Author's Note: Thank-you for reading, and thank-you for taking the time to review.

The sun was not up yet. Rafael Barba laid in Olivia Benson's bed. Hours before he placed 2 pillows between them, it was not exactly The walls of Jericho. In the movie It Happened One Night, that he mentioned to Olivia, Clark Gable's character put up a sheet to divide the hotel room he had to share with Claudette Colbert's character. In reality the pillow wall was not necessary. Olivia slept on the far right side of the bed, he slept on the left. The bed was big enough that there was absolutely no danger of them touching. They slept closer to each other when they fell asleep on the sofa. Olivia fell asleep last night almost instantly with her back turned to him. Now, he saw her turn in her sleep onto her back. She was breathtaking, and her soul was just as beautiful. How could he keep his feeling for her a secret? How had he kept them hidden, especially lately, he thought to himself. He got out of bed, he was happy that the first night he planed to sleep in her apartment, he brought a bag with him and forgot to take it with him. He took apart the pillow wall, and placed the pillows at the foot of the bed, then he made the side he slept on. He went into the bathroom, and changed his clothes. He put on a pair of tan jeans, and a green bottom-down shirt. He finished getting ready for the day. He walked back into the bedroom. He saw Olivia was still sleeping soundly, and he smiled when he looked at the bedside table clock. it read 8:30. She needed the sleep, he would not wake her. He heard footsteps, and walked into the living area, he was standing in the living area before Noah got there.

"Is mommy sleeping?" Noah asked. walking up to Barba.

"Yes." Barba answered smiling.

"Barba, mommy said she ran into a bad guy."

"Yes she did."

"Why are there bad guys?" mommy said that girls can be bad too? "Why?"

Well yes, there are some bad people, but I don't know why."

"You and mommy put them in jail so they can't hurt anyone?"

"Yes."

"Barba, mommy says you put bad people away in different ways, you're a lawyer. The guy who hurt mommy, will you put him away?"

"I'm going to try my hardest Noah", he answered the little boy with conviction.

"Good."

"Noah what do you want for breakfast? Barba asked once again walking into the kitchen.

"Cookies?"

"Ah, I see where this is going. I'll rephrase. What does your mommy allow you to have for breakfast?"

"Cookies!"

"You are not having cookies. Noah do you want you're mommy to be upset with me?"

"No, I can have Cheerios with milk, and fruit."

"Good answer." Barba quickly found the Cheerios and milk, and set the items up at the table for Noah, who followed him, sat down happily and eat. Barba walked back to the kitchen, and opened the fringe. He could tell most of the food in there was for Noah. He found some fruit and eggs. "Noah does your mommy like scrambled eggs?"

"They are so gross, but she loves them. You know what else she loves that's gross tomatoes."

"Good to know." Barba said preparing a fruit plate He then put up the coffee. He heard Olivia's cell phone ring from her bedroom 3 times before she answered.

"Fin, no, please tell Amanda she doesn't have to do that. Yes, ok, tell her to please give me 15 minutes, please ok." Olivia said. "Oh!" Barba heard Olivia say sounding surprised. She bolted to the living area, and was about to run to Noah's bedroom.

"Hi Mommy!" Olivia turned quickly and saw her son sitting at the table with a big smile on his face.

"Hi sweet boy." She said running to him. "Oh, I'm sorry I got up so late."

"It's ok, Barba gave me breakfast." Olivia looked at the empty bowl, and spoon.

"He did." Noah got up from the table. Olivia picked him up, and kissed his check, and hair.

Noah's arms wrapped around Olivia's neck. "Are you ok Mommy?"

""I'm fine sweet boy. Guess what Amanda is coming over to take you and Jesse to the park, so go get dressed, and I'll wait with you downstairs ok?"

"Ok" Noah said running off.

"You need help Noah?" Olivia called

"No Mommy!" Noah called. Noah was back in 5 minutes wearing a white, black, and red hoodie with blue jeans. I" tied my own shoes." Olivia looked down at her son's shoes proud and grateful that he tied them all by himself.

"Noah run and grab your coat, just in case. It's very cold out." Noah did as he was told, Olivia grabbed her son's hand,, and walked out hoping that Amanda wouldn't be late. Barba would have offered to walk Noah down, but he knew that she would say she could do it, and the eggs were still cooking.

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10 minutes past, and Barba was about to go check on Olivia when he heard the door open and lock. He saw her slowly enter the living area. "Good morning." She looked beautiful even in that jogging suit, her hair was a mess, and her buses were still visible. He had to hold himself back from saying good morning beautiful, and the extra word almost slipped.

"Good morning." She answered.

"How are you feeling? Please don't give me your standard I'm fine answer."

"Ow!" She said suddenly walking slowly to the sofa, and sitting down, before she knew it he was sitting beside her, his body turned, he made eye contact. "I wish you would have let me get a crack at that son of a bitch." I asked Rollins if he lawyered up, he hadn't."

"You know I had to say something, I couldn't let you just go in there. I'm surprised that you listened to me without a fight."

"Yeah well, you were right," Olivia said.

Barba's eyebrows rose. "Excuse me?" He said laughter in his voice."What was that?"

Stop, I won't say it again. It's not the first time I told you, that you were right Barba."

