Carisi loved these kinds of evenings. The squad managed to wrap up their last case before end of shift, and to celebrate, decided to go out for drinks together after work. All of them sat comfortably around a table in Forlini's, chattering noisily with one another. With the exception of Benson, all of them nursed a beer, and Carisi and Dodds occasionally glanced up at the TV to catch the score on a hockey game they were both following.

"Hey, Carisi." Amanda suddenly turned to him. "I keep meaning to tell you: that blonde in records asked me for your number."

He paused with his bottle halfway to his mouth. "What'd you tell her?"

"I wasn't going to give anyone your number without checking with you," she assured him. "Do you want me to?"

With a soft chuckle, he shook his head. "No, better not."

"It's not fraternizing," Dodds said. "I know she's a uniform, but you're in different departments."

"That's, uh, that's not the issue."

"Then what is?" Amanda pressed. "She's cute, and it's not like you have a hell of a lot else going on right now."

Sonny didn't respond, but instead finally took a generous drink from his bottle. He cursed inwardly when he felt a hot flush creep into his face.

Across the table, Fin chuckled. "Or maybe he does."

Rollins's jaw dropped. "Do you?"

His face grew hotter. "I… have been kinda seeing someone," he finally admitted.

Olivia hid a smile in her glass of wine.

"You could have told me," Amanda huffed. "We are partners."

"Look," he began, toying with his drink on the table, "I wasn't ready to say anything. It's…a little sticky."

"Define 'sticky,'" Fin commanded.

"Come on, guys," Dodds interrupted. "It's clear he doesn't want to talk about it."

"Sticky as in if it becomes public, we'll both have to make a disclosure to HR," Sonny explained. "It's still fairly new, and I don't know if either of us are ready for that. So, we've been keeping it quiet."

"So it's another cop," Amanda said, thoughtfully.

"I didn't say that," Sonny replied, tugging at his collar. "Is it getting warm in here?"

Amanda's eyes narrowed. "Answer the question, Carisi."

"You interrogatin' me now, Rollins?"

Fin chuckled into his beer. "Rollins, you're just butthurt that he hasn't told you before now. And jealous that he's getting some action and you're not."

"That's not…" she paused, "…entirely true."

"It has nothin' to do with you," Sonny assured her. "I just don't want to take a risk on screwin' anything up with office gossip."

Olivia studied him. "It sounds like you're rather serious about this relationship."

Once again, his cheeks grew warm. "I, um…" he stammered. He took a deep breath. "…I just really don't want to mess anything up. We haven't talked about if and when yet, and I don't want to push for something anyone isn't ready for."

Under normal circumstances, Sonny would consider an interruption a blessing at that moment. But when he caught sight of their ADA striding through the door with his collar undone, jacket slung over his shoulder, and briefcase in hand, his already hot cheeks flamed to scorching.

"Hey, guys, sorry I'm late," Barba said as he sidled up to the table and dropped his briefcase. "I got held up at arraignment." He rolled his green eyes. "Buchanan."

As groans of sympathy sounded around the table, Sonny took a pull from his bottle and fought to keep his expression neutral. Unbidden, an image of Rafael naked and beneath him the night before flashed through his mind. He took a deep breath to calm himself and struggled to shove the thoughts out.

But damned if the man didn't look almost as good in a suit.

"What'd I miss?" Rafael asked.

"Carisi is seeing someone," Rollins put in. "He won't tell us anything about her, so we're trying to pull it out of him."

"Really now." Barba's eyes met Carisi's, question in the attorney's and innocence in the detective's.

"It has to be someone we know, because he said he wants to keep it under wraps for now. Apparently," Amanda shot her best friend a pointed look, "he would have to make a disclosure to HR if it went public and he's not quite ready to do that."

Barba had turned his attention to Amanda while she was speaking, but when she was finished his brows shot up and he glanced back at Carisi. The curiosity in his eyes was burning holes in the detective, who was now resisting the urge to squirm in his chair. This must be what it's like for the witnesses he cross examines, Sonny thought.

"I didn't say I'm not ready," he protested. "I said we haven't talked about it, so I don't know if we're ready!"

He was pretty sure he was the only one who caught the subtle relaxing of Rafael's shoulders as he nonchalantly draped his jacket over the back of the chair next to Carisi. "What has he said about…her?"

"You know," put in Dodds thoughtfully, "we're assuming a lot of things."

"Like what?" Fin asked.

"We assumed he was referring to a her, but he never explicitly said that," the sergeant began.

Sonny's cheeks turned crimson.

"Wait," Amanda said, catching the blush. "It's a guy?!"

"Further, we assumed it's another cop." Mike paused to take a sip of his beer. "But…it could be an attorney we work with."

"Maybe a defense attorney," Fin said, and turned to Sonny. "Carisi, are you having an affair with Randy Dworkin."

He choked on a mouthful of beer. "Ew. What the hell, Fin?" he finally managed, and Amanda laughed.

