"Rafael, I heard you had started slumming on the other side of the courtroom."
Barba looked up to see Rita Calhoun striding his way and suppressed a smile. He had prosecuted many cases with her across the room, defending her clients with a passion and strategy that even he had to admit was impressive. He shifted his briefcase in front of him and held the handle with both hands, lifting a chin arrogantly to regard her. "Rita," he greeted mildly. "Maybe I just wanted to show you how it's done."
She hefted her own bag higher on her shoulder. "I believe my clients would have more sense than to abandon me for you."
"Would Adam Cain agree with that?" he asked, smirking sweetly.
Her face fell into neutral lines. "What made you change teams?" she asked. "Was it finding yourself in need of the services of a defense attorney?"
While his barb about her failure to defend Cain against him had been snarky, hers shot to the core. Years later, he still struggled with the emotional and professional fallout of the Householder case and was often reminded that it would forever be a black mark on his record. He took a deep breath to calm himself and it was on the tip of his tongue to reply when one of Calhoun's interns strode up.
"Ms. Calhoun," the young man greeted. He paused and looked at Rafael. "Excuse me a moment, sir," he said, and then turned back to Rita. "Did you hear what happened in the Part Fifty-five courtroom?"
"No, what?"
"The defendant went ballistic in the courtroom and stabbed the ADA. With a pencil."
Rafael didn't like the glint in Rita's eyes as she slanted a glance in his direction. "Did he now?" she asked, thoughtfully. She turned back to Rafael. "Mr. Barba," she said, consideringly, "isn't Mr. Carisi working in the DA's office now?"
Before Barba could answer, his phone rang. He quickly pulled it out of his pocket and saw Rollins's number on the display. "Mierda," he muttered. He held up a hand to Rita and her intern to excuse himself and stepped away. "Let me guess," he greeted. "Carisi was working in Part Fifty-five today."
"How'd you guess?" Amanda replied. "He's in an ambulance on his way to Mercy. I'm riding with him. It's not bad," she hurriedly went on. "He was upright, walking, and climbed into the bus on his own power. The kid stabbed him in the ear, so nothing vital. He insisted he could take himself to the ER, but because it was his ear, his head is involved, the EMTs were concerned, and they wanted to be cautious."
He pressed the button to call the elevator. "I'm at the courthouse myself," he said. "I'll head out, catch a cab, and get over to Mercy."
"If I'd known you were at the courthouse, I would have come to get you," she said in way of apology.
"It's fine," Barba replied. "You had no way of knowing. Tell Sonny I'm on my way."
Rafael paused in the doorway to the exam room to study his partner when he arrived at Mercy General Hospital's emergency room. Sonny was sitting up on the side of the bed, a bandage over his ear and blood spattered over his crisp, white shirt. Rollins was seated next to him, and they were engaged in a serious about the events that had brought Carisi to this situation.
"Counselor," Barba said with a smile. "I thought you said that taking an ADA position would be less dangerous."
A smile bloomed on Carisi's face when he caught sight of him, and that warmed Barba's heart. He hadn't panicked when Rollins had called him, because everything she had told him had assured him Sonny wasn't seriously hurt. At the same time, it was concerning to know that his partner had to be taken to the emergency room in an ambulance, and the sight of the blood gave him pause. No matter how serious, it hurt him to know Sonny was in pain.
"He missed my eardrum somehow," Carisi replied tiredly. "They said it's superficial. I'll be fine."
He crossed the distance to the bed and pressed a gentle kiss on Carisi's forehead. "Are they releasing you?"
"The nurse just left to get the discharge paperwork signed," Rollins answered for him as Carisi dropped his head tiredly against Rafael's chest.
"What happened?" Barba asked, tenderly running a hand over the back of his partner's head.
"Henry Mesner went in for his competency hearing," Rollins replied, rubbing Sonny's back soothingly. "He went ballistic and stabbed Carisi to prove to the judge that he's insane so he doesn't have to face charges." Anger and resentment heated her voice.
"Manda, he killed his dad, his stepmom, and his five-year-old brother," Carisi shot back, never lifting his head. "He is crazy."
"Maybe," Rafael interjected quietly. "But does he meet the legal definition?" He smiled at the nurse when she came in bearing paperwork. "I'm his domestic partner, Rafael Barba," he said to her. "What are his discharge instructions?"
She reviewed the instructions, Sonny signed the paperwork, and they gathered his belongings to go. "I'm sorry you were pulled away from work," Carisi said to his partner.
Rafael shrugged. "You're more important," he replied gently. "I was done in the courtroom, and besides…" A wicked grin touched his lips. "…you pulled me away from a conversation with Rita Calhoun."
