When Amanda returned from her trip, she came back with another report of a victim and since that claim also came with the clear bribery of Mr. Bauer, the squad had no choice but to return to the man and get the details straight. At least this time, he wouldn't deny the story when he was brought into the precinct. This time, he and his daughter would be speaking with Rafael and Amanda, see if it would switch their stories around talking to different people.

"So I gave this Marcie girl five grand. She had no memory of what happened. It was the same cockamamie story Carla told," Bauer had shrugged his shoulders like they were talking about something casual.

"But...you hadn't heard Carla's story yet, and Macie-Lynn was six months ago," Amanda pointed out the error in his explanation.

Baker stumbled over his words. "Well, I may have the timeline confused…"

Cordelia stepped in to save her father. "My father runs a multi-billion dollar company fielding hundreds of emails and phone calls a day. You can't expect him to remember who said what when."

"Very true," Amanda agreed then added, with a sweet smile, "But I'm pretty sure he'd remember handing out bonuses the way these girls have claimed you have. Money tends to be hard to forget, especially if it was linked to somebody else coming to you about Shakir, right?"

Of course neither Bauer nor Cordelia had much to say after that, much less when Rafael took over. "Mr. Bauer, you're looking at witness bribery. Think hard."

"Okay, actually, we are done here," Cordelia said quickly, but her father had other ideas.

"No, no, no. There was a gold digger, a black girl...works in retail. I didn't believe a word she said."

Cordelia looked like she was ready to put her own hand over her father's mouth but the damage had already been done. Later that day, Olivia would send Amanda and Montserrat to go talk to that very girl about the situation.

"I like working here. I don't want no part of this," Tiana said first and foremost when she'd been pulled to the side in her store.

"So you think if you talk to the police, you're gonna lose your job?" Montserrat asked. It was a fair assumption to make based on who the biggest star of the company was.

Tiana nodded her head. "Mr. Bauer said Shakir is the golden goose, a role model for my community. Look around, we all have our jobs because of Shakir." And of course proving her point, the store was currently packed with customers. "I'm on a store manager track here."

"And he told you that after you went to him?" Amanda made the next assumption. She wasn't that far off. Tiana reluctantly nodded again. "Listen, honey, from personal experience? Pretending something didn't happen doesn't make it go away."

Montserrat blinked and instinctively looked at Amanda differently. With her, Montserrat could never be sure that whatever Amanda was saying was for the case or because it was actually true. The way Amanda said that right now left Montserrat wondering the same thing. Was she being honest? That shouldn't matter right now, though.

Montserrat shook her head to forget about her thoughts. "Hey Tiana, it's best if you just talk to us with the truth." The woman still seemed reluctant but after a bit more insistence, she started to speak.

~ 0 ~

"Hey," Montserrat strolled into Rafael's office with a file in hand, that of their latest victim. She dropped the file on his desk, motioning him to read it and when he didn't, she shrugged. "What?"

Rafael was giving her a look like he was trying to figure her out and that was puzzling given this was a strictly professional visit. Everything he needed to figure out was already on the file. "That's all you're saying?" he asked, still sounding like he was testing her.

"What...else am I supposed to say?"

Rafael tilted his head head at her, eyes narrowing for a moment. "Is this a test?"

"If it is, can you let me in on it because I have no idea what you're talking about."

His face fell flat. "Montserrat."

"What?" she almost laughed out of sheer confusion. "Didn't Olivia tell you we were dropping this off?"

"Yeah, I just...I didn't think you were coming to drop it off."

"Why wouldn't I?" Montserrat stiffened when an idea popped into her head. "Did you...did you want to cut our interactions short now? For the whole contract we had to sign?"

"What? No!" Rafael sighed. Even though sometimes he would admit (only to himself though) that he liked her challenging ways, he didn't want to play it right now. "I thought you were upset with me because of the...meeting the parents stuff?"

"Oooh! Well, you could've just said that! You let your mouth run all the time, dammit!" Montserrat huffed, missing the way he rolled his eyes at her. "After thinking about it, I decided to give you the space you need to really consider it."

"Seriously?" Rafael raised an eyebrow at her. Her giving something up like this wasn't exactly her way.

Montserrat shrugged her shoulders. "I actually talked to Carisi about it, so you can thank him for this. You should probably start a tally mark about this—"

"Okay, okay," he said quickly, waving that matter off for the moment. "So...you're okay for now?"

"Yes," she sighed. "I'm not going to pressure you. You know what I'd like for us to do but you have to do it out of your own accord. If you think we're not ready for that then...we'll be ready later on."

"And you'd be fine with that?"

"Yes, so long as we're fine," Montserrat's expression was cautious when she spoke.