Olivia took a sip of her wine. "Maybe you all should leave Carisi be until he–and whoever he is seeing–are ready for us to know."

"I'm going to go get a drink from the bar," Barba said. He started to pass behind Sonny, and paused at his elbow. With a slight smirk, he abruptly turned, dropped his head, and took a firm hold of Sonny's tie.

Fire welled up in Sonny's gut when Rafael yanked him forward and fastened his lips on his in a searing kiss. Instinctively, a soft moan rumbled in the detective's throat and his hand slid up to cup Barba's cheek. As quickly as the kiss began, Rafael ended it and grinned at him. "Be right back. I'll buy you a drink."

And then he sauntered away.

Stunned, brain scrambled, Sonny watched him go for a long moment. Finally, face flaming, he dared to look around to the rest of the table.

Amanda and Fin gaped at him, mouths hanging open. Olivia smiled into her glass, and Dodds nonchalantly took another drink from his bottle.

"Barba?" Amanda finally managed.

Slowly, Fin shook his head. "I didn't see that one coming."

"How long has that been going on and you didn't tell me?" Amanda asked, swatting Sonny's arm.

"Ow," he retorted, and rubbed his shoulder. "A few months. It just kind of…happened."

"You just happened to start sleeping with our ADA?" Amanda continued. "And you didn't tell me."

"Like I said," Carisi shot back. "I wasn't sure we were ready to make it public. I honestly wasn't sure until he just decided to kiss me in front of God and everyone."

"I was tired of keeping it to myself," Rafael interjected as he slid into the chair next to Carisi. "He's a pain in the ass but he's my pain in the ass and I'm ready for the world to know it."

"Aw, thanks, Rafi," Sonny said, sweetly. "You're a pain in my ass too." Hesitantly, he draped his arm over the back of Barba's chair and was gratified when he leaned closer.

"Look, I'm happy for you if you two are pains in each other's asses," Fin interjected. "But I don't want to hear the details of your sex life. In fact," he went on, "I don't want to hear the details of anyone's sex life. As far as I'm concerned, you all are monks."

Laughter erupted around the table, followed by sincere congratulations.

"You know, for detectives you all need to work on your deductive reasoning skills," Dodds said as the chatter died down.

"What do you mean?" Fin asked.

"If you paid attention," he explained, "there was one person at this table who really was not surprised when ADA Barba…" he hesitated, grinning, "…laid one on Carisi." He tipped his bottle on Olivia's direction.

She grinned. "I knew a week ago."

"Carisi said that he did not want to say quite yet who he was seeing because he did not want to have to make disclosure to his boss and HR," Mike continued. "If Benson already knew, it couldn't have been Carisi who told her."

Sonny shook his head. "I didn't say a word."

"Then it had to be the other person involved." Mike grinned. "If we are talking about someone Carisi would have to disclose being in a relationship with, it would have to be a cop, judge… or attorney." His smile widened. "And Benson's best friend is an attorney."

Carisi raised an eyebrow and slowly turned his head to peer down at Barba.

Rafael offered a sheepish grin. "We had drinks last week. There was a lot of alcohol involved."

Grinning, he leaned over and murmured in the attorney's ear. "Isn't that how we ended up here in the first place?" Under the table, he squeezed Rafael's thigh and then trailed a hand higher.

Barba, who had been taking a generous sip of scotch, choked.

Amanda excused herself to grab another round and headed over to the bar. While she waited for the bartender to get her another beer, she stood and watched Carisi and Barba across the room.

"They look happy together, don't they?"

She turned to Olivia, who had stepped up beside her to get her own refill. "They do," she admitted. "If you had told me yesterday that we would be standing here watching the two of them I would have called you a liar, but…" she trailed off. "How serious do you think it is?"

"When I talked to Barba about it last week, he admitted he has never felt quite like this," Olivia replied. "It takes a lot for Rafa to admit to deeper emotions, so the fact that he said anything at all tells me that he's pretty serious." She toyed idly with a coaster on the bar. "And according to him, Carisi told him right after the halfway house assignment that he wasn't interested in seeing anyone else."

"That was weeks ago," Amanda groused. "And he never said a word. The shit."

"I think they are both pretty nervous about screwing something up," Olivia said. "Carisi is…"

"He's Carisi," Amanda agreed. "Prone to opening his mouth and sticking his foot in it."

"Exactly. And Barba has a difficult time not being snarky and sarcastic. I think they wanted to get their feet solidly under them before anyone else knew."

Rollins watched the two of them for several moments. Across the room, Sonny slid a hand up and casually ran a fingertip along the back of Barba's neck. The attorney smiled up at him, and leaned over to whisper something that made Carisi laugh.

"I'm happy for them," Amanda mused. "They're sweet together." Her expression hardened. "But if Rafael Barba breaks Sonny's heart…"

"Don't worry," Benson said, grinning as she accepted her full glass from the bartender. "I plan to have that same conversation tomorrow with Carisi."