Sonny eyed him as he pushed open the exit door. "It could have been worse."
They glanced at each other with a grin. "It could have been John Buchanan," both men said together, and Rollins laughed.
"I'll text Liv and let her know Sonny is okay," Amanda said. "Get him home," she added pointedly to Barba. "I have…something I need to do." She squeezed Barba's arm and looked fondly up at Carisi. "Take care of him, make him rest."
"Absolutely," Rafael replied. He thoughtfully watched her walk away. "Where is she going?"
"If I had to guess?" Sonny replied. "Rikers. To have a conversation with Mesner. You don't mess with Manda's family." He glanced down at Barba. "He's been stalking her and the girls, and now this. If I know Manda, she is going to go put an end to it."
Rafael started to go after her. To grab her and tell her it's not worth it. That handling things on your own outside of the bounds of the law doesn't end well for anyone. But he also knew Amanda, and he knew that it wouldn't matter one bit what he said to her. She would do this her way, regardless of what he or Sonny said. With a sigh, he said a silent prayer that she didn't do anything that would get her in too much trouble and slid an arm around Carisi's waist. "Come on," he said, quietly. "Let's do what she said and get you home."
Hours later, they lounged together on the sofa watching a movie. Barba had ordered Italian in for dinner, comfort food for his staunchly Italian partner. For his part, Sonny had fielded a call from his panicked mother who saw a report on the news about the incident. He assured her he was fine, and he was home, and no he didn't need her to bring him cannoli from Staten Island to Manhattan at eight at night.
Sonny had his head in Rafael's lap, an ice pack on his injured ear, Rafael's fingers trailing idly through Sonny's silvering hair. He heard a deep sigh, looked down, and discovered that the stress, emotion, and adrenaline of the day had caught up with his partner. Carisi's blue eyes were beginning to grow heavy.
"Do you want to go on in to bed?" he asked quietly.
Sonny shook his head slightly. "No," he mumbled. "I don't want to move."
Rafael smiled. "Okay, but I'm not sleeping sitting up on the sofa all night."
Sighing, Sonny rolled to his back. "Rafi, what do you think makes a kid go bad like that?"
"Like Mesner?"
"I look at his sister, Ruby," Sonny continued. "They were raised together, and by everything I can tell she's a good kid. So what makes one kid – raised exactly the same – turn so bad? Usually when a child really acts out like that, it's because of some trauma." He sighed. "But there is no trauma anywhere in Mesner's past."
"That gets into the whole discussion of nature versus nurture," Barba replied, resuming his stroking of Sonny's hair. "I look at you and your sisters. You were all raised the same – same house, parents, rules – but you're all four different. None of you are bad, but different. Despite the nurture, there's something in the nature that causes you to be your own person."
"And there was something in Henry that just made him snap?"
"I don't know if 'snap' is the right word in this case," Rafael replied. "If I recall the details of the case correctly–and I was not on that case, so specifics are sketchy–he tried to burn his sister to death when she was small."
"…and he shot Amaro," Sonny interjected. "It caught his vest, but he still point-blank shot a police officer."
"Then it sounds like he didn't snap. It sounds like this was just a natural progression of something just born into him."
"Like DNA?"
"No, not DNA." Rafael shifted slightly. "Because if we go by DNA, we get into the idea that a serial rapist would only bring into the world more serial rapists. More like…something in the way his brain is wired." He shrugged. "I don't know. I studied law, not psychology." He trailed the back of his hand along Sonny's jaw and could feel his partner relax.
"Do you think he will be found competent to stand trial?"
"Does he understand that what he did was wrong, Counselor?" Barba challenged. "Think like an ADA, not a cop."
Carisi considered it. "Yeah, he does," he said softly. "I just don't think he cares."
"Then there's your answer." He paused. "Though now that he has assaulted you with a pencil, I imagine you will have to recuse yourself from further proceedings as a prosecutor."
"I'll warn the next guy to wear protective head gear and opt for felt-tipped markers." Sonny groaned and sat up. "Come on," he said. "The Tylenol is wearing off. Let me take another dose and go to bed."
Rafael didn't stand, but instead leaned over and kissed Sonny deeply. "Tomorrow, Counselor? Make sure you take those markers with you into the courtroom."
Sonny grinned. "I could take a sick day," he answered. "Stay at home, in bed, with a hot attorney."
Rafael blushed as he returned the grin. "The defense would be agreeable to those terms, Counselor, if the prosecution would add brunch to the deal."
He laughed and pulled Rafael to his feet. "Deal."