Rafael realized she was waiting for him to confirm that, yes, they would be fine. Challenging as she was, she could also be a little bit naive sometimes. "Yes," he smiled at her. "Of course we are, and we will be. Thank you."

Montserrat nodded at him. "So...that file?" she tapped a finger over said file. "I told Liv this would be a professional visit. It's the only way she let me come on my own."

Rafael laughed. "She'll be hanging this over our heads for a while." He picked up the file to finally read it.

"Better her than anyone else," Montserrat said.

Rafael would agree. "You know I'm doing my best to avoid Casey around these parts?" It was Montserrat's turn to laugh. "She's like a version of you, only with the same skills as me."

Montserrat smirked. "Now imagine if I did all this for a living?" She made a gesture to his office. "You wouldn't be able to take me."

Rafael looked up from the file to meet her gaze. It sounded like a tempting challenge but if he was being honest, she was already too much for him sometimes. She was exactly how she needed to be and she really complimented him. It was a novelty, really. He wondered if she truly understood that.

"Your silence means defeat," Montserrat said much too proudly for Rafael to want to taint.

His mouth opened on instinct to snap but he closed it in time. A light 'sure' slipped through a moment later. She straightened up with even more pride of her triumph. It was endearing.

"Alright," she tapped a hand over the file on the desk, "This is the new girl, new victim, that Rollins and I spoke to." Rafael picked it up to skim. "She sounds legit, she definitely had things to say about Shakir." He was getting that gist the further he read. "Liv reallys wants you to talk to Shakir and his new representative in this legal matter."

Rafael lowered the file to meet Montserrat's gaze. It was much too big of a smirk not to take the bite. "Who would that be?"

"Our dear frenemy Calhoun." She nearly laughed at his reaction.

"Of course. I'll handle it, I guess...of course…" He started in a new light, even a sneaky smile that Montserrat couldn't yet figure out. "It's always good to have a detective around."

"Oh, so now you want a detective at your side?" She asked, hands on her hips, as she reminded him about his earlier comment to her at the precinct. "I thought a detective was too tiring."

"Montserrat…" He should've known that comment would come back and bite him. "Montserrat, cariño—"

"Na-na-na," Montserrat wagged a finger at him, "Don't you 'cariño' me, ha! That's not always going to work." She planted her hands on his desk, leaning over with a smirk on her face. "Sledujte svoje ústa okolo mňa."

He knew he was in trouble, she was clearly scolding him, but Rafael couldn't get past the way her foreign tongue sounded. Plus, coupled with that smirk on her face? God. "What was that, my dear?" he asked in a pitiful mumble.

"Watch your mouth around me," she translated smoothly. She leaned off the desk, once again proud of herself with his reaction.

"Always," he said automatically, making her chuckle. He shook his head, reprimanding himself for being too weak, though he was sure that the next time Montserrat pulled something like that he would fall again no doubt.

"Hurry up and read the damn thing already," she said as she grabbed a seat across him. "I can be very impatient, you know." Just for show, she kicked her feet up on his desk, raising an eyebrow at him to say something about it. She was pushing buttons and they both knew it. How far would he let her go? The tingle of the suspense was the thrill she loved.

"Montserrat Irene Novak…" Rafael muttered under his breath. He grabbed the file again and decided to focus on it entirely before he lost it again. He did, however, catch her smirk from over the file.

~0~

Calhoun was representing Shakir, much to Rafael's annoyance. She brought Shakir to the office and both listened to the case that seemed to be getting bigger and bigger.

"Tiana Raynes. Sharkwear salesgirl is your latest victim," Montserrat told the pair. There was a flash of recognition in Shakir that didn't go unnoticed by her and Rafael.

"And she kept her panties?" Calhoun raised a clear suspicious eyebrow.

"Yeah, there was semen on them and her dress," Rafael answered with a tight smile. "Better than an autograph."

"When does she allege this took place?" Shakir demanded.

"You were in her store for a march madness event, Mr. Wilkins."

"I was everywhere for march madness. 16 cities in 16 days."

"This was in the Sharkwear flagship store. Tiana took a selfie with you and your cutout," Rafael said as Montserrat brought up said picture on a tablet. It was clear as day. "That's her, that's the dress."

"Okay, she met him," Calhoun shrugged.

"Well, she says he did more than that, so we are going to need a DNA sample today, Mr. Wilkins," Montserrat put the tablet down on the desk.

"No, no, look, I wanna be totally straight here," Shakir said before anyone said anything else. "I was in a bad place. I just lost my marriage. And my wife and I separated on new year's, and yes, I've been dating since."

The term was so loose and everybody knew it.