"Oh, but I think it is, you have said you hoped I was right more than once, but not that I was. Let me enjoy this."

"Cut it out Raffa, you have such a mouth."

"I told you growing up I was the mouth of the group."

"Stop!" it hurts to smile, she said laughing. He laughed back, then stood up taking her hand, and leading her up. "Come on, you didn't eat anything last night."

"I'll grab a yogurt in a little while. I have nothing ready, and I can't leave the apartment today. Injuries always hurt more the next day. That's why I should have gotten a crack at him last night." She replied sounding defeated, and she hated it. He led her to the table, and she sat down. "When did you do this, and how did I miss it?" She said seeing the food in front of her. In the middle of the table was a fruit platter consisting of mangos, cherries, and cantaloupe.

"You had a rough night." He replied sitting down across from her. "When was the last time you ate?"

"Oh I don't know, yesterday right before I saw you at the courthouse."

"Liv that was yesterday morning before 9."

"I know, I saw you on the recess, I was going to get coffee, but my phone rang, I had to move fast."

"And you say I live off of coffee."

"You do." She took a bite of scrambled eggs. "You don't have to", she said when she finished the bite. "This is delicious"

"You're just staving."

"No, it really is, Thank-you Raffa, for this breakfast, for feeding Noah, for staying... Oh ... Noah saw you were here this morning. I should have woken up."

"Hey, relax." he said seeing exactly where she was going. "I got up before the sun came up, I was in the living room before Noah saw me. You're wearing that jogging suit."

"What's wrong with the jogging suit?"

"Nothing." Noah is fine, he is worried about you."

"He shouldn't be."

"You never worried about your mother?"

"I'm not my mother."

"Liv, I just mean, he adores you, you're his mother, he sees you came home injured, he's a smart kid, and he's 5."

"I know, sometimes it's so hard to believe. I would have liked to see you at 5 counselor." She continued to eat.

"I was the same as I am now, only younger."

"I can see that."

"How were you at 5?"

"Same. I was waiting around for my mother a lot, I started cleaning up for her then."

"If it makes you feel better I was hiding from my dad."

"It doesn't. Raffa, you deserved so much better than that." Her face was full of sadness, and Barba caught something in her tone.

"And you didn't?"

"I didn't say that, please don't cross examine me about Serena Benson, not today."

"Serena?"

"I didn't call her mom to her face until I was an adult. When I first started working SVU, I caught this case, it was a hard one. I met my mom for dinner, she was sober. I was talking about this little boy who I felt was neglected, his mother had been raped. My mom, she asked if I thought I would be better if she hadn't kept me." Olivia paused, and took her last bite of egg. When she finished she continued speaking. "I didn't answer, but I said that I hated my father for what he did to her. She looked at me and said I do too, but if he hadn't you wouldn't be here. She took my hand and squeezed it. She was so nice when she wasn't drinking." Barba got up, and Olivia exhaled.

"Coffee?" Barba asked as he poured it into her mug. He saw relief wash over her features.

"What do you think?" Barba poured himself a cup, put the coffee pot back, and sat back down across from Olivia.

"I think you never turn down a cup of coffee." Olivia smiled and took a sip. The warmth of the mug felt good against her hands, and she didn't let go until the mug was empty. Barba watched her, she looked like she wanted to say something. "You want to tell me something?"

"No, I can't, and I'm not talking anymore about my mother, not today."

"Understood. Anything else on your mind, you want to talk about."

"No, I can't. "it's nothing."

"It's something, you can confide in me, I hope you know that. Over the years you told me many things, and it all worked out," Olivia cleared her throat. "I'm a good person to confide in, I know how to keep a confidence."

"Raffa, please, it's not that serious, I can't take anymore serious conversations today. I'm glad I have the day off."

Barba never heard his friend say such a thing before. "Understood. So if it's not that serous what is it?" She sighed. "When Rollins picked up Noah", Olivia paused "Carisi was with her. "They work so well together. I don't want to have to separate them in any way. They looked... close."

"Before you left the station, you did tell them to have a good weekend." Barba said smiling.

"Barba! She said laughing. "I didn't mean it that way!"

"What? they took your advice." He said laughing.

"Stop!" she said, her body shaking from laughter. "I told you, it hurts to laugh".

Olivia watched as Rafael got up again. "Where are you going? She asked as she watched him walk to the fridge. He opened it and got 2 ice packs, he closed the door and turned to her.

"You still need some ice."

"No, it's fine, I'll take care of it later. She got up quickly, he saw her wince in pain, She walked to the living area, and he followed.

"Olivia you're going to sit down, and let me help you." He was using his stern courtroom voice. He was serious."

Olivia was standing by the sofa. I've had much worse, it's not that bad."

"Olivia, you're going to sit down and work with me." She heard him say those words to her before, and that time he got what he wanted. She had listened to him, she had worked with him. "She stood there watching him. He kept eye contact. "Olivia you're going to sit down, work with me, let me help you.. She backed up and sat down, He sat down next to her, he turned his body to her still holding eye contact. "Hand." She didn't argue, but she did finch when the ice was applied. "sorry." he said holding her hand gently.

"You're bossy, you know that?" Olivia said.

"Almost as bossy as you are." He said smiling at her, it took everything in him not to add more to this statement, as he looked at his friend, this stubborn woman sitting beside him.