeah." Tyler looked at him.
"Mom was a product of rape like Brook, she wanted to help people like her mom."
"And your dad?"
"At first because it helped him climb the political ladder, but after working with mom, he realized the importance of SVU, she said she helped him see the world in gray, blues, greens, yellows, and reds instead of just black and white."
Tyler nodded, leaned back, closing his eyes. When they got to Raf's and Liv's, both were waiting for them as they came through the front door. Tyler didn't say anything and went straight to Noah's old room.
"How is he?" Raf asked.
"He's worried and wants to help her. They've bonded and she's only calm when he's in the room. He's terrified that we won't get custody."
Raf and Liv didn't say anything. Tyler came down the stairs, in one of Noah's NYU sweatshirts. Tyler sat beside Noah, letting him run his fingers through his hair.
"Want to talk about it, mijo?" Raf asked.
Tyler took a deep breath.
"How could anyone do that to someone, especially a kid?"
Liv sighed gently.
"I've asked myself that a million times, over the years. I still don't have an answer."
"Noah were you abused, before Liv found you?"
Noah looked at his mother, eyes wide.
"Not that we discovered...and you were checked over by a doctor as soon as you were found." Liv answered, leaving out the part where he was found with child pornographers.
"Where's Jr?"
"With the sitter, want me to call her and ask her to bring him over?"
"Please."
Noah got up making the call. Liv moved over into his place, and held out her arms. Tyler let her pull him into a hug. Noah called the sitter and she dropped off Jr. 10 minutes later.
"Daddy." Jr whispered and climbed up beside Tyler.
"Hey buddy, I've missed you." Tyler hugged him close.
"I miss you, too."
After a few minutes, Jr got up going to his abuelo.
"How about you two stay here and mi nieto and I can hang out and give you two alone time." Raf said.
Noah smiled and said,
"Thanks papi."
"Thanks Raf." Tyler whispered.
Jr hugged his dad and papi then Raf picked him up and Liv headed for their room.