"And you "dated" Tiana Raynes?" Rafael asked.

"No, hooked up. One time, after hours, in a...a dressing room, and it was her idea."

"Yeah, but that's not her story," Montserrat cocked her head. "See, she told me you drugged her, and she woke up the next morning in the store, her dress stained."

"She says this now, five months later?" Calhoun said, face expressing obvious mistrust. "And she just happened to save the panties? This is well-timed blackmail."

"Look, she's lying about the rape," Shakir said.

"Yeah, like... Carla?" Montserrat sighed sarcastically, "Like Macie-Lynn? They all say that you bought them a drink, and the next thing they remember, they were naked, and they had been violated!" It was hard to believe it in the beginning too but every story was aligning with their predecessors.

That didn't stop Shakir from shouting the opposite. "They are lying too!"

"About what? Tiana's lying about being raped? But you did have sex with her, and the other two, they're lying about everything?"

"Okay, okay, I don't know what's going on here, but Carla, and the other one... Macie-Lynn? I may have had sex with them also."

"And if you did, it was consensual, isn't that right, Shakir?" Calhoun cut in sharply and quickly, as was her usual talent.

"Yes, absolutely. I mean, so I wasn't all warm and cuddly afterwards. I like sleeping alone. You know, spending the night, spooning, it's not part of the Shakir Wilkins experience."

"Mm, not surprising giving the stories," Montserrat flashed him a disdainful smile. "By the way, do you have a prescription for Ambien or Xanax?"

"Yes, of course I do. I can't sleep most nights because my wife is trying to take my son. And that's why I couldn't admit to the sex. She will crucify me with it in the custody battle."

He wasn't wrong there. Unfortunately he wasn't looking at the big picture. "You've got bigger problems than a custody battle, Mr. Wilkins," Rafael promised him. Calhoun knew enough to believe it.

~0~

"Okay, now Shakir is saying he did have sex with all three of them?" Olivia asked after Montserrat returned from Rafael's office. The detective dutifully nodded her head. "And let me guess, it was consensual." Once again, Montserrat nodded.

"It's possible," Sonny spoke up from his seat. "I once had two girls claim their dad molested them, just to get him to pay their student loans off."

"No rape kits. No outcry at the time. Barba's really gonna go forward with this?" Fin asked, leaving Montserrat to nod again. Her neck might hurt after this.

"Give it a rest, guys. I didn't want to believe it either. But we've got three consistent stories, and there's no evidence that the women compared notes…" Amanda said, everyone knowing she had been first in line to disbelieve these girls.

"They may be just after money," Nick pointed out. It was obvious that he, Fin and Sonny still held some of that disbelief. Even Montserrat found herself going back and forth sometimes. She never wanted to turn a victim away but there were a few points that made her feelings shift.

"They already got it from Bauer!" Olivia exclaimed.

"To keep quiet about being assaulted," Sonny corrected her, fully ducking his head when Olivoa threw him a glare.

"You want an outcry witness? Bauer's your guy."

"Good luck! You think Orion Bauer's gonna tank Shakir?" Fin scoffed.

"Mm-mm. I'm predicting health problems, mini stroke, something," Sonny said.

"We do have him on witness bribery charges. That gives us leverage," Montserrat shrugged. The daughter would definitely know that too which would hopefully lead to a compromise.

"In the meantime, let's vet the three complainants," Olivia decided. "Money issues, personal histories, and any previous false accusations." The others dutifully agreed and dispersed for their desks.

~ 0 ~

Despite a challenging conversation, Bauer reluctantly agreed to testify against Shakir. Everything was supposed to go smoothly despite the shaky case, but they caught a breakthrough when one of the victims, Carla, recorded a meeting between her and Shakir. It led to the full arrest of Shakir until the trial began.

A few days before the trial was set to begin, Orion Bay went on the air to announce the termination of Shakir's contract. It was all over the news and on repeat all day that even when Montserrat returned home, her ears were still privy to the broadcast.

"Turn that off," she groaned to Kara as soon as she came in.

"Well, safe to say I know the answer to 'how was work today?'," Kara said as she turned the television off. She looked over to her best friend taking off her coat. "Hey," she called with narrowed eyes, "Where's my boyfriend who promised me a delicious take out—" Sonny walked in just as she was about to finish that sentence and when Kara saw the bags in her eyes, she beamed. "My absolute best boyfriend!" She hopped off the couch to go greet him.

"Best boyfriend?" He repeated with a frown. "Does that mean there's more I don't know about?"

Montserrat rolled her eyes when Kara planted a kiss on him that shut him right up. "You're both annoying but since I want food I won't say anything." She walked by them and essentially grabbed the bags from Sonny's hands.

