"We are here to take you home." Noah said.
Ella's eyes lit up at home. A nurse came in, and disconnected everything and Noah and Tyler were soon rolling Ella to their car. On the way home, Ella asked,
"Do you have any kids?"
"Yes, a son Rafa, 4."
"What can I call you two?"
Tyler and Noah looked at each other,
"Whatever you like." Noah said.
"What does Rafa call you both?"
"Tyler is daddy and I'm papi."
Ella nodded and didn't say anything for the rest of the ride. After getting home, Liv came over to help, Ella was sitting at the bar when Liv walked into the kitchen. Tyler was sitting beside her.
"Hey mami," Noah hugged her.
"Hi Noah, Tyler, this must be Ella."
Ella looked at Tyler then to Noah, she leaned into Tyler's side.
"She used to make children safe by putting the bad men who hurt them in prison."
Liv smiled, and noticed there were three bowls of strawberry ice cream on the bar. two were empty and the other was halfway gone.
"Ella I see you have a sweet tooth just like Noah."
Ella nodded enthusiastically.
Noah, Tyler, and Liv sat on the couch Ella played with the toys on the floor. Half an hour later Liv had Ella bathed, dressed, and in bed asleep.
"How's Jr. and Papi?" Noah asked.
"Good, Jr was asleep and Raf was talking to some of his friends when I left, they were talking about abuela and great abuela."
"How's he doing?" Noah asked.
"He's working through some things. Junior brought up some painful memories."
Noah and Tyler looked at each other.
"Has he ever been abused? The way he reacted…. I would probably say something similar about my dad." Tyler asked.
"Uh.. yes, he has.. he doesn't like to talk about he didn't tell me until he snapped at Rafa."
"You want me to talk to him?"
"No, he's been talking to me and his old friends about it."
Later that night
When Liv made it home, Raf was laying on the couch watching tv.
"How are you?" Liv whispered, running her fingers through his hair.
Raf leaned up so Liv could sit, then laid his head on her lap.
"Better, I think, you know how it is….. I took a nap after everyone left and had a flashback/nightmare."
Raf didn't say anything else, Liv's mind wondered what the nightmare was about,
"Do you want to talk about…." Liv trailed off.
"Not really, but…." Raf trailed off.
"What's wrong? Raf, you know I would never push you into talking about something you don't want to."
Raf sat up, running his fingers through his hair.
"I know, it just feels like I'm shutting you and the kids out, I hate the feeling."
"You're not, you told me what he did to you. You know that you don't need to give me the details."
"I know, but I didn't tell you all the details, and I know all the details about Lewis, I was tied up in the next room for two hours."
Liv shook her head, and held him close.
Liv rubbed her hand up and down his chest. After a while they went up to bed.
As they laid down, his head on her chest Raf opened up,
"He would come into my room after I was asleep, he would be drunk, cheap beer on his breath. The first few times I would wake up as he pulled down my pants. I tried to fight back at first, but he threatened to hurt mami worse than he already was. Eventually it got to where I quit bothering fighting it or I started going somewhere else in my head. The more I managed not to react, the less interested he became. Eventually he ran out of ways to get a reaction and stopped. He just hit me more.
"How old were you?"
"Uh… nine or ten when it first started, at first he would just rub me through my pants I was 12 when he started raping me. Mami or Abuela never knew about it."
"Did anyone?"
"Uh.. I think maybe Alex and Eddie, I don't know….." Raf quit talking.
After a while, he said
"I'm done talking about….the past. How was my new granddaughter?"
"She's good, she's very attached to both. Noah and her seem to share the same love for strawberry ice cream." Liv squeezed him closer to her.
"That's good that she settled in that well, giving her history." Raf whispered.
Liv nodded, as Raf sat up and looked at her.
"Happy early anniversary." He whispered.
"You too." Liv whispered, and kissed him.
They both got up going to bed. Liv laid with her head on his bare chest, they both fell asleep quickly. The next morning they laid there enjoying just holding each other close.
"I think if we don't hurry Noah and Tyler will wonder where their son and parents are." Raf whispered.
Liv nodded.
They got up and Raf dragged her into the shower, taking his time as he helped her get ready.
"I can't believe we are in our 70's, 20 years of marriage, we're still together, I love you even more than I did." Raf whispered into her ear.
"You're still my best friend and still take my breath away every time you kiss me." Liv smiled, and kissed him.