The next morning, Liv was quietly pacing her bedroom floor, the phone ringing for a long time before the person on the other end picked up.
"Hello?"
"Mrs. Barba? This is Detective Benson, I work with Rafael."
"Is Rafi okay?"
"Yes, but…"
"Detective, I really need to go. My class starts soon." Lucia hung up.
Liv looked at her phone, wondering what in the hell just happened.
She walked out into the living room, watching Raf and Kyle sleep. Raf must have woken up during the night because Kyle was in his playpen and he was laid out across the couch under a blanket. Liv went into the kitchen and started the coffee, then breakfast which was just toast and eggs. Raf must have smelt the coffee because the sound of bare feet came up behind her.
"Morning. How did you sleep?" Liv whispered, looking over at him.
He took a long sip of coffee before answering.
"Okay. Kyle woke around 4, wanting to be fed. I fed him and sang to him..."
Liv's phone cut him off.
"Benson." After listening to whoever was on the phone, she said,
"No, I'll call him." Liv hung up.
Want Raf to come but want a better reason
"What's going on?"
"Caught a new case."
"Do you need me, too?"
"Yeah, if you don't mind."
"Okay go get ready, and I'll call Carmen and his mom."
"Who's mom?"
"Kyle's, his mother was in a bad place. Mason and I took Kyle in, and adopted him. Lucy, his mom, was absent from his life frome right after birth until about 4 months ago because of drugs. She was in rehab for a month after he was born, thankfully she stayed clean while pregnant and had an accidental relapse at a party. At first the court thought it wasn't but a friend had video footage of the spiked drinks and non-Alcoholic ones got messed up. So the court said it was up to us if we allow her to see him. We gave her a second chance but only under supervision by ourselves or Carmen."
"And she's been sober since?"
"Yes. She gets randomly tested anytime."
"That's sweet of you."
Raf shrugged.
An hour later Raf walked in ten minutes later than Liv.
"Where's the fire Rollins?"
After going over everything, Raf headed back to his office. Carmen and Lucy were both playing with Kyle when he walked into his office. An hour later Lucy left, and Carmen went back to work as Raf did too. Raf didn't know how long he had been working until leaning back and looking at his watch. He looked over at Kyle to see he was still asleep. He smirked that Carmen and Lucy had really tuckered the baby out. He walked over, laying down on the couch, looking at his phone one last time. It said 4Am, he quickly texted Liv letting her know that the two of them would be spending the night at the office. Little did he know, she was being driven around New York state by Willam Lewis. The next Morning Or everywhere Fin and Rollins found her apartment torn apart He got a call from Cragen saying Liv had been taken by Lewis. Raf went to the precinct that night while he waited on Fin and Rollins chasing down leads he searched for houses for him and Liv knowing neither would be going back to their old places anytime soon. He found a 3 bed/2 bath penthouse in his building, called the owner and told him his plans and wanting to get out of his place, the owner agreed to switch apartments. Raf hired some boys from his mom's school he knew who could always use the money to move his things into the new place. He told them, there might be more, he just didn't know yet. Lucy and Carmen took care of Kyle. On day number 3 Raf was about to lose his mind and go home to Kyle when Fin and Rollins walked in with, and Raf hated to think it, a broken Olivia Benson. He sat back as she spoke with Cragen, he quickly made his way over to her when he heard Rollins ask,
"Where are you going to stay, Liv?"
"With me." Raf spoke, coming into Liv's view.
"No Rafa…"
"Don't, you let me and Kyle crash at your place after what happened with Mason. Please let me return the favor? It's my fault this happened anyway."
"No it isn't Rafa…. But I….. think I will take you up on that offer…. I don't want to go back to that apartment or be alone tonight."
Raf nodded, waited on Liv to say goodbye to everyone Cragen came up to him.
"Take care of her Barba."
"She was there for me after Mason, I won't let her down."
"Did they ever catch the person?"
"Yea, they called early this morning. Officer involved shooting he's dead."
"Maybe now you both can move on." Cragen whispered, going back to his office.
Raf didn't understand at the time what Cragen was hinting at, but he would soon.
Raf took Liv to his new apartment, while Amanda went back to her old one and gathered all of belongings and per Liv's request told the landlord Liv would be moving out and brought everything to Raf's new apartment. After Lucy and Carmen left, while Raf tended to Kyle, Liv looked around the apartment.
"Hey can I get you anything?" Raf asked, as he sat Kyle on his mat with some toys.
"I need a shower." Liv stood.
"This way." Raf led her down the hall to the bathroom.
"There's a tub too, if you want to shower then soak. I have bath salts."
Liv just looked at him.
"Mason liked them." Raf shrugged.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome, if you need me, just hollar."
Liv nodded, and Raf left her alone. Liv looked at the mirror and she started digging through the drawers, finding scissors and cutting her hair off. Raf checked on Kyle, grabbed the monitor and went to the living room flipping through the tv. He couldn't find anything, so ended up smiling as he looked at a picture of him and Mason. He got up checking on Kyle, smiling watching him sleep. He quietly closed the door, going to check on Liv. He knocked quietly seeing the light still on.
"Come in." She whispered.
He slowly opened the door, Liv was sitting up in bed but could see she found the scissors. He slowly walked over, he saw the tears rolling down her face. He pulled her into a hug, not saying anything letting her cry it out. After a while she spoke,
"I'm sorry for bringing all this on you, especially after Mason."
"It's okay Liv. I…want to look after my friend if she needs me. That's what friends do. You're helping me and Kyle and now we can help you. If you'll let us."
Liv pulled back, and for the first time since everything happened she smiled.
"Are you going to be okay in here alone?"
"Yeah."
"I'll lay a pillow in the middle of my bed if you want to share later tonight."
"Thanks Rafa."
"Your welcome Liv." Raf left her, going to bed.