"That's not saying anything?" Kara made a face, giggling when Sonny very quietly said 'I wonder what she would do if she did have something to say?'.

Montserrat let it go for the sake of her hungry stomach. "Let's just eat. It's been a long day."

"I'll bet," Kara said as she and Sonny joined her in the kitchen. "It's all over the news, interrupting my shows too by the way. How big is it over there?" Both Montserrat and Sonny snorting at the same time was enough of an answer. "Okay, maybe switching topics is a good idea…"

"Yeah," went both detectives as they passed each other their respective orders.

"Hey!" Kara snapped her fingers when something came to mind, "How's that 'meeting the parents' bit coming along with Rafael?"

Montserrat froze. Her eyes flickered to Sonny who had quickly ducked his head to the box in front of him. "You're dead, Carisi."

Kara looked between them, wondering why her boyfriend was under threat. Sonny shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not looking for any arguments," he explained, something that had Kara nodding with approval.

"He's so smart, isn't he?" She curled her arm around his and rested her head against his shoulder. "I thought you looked kinda funny—"

"Funny?" This was definitely not getting better for Montserrat. "What the hell does that even mean?"

Kara pulled her arm from Sonny's to set her hands on her hips. "Montserrat, I've known you for years, like a decade really. You think I don't know when something's bothering you?"

Montserrat huffed. That was a fair point. "I'm not 'bothered'," she clarified. "Not anymore."

"Yeah, you're welcome," Sonny said, only to have a very sharp 'shut up!' thrown at him in return.

"Sure you're not bothered there?" Kara almost laughed.

"I'm not," Montserrat reassured her. She grabbed a seat and opened up her box of food. "I talked to Rafael, I told him I was giving him space. I'm not interested in pushing something on him that he doesn't want to do." It's the last thing she would ever do to him.

"He'll come along," Kara waved it off. "How do you plan on breaking the news to your family, though?"

"Gael already knows," Montserrat reminded her.

"Yeah, but he doesn't know who. And your dad has no idea about it. Got any plans?"

Montserrat shrugged. "I don't know. I figure just dinner or something."

"Why not something here?" Kara beamed at her own idea. "Oh! You can have something here and we can invite your family, even Casey to cushion the news for your dad."

"What?" Montserrat couldn't help but laugh. Casey was the last person who would 'cushion' anything about her dating life. If anything, she would make fun of them in front of her father.

"It actually could help ease the tension," Sonny put in his two cents when Kara started rambling about the evening in mind. "That's what Barba was worried about, right? He already knows Casey, he has some relationship with Gael—a limited one but something nonetheless—and Kara and I could even be around if that helps."

Montserrat smiled appreciatively at the two of them. For all the jabs she took at them and their relationship, the innate drive of them to help her constantly with her own relationship was something she would be thankful for. "You guys would do that for me?"

"Yeah!" they both exclaimed.

"When Rafael says 'yes', because we all know he's going to eventually agree, we can have everything set up!" Kara promised. Sonny chuckled when she started listing possible dinner ideas. He started eating from his own and maybe even picked from her box.

"It may not be for a while, Kara," Montserrat said. "I'm really just going to let him think about it for as long as he needs to."

"Well yeah but it'll eventually come up. So we can have your dad, Gael and the girls?" Kara laughed with Montserrat at the idea of her nieces meeting Rafael. "Oh, I can't wait to see what Ivana has to say."

"Juliana is the one that worries me," admitted Montserrat. Teenagers and whatnot.

"And I'm sure Casey will help no matter what. Plus, I'll be here," Kara gestured to herself then Sonny, "And of course my boyfriend and your partner who will say nothing but good things. I'll even bring along Damian!"

Sonny nearly choked on a bit of pasta, his endless coughing pulling the gazes of the two women. Kara patted his back while Montserrat stared with the deepest of confusion.

"You okay over there?" she asked.

"Y-yeah!" But he still coughed for a few more seconds. "Just...wrong pipe…"

"Gotta slow down there," Kara chuckled, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"Yeah," he cleared his throat twice before he was able to stop. He wondered if it had even crossed Rafael's mind the inevitable meeting between him and Damian. He has to by now. It was simply too important to forget. He suddenly wished his girlfriend wasn't that big of an organizer because he had no desire to be around that gathering.

Unfortunately, Rafael would have no choice.


A/N:

I thought this was a good way to end this chapter lmao. Just a little spoiler — that gathering won't actually happen for a while. Gonna have to be a little patient for that one ;).

Totally random but I just finished writing a chapter with a really cute/soft moment for these 2 and I can't wait for you guys to read it. I think you'll like it!

P.S As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "saiilorstars"